Every SEO has the same routine: build links, then spend just as much time checking whether they actually went live, whether they're indexed, and whether they're still there a month later. Paid platforms make this easy. Free tools make you work for it.
This roundup runs the same handful of domains through seven free backlink checkers to see which ones give you something you can actually act on, and which ones just tease you into a paid plan.
What Matters When Evaluating a Free Checker
Four criteria decide whether a free tool is actually usable:
- How many backlinks are visible without paying? A tool that shows five links isn't a checker, it's a preview.
- What metrics come with the free tier? Dofollow/nofollow status and anchor text are the baseline. Anything less isn't usable.
- Is an account required? Some tools gate even a basic check behind a signup.
- How often does the data refresh? A backlink checker running on a stale index will miss recent link activity entirely.
Here's how the seven stacked up.
| Tool | Free Usage Limit | Max Backlinks Shown | Account Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collaborator | 5 checks/day (20 with account) | 100 | No |
| Ahrefs | Not rate-limited | 20 | No |
| Ubersuggest | 1 check/day | 100 | No |
| SEO Review Tools | Not rate-limited | 100 | No |
| Seobility | 3 checks/day | ~600 | No |
| Semrush | 3 checks/day | 5 | No |
| Moz Link Explorer | 10 searches/month | 50 rows | Yes |
1. Collaborator
Collaborator's free backlink checker runs on SE Ranking's index, which means the numbers you get are close to what you'd see in a paid tool, not a stripped-down approximation. You get five checks a day with no account, twenty a day if you create one, and there's no credit card involved either way.
What you get for free:
- Up to 100 backlinks per search: 50 of the strongest plus 50 of the most recent
- Domain and Page InLink Rank for every link
- Anchor text and dofollow/nofollow status
- A flag showing whether the referring domain is listed in Collaborator's own marketplace, so you can see which links are actually available to acquire, not just who's already linking to your competitor
That last point is what separates it from the rest of this list. Most checkers stop at showing that a link exists. This one shows whether it can actually be acquired.
Limitations: capped at 100 links per search, and it's not built to replace a full SEO suite if you need years of historical data.
2. Ahrefs
Ahrefs runs one of the largest backlink databases in the industry, and their free checker is a fast way to sanity-check a domain's authority. It's clearly built as a teaser for the paid product, and it shows.
What you get for free:
- Domain Rating and total backlink count
- Number of linking websites
- Dofollow percentage
- Up to 20 backlinks with referring page and anchor text
Limitations: 20 links is barely enough to spot a pattern, let alone do real analysis. There's no dofollow/nofollow column on individual links, no filtering, and no history. URL Rating only shows up in their browser extension. Paid plans start at €27/month.
3. Ubersuggest
Neil Patel's backlink checker runs on its own index and gives you one free search a day before it asks you to sign up. That single search is more generous than most tools' entire free tier, though.
What you get for free:
- Domain Authority, referring domains, and total backlinks (with a nofollow count)
- Up to 100 backlinks with Domain Authority, Page Authority, Spam Score, anchor text, and first/last-seen dates
- Filters for follow, no-follow, and one-link-per-domain
- Competitive gap analysis (links pointing to competitors but not to you)
- CSV export
Limitations: one search a day is restrictive if you're checking multiple domains, and the historical trend charts are locked behind a signup wall.
4. SEO Review Tools
This one surprised me. No account required, and it shows up to 100 backlinks per search sorted by Domain Authority, which is a rare combination on the free end of this list.
What you get for free:
- External backlinks, Domain Authority, referring domains, and referring IPs
- Up to 100 backlinks with anchor text and follow/nofollow status
- Tabs for most popular anchor text and most linked URLs
Limitations: you can't export or page through beyond that 100-link cap, and the data isn't real-time since new links still need to be crawled before they show up.
5. Seobility
Seobility's standout feature is Link Rating, a per-link percentage score that most free tools don't bother calculating. On a site with a large backlink profile, it's possible to page through roughly 600 links before hitting the ceiling.
What you get for free:
- Domain Rating, total backlinks, and referring domains
- A large paginated list of backlinks (10 per page)
- Link Rating for each individual backlink
- Referring page title, URL, anchor text, and target URL
- Follow/nofollow status per link
Limitations: three checks a day without an account, and the "free trial" prompt auto-renews into a $50/month plan if you're not paying attention when you sign up.
6. Semrush
Semrush's backlink database is enormous (43 trillion backlinks, refreshed roughly hourly), but the free checker only gives you a glimpse of it.
What you get for free:
- Authority Score
- Total backlinks and referring domains
- Dofollow backlink percentage
- Five individual backlinks with anchor text and target URL
Limitations: three checks a day, and five visible links is closer to a teaser than a working tool. Full access requires their Backlink Analytics plan, starting at $199.95/month.
7. Moz Link Explorer
Moz requires a free account, but not a credit card, and it's one of the only tools here that tracks lost links over time rather than just showing you a snapshot.
What you get for free:
- 10 searches a month, up to 50 rows per query
- Domain Authority and Page Authority
- Top anchor text and follow/nofollow breakdown
- Lost link tracking
- A limited top pages report (capped at 5 pages on the free tier)
Limitations: 10 searches a month resets slowly if you're doing frequent research, and full access needs Moz Pro at $99/month.
How to Pick One
If you're checking a small or newer site, Collaborator, SEO Review Tools, or Ubersuggest will cover you comfortably within their 100-link cap. For an established domain with a deep backlink history, Seobility's paginated results or Moz's exportable reports will get you further before you hit a wall.
If you don't want to create an account at all, Ahrefs, Semrush, SEO Review Tools, Ubersuggest, and Collaborator all work without one. Moz is the only tool on this list that requires signup just to run a search.
And if you specifically need to know when you gain or lose links, not just what your profile looks like today, Moz's lost-link tracking is the most useful free feature here.
Final Take
None of these tools replace a full paid SEO suite, and none of them are trying to. What they're good for is exactly what most people need day to day: a quick check on your own site, a look at what a competitor is doing, or a sanity check before you agree to a link placement.
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