Free Ahrefs DR Checker

Paste a domain, get Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) 0 to 100. DR is logarithmic link authority: climbing 20 to 30 is far easier than 70 to 80.
Ahrefs Domain Rating, 0 to 100

3 free checks a day, no sign-up. Enter a domain to get its Ahrefs Domain Rating from 0 to 100. Try with

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  • Bulk, up to 10 domains
  • No signup

Over 384,000 DR lookups run on StartupHub.ai

  • Google
  • NVIDIA
  • Sequoia Capital
  • Domain Rating is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 measure of a domain's backlink authority. Use the checker free with no signup and no card.

stripe.comCheck DR
DomainDRReads as
wikipedia.org97Effectively the ceiling. Almost nothing on the web is linked to more.
stripe.com95A top-tier commercial site, and still two points below the ceiling.
startuphub.ai62Our own domain: a solid, established niche site.

Why read Domain Rating carefully

Read the scale right

The scale is logarithmic and climbing from 20 to 30 is far easier than from 70 to 80.

One number, three vendors

The page compares DR with Moz Domain Authority, Semrush Authority Score and Effective Domain Rating.

Authority on paper vs in search

Effective Domain Rating, our own 0-100 score, shows whether high DR turns into search and AI visibility. wikipedia.org scores fifteen points below what its links imply.

How the StartupHub.ai DR checker works

  1. Step 1

    Enter a domain

    Type a domain or switch to Bulk and paste up to 10 for free with no signup and no card.

  2. Step 2

    The rating is fetched

    Domain Rating is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 measure of a domain's backlink authority. Results are cached for an hour so a re-check is instant.

  3. Step 3

    Read the gauge

    On 27 August 2026 wikipedia.org was 97, stripe.com was 95 and startuphub.ai was 62. The scale is logarithmic so climbing from 20 to 30 is far easier than from 70 to 80.

What people use the Domain Rating checker for

You want to see how you stack up against competitors on authority. Look up Ahrefs Domain Rating from 0 to 100 for each domain and read any gap as a ratio because the scale is logarithmic, not a distance.

Domain Rating, AI companiesChecked Oct 2026
CompanyDomain Rating
  • Anthropic
    92
  • Notion
    90
  • Mistral AI
    88
  • Linear
    85
  • Runway
    84
  • Cohere
    82
  • Udio
    76

Read the gap as a ratio

Highest here: Anthropic, 92 · Lowest here: Udio, 76 · Scale is logarithmic

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Domain Rating wherever you work

It runs from an AI agent over MCP, a bulk list of up to 10 domains and the Effective Domain Rating checker.

MCP and AI agents

The check_domain_rating tool returns the same number over MCP with an API key in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and n8n.

onboarding prompt

> Add the MCP server https://www.startuphub.ai/api/v1/mcp (name: StartupHub.ai) and use its check_domain_rating tool to look up a domain's Ahrefs DR before I pitch it.

Claude Code

> What is stripe.com's Domain Rating?

● startuphub - check_domain_rating (MCP)

  ⎿ domain_rating: 95

● stripe.com has a DR of 95: very strong link authority.

Claude Code

Claude Code connects to our MCP server once and can then look up any domain mid-task via the check_domain_rating tool over MCP.

Set up in Claude Code

3 domains, sorted by DR

  • wikipedia.org97
  • stripe.com95
  • startuphub.ai62
Captured 27 August 2026

Bulk check

Bulk mode checks up to 10 domains pasted one per line or comma separated, sorted by DR.

Paste a list

DR next to eDR

  • nvidia.comDR 91, eDR 88: fairly rated
  • openai.comDR 93, eDR 78: overrated
  • wikipedia.orgDR 95, eDR 80: overrated
Captured 27 August 2026

Effective Domain Rating

Effective Domain Rating is our 0 to 100 score for whether DR turns into search and AI visibility. Wikipedia.org scores fifteen points below what its links imply.

Check your eDR

Since July 2026, StartupHub.ai has run over 384,000 DR lookups across startups, investors and the domains people check

DR lookups run

+384,000

Lookups, running total

Last 30 days

+89,000

Lookups in the last 30 days

10

Domains per bulk check

0 to 100

The Ahrefs scale

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What Domain Rating tells you

Higher DR generally means more and stronger sites link to you, which correlates with the ability to rank. Use it to size up competitors, vet a guest-post or backlink opportunity, or track your own site's authority over time. It is one signal, not the whole picture: relevance, content quality, and search intent still decide rankings.

The logarithmic scale is the part most people read wrong. A 10-point gain is not a fixed amount of work. Going from 20 to 30 is ordinary progress for a site publishing consistently; going from 70 to 80 can take years and an order of magnitude more strong referring domains. Read a DR gap as a ratio, never as a distance.

