Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover seo & discovery and research & trends. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Ahrefs | AnswerThePublic | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $129 | From $13.33 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | SEO & Discovery, Research & Trends | SEO & Discovery, Research & Trends |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Backlink and keyword data at full depth
Ahrefs runs its own crawler, which is why its backlink index is the one other tools get compared against, and why the keyword data goes deeper than the free alternatives. Site Explorer and Content Gap are what most people open it for. It is priced for businesses rather than for individuals, and the company states outright that it never discounts.
Our note
Between this and Semrush the split is old but holds: Ahrefs for backlinks and content research, Semrush for advertising data and rank tracking breadth. Pick on which half of the job is yours, because paying for both is rarely worth it.
The questions people type into search
AnswerThePublic takes a keyword and returns the questions, prepositions and comparisons people search around it, which is a content calendar's worth of titles in one query. The wheel graphic is the famous part and the export is the useful part. Free use is capped at three searches a day, and the paid plans are counted in searches rather than in seats.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.