In this article, we will talk about the best website traffic checkers you can use to check traffic of your website, or your competitors.
Each tool goes beyond simply showing “number of hits”. With most, you will also receive country-specific data, top keywords for the traffic, backlinks and much more.
Some tools even allow “tracking” your competitors so you get notified of major traffic or keyword changes.
This list caters to each of you. If you’re a Veteran who seeks ultra-detailed data, we’ve got Semrush and Ahrefs for you. If you’re a beginner and require simpler data presentation, Ubersuggest has your back.
Point being, you will be analyzing traffic and skyrocketing your traffic in the next few minutes.
Table of Contents
How do we pick the best website traffic estimators?
We have used over 50 traffic estimators in our 12+ years of blogging journey. This list compiles all the primary factors which we look at when picking these tools:
- Information included in the report: A good website traffic estimator shows not just the website’s traffic, but also unique visits, bounce rate, region-based hits, keyword-based hits and so on.
- Data source: We only use tools that gather information from high quality and credible sources. These sources have been mentioned for each tool when available.
- Accuracy: No tool shows 100% accurate data as the accuracy is based on its sources, frequency of collection and other factors. Hence, only the most accurate tools have been mentioned here.
- Reporting/exports: Tools that allow exporting the data, preferably in PDF formats and preferably with your own branding are better choices.
- User experience: UI still matters as there are tools we love (e.g. QuantCast) which still are a bit complex to work with.
- Cost: Only the tools that justify their costs with features have been included. Some are either permanently free, or offer a free trial.
1. Semrush – Best Overall
Semrush is my personal favourite and the best website traffic estimator in my opinion. It shows all the basic traffic data that you may seek. We start with an overview that includes:
- Visits (along with increase/decrease in recent numbers.)
- Unique visitors
- Purchase conversions (unique feature, shows the % of traffic that converted into a sale).
- Pages/visit
- Visit duration
- Traffic by Subfolders & subdomains
- Bounce rate
- Traffic by geo distribution etc. Semrush is one of the few tools that shows data from over 190 countries.
An unique feature is its “traffic journey”. This shows the “type” of traffic (direct/referral/social, ads etc.) along with the exact “journey”.
Meaning, for each type of traffic, it tells me the previous site visited before visiting the analyzed domain, and the next site visited from the analyzed domain.
I can also filter for “desktop” or “mobile” traffic exclusively. Then there are date-range, or daily/weekly brackets if you need time-specific data.
Its “Top Pages” report will highlight the most visited pages with unique hits, pageviews, and traffic sources giving you the cream off top.
You can analyze subdomains and subfolders exclusively as well. It also has an “audience overlap” feature. It shows the content that you and your competitor both have in common, and get hits for. These are easy backlink and partnership opportunities.
You can also compare hundreds of domains simultaneously side-by-side.
If you’re an agency, you can export branded PDF reports or even schedule them for your clients.
The source of its traffic data is over 200 million real users and their Clickstream. Combined with its Neural network and statistical sampling the traffic data becomes pretty detailed. Do note that the source of its data for other features differs.
Semrush has a 7-day free trial after which plans start at $139.00/month.
Pros:
- It has a full army of SEO features, some almost unique and rare to Semrush.
- Semrush has credible data sources making the data authentic and accurate.
Cons:
- No major cons, it wouldn’t be our favourite if there were deal-breaking issues.
2. Ahrefs
I love Ahrefs for its amount of data, and of course data accuracy. Ahrefs uses Clickstream data combined with data from its own in-house bots.
It transparently displayed monthly organic traffic for any URL, breaking it down by country to see where my visitors were coming from across 171 regions.
Ahrefs also shows the monetary traffic value, 5 top-performing pages and the top 5 keywords driving the most traffic on the overview.
The detailed reports let us check the traffic that the URL receives for every single one of its keywords. Along with that, the CPC, competition,search volume and other information for the keyword are included as well.
When used for competitor analysis, it’s a goldmine. The traffic, coupled with the top pages, and traffic sources allows you to instantly know what your competitor is doing and how.
It uses graphs and charts to help better understand data and keep it non-boring.
It’s capable of analyzing subdomains, subfolders, and even exact URLs so you get only the data you need without clutter.
There’s even a batch analysis feature that lets me compare up to 200 websites at once.
As far as costs go, you get limited access for free. The paid plans start at $129.00/month. This isn’t the cheapest on this list but we’d say it’s a good feature:cost ratio.
Pros:
- The stats and data is more accurate than most other tools.
- As it’s a full SEO suite, it attaches a lot of additional data such as backlinks, keywords, rank tracker with traffic data that other tools miss.
Cons:
- The free plan is very limited, hence, you may not get as clear an idea of its potential as required without paying first.
3. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is best for those who need a detailed but entirely free website traffic checker. Its free plan allows checking 3 domains per day without any cost.
I checked Nike.com for this example and here’s what’s shown:
It lets me search traffic stats either for the entire world, continents or of course individual nations. It even shows “paid ad” traffic so you know the percent of traffic the domain gets through various ads.
Then there’s a long list of countries and the traffic from each nation is shown. A mini graph also shows the traffic-share from each country.
Then there’s a graph that shows the traffic change over time. A detailed list of each keyword receiving traffic for the analyzed domain is available too. These keywords are also broken down into “intent”. So you know how many of these are commercial, local, navigational, transactional etc. The traffic from each of these keyword groups is shown individually as well.
Lastly, a “top pages in organic search” list shows me the most profitable (in terms of traffic) keywords for the domain. If it’s a competitor, these are the keywords you need to steal/borrow.
Other non-traffic data such as backlinks, keywords, list of competitors etc. too are included in the overview.
Pros:
- Almost unrestricted access to all data without even signing up.
