Ultimate List of Backlink Checker Tools

Pritam Singh 11:03 AM

Introduction

In November 2011 Yahoo Site Explorer ceased to exist. This free service was quite popular among SEO specialists and web-site owners. They used it to determine link popularity of their websites as well as to study the link building strategy of competitors.
As the Yahoo service was abandoned, the popularity of other backlink analysis services existed at that moment had increased. These were Open Site Explorer, Backlink Watch and Majestic SEO. On the other hand, a handful of alternative services had emerged, including Ahrefs, Web SEO Analytics, Monitor Backlinks and others.
Now there are dozens of paid and free tools for back link research. Choosing a certain practical instrument from such vast variety based on the price/quality ratio seems a difficult task to me. And while one or another SEO blog periodically publishes articles named like “5 Top Backlink Checker Tools for Your Website” or “7 Best Free Online Backlink Checker Tools You Should Know About”, it is always remain unclear, what are those criteria the authors use to determine the best services. Google's SERP for the "backlink checker tools" query
The list below encompasses all tools to search and analyze backlinks known to me. The list consists of four parts. The first one includes backlink explorers presented in webmaster tools of such search engines as Google, Bing and Yandex. The second part of the list covers online services. The third part lists API you can use in your own applications. The fourth part contains the collection of desktop software. Each part of the list is sorted alphabetically.
Please keep in mind that backlink checking is merely one of functions most paid services offer. So by purchasing monthly subscription you also receive access to other useful SEO tools.
You won’t find qualitative comparison of backlink tools in my list. Such comparison is a subject for in-depth research, though I plan to eventually publish it in the blog. But even those characteristics that are listed below in the brief description of each document can be used to preliminary estimate capabilities of these services. Besides, every tool can be ranked: I encourage you to vote for your favorite tools to help determining the most popular instrument among those listed below.
In the future, I plan to refresh this list by removing abandoned tools and adding new ones. If you are aware of some backlink tools not included in my list yet, please let me know in your comments.

Content

Webmaster Tools

1. Bing Webmaster Tools

http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster


3/5 (11 votes)
Access free
Free version
  • as many backlinks as they consider appropriate to show
  • for verified domains only (ie you must be the owner of the domains)
Own web crawler yes (Bingbot)

3. Google Webmaster Tools

http://www.google.com/webmasters


3.6/5 (17 votes)
Access free
Free version
  • as many backlinks as they consider appropriate to show
  • for verified domains only (ie you must be the owner of the domains)
Own web crawler yes (Googlebot)

4. Yandex.Webmaster

http://webmaster.yandex.ru


2.6/5 (8 votes)
Access free
Free version
  • as many backlinks as they consider appropriate to show
  • for verified domains only (ie you must be the owner of the domains)
Own web crawler yes (YandexBot)

Online Backlink Checkers

6. Ahrefs Site Explorer

https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer


2.8/5 (22 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 10 backlinks per report
  • only one report per day!
Paid version
  • $79/month - up to 5,000 backlinks per report
  • $179/month - up to 15,000 backlinks per report
  • $499/month - up to 30,000 backlinks per report
Own web crawler yes (AhrefsBot)
Related API Ahrefs API
Related online service Ahrefs Backlinks Report

8. Backlink Watch

http://backlinkwatch.com


2.5/5 (20 votes)
Access free
Free version up to 1,000 backlinks per report
Own web crawler no
Backlinks providers information is not available

9. Backlinktest.com

http://www.backlinktest.com


2.3/5 (18 votes)
Access free
Free version as many backlinks as there are in their index
Own web crawler yes (unknown)
Notes CAPTCHA

10. cognitiveSEO Backlink Checker & Site Explorer

http://explorer.cognitiveseo.com


2.5/5 (13 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version up to 25 backlinks per report
Paid version
  • $99/month - 10,000 backlinks per report
  • $199/month - 15,000 backlinks per report
  • $499/month - 50,000 backlinks per report
  • $999/month - as many backlinks as there are in their index
  • free 14 days trial
Own web crawler yes - ? (James BOT – WebCrawler)
Backlinks providers

11. European-Business-Connect.de

http://www.european-business-connect.de/backlinkchecker.php


2.6/5 (9 votes)
Access free
Free version up to 2,500 backlinks per report
Own web crawler yes - ? (unknown)
Notes
  • the website is in German only
  • CAPTCHA

12. Indexicon - Free Backlink Checker

http://www.indexicon.com/free-backlink-checker


2/5 (10 votes)
Access free
Free version up to 16,000 backlinks per report; one report per day
Own web crawler no
Backlinks provider LinkResearchTools - Quick Backlinks (QBL) Tool
Notes reports in CSV-format come by email within a few hours

16. LinkPad

http://www.linkpad.ru


2.8/5 (9 votes)
Access free
Free version up to 5,000 backlinks per report
Own web crawler yes (LinkpadBot)
Notes the website is in Russian only

19. Majestic

https://majestic.com


3.1/5 (14 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 5,000 backlinks per report
  • for verified domains only (ie you must be the owner of the domains)
Paid version
  • $78.99/month - up to 5,000 backlinks per report, up to 5,000,000 downloadable backlinks/month
  • $169.99/month - up to 15,000 backlinks per report; up to 25,000,000 downloadable backlinks/month
  • $399.99/month - up to 30,000 backlinks per report; up to 100,000,000 downloadable backlinks/month
  • $799.98/month - up to 40,000 backlinks per report; up to 300,000,000 downloadable backlinks/month
  • $1,599.96/month - up to 50,000 backlinks per report; up to 1,000,000,000 downloadable backlinks/month
Own web crawler yes (MJ12bot)
Related API Majestic API

