Sites like Ahrefs, each with a one-line verdict

Every few weeks someone asks for sites like Ahrefs that do not cost $129 a month, and gets 200 replies, half of them affiliate links. Here is the shorter version: seven tools, one line each, then the detail for anyone who scrolls.

The one-liners

1. seogeoaeo.ai: Ahrefs for people who open Ahrefs twice a month, billed by the report.
2. Ahrefs Free: Ahrefs, but only for sites you can prove are yours.
3. Semrush: the other big suite, for when you want to swap one subscription for another.
4. Majestic: links, links and a Trust Flow score.
5. Moz Pro: the suite with a cheaper entry and ten free link lookups.
6. Google Search Console: the only keyword list where every search is real.
7. Bing Webmaster Tools: the free tool that lets you peek at a competitor's links, if you ask nicely.

The detail

1. seogeoaeo.ai

The pitch is that you should not pay for a month of access to run eight reports. seogeoaeo.ai charges per tool run from monthly credit plans, starting at $29 for 2,000 credits. Backlink Finder is 70 credits and returns a domain's 100 strongest linking sites with a spam score each. Domain Overview is 50 credits for a quick traffic and link estimate. Competitor Keywords is 35. Keyword Gap is 85 and lists the searches a rival ranks for on Google's first two pages where you do not show up at all.

It also runs the checks the link suites leave alone: whether GPTBot and ClaudeBot can crawl you, whether your schema is valid, whether you have an llms.txt. Every plan includes MCP, so your coding agent can run it too.

Verdict: the right call unless you live in Site Explorer. No rank tracking, no link history, and credits do not roll over.

2. Ahrefs Free

Formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. Unlimited verified sites, the top 1,000 backlinks and keywords, a Site Audit for 170+ issues. Zero competitor data, which is the whole point of the paid product.

Verdict: set it up today, it costs nothing.

3. Semrush

The SEO plan is $139 a month, or $117.33 billed yearly, with 500 daily tracked keywords, Position Tracking and Site Audit. Backlinks, Backlink Gap and Backlink Audit are all in the product, though the pricing page is vague about which tier gets which.

Verdict: a lateral move, not a cheaper one.

4. Majestic

Lite is $49.99 a month before VAT with the Fresh Index and Trust Flow. Pro at $99.99 adds the Historic Index. 7-day money-back guarantee for new customers.

Verdict: great if links are the only thing you care about, which is rarely the case.

5. Moz Pro

There is an entry plan at $49 a month for one site, and Standard at $99, or $79 billed yearly. A free Moz Community account gets you 10 Link Explorer queries a month.

Verdict: the free queries are the best part for most people.

6. Google Search Console

Real queries, real clicks, real positions, for your own site. The Links report shows top linking sites and anchor text, as a sample.

Verdict: the most honest data in SEO, limited to your own front door.

7. Bing Webmaster Tools

The Backlinks report has a similar sites view where you compare your linking sites with other domains'.

Verdict: underrated, and nobody believes it until they try it.

And Ahrefs itself?

Starter is $29 but caps unverified reports at 250 rows with no exports. Lite is $129 for 1,000 credits per user, and every filter costs a credit. Standard at $249 removes the cap and keeps two years of history.

If you are tracking rankings daily or need years of link history, Ahrefs Standard remains the right answer and no one-liner will change that.