Ahrefs is a software company that develops online SEO tools and free educational materials for marketing professionals.Ahrefs all-in-one SEO toolset can help you with competitor, keyword, and content research, link building, website audit, rank tracking and mentions monitoring.Ahrefs provides maximum data and accuracy thanks to its database of 8 billion keywords and 421 billion indexed pages.
Warning: you are not paying to use the tools you are paying for credits. I found this out the hard way. It's like paying for Spotify only to find out that you are being charged credits each time you skip to the next track or turn up the volume. They aren't very upfront about their business model either.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-12
Hi Cole,
We're sorry to hear you're not happy with our usage-based pricing We have both feature-based and usage-based pricing, which is common for SaaS tools. Both features and credits are increased on higher plans.
Can you expand on how you feel we're not upfront about our business model? We have articles about credits and users linked to on our pricing page, three articles about credit consumption in our help section, and we offer onboarding webinars twice per month. Could you let us know how we could be more transparent and upfront?
I've been billed twice for nearly three months.
I've contacted Support three times and not had a reply.
Shocking (apparently non-existant) customer service.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-15
Hi there,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. As mentioned, it appears your emails weren't reaching our inbox.
Your refund was issued immediately, and we'll be looking into why certain emails are not reaching us. Thanks again!
Hi there,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. We're happy to hear you enjoyed your previous experience with Ahrefs, and we hope to count you among our customers again in the future!
A travesty of a pricing model - a broad daylight scam scheme
A travesty of a pricing model. The "monthly subscription" is a broad daylight scam scheme. What it really is is a credit pack of 500 units - and each unit goes whenever You click on any link on their website - so it goes away fast. While they provide an email address to request refund - they never give the refund. I'm sorry to have given Ahrefs a try - and I'm moving back to Semrush - which is more expensive but at least they don't lie in Your face.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-15
Hi there,
We requested additional information to try to assist with your refund request, but unfortunately there was no response.
We're sorry that you didn't enjoy your experience with Ahrefs. We try to make our pricing as transparent as possible on our pricing page, which offers links to several help articles and a video explaining how our usage based pricing works. If you have suggestions about how this can be improved, we would be happy to hear them.
I understand the need for changing pricing structure if costs increase, but making it a credit based system where a few searches can mean you've used 100 credits, and essentially trying to covertly raise business costs by 5-10x in doing so leaves a sour taste.
I would've happily paid a lot extra if needs called, but this mode of making people scared to use the product to save costs and extract more I don't like, just charge a flat rate for actual SEOs who use your product.
Here is hoping this is a wake up call for innovation in the market, as the fact is majority will still use if they are forced to until this takes place!
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-08
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts. We're sorry to hear that you're unhappy with the current pricing/credit system.
We based the limits on the typical usage of 80% of our customers, and we check this every month to ensure we're still within those limits.
Previously, we had customers who wanted to exceed their plan limits with no ability to purchase additional limits. The credit system was designed to address that and allow people to pay more for the platform if they needed to use it more in a given month.
We could have and should have improved our communication around both the new pricing plans and Legacy transfers, and we sincerely apologize for leaving you with a sour taste.
Please don't hesitate to reach out again, either here or through customer support if you have additional feedback or questions.
As a loyal user for over 3 years, I am disappointed by the forced closure of the legacy plan. I have renewed this for now, but I'm not of fan of checking my credit usage every day or so. The next plan up is a notable difference in pricing, as are the add-ons for credits.
The platform has always been very a solid, professional tool, but it might be time to look elsewhere.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-08
Hi Andrew,
We're sorry you were affected by the Legacy account transfer, and we fully understand that pricing increases aren't fun for anyone.
This is the first time we have increased prices for Legacy accounts in nearly a decade. With increased operational and infrastructure costs, a pricing adjustment was necessary to keep Ahrefs sustainable for the long-term and allow us to keep evolving our product.
