Best Backlink Checking Tool: 6 Picks Compared for 2026

How we chose

Backlink checkers differ less in what they count than in how deep they let you dig for the price. This list of six runs from free to enterprise, and each pick is judged on index size, the limits of its cheapest plan and what the entry tier leaves out. Prices were read from the vendors' own pricing pages in October and November 2026, in US dollars on monthly billing unless stated. No hands-on testing was done.

Ranking is by fit for the job in the title: checking who links to a site, how strong those links are, and what is missing. A backlink checker is a tool that reports the links pointing to a domain, with the linking page, the anchor text and a quality score for each link.

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

Google Search Console is Google's free reporting tool for site owners, and its Links report shows the sites that link to yours. It lists your top linking sites, your most linked pages, the anchor text other sites use, and internal links between your own pages. The data comes from Google itself, so there is no third-party estimate involved.

It costs nothing and needs no code once ownership is verified. Its limit is scope: it only shows your own site, never a competitor's, and it gives no quality score beyond the link itself. It also shows no historical index, so a link that disappears is hard to trace.

Use Search Console first, before you pay for anything. If you only need to know who links to your own site, it may be all you ever need. Skip a paid tool until you need competitor data or a quality score.

2. Ahrefs: best for deepest backlink index and research

Ahrefs is an SEO platform built on its own web crawler, and its Site Explorer is the deepest backlink research tool in this list. It reports referring domains, backlink growth over time, anchor text, new and lost links, and the pages on your site that attract the most links. It also covers keyword research, rank tracking, site audit and content research in the same subscription.

Lite costs $129 a month, with 1,000 credits per user a month, 5 unverified projects, 750 tracked keywords updated weekly, 6 months of history and 100,000 site audit crawl credits. Standard costs $249 a month, Advanced $449 and Enterprise $1,499 a month with an annual commitment. A smaller Starter plan costs $29 a month. Annual billing saves up to 17%. Each plan includes one user; extra seats cost $40 a month on Lite.

Ahrefs suits a site that does link building as a regular job and needs fresh, deep data. Its weak point is price: $129 a month is a real commitment for a small site, and the credit meter on Lite can run out if you run many reports.

Skip Ahrefs if you check backlinks once a month for one site, because Search Console plus a cheaper tool covers that job. Skip Lite too if you need more than 6 months of history, because that limit pushes you to Standard.

3. Semrush: best for backlinks inside a full SEO suite

Semrush is an all-in-one SEO and marketing platform, and its Backlink Analytics tool sits beside keyword research, position tracking, site audit, PPC research and content tools. It reports referring domains, anchor text, link types, new and lost links, and a toxicity score for links that may harm rankings.

Pro costs $139.95 a month, or $117.33 a month billed annually, with 5 projects and 500 keywords tracked daily. Guru costs $249.95 a month and Business $499.95 a month. Semrush also sells a newer SEO plus AI search bundle, with the SEO plan at $139 a month. A 7-day free trial is offered, and a limited free plan covers about ten queries a day.

Semrush suits a team that wants one login for SEO, PPC, content and social, with backlinks as one report among many. Its weak point is the same as its strength: breadth. A buyer who only needs backlinks pays suite prices for tools they never open, and Pro leaves out the Content Marketing Toolkit and historical data.

Skip Semrush if backlinks are your only job, because Majestic or Ahrefs Lite costs less for deeper link data. Choose Semrush when the same subscription also has to cover keyword research, audits and reporting.

4. Moz Pro: best for Domain Authority and link data on a budget

Moz Pro is the SEO suite the industry grew up on, and its Link Explorer reports backlinks, linking domains, anchor text and Domain Authority, Moz's own 1-to-100 score for a site's link strength. It also covers keyword research, rank tracking and site crawls in the same subscription.

Starter costs $49 a month for one website. Standard costs $99 a month, or $79 a month billed annually, with 1 seat, 3 campaigns, 300 tracked keywords and 400,000 crawled pages a month. Medium costs $179 a month and Large $299 a month. Annual billing saves about 20%. Extra user seats cost $49 a month. A 30-day free trial is offered; there is no free plan.

