Link building tools · Job 06 · Updated October 2026

Backlink monitoring tools: what each checks and costs

A backlink monitor re-opens every page that links to you and tells you when the link disappears, turns nofollow or the page goes away. Search Console and Ahrefs Free show your links for free but don't alert you. Dedicated monitors cost $0 to $25 a month for 50 to 2,500 links. What separates them is how often they look: daily, weekly, or once a month. Prices checked on each vendor's site on October 18, 2026.

How often each monitor re-opens a linking page

Every day
- Linkody
- LinkChecker Pro
- Swappsy
- monitorlinks.io
Every week
- SiteGuru
- Backlink Monitor
Every 2 weeks
- BuzzStream
Every 30 days
- AgencyAnalytics
- Backlink Monitor (monthly)

Days between checks, from 1 to 30, as each vendor states it. Suites (Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking) report what their own crawler last saw instead of re-opening your list.

Spec sheet

Which backlink monitoring tools are worth it?

Entry plan, billed monthly unless marked. “Not stated” means the vendor's own pages don't say.

Tool	Entry price	Links on that plan	Re-checks	Alerts
Google Search Console	Free	A sample; exports up to 100,000	Not stated	None
Ahrefs Free	Free	1,000 shown at once	Ahrefs' crawl	Alerts from Lite ($129/mo)
Swappsy	Free; $4.99/mo	50 free; 2,000 paid	Daily	Email digest or instant
monitorlinks.io	Free in beta	1,000 in beta	Daily	Email, Slack, webhook
Backlink Monitor	$15/mo	2,500	Weekly or monthly	Email
Linkody	€13.90/mo	500	Daily	Email, daily or weekly
LinkChecker Pro	$25/mo	400	Daily; index every 5 days	Alerts and reports
BacklinkManager.io	$39/mo (yearly)	200 (50 free)	Not stated	In-app or email
SiteGuru	$49/mo	Not stated	Weekly	Email
AgencyAnalytics	$25 per client	Not stated	Every 30 days	In-app
BuzzStream	$49/mo	1,000	Every two weeks	Notification
Pitchbox	$300/mo	1,000	Not stated	In the app
Moz Pro	$99/mo (Standard)	1 list of 100	Not stated	Not stated
SE Ranking	$129/mo	Not stated	“On a regular basis”	Email

What to catch

What should a backlink monitor check?

Seven changes, and the tools that say on their own site that they catch each one.

Change	Why it matters	Tools that state they detect it
Link removed	The page was edited and your link is gone.	Every monitor here
Turned nofollow, sponsored or ugc	The link stays, but now asks Google not to count it as a ranking vote.	Linkody, LinkChecker Pro, Swappsy, monitorlinks.io, Backlink Monitor, BacklinkManager.io, SiteGuru, BuzzStream
Anchor text changed	Someone rewrote the sentence around your link.	Linkody, LinkChecker Pro, Swappsy, monitorlinks.io, Backlink Monitor, SiteGuru, BuzzStream
Page gone or redirected	A 404, 410 or redirect takes the whole page, and your link, with it.	Linkody, LinkChecker Pro, Swappsy, monitorlinks.io, BacklinkManager.io, AgencyAnalytics
Noindexed or dropped from Google	If Google drops the page, it no longer sees your link there.	Linkody (index every 14 days), LinkChecker Pro (every 5 days), Swappsy, Backlink Monitor, BacklinkManager.io
Blocked by robots.txt	Crawlers can no longer read the page.	Backlink Monitor
Your own page moved	The link still points to a URL on your site that no longer works.	Linkody (“landing page no longer exists”)

The monitors

Every monitor, with its catch

Part LBT-06-01

Google Search Console

FreeFor sites you verify.

What it does: The Links report lists your top linking sites, most-linked pages and anchor text from Google's own data, and exports up to 100,000 recently discovered links.
Free option: Free.
Fits: Every site owner, as the baseline list of who links to you, and the file to feed a real monitor.
Skip if: You need alerts or nofollow status: the report is a sample, doesn't say which links are nofollow, and may include links that were removed since.

