Ahrefs vs Serpstat Comparison 2026
Both cover seo & discovery and research & trends. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Serpstat starts cheaper, at $50.
- Only Ahrefs has a free tier.
Side by side
Ahrefs | Serpstat | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $129 | From $50 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Paid subscription |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | None | None |
| Runs on |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
Ahrefs
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.
Serpstat
A full SEO suite at fifty dollars a month
Serpstat does keyword research, rank tracking, backlink analysis and site audits from one account, and prices the entry plan below where the better-known suites start. The data is thinner in some markets than Ahrefs or Semrush, which is the honest trade for the difference. For somebody checking a few hundred keywords a month rather than running an agency, the cheaper tier is not a compromised version of the tool, it is the same tool with lower limits.
Our note
The data is thinner than the market leaders in some regions, and that gap is the whole difference in price. Run the trial against keywords you already know the answer for, because that comparison tells you in an afternoon whether the cheaper tier is enough.
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.