Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics
Ahrefs vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Similarweb
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: Anyone who needs a thorough technical check of a site, especially before or after a redesign or migration.
Pick it if: Marketers, founders and analysts who want to size up competitors and markets from the outside.
Ahrefs scores highest overall, but Screaming Frog SEO Spider gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Keyword research, backlink checks and site audits in one toolkit. | Crawls your whole site the way Google does and lists what's broken. | See roughly how much traffic any website gets and where it comes from. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $29/mo | £199/user/yr | About $125/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.4Winner | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 2.5 | 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 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 3.5 | 4.5 | 2.5 |
| 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 | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No | – |
| Desktop app | No | Yes | – |
| Browser extension | Yes | No | Yes |
| API access | Yes | No | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | No | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | No | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | – |
| Understands images | No | No | – |
| Makes images | No | No | – |
| Makes video | No | No | – |
| Writes code | No | No | – |
| Runs agents or automations | No | No | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | No |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 5/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Ahrefs Free Free Checking the health and backlinks of a site you own. | Free Free Small sites and one-off checks. | Free Free Quick checks on a big competitor. |
Starter $29/mo Occasional keyword research on a tight budget. | Paid licenceOur pick £199/user/yr Agencies and anyone with a site over 500 pages. | StarterOur pick About $125/mo billed yearly, $149 monthly A founder or marketer tracking a handful of competitors. | |
LiteOur pick $129/mo A business doing its own SEO seriously. | Business packages Custom, yearly contract Teams that need SEO, ads or AI search data at depth. | ||
Standard $249/mo Freelancers and small agencies. | |||
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. | The free version is enough for most small businesses because it includes every feature and only caps the crawl at 500 pages. Buy a licence when your site or your clients' sites go past that. The price is listed in pounds with dollar and euro options at checkout. | Use the free lookups first; for most small businesses they answer the question. Pay for Starter only if you check competitors every month, and get a quote before committing to a yearly package. |
Key features
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standout features |
|
|
|
Pros and cons
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros |
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|
Who each one is for
| Attribute | Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Similarweb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for |
|
|
|
| You'll find it used by |
|
|
|
Questions people ask
Which is better, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Similarweb?
Ahrefs scores highest overall in our ratings (Ahrefs 4.4/5, Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4.0/5 and Similarweb 3.7/5). Ahrefs is best for keyword research and competitor traffic estimates. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is best for finding broken links and checking redirects after a migration. Similarweb is best for checking a competitor's traffic and channels and sizing up a market before you launch.
Which is cheaper, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Similarweb?
Ahrefs: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $29/mo. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at £199/user/yr. Similarweb: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at About $125/mo.
Which is easier to use, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Similarweb?
Ahrefs rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Marketers and business owners who want to see what competitors rank for and find keywords worth chasing.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
Swap in another tool
More tools from SEO & Analytics in the library.
