Ahrefs vs. SurferSEO

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Ahrefs
Score 9.0 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
SurferSEO
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
SurferSEO, from Polish company Surfer, is presented as a modern tool for SEOs and marketers for efficient and comprehensive on-page SEO optimization.N/A
Pricing
AhrefsSurferSEO
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
AhrefsSurferSEO
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
AhrefsSurferSEO
Considered Both Products
Ahrefs
Chose Ahrefs
Ahrefs is easier to use, their features deliver understandable and logical recommendations, and in my opinion and most importantly — they list parent topics, which is huge when designing/redesigning a website.
SurferSEO
Chose SurferSEO
Surfer is designed to automate the process of content optimization. The team behind it is continuously working to add more features to improve this.
Features
AhrefsSurferSEO
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
8.0
72 Ratings
4% above category average
SurferSEO
8.1
3 Ratings
5% above category average
Keyword analysis9.669 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Backlink management9.170 Ratings4.01 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking8.868 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Page grader6.562 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Competitive analysis9.270 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics7.265 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Site recommendations6.661 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Task management7.033 Ratings6.92 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
6.7
63 Ratings
12% below category average
SurferSEO
7.0
1 Ratings
8% below category average
Local SEO7.151 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Social SEO6.048 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile SEO6.047 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Global SEO7.857 Ratings8.01 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
Ahrefs
7.8
60 Ratings
8% below category average
SurferSEO
8.0
2 Ratings
6% below category average
Multi-domain support7.257 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools8.429 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AhrefsSurferSEO
Small Businesses
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.5 out of 10
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AhrefsSurferSEO
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(77 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(5 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(14 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AhrefsSurferSEO
Likelihood to Recommend
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a must have in the SEO toolbox. It is one of the leading tools in the industry for serious SEO research. It can do almost everything you need on the non-technical side of SEO. In my opinion, it is not great if you need a detailed technical tool that identifies errors and helps with fix suggestions. In that instance, I think there are better tools on the market. But - for content and keyword related tasks, I think it's must have.
Read full review
Surfer
Surfer is well suited for:
  • Creating (and resisting) articles and web pages to increase their SEO relevancy for a keyword.
  • To identify NLP terms and the frequency of terms to be added to the page
  • To find internal linking opportunities
  • To plan pillar pages/topic clusters
Surfer is not a tool for
  • Technical SEO
  • Crawl Audits
  • Serp / Keyword Tracking
  • Project Management
Read full review
Pros
Ahrefs
  • I have been using this platform in my organization to develop several SEO tools to help to grow our website much.
  • It has all the main features which include competitor research, keyword research, website audit, content research, and rank tracking.
  • I have been using all these functions in the organization for several purposes. It provides complete information and complete performance details of the SEO.
  • It provides us the detailed keyword research with volume, CPC, and other information.
Read full review
Surfer
  • Analysis for on-page ranking factors
  • Competition analytics
  • NLP Analysis for webpage content
  • Content SEO scoring
  • Content editor with details about what to rank for
  • Plugin that helps with search data on Google
Read full review
Cons
Ahrefs
  • Can't export graphs: some graphs within the tool would be useful as an export. Unfortunately, exporting them is not an option.
  • No "blanket" reporting options: though Ahrefs is excellent for gathering and exporting intel/data, there are no blanket SEO reports provided. Exporting data is great, but simple report exporting would make it better.
Read full review
Surfer
  • Can improve their algorithm to serve better for technical articles
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
Surfer
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
Surfer
Because, I've been using this tool since many years and I haven't looked for any other tool when it comes to content optimization
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
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Ahrefs
Majestic and Ahrefs are really close in terms of tool. Ahrefs does offer competitive comparison and they do have a more up to date data base. Majestic however has a more comprehensive historical view of sites which is also extremely valuable. Majestic also offers a link velocity chart that is missing on Ahrefs. Ahrefs makes up for this with their links gained/lost calendar which Majestic is missing.
Read full review
Surfer
Semrush's content and page optimisation tool is quite poor; it's not in the same bracket as Surfer. Frase is a good alternative from a cost perspective (if not paying the AI writing functions), it's cheaper, and Frase's keyword/topic heatmaps are quite unique. Sufer has a better UI and a shorter learning curve. It has an advantage in that it offers internal linking recommendations, which Frase lacks. Surfer also has limited competitor analysis (backlinks and page speed), which Frase does not. Both tools allow you to choose the number of competitors on the SERPS
Read full review
Return on Investment
Ahrefs
  • Ahrefs Site Explorer has helped with any comprehensive backlink analysis and backlink profile management we've had.
  • Ahrefs Site Explorer has helped tremendously in getting manual penalties lifted for certain sites.
  • Aherfs Site Explorer has been helpful in identifying 404 error pages.
Read full review
Surfer
  • SuferSEO has helped us rank in the top 10 for results that are over 1M in search volume
  • SurferSEO gives our team the ability to rank quicker than without the tool
  • SurferSEO helps us close prospects by showing them the depth of our analysis and knowledge.
  • SurferSEO makes our agency look and feel like a professional that knows what they are doing
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