Part LBT-06-02

Ahrefs Free

Changed in 2026

FreeFor sites you verify. New and lost link alerts are listed from the Lite plan ($129/mo).

What it does: Ahrefs' backlink data for your own verified sites (1,000 backlinks visible at once) plus Site Audit.
Free option: Free, no card, no expiry.
Fits: Site owners who want a fuller second view of their own links at no cost.
Skip if: You want an alert the day a link disappears.
What changed: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is now called Ahrefs Free; same account.

Part LBT-06-03

Backlink Monitor

$15/moStarter: 2,500 links, 20 domains; $150 a year. Pro $49 for 11,000 links.

What it does: Checks that each linking page still links to you, with rel tag, anchor text, robots.txt and Google index status, on a weekly or monthly schedule, and emails you when a link goes missing. Lists can be shared with clients.
Free option: 20 backlinks crawled free.
Fits: Agencies and freelancers proving placements to clients on a small budget.
Skip if: You need daily checks. Not to be confused with SEOptimer's Monitor Backlinks.

Part LBT-06-04

Linkody

€13.90/moWebmaster: 2 sites, 500 links, shown in euros. €10.50/mo billed yearly. Advanced €22.90 (2,000 links), Pro €45.90 (5,000).

What it does: Re-checks every link about every 24 hours for removal, wrong rel (nofollow, sponsored, ugc), wrong anchor, noindex and errors, finds new links for you and competitors weekly, and emails daily or weekly reports.
Free option: 30-day trial, no card.
Fits: Freelancers and agencies watching links they built or paid for.
Skip if: You want Slack alerts (email only), or your outreach tool already checks your links.

Part LBT-06-05

LinkChecker Pro

$25/moLite: 400 links, 1 user. $20.80/mo billed yearly. Standard $50 (1,000 links, 5 users).

What it does: Checks links daily and Google's index every 5 days, and flags deleted links, nofollow changes, index drops, redirects and competitor links inserted into your article.
Free option: Free Chrome extension; refund within 7 days of subscribing.
Fits: Link builders and agencies tracking bought or built links at volume, with several people.
Skip if: You watch a few dozen links, or want a free trial first.

Part LBT-06-06

BacklinkManager.io

$39/moStarter, billed yearly: 200 links, 3 users. Growth $99 (1,000 links), Scale $249 (5,000).

What it does: Watches for removed links, nofollow, 404s and index status, rendering JavaScript pages when a plain fetch can't see the link, and tracks partnerships, targets and client dashboards around them.
Free option: Monitor 50 links free, no card.
Fits: Teams juggling many vendor deals or partnerships who want a CRM, not only alerts.
Skip if: You only need monitoring: per link it's the priciest dedicated tool here.

Part LBT-06-07

Swappsy monitor

Free50 links free. $4.99/mo ($49.99 a year) for 2,000 links, $29.99/mo for 10,000.

What it does: Opens every linking page once a day (new links within the hour) and flags removed links, 404 or 410 pages, redirects, rel changes either way, anchor changes and noindex. Imports from CSV, Google Sheets, Ahrefs, Semrush and Search Console exports.
Free option: Free plan: 50 links, no card.
Fits: Anyone who wants daily checks of a few hundred to 2,000 links for almost nothing.
Skip if: You'd rather not have a link-exchange marketplace in your stack: monitoring is a side product of Swappsy's exchange.

Part LBT-06-08

SiteGuru

$49/moSmall: 5 websites, unlimited users. $39/mo billed yearly. Medium $99, Large $199.

What it does: An SEO audit tool that also checks your backlinks weekly and emails you when one disappears, changes, turns nofollow or has a different anchor than you expected.
Free option: 6-week trial, no card, then a free plan with the free features.
Fits: Site owners and small agencies who want site audits and a watch on their best links in one tool.
Skip if: You need daily checks or bulk imports; no backlink limit per plan is published.

Part LBT-06-09

AgencyAnalytics

$25/client/moBilled monthly; $20 per client billed yearly. Volume pricing from 25 clients.

