Just learned that Ahrefs DR API is free

• Aug 09, 2026 at 20:30 IST
• 1 min (154 words)
• seo· coding

I just got to know that Ahrefs has a free API that returns DR (Domain Rating) for domains, and it's completely free to use. You do require a free API key and requests do not consume any API units.

I tested it for deepakness.com with a free API key, and DR comes out to be 46, as you see in the response below.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.ahrefs.com/v3/public/domain-rating-free?target=deepakness.com&output=json"

Actual response:

{
  "domain_rating": {
    "domain_rating": 46.0,
    "license": "http://ahrefs.com/legal/domain-rating-license"
  }
}

Unauthenticated calls still work today but return a deprecation warning as they now return 401 unless you send the free key. If you use the data, Ahrefs requires attribution as "Domain Rating by Ahrefs" with a link to ahrefs.com, under their Domain Rating License program.

I liked this because this can be used for analyzing domains in bulk and then there can be other interesting usage as well.