Ahrefs Free Trial Guide (2026): Try Ahrefs at Zero Cost

Ahrefs has officially confirmed that its 7-day trial, previously offered for $1, has been discontinued.

So, what options do you have now? You can still use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, which is entirely free for lifetime, but with limited features.

My personal recommendation is to go for the Semrush free trial instead.
Semrush offers a complete SEO toolkit, and you can try all their premium features for 14 days with no restrictions.

Ahrefs still has some awesome free tools that you can use today without any cost. We will discuss in this Ahrefs free trial post….

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Does Ahrefs Have a Free Trial?

The short answer is no; Ahrefs no longer provides a free trial. But instead of a free trial, you can try the Ahrefs Webmaster Tool.

They used to offer a 7-day trial for $7 (and later for $1), which gave full access to all their powerful SEO tools. 

But unfortunately, that option has been discontinued and is no longer available. There’s also no official word on whether they plan to bring it back. 

So if you’ve seen outdated posts or YouTube videos claiming a free trial is available, I’d take those with a grain of salt.

Ahrefs hasn’t left us completely in the dark.

They now offer something called “Ahrefs Webmaster Tools”.

This is a free solution that gives website owners limited access to two core features:

• Site Explorer, and
• Site Audit.

I’ve personally used these free Webmaster Tools, and let me tell you it’s not the full Ahrefs suite, but it’s definitely useful. 

This helps you to understand or to get a feel for how the Ahrefs platform works, or you can easily audit your site without spending money.

However, there’s a catch: you can only use these tools for websites you own and can verify through methods like Google Search Console, DNS verification, or HTML upload. 

In other words, you won’t be able to spy on competitors or use advanced keyword tools unless you upgrade to a paid plan.

To sum it up:

• ❌ No free trial offered by Ahrefs
• ✅ Free access to limited tools for verified websites via Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
• 🔄 Refund available within 48 hours, but only if there has been no usage of the tools

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How to Claim Ahrefs Free Webmaster Tools in 2026?

Here’s how I claimed Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (Site Explorer, Site Audit) for free, step by step:

Step 1: Go to the Ahrefs Webmaster Tools Page:

I started by heading to the Ahrefs Webmaster Tools page. You’ll see a “Sign Up For Free” button. Click on it to get started.

 Step 2: Create Your Free Ahrefs Account

You can sign up using your Google, Facebook, or email account. I chose to sign up using my Google account (just easier for me) but you can go with whatever works best. 

Just make sure to check the box for terms & conditions before clicking the final “Sign Up For Free” button.

Step 3: Confirm Your Email

Ahrefs then sent me an activation link via email. I checked my inbox and clicked on the “Confirm Email” button. And it instantly verified my account.

Step 4: Complete Your Ahrefs Account Setup

After email verification, Ahrefs asked for a few more details like my name, password, and how I heard about them. Once you fill those out and hit continue, your account setup will be completed.

Step 5: Verify Your Site Ownership

To actually use the Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, you’ll need to verify ownership of your website. 

There are four methods to verify ownership:

• Google Search Console (this is the easiest if your site is already connected)
• DNS Record
• HTML File Upload
• HTML Tag Placement

I personally used the Google Search Console method because my site is already linked to GSC before I come here. I just tap the import button.

Then it took just a few seconds since my site was already verified there. Once I linked my Google account Ahrefs confirmed ownership instantly.

Step 7: Start Using the Ahrefs Free Tools

Just after the site verification is done, you can start using Site Explorer and Site Audit completely free. These tools allowed me to:

• Crawl and audit my website for technical SEO issues
• Monitor backlinks and referring domains
• Track keyword rankings
• Understand my organic search performance

The best part? I can run these checks as many times as I want on the verified site without any payment or trial expiration.

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Few More Free Tools From Ahrefs:

There are some more tools you can enjoy from Ahrefs for free of cost. And there is no restriction on the usage.

But do remember these tools are limited in features and don’t offer in-depth information, as you will see after upgrading to Ahrefs full subscription:

This is my experience with them:

1. Free Keyword Generator:

For quick keyword ideas, I just pop into Ahrefs’ free Keyword Generator. And within seconds, I get hundreds of keyword suggestions along with basic volume and keyword difficulty (KD) data.

It’s great for brainstorming, especially for newer websites.

2. Keyword Difficulty Checker:

It tells me how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword on Google based purely on the strength of the backlink profiles of the top-ranking pages.

I use this tool to find keywords with a difficulty score under 20 (that’s my safe spot when targeting quick wins).

3. Backlink Checker:

Out of all the free tools, this one is probably my favorite.

The Ahrefs Backlink Checker shows the top 100 backlinks pointing to any domain or URL. I often use it to Spy on competitors link profiles.

4. Website Authority Checker:

This tool gives you the Domain Rating (DR) of any site. It’s a simple but effective way to judge how strong or trusted a website is based on its backlink profile.

5. Website Traffic Checker:

This is one of the tools I use when I want a rough estimate of a competitor’s organic traffic. It also gives insights into top-performing pages and whether they’re running paid ads.

6. SERP Checker:

This tool is super helpful. It shows the top 10 Google results for any keyword across 240+ countries. Saves time of manual SERP analysis.

7. Free AI Writing Tools:

This one was a pleasant new surprise! Ahrefs offers a small collection of AI tools that help with things like:

• Rewriting sentences
• Creating outlines
• Writing blog intros
• Generating titles and meta descriptions

They’re pretty straightforward, and they’re not as powerful as dedicated AI writing platforms. They’ve saved me time on a few smaller content tweaks.

For More Information: Ahrefs Review

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Alternatives to Ahrefs 7 Day Free Trial (2026)

Alternatives	Trial Duration	Trial Link
Semrush	14 Days	Activate Now
Moz	7 Days	Activate Now

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FAQs About Ahrefs Free Trial:

Explore More:

• SE Ranking vs Ahrefs [Uncovering Key Differences]
• Semrush vs Ahrefs [Which SEO tool is Powerful?]
• Ahrefs Alternatives [Top SEO Tools Compared With Ahrefs]
• Moz Free Trial [Get Your Hands on and Use for 7 Days For Free]

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