Ahrefs API Costs Vary Up to 30x Depending on Columns Selected, Log of 1,100 Calls Reveals

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A developer analyzed 1,102 Ahrefs API calls made during the final two days of a subscription, logging exact unit costs across 41 of the roughly 130 available endpoints. Ahrefs charges a minimum of 50 units per billable request, with row-priced endpoints adding costs based on the number of rows returned multiplied by selected columns. Certain premium columns — including volume, keyword difficulty, and traffic data — add approximately 10 units per row, meaning the same 120-row query can cost anywhere from 120 to 3,720 units depending solely on the fields requested. Three tools accounted for 78 percent of all units consumed, while free and flat-rate endpoints delivered around 100 times more rows per unit than the costliest ones. The analysis also found that during an API outage, the usage counter continued climbing even when no data was returned, with credits only restored hours later.

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