Ahrefs vs Mangools
Both are SEO tools aimed at marketers, freelancers, agencies and site owners. They differ most on value for money, backlink data and site audits.
At a glance
| Ahrefs | Mangools | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 81/100 Higher | 62/100 |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Paid from | £23/mo (about $30.41) monthly; keyword and competitor research only | $61/mo (about £46.14) monthly; $452.40/yr billed annually |
| Positioning | full suite | lightweight |
| Launched | 2011 | 2014 |
| Best for | Anyone whose SEO work centres on links and competitor research. | Bloggers and beginners who mainly need keyword research and a simple rank tracker. |
Where each one leads
| Dimension | Ahrefs | Mangools | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 4/5 | 5/5 | Mangools |
| Value for money | 2/5 | 5/5 | Mangools |
| Keyword research | 5/5 | 4/5 | Ahrefs |
| Free plan | 3/5 | 1/5 | Ahrefs |
| Rank tracking | 4/5 | 3/5 | Ahrefs |
| Site audits | 4/5 | 2/5 | Ahrefs |
| Breadth of features | 4/5 | 2/5 | Ahrefs |
| Backlink data | 5/5 | 3/5 | Ahrefs |
| AI-search tracking | 4/5 | 2/5 | Ahrefs |
Scores are 1–5 per dimension. Ahrefs leads on 7 dimensions, Mangools on 2. The overall figure weights these for SEO tools generally — see methodology.
Pricing
Plans are listed per tool rather than paired row by row — tiers rarely line up, and putting one vendor's second plan beside another's implies an equivalence that is not there.
| Tool | Plan | Per month | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Free | Free | your own sites only |
| Starter | £23 | monthly; keyword and competitor research only | |
| Lite | £99 | monthly; 750 tracked keywords, 6 months of history | |
| Standard | £199 | monthly; 2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years of history | |
| Advanced | £359 | monthly; 5,000 tracked keywords, 5 years of history | |
| Mangools | Basic | $61 | monthly; $452.40/yr billed annually |
| Premium | $81 | monthly; $632.40/yr billed annually | |
| Agency | $141 | monthly; $1,172.40/yr billed annually |
Pricing checked 23 September 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page. Ahrefs: Shown to UK visitors in GBP. Annual billing saves up to 17%. Enterprise needs an annual commitment. Mangools: Billed in USD. Annual billing cuts the price by roughly 38%. 48-hour money-back guarantee. Where the two bill in different currencies, conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate.
Verdict
Ahrefs
- +Its backlink and site data come from what Ahrefs describes as the world's second-most active web crawler.
- +A genuinely useful free plan for sites you own, and a £23 Starter plan for light keyword research.
- +API and MCP access included on every paid plan from Lite upwards.
- −Lite is £99 a month with only six months of historical data and one user.
- −Additional users cost £32–£64 a month each depending on plan.
Mangools
- +Built around KWFinder, a dedicated keyword research tool, with rank tracking and backlink lookups alongside.
- +Annual billing brings the Basic plan to about $38 a month.
- +A handful of single-purpose tools — KWFinder, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner and others — rather than one sprawling suite.
- −There is no full technical site-audit crawler, unlike the three suites here.
- −Monthly billing costs about 60% more than annual — $61 against roughly $38.
Common questions
Is Ahrefs cheaper than Mangools?
Ahrefs starts at £23/mo (about $30.41; monthly; keyword and competitor research only), and Mangools starts at $61/mo (about £46.14; monthly; $452.40/yr billed annually) — so Ahrefs is the cheaper entry point. Converted at the European Central Bank reference rate. Compare what each includes at that tier, and what it renews at, rather than the headline figure alone.
Does Ahrefs or Mangools have a free plan?
Ahrefs has a free plan, and Mangools has no free plan.
Which is better, Ahrefs or Mangools?
On our weighted scoring across the use cases in this category, Ahrefs comes out ahead overall. The honest answer is that it depends on the use case — the tables above break the score down by dimension so you can weight it to your own priorities.
Other comparisons
Sources & verification
- ahrefs.com — checked 23 September 2026Ahrefs Free covers data for sites you own; researching competitors needs a paid plan.
- api.frankfurter.app — checked 24 September 2026European Central Bank reference rate, published via Frankfurter.
- mangools.com — checked 23 September 2026No free plan, though Mangools publishes several free standalone SEO tools.