What the scale looks like in practice

Real Domain Ratings, checked with the tool above on 27 August 2026.

Example Domain Ratings measured on 27 August 2026
DomainDRWhat that means
wikipedia.org97Effectively the ceiling. Almost nothing on the web is linked to more.
stripe.com95A top-tier commercial site, and still two points below the ceiling.
startuphub.ai62Our own domain: a solid, established niche site.

Note how compressed the top is. Wikipedia and Stripe sit two points apart despite enormously different link profiles, while the 35 points between Stripe and a solid niche site represent a gap far larger than the number suggests. That compression at the top is the logarithm doing its work.

How this DR checker compares

Ahrefs and Moz both publish DR and DA, but their free tools gate bulk use and stop at the number. We show the scale, explain the logarithm, and hand you off to Effective Domain Rating when you want to know whether that DR is actually buying visibility.

Domain Rating checker comparison
CapabilityStartupHubAhrefsMoz
Free instant DR checkYesPartialPartial
No signup requiredYesNoNo
Bulk check (paste a list)YesNoNo
DR vs DA vs Authority Score explainedYesNoNo
Overrated / underrated check (eDR delta)YesNoNo
REST API + MCP for agentsYesNoNo
Pay-per-call with crypto (x402)YesNoNo

Yes   Partial / paid add-on   No. Comparison reflects publicly documented capabilities and is updated periodically.

DR vs DA vs Authority Score vs eDR

Comparison of website authority metrics
MetricSourceScaleWhat it measures
Domain Rating (DR)Ahrefs0-100, logarithmicStrength of your backlink profile, relative to the strongest site in the index
Domain Authority (DA)Moz0-100, logarithmicThe same idea from a different crawl, so compare like for like and never mix the two
Authority Score (AS)Semrush0-100Backlinks plus organic traffic and spam signals, so it moves for reasons DR ignores
Effective Domain Rating (eDR)StartupHub.ai0-100Whether that authority actually converts into rankings and AI citations, shown as a delta against DR

DR and DA measure the same idea from different crawls, so the numbers are similar but not identical. Compare like for like, and never quote a DR against a competitor's DA.

How do I increase my Domain Rating?

Earn links from relevant, higher-authority sites. DR rises as quality referring domains grow, and because it is a lagging signal it moves slowly: expect months, not weeks. Three things move it reliably.

Create linkable assets

Original data, free tools, and research nobody else has published. A tool like this checker earns links passively for years, because people cite the thing they used rather than the page that described it.

Guest posts on relevant, higher-authority sites

Relevance carries more weight than raw DR. One link from a respected site in your category is worth more than a dozen from unrelated high-DR pages, and it is far less likely to be discounted.

Digital PR: get cited by news

Publish something a journalist can quote, with a number in it. Press coverage is the fastest legitimate way to add strong referring domains, and news links tend to be followed by aggregator and roundup links you did not have to ask for.

Common questions about the DR checker.

If the answer is not here, reach us from the help and contact page.

Help and contact
What is Domain Rating (DR)?

Domain Rating is a 0-100 score from Ahrefs that estimates the strength of a website's backlink profile compared to the strongest site on the web. Higher DR generally means more and stronger sites link to you, which correlates with the ability to rank.

Is Domain Rating the same as Domain Authority?

They measure the same idea (backlink strength on a 0-100 scale) but come from different tools: Domain Rating is Ahrefs, Domain Authority (DA) is Moz. The numbers are similar but not identical, so compare like for like.

Is Domain Rating logarithmic?

Yes, and it is the single most misread thing about the metric. Moving from 20 to 30 is ordinary progress; moving from 70 to 80 can take years and an order of magnitude more strong referring domains. A flat 10-point gain means completely different amounts of work depending on where you start, so never read a DR gap as a linear distance.

How do I increase my Domain Rating?

Earn links from relevant, higher-authority sites: publish content worth citing, get listed in real directories, do digital PR, and build genuine partnerships. DR rises as quality referring domains grow. It is a lagging signal, so it moves slowly.

Can I bulk check Domain Rating?

Yes. Switch the checker to bulk mode and paste up to 10 domains, one per line or comma separated, and they are checked together. Results are cached, so re-checking a domain someone has already looked up returns instantly.

Is this Domain Rating checker really free?

Yes. It uses the free Ahrefs Domain Rating API. No signup, no credit card, and you can check as many domains as you like (a short pause kicks in only if you check very rapidly).

Check the DR of a prospect in seconds

Free, no sign-up. 3 checks a day.