AccuRanker vs. Ahrefs: 2025 Review for Agencies

After hearing impressive things about Denmark-based AccuRanker, I was eager to explore what it offers agencies.

Does its reputation for data accuracy warrant adding it to your martech stack?

Or is it sufficient to stick with an all-in-one platform, like Ahrefs?

In this article, I’ll draw on my 19 years of experience as a marketer to provide observations that can assist you in making an informed decision.

As always, I encourage you to try out tools yourself. You’ll bring unique observations to the table.

Let’s begin with an overview.

AccuRanker vs. Ahrefs: Overview

The main difference between AccuRanker and Ahrefs is that the former focuses on rank tracking, while the latter provides a comprehensive SEO toolkit.

Ahrefs: Comprehensive SEO Solution

Best for: Agencies offering a wide variety of SEO and content marketing services.

Background: Launched in 2011, Singapore-based Ahrefs evolved to become one of the world’s most comprehensive SEO platforms. It competes with Semrush.

Both Ahrefs and Semrush offer rank tracking, keyword research, backlinks, and competitor analysis.

In recent years, both platforms have expanded to become digital marketing platforms offering:

• Content marketing and planning tools
• Market and audience analysis
• AI SEO and analysis tools

Fans of Ahrefs like its “intuitive user interface” and its “comprehensive” and accurate data.

Cons on G2 mention the credit system and price.

AccuRanker: Dedicated Rank Tracking

Best for: Agencies with an international clientele that need to track rankings across different search engines.

Background: Denmark-based AccuRanker launched in 2013 and rapidly earned a reputation for granular analysis and accurate rank tracking.

The company describes AccuRanker as “the world’s fastest and most accurate keyword rank tracking for enterprise SEO and SEO agencies.”

Fans of AccuRanker praise its “top-notch” accuracy, ease of use, and affordability.

Cons on G2 cite “ugly” email reports and “confusing” navigation.

AccuRanker vs. Ahrefs: Comparison Table

Feature	AccuRanker	Ahrefs
Primary focus	Dedicated rank tracker	Comprehensive SEO toolset
Rank tracking	Beyond pro-level	Pro-level
SERP features tracked	36	19
Keyword research	Fewer metrics than Ahrefs	Extensive metrics and filters
Backlink analysis	X	✔
Site audit	X	✔
Content optimization	X	✔
Hyper-local tracking	✔	✔
Competitor Analysis	✔ Rank comparison and share of voice	✔ Comprehensive competitor research across all metrics
Pricing model	Per 1k keywords	Tiered plans with usage limits and add-ons

Domain Analysis

Both Ahrefs and AccuRanker provide detailed domain analysis, with Ahrefs excelling in the quality, usefulness, and number of features available.

In Ahrefs, you can paste any URL into Site Explorer and get instant analysis, including top-line metrics like:

• Domain authority score
• Organic monthly traffic
• Backlinks and referring domains

In the example below, I added the domain for Business Insider.

Scroll below the overview, and you’ll see a series of tiles that make it easy to sift trends and capture insights.

One of my favorites is the Performance tile. Select from 10 trend lines and a variety of time ranges.

Crosshair tooltips provide specific numbers.

The baseline is punctuated by Google algorithm updates, making it convenient to hypothesize the cause of significant traffic changes.

Comparing March 2024 with June 2025, we see that Business Insider traffic decreased by 50%, resulting in over 10 million fewer visits per month.

Potential cause: Google’s March 2024 Core Update.

Clicking on the Years tab provides performance data for up to 10 years.

Now we see Business Insider's monthly traffic has declined by 61% from a high of over 26 million in 2019.

How does AccuRanker compare? Here, it’s worth going into a bit of detail because these differences will inform the rest of this review.

First, the method for obtaining domain analysis data differs in AccuRanker. Because the platform functions mainly as a rank tracker, most of its features and metrics depend on you adding keywords for each domain.

Instead of adding a domain by copy/pasting, as you can in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, you must first save domains in AccuRanker’s Domains section.

During this process, you choose, for each domain you add, one or more geographic regions to analyze.

After that, you’ll choose which search engines and devices you want data from.

In contrast, Ahrefs’ Site Explorer presents data from “All locations” by default. You can select from a dropdown to change the region analyzed.

After selecting your search engines in AccuRanker, a pop-up window will appear, asking you to add the keywords you want to track.

You can do this manually or by CSV file.