We appreciate you testing out our new plans, and we hope that you'll get a lot of value out of our new features. Please don't hesitate to reach out to support if you have further questions or need clarification about the new plans and credit system.
Very bad service(( Website often glitches. don't understand why to pay how much money. You first fix your site.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-08
Hi Artem,
Thanks for leaving a review. Based on the information you provided to Trustpilot, you don't appear to be one of our customers. Could you clarify your comments about glitches, please? Many thanks!
Effective Tool for Enhancing Product Listings: The standout feature of Sellerly for me is its ability to showcase the performance of product listings. This insight is incredibly valuable as it serves as a practical benchmark for my own listings. By analyzing these examples, I can effectively refine and enhance my product presentations, significantly improving their appeal and effectiveness.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-08
Hi Petra,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! However, it doesn't seem to be for Ahrefs, although you did verify your subscription with us via Trustpilot! :)
I have been a customer of Ahrefs since 2017 and have paid them almost £12,000 in fees since then I have just had an email saying they're closing my legacy plan down.
They have absolutely no regard for their customers, instead of reaching out months before they simply cancelled on me but not before taking another payment though, time to move to SEM RUSH which incidentally is cheaper
Note for Ahrefs: Your customers are the lifeblood of your business, these shady practices will get you no where.
Buyers beware !!!!
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-21
Hi Wayne,
We're sorry that we had to discontinue your Legacy account. We don't want any of our customers to feel like we're pulling the rug out from under them, which is why we notify users 30 days in advance that their plans will be discontinued.
No one likes pricing increases, and this is understandable. Legacy users have enjoyed stable pricing for 9 years. In that time, technology costs have increased, and the internet has become much larger. Unfortunately, in order to remain sustainable, we can no longer support Legacy limits and pricing.
We have tried to ease this transition by offering additional credit packs for a reasonable $35, which covers the needs of the vast majority of users.
But again, we're sorry we had to end your current subscription, Wayne. We do appreciate your having chosen Ahrefs for the past 6 years, and we would be happy to count you among our users in the future.
Ahrefs terminated my subscription - because I am simply using the amount of credits I have been paying for...
I guess it is time to look out for their competitors.
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-21
Hi Christoffer,
We're sorry we have to end support for your Legacy account. As our product evolves, technology costs increase, and the internet becomes bigger (requiring more resources to crawl and store), we're simply unable to continue supporting Legacy pricing and limits.
But we understand that no one enjoys pricing changes. While we have tried to make our new pricing fair and competitive (with additional credit packs costing only $35), we understand that our new plans will unfortunately not work for everyone.
Thank you for being a long-term Ahrefs subscriber. We hope that you'll continue to stay with us and get even more value from the features in our new plans, and again, our sincere apologies that we can no longer support your Legacy plan.
I've had a terribly disappointing experience with their new pricing scheme. Despite being a loyal customer and having made no intense use or scraping of their system, my legacy account was forcefully closed down.
This is clearly a way for them to squeeze more money out of customers. Their assertion that my usage was not sustainable and this pricing change only affects a small percentage of users is simply untrue. I have hardly used the tool (based on the limits I already had) and yet they are forcing me to switch to a more expensive plan. I really feel that this is a dishonest move.
Given the lack of respect for customers and their needs, I strongly recommend everyone to reconsider their choice and take their business to other providers like SEMRush.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-08
Hi AV,
We're sorry you were affected by the Legacy account transfer, and we fully understand that pricing increases aren't fun for anyone.
This is the first time we have increased prices for Legacy accounts in nearly a decade. With increased operational and infrastructure costs, a pricing adjustment was necessary to keep Ahrefs sustainable for the long-term and allow us to keep evolving our product.
When our CEO announced the transfer of a percentage of Legacy accounts, he was not implying that those accounts were scrapers. Please accept our sincere apologies, as that was not the intention.
While we understand that you don't believe/agree with the rationale behind the move, the reality is the limits and pricing that had been in place for nearly a decade were no longer in line with product growth and value.
