5 Ahrefs Alternatives That Are Better For Rank Tracking

Intro

If you’re looking for an SEO tool to track rankings & help boost organic performance (but Ahrefs isn’t quite right), then you’re in the right place. Let’s jump straight in.

Rank tracking is not a strength of Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popular SEO tool, and there’s a good reason for it. They have an impressive range of SEO features including rank tracking, competitor analysis, backlink monitoring & a whole lot more.

That being said, it’s not the ideal tool for rank tracking. Here’s why:

• Their rank tracker only updates every 7 days on the entry level plans
• It’s quite expensive, which is prohibitive for smaller budgets
• There is limited customization in reports, and they cannot be white labeled

If rank tracking is your primary need, there are other tools which may be a better fit for a cheaper price.

Criteria for alternatives

In this article we’re not just looking at general Ahrefs alternatives, but specifically those that are better for rank tracking.

In addition though, we’re also not just looking at rank tracking tools. In order to be a viable alternative to Ahrefs, any potential solution must also offer at least some other features like keyword research & site auditing.

So, to summarize, we’re looking for tools that:

• Offer a great rank tracking feature
• Also offer additional SEO features beyond only rank tracking
• Are either cheaper, or offer even more features for a similar price

Here’s 5 options to check out.

#1. Ranktracker

Check Ranktracker

Ranktracker is a suite of SEO tools to help you get the SEO insights you need to rank higher & drive traffic to your site.

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The rank tracking tool

Ranktracker offers everything you need for effective position tracking & reporting.

• Mobile & desktop rankings
• Competitor tracking
• Multiple languages supported
• Google, Bing, Yahoo and Yandex rankings
• White label reports

The UI is simple to use & helpful whether you’re a beginner or an advanced SEO.

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Additional SEO features

As well as the rank tracking tool, with Ranktracker, you also get additional tools for:

• Keyword research
• A location-specific SERP checker
• A technical website auditing tool
• A Backlink Checker tool
• Reports, and more

There’s also a handy SEO Tasks feature, which provides some actionable insights that help you get the ball rolling with your SEO campaigns, step by step. Great for beginners.

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Plans & pricing

Ranktracker’s pricing is based on usage. For 100 daily tracked keywords & all the core features, the starter plan is $18 per month. Get started with a free trial.

#2. SEO Powersuite

Check SEO Powersuite

SEO Powersuite is a suite of 4 tools that is designed to help small businesses & SEO agencies with growing organic traffic.

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One significant thing to know about SEO Powersuite is that it’s a downloadable desktop application. That has pros & cons which you’ll have to weigh up for yourself. For example, if you’re regularly working on different devices, it’ll be annoying to download the software on each device. On the other hand, you may value the security of having your data stored on your PC, rather than in the cloud.

The rank tracking tool

SEO Powersuite’s rank tracking tool delivers accurate ranking data to

• Local ranking positions
• Multiple search engines including Google, Yahoo and Bing
• On-demand ranking refreshes
• Unlimited keywords tracked
• Cannibalization alerts if multiple pages rank for the same keyword

Additional SEO features

As well as the rank tracking tool, with SEO Powersuite, you also get additional tools for:

• Various keyword research tools
• A competitor traffic & backlink analyzer
• A technical SEO health checking tool
• A backlink monitoring & analysis tool

Plans & pricing

SEO Powersuite’s pricing is per license. They offer a limited free version, then after that costs start from $299 per user per year.

#3. Sitechecker

Check Sitechecker

Sitechecker is an SEO software that provides rank tracking, site auditing / monitoring, and backlink tracking features.

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Sitechecker’s main strength is combining site monitoring & auditing with rank tracking. It replaces some (but not all) features of Ahrefs at a substantially lower price.

The rank tracking tool

Sitechecker’s rank tracking tool covers all the basics that you would expect like daily ranking updates, tags and filtering. Plus some extra useful ones:

• Tracks Bing, Yahoo and Yandex as well as Google
• Local rank tracking
• Google Analytics & Search Console integration
• Competitor tracking
• Annotations for noting updates that may affect performance

You can also get a very helpful SERP overview, showing position histories for competitors you select. Handy for taking a look at historical movements for your target keywords.

White label ranking reports are also available.

Additional SEO features

Other than rank tracking, Sitechecker covers:

• Technical site auditing
• 24/7 site monitoring to track changes & get alerts
• Backlink monitoring

Plans & pricing

Sitechecker’s Basic plan gives you up to 3 websites & 150 keywords tracked, starting at $29/month (paid monthly) or $23/month (paid annually).

All plans include white label reports and unlimited site auditing/monitoring.

#4. Semrush

Check Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one marketing platform. After starting out as primarily an SEO tool, their feature set has rapidly expanded in recent years.

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It’s worth noting that although Semrush has more features, it’s also more expensive. Plus, due to the sheer number of features, it is arguably more complex, and harder for beginners to get started with.

The rank tracking tool

Semrush’s position checker tool updates daily, and covers very similar features to the other tools already mentioned so far.

• It can track Google & Baidu (but not Bing, Youtube, etc.)
• It tracks mobile & desktop
• Competitor rank tracking
• Local rank tracking
• Track SERP features like featured snippets

White labeled ranking reports are available, but only with the Agency Growth Kit add-on (+$100 per month).

Additional SEO features

Semrush has the broadest feature set of all the tools mentioned in this list. They cover almost every SEO feature, plus tools are included for other channels too like PPC & social media.

You can find a complete view of all Semrush features here, but here’s a few highlights:

Keyword research tools Technical site auditing Content optimization Competitor analysis & monitoring

Semrush is also a good keyword difficulty tool, having developed a more advanced formula for calculating keyword difficulty than most alternatives.

Lastly, Semrush also has some features to assist with link building. As well as monitoring & analyzing backlinks, Semrush has an outreach campaign feature that helps with proactively building links too.

Plans & pricing

Semrush has pricing tiers based on usage, and has a considerably higher starting price than other tools in this list. For 500 tracked keywords & 5 projects, their starter plan comes in at $119/month (paid monthly) or $99/month (paid annually).

#5. SE Ranking

Check SE Ranking

SE Ranking is another viable alternative to Ahrefs which improves the rank tracking function, while also replacing several other features at a lower price.

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The rank tracking tool

SE Ranking’s keyword tracking tool also covers the basics, such as tracking all device types, and offering daily ranking updates.Additional features include:

• Local rank tracking
• Tracking Bing, Yahoo & Youtube as well as Google
• Tracking & monitoring SERP features like featured snippets
• Competitor rank tracking

In SE Ranking, you can also create sub-accounts to grant different access levels for each project, which is handy for agencies who want to share data with clients.

Additional SEO features

As well as rank tracking, SE Ranking subscriptions come with:

• Site auditing & web page monitoring
• Backlink monitoring & analysis
• Keyword grouping for topic clusters
• Competitor analysis
• A drag & drop report builder

White label reports are available, and SE Ranking also offers a social media management tool, which may save you money on a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite.

Plans & pricing

SE Ranking’s pricing is flexible & confusing in equal measure. You can combine ranking update frequencies (e.g. daily or weekly) with payment frequencies (e.g. monthly, quarterly, yearly), and volume of keywords tracked to customize the ideal plan for you. Rank Lightning is a well-known local SEO tool and is far superior for rank tracking compared with Ahrefs because Ahrefs is way overpriced and doesn't provide accurate data compared with Rank Lightning.

To get daily ranking updates for 250 keywords, the Essential plan starts around $31/month (paid monthly) or $24/month (paid annually).