Why would you want to estimate the traffic on a website?
- You want to know how much traffic a type of content gets on a website.
- You want to compare your content with your competitor.
- You want to estimate the ad revenue of your competitor.
- You are bored.
We have tested as many website estimators as we could to give you a list of ten website traffic estimators. We judged each service for the following criteria out of 10 points.
- The types of data do you get
- The time range of data
- The accuracy of that data
- The cost
- The ease of use
We will also be looking at the extra features apart from traffic estimation but not count them in the score.
This list starts with some of the services where you can get something for free and then move to services that are completely behind pay-walls.
1. SE Ranking
Types of Data
SE Ranking provides two kinds of traffic. Organic traffic and Paid Traffic. Organic traffic is estimated from how many keywords the website has and how they are ranked on different search engines. Paid traffic is an estimation of the results of the Pay per Click campaigns of the website.
The traffic can be divided among pages, subdomains, keywords, and backlinks.
Our Score 8/10.
SE Ranking also calculates two rankings called Domain Trust and Page Trust. Domain Trust represents the quality and quantity of backlinks originated from the domain. Page Trust represents the quality and quantity of backlinks coming into the pages on your website.
Lastly, SE Ranking automatically identifies the competitors of the website through common keywords.
Time Range of Data
SE Ranking provides monthly historical data available from Sep 2016.
Our Score 8/10.
Accuracy
We will call their organic estimate a reliable theoretical estimate. SE Ranking is completely transparent about how it estimates the traffic. It only considers how the website’s keywords rank on different search engines. There is no data about traffic through backlinks, social media shares, and other sources.
In our test, the organic estimate was significantly less than the actual traffic because of the nature of our website which relied more on backlinks and less on organic traffic through keywords.
Our Score 7/10.
The Cost
Everything mentioned above you can access for free with a trial. This trial does not require any credit card info.
But you only get to see 10 keywords, 10 backlinks, and other similar limitations. Full access is at $31/month. Other unlocked tools cover traffic distribution geographically, forecasts, and comparison with more competitors in the market.
Our Score 7/10
Ease of Use
The trial is easy to set up. All you have to do is to register with an email and you are on your way. The interface is responsive, suited for desktop browsers.
Our Score A solid 9/10.
Total Score
Our Score
38/50
2. Similar Web
Types of Data
In
Similar Web, you can get the rank of the website by country, by category, and the global rank. Second, you get a traffic overview.
You can see where the traffic originates. It will tell you the role of social media referrals, organic keywords, and paid traffic.
Our Score 9/10.
As extra, you will find information about ad revenues on the website in insights about the pay-per-click campaigns the website will be running for their marketing efforts.
A big plus is that, if you are looking at a competitors’ website, there is a separate category for what their audience is interested in. That includes how do different tags, keywords, and pages compare to each other, and what are the different bounce rates. This information alone can be worth the price.
Time Range of Data
For free, you will get the historical data for three months since the focus is on the immediate changes from last month. With a complete paid plan, you get three years of historical data.
Our Score 6/10.
Accuracy of Data
SimilarWeb can use
Google Analytics data for the website in question if it is registered on SimilarWeb. So, potentially, it can be completely accurate. Even if not registered, we found that their estimates were better than SE Ranking.
Our Score A good 9/10.
The Cost
The free resources are good enough for most small clients and hobbyists. But if you are looking to get more detailed data, analyzing a lot of different metrics on the website, finding the geographical distribution of the traffic, and keyword analysis, you need to pay.
Sadly there is no transparency in price. You have to talk to a contact person and get a quote which is a significant negative point. We simply cannot tell you what price you will be offered.
Our Score 5/10.
Ease of Use
Usability is slightly worse than SE Ranking. The website does not use screen space the most efficiently. Having to talk to a person for full access is a hindrance.
Our Score 5/10.
Total Score
Our Score
34/50
3. SiteWorth Traffic
Types of Data
SiteWorth calculates a daily estimate of unique visitors and unique page views. It then multiples it to present monthly and yearly estimations. But it is only one estimation.
Our Score a Mediocre 3/10.
SiteWorth does provide an estimate for the ad revenue and site worth.
Time Range of Data
There is no historical data at all. SiteWorth does not show how this daily estimate has changed. However, SiteWorth does show previous Alexa ranks at 3 months and 1 month ago.