We do genuinely appreciate that you have been a part of our customer base, and we hope that down the line, you would be open to exploring the new features and value the new plans provide.
I got the same email
I did the math and now I'll be paying on $190 a month and I'll be paying $650 a month.
I understand that Ahrefs is a commercial company and if tomorrow they say pay 10 times more, that's their right and it's their product.
But
* I've been working with Ahrefs since their launch
* actually used my money (and users like me) to build the Ahrefs infrastructure
* I recommended Ahrefs
* I sent my feedback to improve the product
Ahrefs had a very loyal audience, I loved the product, I recommended it, I argued with others about the quality of the product.
But with Ahrefs credits Ahrefs went wrong, I feel like they hired someone from Semrush to screw it up for them.
I will definitely move from it, for $650 I will buy semrush / similarweb / mangotool and still have money left over.
And the only thing Ahrefs does with all this negativity: jokes from the stage at Chaing Mai.
Ahrefs has bet on housewives with blogs and that is their fatal mistake, it has always been a professional tool and that is how it should have stayed.
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-21
Hi Dmitry,
We're sorry that we have to discontinue your Legacy account. We appreciate very much that you've been a long-time user, and please understand that this decision was not taken lightly.
The limits and pricing that were introduced 9 years ago and have remained unchanged since then are no longer sustainable for us as a company. We understand that price increases are never popular, which is why we tried to provide users with 30 days of notice.
We'll definitely be sorry to see you go after so many years, and we do think that you could get phenomenal value from our new plans that you're not currently getting on your Legacy plan. However, we also understand that the new pricing structure will not work for every customer.
Again, we're sorry that your Legacy account will be discontinued. We appreciate the years you've spent as an Ahrefs customer, and we would be happy to welcome you back as a user at any time.
Please change your price System. Don't use credit.
I give it 1 star for a bad experience about how ahrefs charges by credit. Honestly, ahrefs has great search SEO, I really like it. However, the credit is a joke. I don't know who is thinking of using it for search tools. Please see Semrush's price. I bought a Lite and ran out of 500 credit for 4 days, the standard plan is only 600. Sorry, I moved to Semrush.
Ahrefs 回复2023-12-08
Hi Zin,
We're sorry you're unhappy with our credit system. It was designed after careful analysis of typical user behavior so that 80% of customers were unaffected by the limits. We re-evaluate this on a monthly basis to ensure that 80% of our users indeed remain unaffected.
But we also understand that it might not be ideal for everyone. Please don't hesitate to reach out to support if you have further questions or need clarification about the new plans and credit system.
Ahrefs is always my go to SEO tool. I've tried pretty much every mainstream tool there is, and always find myself coming back to ahrefs.
The problem that always makes me leave is the pricing. Plainly speaking, it's just a ridiculous model, that I don't see anybody else using anywhere. It's confusing, overly-complicated, and often leads to over-spending. I agree with the other reviews that whatever you think you're going to pay for the tool, expect to add at least another 20-30% to that.
I often find myself walking on eggshells using the platform. Last night I got hit with an invoice for £85 with no warning as I was removing terms from Rank Tracker. Thankfully this was swiftly refunded, but the fact there was no 'are you sure you want to proceed' before doing this left a real sour taste. They expect you to just understand the obscurities of their pricing model - if you're going to go with the most convoluted way of billing you can conceive of, at least have the decency to put sufficient warnings in place
It never used to be like this. The old model was fine! It worked! There's a reason why every other subscription service still uses it!
Sidebar - I was tempted back because of the new portfolios feature - only to find I'm limited to 100 URLs across my entire workspace on my plan. 100 URLs?? How is this useful to anyone? Even on the max plan it's limited to 1000, but how is that ever going to serve? If you have even a handful of clients with decently-sized websites you'd hit that limit in a heartbeat! It's definitely making me reconsider my decision to come back to the platform
Ahrefs, I beg of you - just look at the feedback you're getting on your pricing model. We don't like it and we don't want it, it's taking a genuinely amazing tool and making it painful to use
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-06
Hi Matt,
Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts. The new pricing was the first change we made to pricing since 2017. Unfortunately, the limits and pricing that made sense back then won't allow Ahrefs to remain sustainable in the long term.
