Free test queries

Users on any paid plan can test Ahrefs API by running a limited set of free test queries. Note that you still need to create an API key to run free test queries.

Site Explorer

For Site Explorer endpoints, requests will not consume API units if you use the ahrefs.com or wordcount.com domains, or any URL from these domains, in the target query parameter.

For example, these requests will be free:

https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/domain-rating?date=2023-05-18&target=wordcount.com

https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/all-backlinks?limit=3&mode=prefix&target=ahrefs.com/blog&select=url_from,url_rating_source,traffic,url_to

Keywords Explorer and SERP Overview

For Keywords Explorer and SERP Overview endpoints, requests will not consume API units if you use only ahrefs or wordcount in the keywords or keyword query parameter, depending on the endpoint.

For example, these requests will be free:

https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/keywords-explorer/overview?country=us&keywords=ahrefs&select=keyword,volume,traffic_potential,difficulty

https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/serp-overview/serp-overview?country=us&date=2023-05-16&keyword=wordcount&select=url,position,url_rating,backlinks,traffic&top_positions=3

Note that if you include other keywords along with ahrefs or wordcount in the query, that request will consume the usual number of API units. Also, if the keyword_list_id parameter is specified in the query, that query will also consume API units regardless of which keywords are included in the list or in the keywords query parameter.

For example, these requests will consume the usual amount of API units:

https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/keywords-explorer/overview?country=us&keywords=ahrefs,yep&select=keyword,volume,traffic_potential,difficulty

https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/keywords-explorer/overview?country=us&keywords=ahrefs&keywords_list_id=123&select=keyword,volume,traffic_potential,difficulty