See which sites link to you or a competitor, judge the quality of those links, and spot new and lost backlinks.
Backlink tools differ less in the basic idea than in the questions their data helps answer. Some are geared toward discovering competitor links, others toward monitoring gains and losses, evaluating referring domains or investigating suspicious patterns. Database coverage matters, but so do historical data, filtering, anchor-text analysis and how quickly new links appear. The selections here emphasize different backlink-analysis jobs instead of treating one metric or index size as a universal measure of quality.
By SEM Solutions Editorial Team. Researched from vendor documentation, not hands-on testing. Ordered by Overall Score. Checked October 6, 2026. How we research
Monitoring link changes
#1 of 11 in Backlink Analysis
Semrush's Backlinks tool combines profile research with change monitoring. Reports cover backlinks, anchors, referring IPs, indexed pages and competitor profiles, while Backlink Gap compares several competing domains. Semrush also documents frequent interface updates for newly discovered and lost links, making the workflow useful when teams need to investigate recent acquisition or removal activity.
For competitor link research
#2 of 11 in Backlink Analysis
Ahrefs Site Explorer lets teams inspect backlinks to an entire domain, subsection or individual URL. The Backlinks report shows referring pages, destination URLs and anchor text, and filters can isolate attributes such as followed links; historical backlink views show both current competitor links and how that profile has changed.
Link health monitoring
#6 of 11 in Backlink Analysis
SE Ranking's Backlink Checker reports referring domains, individual links, anchor text, link type and new or lost activity. It also includes Domain and Page Trust metrics, broken-link information and a toxicity measure for investigating questionable links; the API can return backlink lists and statistics when teams want that information inside their own reporting workflow.
Visual link prospecting
#9 of 11 in Backlink Analysis
LinkMiner keeps backlink research centered on finding links that may be worth pursuing. It separates all, new and lost backlinks, adds link-strength metrics and can preview a referring page with the anchor location highlighted; useful prospects can be saved into lists, reducing the need to reopen the same referring pages during later outreach research.
For backlink-focused datasets
#10 of 11 in Backlink Analysis
Majestic is dedicated primarily to link intelligence instead of combining backlink analysis with a large set of unrelated marketing modules. Site Explorer covers referring domains and inbound links, with Fresh and Historic data and Majestic's Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics. Bulk workflows also allow large domain sets to be exported for further analysis.
Detailed link audits
#11 of 11 in Backlink Analysis
cognitiveSEO's inbound-link analysis provides detailed filtering around anchors, link status, placement, page type and other attributes. Its quick Site Explorer reports include new and lost links, referring domains and anchor-text information. Campaign analysis can compare a site's profile with competitors. The service states that its current backlink exploration is powered by Majestic data.
Ranked by Overall Score: our Editor Rating and Market Signal, 50/50. Market Signal uses Ahrefs and Semrush data through September 2026, pulled October 12, 2026. How we score
Search marketing suite covering SEO research, rank tracking, site audits and AI answer visibility.
Best for: SEO teams and agencies that want keyword research, rank tracking, audits and AI answer monitoring in one subscription.
SEO research suite for backlinks, keywords and competitors, plus Brand Radar AI tracking.
Best for: SEO specialists and in-house teams that research competitors' backlinks and keywords and want AI search mentions tracked in the same tool.
Web-based SEO suite for site crawling, Google rank tracking and backlink monitoring.
Best for: Small businesses and agencies tracking Google rankings for a handful of sites alongside recurring technical audits.
SEO toolset with a keyword finder, rank tracker and backlink checker.
Best for: Freelancers and small businesses wanting core SEO tools without a big-suite price tag.
Established SEO suite built around Domain Authority.
Best for: Teams that want a straightforward SEO toolset with an approachable interface.
SEO platform pairing ZIP-level rank tracking with AI search visibility monitoring.
Best for: Agencies and in-house SEO teams tracking local rankings and AI answer visibility across several sites.
Desktop SEO software suite: rank tracking, site audit, and link building.
Best for: Teams wanting desktop SEO software on an annual licence as an alternative to cloud SEO suites.
SEO and PPC research platform covering keywords, rankings, backlinks and audits.
Best for: Teams wanting Semrush/Ahrefs-style breadth without the top-tier price.
Approachable, budget-friendly SEO toolset built around KWFinder.
Best for: Solo marketers and small teams who want simple keyword research without a steep learning curve.
One of the original backlink-index tools, built around Trust Flow and Citation Flow.
Best for: Link builders who want Majestic's specific Trust Flow/Citation Flow metrics alongside standard backlink data.
SEO suite with a focus on backlink risk detection.
Best for: SEOs who want proactive backlink risk monitoring alongside standard rank tracking.
Each provider crawls and stores the web differently, with its own index, refresh schedule and rules for grouping or filtering links. Two tools can therefore report different backlink totals without either result necessarily being wrong. Consistency within one dataset is often more useful for trend analysis than comparing headline totals across providers.
A backlink is an individual link from one page to another site. A referring domain is the website that supplies one or more of those links. One domain can create many backlinks, so referring-domain counts help separate broad link diversity from repeated links coming from the same website.
No. Those metrics are created by the software provider, not Google. Review the referring page, domain relevance, link placement, anchor text, status and the overall profile as well. Proprietary metrics are useful filters, but they should not replace inspection of the underlying links.
Yes, Semrush, Ahrefs, Seobility and SEO PowerSuite all offer a free plan. Free tiers usually come with usage limits, so check whether they cover your volume before relying on them long-term.
Among the tools listed here whose main product is in this category and whose pricing we've verified, Ahrefs has the lowest listed starting price: $29/mo. Starting price isn't the whole picture, so check what's included at that tier before deciding.