Ahrefs vs Semrush vs DataForSEO
We compared four SEO data tools on price, data source, and API access, then checked two of them against our own Search Console. For the same site and the same month, the traffic estimates were 7 and 200 visits. Google counted 5.5K clicks.
Search ConsoleReal clicks, 28 days
DataForSEOEstimate, per month
AhrefsEstimate, per monthThe short answer
Use Google Search Console for any site you own, because it is the only source here that counts real clicks. For sites you don't own, DataForSEO is the cheapest data, Ahrefs is best known for backlinks, and Semrush bundles the most into one subscription.
OpenSEO, the fourth tool people compare with these, is an open-source app that runs on DataForSEO's data, so a four-way comparison is really three. Whichever you pick, treat its traffic numbers as estimates for comparing sites with each other, not as a count of anyone's visitors. On our own site, the two we could test were off by a factor of 30 and a factor of 800.
The comparison
| Tool | Entry price | Where the data comes from | API and MCP | AI search tracking | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DataForSEO | Pay as you go, $50 minimum top-up | Its own backlink crawler, live Google results, and Google Ads volumes adjusted with clickstream data | The API is the product; an MCP server bills against your balance | LLM Mentions and LLM Responses APIs, priced per request | Developers and agencies building their own reports |
| OpenSEO | $10/mo with $10 of usage, or free to self-host | DataForSEO. The hosted version charges 28% on top of DataForSEO's price | MCP included; its Search Console tools use no credits | AI visibility checks, about $0.002 per prompt per AI platform | One-person teams and AI-agent workflows |
| Ahrefs | Starter $29/mo, Lite $129/mo | Its own crawler | From Lite up, paid in API units | Brand Radar, an add-on from $199/mo | Backlink research |
| Semrush | SEO plan $139/mo | Its own backlink crawler, search results from third-party providers, and a clickstream panel of 200M+ users | MCP from Starter ($199/mo); API data on Advanced (custom pricing) | On every plan, 50 or 100 tracked prompts a day, unlimited on Advanced | Teams that want SEO, content, and competitor research in one subscription |
Prices and plans as listed on each vendor's site on September 23, 2026. Monthly billing unless noted.
Every vendor also publishes an index size, and no two of them count the same thing. Ahrefs lists 35.0 trillion backlink records across its history and 29 billion keywords on its big data page. Semrush lists 43 trillion backlinks and 29.2 billion keywords in its data sources article. DataForSEO shows about 1.85 trillion live backlinks on its Backlinks API page and more than 8 billion Google keywords. A history count, a database count, and a live count can't be ranked against each other, and we found no independent 2026 audit of any of them.
What the tools said about our own site
We looked up growthr.com in DataForSEO (through OpenSEO) and in Ahrefs, then compared both with Search Console for the same market and month.
| growthr.com, United States | Search Console | DataForSEO | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic traffic | 5.5K clicks in 28 days | 200 a month, estimated | 7 a month, estimated |
| Keywords | More than 970 queries, 558 of them averaging a top-10 position | 27 | 9, 8 of them our brand name |
| Referring domains | Not reported | 63 in the summary, 12 after its spam filter | 999 |
| Backlinks | Not reported | 116 | 2.3K |
| AI answers citing the site | 11.8K impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, 28 days to Sep 19 | Not checked | 11 answers, all in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode |
Search Console clicks for August 26 to September 22, 2026; query counts from the Search Console API for August 24 to September 21. Tool figures read September 23 and 24. Full method below.
Traffic: both estimates were far too low
A traffic estimate takes each keyword the tool knows you rank for, multiplies its estimated monthly searches by the click rate expected at your position, and adds them up. A query missing from the tool's database counts as zero, and so does one whose volume it underestimates. Most of our clicks come from exactly those. Searches for our brand name brought 2,350 of the 3,804 US clicks Search Console attributed to a query, and the tools put low volumes on them. Almost all of the rest (1,321 of the remaining 1,454) went to a Kanye West MPC soundboard we host at /ye/, from queries such as "kanye mpc" and "runaway soundboard". DataForSEO found some of those. Ahrefs found none.
Our site is small, and brand and niche queries are where estimates are weakest. On a large site built around high-volume keywords the gap will be smaller. Before you trust a tool on sites you don't own, run the same check on one you do.
Backlinks: the counts were 80 times apart
Ahrefs counted 999 referring domains. DataForSEO's spam-filtered list had 12. When we audited our links by hand in August, most of the domains Ahrefs listed were spam networks that link to thousands of sites, and about 8 were real editorial links. DataForSEO's filter came much closer to that. Neither tool tells you which links Google counts, so check the list by hand before you report a number.
AI answers: Ahrefs samples, Search Console counts
Ahrefs found our site in 11 AI answers, all from Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, and none from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or Copilot. That is a count from the prompts Ahrefs tracks. Search Console's Generative AI report, which counts every appearance on Google, showed 11.8K impressions of our pages in AI Overviews and AI Mode over 28 days. How to read that report is in How to rank in Google AI Overviews.
