Serpstat vs Semrush vs Ahrefs: A Comprehensive SEO Tool Review

In this review, we'll be comparing three of the most popular SEO tools on the market: Serpstat, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. Serpstat offers a free plan with limited features, while SEMrush has a 14-day free trial and Ahrefs offers a 7-day free trial.

Serpstat is a relatively new player in the SEO tool market, but it's quickly gained popularity for its affordable pricing and robust feature set. SEMrush, on the other hand, has been around for a while and is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive SEO tools available.

One of the main differences between these tools is their pricing plans. Serpstat's paid plans start at $49/month, while SEMrush's plans start at $99.95/month. Ahrefs' plans start at $99/month.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush offer robust keyword research features. You can enter a keyword into their tools and get information on search volume, keyword difficulty score, sites currently ranking for it, and related keywords.

Semrush's content marketing platform provides tools to identify new topics to write about, use an SEO writing assistant, audit existing content, and identify keywords competitors are using.

Ahrefs has a Content Explorer tool that shows information about topic popularity, dominating sites, and top authors writing about it. It also has an AI Content Helper feature in beta format, which is free to all users.

Semrush has a more robust site audit feature, identifying technical issues and providing actionable tips for improvement. Ahrefs also offers site audits, but its suggestions are more technical in nature.

Here's a comparison of the two tools' site audit features:

Note that Semrush's site audit feature provides more actionable tips for content improvement, and its internal link distribution report is a valuable feature for technical SEO.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush provide site auditing features that help evaluate your site's performance from a technical SEO and on-page SEO perspective.

Site audits can identify issues like slow-loading content, duplicate content, SSL problems, crawl errors, missing headers, overuse of keywords, and broken links.

During a site audit, both tools will look out for issues that might be having a negative effect on your search ranking.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush provide you with an overall SEO health score along with a wide range of technical SEO suggestions.

Semrush's on-page SEO checker is particularly useful, giving you actionable tips for improvement for each page in order of priority.

These can include suggestions on which keywords to add, steps to make a page appear as a Google 'featured snippet', how to improve body copy and meta descriptions, and which websites to approach for backlinks.

Ahrefs, on the other hand, provides more technical suggestions.

Semrush's site audit tool also allows you to send SEO tasks to project management tools like Trello.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush's site audit reports now include an assessment of your site from a 'Core Web Vitals' point of view.

Ahrefs gives you access to both 'field data' and 'lab data', while Semrush only provides lab data.

Semrush's site audit tool has a few more unique features that help you take your technical and on-page SEO to another level.

Semrush's site audit tool allows you to monitor the organic traffic and track the performance of your competitors.

Ahrefs is less generous with its key features on its entry-level plan, missing out on search intent data, broken link building tools, keyword clusters, SERP updates, and more.

This means that serious SEO enthusiasts will likely need to upgrade to the more expensive 'Standard' plan.

Ahrefs and Semrush are two popular tools for analyzing backlinks, but did you know that their database size can make a big difference in their performance? Ahrefs has a massive database of 26.9 trillion internal backlinks and 3.4 trillion external backlinks.

Semrush, on the other hand, claims to have a backlink database of over 43 trillion backlinks. However, it's worth noting that Ahrefs only counts live backlinks in their backlink index numbers, while Semrush doesn't specify whether their 43 trillion backlinks are live or just historical records.

In practice, Semrush's bigger database seems to translate into more comprehensive data, with a consistent edge in surfacing referring domains. In a small-scale test, Semrush outperformed Ahrefs in 7 out of 10 contests, suggesting that its bigger database gives it a significant advantage.

Here's a comparison of the two tools' database sizes:

Overall, the size of a backlink database matters, and Ahrefs' massive database gives it an edge in terms of data accuracy and link building features.

Ahrefs has a cleaner interface than Semrush, making it slightly easier to use. Its menus are laid out in a more logical fashion, and dashboards group pieces of information together in a more relevant way.

Ahrefs data loads can be sluggish at times, especially when conducting domain analysis on big websites, whereas Semrush's data loads considerably faster.

Ahrefs provides a good 'at-a-glance' understanding of SEO information, whereas Semrush often requires more digging or clicking around to access the data you need.