If you don’t add keywords, then you won’t get any data from most of AccuRanker’s tabbed tools:

• Dashboard
• Keywords
• Landing Pages
• SERP Analysis
• AI Overview

AccuRanker Discovery tab: The Discovery tab generally corresponds to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer.

So, after adding domains, you can find domain analysis information here, starting with an overview at the top.

You can also change the geographic region analyzed via a drop-down.

Below this overview, you’ll find keyword data, which we’ll cover in the next section.

AccuRanker domain metrics: At first glance, I saw no traffic metric. However, it turns out “AI Share of Voice” is a traffic metric.

To me, the use of “AI” in this metric name is confusing. I thought at first it was tracking data related to Google AI Overviews.

However, the “AI” refers to a proprietary method AccuRanker uses for estimating traffic. (In the Rank Tracking section of this article, I explain how this metric is calculated.)

Above the fold: This metric is unique: AccuRanker uses pixel tracking to indicate SERPs for which your keywords are appearing above the fold.

Bottom line: The design and features of Ahrefs’ domain analysis are well-suited to agencies. Marketers can quickly assess trends, identify the source of traffic issues, and propose solutions. By contrast, AccuRanker is focused on rank tracking.

Rank Tracking

Both AccuRanker and Ahrefs have dedicated rank tracking tools. Not surprisingly, AccuRanker offers more than Ahrefs.

Key differences include:

• Data updates: AccuRanker provides real-time data, while Ahrefs updates every 1-7 days, depending on your plan.
• SERP features monitored: AccuRanker tracks 36 and Ahrefs tracks 12.
• Search engines tracked: AccuRanker provides data from 4 search engines, while Ahrefs pulls from Google.

First, where can you find rank tracking on these two platforms?

• In Ahrefs’ Dashboard, you add domains as Projects and connect to the corresponding Google Search Console (GSC) accounts. Then you add keywords to track.
• In AccuRanker’s Domains dashboard, you do the same, but aren’t required to connect to GSC. Additionally, for each domain, you select a country to track results in.

Each of these platforms offers numerous geographic regions to analyze.

• Ahrefs boasts 226 regions.
• AccuRanker offers tracking in any country that uses Google
• Both platforms provide hyperlocal tracking.

When you add domains to AccuRanker, you’ll first select a country, then choose which search engines you want data from.

At this point, you’ll be offered the option to add locations to your tracking.

A dropdown prompts you to choose between:

• Standard locations (such as cities)
• Regions and land areas (such as Grand Canyon, Arizona)
• Establishments (like Starbucks)

Then you’ll be prompted to upload keywords.

This example for the UK Adidas site includes topline metrics as well as traffic and rank charts.

When you see the keywords ranking above the fold metric, remember that the number only includes keywords you uploaded.

Navigate to the Discovery tab for general domain analysis. You’ll see Adidas UK listed as having over 22k keywords ranking above the fold.

A key difference between Ahrefs and AccuRanker in rank tracking is the search engines they track.

• AccuRanker offers tracking across 4 search engines (Google, Bing, YouTube, Baidu).
• Ahrefs used to offer multiple search engines, including Amazon, but now pulls all data from Google.

SERP Features

Another difference is in the number of SERP features monitored within the rank tracking tool.

• AccuRanker tracks 36 SERP features
• Ahrefs tracks 19

Keep in mind that in other areas of its software, Ahrefs tracks a maximum of 19 SERP features.

SERP features are special result types that appear in search results beyond standard blue links. These include:

• Featured snippets
• Image packs
• Local map results
• AI overviews

Agencies need to be able to choose which ones to monitor for clients. And ideally, they need a complete set.

This is one reason I use Semrush for position tracking.

Semrush outpaces AccuRanker and Ahrefs with 44 SERP features tracked.

Filters

With the Ahrefs rank tracker, in addition to SERP features, you can filter by

• Country
• Tag
• Positions
• Word count
• Keyword
• URL
• Intents
• Volume
• Keyword difficulty
• Traffic

Ahrefs also displays what percentage of SERP features linked to your keyword you’re ranking for.

For instance, you might rank for 11% of featured snippets. Being able to track this across time is useful.

The Competitors tab displays how your rankings compare with those of your direct competitors.

AccuRanker provides several filters in its competitor comparison, including:

• AI Share of Voice (AI SoV)
• Share of Voice (SoV)
• Average click-through rate (CTR)
• Position

The “add filter” dropdown provides 50+ additional filters, including:

• Pixels from top
• SERP feature owned
• Forecast

AI SoV: What is it?

