6 Best Backlink Analysis Software Tools Compared

How the ranking was decided

Backlink tools are judged on three things: how much of the web their index covers, how far back their history goes, and what the entry plan leaves out. This list was built by reading each vendor's pricing page on 13 November 2026 and comparing those three points at the entry paid tier. The ranking is by fit for backlink work specifically, not by which tool does the most things overall. That is why a link-only specialist can outrank a larger suite for a link-only buyer. No hands-on testing was done; every price and limit below comes from published pricing and documentation, checked on 13 November 2026.

A backlink is a link from one website to another. Backlink analysis software reads those links at scale, so you can see who links to a site, which pages attract links, and which links disappeared.

1. Ahrefs: best for pure backlink research depth

Ahrefs is built around Site Explorer, the screen where you type any domain and see its backlinks, referring domains, anchor text, top pages and estimated organic traffic. Its plans run Starter $29 a month, Lite $129, Standard $249, Advanced $449 and Enterprise $1,499 a month on an annual commitment. Lite includes 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, 6 months of history and 1,000 credits per user a month. Standard and Advanced offer unlimited credits per user, 2 years and 5 years of history respectively.

The credit model is the detail to understand before you buy. Lite caps usage at 1,000 credits per user, and pulling reports, running exports and crawling pages all draw on that allowance. Standard removes the cap. Ahrefs also offers a free tier for websites you have verified, with limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access. There is no free trial on paid plans.

Skip Ahrefs if your budget is under $100 a month. Lite is the real starting point for backlink work, and Starter's limits are too tight for regular link research.

2. Semrush: best for backlinks plus keyword and PPC data

Semrush is the widest single subscription in this list. Its Backlink Analytics tool covers referring domains, anchor text, toxicity scores and new and lost links, and its Backlink Gap tool shows which sites link to your competitors but not to you. The same subscription also covers keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, content tools and PPC research.

Pro costs $139.95 a month on monthly billing, or $117.33 a month billed annually. Guru costs $249.95 a month, or $208.33 billed annually, and Business $499.95, or $416.66 billed annually. Pro covers 5 projects and 500 tracked keywords; Guru adds historical data, the Content Marketing Toolkit and 15 projects; Business adds API access and 40 projects. Semrush reports a backlink index of 43 trillion links.

Skip Semrush if you only need backlink data. You would pay for keyword, content and PPC tools you never open, when Majestic costs less for the link job alone.

3. Majestic: best for link-only research on a budget

Majestic does one thing: links. Its metrics are Trust Flow, which scores the quality of linking sites, Citation Flow, which scores volume, and Topical Trust Flow, which breaks authority down by subject. Its database is split into a Fresh Index, covering roughly the last 90 days, and a Historic Index, the long-term archive.

Lite costs $49.99 a month, or $41.67 a month billed annually, and covers the Fresh Index only, with 5,000 Site Explorer rows. Pro costs $99.99 a month, or $83.33 billed annually, and adds the Historic Index, Compare Sites, Clique Hunter and 30,000 rows. The API plan starts at $399.99 a month for full API access. All prices exclude VAT. There is a 7-day money-back guarantee on Lite and Pro for new customers.

Skip Majestic if you need keyword research, rank tracking or a site audit. It has none of those, and you will need a second tool for them.

4. Moz Pro: best for Domain Authority reporting

Moz Pro is the home of Domain Authority, the 1 to 100 score many teams still use to qualify link prospects, and Link Explorer is its backlink tool. Starter costs $49 a month, Standard $99, Medium $179 and Large $299, with annual billing saving about 20%, taking those to $39, $79, $143 and $239 a month. Starter covers one website and 50 tracked keywords; Standard covers 3 campaigns and 300 keywords; Medium covers 10 campaigns, 1,500 keywords and 2 users; Large covers 25 campaigns, 3,000 keywords and 3 users.

A free Moz Community account gives 10 Link Explorer queries a month, enough to check Domain Authority on a handful of prospects. Moz's backlink index is smaller than Ahrefs' or Semrush's, so heavy prospecting can hit coverage gaps, and the tool suits auditing and monitoring better than aggressive outreach at volume.

