Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover research & trends. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Ahrefs | Brand24 | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $129 | From $199 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 14 days |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Covers | SEO & Discovery, Research & Trends | Research & Trends, Analytics, Brand Deals & Sponsorships |
| 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.
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Alerts when your name turns up anywhere
Brand24 watches social networks, news, blogs, forums and podcasts for a keyword and tells you when it moves, with sentiment and reach attached. For a creator that is the difference between hearing about a video that mentioned you and not. The entry plan is priced for a business rather than for a person, which is the honest reason most individuals stop at the trial.
Our note
The API costing extra on every tier is the detail buried furthest down the page, and it changes the total for anybody planning to pipe mentions elsewhere. For a solo creator, a saved search and an alert do most of this for nothing.
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.
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