AI SoV is a proprietary traffic metric featured prominently in AccuRanker reports. It’s worth understanding how it’s calculated by comparing it to Share of Voice.

1. AccuRanker measures Share of Voice (SOV) by considering all keywords your site ranks for in positions 1-20, then multiplying the average static click-through rate (CTR) for each position by the search volume.
2. AccuRanker’s proprietary AI SoV metric uses a dynamic CTR model. This model analyzes real-time SERP conditions and considers how the presence of various SERP features impacts CTR for each position. AccuRanker’s formula considers 80+ input features. The company states this makes their CTR significantly more accurate than static CTR models. In turn, this impacts the performance reports and SEO forecasting.

Bottom line: AccuRanker outpaces Ahrefs by providing real-time tracking, numerous filters, and data from 4 search engines, including Baidu. (Agencies serving Chinese-language regions will want to trial AccuRanker.)

Keyword Research Capabilities

Ahrefs’ keyword research capabilities, in terms of the number of valuable metrics and competitor analysis features, exceed those of AccuRanker.

Where’s the data? Keyword data in both Ahrefs and AccuRanker shows up in multiple places, including:

• Organic Research and Keyword Explorer in Ahrefs
• The Discovery tab in AccuRanker

Both Ahrefs and AccuRanker provide the following industry-standard keyword metrics:

• Rank
• Intent
• CPC
• Volume

Unlike AccuRanker, Ahrefs also provides keyword difficulty (KD) ratings and click data.

Plus it labels keywords as branded or non-branded.

You can also sort and filter keyword data in many ways.

I can’t imagine doing keyword research or content planning without access to such features.

AccuRanker does provide some metrics that Ahrefs doesn’t. For instance, it provides 2 click-through rate metrics:

• CTR
• Max (CTR)

The latter metric is the estimated CTR if your domain occupied “the best spot in the SERPs, most often (but not always!) rank 1.”

While Ahrefs doesn’t include CTR as a column metric in its Organic Keywords tool, it does include estimated CTR in its calculation of traffic. So I don’t think CTR gives AccuRanker an edge here.

SERP features: AccuRanker monitors more SERP features than Ahrefs, with 36 features compared to Ahrefs' 19.

Paid Traffic: Unlike AccuRanker, Ahrefs tracks paid traffic.

Keyword gap analysis: With Ahrefs’s Content Gap tool, you can quickly identify which keywords your competitors are ranking for, but you aren’t.

Then, you can filter by dimensions such as keyword difficulty, search intent, and search volume.

This is how you can find high-volume keywords that are possible to rank for and signal buying intent.

AccuRanker doesn’t have a keyword gap tool. Under its Competitors tab, you’ll see:

• Each keyword your domain is ranking for
• How your competitors rank for those keywords

Unfortunately, there are no advanced filtering options like you have in Ahrefs. So you can’t filter out, say, branded search terms.

Here, when analyzing Adidas, we see mainly branded terms at the top.

You can click on a keyword to get more information via a pop-up.

Competitors are listed at right. Click on them to add trend lines.

You can also find competitor data in the Overview tab, in a tile called “Dynamic Top 10 Competitors Ranks.”

I didn’t find this chart, in its default setting, to be helpful.

Deselect competitors to declutter the trend lines.

Bottom line: Ahrefs offers the type of keyword research options that agencies need to analyze competitors and plan content and advertising strategies. AccuRanker lacks the scope and usability of Ahrefs.

Backlinks Analysis

When it comes to backlink analysis, comparing Ahrefs to AccuRanker is simple: AccuRanker doesn’t provide backlink analysis.

That’s one reason why their domain analysis doesn’t include a proprietary domain authority score. Such scores are calculated using backlink data.

In Ahrefs Site Explorer, you’ll find total backlinks and referring domains listed at top.

In addition, Ahrefs has a detailed set of backlinks analysis tools, available via its left-hand menu.

Here are some highlights of Ahrefs’ backlinks analysis capabilities.

Filtering: When analyzing a domain’s backlink profile, you can filter by many aspects, including:

• Link attribute
• Domain Rating range
• Type of link (e.g., redirect, canonical, in content)
• Best to worst (e.g., best links, spammy links)
• Language or author

Broken backlinks: Here, you can add a domain to discover broken backlinks pointing to it. (Requires the Standard Plan at $249/month.)

Link Intersect: Under Competitor Analysis, you’ll find Ahrefs’ backlink gap tool. Simply add your domain and one or more competitors to analyze the backlink gap.

