Ahrefs is one of the world’s most respected SEO and digital marketing tool providers, known for its backlink analysis and keyword research capabilities. Over the past decade, it has grown from a small startup to a globally recognized platform used by businesses large and small. From powering SEO teams at agencies to helping Fortune 500 companies monitor organic performance, Ahrefs’ workforce trends reflect the company’s strategic scaling.
Below, we explore how many people work at Ahrefs, how that workforce has evolved, and what it looks like today. Dive in to understand the full picture of Ahrefs’ employee landscape.
Editor’s Choice
- 171 total employees across roles and functions reported recently.
- Ahrefs’ engineering team accounts for roughly 25 engineers (≈15% of the workforce).
- Marketing comprises around 19 employees (≈11% of the total).
- Ahrefs reported $149.1 million in annual revenue in 2024.
- The company operates in 26–27 global locations.
- Team size grew significantly over recent years (≈58% increase over 3 years).
- Ahrefs remains fully bootstrapped with no external funding.
- Rated 4.7/5 on Capterra from hundreds of reviews.
- Trusted by 44% of Fortune 500 marketing teams.
Recent Developments
- Ahrefs introduced new AI‑assisted tools like AI Content Helper and Content Grader in 2024–2025.
- The platform enhanced Site Audit and automation reporting capabilities.
- Indexed pages grew to 456.5 billion by March 2025, up 13% from early 2025.
- External backlink tracking jumped to 35 trillion by 2025.
- The keyword database expanded to 28.7 billion keywords, up 38% year‑over‑year.
- Infrastructure now includes 3,600 servers and hundreds of thousands of CPU cores to power data analysis.
- AhrefsBot ranks highly among web crawlers for activity rate.
- The toolset added support for 13+ languages, broadening global reach.
Employee Count Overview at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs has been reported to employ around 171 people in total.
- LinkedIn data suggests the company size falls between 51–200 employees.
- Some business profiling sites estimate about 150 employees.
- Discrepancies likely arise from different reporting periods and counting methods.
- Team size increased from 89 in 2022 to 171 by 2025, reflecting just under 2× growth (92%) over three years.
- Engineering, marketing, product, and support functions make up the core segments.
- Roles span technical, creative, and operational domains across the company.
- Ahrefs maintains a distributed team model rather than a large centralized office.
Employee Count Over Time at Ahrefs
- 2022: 89 employees recorded.
- 2023: The estimated workforce was climbing toward triple digits.
- 2024: Industry sources noted 150 employees.
- 2025: 141 employees, per recent reporting.
- Recent estimate: 171 employees showing continued growth.
- Overall, Ahrefs saw 58% net increase in employees over three years.
- A stable workforce increases support for expanding product features and data indexing.
- Workforce growth correlates with rising product complexity and customer demand.

Total Number of Employees at Ahrefs
- 171 employees is the most recent detailed total count available.
- Earlier estimates from sites like LinkedIn confirm the workforce is within 51–200 people.
- Multiple sources list 150 employees as a current snapshot.
- Growth from 89 employees in 2022 indicates a rapid scaling trend.
- These figures place Ahrefs as a mid‑sized SaaS company by workforce.
- Headcount reflects a lean but effective team supporting a broad SEO infrastructure.
- Despite heavy data processing and global product use, Ahrefs keeps teams compact.
- Hiring remains focused on high‑impact roles rather than volume.
Workforce Growth Rate at Ahrefs
- From 89 to 141 employees (2022–2025) implies about 58% growth over three years.
- Year‑over‑year increases reflect strategic investments in engineering and product teams.
- Growth aligns with rising annual revenue ($149M), indicating scalable operations.
- Hiring pace remains moderate compared to companies of similar size in SaaS.
- Growth appears driven by product expansion rather than external funding.
- Workforce increases support for innovations in AI‑assisted SEO tools.
- Team growth continues even as Ahrefs maintains its bootstrapped identity.
- Expansion of the global user base likely necessitates broader cross‑functional roles.
Revenue per Employee Statistics at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs generated $149.1 M in revenue in 2024 with 171 employees, implying roughly $872,000 per employee.
- This revenue per head greatly exceeds many SaaS benchmarks ($200 K–$400 K).
- Increased productivity per employee reflects high software scalability and strong tools adoption.
- Annual revenue grew from $100 M in 2023 to $149.1 M in 2024, suggesting rising value output per person.
