Ahrefs vs. Google Search Console

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Ahrefs
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Ahrefs is an SEO tool providers. Ahrefs Site Explorer provides a suite of tools including a component for backlink & on-page SEO analysis, online brand mentions tracking, and domain comparison tool for competitor analysis, etc. They refer to themselves as “the largest index of live backlinks.”
$99
per month
Google Search Console
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Google Search Console is a search engine optimization software solution offered by Google.N/A
Pricing
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Editions & Modules
Lite
$99.00
per month
Standard
$179.00
per month
Advanced
$399.00
per month
Agency
$999.00
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Considered Both Products
Ahrefs
Chose Ahrefs
Screaming Frog is a handy tool when it comes to performing technical SEO audits and improving technical aspects of SEO. But Ahrefs on the contrary is a strategic SEO tool that can help you do holistic SEO. This includes features like performing keyword research, building links, …
Chose Ahrefs
Ahrefs is the most comprehensive tool we've used for providing SEO and performance analysis for our website clients. It's an essential part of our analytics stack, along with Google products. It doesn't require downloading and installing software, and it's more robust and user …
Chose Ahrefs
Ahrefs has more features and more accurate data than its competitors. While both Moz and Majestic are great tools and can be used as complimentary to Ahrefs, if you have to choose one tool, definitely choose Ahrefs. It has the biggest database of links and better stats for …
Chose Ahrefs
I like Ahrefs because its index of backlinks is fresher than SEMRush and the way of presenting information is a lot more convenient and versatile than Majestic. Also, I like the fact that it's mostly focused on SEO vs. the broader approach that SEMRush takes.
Google Search Console
Chose Google Search Console
Usually, I use multiple tools and GSC is the first on my list along with Google Analytics since both of these tools are free and are sufficient for monitoring, analyzing and managing digital marketing for a small business. However, there are some limitations to these tools like …
Chose Google Search Console
We are using Ahrefs and SEMRush along with the search console. Ahrefs helps in creating our backlink strategy while SEMRush for content gaps and opportunities. Search console is more preferred as it is completely free and data comes straight from Google. But you cannot see …
Chose Google Search Console
Google uniquely provides specific data that is important for optimizing SEO and performance for websites. While it doesn't provide as comprehensive an analysis as other tools like Ahrefs and Moz, it provides Google performance-specific data that can't be found elsewhere. When …
Chose Google Search Console
All of these other tools have positives and negatives. We use Google Search Console along with Semrush in the past and are using it with Ahrefs right now. Search Console is like the foundation of monitoring our search presence and these other tools are what lets us do the heavy …
Chose Google Search Console
The data is more accurate in Google Search Console and you can communicate back with Google using this tool.
Chose Google Search Console
If you need advanced SEO information, then of course you need to use expensive tools. Google console will give basic information, but most importantly, it will give promptly and free of charge. So do not ignore the possibilities of this great free tool, because all webmasters …
Chose Google Search Console
I wouldn't really call Google Search Console a competitor of these major SEO software that has backlink management, competitive research, keyword research, PPC research, and so much more a part of them. It's just a bare-bones SEO tool and sitemap submission specifically for …
Chose Google Search Console
Google is the dominant search engine so its a dead-given that you want to be using their platform for optimizing and managing your website presence on Google. No other platform compares to Google Search Console when it comes to accessing raw data on how google is viewing your …
Chose Google Search Console
For me, the biggest asset of Search Console is that it's a free product! You don't need to pay extra to obtain data that other tools will give you. If you want to know which keywords your visitors are using to find you, then look no further.
Google Search Console is also a …
Chose Google Search Console
Again, Google Search Console is mandatory if you're a search marketer or developer. It is a free tool and it links directly to Google, so it's hard to not recommend. Although, if you want more actionable (and often cleaner) data, then using one of the above tools is necessary. …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.4
68 Ratings
8% above category average
Google Search Console
8.1
49 Ratings
4% above category average
Keyword analysis9.365 Ratings8.542 Ratings
Backlink management8.866 Ratings8.837 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking8.664 Ratings9.339 Ratings
Page grader8.159 Ratings8.429 Ratings
Competitive analysis8.566 Ratings7.616 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics8.761 Ratings6.341 Ratings
Site recommendations7.558 Ratings7.839 Ratings
Task management7.831 Ratings8.518 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.5
60 Ratings
11% above category average
Google Search Console
8.1
46 Ratings
6% above category average
Local SEO8.148 Ratings9.134 Ratings
Social SEO7.946 Ratings8.019 Ratings
Mobile SEO8.745 Ratings8.343 Ratings
Global SEO9.454 Ratings7.038 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.5
57 Ratings
1% above category average
Google Search Console
8.6
46 Ratings
2% above category average
Multi-domain support8.754 Ratings8.942 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools8.429 Ratings8.243 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Small Businesses
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights
Score 9.9 out of 10
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights
Score 9.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.3 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.7 out of 10
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(73 ratings)
9.0
(49 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(14 ratings)
6.1
(8 ratings)
User Testimonials
AhrefsGoogle Search Console
Likelihood to Recommend
Ahrefs
It gives the best report to us which helps us to find the opportunity to build backlinks. Another main feature that makes Ahrefs a safe and sound approach to SEO is that it provides information about duplicate content, URLs, redirects along with other errors that can be dangerous to the website.
