mttr and Ahrefs
Ahrefs shows who links to a site, what people search for and where it ranks. mttr reads the pages themselves the way search engines and AI assistants do, and puts the fixes in order. Keep Ahrefs for the market, and add mttr, free, for the pages.
Keep Ahrefs. Add mttr on top.
mttr is not a replacement for Ahrefs. It is a free layer that reads your pages the way search engines and AI assistants do.
What Ahrefs is best at
- BacklinksOne of the largest link indexes: who links to a site, which links are new or lost, and the words they link with.
- Keyword researchSearch volumes, difficulty and the questions people ask, in many countries.
- Rankings and rivalsWhere a site and its rivals rank, and which of their pages win the traffic.
- Brand RadarHow often AI answers such as ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention a brand.
What mttr adds on top
- Pages read as an AI crawler gets themThe words in the HTML before any script, whether robots.txt and the firewall let GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot in, and one address for each page.
- Fixes ranked by what they are worthEach failing rule weighed by its stage and by how many pages miss it, so the first fix is the one that moves the most.
- A reader for what code cannot countA reasoning model reads for things such as whether a page answers before it explains. It only advises; code decides.
- A loop your agent runsThe plan in your agent’s words for Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, and 62 MCP tools: it makes each change, asks for a fresh read, and mttr says which rules now pass.
Which tool for which job
Both means each does a part of it.
| Job | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Find who links to a site, and links lost | Ahrefs | Its link index is why most people choose it. |
| Pick keywords by volume and difficulty | Ahrefs | Keywords Explorer, in many countries. |
| Track rankings against rivals | Ahrefs | Rank Tracker, with rivals’ positions beside yours. |
| See how AI answers mention a brand | Ahrefs | Brand Radar. mttr does not track mentions or citations. |
| Audit a site’s technical health | Both | Site Audit goes deep on technical issues; mttr reads what an assistant needs from each page. |
| Check AI crawlers can read each page | mttr | robots.txt, the firewall and the words in the HTML before any script. |
| Know which page fix is worth the most | mttr | Every failing rule weighed and put in order. |
| Hand fixes to an agent and check they shipped | mttr | A plan in the agent’s words, then a fresh read of the live site. |
Ahrefs and mttr together
A way of working that plays to each.
- 01Ahrefs
Find the pages that matter
In Site Explorer, sort the site’s pages by organic traffic or by referring domains. Those are the pages worth getting right first.
- 02mttr
Read the site in mttr
In about a minute the first 100 pages are read and every fix is ranked. Start with the fixes that touch the pages Ahrefs found.
Read a site - 03mttr
Hand the plan to your agent
Copy the plan into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, or connect the agent to mttr’s MCP server, and let it make the changes.
Connect an agent - 04Both
Check it both ways
mttr reads the site again and says which rules now pass. Over the weeks after, Ahrefs shows whether rankings and links moved.
Free checks to run beside Ahrefs
Each reads one page or one domain, with no sign-up.
- AI crawler checkerWhich AI crawlers robots.txt lets in, and whether there is an llms.txt.
- What an agent readsA page beside the Markdown an assistant gets from it, and what gets in the way.
- Schema markup checkerEvery block of structured data: whether it parses, and what it lacks.
- Redirect checkerEvery hop an address takes, with its status code and where it points.
Feature by feature
| What | mttr | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Making each page readable, believable and actionable for search engines and AI assistants, and handing the fixes to your agent. | Backlinks, keyword research and rank tracking, with a site audit and Brand Radar for AI visibility. |
| Reads and audits a site | Yes, the first 100 pages of any public site, on mttr’s servers, with nothing to install. | Yes, Site Audit, in the cloud. |
| What AI crawlers get | Yes: the words in the HTML before any script, whether robots.txt and the firewall let AI crawlers in, and one address for each page. | Not a stated feature. |
| Judges the writing | Yes: a reasoning model reads for what a rule cannot count, such as whether a page answers before it explains. A model only advises; code decides. | Not its focus. |
| MCP server | Yes, 62 tools, with a key an email gets. | Yes, an official remote server, on paid plans. |
| Fixes handed to an agent | Yes: the fixes worth the most in your agent’s words, and each fix read again on the live site once it ships. | Its MCP gives an agent Ahrefs data; a fix is checked by the next audit. |
| Links from other sites | No. mttr keeps no index of links from other sites. | Yes, one of the largest link indexes. |
| Keywords and rankings | No. | Yes. |
| Mentions in AI answers | Not built yet. | Yes, Brand Radar, across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and others. |
| To start | Free. Reading a site needs no sign-up. | Paid plans, and a free tier for sites you verify. |
What this page says of Ahrefs comes from its own pages and reviews of it, as of October 2026. Its plans change; ahrefs.com has the current ones.
Questions
Is mttr an Ahrefs alternative?
No. mttr has no link index, no keyword data and no rank tracking, which are what most people use Ahrefs for. It is a free layer on top: it reads each page the way search engines and AI assistants do and says what to fix first.
Can I use mttr with Ahrefs?
Yes. Use Ahrefs to find the pages that bring traffic and links, then read the site in mttr and fix those pages first. Nothing needs connecting: mttr reads only the public pages.
Does mttr replace Ahrefs Site Audit?
No, it sits beside it. Site Audit checks a site’s technical health in depth. mttr checks what search engines and AI assistants need from each page, ranks the fixes, and hands them to an agent.
Is mttr free?
Yes. Reading any public site is free, with no sign-up: the first 100 pages, a score, its place and the fixes worth the most. An email gets a key, and the key connects your agent.
mttr with other tools
mttr sits on top of each, on the same terms.
Read your site
Free, about a minute. Its score, its place, and the fixes worth the most.