Ahrefs API alternative for link re-checks: cost and limits
Scheduled verification is a boring job that should cost little. This page prices it, action by action, and sets it beside subscription API units.
LinksVerifier research team ·
Credits per action
1 credit = $0.0001
Action
Credits
Dollars per call
Use in link QA
domain, overview, stats, suggest
0
Free
Screen a vendor domain
bulk_dr (up to 2,000 domains)
1
$0.0001
DR floor on a whole sheet
compare (up to 20)
1
$0.0001
Side by side before buying
refdomains, backlinks, anchors, toppages
2
$0.0002
Cross-check who links to the client
intersect (2 to 10 domains)
2
$0.0002
Sources shared between sites
search, keyword
3
$0.0003
Find an exact anchor in the index
Limits that shape your script
Each call is billed once. However many rows come back, the price is the same, and a call returns up to 1,000 rows, and deep pagination is capped at 50,000. Use page and per between 10 and 5000 as needed.
A missing or wrong key returns HTTP 401. Easy to spot. A balance of zero returns HTTP 402. Every authenticated response includes _credits with the cost of the call and what remains, so your script can stop itself before the balance runs dry.
No requests-per-minute figure is published here, so do not assume one. Back off on errors and keep a modest pace in your cron job; a nightly check of a hundred sites needs no hammering. Easy.
What a schedule costs
Arithmetic from the credit prices above; site counts are examples
Schedule
Calls per year
Credits
Dollars per year
1 site, refdomains monthly
12
24
$0.0024
100 sites, refdomains weekly
5,200
10,400
$1.04
100 sites, refdomains daily
36,500
73,000
$7.30
1,000 sites, refdomains monthly
12,000
24,000
$2.40
Free before paid
Run the free domain and overview actions on every vendor domain first. Only domains that pass the screen earn a paid refdomains or backlinks call.
Reading the table
Daily is affordable and pointless
Seven dollars a year buys a daily check on 100 sites, but a monthly index returns the same answer on most of those days. Spend the money after refreshes instead, and keep a small reserve for the ad hoc checks that always turn up when a client forwards an angry email.
Weekly is plenty for most portfolios
Free actions cover first-pass screening
A balance alert beats a surprise 402
Against Ahrefs API units
Ahrefs sells API units inside subscriptions, from $129 per month for 200,000 units, with at least 50 units per request. That caps a month at 4,000 requests on the base plan, which is plenty for many teams.
The comparison is not like for like. Not even close. Ahrefs and Semrush are the fuller products for keywords, rank tracking and a daily-fresh crawl. We sell link data and a rating at a low price per call, with a roughly monthly refresh.
Bulk checks are our turf. If your job is verifying purchased links in bulk, the low per-call price matters most. If it is keyword research for the same client, you will want Ahrefs or Semrush anyway, and the two sit together without conflict. Majestic and Moz users face the same trade, covered in the glossary under DR and DA.