Which is better - SEMRush vs Aherfs (Comparison)

1. Pricing (and more specifically, the monthly cost of the cheapest usable plan)
2. Accuracy in traffic estimation (organic estimation vs GSC)
3. Backlinks (Total and RD vs GSC)
4. Paid Search (Keywords, clicks, and cost vs Google Ads - only the established and small brands)
5. Keyword Expansion (SEMRushKeyword Magic Tool broad vs Aherfs matching terms)

Pricing​

Accuracy in Traffic Estimation​

1. Established Brand:​

2. Small brand:​

3. Blog: ​

My Impression​

Backlinks​

1. Established Brand​

2. Small Brand​

3. Blog​

My Impression​

Paid Search (Google Ads)​

1. Established Brand​

2. Small Brand​

My Impression​

Keyword Expansion​

1. Brown Leather waller​

SEMRush​

Ahrefs​

2. Glucometer​

SEMRush​

Ahrefs​

3. White headphones​

SEMRush​

Ahrefs​

4. Wooden picture frame​

SEMRush​

Ahrefs​

5. Sun screen​

SEMRush​

Ahrefs​

My Impression​

Final Verdict:​

roydan said:

Every few days, someone asks whether they should buy Ahrefs or SEMRush. This is an important question, but the answers to this type of thread are based on personal impressions and there is usually very little, if any, data in the answers.
So I decided to compare them here back to show you where each of them shines, so you can make an informed decision about which to buy.

I’m going to compare them in these four aspects (feel free to suggest more):

1. Pricing (and more specifically, the monthly cost of the cheapest usable plan)
2. Accuracy in traffic estimation (organic estimation vs GSC)
3. Backlinks (Total and RD vs GSC)
4. Paid Search (Keywords, clicks, and cost vs Google Ads - only the established and small brands)
5. Keyword Expansion (SEMRushKeyword Magic Tool broad vs Aherfs matching terms)

I’m going to compare just the US market, on three sites: an established brand (root only, no blog.domain.com), a small brand, and a small blog.
The established brand is in the home services industry, the small brand is a movie streaming service, and the small blog relates to music.
Please note that I won’t compare their made-up metrics, such as DR, KD, UR, because I have nothing to compare them to.

The keyword expansion comparison will include five keywords that are not related to any of the sites above. I’ll compare the number of results and the total search volume of the lists they provide. Since I can’t really measure relevance, I’ll just share the CSV files so you can see for yourself.

Pricing​

We all know that Ahrefs changed their plans recently, making them a lot less attractive.
SEMRushstarts at $130/mo, and it’s usable in most cases. Aherfs starts at $99, which is cheaper, but for that price, they show cached SERPs, no content gaps, and a couple of other annoying things. The cheapest usable plan costs $199/mo.
SEMRush pricing | Ahrefs Pricing

Accuracy in Traffic Estimation​

1. Established Brand:​

5,054 organic visits (to the root only, excluding subdomains) in June 2023, according to the search console.
SEMRush: 20.9K visits.
Aherfs: 18.1K visits.

2. Small brand:​

5,740 organic visits in June 2023 according to Google’s Search Console.
SEMRush: 3K visits
Ahreft: 1.7K visits

3. Blog: ​

5,353 visits in June 2023, according to GSC.
SEMRush: 7.2K visits
Ahrefs: 12.3K visits.

My Impression​

Stats are all over the place. SEMRushhas a slight edge.

Backlinks​

1. Established Brand​

GSC: 173 referring domains, with a total of 3,649backlinks
SEMRush: 1.4K referring domain, total 12.6K
Ahrefs: 876 RD, 2.9K backlinks

2. Small Brand​

GSC: 277 RD, 3544 backlinks
SEMRush: 114 RD, 825 backlinks
Ahrefs: 59 RD, 171 backlinks

3. Blog​

GSC: 146 RD, 276 backlinks
SEMRush: 1.4K RD, 5.5K backlinks
Ahrefs: 466 RD, 1.1K backlinks

My Impression​

Inconclusive because there isn’t a single source of truth.

Paid Search (Google Ads)​

1. Established Brand​

Google Ads: Clicks: 91K Cost: $502K Keywords: 830
SEMRush: Clicks: 13.1K Cost: $47K Keywords: 392
Ahrefs: Clicks: 270 Cost: $1K Keywords: 39

2. Small Brand​

Google Ads: Clicks: 4.1K Cost: $3.8K Keywords: 1K
SEMRush: Clicks: 151 Cost: $68 Keywords: 11
Ahrefs: Clicks: - Cost: - Keywords: -

My Impression​

Both are very inaccurate, SEMRush seems to be a little less inaccurate than Ahrefs.

Keyword Expansion​

1. Brown Leather waller​

SEMRush​

Keywords: 992
Total volume: 5,310

Ahrefs​

Keywords: 1,381
Total volume: 2.5K

2. Glucometer​

SEMRush​

Keywords: 9,767
Total volume: 105,710

Ahrefs​

Keywords: 10,479
Total volume: 69K

3. White headphones​

SEMRush​

Keywords: 4,535
Total volume: 36,440

Ahrefs​

Keywords: 5,587
Total volume: 33K

4. Wooden picture frame​

SEMRush​

Keywords: 6,488
Total volume: 68,620

Ahrefs​

Keywords: 1,610
Total volume: 7.2K

5. Sun screen​

SEMRush​

Keywords: 6,953
Total volume: 71,210

Ahrefs​

Keywords: 13,580
Total volume: 35K

My Impression​

It looks like Ahrefs inflates the number of keywords they bring but can’t catch all the keywords that have real search volume, resulting in much less total search volume. I think SEMRush’s got this one.
Keywords download | VT

Final Verdict:​

Just like every other thread, at the end of the day, it’s all up to what’s more important to you. SEMRush won by points, assuming that each aspect of the tools is equally important, but in reality, they are not all equal, and price matters, too.

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HenryObi said:

For anything backlinks, I would mostly rely on Ahrefs even over GSC. But for most other things, I think there isn't much difference.


From my experience Semrush inflates search traffic sometimes when compared to the true figures. But of recent I noticed even Ahrefs does same thing. At the end of the day, they are third-party tools and don't have direct access to your site so there would a few inaccuracies.

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dragonlube said:

Both are best at its own figures, nowadays due to the changes in price plan, Semrush beats Ahrefs
Also, semrush has many interesting features and handy to analyze

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Dailyhunter said:

My opinion, both are has good features but ahrefs is better than semrush,

also those are lit expensive.

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maxmayer said:

Both are the best. If choosing between SEMrush and Ahrefs then I look more towards Ahrefs. I actively check my projects with it and I am completely satisfied with the features.

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