An Ahrefs alternative for
daily rank tracking and SERP analysis.

Top 100 positions every day, the competitors in your SERPs, weekly reports. No backlink index, no site audit, no $129 a month.

If Rank Tracker is the tab you open, you're paying for the other tabs.

Ahrefs Lite: $129/month (Starter: $29, 50 keywords, weekly). KeyRank: free, or from $9/month, daily.

By Serhii Hromov, the developer who built KeyRank. Last updated 12 September 2026.

Start free — no credit card See all plans

TL;DR: Ahrefs is a full SEO suite whose Rank Tracker updates weekly by default. KeyRank does rank tracking and SERP analysis only, checks daily, and starts at $9. Pick Ahrefs if you need backlinks, audits, or keyword research. Pick KeyRank if you need positions and who holds them.

Why people look for an Ahrefs alternative

Ask on r/SEO and the answers cluster around three complaints, all from people doing SEO for their own site rather than for clients:

Paying for a suite, using one tool. Lite is $129 a month. If you open Rank Tracker and little else, the rest of the bill buys nothing.
Weekly rankings. Every Ahrefs plan updates tracked keywords weekly by default. Daily is a paid add-on and the price isn't listed.
Credits on the cheap plan. Starter is $29 but runs on 200 report credits a month, spent one per report or filter.

None of that makes Ahrefs a bad tool. It makes it the wrong bill for someone who needs one tab.

KeyRank is for you if

You track positions for your own sites, or a few client sites.
You want to see who sits above you and what changed, day by day.
You'd rather pay $9 than $129 for that.

Stay on Ahrefs if

You need a backlink index, a site crawler, or keyword difficulty scores.
You track desktop and mobile for every keyword and count the cost.
You run agency reports for many clients.

Ahrefs does those well. KeyRank doesn't do them at all.

Track 50 keywords free

No credit card. Paid plans from $9/month.

About 200 people have signed up so far. The developer tracks around 1,000 of his own keywords on it.

Ahrefs Rank Tracker vs KeyRank

Rank tracking only. Monthly billing on both. Ahrefs figures last checked 12 September 2026 against Ahrefs' own pages: Ahrefs pricing, update frequency, Starter plan, competitors.

50 keywords

Ahrefs: Starter, $29/month. Weekly checks, 200 report credits a month.
KeyRank: Starter, $9/month. Daily checks, no credits.

1,000 keywords

Ahrefs: Standard, $249/month. Lite ($129) stops at 750.
KeyRank: Business, $99/month.

Check frequency

Ahrefs: Weekly by default on every plan. Daily is a paid add-on, price not published.
KeyRank: Daily on every paid plan. Weekly on the free plan.

Tracking depth

Ahrefs: Top 100.
KeyRank: Top 100 on paid plans. Top 30 on the free plan.

Competitors

Ahrefs: Up to 10 per project, added by hand.
KeyRank: Found automatically from every SERP you track. No cap.

SERP history

Ahrefs: Position numbers and a SERP overview.
KeyRank: The full top 100 list for each keyword, each day, with titles and URLs.

Devices

Ahrefs: Desktop and mobile for every keyword.
KeyRank: One device per project. Tracking both doubles the keyword count.

Free plan

Ahrefs: Webmaster Tools: site audit and backlinks for your own site. No rank tracking.
KeyRank: 50 keywords, weekly checks, top 30. Every feature. No credit card.

Support

Ahrefs: Help center, support chat and email.
KeyRank: Email the developer who built it. One person, real answers.

Backlink index, site audit, keyword research

Ahrefs: Yes. This is most of what you pay for.
KeyRank: No.

Ahrefs Rank Tracker vs KeyRank, feature by feature
Category	Ahrefs Rank Tracker	KeyRank
50 keywords	Starter, $29/month. Weekly checks, 200 report credits a month.	Starter, $9/month. Daily checks, no credits.
1,000 keywords	Standard, $249/month. Lite ($129) stops at 750.	Business, $99/month.
Check frequency	Weekly by default on every plan. Daily is a paid add-on, price not published.	Daily on every paid plan. Weekly on the free plan.
Tracking depth	Top 100.	Top 100 on paid plans. Top 30 on the free plan.
Competitors	Up to 10 per project, added by hand.	Found automatically from every SERP you track. No cap.
SERP history	Position numbers and a SERP overview.	The full top 100 list for each keyword, each day, with titles and URLs.
Devices	Desktop and mobile for every keyword.	One device per project. Tracking both doubles the keyword count.
Free plan	Webmaster Tools: site audit and backlinks for your own site. No rank tracking.	50 keywords, weekly checks, top 30. Every feature. No credit card.
Support	Help center, support chat and email.	Email the developer who built it. One person, real answers.
Backlink index, site audit, keyword research	Yes. This is most of what you pay for.	No.

