Eligibility comes first; the low-priced Starter plan and Core bundle are not equivalent packages.
Ahrefs explicitly restricts adult content, and no applicable exception has been verified. SE Ranking’s adult-business permission is also unresolved. For a permitted workflow, compare Starter’s tight credit/export limits with Core’s project and tracking allowances; a cheaper entry amount cannot override the use-policy question. [4] [3] [1] [2]
| THE DETAILSFind your fit. | AhrefsView profile | SE RankingRead research review |
|---|---|---|
| Main role | Site and keyword research, technical site audits and rank tracking. [1] | Keyword and competitor research, rank tracking, site audits and AI-search tracking. [2] |
| Free entry | Free account for verified sites; its help table lists 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month. [1] | 14-day trial, no card required. Trial allowances differ from the paid Core plan. [2] |
| Paid entry · monthly billing | Starter: US$29/month in the USD help table. Monthly renewal only; Lite is listed at US$129/month. [1] | Core: $129/month on monthly billing; $103.20/month equivalent when billed annually ($1,238.40/year). Confirm checkout currency. [2] [3] |
| Included limits to notice | Starter: 200 monthly credits, 50 tracked keywords and no report exports. Additional users and credits cannot be purchased on Starter. [1] | Core: ten projects, one manager, 2,000 keywords and 100 prompts tracked daily; 250,000 audit pages per month. [2] |
| Adult-business eligibility | Its Content Policy explicitly prohibits adult content. ATN has not verified an exception for the intended workflow. [4] | Terms permit authorized internal use and impose use restrictions. Explicit adult-business permission was not established. [3] |
| Affiliate status | Official June 2023 statement says the public program was discontinued. No replacement program was verified. [5] | 30% for qualifying non-coupon affiliates. The agreement says last-click attribution with a 120-day cookie; the landing page says first-cookie. Confirm that conflict and ATN eligibility. [6] [7] |
| Decision pointATN assessment | Resolve the content-policy restriction first; a cheaper entry plan is not useful if the work is ineligible. [4] [1] | A project-based evaluation where the trial’s lower allowances are distinguished from paid Core capacity. [2] [3] |
Published entry plans have different scopes and allowances. Prices are dated snapshots; confirm currency, billing term, taxes and add-ons. Customer-use policies and affiliate-promotion rules are separate. This comparison does not establish permission for an adult-business workflow or prove research accuracy.
Ahrefs’s content policy prohibits adult content and reserves discretion over exceptions. ATN has not established an exception for the intended work. SE Ranking’s general internal-use terms do not provide explicit adult-business permission. This is a policy-aware comparison, not a recommendation to bypass either provider’s rules. [4] [3]
Ahrefs Starter lists 200 monthly credits, 50 tracked keywords and no report exports, with no extra credits or users for purchase. SE Ranking Core lists ten projects, 2,000 daily keywords and 250,000 audit pages per month. Credits, keywords and crawl pages are different units; larger numbers do not establish better research quality. [1] [2]
SE Ranking’s trial has lower allowances than paid Core. Its affiliate agreement and landing page also disagree about attribution, while Ahrefs’s official public-program statement says that program was discontinued. Verify permitted service use and a useful report first; commission potential does not determine the editorial judgment. [2] [6] [7] [5]
Research based · No hands-on testing or numeric scores · Direct links, no affiliate tracking. Our editorial standards
Browse SEO resourcesA readable Starter quote and an unresolved bundle price do not settle eligibility or useful capacity.
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Read comparisonBUILD / SEO research suitesA backlink-focused plan and a five-tool research bundle need different evaluation questions.
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