Top 10 Open Source Alternatives to Ahrefs in 2025: A Comprehensive Comparison
As Ahrefs continues to dominate the SEO tool landscape, 2025 has brought forth a wave of powerful open-source alternatives, each offering unique features and capabilities. Whether you're looking for cheaper solutions, better data privacy, or expanded customization, this article explores the top 10 open-source alternatives to Ahrefs, comparing them on key data points like pricing, functionalities, and data collection capabilities.
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1. Umami
- Description: A simple, privacy-focused web analytics tool.
- Website: Umami
- Data Points:
- Type: Website Analytics
- Key Features: Custom event tracking, trend analysis, privacy-friendly (no cookies).
- Data Collection: Tracks page views, unique visitors, bounce rate, session durations, and traffic sources.
- Reporting: Real-time dashboard, trend visualization, custom reports.
- Cost: Free for up to 100,000 events per month (self-hosted).
2. OpenPanel
- Description: A robust analytics tool for tracking user behavior across websites and apps.
- Data Points:
- Type: Website and App Analytics
- Key Features: Real-time analytics, user tracking, event analysis, and detailed reporting.
- Data Collection: Tracks user interactions, page views, app usage, and conversions.
- Reporting: Comprehensive dashboards, behavior monitoring reports, and optimization data.
- Privacy: Prioritizes data privacy and security.
- Cost: Free and open-source.
Search for "OpenPanel Analytics" on GitHub.
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3. Open Web Analytics (OWA)
- Description: A self-hosted web analytics platform.
- Website: Open Web Analytics
- Data Points:
- Type: Website Analytics
- Key Features: Live site traffic tracking, referral sources, and page heatmaps.
- Data Collection: Tracks page views, user sessions, and click activity.
- Reporting: Provides standard web analytics reports with user behavior insights.
- Technical Requirement: Needs more technical knowledge to setup and maintain.
- Cost: Free and open-source.
4. Matomo (formerly Piwik)
- Description: Open-source analytics platform, a popular alternative to Google Analytics.
- Website: Matomo
- Data Points:
- Type: Website Analytics
- Key Features: Data ownership, GDPR compliance, conversion tracking, A/B testing.
- Data Collection: Comprehensive traffic data, user behavior, e-commerce tracking.
- Reporting: Customizable dashboards, extensive reports, segmentation.
- Hosting: Can be self-hosted or use Matomo's cloud service.
- Cost: Free (self-hosted), paid plans available for cloud hosting.
5. PostHog
- Description: A product analytics platform suitable for website and product analytics.
- Website: PostHog
- Data Points:
- Type: Product and Website Analytics
- Key Features: Event capture, user session recording, A/B testing, feature flags.
- Data Collection: User interactions, application behavior, and feature usage.
- Reporting: Funnel analysis, user cohorts, custom dashboards.
- Integrations: Connects to other popular tools and services.
- Cost: Free tier available, paid plans for expanded usage.
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6. Lighthouse
- Description: An open-source tool for improving web page quality.
- Website: Accessed as a Chrome extension.
- Data Points:
- Type: Website Performance and Auditing
- Key Features: Analyzes performance, accessibility, SEO, and PWA metrics.
- Data Collection: Collects web page performance data and identifies areas for improvement.
- Reporting: Provides detailed reports with specific solutions to address issues.
- Integration: Integrates with Chrome DevTools and can be used as a Chrome extension.
- Cost: Free and open-source.
Access Lighthouse as a Chrome extension.
7. SEO Spider (Screaming Frog) (Free version)
- Description: A website crawler used for technical SEO audits.
- Website: SEO Spider
- Data Points:
- Type: Technical SEO Audit
- Key Features: Finds broken links, identifies duplicate content, checks redirects, and analyzes metadata.
- Data Collection: Crawls websites and collects data on various SEO factors.
- Reporting: Generates detailed reports on technical SEO issues.
- Free Version Limit: Free for up to 500 URLs.
- Platforms: PC, Mac, and Linux.
