Mangools vs. Ahrefs: Which is the Better SEO Tool?

When you’re comparing SEO tools, it’s never easy to decide which one’s going to be the best for your needs—especially when they have a lot of feature overlap.

Mangools and Ahrefs are two tools that happen to have quite a few overlapping capabilities and tools. They’ll both help you research keywords, analyze search engine results pages (SERPs), track your backlinks, and more. They also both have pretty good reviews.

The main difference between Mangools and Ahrefs is the price. Ahrefs is significantly more expensive than Mangools. It does have more tools and capabilities than Mangools, but is the price worth it?

I’ll take a deep dive into both of them to help you decide which one works better for you, your website, and your team.

Feature	Mangools	Ahrefs
Primary Focus	Simpler SEO tools for small businesses and beginners	Comprehensive SEO platform for professionals and agencies
Best For	Solopreneurs, bloggers, small teams with limited budgets	SEO specialists, agencies, marketing teams
Keyword Research	Easy-to-use KWFinder tool with suggestions and difficulty scoring	Powerful Keyword Explorer with extensive data and related/parent term insights
SERP Analysis	SERPChecker tool; lacks AI Overview and rich SERP feature data	Integrated SERP data with AI Overview, “People Also Ask,” videos, and more SERP features
Backlink Analysis	LinkMiner with Link Strength scores and basic domain metrics	Deep backlink reports with anchor text, broken links, and referring IPs
Rank Tracking	Simple dashboard with rankings, keyword flow, winners/losers	Advanced tracker with SERP feature tracking and parent topic analysis
Site Auditing	Basic metrics via SiteProfiler	Full site audits with technical SEO recommendations
Ease of Use	Beginner-friendly, simple UI	More robust with a steeper learning curve
API Access	✔️	✔️
Starting Price	$29.90/month (Basic plan, billed annually)	$29/month (Starter), $108/month (Lite plan, billed annually)

Mangools and Ahrefs: Meet the tools

Here’s a quick look at both tools to start with.

About Mangools

Mangools is an all-in-one SEO toolset that includes keyword research, SERP analysis, backlink tracking, and website metrics.

Its main tools, including KWFinder, SERPChecker, LinkMiner, and SiteProfiler, are designed for ease of use and cater to beginners and small businesses seeking to improve search rankings.

Mangools brands itself as “SEO tools for busy people,” meaning people who don’t have a ton of time to invest in a sprawling and more in-depth toolset.

About Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO platform used for keyword research, backlink analysis, content exploration, and website auditing.

It features tools like Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Content Explorer, allowing marketers to analyze competitors, monitor rankings, and improve site visibility.

Although Ahrefs is more targeted toward larger businesses, agencies, and those with a bigger budget to spend on SEO and content marketing, they do offer a free, limited “Ahrefs Webmaster Tools” account, as well as a Starter subscription at $29/month.

Mangools vs. Ahrefs for Keyword Research

Ahrefs is the superior tool for keyword research due to its comprehensive data and more relevant related term suggestions.

In Mangools, you’ll enter a keyword into the KWFinder tool to see a list of related keywords, a measure of keyword difficulty (how hard it is to gain search engine visibility for that keyword), search volume with historical trend, and a SERP overview for the keyword.

I found the tool to be helpful and liked that I could easily toggle the table from related keywords to autocomplete (Google’s suggestions that pop up while you’re typing in the search bar) or questions.

My favorite part, though, is the first column in the chart that shows you what types of content are ranking in the top positions for that keyword. So for example, I can see that the keyword “technical SEO analysis” primarily brings up guides and listicles, without having to search the term myself.

In Ahrefs, you’ll enter your keyword into the Keywords Explorer tool to see a dashboard with a lot of information about your keyword, including:

• Keyword difficulty
• Search volume with historical trend
• Global search volume, broken down by country
• Terms match list of keywords
• Questions including your keyword
• An “Also rank for” list of terms that top-ranking pages also rank for
• An “Also talk about” list of terms that people also mention when talking about your keyword
• SERP overview, including any AI Overviews or other search features

SERP Analysis Tools Comparison

Ahrefs takes the lead in SERP analysis because of its inclusion of AI Overviews and other SERP features.

Analyzing SERPs can help you pinpoint search intent, size up competitors, and decide on what content to include in your content.

In Mangools, there’s a dedicated tool for SERP analysis called SERPChecker. To use it, just type in a keyword, choose a country, and pick to look at either desktop or mobile results.

In the SERP report, you get kind of a neat color-coded chart showing whether there’s a featured snippet, how hard the keyword is to rank for, and how many results show “above the fold” (which means visible without scrolling when the results page loads).

In the chart, you’ll find metrics like domain authority, page authority, citation flow, trust flow, Facebook shares, number of backlinks, and more.

My favorite part of this report is the bar that pops up at the bottom that allows you to enter your URL (the one you hope to rank for the keyword you’ve searched) to compare your metrics with the rest of the ones on the list.

The big con here though is that, at least at the time I’m writing this, Mangools does not show AI Overviews or other search features besides a featured snippet.

In Ahrefs, instead of having a dedicated SERP explorer tool, you’ll find a SERP overview at the bottom of the page every time you research a keyword.