- Teams remain lean even as data indexing and feature sets expand.
- Bootstrap model means profits flow into operations and sustained product investment rather than dilution.
- Global demand for SEO tools boosts monetization without large sales teams.
- Revenue per employee can vary by function, with engineering teams enabling high back‑end value creation.
- Overall, Ahrefs demonstrates efficiency in converting employee output to revenue growth.

Headcount Before and After Major Growth Milestones at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs expanded from 89 employees in 2022 to 150–171 by 2025, reflecting marked scaling.
- Jumping from 89 to 150+ employees equates to an estimated 68% increase in total headcount over three years.
- As of late 2025, 171 total employees are reported across functions.
- Internal metrics show recruitment tied to product releases and AI feature development in 2024–25.
- Milestone hiring, typically aligned with major indexing and AI tool launches, signals emphasis on engineering-led growth.
- Leadership expands selectively, with few high-impact hires rather than broad headcount spikes.
- Startup‑era headcount remained small (<100) through the mid‑2010s.
- Post‑2020 growth shows broader team functions beyond engineering into remote support and product management.
- Growth periods often occurred before revenue peaks, aligning workforce expansion with rising demand.
AI Tools vs Google Search Results: Ranking Overlap Analysis (Ahrefs Research)
- Perplexity records the highest overlap with Google Top 10 rankings at 28.6%, while 7.3% of its sources appear beyond the Top 10, and a substantial 64.1% do not rank on Google at all.
- ChatGPT (in-text citations) aligns with Google Top 10 results only 8.0% of the time, with 8.8% ranking beyond the Top 10, and a dominant 83.2% of cited sources not ranking on Google.
- ChatGPT (references) shows a comparable pattern, with just 6.1% of sources in the Top 10, 9.2% appearing beyond Top 10, and a high 84.7% of references not ranking on Google.
- Gemini matches Google Top 10 results in 8.6% of cases, places 6.5% of sources beyond the Top 10, and sees 84.9% of its sources not ranking on Google.
- Copilot demonstrates the lowest ranking overlap, with only 8.2% of sources in the Google Top 10 and a notably high 86.7% of sources not ranked on Google.

Full-Time vs Part-Time and Contract Employees at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs employs 171 full-time employees as its core workforce in 2025.
- 85% of Ahrefs teammates work in full-time remote roles across 27 global locations.
- Engineering comprises 15% (25 employees) and marketing 11% (19 employees) of the full-time team.
- Open roles, typically 2-3 at any time, like Product Designer, indicate full-time positions.
- Ahrefs’ bootstrapped model favors direct full-time hires over extended contractors for institutional knowledge.
- Over 50% of small SaaS businesses like Ahrefs use contractors ad hoc for specialized tasks.
- No public part-time data suggests the majority is full-time, with contractors for projects only.
- 17% of businesses plan to hire more contract workers, but Ahrefs prioritizes lean full-time teams.
- Remote flexibility enables full-time contributions resembling occasional contractor engagements.
Remote vs On-Site Employees at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs champions a fully remote work culture, with globally distributed teammates.
- Official headquarters exist in Singapore, but most employees work remotely.
- Team spread across 26–27 global locations suggests remote presence.
- Remote roles span engineering, marketing, product, and support functions.
- Singapore HQ anchors legal and leadership functions, but not necessarily a day‑to‑day presence for most employees.
- Distributed teams help operate across time zones, supporting global users.
- No substantial on‑site workforce reported outside Singapore.
- Remote work is core to hiring strategy, broadening talent pool.
- On‑site collaboration likely occurs periodically for strategic planning.
Global Office Locations and Employee Distribution at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs’ headquarters is located in Singapore at Marina One East Tower, serving as the primary physical office.
- 155 teammates span 26 locations worldwide, enabling 24/7 customer support.
- The company lists 151 teammates across 27 locations as of 2025.
- Total full-time employees reached 171 in 2025, up 58.43% from 89 in 2022.
- The engineering team comprises 25 employees (15% of the total workforce).
- The marketing team includes 19 employees (11% of the total staff).
- A remote workforce distributed across Europe, America, and Asia clusters.
- Global presence spans 6 continents with employees from 15+ nationalities.
- 27 locations reflect scaling with $149.1 million revenue in 2024.
