An Ahrefs alternative for people whose SEO work is one service among several
Ahrefs is built on its own web crawler, and for deep backlink work nothing on this page comes close. Loadout can read backlink counts, summaries, new and lost links and history for any site, priced per call, but if links are your whole job, stay with Ahrefs. It is worth a look if $129 a month is more than the SEO work earns you, and what you actually need is the audit, the keyword map and the briefs, next to the prospecting and proposals.
Prices checked on 1 Nov 2026 from each company's own pages
In Ahrefs
Step 1 of 8A site audit against two rivals, as their pages describe it
- Log in to the platform
- 2Add the project
- 3Run Site Audit
- 4Read the issues
- 5Open Site Explorer
- 6Check Keywords Explorer
- 7Set up Rank Tracker
- 8Export the findings
In your AI, with Loadout
1 requestSEO Audit, about 400 credits
- SEO Auditworking
- Scan website
- Check keywords
- Check competitor SEO
- Research keywords
Starting price
Ahrefs
$129 a month on the Lite plan. Lite covers 5 unverified projects, 6 months of history, 750 tracked keywords updated weekly, 150 AI prompt checks, 100,000 crawl credits, API and MCP access and one user, with extra users at $40 a month each. Standard is $249 and Advanced is $449. Their FAQ says they never run discounts and do not issue refunds in general.
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Best for
Ahrefs
SEOs whose work turns on backlink data, competitor research and years of history.
Loadout
Agencies, freelancers and consultants who sell SEO as one service among several and want the finished audit, map and briefs.
Price model
Ahrefs
$129 a month on Lite, with extra users at $40 a month each
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Backlinks
Ahrefs
Their own crawler and index, with Site Explorer, broken backlinks and anchors
Loadout
Backlink reads for any site, priced per call: counts, summaries, new and lost links, history and the pages that earn them
Keywords
Ahrefs
Keywords Explorer with clusters, intent and suggestions, plus 750 tracked keywords on Lite
Loadout
Keyword volumes read live per run. The keyword map power groups 100 ideas and 10 results pages into a page plan for about 110 credits.
History
Ahrefs
6 months on Lite, 2 years on Standard, 5 years on Advanced
Loadout
No index of its own, so each run is a fresh read. History comes only where a tool reports it, such as backlink totals over time at 10 credits a call.
AI prompt tracking
Ahrefs
Brand Radar, 150 checks a month on Lite, with custom prompt packages from $50 a month
Loadout
The AI search visibility audit covers twelve questions across four AI assistants with the spread measured, about 320 credits
Where it runs
Ahrefs
A web platform, with API and MCP access on every paid plan
Loadout
Inside ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Muse, Claude Code or Codex, as a connector
Getting your money back
Ahrefs
Their FAQ says Ahrefs does not issue refunds in general, and that monthly refunds may be declined if there is activity on the account
Loadout
Cancel anytime, and within 14 days of a payment you get it back minus the credits used
Outside SEO
Ahrefs
A social media manager and a GBP monitor, both marked beta, plus Report Builder at $99 a month
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Choosing
Ahrefs or Loadout.
Stay with Ahrefs if
- Backlinks are the work. Ahrefs runs its own crawler and builds its tools around it, where Loadout reads backlinks one question at a time.
- You need years of history. Lite gives 6 months and Advanced gives 5 years, and Loadout keeps no index to look back through.
- You want a rank tracker that refreshes weekly without being asked. That is in every Ahrefs plan and there is no scheduled tracking here.
Look at Loadout if
- $129 a month is more than the SEO line on your invoices.
- Your work is wider than SEO. The same credits cover prospecting at about 202 for 50 businesses with 20 verified owner emails, ad research at about 25, and proposals at no credit cost.
- You want a way out if it does not fit. Ahrefs says it does not issue refunds in general. Loadout refunds within 14 days of a payment, minus the credits used.
Other options
Other Ahrefs alternatives people look at.
Starting prices from each company's own page, checked on 1 Nov 2026.
$139 a month for the SEO plan, or $117.33 a month billed annually
The other large suite, with a free tier and a local toolkit Ahrefs does not match.
From $49 a month on Discovery
Content briefs, optimisation and AI visibility tracking, with MCP on the entry tiers.
$20 a month on Lite, or $16 a month billed yearly
Local listings, review monitoring and a local grid, for work that happens on a map.
$41 a month for one location on the Track plan
Local audits and rank tracking priced per location.
In Loadout
The powers that do this work.
Each one is a proven method your AI follows step by step, with the live data each step needs, and a price shown before it runs.
Opening 12 November
Join the waitlist.
Loadout opens to everyone on 12 November. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment it does.
Questions
Before you run it.
What does Ahrefs cost right now+
Read from their pricing page on 1 Nov 2026. Lite is $129 a month, Standard $249, Advanced $449 and Enterprise $1,499 with an annual commitment.
Does Loadout have backlink data?+
Yes, as reads priced per call: backlink counts and summaries for a list of sites, new and lost links, a site's backlink history and the pages that earn links. It keeps no index of its own and has no link-building tools, so for daily backlink work a dedicated suite does more.
Can I use Ahrefs from Claude or ChatGPT already+
Yes. Their pricing page lists API and MCP access on Lite, Standard and Advanced, with the maximum rows per request rising from 100 on Lite to 500 on Advanced.
+
The jobs either side of the SEO work. The client finder power returns 50 businesses with 20 verified owner emails for about 202 credits, the proposal power publishes a priced proposal page at no credit cost, and the monthly report power rebuilds a client scorecard for about 12.