We do understand that people are unhappy about the pricing. The current limits were decided after extensively studying platform usage. They were designed to affect only the top 20% of all platform users on new plans, which is indeed the case.
However, we don't want our customers to experience anxiety using the platform. Let me pass on your feedback about that, the warning for add-ons, and the portfolio URL limits.
Again, thank you for taking the time to write out your thoughts clearly and respectfully.
After being a loyal Ahrefs customer for over 5 years and spending over $4500 USD directly with them and over 15k USD indirectly through referrals and recommendations, I am no longer using or recommending Ahrefs to anyone.
Ahrefs sent us an email stating that our legacy plan would be canceled at the end of this month and that we would need to switch to their new pricing scheme to continue using their service. This would normally be fine other than the fact that this price increase would be more than 2x our current monthly bill and would be more than 3x SEMRush's most expensive plan.
We will be taking our business elsewhere.
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-06
Hi Jehan,
Thank you for taking the time to give us your thoughts on the legacy plan transition.
No one enjoys pricing increases. We definitely understand that. Unfortunately, the limits and pricing that were put in place in 2017 (the last pricing change before the new plans in 2022) is no longer sustainable for Ahrefs.
For some of our users, shifting to one of the new plans will come with no pricing increase (or a modest $35 one). However, some of our users will regrettably see significant increases as our pricing is now aligned with platform usage.
We regret that you won't continue with us after being a customer for 5 years, but we understand and respect your decision.
Thank you again for taking the time out of your day to leave a review, and we wish you the best of luck in the future.
Initially, I was impressed with the plugin and recommended it to others, which led me to upgrade to the lite package. However, within 5 days, I was notified that I had exhausted my credits, and I was unable to access even the basic website keyword feature, which was available in the free version. This experience, especially after spending £101, left me feeling deceived. I typically refrain from posting negative reviews, but this situation has compelled me to express my frustration.
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-06
Hi Afis,
We're glad to hear you've enjoyed the plugin, but we're saddened to hear about your frustrations with the new pricing system.
It looks like you were a customer of ours a few years ago. In that time, we have changed our pricing structure and platform limits.
Such a significant change is likely to be a greater source of frustration to returning customers, who were used to using the platform in a nearly unlimited fashion.
Unfortunately, the previous limits were not sustainable for Ahrefs, and we had to alter our approach. After studying platform usage, the current system was put in place so that 80% of the users would not be affected by platform limits.
Here's more information about how the current limits work: https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/6061658-about-credits-and-our-usage-based-pricing
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and for letting us know about your experience and frustrations.
Last year, Ahrefs changed up plans in a way that is just straight-up greedy. They know the people who use their tool need the data, and they took advantage of their trust. The new plans were way too expensive for the strict limitations they provided (the new limitations make the tool almost useless). These changes hit freelancers and small businesses on a budget the hardest.
They DID have a legacy plan, which honored pre-existing customers' previous limits for as long as they maintained an active subscription. I was on one of these, so I kept my mouth shut up until today.
Today, I got an email that I am being kicked off my legacy plan because I am in the top 15% of data usage and it isn't sustainable for them anymore.
This is a - Straight. Up. Lie.
First off, even the legacy accounts have limitations, so it's not like anyone is eating up their data unchecked...
Also, could you imagine your phone service provider cutting you off because you used 40GB of your 50GB plan? Absolutely ridiculous.
But the real kicker - I haven't even been USING my plan. I've maintained the service ONLY because I didn't want to lose my "legacy" status. I've literally been giving them free money for the past year, and they're trying to tell me I'm in the top 15% of users.
Nope - this is a sad attempt to try and reach deeper into their loyal customers' pockets by forcing them into a considerably worse deal.
