Domain rating and authority score tools compared
Eight tools publish a single number for how strong a domain looks across the web. They are not the same number and they do not agree with each other. Below is what each one is called, who each tool suits, and where the numbers can be had in bulk rather than one lookup at a time.
Last reviewed September 07, 2026. Every entry describes what the provider says about itself. Prices change, so none are quoted here.
| Tool | What the number is called | Free to check | Whole dataset | API |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CheckDomainRating.com | Rating, 0 to 100 | Yes, unlimited | Yes, the full monthly file | Yes |
| Ahrefs | Domain Rating (DR) and URL Rating (UR), 0 to 100 | Limited free tools | Per project and per report, inside the product | Yes, on the higher plans |
| Semrush | Authority Score, 0 to 100 | Limited free account | Per project, inside the product | Yes, as a paid add-on |
| Moz | Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA), 1 to 100 | Small monthly allowance | Batch lookups on paid plans | Yes, priced by rows returned |
| Majestic | Trust Flow and Citation Flow, 0 to 100 | A little per site | Yes, through the API and bulk backlink checker | Yes, metered by units |
| SE Ranking | Domain Trust and Page Trust, 0 to 100 | Trial only | Per project, inside the product | Yes, on paid plans |
| DataForSEO | Rank, 0 to 1000, in its backlinks data | Trial credit | Yes, by API | Yes, pay as you go |
| Open PageRank | Page Rank, 0 to 10 | Yes, free API | Up to 100 domains per request | Yes, free |
-
1
CheckDomainRating.com
Rating, 0 to 100A single number for how well known a domain is across the web, free to check for anyone, with the whole dataset available as a file rather than as an allowance of lookups. A monthly release covering every domain we rate, going back to 2017, at one flat annual price with no per seat charge and no metering.
- Best for
- Anyone who wants the number for one site now, and anyone who needs it for millions of sites without paying per lookup.
- Free access
- Unlimited free checks in the browser, 25 a day signed in, plus a free sample file of every release.
- How it is sold
- One flat annual licence
-
A large SEO suite built around its own backlink index, with site auditing, keyword and rank tracking alongside it. Domain Rating is its measure of a site's backlink profile strength.
- Best for
- Agencies and in-house teams who want a full workbench and are happy inside a seat-based subscription.
- Free access
- Limited free tools and a free tier for verified site owners.
- How it is sold
- Monthly or annual seats, with usage credits
-
A broad marketing platform covering keywords, competitor research, advertising and content, with backlink analytics inside it. Authority Score blends link data with traffic and spam signals.
- Best for
- Marketing teams who want research, ads and content in one place rather than a link metric on its own.
- Free access
- A limited free account with a small number of daily requests.
- How it is sold
- Monthly or annual seats, with add-ons
-
One of the older names in the field, with Link Explorer built on its own index. Domain Authority is a prediction of how likely a site is to rank, expressed on a hundred point scale.
- Best for
- People who already report in that scale and need it to stay consistent with what their clients recognise.
- Free access
- A free account with a small monthly allowance, and a browser extension.
- How it is sold
- Monthly or annual seats, plus metered rows
-
An index-first company: it crawls and publishes link data rather than a wider marketing suite. Citation Flow counts link volume, Trust Flow weights it by the quality of the sites the links come from.
- Best for
- Link buyers and researchers who want two separate numbers, quantity and quality, rather than one blended one.
- Free access
- A small amount of free data per site.
- How it is sold
- Monthly subscription with unit allowances
-
A lower priced all-round SEO platform with rank tracking, audits and a backlink checker, aimed at smaller agencies and freelancers.
- Best for
- Small teams who want a familiar suite at a lower monthly cost.
- Free access
- A free trial rather than a permanent free tier.
- How it is sold
- Monthly or annual seats
-
A data provider rather than a tool: no interface to log into, just APIs that return search, keyword and backlink data for you to put in your own product or warehouse.
- Best for
- Developers building something of their own who want to pay for calls rather than for seats.
- Free access
- A small credit to try the APIs.
- How it is sold
- Pay per request, prepaid balance
-
A free API from DomCop that returns a PageRank style score for a domain, computed from an open link dataset and refreshed occasionally rather than on a fixed schedule.
- Best for
- Side projects and quick scripts where free matters more than freshness or resolution.
- Free access
- Yes, with a rate limited key.
- How it is sold
- Free
How to choose between them
- Are you checking one site or a million?
- One site at a time is what every tool here is built for. A list of a million domains is a different problem: most of these price it as lookups, which is why a file you hold yourself is cheaper past a certain size.
- Do you need the number, or the workbench around it?
- If you want rank tracking, audits and keyword research in the same place, a suite is the right shape and the number comes with it. If you only ever wanted the number, you are paying for the rest of it every month.
- Does it have to be reproducible later?
- A score read from a live tool is gone the moment it is recomputed. A monthly file you keep can be cited, re-run and compared with itself years later.
- Do the numbers convert between tools?
- No. Each is computed from its own index with its own method, and each is on its own scale even when two of them happen to run from 0 to 100. Compare a domain with other domains inside one dataset, never a number from one tool with a number from another.
Want to try ours before you read any further?
Checking a list of up to 10,000 domains is free and needs no account. The free sample file is 10,000 domains drawn at random from a release, a fair slice rather than our best rows, so you can put our numbers next to whatever you already work with.
CheckDomainRating.com is an independent data provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any other company. All third-party names and marks belong to their respective owners.