- Lean structure yields a high revenue-per-employee ratio in the SaaS industry.
Department-Wise Employee Breakdown at Ahrefs
Ahrefs employs a total of 171 full-time employees across all departments.
- The engineering department comprises 25 engineers, representing 15% of the total staff.
- The marketing team includes 19 employees, accounting for 11% of the workforce.
- Ahrefs operates with 151 teammates distributed across 27 global locations.
- Employee count grew by 58.43% from 89 in 2022 to the current levels.
- Leadership features key roles like CEO, CTO, and CMO, driving strategy.
- Ahrefs maintains a lean, flat structure with no dedicated sales team.
- In December 2024, employees received bonuses equal to 43% of their year-to-date salary.
- Operations & HR integrate recruiting and onboarding via team leads, keeping it minimal.
- Cross-functional roles enable multi-skilled staff to support small, specialized teams.

Engineering and Product Team Size at Ahrefs
- The engineering team comprises approximately 25 developers and technical staff.
- This accounts for roughly 15% of the total workforce.
- Product roles include product managers, UX designers, and often overlap with engineering.
- The engineering team supports major infrastructure like crawling, indexing, and AI tools.
- Technical hires remain selective and skilled to optimize data operations.
- Core engineers are likely distributed across remote locations.
- Product team growth matches new feature development demand.
- Engineering and product combined represent the largest centralized technical unit.
Marketing and Sales Team Size at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs’ marketing team is reported to be 19 employees, making up about 11% of the total workforce.
- This team supports campaigns, content marketing, social media, and product outreach.
- There’s no large traditional sales force, as Ahrefs relies heavily on inbound and self‑serve channels.
- Ahrefs’ digital marketing reach helps drive adoption among startups and agencies.
- Company careers pages show roles like product marketer and events marketer, reflecting diverse marketing functions.
- SEO and content teams support lead generation with high‑quality insights and educational content.
- Marketing efforts emphasize brand visibility in search and AI search segments.
- Job postings suggest occasional growth and partnership roles open in marketing categories.
- The sales‑lean model allows Ahrefs to focus more on product education and adoption.
Comparison of Ahrefs and Other SEO Platforms by Employee Count
- Semrush, a major competitor, employs approximately 1,600 employees worldwide, reflecting its large-scale global operations and broad product ecosystem.
- Ahrefs, with around 171 employees, operates with a significantly smaller headcount than Semrush, yet maintains a strong revenue-to-employee margin, indicating higher revenue per employee efficiency.

- Moz, Majestic, SpyFu, and similar SEO platforms do not disclose recent or reliable employee headcount figures, which limits the accuracy of direct workforce size comparisons.
- In terms of infrastructure and data scale, including pages crawled, domains indexed, and backlinks tracked, Ahrefs frequently competes effectively with larger platforms despite having fewer employees.
- From a feature perspective, Semrush offers a broader toolset covering PPC, reputation management, and additional marketing tools, whereas Ahrefs concentrates on backlink analysis, keyword research, and site audits, enabling leaner teams.
- The larger employee base at Semrush and comparable platforms typically reflects a broader product scope and higher customer support requirements.
- Ahrefs’ lean operating model is often highlighted in industry analyses as a key strength, allowing it to support large-scale data infrastructure and ongoing product enhancements with a relatively smaller workforce.
- For infrastructure-heavy tasks, Ahrefs likely distributes responsibilities among highly specialized engineers rather than relying on larger teams of generalist staff.
Customer Support and Success Team Size at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs employs a total of 171 full-time staff across all departments, supporting a dedicated customer support function.
- The company lists a Head of Customer Support and roles like Senior Customer Service Manager, indicating structured leadership.
- The customer support team featured specialists such as Helen Datsenko on official team pages for user assistance.
- In earlier operations around 2019, Ahrefs maintained a lean customer support team of 6-7 members.
- Support enables 24/7 coverage for users across 150+ global locations with 27 team locations.
- Customer success overlaps with support, aiding the adoption of tools like Site Explorer via specialists.
- Team spans 151-171 teammates globally, with support essential despite no public exact staff counts being disclosed.
- Recent hires include Customer Success & Support Specialists in Singapore and North America for onboarding.
- Ahrefs supplements direct support with a help center and community forums, reducing team workload.
Operations, HR, and Administration Team Size at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs maintains an operations and administration group to handle core functions.