October re-check: a spam wave reached DataForSEO
We read DataForSEO and Search Console again on October 18. In the 28 days to October 15, Search Console counted 9.8K US clicks, and searches for our brand name brought 5,025 of the 7,326 US clicks it ties to a query. DataForSEO's estimate went from 200 to 222 visits a month, now from 78 keywords. The gap stayed about the same.
The backlink numbers moved far more. From September 30, a stream of spam domains with names like buyhighda.shop and backlinkmaker.site started linking to us, two links each, several new domains a day. DataForSEO's summary went from 63 referring domains to 1,898, and its spam-filtered list from 12 to 195, nearly all of them scored 40 out of 100 for spam. We did nothing to attract these links, and Google says it ignores links like these. That is a thirtyfold jump in a month without one earned link. Ahrefs' API is not included in our plan, so we could not re-read its numbers for this update.
The four tools, one at a time
DataForSEO
DataForSEO sells SEO data by the request: search results, keyword volumes, rankings, and backlinks. A standard search results request costs $0.0006, a keyword data task $0.012 plus a fraction of a cent per row, and a backlinks request $0.024 plus $0.000036 per row, after a price rise on July 1, 2026 that also removed the old $100 monthly minimum for backlinks. You top up at least $50 and draw it down. It has no research dashboard like Ahrefs or Semrush; you call the API, connect its MCP server to an AI assistant, or use an app built on it. It is the cheapest option if you know what you want to pull.
OpenSEO
OpenSEO is an MIT-licensed app that puts a dashboard and an MCP server on top of DataForSEO. The hosted plan is $10 a month with $10 of usage included, and its README says the hosted service makes its money by charging 28% extra on every DataForSEO request. If you self-host it, you bring your own DataForSEO key and pay DataForSEO directly. Its Search Console tools read your own property and cost nothing. We use it for our own research and for client audits, because an AI agent can query it directly.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs runs its own crawler and is best known for its backlink data. Starter is $29 a month, with 200 credits and rank tracking included. Lite is $129 and is the first plan with API and MCP access, paid in API units. Brand Radar, its AI visibility product, is an add-on from $199 a month. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify and covers backlinks and a site audit for your own domain.
Semrush
Semrush bundles keyword and backlink research, content tools, and AI visibility tracking on every plan. Its traffic figures come from a clickstream panel of more than 200 million users bought from outside providers, a different method from the two tools we tested, so our results don't carry over to it. The SEO plan is $139 a month, the MCP server starts at Starter ($199), and raw API data needs Advanced, which is now priced on request. We have no Semrush account, so it is the one tool in this article we did not test.
Which one to use
- For your own site: Search Console, which is free and counts real clicks and queries. Add Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, also free, for backlink data on the same domain.
- For research on other sites, on a budget: OpenSEO at $10 a month, or DataForSEO directly if you are writing code. This is also the easiest setup to hand to an AI agent.
- For link building: Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month, for its backlink index and link-gap reports.
- For a team that wants one login for everything: Semrush, from $139 a month.
Our own stack is Search Console, OpenSEO, and free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. We checked whether a paid Ahrefs or Semrush plan would change a decision we make, and on a site our size it would not.
How we tested
- Site and market. growthr.com including subdomains, United States, desktop and mobile combined.
- Real traffic. Search Console, web search, filtered to the United States. The clicks and impressions come from the Performance report for August 26 to September 22, 2026. Query counts come from the Search Console API for August 24 to September 21, where a query containing "growthr" counted as a brand search.
- DataForSEO. Read through OpenSEO's hosted MCP server on September 23, 2026 (domain overview, and backlinks overview with its default spam filter), and checked against OpenSEO's web app on September 24.
- Ahrefs. Read from Site Explorer in Ahrefs' web app on September 23 and 24, 2026, because our plan does not include API access. Referring domains rose from 996 to 999 between the two reads.
- Semrush. Not tested. Its row in the comparison table comes from Semrush's pricing page and documentation.
- Independence. No vendor sponsored or reviewed this article, and none of the links are affiliate links.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ahrefs or Semrush more accurate?
Neither traffic figure is a count. On growthr.com, Ahrefs estimated 7 US visits a month while Search Console recorded 5.5K clicks in 28 days. We did not test Semrush, which models traffic from a clickstream panel. Use Search Console for sites you own, and use these tools to compare other sites with each other rather than to read their absolute traffic.
Does OpenSEO use DataForSEO?
Yes. OpenSEO is an open-source app built on DataForSEO's API. The hosted plan charges 28% on top of DataForSEO's price, and a self-hosted copy uses your own DataForSEO key at DataForSEO's price. Its numbers match DataForSEO's because they are DataForSEO's.
Is DataForSEO cheaper than Ahrefs or Semrush?
For light use, yes. DataForSEO is pay as you go with a $50 minimum top-up, and a single search results request costs $0.0006. Ahrefs Lite is $129 a month and Semrush's SEO plan is $139. DataForSEO has no dashboard of its own, so you either write code, connect its MCP server to an AI assistant, or use an app such as OpenSEO.
Which SEO tools have an MCP server?
All four. DataForSEO's bills against your account balance. OpenSEO's is included in its $10 plan. Ahrefs requires Lite ($129 a month) or higher and charges API units per call. Semrush includes it from Starter ($199 a month), but not on the $139 SEO plan.
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