Ahrefs costs $29 a month for Starter, $129 for Lite, $249 for Standard and $449 for Advanced, each for one user, according to Ahrefs’ pricing page, checked on 9 November 2026. Enterprise has no public price. The page says paying annually saves up to 17%, and there is a free plan, Ahrefs Free, for data on your own site.
The plan price is only part of the bill. On Starter and Lite you pay by usage in credits. Every extra person is a paid seat. And the AI visibility tool, Brand Radar, is a separate add-on. This guide covers each part, then works out a year of Ahrefs for three kinds of buyers. All prices are in US dollars, from Ahrefs’ own pricing page and help center, read on 9 November 2026.
How much does each Ahrefs plan cost?
| Plan | Monthly price | Users included | Extra seats | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Free | $0 | n/a | n/a | 200 a month |
| Starter | $29 | 1 | None | Capped at 200 a month |
| Lite | $129 | 1 | Up to 2 more at $40 a month | 1,000 per user a month |
| Standard | $249 | 1 | Up to 5 more at $60 a month | Unlimited fair use |
| Advanced | $449 | 1 | Up to 10 more at $80 a month | Unlimited fair use |
| Enterprise | Talk to sales | Custom | Custom | Unlimited fair use |
Sources: Ahrefs pricing page for prices and seats; Ahrefs help center articles on users and credits and the differences between plans for the credit limits. All checked 9 November 2026.
Annual billing. The page says “Pay annually, save up to 17%” but does not show the annual price of each plan in the version we read. At 17%, a year of Lite on annual billing would save at most about $263 ($129 x 12 = $1,548; 17% of that is $263). Check the toggle at checkout.
Enterprise. On 9 November 2026 the pricing page showed no Enterprise price, only a “Talk to sales” button. When we checked it for our Semrush vs Ahrefs comparison on 30 October 2026, it listed $1,499 a month with an annual commitment. Use that as a starting point for the quote, not as a price.
What does each plan include?
| Lite | Standard | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projects | 5 unverified, unlimited verified | 20 unverified, unlimited verified | 50 unverified, unlimited verified |
| Historical data | 6 months | 2 years | 5 years |
| Tracked keywords | 750 | 2,000 | 5,000 |
| AI prompt checks | 150 | 300 | 600 |
| Crawl credits (Site Audit) | 100,000 | 500,000 | 1,500,000 |
| API and MCP access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Source: Ahrefs pricing page, 9 November 2026.
Starter is a different kind of plan. Ahrefs’ plan comparison says it adds, over the free plan, one unverified project, five keyword lists of up to 100 keywords each, one month of historical data and 750 Rank Tracker keywords, with the 200-credit cap. You cannot buy extra credits or users on Starter. It suits one person checking keywords and competitors now and then. It does not suit anyone who opens reports all day.
Enterprise adds uncapped API access, custom API endpoints, SSO, an audit log, unlimited historical data and forecasting, according to the pricing page.
How do Ahrefs credits work?
Credits only matter on Starter and Lite (and older credit-based plans). From Ahrefs’ help article on users and credits:
- What uses a credit. “1 credit is consumed whenever you open a report, apply filters, or request additional data.” A research session with a few filters can use dozens.
- The limits. Starter has a hard cap of 200 credits a month. Lite includes 1,000 credits a month for each Power user. Standard and higher have “unlimited fair usage for every active user.”
- Extra credits. Pay-as-you-go costs $50 per 500 credits, billed monthly, or you can prepay $300 a year to add 500 credits to your monthly limit. Pay-as-you-go credits last three billing months.
- Off by default. Pay-as-you-go is “disabled by default” in your account settings. If it stays off, you stop when you run out.
- Reset. Usage resets every month on your renewal date, at 00:00 UTC.
The practical rule: if you would buy more than three 500-credit packs a month on Lite, compare against Standard. The next section shows the math.
What else costs extra?
| Add-on | Price | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Brand Radar AI | From $199 a month | Tracks brand mentions and citations in AI answers |
| Brand Radar custom prompts | $50 (2,500 checks), $100 (7,000) or $250 (25,000) a month | Your own prompts; overage $0.020, $0.015 or $0.010 per check |
| Report Builder | $99 a month | 50 reports, 500 widgets, scheduling |
| Content Kit | From $99 a month | AI content tools (marked “Soon” on the page we read) |
| Project Boost Pro | $20 a month per project | Higher limits on one project |
Source: Ahrefs pricing page, 9 November 2026.
Brand Radar is the add-on to watch. If your team is starting to track how often ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AI answers mention you, it can cost more than the plan itself. Our roundup of AI visibility tools compares it with the cheaper and the more specialized options.
What does Ahrefs cost for a consultant, a team and an agency?
Illustrative. Three buyers, monthly billing, list prices from the pricing page, before tax and add-ons.
1. A solo consultant on Lite. One user, 1,000 credits a month, 750 tracked keywords. $129 x 12 = $1,548 a year. If they run out of credits twice a quarter and buy one 500-credit pack each time, that adds $50 x 8 = $400, so about $1,948.
