Domain Authority Checker
Enter a domain to see its Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100), Open PageRank (0–10), referring domains, the 12-month PageRank change and its Tranco rank.
Bulk check: up to 10 domains
Compare your site with competitors: DR, Open PageRank and referring domains for 10 domains in one table. A free account is required.
Sign up freeWhy there is no Domain Authority (DA) here
Domain Authority is a Moz metric: only Moz calculates it and we have no access to it. Instead we show two openly available metrics with the same purpose: Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100) and Open PageRank (0–10). All three are third-party estimates based on links to a domain, not Google signals; values from different vendors do not match and cannot be compared directly. More about DR
Free Domain Authority & Domain Rating Checker
The tool shows domain authority on two independent scales: Ahrefs Domain Rating (0–100, via the official free Ahrefs API) and Open PageRank (0–10). Alongside you get referring domains from the Open PageRank index, the 12-month PageRank change with a monthly chart, and the site's Tranco popularity rank. Moz Domain Authority is not shown because it is a proprietary Moz metric. Results per domain are cached for 24 hours.
How to Use
- Enter a domain or any URL of the site — www and subdomains are reduced to the root domain
- Click “Check” and review DR, Open PageRank, referring domains and the yearly trend
- To compare with competitors, sign in and paste up to 10 domains into the bulk check
FAQ
How to use this domain rating checker and read the result
A domain rating check takes a few seconds: you enter a domain, the tool requests Domain Rating through the official free Ahrefs API and Open PageRank through its API, then shows both scores side by side. If you enter a page URL or a subdomain, the root domain is checked — DR and PageRank describe a whole domain, not a single URL.
The headline number is DR from 0 to 100, with a bar and a short description of the level underneath. The scale is logarithmic: going from 10 to 20 is far easier than from 60 to 70, because each level requires links from ever stronger sites. The levels in the report are a rule of thumb, not an official Ahrefs classification:
| DR | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 0–9 | A new site, or almost no links from established domains | Earn first links from relevant sites, directories and company profiles |
| 10–29 | A small business site or blog with a basic link profile | Grow the number of different referring domains, not links from the same ones |
| 30–49 | A solid profile; sites with their own authority link to you | Look for referring sites stronger than yours: industry media, partners, research |
| 50–69 | A strong profile, typical of well-known sites in a niche | Growth is slow — focus on pages that are already close to the top |
| 70–100 | Major media, platforms and brands | DR is no longer the bottleneck; content and intent decide |
Open PageRank is a second, independent score on a 0–10 scale with the domain's position in the overall ranking. If the card shows a 12-month change and a monthly chart, read the trend rather than the absolute value: PageRank updates monthly and is calculated relative to the whole web, so it can dip slightly even for a site that lost no links. Referring domains come from the same Open PageRank index, which is smaller than Ahrefs', so the number will be lower. Tranco is the position in a global list of the most popular sites; most sites aren't in it, and that's normal.
Domain Authority vs Domain Rating vs Open PageRank
People search for a "domain authority checker" when they want any authority score, but Domain Authority is a specific Moz metric. Only Moz calculates it, and this tool does not show it. All three metrics do the same job — estimate the strength of a link profile — but they use different link indexes and different formulas.
| Domain Authority (DA) | Domain Rating (DR) | Open PageRank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | Moz | Ahrefs | Open PageRank project (originally DomCop) |
| Scale | 1–100 | 0–100 | 0–10 |
| Based on | Moz's model over its own link index | Unique domains with dofollow links and their own DR | Open web-crawl data, classic PageRank logic |
| In this tool | No | Yes | Yes |
Two practical rules follow. First, never compare one site's DA with another site's DR — they are different scales. Second, Google uses none of these metrics. They are third-party estimates, useful for comparing sites with each other. For how the Ahrefs score works, see Domain Rating (DR).
What is a good domain rating?
A good DR is not an absolute number but your level relative to the sites you compete with in search. For a local dental clinic, DR 20 can be higher than every competitor in town; for a personal finance review site, DR 50 can be below the average of the top 10. A domain rank check only makes sense as a comparison:
- Take your 2–3 main keywords and list the domains in Google's top 10.
- Paste them together with your own domain into the bulk check (up to 10 domains, free account required).
- See where you stand against the median of the top results. A gap of 5–10 DR points is often offset by a strong page; a gap of 30+ usually means you won't break into that SERP without links.
You will often find sites with a lower DR than yours ranking above you. That's expected: rankings also depend on page relevance and links to the specific URL, not just domain authority.
Why your DR isn't growing or dropped
- Links from the same domain. DR counts unique referring domains. Ten links from one site are almost the same as one.
- Nofollow. Links with rel="nofollow" (as well as ugc and sponsored) don't count toward DR.
- Weak referring sites. A link from a DR 5 site adds almost nothing. A site's weight is split across all domains it links to, so a directory linking to thousands of sites passes less than a topical blog.
- Lost links. Deleted articles, closed sites and links removed after a paid placement ends reduce your referring domains.
- A relative scale. When other sites grow, your DR can drop without losing a single link.
- Delay. Ahrefs has to discover new links when crawling, and Open PageRank updates monthly — the effect of last week's links shows up later.
A disavow file in Google Search Console doesn't affect DR, because Ahrefs can't see it. Internal links don't count either — DR depends only on links from other domains.
Vetting a site before you place a link
The same report helps when you choose where to publish a guest post or buy a link. DR alone is a poor filter: it can be pumped up by a network of sites linking to each other. Look at the whole picture:
- DR and PageRank agree. A high DR with a very low Open PageRank is a reason to look at the site's links more closely.
- The 12-month trend. A clear drop in PageRank often means the site is losing links or has been abandoned.
- Referring domains. If there are only a handful and DR is high, the score rests on a couple of links that may disappear.
- Organic traffic and topic. These aren't in the report: check the site's Search Console or a third-party tool for search visitors, and make sure it covers your subject.
How to increase domain authority
What works is a steady flow of new referring domains each month, each with its own traffic and links, and topically close to your site. To list the links you already have, use the backlink checker; to understand why unique domains matter, read about referring domains.
Domain authority is the backdrop; traffic comes from specific pages. The fastest wins come from pages already ranking in positions 5–20: SEO Radar finds them using your Search Console data. You can then strengthen those pages with a link cascade — first-tier links point to the page and a second tier boosts those links; the setup is explained on the tiered link building page.
Improve search rankings
SEO problems may be costing you traffic. Cascade link building will improve site visibility in search.