Ahrefs Costs $99/Month. Here Are the 4 Free + Cheap Tools That Replace 90% of What I Use It For.

I used Ahrefs for 2 years. When my subscription renewed at $99/month, I decided to actually audit what I was using it for.

Turns out: 4 specific features covered 90% of my use cases.

Here's what I replaced them with, and what I kept.

What I Actually Used Ahrefs For

1. Keyword research — finding search volume and difficulty for target keywords
2. Competitor backlink analysis — seeing who links to my competitors
3. SERP tracking — monitoring rankings for ~50 keywords
4. Content gap analysis — finding keywords competitors rank for that I don't

That's it. I was paying $99/month for 4 features.

The Replacement Stack

1. Keyword Research → Google Search Console + Keyword Surfer (Free)

Google Search Console shows actual search data for your existing content. Keyword Surfer (Chrome extension, free) shows search volume inline in Google SERPs.

For new keyword discovery: use Google's autocomplete via API. It's free and reflects real user intent.

# Get keyword suggestions from Google autocomplete
import requests

def get_suggestions(keyword):
    url = f"https://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?q={keyword}&client=firefox"
    r = requests.get(url)
    return r.json()[1]

suggestions = get_suggestions("web scraping")
# Returns: ['web scraping python', 'web scraping tools', 'web scraping tutorial', ...]

Cost: Free

2. SERP Tracking → Custom Scraper ($2/month)

I scrape Google for my target keywords twice a week. 50 keywords × 8 checks/month = 400 SERP scrapes.

At $0.005 per SERP page: $2/month total.

I get position tracking, competitor positions, featured snippet status, and PAA boxes — all in CSV.

Cost: ~$2/month

3. Backlink Analysis → Ahrefs Free Tier + Majestic Free

Ahrefs free tier: 10 searches/day. Majestic free tier: limited but usable. Between the two, I cover my backlink research needs without paying.

For competitor backlinks at scale, I use a SERP scraper to find who ranks for target keywords, then cross-reference with free tools.

Cost: Free

4. Content Gap Analysis → SERP Scraper + Python Script ($5-10)

# Find keywords where competitor ranks, you don't
competitor_keywords = set(scrape_serp_for_domain("competitor.com"))
your_keywords = set(get_from_search_console())
gaps = competitor_keywords - your_keywords
print(f"Content gaps: {len(gaps)} keywords")

This takes about 2 hours to set up and runs for pennies per month.

Cost: ~$5/month in scraping costs

The Honest Comparison

Feature	Ahrefs	Replacement	Monthly Cost
Keyword research	✅ Full	✅ 80% there	$0
SERP tracking	✅ 1000 keywords	✅ 50 keywords	$2
Backlink analysis	✅ Full index	⚠️ Limited	$0
Content gap	✅ Full	✅ Good enough	$5
Total	$99/month		$7/month

What I Kept Ahrefs For

I still pay for Ahrefs quarterly (not monthly) for one use case: historical backlink data. No free tool matches Ahrefs' link index depth for competitive research on established domains.

For everything else: the free stack is sufficient for a content-focused site with <100 target keywords.

The SERP Scraper Setup

The SERP scraping is the backbone of this stack. I use pre-built tools to avoid the anti-bot issues:

SERP + SEO Scraper Bundle — $29

Includes:

• Google SERP scraper with proxy rotation
• Keyword rank tracker (CSV export)
• Competitor analysis tool
• SERP feature detector (featured snippets, PAA, local pack)

At $29 one-time vs $99/month for Ahrefs, you pay for 3 days of Ahrefs and own the tool forever.

Bottom Line

Ahrefs is excellent if you:

• Manage SEO for multiple client sites
• Need deep historical backlink data
• Track 500+ keywords across multiple projects

For a focused content site or startup tracking 50-100 keywords, the free stack + a SERP scraper covers 90% of the use cases at 7% of the cost.

---

What SEO tools are actually worth paying for at your scale? I'm curious what the community uses.

n8n AI Automation Pack ($39) — 5 production-ready workflows

Related Apify Tools

For automation at scale:

• google-serp-scraper