So, at the bottom of the Keywords Explorer report for “technical SEO,” you get a look at the top results in the SERP:

For each of the top ranked pages, Ahrefs shows you word count, domain rating, number of backlinks, how many keywords the page is ranked for, and even the top ranked keyword for that URL.

Plus, it’ll show you:

• Whether or not there’s an AI Overview
• The top three pages showing in the AI Overview
• Where the “People also ask” section is
• What the top “People also ask” questions are
• When a result has sitelinks, what those links are
• Which results are video results

Link Tools Comparison

When analyzing your backlinks and your competitors’ backlinks, you want an accurate tool that helps you find new opportunities. So, how do Ahrefs and Mangools measure up?

In Mangools, you’ll use the Backlink Checker tool to look at your competitors’ backlinks. Enter a domain to see all its backlinks, or a page URL to see just that page’s.

The tool provides citation and trust flow scores, along with total number of referring domains, total number of active backlinks, and various metrics for each backlink. I especially like the Link Strength score (and how it’s color-coded) so that you can easily see backlinks that would be the best to try to get for your own site.

You could also use the Backlink Checker to take a look at your own backlink profile. Keep an eye on the sites that link to you and make sure they’re not spammy or malicious.

In Ahrefs, you’ll use the Site Explorer tool to analyze backlinks. Type in a domain or full page URL, then click on “Backlinks” on the left side:

Now, in the Backlinks report, you’ll see metrics for each backlink like the referring page, domain and URL rating, domain traffic, referring domains, page traffic, anchor and target URL, and more:

You can also toggle over to the “Referring domains” report for more of a bird’s-eye overview of a site’s referring domains:

Other reports in the “Backlink profile” section include Broken backlinks, Anchors, Linking authors, and Referring IPs. Some of those, though, are only available in certain plans.

Mangools vs Ahrefs for Rank Tracking

Keyword rankings are an important measure of your organic visibility. In fact, according to Search Engine Journal, keyword ranking was the top performance metric favored to track SEO success in 2024. Just one year earlier, it was the third top metric.

So, how do the Mangools and Ahrefs rank tracking tools stack up?

In Mangools, the keyword tracking dashboard includes the list of keyword rankings on the left side. It also shows each keyword’s average rank, best rank, search volume, and estimated visits.

On the other side of the screen, there are more helpful graphs and reports:

• Performance and visibility index
• Top winners and top losers
• Estimated visits
• Keyword position flow
• Keyword position distribution

When I set up my keyword tracking list, I liked that Mangools asked if I’d like to import a list from the Keyword Research tool to save some time.

In Ahrefs, the Rank Tracker tool gives you a lot of data about your tracked keywords. Not only can you track your keyword rankings from week to week, but you can also see estimated traffic, position distribution, page rankings, the parent topic of your keywords, and even your rankings within all the SERP features.

My favorite part of the Ahrefs Rank Tracker is how it’ll also track your rankings in SERP features. So, you can see just at a quick glance how your rankings in AI Overviews are doing, for example.

The winner: If I have to pick a winner, it’s Ahrefs. Being able to see where you rank in SERP features is essential for me, and the Mangools report doesn’t have that yet.

Pricing & Reviews

There’s a pretty big difference in pricing between Mangools and Ahrefs in terms of available features and limits in each plan.

When paid annually, you can get Mangools Basic for $29.90 per month, Premium for $44.90 per month, and Agency for $89.90 per month.

In the basic plan, you get 100 keyword lookups per 24 hour period, 200 keyword suggestions per search, and 100 SERP lookups per 24 hours.

When people do choose to use Mangools, they tend to be happy about it. It has a 4.7+ rating across the top three rating sites:

Ahrefs, on the other hand, does offer a very limited free version called Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. There’s also a Starter plan for $29 per month, but it’s limited to the Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, and Site Audit tools. It’s also limited to 100 credits per month for running searches and audits.

For more access, paid annually, you can get Ahrefs Lite for $108 per month, Standard for $208 per month, Advanced for $374 per month, or Agency for $1,499 per month.

Ahrefs also has good ratings, except for on Trustpilot where some reviewers weren’t thrilled with a price increase a few years ago, hit credit limits too often, or are concerned about data accuracy:

Mangools vs Ahrefs: My Recommendation

In terms of how much data and reporting capabilities you get, Ahrefs is superior to Mangools. However, it can definitely be cost prohibitive for some businesses, so I understand why you might be looking at Mangools as an alternative.

I think Mangools is a great SEO tool that gives you many more credits per month than Ahrefs, and provides much of the most important data. If they could build SERP feature (like AI Overviews and People also ask) visibility into their reports, though, that would even out the playing field more.

Want an SEO tool with as much power and depth as Ahrefs, but don’t want to worry so much about using up your credits?

Check out Semrush. It combines powerful keyword research, detailed backlink insights, and competitor analysis—all in one easy-to-use platform. Plus, Semrush includes content optimization, social media tracking, and PPC tools that neither Ahrefs nor Mangools offer.

Start your Semrush journey today with their risk-free trial and see why over 2,225 users have given it a 4.7/5 rating on Capterra.

Still not sure which SEO tool is right for you? Check out the Top 19 SEO Tools We Use to Drive 65% of Site Traffic.