Check any site's Domain Rating free, from the browser or a curl one-liner

If you do outreach, guest posting, or competitor research, you have wanted one number without opening the 129 dollar a month Ahrefs dashboard: Domain Rating. Here are two zero-cost ways to get it, a no-signup web tool and a curl one-liner.

What DR actually is

Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score of a site's backlink strength. It is logarithmic, so 20 to 30 is easy and 70 to 80 is brutal. DR is not a Google ranking factor, but it correlates with the link profiles that tend to rank, so it is a fair gut check before you spend time on a site.

Option 1: the no-setup web tool

Paste a domain into the Domain Rating Checker, hit the button, and you get the real Ahrefs DR on a 0 to 100 gauge with a strength label. No login, single or bulk, CSV export.

Option 2: curl the free Ahrefs endpoint

Ahrefs shipped a free public DR endpoint. Generate a free API key in your Ahrefs account settings, then:

curl -s "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/public/domain-rating-free?target=example.com&version=dr3&output=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_FREE_KEY"

Response:

{ "domain_rating": { "domain_rating": 91.0, "license": "https://ahrefs.com/legal/domain-rating-license" } }

No API units are consumed, and the key is free. Two gotchas worth knowing before you script against it:

• There is a per-minute rate limit (roughly 40 to 60 requests per minute), so cache results if you loop.
• Ahrefs' license requires attribution ("Domain Rating by Ahrefs") wherever you display the number.

If you do not want to manage a key at all, the web tool above does the same call server side and keeps the key off the client.

Bulk, for a shortlist

Bulk mode takes up to five domains at once and exports the table to CSV, which is enough for most link-vetting sessions.

For thousands of domains you need a paid Ahrefs plan with full API access. That is the honest ceiling of the free tier.

DR vs DA

Domain Rating is Ahrefs. Domain Authority is Moz. Different link indexes, different math, so the same site scores differently on each. Pick one and track the trend over time rather than mixing them.

Honest caveats

• Free tier gives you DR only. Backlinks, referring domains, traffic, and keywords are paid.
• DR is a proxy for authority, not a ranking guarantee.
• A DR 35 page can still outrank a DR 70 page for a specific query if it is more relevant and better linked for that topic.

Tool: Domain Rating Checker. Full write-up: How to check domain rating.