Semrush's increased complexity is partly due to its ability to make more information available to you than Ahrefs, including graphs, search intent data, PPC data, and pipelines.

If you like data visualization, Semrush's approach will definitely appeal.

Semrush's CRM-style approach to link building is a major advantage, allowing you to identify and contact prospects 'in the box', whereas Ahrefs requires exporting data to Excel and reimporting it into other apps for outreach purposes.

Ahrefs is a better bet for project-based work and link building outreach, while Semrush is better for diving in and getting easily digestible data.

Clickthrough estimations are a crucial aspect of understanding how people interact with search engine results.

Ahrefs provides clickthrough estimations, showing the number of clicks a keyword is likely to generate, giving you a more accurate picture of potential traffic.

Unlike Semrush, Ahrefs also shows traffic potential, an estimate of the total number of organic visits a site could expect if it ranked #1 for a particular keyword.

This traffic potential figure is especially valuable because it includes traffic generated by searches involving keyword variations, not just the exact keyword.

For example, the keyword "online store builder" has a search volume of 1,000 per month, but its traffic potential is 4,000 visits per month.

This data can help you identify less obvious keywords to target, which may not generate much traffic on their own but have many minor variations that do.

The traffic potential data provided by Ahrefs is a strong reason to use it over Semrush, making it a valuable tool in your SEO arsenal.

Each of these tools has its strengths and weaknesses, and understanding them can help you make an informed decision.

Serpstat is a comprehensive tool that includes a complete set of SEO tools, provides in-depth analytics data, and offers unique features like Missing Keywords and Team Management. Its free trial is available to preview the tool before committing to a purchase.

However, the site audit may take longer than other tools if you have a website with numerous pages.

Serpstat also has some limitations, including inaccurate keyword difficulty metric results in some instances.

Semrush, on the other hand, is known for its user-friendly interface and logically organized data, making it easy to comprehend metrics. Its keyword intent data is highly beneficial for focusing on profitable phrases.

But, Semrush only provides data for Google, whereas some competing tools offer data from multiple search engines.

Additionally, Semrush plans include only one user account, and purchasing additional seats can be expensive.

Ahrefs provides one of the most extensive tools to monitor your site's backlink profile and track your competitors' backlinks. Its comprehensive site audit can identify and fix on-page SEO issues.

However, mastering Ahrefs' features may require time and effort, and its free plan is limited.

Here's a summary of the pros and cons of each tool:

Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses, but let's break down the comparison in simple terms. Semrush has a more robust technical SEO audit feature, making it a top choice for identifying and fixing issues. Ahrefs excels in backlink analysis with its Site Explorer tool, offering extensive data on backlinks, anchor text, and more.

In terms of keyword research, Ahrefs has a clear advantage, but both tools provide a range of features designed to help you optimize your website's performance and improve your search engine rankings. Semrush's backlink analysis is more detailed, but Ahrefs' link intersect tool gives you more fine-grained information. The choice between them depends on your specific needs and priorities.

Here's a quick rundown of the key features of each tool:

In the world of SEO tools, it's essential to know which one offers the most. Let's break it down.

Semrush provides a detailed view of competitors' backlink profiles, making it valuable for understanding your competition and optimizing your backlinks.

Ahrefs excels in backlink analysis with its Site Explorer tool, offering extensive data on backlinks, anchor text, and more.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush provide site auditing features that allow you to evaluate how well your site is performing from both a technical SEO and on-page SEO perspective.

Semrush's on-page SEO checker provides actionable tips for improvement for each page, including suggestions on keywords to add, how to make a page appear as a Google 'featured snippet', and more.

Ahrefs provides technical SEO suggestions, but they are more limited in scope compared to Semrush.

Semrush also offers the ability to send SEO tasks to project management tools like Trello, making it easier to manage your site's SEO issues.

Ahrefs, on the other hand, provides two types of Core Web Vitals data: 'field data' and 'lab data', giving you a more comprehensive view of your site's performance.

Semrush only provides lab data, so Ahrefs has an edge in this area.

Overall, while both tools are useful, Semrush seems to offer more features and a broader range of content improvement suggestions.

When comparing Semrush and Ahrefs, one important aspect to consider is the number of users each platform allows.

