If you want an Ahrefs API alternative because you are wiring SEO data into scripts or a coding agent, the question is less "which index is biggest" and more "what does a call cost, and which plan unlocks it". This comparison puts seogeoaeo.ai's MCP and REST access next to Ahrefs' API and MCP server, with Semrush for reference.
Checked against each vendor's own pages in October 2026.
Access at a glance
| seogeoaeo.ai | Ahrefs | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan with programmatic access | Indie, $29 a month | Lite, $129 a month | Starter (SEO + AI Search), $199 a month, lists MCP access |
| Protocols | MCP and REST | API and MCP server | MCP on Starter; advanced API data on the custom tier |
| Billing unit | Credits per tool run | Plan limits, rows per request | Plan limits |
| Max rows per call | Fixed per tool, e.g. 100 linking sites | 100 on Lite, 250 Standard, 500 Advanced | Not listed on pricing page |
| Own backlink index | No, third-party provider | Yes | Not covered here |
seogeoaeo.ai: every tool is an MCP tool
Every seogeoaeo.ai plan includes every tool in the browser and through MCP or REST. The MCP endpoint is https://seogeoaeo.ai/api/mcp (Streamable HTTP, bearer key), and the REST API lives at https://seogeoaeo.ai/api/v1. The docs give setup lines for Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Windsurf and Claude Desktop.
The pricing is per call. Some examples that map to Ahrefs endpoints developers reach for:
| What you want | Tool slug | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Strongest linking sites and anchors | backlink-finder |
70 |
| Keyword count, traffic estimate, link total | domain-overview |
50 |
| A rival's Google keywords | competitor-keywords |
35 |
| Keywords a rival has and you lack | keyword-gap |
85 |
| Related searches with volume and difficulty | keyword-research |
34 |
| Volume and difficulty for your own list (up to 100) | keyword-metrics |
33 |
Two details matter for agents. Each call accepts maxCredits, so a run above the price you expect is refused instead of charged, and idempotencyKey, so a retry after a timeout does not bill twice. Runs that fail on the platform side, or end in a 502 or 503, are refunded. check-credits is free, so an agent can check the balance before a batch.
Each run also returns a list of prioritized tips with a status of changes, clean or incomplete, which suits a loop where an agent fixes something, redeploys and runs the check again. That loop works best on the site checks (indexing, schema, robots.txt, redirects) rather than on competitor data.
Pricing starts at the Indie plan, $29 for 2,000 credits, and goes up to Enterprise at $499 for 130,000. The tool reference lists every slug, input and price in one plain-text file, which an agent can read directly.
Ahrefs: the bigger dataset, a higher floor
Ahrefs lists API and MCP access from Lite, at $129 a month, and caps rows per request at 100 on Lite, 250 on Standard and 500 on Advanced. Enterprise, at $1,499 a month on an annual contract, has uncapped API access and custom endpoints.
What you get for that is Ahrefs' own crawler and index, link history (6 months on Lite up to 5 years on Advanced) and every row of a report rather than a fixed top slice. If your pipeline needs full link lists, historical snapshots or rank tracking data, that is worth the price and seogeoaeo.ai cannot replace it.
Budgeting an agent's month
Credit pricing makes an agent's spend easy to predict. Suppose a weekly job pulls Competitor Keywords for five rivals (35 credits each) and runs Keyword Gap against your own domain for two of them (85 each). That is 345 credits a week, or about 1,380 a month, which fits the Indie plan's 2,000. If a busy month runs over, top-ups start at $19 for 1,000 credits and never expire, though they only work alongside an active plan. On Ahrefs, the same job needs Lite at $129 as the floor, with each request capped at 100 rows.
Semrush
Semrush's pricing page lists MCP access on its Starter tier at $199 a month, and advanced API data integration on the custom Advanced tier. It is the choice if your team already lives in Semrush.
Picking one
- Agent pulls a rival's links or keywords now and then: seogeoaeo.ai. Cost is known before each call, and you are not paying $129 to make ten requests.
- Pipeline needs full exports or history every day: Ahrefs Standard or above.
- You also want site checks in the same loop, such as robots.txt rules for GPTBot and ClaudeBot or JSON-LD validation: seogeoaeo.ai, since those are tools on the same endpoint.
A sensible test is to point your agent at the seogeoaeo.ai MCP server with a low maxCredits and ask it for one competitor's backlinks. If 100 linking sites answer the question, you have your API.