Bottom line: While backlinks are no longer a top 3 ranking factor, they remain drivers of traffic and sales. For that reason, backlink analysis tools, such as those in Ahrefs, are a must-have for agencies and in-house marketers.

Integrations

Ahrefs outpaces AccuRanker for standard integrations. And both platforms offer REST APIs for custom integrations.

Sample Ahrefs integrations:

• Screaming Frog SEO Spider
• Netpeak Checker
• Pitchbox
• Spamzilla

Sample AccuRanker integrations:

• Google Analytics
• Adobe Analytics
• Swydo
• Third Party Importer

Agency Solutions

Apart from the features already covered, what agency-specific features do AccuRanker and Ahrefs offer?

Feature	AccuRanker	Ahrefs
Forecasting	✔	✔
White-label reporting	✔	X
Client dashboards with custom permissions	✔	✔
Automated reports	✔	✔
API	✔	✔

Pricing Plans

Ahrefs provides 3 plans:

• Lite: $129/mo
• Standard: $249/mo
• Advanced: $449/mo

The plans differ in the tools that you get access to.

For example, Content Explorer, SERP Comparison, and Keyword Clusters are not available in the Lite plan.

Note that Starter and Lite plans have “credit” limits.

AccuRanker charges by the number of keywords you want to track.

For instance:

• 1k keywords is $129/month
• 2k is $249/month
• 3k is $332/month

Click and drag on the interactive slider to find the different price levels.

Annual Discounts

Both Ahrefs and AccuRanker offer discounts when you pay annually.

Free Trials

AccuRanker offers a 14-day free trial, no card required.

Ahrefs used to offer free trials, but people took advantage of the program by signing up repeatedly under different email addresses.

However, Ahrefs has stated that they are interested in providing free trials. I take this to mean if you’re serious, you can contact them and request a free trial.

AccuRanker vs. Ahrefs Summary

I’ve used Ahrefs for years. And I’m new to AccuRanker.

I’m genuinely impressed by both.

As I previously suggested, this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, given the different nature of the platforms.

• AccuRanker is a good choice if you're an agency that prioritizes a high degree of precision in rank tracking, serves international clients across multiple search engines (especially in Chinese markets), or needs real-time ranking data.
• Ahrefs is a good choice for full-service digital marketing agencies that require comprehensive SEO capabilities beyond rank tracking, as well as content optimization tools.

Better than Semrush?

Since Ahrefs is a direct competitor of Semrush, you should assess Semrush too.

Semrush offers a complete SEO and digital marketing toolkit.

So investigate whether Semrush alone meets your needs better than Ahrefs alone—or Ahrefs combined with AccuRanker.

Ready to Make Your Decision?

Don't rely solely on my analysis. These platforms offer different strengths that may align uniquely with your workflow and client needs.

Take action today:

• Try AccuRanker's 14-day free trial (no credit card required) to experience their capabilities firsthand
• Contact Ahrefs directly to request a free trial and explore their comprehensive SEO toolkit
• Compare Ahrefs to Semrush, which provides a suite of digital marketing tools, including SEO and rank tracking.

You can get a 14-day free trial of Semrush with our promo link.

Test these platforms with your client data and workflows. The tool that feels most intuitive and delivers the insights your team needs is the right choice for your agency.

Don’t wait—start your free trials today and find out which platform drives real results for your agency.

Q&A on AccuRanker vs. Ahrefs

How do the cancellation policies compare between Ahrefs and AccuRanker?

You can cancel AccuRanker or Ahrefs at any time.

• Cancel AccuRanker at least 14 days before renewal to avoid another monthly charge.
• Cancelling Ahrefs causes your billing to end the day before your next renewal date.

Can we import our current keyword lists and historical data into AccuRanker?

Yes, you can import your keywords and historical data to AccuRanker via a CSV file. Follow these instructions.

Our agency serves an international clientele. How do Ahrefs and AccuRanker compare in terms of country coverage?

Both Ahrefs and AccuRanker provide data for any country where Google searches are made. In addition, both offer hyper-local coverage, down to specific locations.

For instance, with Ahrefs, you can track rankings by country, by over 10,000 cities, and by geographic regions. It allows for filtering by zip code and local landmarks.

You can do similar tracking with AccuRanker.

This granular coverage is crucial for agencies, as rankings vary significantly across different geographic regions.

Also, AccuRanker includes data from Baidu, a plus for agencies serving Chinese-speaking countries and regions.