2. An in-house team of three. Two options:
| Lite + 2 seats | Standard + 2 seats | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $129 + (2 x $40) = $209 | $249 + (2 x $60) = $369 |
| Year | $2,508 | $4,428 |
| Credits | 1,000 per user, then $50 per 500 | Unlimited fair use |
| History | 6 months | 2 years |
The difference is $160 a month. Each 500-credit pack costs $50, so if the team buys four or more packs a month ($200), Standard is cheaper and also has two years of history. Most teams who use Ahrefs daily end up there.
3. An agency with eight users. Standard allows five extra seats, so it tops out at six users. Eight users need Advanced: $449 + (7 x $80) = $1,009 a month, or $12,108 a year. Add Report Builder ($99) for client reports and Brand Radar AI (from $199) for AI visibility, and the agency is at $1,307 a month, or $15,684 a year.
The seat caps matter as much as the plan prices. Count the people who need to log in before you pick a plan.
How do you keep the Ahrefs bill down?
- Start on Lite only if usage is light. Watch the credit counter for the first month. If you hit the cap in week two, move to Standard rather than buying packs.
- Leave pay-as-you-go off until you need it. It is off by default. Turn it on deliberately, with a monthly limit.
- Share reports, not seats. Report Builder or exported reports can serve people who only read the numbers.
- Use the free tools first. Ahrefs Free covers your own verified site, and Google Search Console is free. Pay for Ahrefs when you need competitor and link data.
- Pay annually once you are sure. Up to 17% off, but only after a few months of knowing which plan you need.
- Price the add-ons separately. Brand Radar and Content Kit can be bought later. Do not bundle them in on day one.
Ahrefs vs Semrush on price
Both tools changed their pricing in the last year, and both now sell AI visibility tracking. From their pricing pages in late October 2026 (Ahrefs, Semrush), Ahrefs starts lower ($29 Starter, $129 Lite) and Semrush’s SEO plan starts at $139. Semrush includes daily AI prompt tracking from its $199 Starter plan; on Ahrefs, the deeper AI tracking is the Brand Radar add-on. Our Semrush vs Ahrefs comparison has both price lists and which team each fits.
Is Ahrefs worth it for a B2B SaaS company?
The tool is worth what you do with it. A B2B SaaS team that checks backlinks, competitor pages and rankings every week gets its money’s worth on Standard. A team that opens Ahrefs once a month to look at its Domain Rating is paying for reports nobody acts on.
Before you buy, estimate what organic search is worth to you. Our SEO ROI calculator puts a number on the traffic and pipeline a ranking would bring, which tells you how much tool you can justify. And if AI answers matter to your buyers, add an llms.txt file to your site before you pay to track them.
Ahrefs tells you where you stand. It does not write the pages or earn the links. Our SEO and GEO service does that part for B2B SaaS companies: we pick the keywords and AI answers your buyers see, publish the pages, and report rankings, AI citations and pipeline from search every month.
Frequently asked
How much does Ahrefs cost per month?
On Ahrefs' pricing page, checked on 9 November 2026: Starter is $29 a month, Lite $129, Standard $249 and Advanced $449, each with one user. Enterprise has no listed price; the page says to talk to sales. Paying annually saves up to 17%. There is also a free plan, Ahrefs Free, for data on your own verified site.
Does Ahrefs have a free plan or a free trial?
There is a free plan, Ahrefs Free, which gives Ahrefs data on sites you verify. The pricing page does not mention a free trial for the paid plans. The cheapest way to try the full toolset is the $29 Starter plan, which Ahrefs' help center caps at 200 credits a month with one month of history.
What are Ahrefs credits?
Credits measure usage on Starter and Lite. Ahrefs' help center says one credit is used whenever you open a report, apply filters or request more data. Starter is capped at 200 credits a month. Lite includes 1,000 per user. Standard and higher plans have unlimited fair use. Extra credits cost $50 per 500 on a pay-as-you-go basis, which is off by default.
How much does an extra Ahrefs user cost?
The pricing page lists extra seats at $40 a month on Lite (up to 2 more), $60 on Standard (up to 5 more) and $80 on Advanced (up to 10 more). So a team of eight needs Advanced at minimum: Standard tops out at six users.
Is Ahrefs worth the price?
For a team that does link research, competitor analysis and rank tracking every week, usually yes, and Standard is where the unlimited credits make it predictable. For someone who checks a few keywords a month, Lite's credit limits and the add-ons can make it expensive for what you use. Price your own usage with the cost model in this guide before you buy.
Is Ahrefs cheaper than Semrush?
At the entry level, yes: Ahrefs Starter is $29 and Lite is $129 a month, against $139 for Semrush's SEO plan, from both pricing pages in late October 2026. For teams the answer depends on seats and add-ons. Our Semrush vs Ahrefs comparison lays out both price lists side by side.