Semrush's default plans for SMEs come with one user account, but you can add more users for a fee.

For Semrush, adding a 'Pro' user costs $45 per month, a 'Guru' user costs $80 per month, and a 'Business' user costs $100 per month.

Ahrefs, on the other hand, has more restrictive plans when it comes to adding users.

The Starter plan doesn't allow adding extra users at all, while the Lite plan lets you add up to two users at $40/mo per user.

The Standard plan allows adding up to five users at $60/mo per user, and the Advanced plan lets you add up to 10 users at $80/mo per user.

Ahrefs also caps the total number of users on non-enterprise plans at 10, making Semrush a potentially more affordable option for large teams.

When researching pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, the tools you choose can make a big difference in the insights you gain.

Semrush is a top choice for PPC research because it returns a larger amount of Google Ads data compared to Ahrefs.

You can see this data when you enter a domain into Semrush's 'Advertising Research' tool, which displays keywords, ad positions, competitors, adverts displayed, ad campaign history, landing pages, and subdomains used in ad campaigns.

Ahrefs does show some PPC-related info, but it's more limited. You can see paid keywords used to advertise a domain, headlines for the ads displayed, and the landing pages used in PPC campaigns when you enter a domain name into the 'Site Explorer' tool and go to the 'Paid search' section.

If you want to see a comprehensive view of PPC campaigns, Semrush is the better option.

Semrush has a clear edge in the support department, offering three channels of support: phone, chat, and email, while Ahrefs provides chat and email support only. Semrush's phone support gives it a win in this area.

Ahrefs' live chat is really responsive and you'll almost always get a response within 3-5 minutes, which is impressive. Live chat is available 24/5, so you can contact them anytime on weekdays.

Semrush offers support by phone, which is not available with Ahrefs. Semrush operates 7 days a week but with limited hours, which can be tricky if you contact them in a different time zone.

Here's a quick comparison of the support options for each tool:

Overall, both tools have responsive support teams, but Semrush's phone support gives it an edge.

Add-ons can be a great way to enhance the functionality of your SEO tools. Ahrefs has a "backlink gap tool" that allows you to see backlinks your core competitors have but you don’t.

Some Semrush add-ons are available for an additional fee, including the 'Semrush .Trends' add-on, which costs $289 per user per month. This add-on gives you access to more detailed information on your competitors' traffic and demographics.

The local SEO add-on for Semrush is available for $20 or $40 per month, depending on the features you need. This add-on allows you to distribute business information to directories, suppress duplicate listings, track local rankings, manage Google My Business and Facebook listings, and monitor reviews and user suggestions.

Semrush's Agency Growth Kit add-on costs between $69 to $249 per month, depending on the plan you're on and the features you need. This add-on lets you produce custom PDF reports with no Semrush branding, list your business in a directory of Semrush certified agencies, and access client management tools.

Here's a breakdown of the costs for Semrush's add-ons:

Ahrefs and Semrush are two of the most popular tools for SEO analysis. Ahrefs allows you to quickly see a website's backlinks, referring domains, and dofollow vs nofollow links. This makes it easy to compare websites quickly.

Semrush has a solid site audit feature that provides an overall health score and identifies technical issues such as broken links, HTTP status code errors, and crawl errors. It also has a cool "internal link distribution" report that breaks down how well your internal links are setup for SEO.

Ahrefs has recently upgraded its site audit tool, providing three core site audit metrics: your health score, URLs crawled, and URLs with errors. It identifies major technical issues such as slow loading pages, broken links, canonicalisation, and internal linking errors.

Semrush's site audit tool is known for being one of the best, and it provides a wealth of information upfront, allowing you to dive into certain aspects of your website immediately.

Here are some key features of Ahrefs and Semrush's site audit tools:

Ahrefs provides a complete list of things you need to fix, broken down into three categories: errors, warnings, and notices. You can click on any of the issues to reveal a complete list of affected URLs.

Custom support is a crucial aspect of any tool, and both Ahrefs and Semrush offer live chat and email support. Ahrefs' live chat is particularly impressive, with a response time of 3-5 minutes.

Ahrefs also offers live support 24/5 on weekdays, making it convenient for users to get help when they need it. Semrush, on the other hand, operates 7 days a week but with limited hours, which can be tricky for users in different time zones.