Pricing, tier by tier

The cheapest plan on each side that covers a given number of tracked keywords, and what a year costs. Ahrefs plans include the whole suite; KeyRank plans include every KeyRank feature.

Cheapest plan on each side by keyword count, with yearly cost
Keywords	Ahrefs	KeyRank	Per year
50	Starter$29/mo	Starter$9/mo	$348 vs $108
200	Lite (750 included)$129/mo	Growth$25/mo	$1,548 vs $300
500	Lite (750 included)$129/mo	Pro$49/mo	$1,548 vs $588
1,000	Standard (2,000 included)$249/mo	Business$99/mo	$2,988 vs $1,188
2,000+	Standard or Advanced$249/mo	Not offered	—

Ahrefs monthly prices in USD; annual billing takes roughly 17% off. KeyRank has no annual plan and tops out at 1,000 keywords. Tracked keywords on both count per keyword per location.

Why the check day matters

A weekly check tells you a position moved. A daily check tells you which day. That is the difference between "something changed last week" and "we dropped the morning after the title tag deploy".

Every KeyRank paid plan checks every day. Attach a note to any keyword on any date, and see whether rankings moved after the change you made.

Each check also stores the full SERP, so when a competitor takes your spot you can open that day and see which page did it.

KeyRank rank table: eight keywords as rows, seven daily columns, position numbers with green and red day-over-day changes — The rank table: one column per day, colour on every move. Sample project.

Competitors you didn't add

In Ahrefs you pick up to 10 competitor domains per project and the tool reports on those. If a site you never heard of starts taking your keywords, it isn't on the list. KeyRank reads the SERPs it already collects and builds the competitor table from whoever shows up. For each domain: how many of your keywords it ranks for, and its median position. No setup, no cap. Click a domain to see its ranking pages and the keywords behind each one.

The same stored SERPs are why the "SERP history" row matters. Ahrefs shows you a position number and a current SERP overview. KeyRank keeps the full top 100 for every keyword, every day, with titles and URLs. A drop from 4 to 9 comes with the five pages that moved in above you, and the day they did it.

KeyRank SERP analysis: your coverage, median position and top 10 rate, then a top competitors table with coverage, median position and visibility per domain — Top competitors, built from the SERPs of the keywords you track. Sample project.

Switching from Ahrefs

Export your keyword list from Rank Tracker (any CSV export works).
Create a project in KeyRank with the same domain, country, language, and device.
Paste the keywords into "Add keywords". Newlines, commas, or semicolons all work. First positions appear within 24 hours.

Ranking history does not transfer. KeyRank starts collecting from the day you add a keyword, so add them before you cancel Ahrefs, not after.

If you need the rest of Ahrefs

KeyRank replaces one tab. For the others, these do the job without a $129 plan:

Backlinks and site audit for your own site. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for verified sites. Keep it. It doesn't track rankings.
Crawling. Screaming Frog is free up to 500 URLs.
Backlinks on other sites. Moz Link Explorer has a free tier with a handful of lookups a month.
Keyword data. Google Search Console and Keyword Planner. Free.

None of these are affiliate links.

Questions & answers

Is there a free version of Ahrefs?

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for sites you verify: site audit, backlinks, and organic keywords for your own domain. It does not include Rank Tracker. KeyRank's free plan covers that gap with 50 keywords, weekly checks, and top 30 depth. No credit card.

What are the cons of Ahrefs for rank tracking?

Rankings update weekly by default on every plan, and daily updates are a paid add-on with no published price. The $29 Starter plan runs on 200 report credits a month. And you pay for the whole suite: if Rank Tracker is the tab you open, most of the bill goes to tools you don't use.

What is the cheapest way to track keyword rankings daily?

KeyRank Starter is $9 a month for 50 keywords, checked daily, top 100. Ahrefs Starter is $29 for the same 50 keywords, checked weekly. For 1,000 keywords it is $99 on KeyRank Business against $249 on Ahrefs Standard.

Does KeyRank track the top 100 like Ahrefs?

Yes, on every paid plan. The free plan tracks the top 30. You can open the full SERP for any keyword on any day and see which URLs held each position.

Can I export my ranking data?

Yes. CSV export from any project, plus a PDF report per project. A weekly email report lists wins, drops, and competitors. There is no API yet.

Can I cancel, and is there a refund?

Plans are monthly. Cancel anytime from your billing page and your account returns to the free plan at the end of the period. If you are unhappy with a charge, ask for a full refund within 14 days. No questions asked.

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Track rankings free. Pay when your site outgrows it.

Free: 50 keywords, weekly, top 30. Paid: daily checks and top 100 from $9/month. Every plan gets every feature.

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No credit card for the free plan. Paid plans are monthly, cancel anytime, full refund within 14 days of any charge. No questions asked.

An Ahrefs alternative for daily rank tracking and SERP analysis.