Our Score 2/10.
Accuracy of Data
We will call the accuracy questionable at best. The website simply finds the Alexa Rank of the website in question and uses it to estimate the traffic.
Also, SiteWorth shows ad revenue even if the website in question does not even have ads. In our test, the objective figure was poor. But generally, you can use this figure to compare any competitors.
Our Score 3/10.
The Cost
Completely free. No registration or email set up required either.
Our Score 10/10.
Ease of Use
All the information is obtained in 3 clicks. The results may be poor, they are easy to obtain, understand, and read.
Our Score 8/10.
Total Score
Our Score
26/50
4. StatShow
Types of Data
Similar to SiteWorth,
StatShow provides an estimate of daily page views, visitors, and ad revenue.
Our Score 4/10.
It also works by estimating Alexa rank, so it also provides the Alexa rank. As extra, it also gives the Google page rank and the Quantcast Rank. StatShow also provides technical information about the domain such as its age and IP address.
It also lists all the indexed pages and backlinks it can find, but in our test, it was not able to find enough backlinks.
Time Range of Data
Same as SiteWorth, the data is only a current daily estimate with no historical data.
Our Score 1/10.
Accuracy of Data
The accuracy is poor. In our test case, it overshot the mark even above SiteWorth’s estimate. So take the estimation with a grain of salt and only use it to compare websites to each other.
Our Score 2/10.
The Cost
This is also completely free, no registration required either.
Our Score 10/10.
Ease of Use
The website does its job and its usability is the same as SiteWorth. The design, however, is not the best, but that is just nitpicking.
Our Score 7/10.
Total Score
Our Score
24/50
5. Website Outlook
Types of Data
Website Outlook provides an estimate of daily page views when it comes to traffic. This estimate is calculated from the Alexa Rank as well.
Separately, it also provides organic traffic and paid traffic data from another service known as SEM Rush which we will find at no. 8 in the list.
Our Score 6/10.
You will also get supplementary information including Alexa Rank, the number of backlinks, the estimated site worth, a page authority, a domain authority, and Moz Rank.
Time Range of Data
There is no historical data similar to the previous two items in the list.
Our Score 1/10.
Accuracy of Data
The daily estimate based on Alexa rank should also not be trusted to be exact. It is only a rough figure that overshot our test case significantly. However, the SEM Rush metrics were trustable.
Our Score 4/10.
The Cost
Similar to SiteWorth and StatShow, it is completely free and requires no registration.
Our Score 10/10.
Ease of Use
The service is easy and simple to use. Since it also includes SEM Rush data for the same level of effort required as SiteWorth and StatShow, it gets some bonus points here.
Our Score 7/10.
Total Score
Our Score
28/50
6. Ninja Report Traffic Estimator
Types of Data
Ninja Reports is an overall tool to improve
SEO and learn about the competition. For free, it only gives a few keywords and backlinks, finds any broken links, and shows you how the content is divided into tags.
Only the paid version provides traffic data. With that, you can get the estimated traffic from search engines, backlinks, and social media. The traffic data is divided by country and type of device used. Also, a Month-over-Month growth is presented as well.
One limit is that this tool requires a website to have over 5000 monthly visitors to be included in its analysis.
Our Score 7/10.
Time Range of Data
Only 6 months of historical data can be found here. Not 3 years as available in some previous entries. But 6 months is long enough for most comparisons.
Our Score 7/10.
Accuracy of Data
The accuracy is good and compares to SE Ranking. In our test, the estimate was close enough to be termed reliable.
Our Score 7/10.
The Cost
At $19 per month, this is significantly cheaper than SE Ranking and the next entries. So, for smaller groups of people, this might be the best option budget-wise.
Our Score 8/10.
Ease of Use
True to its name, this tool generates everything in reports. These reports are easily printable and movable to other devices. These reports are automatically generated and stored. Even if you close a session, previous reports will be found exactly as you left them.
Our Score 9/10.
Total Score
Our Score
38/50
7. Ahrefs Estimator
Types of Data
Similar to Ninja Reports,
Ahrefs is an All-in-one SEO toolset and traffic estimation is only one part of it. But, it can provide organic traffic research. This research is based on how the keywords are ranked by different search engines.