Ahrefs' customer support team is known for being friendly and knowledgeable, which helps users get issues sorted quickly. Semrush also replies within 3-5 minutes when they are online, which is a good response time.

Here's a comparison of the support options offered by Ahrefs and Semrush:

Both Ahrefs and Semrush offer phone support, but only Semrush has this option. Ahrefs' support team is available 24/5 on weekdays, while Semrush operates 7 days a week but with limited hours.

Customer support is a crucial aspect to consider when choosing an SEO tool. Semrush offers three channels of support: phone, chat, and email, giving it a clear edge over Ahrefs, which provides only chat and email support.

Both Semrush and Ahrefs make it easy to contact support, with a clear support window icon present at the bottom right corner of each interface. This convenience is a big plus for both tools.

Semrush's phone support is a significant advantage over Ahrefs, which doesn't offer this option. This means that Semrush users can get help over the phone, while Ahrefs users are limited to live chat and email.

Ahrefs' live chat is responsive, with a response time of 3-5 minutes, which is impressive. They also offer live support 24/5 on weekdays, so users can contact them anytime during these hours.

Semrush operates 7 days a week, but with limited hours, which can be tricky for users in different time zones. However, when they are online, Semrush replies within 3-5 minutes.

Here's a comparison of the support options offered by Semrush and Ahrefs:

In terms of support quality, both tools have friendly and knowledgeable support teams. Ahrefs' support team is particularly responsive, with a quick response time and helpful guidance on using their tools and navigating the SEO world.

You can explore the largest, fastest, and freshest backlink management tool to find all of your backlinks.

Ahrefs allows you to quickly see any website's backlinks, referring domains, and dofollow vs nofollow links.

Ahrefs has a backlink gap tool that lets you see backlinks your core competitors have but you don’t.

Semrush provides a ton of backlink filters so you can get specific on the types of links a website has.

You can research any website's backlink profile to get all of the important backlink information with Semrush.

Ahrefs offers a free cut-down version of its 'Site Explorer' and 'Site Audit' tools, but Semrush provides a 7-day free trial, which can be doubled in length for a limited time.

Semrush's outreach link building tool lets you find and reach out to prospects from within the tool.

Ahrefs has a huge amount of features, including backlink audits and web monitoring that sends you an email whenever you get mentioned online.

In terms of backlink analysis, both Semrush and Ahrefs have impressive features, but Ahrefs edges out Semrush in this department. Ahrefs found a total of 49K referring domain links, while Semrush found 71.5K.

However, when it comes to total backlinks, Semrush found 2.1M, which is significantly more than Ahrefs' 419K. This suggests that Semrush has a larger link index, indicating they're investing heavily in their link analysis feature set.

Despite Semrush's larger index, Ahrefs' UI is easier to use, making it a more efficient tool for link analysis. Ahrefs shows a sneak preview of the text around each backlink, which helps you understand why people are linking to a specific page.

Here's a comparison of the two tools' backlink features:

Ahrefs is the clear winner when it comes to backlink analysis, making it a better choice for tasks like backlink audits and finding link building opportunities.

Ahrefs' plans start at $99/month, making it a more affordable option compared to Semrush.

Serpstat's plans start at $69/month, with a free trial available.

Semrush offers a free trial period, and you can get a custom enterprise plan with negotiable fees.

If you pay upfront for a year, Ahrefs give you two months' extra access for free, which can be a great deal for businesses with a long-term strategy.

Ahrefs also offers a $29/month 'Starter' plan, which gives you limited access to its 'Site Explorer', 'Keywords Explorer', and 'Site Audit' tools.

The Semrush Pro plan for $119.95/month will give you access to most Semrush features, but you won't get any of their content marketing features and historical data index.

Ahrefs' Enterprise plan starts at $14,990 per year (billed annually), which is significantly more expensive than Semrush's Enterprise plan.

Semrush offers a discount of up to 17% if you pay on an annual basis, making it a more cost-effective option for businesses that can commit to a year-long contract.

Ultimately, the best value for money will depend on your business requirements and budget, so it's essential to try out the free trials or cut-down versions of the tools to see which one suits you best.