My Personal Story: How I Built My Own Free Ahrefs Stack
When I first started working on my SaaS projects, I desperately wanted to use Ahrefs. Everyone I followed from SEO experts to SaaS founders — seemed to swear by it.
But the reality?
The $99/month price tag felt like a luxury I couldn’t justify at the time. I was still testing ideas, running small campaigns, and trying to keep expenses low.
So I decided to do what every resourceful marketer eventually learns I built my own “Ahrefs-free system” using different tools that cost absolutely nothing.
Here’s how it started:
I spent a weekend exploring free SEO tools, testing them one by one. For keyword research, I used Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest. Between those two, I could find search volume, difficulty, and related keywords — just like Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer.
For backlink checks, I discovered the Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker (yes, they have one!) and combined it with Moz Link Explorer. I started tracking who was linking to my competitors and slowly built outreach lists from there.
When it came to technical SEO, Google Search Console became my best friend. It showed me crawling errors, indexing issues, and Core Web Vitals — insights that Ahrefs Site Audit normally provides.
And for content ideas, I leaned on Google Trends and AnswerThePublic. These tools helped me find what people were actually searching for in real time — perfect for SaaS blog planning.
Soon, I had built a workflow that covered nearly everything Ahrefs offered, but without paying a single dollar.
The best part?
This process taught me more about SEO fundamentals than any expensive subscription ever could. It forced me to understand data, connect dots between different tools, and focus on what truly drives organic growth strategy and consistency.
“You don’t need Ahrefs when you have curiosity, consistency, and a few free tools that play well together.”
And that’s exactly how I grew my first few SaaS sites — one free insight at a time.