Backlink Analysis Tools
See who links to you and your competitors. The backbone of off-page SEO research.
Ahrefs
Largest backlink index. Fastest crawler. Most accurate data. If you're serious about link analysis, Ahrefs is the standard. Everything else is a compromise.
The Backlink Reality
Every backlink tool is crawling the web and building their own index. None of them see everything. Ahrefs and Majestic have the largest indexes. Moz's is smaller but still useful.
Don't obsess over the exact numbers. Use these tools for competitive analysis and finding link opportunities, not for counting your exact backlink count.
All Tools in This Category
ahrefs.com
The gold standard. Largest index, fastest updates, best interface. Shows referring domains, anchor text, new/lost links.
ahrefs.com/backlink-checker
Free tool showing top 100 backlinks. Great for quick checks without paying.
majestic.com
Second largest index. Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics. Historic index goes back years.
moz.com/link-explorer
Smaller index but decent for basics. Domain Authority metric is widely cited (though overrated).
linkresearchtools.com
Aggregates data from multiple sources. Good for link audits and toxic link detection.
openlinkprofiler.org
Free backlink checker. Limited but useful for quick checks when you don't want to pay.
monitorbacklinks.com
Alerts when you gain or lose backlinks. Good for ongoing monitoring.
link-assistant.com
Desktop backlink tool from SEO PowerSuite. Budget alternative with decent features.
linkminer.com
Chrome extension for link analysis. Part of Mangools suite.
linkody.com
Backlink monitoring and alerts. Track new and lost links automatically.