Here’s a closer look at the similarities and differences between Ahrefs and Moz.
Free Trial
While Ahrefs doesn’t offer a free trial, you can enjoy free access to tools, such as the Ahrefs SEO WordPress Plugin and Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, as long as you sign up for Ahrefs Webmaster Tools. Moz does come with a 30-day free trial, so you can test it out and determine whether it’s worth the investment.
Rank Tracking
Ahrefs and Moz include a rank tracking tool to monitor your keywords and their progress over time on desktop and mobile devices. Both platforms also allow you to track how your competitors are ranking so that you can make changes when necessary and stay ahead of the competition.
Keyword Research Tool
Keyword Explorer is the Ahrefs keyword research tool. It delivers various keyword insights, such as target keywords, long-tail keywords, keyword difficulty and competitor keyword rankings. Moz also has a comprehensive keyword tool that offers details on volume, density and competitor rankings.
Site Audit
Ahrefs and Moz offer a site crawler that will scan your website and inform you of any technical or on-page SEO issues. You can perform a site crawl as often as you like, and select between the mobile and desktop versions to evaluate its performance on various device types.
Competitor Analysis
Through Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, you can research your competitors’ backlinks and keyword rankings. If you upgrade to a higher-level plan, you’ll have access to additional information, such as broken link opportunities and content gaps. The Moz competitor analysis tool, which is a bit more basic, offers details on who your competitors are and whether there are any keyword gaps or content opportunities.
Link Building Tool
When it comes to link building, Ahrefs takes the cake with its advanced link building capabilities. Once you plug in a URL, it will tell you the number of backlinks, domain rating (DR) and Ahrefs Rank (AR). The graph will give you a glance at how your referring domains grow or decline over time. While Moz also has a backlink analyzer, it limits the amount and type of information you can retrieve.