About the Author
Walid Boulanouar
Founder & CEO
Walid founded AY Rank to help businesses dominate AI search. He leads the GEO methodology and oversees client strategy across 50+ cities in Europe, Middle East, and North Africa.
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Short answer
- A backlink API, also called a backlinks API or backlink checker API, returns a site's backlinks, referring domains and anchor texts as JSON, so your code can audit links without exporting CSVs. The best picks: DataForSEO for pay as you go at $0.06 per 1,000-row request with a $50 minimum top-up, SE Ranking for testing at $50 per 250K credits plus 100K free trial credits, and Ahrefs from its $129/mo Lite plan. Prices read on each vendor's page on 10 Nov 2026.
| Tool | Backlink data | How you get the data | Pricing model | Entry price (read 10 Nov 2026) | Free trial or credits | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AY Rank appOur pick | No | No backlink data. Rank data only, via MCP server with a workspace key, no public REST API | Monthly plan | $100/mo Starter | Yes7-day trial, no card | Checking whether new links move Google ranks and AI answers |
| DataForSEO Backlinks API | Yes | REST API, live mode | Pay as you go, per task plus per row | $0.06 per 1,000-row request, $50 minimum top-up | Yes$1 trial credit | Pay-per-use builds |
| SE Ranking Backlinks API | Yes | API and MCP | Credit packs or annual plan | $50 for 250K credits | Yes100K credits for 14 days | Testing on real data first |
| Ahrefs API | Yes | REST API and MCP | Monthly plan with API units | $129/mo Lite, 200,000 units | Free test queries on paid plans only | Teams already paying for Ahrefs |
| SEO PowerSuite Backlink API | Yes | API | Monthly unit plan | $149/mo for 5M units | Yestrial on request | Bulk raw backlink pulls |
| Moz API | Yes | API, MCP in beta | Monthly row plan | $20/mo for 3,000 rows | Yes50 free rows a month | Domain Authority on a small budget |
| Majestic API | Yes | Full API plan and OpenApps | Monthly plan | $399.99/mo Full API | No | Trust Flow metrics at agency scale |
| Semrush Backlinks API v4 | Yes | API v4, early access | Plan plus API unit packages | Not stated | Not stated | Existing Semrush accounts |
| SEOCheck | Yesdomain level | HTTP GET, JSON | Prepaid credit per call | $0.10 per 1,000 one-credit calls | Yes$100 credit, no card | Cheap DR and referring-domain lookups |
A backlink API tells you which links point at a site. It does not tell you whether those links moved your rankings or changed what AI answers say about you. That gap is why entry 1, the AY Rank app, is on this list even though it has no backlink data at all.
The other eight are real backlink checker APIs. I read each vendor's pricing and docs on 10 November 2026 and noted the unit each one bills in, because the unit decides your bill more than the headline price.
1. AY Rank app, best for checking whether new links move your rankings
Disclosure: AY Rank makes this tool, so this entry describes our own product rather than an independent review.
The AY Rank app has no backlink API and no backlink data. It will not list a single link that points at your site. It also has no public REST API for rank data. You reach your tracked ranks through its MCP server, which Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP clients call with a workspace key, or through the app and its CSV export.
It is on this list because a backlink API only answers "which links do I have". You pair one of the APIs below with AY Rank to see the result: whether your tracked Google ranks moved after the links landed, and whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode mention you when they answer your buyers' questions.
Why AY Rank
every week someone tells me they're handing their SEO to Claude because it can write a blog post in seconds
i get it, we use it too
but at ayrank, writing is only one part of the work
getting a page published is easy
getting that page to bring qualified buyers is where the work starts
here's what that actually looks like:
- make sure Google can crawl and index the pages that matter - check robots.txt, sitemaps, noindex tags and CDN rules
- bring product, pricing, comparison and use-case pages closer to the homepage instead of burying them 5 clicks deep
- fix keyword cannibalisation so 4 generic blogs aren't competing with the page that should bring you customers
- make essential copy available in the HTML so crawlers and buyers can actually access it
- clean up titles, H1s, internal links, broken URLs, redirects and canonicals
- build pages around questions buyers ask before paying - alternatives, comparisons, pricing, implementation and limitations
- add real screenshots, customer proof and useful detail that gives someone a reason to trust you
- earn relevant links, reviews and mentions from places your buyers already trust
- check crawl logs to see whether Google is finding your important pages or wasting time on junk URLs
- test the whole demo flow on mobile too - forms, calendar embeds, tracking and thank-you pages
- track qualified demos, pipeline and revenue by landing page, with branded and non-branded traffic measured separately
- update pages when your product, pricing, competitors or customer objections change
and plenty more :)
we're running AI SEO for 50+ SaaS companies at ayrank right now
we use app.ayrank.com + looot MCP to bring the data into the workflow, and Claude to help execute
the goal is simple
more people finding you when they're ready to buy
more of those people becoming customers
Key features
- Google rank tracking for the top 100 positions, per market and device, with the shown rank a median of several samples. Scheduled checks run weekly by default.
