798.5 billion backlinks indexed

Semrush API alternative for link-profile benchmarks

If your question is how many domains link to you compared with ten rivals, you need a ruler, not a suite. Our index holds 2,774,625,913 domain-to-domain links, and the lookups that size a profile are free.

Get $100 free Open the benchmark recipe

Free domain, overview, stats and suggest calls, no key
One compare call sets up to 20 domains side by side for 1 credit
Dates and sample sizes written next to every figure

GET /api.php?action=domainJSON

$ curl "https://linkbuildingstat.com/api.php?action=overview&q=yourdomain.com&key=sk_live_..."

Who it is for

When a Semrush API alternative is really a measurement problem

Most link-building numbers fail at the first question. How big was the sample? A screenshot of one domain tells you nothing about whether 140 referring domains is high, low or ordinary for your niche.

What helps is a small, repeatable measurement: your domain and a handful of rivals, pulled on the same day from the same index, with the date written down. That is the job this site is built around, and it is why a Semrush API alternative priced per call suits it better than a seat licence you open twice a month.

Everything here comes from our own crawler and our own link index. It refreshes roughly once a month, so a link won last week may be missing, and a gap between two lookups can be a refresh rather than a real change.

We do not track keywords or rankings. For those, Semrush or Ahrefs remain the fuller products, and the cost page for Ahrefs users says where the line sits.

Your first benchmark is two lines

The first call is free and needs no key. The second is one credit, which is $0.0001, and sets several domains next to each other.

bash

# free: size of one profile
curl "https://linkbuildingstat.com/api.php?action=overview&q=yourdomain.com"

# 1 credit: you and rivals side by side (up to 20 domains)
curl "https://linkbuildingstat.com/api.php?action=compare&q=yourdomain.com,rival-a.com,rival-b.com&key=sk_live_..."

Compare

Which stat answers which question

Action names and prices from the API reference. One credit is $0.0001.
Question you are asking	Action	Cost	What to log
How big is my profile?	overview	Free	DR, referring domains, date
Am I above or below my rivals?	compare	1 credit	One row per domain, same day
Who is behind the number?	refdomains	2 credits	Top 100 by size, read by eye
Is the anchor mix lopsided?	anchors	2 credits	Share of the top three anchors
What does the shape of my niche look like?	dr_distribution	1 credit	Bucket counts, not averages

Checklist

Before you quote a link statistic to anyone

The lookup date sits beside the number, because the index moves about monthly
Your sample has a size you can state, such as 10 rivals chosen before you looked
You compared like with like: one index, one action, one day
Medians were used where a few giants could drag an average
You wrote down what the figure cannot show, such as rankings or traffic

domains in our link graph: 181,132,097
domain-to-domain links: 2.77 billion
domains per compare call, 1 credit: 20
free credit at sign-up, no card: $100

How it works

A benchmark in four passes

Fix the sample first

Write down your domain and up to ten rivals before you open any data. Choosing afterwards is how a flattering comparison happens.

Run compare once

One call, same day, same index. Paste the rows into a sheet with the date in the first column.

Read the middle, not the top

Look at the median rival and your distance from it. The recipe page shows the arithmetic with an invented set of numbers.

Repeat in a month

The index refreshes about monthly, so the next fair reading is a month away. Two points make a trend only when the gap is bigger than the noise.

Where the numbers stop

Link data at a low per-call price, not a full suite

We are good at who links to whom and how much of it exists. We are not a keyword database, a rank tracker or a daily-fresh crawler, and Ahrefs or Semrush do those jobs better.

DR here is our own 0-100 log-scale metric, round(100 x log(ref_domains+1) / log(2x10^7))
It is not Ahrefs DR or Moz DA, so never mix them in one table
A missing link in our index is not proof that Google ignores it

FAQ

Questions we hear from people who count things

What is a good Semrush API alternative if I only need backlink data?

One that sells link data per call. Ours is prepaid at $0.0001 per credit, from $0.10 per 1,000 calls, with no subscription and $100 free at sign-up. It covers referring domains, anchors, top pages and DR, not keywords or rank tracking.

How many rivals make a fair benchmark?

Eight to ten is a workable minimum. Fewer than five, and a single odd rival decides the median. Choose them before you look at the data, and keep the same set next month so the two readings can be compared honestly.

Is your Domain Rating the same as Ahrefs DR?

No. It is our own metric, round(100 x log(ref_domains+1) / log(2x10^7)), so it depends only on referring domains and sits on a log scale. Compare it with itself over time, never with another vendor's score.

How fresh is the data?

The index refreshes roughly once a month. A link from last week may not show yet, and a drop between two lookups can be a refresh effect. We suggest one reading per month and the date written beside it.

Can I run it without paying?

Yes. The domain, overview, stats and suggest actions are free and need no key. Sign-up gives $100 of credit, which is 1,000,000 credits, with Google sign-in and no card. Top-ups later are in USDT (TRC-20).

Does it replace a full SEO suite?

No. It answers link questions at a low price per call. If you need keyword research, rank tracking or a daily-fresh crawl, keep Ahrefs or Semrush for that and use this beside them as the cheap benchmark layer.