Short answer
The best Ahrefs API alternative for SEO data is the SE Ranking API. You can start pay as you go at $50 for 250,000 credits that don't expire, with backlinks, keyword, domain, audit and AI search endpoints, and you don't need a $129+ subscription first. If you need raw Google results or page HTML for your own tools, use ScraperAPI: plans start at $49 and the trial has no card.
Top picks
Prices checked November 2026
- Best for SEO data
SE Ranking API
Backlink, keyword and domain data without an Ahrefs plan
Starts at Wallet $50 for 250K credits; included on Core ($129/mo)
Get 100K free credits - Best for raw SERPs
ScraperAPI
Raw Google SERPs and page scraping for DIY tools
Starts at From $49/mo for 100K credits
Try free for 7 days
On this page
How the Ahrefs API is priced
Ahrefs doesn't sell the API on its own. Its documentation says the API is available on eligible paid plans, and the pricing page lists a monthly allowance of "API integration units" per plan. Checked November 2026:
| Ahrefs plan | Monthly price | API units a month | Max rows per request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $129 | 200,000 | 100 |
| Standard | $249 | 800,000 | 250 |
| Advanced | $449 | 2M | 500 |
| Enterprise | $1,499 | 4M, or custom | Unlimited |
How units work, from the docs:
- A request costs
max(50, per-row cost × rows). Most fields cost 1 unit per row, some 5 or 10. So even a one-number lookup like Domain Rating costs 50 units. - On Lite's 200,000 units that's at most 4,000 minimum-cost calls a month.
- Rank Tracker, Management and Public endpoints are free. Requests served from cache don't consume units.
- Units "once consumed are non-refundable", and pay-as-you-go units last three billing months.
The data is good. The catch is the entry ticket: you pay for the full Ahrefs subscription before you make your first call.
Ahrefs API alternatives compared
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked November 2026.
| API | Entry price | What you get | Pay as you go | Free test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking API | $50 Wallet (250K credits) | Backlinks, keywords, domains, audits, AI search, rank tracking | Yes, credits never expire | 100K credits, 14 days, no card |
| ScraperAPI | $49/mo (100K credits) | Raw Google SERPs, any page HTML, structured endpoints | No, monthly plans | 5,000 credits, 7 days, no card |
| Ahrefs API | $129/mo (Lite plan) | Ahrefs Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, SERP, Rank Tracker data | Extra units on some plans | Free test queries |
| DataForSEO | $50 minimum top-up | SERP, Labs, Backlinks, Keywords Data and more | Yes, balance never expires | Free trial |
| SerpApi | $25/mo for 1,000 searches | Parsed search results | No, monthly plans | Free plan, 250 searches a month |
| Majestic API | $399.99/mo | Backlink data, 100M analysis units | No | n/a |
| Semrush API | Not on the public pricing page | Analytics and Projects APIs | No | n/a |
DataForSEO lists Google SERPs from $0.0006 per SERP and Labs at $0.012 per task plus $0.00012 per item. SerpApi's next plans are $75 for 5,000 searches and $150 for 15,000.
SE Ranking API: best Ahrefs API alternative for SEO data
If what you want from the Ahrefs API is backlinks, keyword metrics and domain overviews, this is the closest match at a much lower entry price.
The SE Ranking API pricing page lists Backlinks, Domain Research, Keyword Research, Website Audit, AI Search and Project Management APIs, plus MCP access on every option. Four ways to pay:
- Free trial: 100,000 credits for 14 days, every endpoint, MCP included.
- Wallet: $50 for 250,000 credits, top up when you want. Purchased credits never expire.
- Add-on for SE Ranking subscribers: +$45/mo billed annually ($48 monthly) for 3M credits a year, with both the Data API and the Project API. Core already includes 25,000 credits and Growth 100,000.
- Standalone: $179/mo, annual only, 12M credits a year, Data API only and no web app subscription needed. Enterprise goes down to $30 per 1M credits.
Failed requests aren't charged. Credits are charged either per successful request or per record returned, depending on the endpoint, so check the cost table for the calls you plan to make. SE Ranking says its data covers 5.5 billion keywords and 2.2 billion domains across 188 countries. One difference from Ahrefs: annual-plan credits expire at the end of the billing cycle, while Wallet credits don't.
Pros
- Start for $50 without a monthly plan
- Backlinks, keywords, domains, audits and AI search in one API
- MCP included, so you can plug it into an AI assistant
- Failed requests are free
Cons
- We haven't compared its backlink index with Ahrefs'; test it on domains you know
- Credit costs differ by endpoint, so estimate before big jobs
- Standalone is annual only
ScraperAPI: best for raw SERPs and page data
ScraperAPI isn't an SEO database. It fetches pages for you (with proxies, retries and CAPTCHA handling) and returns the HTML or structured JSON. Use it when you want to build the data yourself: your own rank checks, SERP feature tracking, or scraping competitor pages.
