Ahrefs vs Semrush: Which is the Best Tool? – Plerdy

The use of specific tools for SEO is essential for online promotion. Marketers and web analysts require data to improve the site’s relevance and rank its pages higher in SERP. And doing it is possible with the famous instruments used by each professional search engine optimization agency and self-employment users. One of the most famous confrontations in 2022 is “Ahrefs vs. Semrush,” the brands regularly fighting for the leading positions.

What is Ahrefs?

Ahrefs is an indispensable tool that provides deployed statistics with the various indicators representing the website’s online performance to improve its technical characteristics. It was created by Dmitry Gerasimenko, an experienced marketing specialist and developer, aiming to help people reveal the secrets of Google ranking algorithms and become true leaders of organic search. The company’s headquarters is located in Singapore. Popular brands like Adobe, Expedia, Uber, Pinterest, and others trust Ahrefs and prefer working with it.

However, since the platform was one in such a niche, many similar competitive tools appeared, and Semrush became the one. And now, let’s compare these two powerful websites for SEO, determine their pros and cons, and define the winner of the “Semrush vs. Ahrefs” battle.

What is Semrush?

Oleg Shchegolev, with a group of marketing specialists, established the company in 2008, and since that time, they have opened more than 20 offices worldwide. The team developed a instrument for growing organic traffic by building efficient promotion campaigns through social media, advertising, and improving SEO parameters. Nowadays, Semrush is a winner of 20+ International awards and has become a first-priority instrument for over 500 authoritative brands such as Decathlon, Quora, Amazon, Booking.com, etc. The database includes 20 billion keywords and more than 800 million domain profiles and is considered the most extensive information storage among similar platforms.

Compare Ahrefs vs. Semrush

So, it’s time to understand if one tool can replace the other. The primary factors used for the comparison are the unique functions, pricing, customers’ perception, and the advantages over each other. The information is independent and doesn’t aim to exalt one of the tools, so the objectiveness of this “Ahrefs vs. Semrush” confrontation is on the highest level.

Pricing Ahrefs & Semrush

The first thing to mention is the absence of a free trial for Ahrefs plans, but it provides two months without payment if purchasing an annual functions package. Both companies offer a lower price if paying upfront. Also, buying a better Ahrefs plan will include all the functions and instruments of the previous one, which is also a unique benefit.

There are 4 tool sets of Ahrefs and 3 for Semrush. Each has a special monthly price (in the gaps, there is a price with a discount for paying for a year):

AhrefsSemrushLite – $99 ($83)Pro – $119.95 ($99.95)Standard – $199 ($166)Guru – $229.95 ($191.62)Advanced – $399 ($333)Business – $449.95 ($374.95)Enterprise – $999 ($833)––

So, it’s hard to speak about better pricing in “Semrush vs. Ahrefs” because users have particular requirements. However, monthly and annual plans for both instruments are convenient and allow customers to choose various efficient functions.

Solutions of Ahrefs & Semrush

And now, let’s determine what functions the tools provide for customers to reach particular goals and understand who’s better in the “Ahrefs vs. Semrush” confrontation. The instruments are similar, but the working volume is different. Ahrefs tools provide the specific utilities:

• The dashboard provides deployed analytics of SEO parameters such as health score, domain rating, referring domains, etc.
• Site Explorer is used for organic and paid traffic research and for finding backlinks.
• Keyword Explorer chooses the most relevant keywords for the necessary topic and determines their difficulty index.
• Site Audit gives analytics of the site’s efficiency considering its online performance, content rating, links, HTML tags, etc.
• Rank Tracker shows the targeted keywords providing high SERP positions of web pages and monitors their changes.
• Content Explorer analyzes various content characteristics and gives essential tips for its improvement.

Semrush provides an alternative tool combination for each necessary marketing function. The toolsets are gathered depending on their goals (in the gaps – number of instruments):

• Keyword Research (3) for bringing targeted traffic by placing relevant words that users research.
• On-Page Audit (3) – instruments for optimizing the site’s structure and implementing modern features.
• Competitor Analysis (4) helps see what strategies similar websites use to attract users.
• Content Marketing (7) provides data-driven solutions for getting new clients and retaining the old.
• Link Building (5) helps improve the backlink profile using the information from the vast database.
• Rank Tracking (3) monitors the SERP positions and reveals factors influencing the ranking.
• PPC Management (3) includes the instruments for finding efficient paid advertising algorithms.
• Website Monetization (2) toolkits and others.

So, to decide the “Ahrefs vs. Semrush” winner, speaking about the number of solutions, the second is better because of a wider variety of functions.

Customer Reviews Ahrefs & Semrush

And now, let’s see what users think about using both tools and analyze the feedback:

ReviewsAhrefsSemrush“I am using Semrush also, but I claim that Ahrefs is much better in SEO research,” – Charudatt, SEO Executive at Mid-Market.“It provides the powerful marketing research tools that I got after the subscription,” – says Karen, Director of Marketing at Small Business.“It’s the best tool for keyword research and backlink checking, and it won’t lose the competition with Semrush,” – Anahit, Marketer at Small Business.“They have the most powerful SEO marketing instrument,” – Ankit, Marketing Manager at Enterprise.“Ahrefs is a wonderful instrument to optimize and fix the flaws on the website,” – User, Worker at Medical Device Business.“Semrush provides the most impressive tool for improving the content,” – Prerna, SEO Consultant at Mid-Market.

While studying the testimonials, it was revealed that many customers use both tools and enjoy the functions of each. Therefore, and due to the subjective opinion of each user, here, it’s a draw for “Semrush vs. Ahrefs.”

Benefits of Ahrefs

So, in the end, let’s determine the apparent benefits of using the instrument:

1. It supports many search engines such as Google, Amazon, YouTube, Yahoo
2. Ahrefs provides a deployed content list for any requested topic.
3. The tool provides a breakdown of links.
4. The function updates are provided permanently.
5. There are a lot of guides and training materials for the users.

So, these are the benefits customers primarily consider when choosing the best instrument for building an online marketing strategy.

Benefits of Semrush

Semrush has the following features provided better:

1. Semrush has the most prominent keyword database with 20 billion phrases.
2. It includes domain analytics for mobile rankings.
3. The website has a comprehensive SMM toolkit.
4. The free version is available for users.
5. It’s the best SEO instrument with API integration.

The combination of such features makes Semrush one of the most widely used digital marketing tools.

In summary Semrush vs Ahrefs

Overall, it’s complicated to determine the winner of the “Ahrefs vs. Semrush” confrontation because each instrument has unique and indispensable features that users worldwide use for digital marketing. They are efficient at various functions, and even the most authoritative companies use both to reach the specific aims of increasing the site’s attendance and becoming true SERP leaders.