Skip Moz Pro if you need the deepest backlink index. Buy it when Domain Authority is the number your team or your clients report on, because only Moz calculates it.

5. SE Ranking: best for budget all-round SEO with backlinks

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform at a lower price than Semrush. Essential costs $65 a month on monthly billing, or $52 a month billed annually. Pro costs $119 a month, or $95.20 billed annually, and Business $259 a month, or $207.20 billed annually. Essential covers backlink checking and monitoring, keyword research, rank tracking and site audits, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required.

Its backlink tools cover the essentials — a Backlink Checker, a Backlink Monitor for tracking link status over time, and a Backlink Gap Analyser — but the index is smaller than Ahrefs', and the tools feel informational rather than built around outreach workflow. For a small business that needs one affordable suite, that trade is often acceptable.

Skip SE Ranking if backlinks are your main job and you need the freshest link discovery. Ahrefs finds new links faster, and Majestic gives you deeper history for less.

6. Google Search Console: best for checking links to your own site free

Google Search Console is not a competitor research tool, and that is exactly why it belongs here. It is free, and its Links report shows the links Google reports for a site you control: top linking sites, top linked pages and anchor text, from Google's own data rather than a third-party crawl. No paid tool can replace that, because no paid tool sees your site the way Google does.

The limit is scope. Search Console only shows your own verified properties, so you cannot use it to study a competitor's links. Pair it with one paid tool: use Search Console for your own link truth, and the paid tool for competitor research and prospecting. For the Search Console side of that pair, the Google Search Console impressions meaning post explains how to read its reports, and the Google Analytics audit post covers the analytics side.

Skip Search Console as a standalone backlink tool if you need competitor data. It was never built for that job.

What the entry plan leaves out

The pattern is clear: every entry plan withholds history. If your work needs to see links from two years ago, budget for the second tier, not the first.

A worked example: auditing one competitor

Take a competitor with about 2,000 referring domains. On Majestic Pro at $99.99 a month, you can pull the full Historic Index, sort by Trust Flow, and export the referring domains to find the sites worth approaching. On Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month, you can do the same in Site Explorer and add the Link Intersect report to find sites linking to two competitors but not to you, watching the 1,000-credit allowance as you export. On Moz Pro Starter at $49 a month, you can check Domain Authority for the top prospects, but the single-website limit means the audit itself lives in a separate step. The cheapest route that still gives you history is Majestic Pro; the most complete single subscription is Ahrefs Lite or Semrush Pro, depending on whether you also need keyword data.

Common mistakes in backlink analysis

• Treating index size as quality. A bigger index helps, but coverage in your niche and freshness of discovery matter more than a trillion-link headline.
• Comparing traffic estimates across tools. Ahrefs estimates organic search traffic only, while other tools estimate total visits. Compare competitors with each other inside one tool, never with your own analytics.
• Buying on entry price and then needing history. The Historic Index, two-year history and unlimited credits all sit above the entry tier on most tools here.
• Chasing every lost link. Links disappear for normal reasons, such as page redesigns. Focus on lost links from strong, relevant domains, not the total count.
• Using Domain Authority as a Google score. It is Moz's model, not Google's ranking signal. Use it to prioritise prospects, not to predict rankings.

How to choose

If backlinks are your whole job, start with Majestic Pro and Google Search Console together for about $100 a month. If you also do keyword research and content, choose between Ahrefs Lite and Semrush Pro on the same question: Ahrefs for link depth, Semrush for breadth. If your reporting runs on Domain Authority, Moz Pro Standard is the honest pick. If budget is the constraint and one suite must cover everything, SE Ranking Essential is the cheapest way in. Whichever you pick, re-check the price on the vendor's page before you buy, and keep Search Console open beside it: it is the only free source that shows your links as Google sees them. For the link-building work that follows, the how to build backlinks guide and the best backlink checking tool post are the natural next reads, and the SEO versus Google Ads guide helps you decide how much of your budget belongs in links at all.

Common questions

Sources

• Ahrefs pricing
• Semrush pricing
• Majestic plans and pricing
• Moz Pro pricing
• SE Ranking pricing
• About Search Console (Google Search Console Help)

Adziq sells marketing services and does not accept payment for placement in its articles. See our editorial policy.