21. MoonSearch

http://moonsearch.com


2.2/5 (9 votes)
Access free
Free version as many backlinks as there are in their index
Own web crawler yes (unknown)

22. Open Site Explorer

https://moz.com/researchtools/ose


2.3/5 (15 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 200 backlinks per report
  • limited functionality
Paid version
  • from $99/month - up to 10,000 backlinks per report
  • free 30 days trial
Own web crawler yes (rogerbot)

24. RankSignals.com

http://www.ranksignals.com


2.3/5 (9 votes)
Access free
Free version as many backlinks as there are in their index
Own web crawler yes (unknown)

25. Searchmetrics Suite - Backlink Check & Analysis Tool

http://suite.searchmetrics.com/en/research/links/backlink-analysis


2.2/5 (13 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 10 backlinks per report without registration
  • up to 500 backlinks per report with a free account
Paid version from $69/month - as many backlinks as there are in their index
Own web crawler yes (SearchmetricsBot)

26. SEMrush

http://www.semrush.com


3.6/5 (20 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version up to 10 backlinks per report
Paid version
  • $69.95/month - up to 10,000 backlinks per report
  • $149.95/month - up to 30,000 backlinks per report
  • $499/month - up to 100,000 backlinks per report
Own web crawler yes (SemrushBot)
Related API SEMrush API

27. SEOkicks

http://en.seokicks.de


2.2/5 (11 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version up to 50 backlinks per report
Paid version
  • €9.90/month - up to 1,000 backlinks per report
  • €29.90/month - up to 25,000 backlinks per report
  • €99.90/month - up to 100,000 backlinks per report
  • €499.90/month - up to 100,000 backlinks per report
Own web crawler yes (SEOkicks-Robot)
Related API SEOkicks API

28. SEOlytics

http://www.seolytics.com


1.2/5 (5 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 2,000 backlinks per registered domain
  • one registered domain per account (the domain can only be changed once every 30 days)
  • export is not available
Paid version
  • up to 50,000 backlinks per registered domain
  • up to 2,000 backlinks per unregistered domain
  • €99/month - up to 2 registered domain per account
  • €339/month - up to 5 registered domain per account
Own web crawler no
Backlinks provider Majestic API

29. SEOprofiler

http://www.seoprofiler.com


4/5 (26 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 2 projects
  • online: up to 200,000 backlinks per project
  • export: up to 1,000 backlinks per project
Paid version
  • $49.95/month - up to 10 projects; online: up to 200,000 backlinks per project; export: up to 100,000 backlinks per project
  • $99.95/month - up to 50 projects; online: up to 200,000 backlinks per project; export: up to 200,000 backlinks per project
  • $249.95/month - up to 150 projects; online: up to 200,000 backlinks per project; export: up to 200,000 backlinks per project
  • $999.95/month - up to 800 projects; online: up to 200,000 backlinks per project; export: up to 200,000 backlinks per project
Own web crawler yes (spbot)
Related online service OpenLinkProfiler
Notes a free or paid account is required

30. Sheer Explorer

http://sheerexplorer.com


3.1/5 (14 votes)
Access free
Free version as many backlinks as there are in their index
Own web crawler yes (unknown)

31. Site Explorer

http://siteexplorer.info


3/5 (16 votes)
Access free
Free version as many backlinks as there are in their index
Own web crawler yes (SiteExplorer)

32. SmallSEOTools.com

http://smallseotools.com/backlink-checker


1.9/5 (8 votes)
Access free
Free version up to 1000 (?) backlinks per report
Own web crawler yes - ? (unknown)
Notes CAPTCHA

33. Web SEO Analytics

http://www.webseoanalytics.com


2/5 (6 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 1,000 backlinks per report
  • up to 1 report per day
Paid version
  • from €29/month
  • free 10 days trial
Own web crawler yes - ? (unknown)

Backlink Checker API's

37. Mozscape API

http://moz.com/products/api


2/5 (8 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 1,000 backlinks per report
  • up to 1,000,000 backlinks/month
  • rate limit: one request every 10 seconds
Paid version
  • from $500/month
  • rate limit: 200 requests per second
  • pricing
Own web crawler yes (rogerbot)
Related online service Open Site Explorer


Backlink Checker Software

40. SEO SpyGlass

http://www.link-assistant.com/seo-spyglass


4.3/5 (23 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 1,100 backlinks per project
  • limited functionality
Paid version
  • $99.75 - unlimited backlinks per project
  • $249.75 - unlimited backlinks per project + extra functionality
Related online service WebMeUp backlink tool
Supported OS MS Windows Mac OS Linux

41. Traffic Travis

http://www.traffictravis.com


2.1/5 (8 votes)
Access free & paid
Free version
  • up to 100 backlinks from Moz per project
  • limited functionality
Paid version $97.00 - up to 1,000 backlinks from Moz + extra backlinks from Exalead & Blekko per project
Supported OS MS Windows


Credit Gose To http://linksphinx.com
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Pritam Singh

Posted by Pritam Singh

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5 Comments

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