Ahrefs vs LinkJuice

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Cheaper paid plan: LinkJuice — $8.33/mo vs $29/mo for Ahrefs
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Ahrefs has one; not confirmed by us for LinkJuice
Higher Trust score: Ahrefs — 92 vs 62 for LinkJuice
Best fit: Ahrefs: SEO teams and agencies that need backlink data they can defend to a client · LinkJuice: SEOs who manually submit to directories and resource pages

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

AhrefsBacklink index, keyword research, rank tracking and site audits from one crawler, now with AI-answer visibility tracking

LinkJuiceChrome extension that fills backlink submission forms with AI and tracks whether the links stay live.

Side by side

Fact	Ahrefs	LinkJuice
Category	SEO Tools	SEO Tools
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$29/mo	$8.33/mo
Public API	Yes	Not confirmed
Trust score	92 / 100	62 / 100
Platforms	Web, API, Chrome extension	Chrome extension
Company	Ahrefs Pte. Ltd.	—
Last verified	Sep 6, 2026	Sep 1, 2026

What our research says

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is the backlink index most SEO teams treat as the reference, and the rest of the suite — keywords, rank tracking, audits — is strong enough that it usually replaces two or three cheaper tools. The entry prices mislead: Starter at $29 is a taster, and Lite at $129 is a single seat with credit limits, so a small agency lands at Standard plus extra users before it feels unconstrained. Buy it for the data; price it on your real seat count.

Pros

Backlink index built on Ahrefs' own crawler, with trillions of links and years of history
Keyword research, rank tracking, site audit and AI-answer visibility in one subscription
API and MCP access included from the Lite plan, not sold as a separate product
Free tier for your own verified sites and a $29 Starter for light use

Cons

Lite caps usage at 1,000 credits per user and six months of history
Every plan includes one user; additional seats are a per-month surcharge
Enterprise at $1,499 requires an annual commitment
Brand Radar AI and prompt-check packages are paid add-ons on top of the plan

LinkJuice

LinkJuice targets the manual, repetitive part of link building - filling out the same kind of submission form over and over - rather than finding link opportunities for you. It's Chrome-only, and the free tier's 100 monthly AI requests and 100 backlink targets will feel tight for anyone running an active outreach campaign.

Pros

autofills unfamiliar submission forms with AI rather than a fixed template
checks link status over time instead of a one-time submission log
free plan needs no credit card to start

Cons

Chrome-only, no Firefox or Safari support
free tier limited to 100 AI requests and one site
doesn't help discover new link opportunities, only submitting to known ones

Which one fits

Choose Ahrefs if you need

SEO teams and agencies that need backlink data they can defend to a client
Content teams running keyword research and rank tracking at scale
Developers pulling index data through the API or MCP on a Lite plan or above

Choose LinkJuice if you need

SEOs who manually submit to directories and resource pages
people tracking whether previously placed backlinks are still live
solo marketers wanting to speed up form-filling