Partly, with limits. Ahrefs data on your own site only (Ahrefs Webmaster Tools), once you prove it is yours. Beyond that, the Starter plan costs €27 a month. OpenSEO does the same thing for free, in open source.

Is OpenSEO really free?

Yes. OpenSEO is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Ahrefs, on the other hand, costs €119 a month. One nuance for OpenSEO: the software is free, but the SEO data comes from DataForSEO and is paid as you go, a few cents per request, with a starting top up of 50 dollars (around €45). No subscription, but not zero either.

Do I need to code to install OpenSEO?

No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 20 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Ahrefs?

OpenSEO does most of what Ahrefs does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Ahrefs

Ahrefs costs €119 a month. OpenSEO does the same job for free, in open source: you install it on your machine or a small server, and you stop paying.

Public entry price, taken from Ahrefs’ website (ahrefs.com). Over a year, that is €1428 that stays in your pocket.

How much does Ahrefs cost in 2026?

Ahrefs’ public plans, checked on 7 October 2026 on ahrefs.com.

Free
€0
Ahrefs data on your own site only (Ahrefs Webmaster Tools), once you prove it is yours.
Starter
€27 a month
Restricted version: keyword and competitor research in small amounts.
Lite
€119 a month
5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, 6 months of history, 1 user.
Standard
€229 a month
20 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years of history.
Advanced
€419 a month
50 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords, 5 years of history.
Enterprise
€1,394 a month
Annual commitment, full API access, company single sign on (SSO).

Prices shown in euros from France, per month. Each extra user is paid separately (€37 a month on Lite). See the official pricing page ↗

What replaces Ahrefs

The main alternative

OpenSEO

🟡 Intermediate⏱️ ~20 min to installSave €119/mo

OpenSEO is an open source SEO tool that replaces Semrush and Ahrefs. You do keyword research (volume, difficulty, intent), analyse a competitor and its backlinks, track your rankings and run a technical audit of your site. It also measures your brand's visibility in ChatGPT style answers, and through MCP you can query it from Claude or Cursor. If you would rather host nothing, the hosted version costs around €9 a month, credits included. The thing to understand: the software is free, but the data comes from DataForSEO, which you pay as you go with your own key (about 5 cents per keyword research, 8 cents per domain overview, a minimum top up of about €45). For a small site, that is a few euros a month.

Loucash’s verdict on OpenSEO

7/10

If you pay Semrush or Ahrefs for one or two sites, OpenSEO covers the essentials: keywords, backlinks, rankings, audit, plus AI visibility and an MCP server to do your SEO from Claude. The software is truly free and open source, and it even runs on Cloudflare's free plan. What I like: the project's pace (19,000 stars in under seven months, a release every couple of weeks), pay per request rather than a subscription, and the AI angle nobody else offers in open source. What may bite: it is not free end to end. The data comes from DataForSEO, you need an account and a minimum top up of 50 dollars (around €45), then every request is deducted (a few cents). For a small site that is a few euros a month, but if you fire a thousand requests a day, do the maths. The project is young (version 0.1), the Docker version runs without a password and must never be exposed as is, and the AI features need an extra OpenRouter key.

Who it is for: You do SEO for one or two sites, you pay Semrush or Ahrefs for a few searches a week, and you want your data at home. If you run thousands of requests a day, compare the pay as you go cost first.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

The prompt that installs OpenSEO

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Je veux installer OpenSEO (outil SEO open source, dépôt GitHub every-app/open-seo, site openseo.so) à la place de Semrush ou Ahrefs. Demande-moi d'abord si je veux l'essayer sur ma machine avec Docker (docs/SELF_HOSTING_DOCKER.md du dépôt) ou l'héberger sur Cloudflare avec le plan gratuit (docs/SELF_HOSTING_CLOUDFLARE.md), puis suis la doc officielle pas à pas. Guide-moi pour créer un compte DataForSEO et une clé d'API (docs/DATAFORSEO_API_KEY.md), en me prévenant que les données se paient à l'usage avec un dépôt minimum de 50 dollars, et mets la clé dans le fichier .env. En mode Docker, rappelle-moi que l'application tourne sans authentification et ne doit pas être exposée sur internet sans protection. Si je veux les fonctions IA, propose-moi d'ajouter une clé OpenRouter. Lance l'outil, ouvre-le dans mon navigateur, et fais-moi faire une première recherche de mots-clés sur mon domaine pour vérifier que les données arrivent. Explique-moi comment suivre ma consommation chez DataForSEO et comment mettre OpenSEO à jour.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Ahrefs cost?: Free: €0; Starter: €27 a month; Lite: €119 a month; Standard: €229 a month; Advanced: €419 a month; Enterprise: €1,394 a month. Prices checked on 7 October 2026 on ahrefs.com.
Is Ahrefs free?: Partly, with limits. Ahrefs data on your own site only (Ahrefs Webmaster Tools), once you prove it is yours. Beyond that, the Starter plan costs €27 a month. OpenSEO does the same thing for free, in open source.
Is OpenSEO really free?: Yes. OpenSEO is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Ahrefs, on the other hand, costs €119 a month. One nuance for OpenSEO: the software is free, but the SEO data comes from DataForSEO and is paid as you go, a few cents per request, with a starting top up of 50 dollars (around €45). No subscription, but not zero either.
Do I need to code to install OpenSEO?: No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 20 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Ahrefs?: OpenSEO does most of what Ahrefs does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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