Backlinks reports don't match

Hi everyone,

I tried to test different tools to check a client's backlinks.

• Raven Tools tells me that he has over 40K backlinks
• Seoreviewtools.com says the same site has about 3.6K backlinks
• My client sent me a list taken from his Google Search Console, showing only 116 backlinks!

Now, I know that free tools are unreliable, but here the discrepancy is quite crazy. Is it because the Google Console is looking only at the most recent backlinks?

Moreover, if the free tools were right, there's a ton of links coming from bad sources (like Korean and totally unrelated sites, plus many expired domains), but my client guaranteed that he has never been buying backlinks.

I don't really understand what's going on here and this client doesn't grant me access to his analytics and GSC or GWT, so I have no way to look deeper on my own, but I would really like to help him.

Anyone here has any idea on why these data are so different and why my client can't see all these bad sources on his data?

Thanks everyone!

Free tools are crap.
Sometimes me they show you malicious reports to force you upgrade to paid version.

If you want, share via PM the link of the site with me and I’ll look up in Ahref!

If you want actual stats, use pro tools like Ahrefs, and see what Google Search Console actually sees.