Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics
Ahrefs vs Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) vs SE Ranking
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Marketers and business owners who want to see what competitors rank for and find keywords worth chasing.
Pick it if: Store owners, marketers and UX teams who want to see and hear why visitors leave, with surveys alongside the recordings.
Pick it if: Small businesses, freelancers and agencies who want a full SEO toolkit with AI search tracking for less than the big names.
Overview
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Keyword research, backlink checks and site audits in one toolkit. | Heatmaps, session replays and surveys that show why visitors leave, with AI summaries. | A cheaper all-in-one SEO tool that also tracks your brand in AI search answers. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | $29/mo | From $39/mo | $129/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.4Winner | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 5.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | No | No | No |
| Desktop app | No | No | No |
| Browser extension | Yes | No | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | No | No |
| Understands images | No | – | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | No | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | – | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 6/ 17 | 6/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Ahrefs Free Free Checking the health and backlinks of a site you own. | FreeOur pick Free Most small business websites. | CoreOur pick $129/mo, or $103.20/mo billed yearly Small businesses and freelancers. |
Starter $29/mo Occasional keyword research on a tight budget. | Growth From $39/mo billed yearly, or $49 monthly Businesses that want AI summaries and longer history. | Growth $279/mo, or $223.20/mo billed yearly Agencies and teams with many sites. | |
LiteOur pick $129/mo A business doing its own SEO seriously. | Pro Custom Teams running conversion work across many sites. | Enterprise Custom Large teams. | |
Standard $249/mo Freelancers and small agencies. | Enterprise Custom Large companies. | ||
Advanced $449/mo Agencies and in-house teams with many sites. | |||
Enterprise $1,499/mo billed yearly Large companies that need SSO and unlimited data. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Start on Ahrefs Free to audit your own site. If you want to research competitors and keywords every week, go straight to Lite; the Starter plan's credits run out too quickly to be useful for more than the odd lookup. Each plan includes one user, and extra seats cost $40 to $80 a month. | Start on Free. For most small sites it does what Hotjar's paid plans used to. Take the 15-day Growth trial to see if the AI summaries save you time before paying. Survey responses are a separate product with their own Growth plan from $79 a month. | Start the 14-day free trial. Core covers most small businesses and freelancers, and paying yearly saves 20%. Agencies should look at Growth plus the $69 a month Agency Pack for white-label reports and client seats. |
Key features
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) | SE Ranking |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Ahrefs, Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) or SE Ranking?
Ahrefs scores highest overall in our ratings (Ahrefs 4.4/5, Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) 4.3/5 and SE Ranking 4.1/5). Ahrefs is best for keyword research and competitor traffic estimates. Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) is best for seeing why visitors leave a page and heatmaps and session replays. SE Ranking is best for daily rank tracking on a budget and agencies needing white-label client reports.
Which is cheaper, Ahrefs, Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar) or SE Ranking?
Ahrefs: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $29/mo. Contentsquare (formerly Hotjar): There's a free plan, and paid plans start at From $39/mo. SE Ranking: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $129/mo.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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