How to Export Backlinks from Ahrefs (UI, API, and the $10 Alternative)

You need backlink data out of Ahrefs — into a spreadsheet, a database, or a pipeline. There are three ways to do it, each with a different quota attached: the UI's CSV export (burns your plan's monthly export rows), API v3 (burns API units, needs Lite or above), and skipping the Ahrefs meter entirely for data that doesn't need Ahrefs' index. This guide covers all three, in that order.

One honesty note before the steps: Ahrefs' help center documents the export flow, but exact button labels and dialog options change and we couldn't re-verify every screen at time of writing — the steps below stick to the level Ahrefs' own docs and current walkthroughs support. If a label has drifted, the flow is still the same shape.

Option 1: Export from the Ahrefs UI (CSV)

The standard path for a one-off export:

1. Open Site Explorer and enter the target domain or URL.
2. Open the Backlinks report in the left sidebar.
3. Apply any filters first — link type, language, platform, dofollow/nofollow, "best links" presets. Exports reflect the current filtered view, so filtering before exporting is how you spend your quota on rows you actually want.
4. Click Export (top right of the report).
5. Choose how many rows to export — there's a Custom option for a specific number — and pick the format (CSV for spreadsheets; UTF-16 variant if Excel mangles special characters).

Two quota mechanics worth knowing:

• Exported rows count against your plan's "export rows per month" allowance. Third-party 2026 pricing guides put the allowances around 500K rows/month on Lite and 1.5M on Standard (verify in your own account — Ahrefs adjusts these and its help center is the source of truth).
• Each report view also has a max rows per report display cap by plan. Sorting the report differently can surface rows beyond the cap — an old trick that still helps when you're near the ceiling.

For a repeated monthly export across many targets, this path gets manual fast — that's what the next two options are for.

Option 2: Export via Ahrefs API v3

On Lite ($129/mo) or above, API v3 can pull the same backlinks programmatically:

curl "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/site-explorer/backlinks?target=example.com&select=url_from,url_to,anchor,first_seen&limit=1000" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_AHREFS_TOKEN"

Mind the meter: every request costs at least 50 units, and row-returning requests cost rows × the summed cost of every field you select (or filter/sort by). Third-party math puts a 1,000-backlink pull around $5.00 in plan-unit value, and lower plans cap rows per request, so big exports mean pagination — and each page re-pays the field costs. The full economics are in our Ahrefs API review.

This is the right path when you need Ahrefs' specific index (freshness, long-tail coverage) in a pipeline and you're already paying for the plan.

Option 3: Pull the same data pay-per-call

If what you actually need is "the backlink profile of these domains, as data" — for scoring, audits, enrichment, or feeding an agent — you don't need an export quota at all. RankParse serves backlinks as a flat-priced API call: 2 credits (about $0.02) for up to 1,000 rows, no subscription, 100 free credits with no card.

import csv
import os
from rankparse import RankParseClient

with RankParseClient(api_key=os.environ["RANKPARSE_API_KEY"]) as client:
    result = client.backlinks("example.com", limit=1000)

rows = result["data"]  # 2 credits, up to 1,000 rows

with open("backlinks.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=rows[0].keys())
    writer.writeheader()
    writer.writerows(rows)

print(f"exported {len(rows)} backlinks")

That's the whole export: one call, one CSV, no monthly export-row accounting. The same works for referring domains, anchor text, and domain authority, and the batch endpoint handles lists of domains in one request.

The tradeoff, stated plainly: RankParse's index is rebuilt from quarterly open-data releases (Common Crawl and friends). Ahrefs' continuously-crawled index will contain more long-tail links and anything that appeared in the last few weeks. If your export exists to catch new links, stay on Ahrefs. If it exists to score, audit, or enrich, quarterly data answers the question at roughly 1/250th of the per-row price — the math is in Ahrefs API alternatives, and the head-to-head is RankParse vs Ahrefs.

Which option when

FAQ

How do I export backlinks from Ahrefs to CSV?

Site Explorer → enter your target → Backlinks report → apply filters → Export (top right) → choose the number of rows and CSV format. The exported rows count against your plan's monthly export-row allowance.

How many rows can I export from Ahrefs per month?

It depends on your plan. Third-party 2026 guides report roughly 500K rows/month on Lite and 1.5M on Standard, but verify in your own account — allowances have changed over time.

Can I export backlinks from Ahrefs for free?

Not meaningfully — free accounts don't include Site Explorer backlink exports. For free single-domain lookups, RankParse's free backlink checker shows a profile without an account, and the API's 100 free credits cover 50 full backlink pulls.

Can I automate Ahrefs exports without the API?

Not officially. Scraping the UI violates Ahrefs' terms, and browser-extension exporters are fragile. The supported automation paths are API v3 (with a Lite+ plan) or a pay-per-call API like RankParse for stored link data.

How do I export the same data from Semrush?

Same idea, different quotas — we wrote the equivalent guide: how to export data from Semrush.

Export a 1,000-row backlink profile for 2 credits: get a free RankParse API key — 100 credits, no card.