Read full review
Google
Google Search Console is helpful to understand what terms customers search for and click onto your website from. However, it's not helpful if you're looking for deep competitive insight on search terms people are using and how that impacts your website.
Read full review
Pros
Ahrefs
  • Backlink data: Ahrefs continues to provide the best backlink data in the industry when compared to other tools. Other players are playing catching up, but as a first mover, Ahrefs is ahead of the game by far.
  • Keyword data: Ahrefs provides extremely valuable keyword data. Though I rank them second in this category, the data that they provide is comparable to the first ranked player.
  • Content Explorer: I don't think other industry tools (SEO specific) has a content explorer as useful as Ahrefs. Their content explorer works great for identifying top content and trends for multiple industries.
  • Rank Tracker: This rank tracker is better than the average tracker and Ahrefs provides a large limit for tracked keywords. Though they have moved away from daily updates, the rank tracker is great for bench marking progress.
Read full review
Google
  • You can also submit your sitemap directly to Google and get it crawled.
  • You can also index and crawl you updated and new webpages.
  • It also displays errors that are preventing your site pages to get indexed in Google.
  • You get a list of all the keywords for which your site is ranking.
  • You can track its position, CTR and impressions.
Read full review
Cons
Ahrefs
  • Anchor text alert notifications for a specific domain would be nice to have.
  • Would also be nice to set a specific client domain and then be able to pick 5 competitor sites to compare it to instead of entering in the client site and then 4 competitors to compare.
  • Adding emails to forward the exports to from running a report would be good too.
Read full review
Google
  • It can be a little difficult to navigate
  • More training resources would be an asset. A beginner is given the power to completely destroy a sites search results at the push of a button. Likewise it is a powerful tool to enhance search results also.
  • An option to take care of multiple versions of the same site simultaneously would be helpful. An option to use the same validation script across all versions and administer them simultaneously would be a time save (i.e. non-www, www, http://, and https:// versions of the same site).
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Ahrefs
Their index is too vast to ignore when looking at a complete backlink profile. We find links in Ahrefs that do not appear in any other link detection tool. For this reason, it's a must for our agency to use for the foreseeable future. Plus, it's very affordable considering the data you get
Read full review
Google
No answers on this topic
Usability
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is very easy to use - you can jump right in and understand most of the assets. Overall, the dashboard snapshots give a very good picture of inbound link activity. For deeper analysis of historical trends, the system can become cumbersome, making it hard to do full work without exporting and reformatting the data.
Read full review
Google
Google Search Console is a simple program that allows organizations to get a solid understanding of the way their site functions and how users land on it. It can be used for making critical business decisions regarding marketing budgets and that within itself is why it deserves a 10.
Read full review
Support Rating
Ahrefs
Ahrefs has always been responsive when there's been a technical issue with the site. There are usually very little problems, but if there are, they announce it on their social media accounts which keeps its customers informed. Email support is prompt and the customer service people are very helpful, knowledgable and friendly.
Read full review
Google
As with all Google software, your primary source of help is their forums, their knowledge base articles, or whatever tutorials you can find on the web. Often answers on their forums are not straightforward and may not address the actual issue you're experiencing. The KB articles are typically written like instruction manuals - for better or for worse. Tutorials on the web may vary, but the odds are good someone out there had the same questions as you and was kind enough to document their experience.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Ahrefs
I think when it comes to keyword tracking, Ahrefs is not as good BrightEdge, but Ahrefs Site Explorer trumps BrightEdge when it comes to anything backlink related. I would use Ahrefs Site Explorer for backlink analysis, identifying 404 error pages, examining anchor texts, and exploring top content. However, I would utilze BrightEdge for keyword and ranking information
Read full review
Google
SEMRush is a supplementary tool we use to provide competitive analysis. While it does, or should, provide the same data that Search Console does, but I only fully trust Search Console when it comes to basic performance in Google for the sites we develop and own. SEMRush, and other products like it, does provide much more in-depth insights that can help drive business decisions, including site performance on other search engines, along putting organic and paid search performance in one spot. However, SEMRush costs money while Search Console is free.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Ahrefs
  • Identify the most effective keywords for content creation and optimizing existing content, which can help to increase organic traffic to your website.
  • Track backlinks, monitor the competition, and identify potential link building opportunities, which can help to improve your search engine rankings.
  • Analyze the top-performing pages on any website, which can help to optimize your own content and improve user experience.
Read full review
Google
  • Given that this is a free tool, the return on investment has been particularly high - we've identified and addressed a few site issues that could have meant a reduction in search traffic.
  • Our organic search traffic has been on the rise in part due to the insights gained from the search traffic analytics provided within the console.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Ahrefs Screenshots

Screenshot of Analyze backlinks and keywords of any website to find opportunities for your organic traffic growthScreenshot of Check your website for 100+ pre-defined SEO issuesScreenshot of Get relevant keyword ideas supported by accurate SEO metricsScreenshot of Find the most shared and linked-to content on any topicScreenshot of Track your and your competitors' search rankings