There is nothing Ahrefs could do at this point to maintain me as a customer. Your customers are not stupid, and they see what you are doing.
Even if you love wasting money, please consider trying another service out for the principle alone.
*EDIT* Reply to Ahrefs -
Save the canned PR apology for someone who would believe it. To claim MY usage is not sustainable and that this change is only affecting 15% of users is a bald-faced lie. I barely even used the tool. Most of the rows in "Limits and Usage" are wide open every single month for the past year. You're lucky Trustpilot doesn't make screenshots public - but I attached one just for you to see anyway. I assume this change is simply being directed at more casual users, and only large agencies paying massive amounts will keep Legacy (if even them).
And to do this at such a volatile time after Google's "Helpful Content Update?" Lol, what absolutely shameless management you must have. You deserve to lose every customer you have.
Ahrefs 回复2023-11-06
Hi Tyler,
Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts. We fully understand your frustration. Unfortunately, the limits and pricing that were instated in 2017 are no longer sustainable for us. When the new plans were created, the usage was capped with the intent that 80% of our customers would never incur additional charges, which is currently the case.
We made the decision to equalize platform usage for all of our users. Unfortunately, this does affect around 15% of thousands of legacy accounts.
While we're sad to hear that you don't feel the new plans offer a good deal of value, we respect your decision and your opinions. Thanks again for taking the time to provide feedback.
Still a good tool, but their new pricing plan has made it so a lot of things are unavailable for small companies. They lure you into this plan and don't think they were very upfront about what they offered. Feels rather disingenuous.
I'll probably be looking for a better and more affordable SEO tool
Ahrefs 回复2023-09-26
Hi there,
We're very sorry to hear you felt lured onto one of our new plans, which was never our intention. We have modals as you're upgrading, which explain the features you'll have access to on our new plans, and we've tried to be as transparent as possible on our pricing page about what is included in each plan.
Could you let us know how you feel this could be more transparent for Legacy plan users who are looking to upgrade? Thank you!
Billed 2 times in 1 week without telling me why !!!!!!!!!
I got the $89 plan the 18 August. Now it's 25 and they $93 on my bank account. In addition their support team is not even working. I cancelled my plan !!
Ahrefs 回复2023-08-26
Hi Rass,
Apologies for any confusion regarding your account and charges. One of our customer service representatives contacted you shortly after you emailed to explain the additional pay-as-you-go charges.
Each of our Lite plans comes with 500 credits. When you sign up, pay-as-you-go billing is automatically disabled by default, but you are given the option to turn it on, which will charge $35 per additional pack of 500 credits. The additional invoice you received was the result of purchasing three additional pay-as-you-go packs.
We do have this onboarding sequence to explain the billing charges, and we have credit counters displayed in our interface and in your account settings. If you have additional feedback about how we can improve this for our users, we would gladly hear it.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to customer service again if you have additional questions or feedback.
I bought a plan with this company, I was not planning to renew because it was pay as you go plan. on Sunday my balance went to overdraft because this company have already billed my card £112.80 so I asked for a refund of £94.80.
How do you work that out? why am I paying for sales tax when there are no sales? besides how can a plan of $99 end up being £112?
I have dealt with business in the USA and other parts of the world, including Singapore. if you ask for a refund you get a full refund, not me paying FOR VAT when there were no sales here
I will never deal with this business again worst experience ever
Ahrefs 回复2023-08-03
Hi Moses,
Sorry to hear you weren't happy with your Ahrefs experience! Just to clarify, the VAT charged was for an additional user (£15) for the previous billing period, which is why the refund was for £94.80 instead of the full £112.80. As you correctly pointed out, we wouldn't charge VAT if there wasn't an associated sale.
Looking over your account and previous communication with our customer support team, there does seem to be some misunderstanding about how your subscription worked/what was included. We'd love to get that resolved with you, so please do reach out to [email protected] again so we can get that cleared up!
Thanks,
Michelle
Semrush
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Positive Surfer
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