- HR functions are likely integrated with leadership and team leads rather than large centralized units.
- The company’s lean model suggests a smaller HR headcount.
- Roles in operations often span people operations, onboarding, and workspace coordination.
- A flat structure means HR and admin roles may be hybrid or cross‑functional.
- Careers content describes employee lifecycle functions as part of broader teams.
- Administrative responsibilities likely support global coordination across teams.
- There is no standalone public count for these roles, reflecting a lean corporate backbone.
- Smaller HR teams can also facilitate rapid internal staffing adjustments.
Ahrefs Website Traffic Distribution by Source
- Search traffic dominates overall performance, accounting for 43.8% of total site visits, making it the primary driver of user acquisition.
- Direct traffic follows closely at 42.3%, underscoring strong brand recognition, repeat usage, and a loyal returning audience.
- Social media traffic contributes 13.1%, emphasizing its continued importance in content discovery, audience reach, and engagement.
- Paid traffic represents just 0.5%, indicating minimal dependence on advertising across the analyzed websites.
- Email traffic remains exceptionally low at only 0.2%, suggesting limited impact from newsletters or email marketing campaigns.
- LLM (Large Language Model) traffic is still marginal at 0.1%, reflecting the early-stage influence of AI-driven search and referral channels.

Leadership and Management Headcount at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs maintains a lean leadership team of 10–15 executives and senior heads driving strategy.
- Total headcount stands at 171 employees under a flat hierarchy across 27 global offices.
- Core C-suite comprises 4 key roles, including CEO Dmitry Gerasymenko and CMO Tim Soulo.
- Senior positions feature the VP of Marketing and multiple Product Leads for remote scaling.
- Compact structure generates $149.1 million revenue from 171 staff in 2025.
- Leadership includes 5–7 distinct titles like General Counsel and Head of Partnerships.
- Flat org prioritizes direct involvement, operating without a dedicated sales team.
- Employee base expanded 58% from 89 in 2022 to 171, keeping management lean.
- The marketing team represents 11% (19 staff) reporting to leadership for global ops.
- Bootstrapped with $0 funding, enabling agile decisions by a small leadership core.
Hiring and Open Positions Statistics at Ahrefs
- TrueUp lists 3 open positions at Ahrefs as of 2025.
- Roles span business development, design, marketing, and growth.
- Ahrefs’ hiring often reflects strategic needs rather than volume increases.
- Most roles are remote or at Singapore HQ.
- Hiring announcements on LinkedIn show ongoing additions to product and marketing teams.
- Job listings in 2025 include technical and creative positions.
- Ahrefs careers emphasize experience with data and analytics tools.
- Open positions are fewer compared to larger SaaS companies, reflecting a selective hiring model.
- Hiring pace remains consistent with measured growth tied to revenue performance.
Employee Turnover and Retention Rate at Ahrefs
- Ahrefs does not publish formal turnover or retention rates publicly.
- Company reviews on Glassdoor show 100% of employees would recommend working there (based on a small sample).
- 94% of employees believe in the business outlook.
- Interviews are rated moderately challenging (3.1/5 difficulty).
- Positive sentiment suggests strong internal retention, though data is limited.
- Smaller teams often result in closer collaboration and longer tenure.
- Remote culture may support retention through work‑life flexibility.
- A lack of external funding could mean a focus on stable retention and internal growth.
- There’s no publicly accessible breakdown of turnover trends by function.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Ahrefs has around 171 full‑time employees reported in 2025.
Ahrefs employees are distributed across 26–27 locations globally.
The engineering team makes up about 15% of Ahrefs’ total workforce.
Ahrefs’ workforce grew by approximately 58.43% over three years, from 2022 to 2025.
Conclusion
Ahrefs operates as a lean, highly efficient SaaS organization with about 171 full‑time employees driving global SEO and AI‑enabled marketing tools. The company’s structure emphasizes remote work, selective hiring, and high employee engagement. Marketing, engineering, and support teams align tightly with product innovation rather than rapid expansion. With a strong focus on culture and a flat hierarchy, Ahrefs maintains stability and steady growth through measured hiring and cross‑functional roles.
Although detailed retention metrics are scarce, employee sentiment appears to be positive. Altogether, Ahrefs’ workforce strategy reflects a balanced approach to scaling, one rooted in efficiency, product value, and global impact.