8. OpenLinkProfiler
- Description: A free backlink checker tool.
- Website: OpenLinkProfiler
- Data Points:
- Type: Backlink Analysis
- Key Features: Provides data on backlinks, anchor text, and link context.
- Data Collection: Gathers backlink data and provides options for analysis.
- Reporting: Offers various outputs and analysis of backlink data.
- Features: Analyzes competitor sites, exports data in CSV format.
- Cost: Free to use.
9. Soovle
- Description: A keyword research tool that gathers suggestions from multiple sources.
- Website: Soovle
- Data Points:
- Type: Keyword Research
- Key Features: Scrapes suggested keywords from Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, and more.
- Data Collection: Gathers keyword ideas from multiple sources and provides a saved suggestion feature.
- Reporting: Offers a drag and drop feature to save suggestions.
- Keyword Sources: Aggregates data from various search engines and platforms.
- Cost: Free to use.
10. AlsoAsked
- Description: A keyword research tool that focuses on "People Also Ask" data.
- Website: AlsoAsked
- Data Points:
- Type: Keyword Research
- Key Features: Extracts keyword data from the "People Also Ask" sections.
- Data Collection: Provides unique and current keyword suggestions.
- Reporting: Can increase long-tail keywords using data.
- Speed: Updates quickly compared to other keyword tools.
- Cost: Free version available, paid plans for expanded access.
This list should give you a strong starting point for exploring open-source alternatives to Ahrefs.
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FAQ
1. What is Umami and what are its features?
Umami is a privacy-focused web analytics tool that offers custom event tracking, trend analysis, and privacy-friendly data collection. It tracks page views, unique visitors, bounce rate, session durations, and traffic sources. Explore Umami
2. What does OpenPanel offer for website and app analytics?
OpenPanel is a robust analytics tool that provides real-time analytics, user tracking, event analysis, and comprehensive reporting. It tracks user interactions, page views, app usage, and conversions, prioritizing data privacy and security.
3. How can Open Web Analytics (OWA) help with website analytics?
OWA is a self-hosted web analytics platform that tracks live site traffic, referral sources, page heatmaps, page views, user sessions, and click activity. Learn more about OWA
4. What are Matomo's key features as an open-source analytics platform?
Matomo offers data ownership, GDPR compliance, conversion tracking, A/B testing, comprehensive traffic data collection, user behavior analytics, and e-commerce tracking. It is available as a self-hosted or cloud service. Discover Matomo
5. How does PostHog assist with product and website analytics?
PostHog is a product analytics platform that provides event capture, user session recording, A/B testing, feature flags, funnel analysis, user cohorts, and custom dashboards. Explore PostHog
6. What does Lighthouse offer for web page quality improvement?
Lighthouse is an open-source tool for analyzing web page performance, accessibility, SEO, and PWA metrics. It provides detailed reports with specific solutions to improve web page quality.
7. What features does the free version of SEO Spider (Screaming Frog) have?
SEO Spider is a technical SEO audit tool that finds broken links, identifies duplicate content, checks redirects, analyzes metadata, and generates detailed reports on technical SEO issues. Learn more about SEO Spider
8. How can OpenLinkProfiler help with backlink analysis?
OpenLinkProfiler is a free backlink checker tool that provides data on backlinks, anchor text, and link context. It gathers backlink data and offers analysis options, including competitor site analysis and CSV export. Discover OpenLinkProfiler
9. What is Soovle and how does it assist with keyword research?
Soovle is a keyword research tool that gathers suggestions from multiple sources like Google, YouTube, Bing, and Amazon. It provides keyword ideas from various search engines and offers a drag-and-drop feature to save suggestions. Explore Soovle
10. What features does AlsoAsked offer for keyword research?
AlsoAsked focuses on extracting keyword data from the "People Also Ask" sections of search engines, providing unique and current keyword suggestions. It updates quickly and helps increase long-tail keywords. Discover AlsoAsked
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond and launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 3,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