What it does: A client-reporting platform: its Backlink Manager re-checks links you add by hand every 30 days and records why one was lost; its Majestic feed shows new and lost referring domains daily.
Free option: 14-day trial, no card; 30-day money-back.
Fits: Agencies already reporting to clients in AgencyAnalytics.
Skip if: You need to watch a list of placements closely: no bulk import, and a 30-day refresh.

Part LBT-06-10

monitorlinks.io

Free in betaPrivate beta with a waitlist; paid plans will “start at 500 links/month”, price not published.

What it does: Checks every link every 24 hours for removal, status codes, redirects, rel swaps and anchor edits, with email, Slack or webhook alerts and imports from Ahrefs, Semrush, Majestic and Search Console.
Free option: Up to 1,000 links free during the beta.
Fits: Early adopters who want daily checks and Slack alerts at no cost for now.
Skip if: You need a public price and a track record today.

How do you check your backlinks for free?

Search Console. Open Links, then “Top linking sites”. Export “Latest links” to get the most recently discovered linking pages (up to 100,000 rows).
Ahrefs Free. Verify the same site for a second, fuller list from Ahrefs' own crawler, 1,000 backlinks at a time.
Pick the links that matter. The ones you earned or paid for, and the strongest pages linking to you. That's usually dozens, not thousands.
Put them in a free monitor. Swappsy and BacklinkManager.io watch 50 links free, monitorlinks.io up to 1,000 during its beta. Several accept the Search Console export as is.

Reclaim

What should you do when a backlink disappears?

Check it yourself. Open the page logged out. Monitors can misread pages behind bot protection or rendered with JavaScript.
Find out what changed. A rewrite, a redesign, a new owner, or your own URL moved. If your page moved, redirect it and the link works again.
Write to the person who added it. Short, friendly, with the exact URL and no assumption that it was removed on purpose.
Log the answer. Mark the link lost or restored so nobody pitches the same editor twice.

Template: asking for a lost link back

Subject: The link to [your page] in "[their article]"

Hi [first name],

Thanks again for including [your page] in "[their article]". I noticed the link is no longer on the page since the update. If that was on purpose, no problem at all. If not, here's the URL again: [your URL]

Either way, thanks for the mention.

[Your name]

FAQ

Questions about backlink monitoring

How do I check my backlinks?

For free: open the Links report in Google Search Console (top linking sites, most-linked pages, anchor text) and verify your site in Ahrefs Free for a second view. To know when a specific link changes, put the linking pages into a monitor such as Swappsy (50 links free), Backlink Monitor ($15/mo for 2,500) or Linkody (€13.90/mo for 500, re-checked daily).

Does Google Search Console show all my backlinks?

No. Google's help page says the Links report shows “a sample of internal and external links”, limits tables to 1,000 rows, doesn't say which links are nofollow, and may include links that have since been removed (Google).

How often should backlinks be checked?

Daily for links you paid for or worked hardest to win, so you can ask for them back while the editor remembers you; weekly is enough for the rest. Linkody, LinkChecker Pro, Swappsy and monitorlinks.io check daily; SiteGuru and Backlink Monitor weekly; BuzzStream every two weeks; AgencyAnalytics every 30 days.

What is the best free backlink monitor?

For your whole profile, Search Console plus Ahrefs Free. For alerts on specific links, Swappsy (50 links free, checked daily), BacklinkManager.io (50 links free) or monitorlinks.io while its beta is free (up to 1,000 links).

Can I monitor my competitors' new backlinks?

Yes, with an index-based tool: Ahrefs Alerts (new and lost backlinks for any domain, from Lite at $129/mo), Linkody (weekly new-link emails for competitors you add) or Majestic's email alerts on Pro ($99.99/mo).

What's the difference between a backlink checker and a backlink monitor?

A checker searches an index for links to a site, yours or a competitor's. A monitor re-opens the specific pages that link to you on a schedule and tells you when something on them changes. Suites like Ahrefs and Semrush do the first; Linkody, LinkChecker Pro and Swappsy do the second.

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