Moz Pro suits a small business that reports Domain Authority to clients or a team, because the score is widely quoted even though it is Moz's own invention, not Google's. Its weak point is data depth: its link index is smaller than Ahrefs' or Semrush's, and its research ceiling on Standard is 150 keyword queries a month, not the 300 tracked rankings on the same card.

Skip Moz Pro if you need the largest link index, because Ahrefs is deeper. Choose it when Domain Authority is the score your clients or your team already uses.

5. Majestic: best for Trust Flow and link quality only

Majestic does one thing: links. It maintains a Fresh Index, updated several times a day, and a Historic Index with data back to 2006, and it scores sites with its own Flow Metrics, including Trust Flow for quality and Citation Flow for quantity. It has no keyword research, no rank tracking and no site audit.

Lite costs $49.99 a month, or $499.99 a year, with 1 user, 1 million analysis units and the Fresh Index only. Pro costs $99.99 a month, or $999.99 a year, and adds the Historic Index, raw data exports and 30,000 rows of Site Explorer data. The API plan costs $399.99 a month. Prices exclude VAT, and Lite and Pro carry a 7-day money-back guarantee for new customers.

Majestic suits a link-building specialist or a domain buyer who judges links by quality, because Trust Flow is the score that job uses. Its weak point is the Lite plan: without the Historic Index, you cannot see a site's full link history, and that is often the point of the check.

Skip Majestic if you need keyword or ranking data in the same subscription, because it has none. Skip Lite too if link history matters to you, because that is a Pro feature.

6. Ubersuggest: best for cheapest paid backlink checks

Ubersuggest is Neil Patel's budget SEO platform, covering keyword research, rank tracking, site audit, backlinks and content ideas from one dashboard. Its backlink report covers referring domains, new and lost links and anchor text, with a smaller index than Ahrefs or Semrush.

Individual costs $29 a month, or $192 a year, or $290 once for a lifetime licence. It covers 1 user, 1 project, 125 tracked keywords, 150 searches a day and 1,000 page scans for its site audit. Business costs $49 a month and Enterprise $99 a month, each also available as a lifetime licence at ten times the monthly price. A 7-day free trial is offered on paid plans, and a limited free plan covers a few searches a day.

Ubersuggest suits a blogger or small business that needs occasional backlink checks at the lowest paid price. Its weak point is the single-project limit on Individual: a second site costs $5 a month as a project add-on, and the lifetime licence is non-refundable, so a wrong choice cannot be undone.

Skip Ubersuggest if you need deep link history or a large index, because its data is thinner than the suites above. Choose it when $29 a month is the budget and the job is a monthly check, not daily link building.

What each tool costs in a year

The gap between the cheapest paid tool and the deepest one is more than $1,200 a year. That gap buys a larger index, longer history and more reports, but only if you use them. A monthly check on one site does not need a $129 subscription, and a daily link-building programme does need one.

How to choose

If you can only afford one paid tool, pick the one tied to the decision you make most often. A quality score, a competitor's links and a full history are three different jobs, and no single subscription does all three at the lowest price.

For related reading, see Google Search Console vs Google Analytics for the free Google tools, Best SEO Rank Tracking Software for the ranking side of the same work, and Is ChatGPT Good for SEO? for how AI tools fit into an SEO workflow. Adziq's SEO service covers link audits for client sites, and the SEO agency red flags guide helps if you hire link building out.

Common mistakes with backlink checkers

• Trusting one index as the truth. Each tool crawls the web on its own schedule, so link counts differ between tools. Compare trends inside one tool instead of matching totals between two.
• Chasing link quantity. A hundred weak links do less than a few strong ones. Trust Flow, Domain Authority and referring-domain quality matter more than the raw count.
• Paying for history you never read. Six months of history is enough for most sites. Do not pay for a higher tier only for a longer archive you open once a year.
• Ignoring lost links. New links get the attention, but lost links explain ranking drops. Check the lost-links report every month, not just the new ones.
• Buying a suite for one report. A $139.95 suite is wasted if you open only its backlink report. A $49.99 specialist does that job for less.

Common questions

Sources

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

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