Category by category
| Category | Ahrefs | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Stronger | – |
| Backlinks | Stronger | – |
| Keywords | Stronger | – |
| Ease of use | – | Stronger |
| Starting price | from £23/mo | no published price |
Category calls are editorial judgements, not lab test results. Swipe sideways if the table is cut off.
- Features
- Ahrefs covers keyword research, backlinks, competitor analysis, and content tools. GKP is a keyword and ad planning tool only
- Backlinks
- Ahrefs has the world's largest live backlink index. GKP has no backlink capability whatsoever
- Keywords
- Ahrefs shows search-volume estimates, keyword difficulty, SERP features, and click data. GKP rounds volumes to wide ranges (1K-10K) and is optimised for ad spend, not organic difficulty
- Pricing
- Cheapest paid plans: Ahrefs £23/mo, Google Keyword Planner no published price. The vendors publish prices in different currencies, so neither is called cheaper here. Plan limits are in the tables below.
- Ease of use
- GKP is straightforward and familiar if you use Google Ads. Ahrefs requires learning the platform but gives much more actionable data
Side by side
| Detail | Ahrefs | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Starter, £23/mo | not published |
| Paid plans | 4 | not published |
| Cheapest plan with published limits | Lite, £99/mo | not published |
| Sites or projects (that plan) | 5 non-verified, unlimited verified | not published |
| Tracked keywords (that plan) | 750 | not published |
| Users included (that plan) | 1 | not published |
| Audit or crawl allowance (that plan) | 100,000 crawl credits/month | not published |
| Other limits (that plan) | Up to 2 extra users at £32/mo each; 150 AI prompt checks/month; 6 months history | not published |
| Free plan | Yes | not published |
| Money-back guarantee | No refunds in general; a monthly subscription may be refunded if the service has not been used | not published |
| Currency shown | GBP | USD |
| Prices checked | 31 Oct 2026 | 3 Oct 2026 |
"Not published" means the vendor's pricing page did not show it on the check date; it is not assumed to be zero or unlimited. Swipe sideways to see both tools.
What Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner cost for the same workload
The cheapest plan on each tool whose published limits cover the workload, and what the first year costs at list price. Yearly billing is used where the vendor publishes it.
| Workload | Ahrefs | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 site, 100 tracked keywords, 1 userSolo blogger or one business site | Lite: £990 | Limits not published |
| 5 sites, 500 tracked keywords, 1 userFreelancer with a few clients | Lite: £990 | Limits not published |
| 15 sites, 1,500 tracked keywords, 2 usersSmall agency | Limits not published | Limits not published |
"Limits not published" means the vendor's pricing page did not list a limit needed to judge the plan. Try your own numbers in the plan finder.
Every Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner plan
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly, per month | Sites or projects | Tracked keywords | Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Starter | £23 | not published | not published | not published | not published |
| Ahrefs Lite | £99 | £83 | 5 non-verified, unlimited verified | 750 | 1 |
| Ahrefs Standard | £199 | £166 | 20 non-verified, unlimited verified | 2,000 | 1 |
| Ahrefs Advanced | £359 | £299 | 50 non-verified, unlimited verified | 5,000 | 1 |
Prices are shown in the currency each vendor published, before tax. Swipe sideways to see every column.
- Prices read from vendor site; some terms not published thereAhrefs: prices read from ahrefs.com on . Shown in GBP as the vendor displayed it; not converted.
- Prices read from vendor site; some terms not published thereGoogle Keyword Planner: source information reviewed from support.google.com on .
Ahrefs Black Friday 2026
No Black Friday deal, per the vendor. Ahrefs says it does not run one-off discounts or seasonal specials, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday. (help.ahrefs.com)
Checked 31 Oct 2026. Every SEO tool's Black Friday offer.
Which should you pick?
Pick Ahrefs if
You need accurate search volumes, keyword difficulty calibrated for organic SEO, and competitive research
Ahrefs plans and catchesPick Google Keyword Planner if
You're already running Google Ads and want native keyword data, or you're doing basic keyword research with zero budget
Google Keyword Planner plans and catchesThe verdict
Google Keyword Planner's main problem for SEO is that it rounds search volumes to wide ranges: 1K-10K isn't useful when you're deciding whether to target a keyword that might get 1,100 or 9,900 monthly searches. It's also calibrated for ad competition, not organic difficulty. Ahrefs shows you search-volume estimates, organic keyword difficulty, and which SERP features Google shows. For professional SEO keyword research, there's no real comparison. GKP is a starting point, not a professional tool.