- Less cluttered and easier to understand data
Cons:
- The data sources are more accurate for higher-traffic sites than for smaller domains.
4. UberSuggest
UberSuggest is a free website traffic estimator by Neil Patel. No signup is required. It offers straight-forward traffic data wrapped in one of the cleanest interfaces out there.
Enter a domain and the country you need the data for. Then it also shows “paid traffic” , this is the traffic that the domain gets from paid ads.
A graph breaks down this traffic into organic/paid as well. A detailed graph shows the increase/decrease in the monthly traffic of the domain for easy understanding. The graph can also be switched to “domain authority” or “backlinks” if you’re interested.
It also shows me non-traffic but useful data such as organic keywords, paid keywords, domain authority, backlinks etc.
Then there’s a graph that shows “SEO keyword rankings”. It shows the number of keywords in the top 5, top 10, top 50 and so on.
Its “Top pages by country” section shows the top pages/URLs which receive the maximum traffic. The number of hits too is included. You can filter this data for any country you’d like.
Then there’s a “top keywords” list. It shows the keywords which bring in the maximum traffic for the site, along with the exact number of hits the keywords bring.
UberSuggest offers 1 free search per day. There’s a 7 day free trial of its paid plans which start at $20.00/month. There’s also a lifetime plan starting at $200.00 one-time fee.
Pros:
- It’s one of the most beginner-friendly and simple yet data-rich traffic checkers.
- You don’t pay unless you’re sure it’s the right tool for you.
Cons:
- There’s no “Worldwide” traffic filter. Each search only returns country-based data.
- It doesn’t offer filters for social/email and other types of traffic.
5. SiteChecker – Best as a last option
You should use SiteChecker if data accuracy isn’t your top priority and you need an average idea for your campaign. We say that because SiteChecker’s data source is based on basic calculations. It calculates the CTR and search volume for each keyword that the URL is ranking for.
The free plan, without signup is enough to get you basic site traffic information. You can also select specific countries you need the data for.
It also shows the top ranking keywords for a domain and the URL which ranks for the keyword.Then, the number of keywords ranking in the top 5, top 10, top 50 and so on are displayed as well.
Pros:
- SiteChecker arguably has the simplest data and UI.
- Good for checking data from unconventional sources unlike most other tools.
Cons:
- No worldwide search parameter.
- Doesn’t offer graphs or charts.
6. Spyfu
Spyfu is one of the best traffic checkers for those who need maximum data for free.
Here’s an overview so you know what it offers on this free, no signup search:
For starters, we get the “traffic from Google” graph. It shows the total traffic the site gets from Google (organic traffic) and its “percent”. This means, this graph also tells us the non-organic (paid/ referral/direct or other traffic).
We can also see the “organic keywords” on the left. The estimated “monthly SEO clicks” shows the organic CTR for the domain. Then the “change” in the clicks tells us if the clicks have improved or downgraded.
Similarly, the total paid clicks and their change is mentioned as well.
SpyFu also shows the “top keywords” as well as the number of clicks the domain gets from those keywords. Data for both organic and paid keywords is displayed.
Lastly, there’s a list of “top pages” as well. This shows the most popular URLs, their keywords and the exact number of traffic those pages generate. You can even generate a PDF report and send it to your/clients email instantly, for free.
Pros:
- It’s free plan is enough for most small projects as multiple searches are allowed.
- SpyFu is actually one of the most feature and data rich website traffic checkers on this list. It offers competition analysis, Google ad buying opportunities, traffic & backlink overlap and more.
- It offers extensively detailed filters for almost every data.
Cons:
- The interface is a bit overwhelming. You’ll need to scroll and ignore some data if you’re focusing on “traffic” data specifically.
FAQs
If you’re searching for the best website traffic checkers, allow us to answer some of the most common questions around the topic:
#1. Why doesn’t data from my Google Analytics match with data from these checkers?
Any of these traffic checkers will never be 100% accurate. It’s because these tools do not have direct access to sites. Hence, their data is based on a lot of third-party tools and bots. It’s common for the data to not match. However, these 6 options here are the most accurate options in the industry as of now.
#2. Which is the best tool for competitor traffic analysis?
Semrush allows checking up to 200 domains at once. It also offers keyword and backlink overlap features which makes it the best option for competition analysis.
Final words
I hope you have a traffic checker for websites by now that fits your requirements and budget. In our opinion, Semrush is the absolute best option followed by Ahrefs. This is because the amount and accuracy of data is unmatched.
Of course, these are slightly pocket-heavy than some other options here. Hence, I’d recommend the bottom three options if “budget” is a major constraint.
I’ll recommend mixing your tools and combining research from multiple tools for best results. Each tool has its superpower and weakness, combining them helps fill these gaps.
Hello Jyoti,
Superb Article !…….Everytime your article is really informative and helpful for me and other bloggers too because as you have described everything in descriptive, simply yet effective too. I use some these tools but your article has mentioned some extra tools and I hope these will help me and others too. You’ve done a great job with this.
Thanks to share this informative article with us.
thanks for sharing these great tools. As a beginner online marketer this article is so helpful to me. I only know ahrefs, semsush and alexa
Hi,
Well similarweb is kinda popular and it does show some data accurately. You did a wonderful job by sharing this awesome list of website traffic estimator.
Hi Jyoti,
Out of all the tools you have mentioned, I use ahrefs the most since it is something which allows free limited usage but at least give me the idea of competitor as well. I have never used other tools though since I am not fan of using several tools. I am thinking to use SEMRush though in coming days.
Hello Sir,
Thanks for sharing such a great content. good collection of SEO tools. i have search to how to Website Analysis in for SEO tools i have read your article with tools. i will use for article tool use for website.
Thank You.