- MCP server at app.ayrank.com/api/mcp. The keywords_list tool returns the live Google rank in every market and device plus 90 days of Search Console numbers. Other tools cover rank movers, live rank checks that use credits, and AI answers and citations.
- Search Console connection shows Google position next to AI positions.
Best for
- SEO leads and agencies who build links and need proof they paid off.
Pricing
- Starter $100/month or $1,000/year: 150 keywords in 3 countries, 50 AI questions on 6 engines, 1 MCP/API key.
- Agency $500/month or $5,000/year: 5 workspaces, 750 keywords in 5 countries, 300 AI questions.
- 7-day free trial, no card. A free check from a website address needs no sign-up.
Pros
- One place to see Google rank changes and AI answer mentions side by side.
- Works from Claude, ChatGPT and Claude Code through MCP, with a limit of 60 requests a minute per key.
Cons
- No backlink data at all. You still need one of the eight APIs below.
- No public REST API for rank data. You get ranks through MCP, the app or a CSV export only.
Run a free check on app.ayrank.com
2. DataForSEO Backlinks API, best for pay-as-you-go builds
DataForSEO Backlinks API is a pay-per-use REST API that returns backlinks, referring domains, anchors and link history for any domain, subdomain or page. DataForSEO says its index holds roughly 2 trillion live backlinks, with history back to 2019. You pay per task and per row, with no subscription.
Key features
- Endpoints for backlinks, history, anchors, summary, referring domains, domain pages and link intersection.
- Bulk endpoints accept up to 1,000 targets per request.
Best for
- Developers who want to pay only for the rows they pull.
Pricing
- $0.024 per task plus $0.000036 per row. DataForSEO's own example: one task with 1,000 rows costs $0.06.
- $50 minimum account top-up. The balance never expires and is not a monthly payment.
- $1 trial credit for new accounts.
Pros
- No subscription and no monthly minimum, only a $50 minimum per top-up.
- Up to 1,000 rows per request keeps per-row cost low.
Cons
- You manage a prepaid balance and set your own spending limits.
- The $1 trial credit covers little real testing.
3. SE Ranking Backlinks API, best for testing on real data first
SE Ranking Backlinks API is part of SE Ranking's credit-based data API, and it also runs through SE Ranking's MCP server. SE Ranking says it has 2.7 trillion backlinks and 420 million domains indexed.
Key features
- Referring domains, anchors, link types, InLink Rank, referring IPs and subnets.
- Up to 100,000 backlinks per call with cursor pagination.
- New and lost link tracking with daily updates, per SE Ranking.
Best for
- Teams that want to test against their own client data before paying.
Pricing
- Wallet: $50 for 250K credits. Credits never expire.
- The backlinks "all" endpoint costs 1 credit per record.
- Free trial: 100K credits for 14 days, no card.
Pros
- Pay-as-you-go credits with no expiry.
- MCP included, so you can query backlinks from Claude.
Cons
- At 1 credit per backlink, the Wallet works out to $0.20 per 1,000 backlinks, more than DataForSEO.
- Annual plans expire unused credits at the end of the cycle.
4. Ahrefs API, best for teams already paying for Ahrefs
Ahrefs API is the REST API on the Ahrefs index, covering backlinks, keywords, rank tracking and Brand Radar. Ahrefs says it has 35 trillion live backlinks. Older posts say the API needs an Enterprise plan. On 10 November 2026, Ahrefs' SEO API page says API access is included in every plan from Lite up.
Key features
- Backlinks, referring domains, DR and UR from Site Explorer.
- Batch Analysis returns metrics for up to 100 targets per request.
Best for
- Ahrefs users who want the same numbers in their own reports.
Pricing
- Lite $129/mo: 200,000 API units a month, 100 rows per request.
- Standard $249/mo: 800,000 units. Advanced $449/mo: 2M units.
- Minimum cost for any request is 50 units. Starter at $29/mo gets free test queries only.
Pros
- Backlink index refreshed every 15 to 30 minutes, per Ahrefs, and the same data you see in the Ahrefs app.
Cons
- No free trial. Free test queries only work on Ahrefs' own domains.
- 100 rows per request on Lite makes large pulls slow.