On the ScraperAPI pricing page, Hobby is $49/mo for 100,000 credits and 20 concurrent threads, Startup $149 for 1M credits and Business $299 for 3M credits with global geotargeting. A Google search costs 25 credits, which works out to about $12.25 per 1,000 searches on Hobby, $3.73 on Startup and $2.49 on Business. Yearly billing takes 10% off. The trial gives 5,000 credits for 7 days with no card.
Read our ScraperAPI review for the full plan list.
Pros
- Works on Google and on any other site
- Trial without a card
- Concurrency rises with each plan (20 to 500 threads)
Cons
- No backlink or keyword volume data
- You write and maintain the parsing
- Google requests cost 25 credits each
Which one should replace your Ahrefs API calls?
| What you call Ahrefs for | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Backlink profiles, referring domains | SE Ranking Backlinks API |
| Keyword volume, difficulty, ideas | SE Ranking Keyword Research API |
| Domain traffic and competitor overviews | SE Ranking Domain Research API |
| Site audit issues in your own dashboard | SE Ranking Website Audit API |
| Daily positions for a keyword list | SE Ranking Rank Tracker and Project API, or ScraperAPI for DIY |
| Raw top-100 SERPs or page HTML | ScraperAPI |
| AI search visibility | SE Ranking AI Search API |
What 1,000 lookups cost: a rough comparison
It's hard to compare unit systems one to one, so take this as a floor. On Ahrefs Lite, 200,000 units at 50 units per minimum request means up to 4,000 lookups for $129, or about $32 per 1,000 before any row costs. On SE Ranking the cost depends on the endpoint, but the Wallet's 250,000 credits for $50 and the Enterprise rate of $30 per 1M credits show how low it goes at volume. For raw Google results, ScraperAPI's Business plan comes to about $2.49 per 1,000 searches.
Before you switch, run the same 20 calls through the free credits on each API and write down the credits spent. That's a real number for your workload.
When to keep the Ahrefs API
Stay with Ahrefs if you already pay for Advanced or Enterprise, your reports depend on Ahrefs metrics like Domain Rating, or you need the biggest backlink index you can buy. The units come with the plan, so the API is effectively free on top. If you only pay for Ahrefs to get the API, that's when an alternative saves real money. For the full tool comparison, see SE Ranking vs Ahrefs and our Ahrefs alternatives.
How we checked
We read the Ahrefs pricing page and API documentation, the SE Ranking API pricing page, and the ScraperAPI, DataForSEO, SerpApi and Majestic pricing pages in November 2026. We didn't benchmark data quality between APIs for this guide. Prices and unit rules change, so check the vendor page before you build.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Ahrefs API cost?
There's no separate API plan. API units come with Ahrefs subscriptions: 200,000 units a month on Lite ($129/mo), 800,000 on Standard ($249), 2M on Advanced ($449) and 4M or custom on Enterprise ($1,499). Every billable request costs at least 50 units.
What is the best Ahrefs API alternative?
For SEO data (backlinks, keywords, domains, audits), the SE Ranking API. You can start pay as you go at $50 for 250,000 credits that never expire, or get 25,000 credits included with the $129 Core plan. There's a 14-day trial with 100,000 free credits.
Is there a free Ahrefs API alternative?
Not free forever, but you can test free. SE Ranking gives 100,000 API credits for 14 days with no card, ScraperAPI gives 5,000 credits for 7 days with no card, and SerpApi has a free plan with 250 searches a month.
Can I get Ahrefs data without an Ahrefs subscription?
Not through the official API beyond its free test queries. Ahrefs API is available on eligible paid plans. If you only need backlink or keyword data, the SE Ranking Standalone API works without a web app subscription, from $179/mo on annual billing.
Which API is best for building my own rank tracker?
ScraperAPI if you want raw Google results and control over parsing: a Google search costs 25 credits, so the $49 Hobby plan covers about 4,000 searches. SE Ranking if you'd rather use its Rank Tracker and Project API with ready-made position data.
What is the best Ahrefs API competitor?
For SEO data APIs (backlinks, keywords, domains, audits) without an Ahrefs subscription, we pick SE Ranking API Wallet from $50 for 250,000 credits, with a 100,000-credit free trial (seranking.com/api-pricing.html, checked November 2026). ScraperAPI is the better competitor when you need raw Google SERP or page HTML instead of SEO metrics.
The bottom line
The Ahrefs API is good, but it costs a full Ahrefs subscription to get in. For SEO data, start with the SE Ranking API's free credits and move to the $50 Wallet. For raw SERPs and scraping, add ScraperAPI.
Get 100,000 free SE Ranking API credits Try ScraperAPI free →
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