Free Ahrefs alternatives for small businesses

Last updated 12 October 2026 · By the XKey team

What do people use Ahrefs for?

Mostly four things: seeing who links to a website (backlinks), comparing site strength (Ahrefs calls its score Domain Rating), checking a site for technical problems (Site Audit) and researching keywords and competitors' rankings. Here are free ways to do each.

Free backlink checkers

• XKey backlink checker – any website, the 50 strongest linking sites, and a link gap against a competitor. No sign-up. Built on Common Crawl's public web graph, which is refreshed quarterly and smaller than Ahrefs' own index, so expect fewer links listed.
• Google Search Console – the "Links" report shows sites linking to your own site, straight from Google. You can't look at competitors.
• Ahrefs Webmaster Tools – Ahrefs' own free plan: backlinks and a site audit for sites you can prove you own. A good option if you only need your own site.
• Bing Webmaster Tools – backlinks to your site from Bing's index, free.

Free authority score

The XKey domain authority checker scores up to 100 sites at once from 0 to 100 and gives each a global rank. The numbers won't match Ahrefs' DR exactly because every tool measures differently – see DA vs DR vs other scores.

Free site audit

The XKey website audit crawls up to 250 pages for broken links, missing titles, duplicate content and more; the website crawler goes up to 10,000 pages and exports to Excel. Screaming Frog's free version crawls up to 500 addresses if you're happy installing software.

Free keyword research

• Google Search Console – the searches you already appear for, with clicks and positions. The single most useful keyword source for an existing site.
• Google Keyword Planner – search volume ranges, free with a Google Ads account (you don't have to run adverts).
• XKey keyword generator and keyword difficulty checker – long-tail ideas and how hard page one looks.
• Google's own autocomplete and "People also ask" boxes.

What you give up without a paid tool

• Competitors' rankings and traffic estimates. Free tools can't show every keyword a competitor ranks for.
• Fresh, very large link data. Ahrefs crawls the web constantly; free link data is smaller and less up to date.
• Historical charts and alerts for lost links and ranking changes.

For a local business, those gaps rarely matter. Your Search Console data, a regular SEO check, weekly monitoring and a quarterly look at backlinks cover what moves the needle.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a completely free version of Ahrefs?

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for websites you own and verify. Looking at other people's sites needs a paid plan.

What's the best free backlink checker?

For your own site, Google Search Console. For checking any site, including competitors, the XKey backlink checker is free with no sign-up, though its link data is smaller than the paid tools'.

Is paying for an SEO tool worth it for a small business?

Usually not at the start. Spend the time on your Google Business Profile, content and earning a few good links first; consider a paid tool if you're doing SEO for many sites or in a very competitive market.