For paid traffic, Ahrefs can point out where it is coming from. It also provides information about traffic from backlinks as well as their quality.
Our Score 10/10.
Time Range of Data
Where available, it can provide weekly data as far back as July 2015.
Our Score 10/10.
Accuracy of Data
In terms of accuracy, we found it to be slightly better than Ninja Report and SE ranking.
Our Score A good 8/10.
The Cost
Ahrefs gives nothing for free. It has a trial period of 7 days at 7$ which expands to $99 per month. A lack of free trial is a damper, but 7$ is affordable to test all the features.
Our Score 7/10.
Ease of Use
Ahrefs offers so much in its program that is so much more than analyzing your competitors’ website. Hence, if you are only looking for traffic estimates in bulk, it feels a little bogged down. But if you are using the whole package, it gets easier and more familiar.
Our Score 7/10.
Total Score
Our Score
42/50
8. SEMRush
Types of Data
For free,
SEM Rush provides monthly visits, pages per visit, average visit durations, and bounce rate. Everything else is behind a paid plan.
The paid plan provides information about organic traffic, paid traffic, and backlink traffic. The traffic is distributed over keywords, location, pages, and subdomains. It also includes a bulk analysis allowing you to compare traffic results for up to 200 domains in one report.
Our Score 10/10.
Time Range of Data
The historical data is available for the last two years monthly.
Our Score 7/10.
Accuracy of Data
This was as accurate as we could hope for in our tests.
Our Score 9/10.
The Cost
SEM Rush offers a free trial for 7 days which requires credit card information. After that, $119 per month gets you the detailed data mentioned above minus the historical data. The historical data comes with SEM Rush Trends which makes the total price $319 per month.
For most of you, this will be a hard pass if you are only looking for traffic data.
Our Score 2/10.
Ease of Use
SEM Rush is an expert-level tool. It gives even more features and depth than Ahrefs. Hence, it involves a learning curve when it comes to beginners, but you learn fast when paying $319 per month.
Our Score 5/10.
Total Score
Our Score
33/50
9. SERPed
Types of Data
SERPed is also an all-encompassing SEO Tool Suite. Its traffic estimators provide information from keyword research indirectly and rank tracking. Keywords and rank are tracked per search engines and geographically.
Our Score 7/10.
SERPed is not designed to study your competitors, but to focus on finding improvements for your website. If the plan is purchased, SERPed gives a lot of insights about designing content for your website.
Time Range of Data
Historical data stretches up to 3 years monthly.
Our Score 7/10.
Accuracy of Data
Compared to SEM Rush and Ahrefs, SERPed falls behind as it makes its traffic estimations indirectly from keywords, and also does not prioritize this feature.
Our Score 6/10.
The Cost
Sadly, there is simply no trial. It is a plain $79 per month at the small plan possible from day 1. This makes other options easier as they offer some cheaper trial periods.
Our Score 6/10.
Ease of Use
SERPed scores well in its design and usability by a lot.
Our Score A solid 10/10.
Total Score
Our Score
36/50
10. SERPStat
Types of Data
SERPStat divides its traffic data into two ways.
SEO research uses organic keywords to estimate search traffic. PPC research uses paid keywords to estimate paid traffic.
The traffic can be distributed between pages, subdomains, and individual keywords to give you a sense of which keywords are working better than others.
There is also a batch analysis allowing up to 100 domains to be included in a report at a time.
Our Score 8/10.
Time Range of Data
SERPStat does not provide historical data of the estimated traffic as it only uses the current keywords to estimates the current month’s traffic. However, it does show monthly change or growth for most of its metrics. Hence the relevant data is available.
Our Score 6/10.
Accuracy of Data
The accuracy is the same as SE Ranking.
Our Score A solid 7/10.
The Cost
For a free trial, SERPStat gives you access to 10 keywords, 10 backlinks, and some other superfluous data which is mostly useless. Complete traffic data and other features are behind a $69 paywall.
Our Score 5/10.
Ease of Use
SERPStat is also a tool designed for experts. Hence its design has the same problem with a learning curve as SEM Rush.
Our Score 5/10.
Total Score
Our Score
31/50
Conclusion
So which tool should you choose? Well, we don’t have a direct recommendation. Each tool offers something different at its own price. Your needs are your own. Channel your inner Indiana Jones and choose wisely!
