How to Check Domain Rating and DA for Free

You don't need a paid Ahrefs or Moz subscription to check your domain rating. A handful of free tools will give you a solid DR/DA reading in under a minute — and that's all you need to benchmark before and after a link-building push.

DR vs DA: what you're actually measuring

Before you check anything, know what the number means. Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0–100 score. Domain Authority (DA) is Moz's equivalent. Both estimate how strong a site's backlink profile is — and both are third-party metrics, not Google ranking factors.

They're built almost entirely on the quantity and quality of referring domains pointing at a site.
A higher number roughly means "this site has a stronger, more linked-to profile."
DR and DA won't match each other — a site can be DR 40 and DA 28. That's normal; they use different math.

If the term is new to you, start with what is domain authority for the full breakdown, then come back to check yours.

The best free tools to check domain rating

You don't need to pick one — run two or three and average them. Here are the reliable free options:

Tool	Metric	Free limit	Best for
Ahrefs Website Authority Checker	DR	A few checks/day	The closest free read on true DR
Moz Link Explorer (free account)	DA	~10 queries/month	The original DA score
Ubersuggest	Domain Authority	A few free/day	Quick DA + traffic estimate
Semrush Authority Score (free trial)	AS	Limited	Cross-checking
Seobility / various free checkers	Mixed	Generous	Bulk spot-checks

A few notes:

Ahrefs' free Website Authority Checker is the single best way to check domain rating free — it pulls the real DR from their index.
Moz's free tier gives you genuine DA plus your linking root domains, which is the number that actually matters.
Free bulk checkers are great for scanning a list of potential swap partners fast, but treat their scores as rough — verify the ones that matter against Ahrefs or Moz.

How to read the number without fooling yourself

A score alone is nearly useless. Always look past it:

Referring domains, not total backlinks. 500 links from 12 domains is weak. 200 links from 200 domains is strong. Breadth beats volume.
Relevance and traffic. A DR 50 site with zero organic traffic is often a manipulated or dead domain. Cross-check with a free traffic estimate.
Trend, not snapshot. Is the profile growing or decaying? One reading tells you little; two readings a month apart tell you everything.

This matters most when you're sizing up a partner. A clean DR is one of the first things to confirm — see how to vet a link swap partner before you trade anything.

Benchmark before and after your swaps

Here's the practical workflow. Checking your DR is only valuable if you're using it to measure progress:

Record a baseline today. Note your DR, DA, and referring-domain count in a simple spreadsheet.
Run your link-building plan — directories, earned mentions, and 1-for-1 swaps with relevant sites.
Re-check monthly, on the same day. Use the same tools each time so the numbers are comparable.
Watch referring domains first. They move before the DR/DA score does — these scores lag by weeks.

Adding relevant referring domains is what moves the needle, and that's the exact gap Backlinkster is built to close: it matches you with niche-relevant site owners for verified, 1-for-1 dofollow swaps, confirming both links are live before the trade counts. You watch your referring-domain count climb between checks — the honest way.

When the number is low — and what to do

A new site often reads DR 0–5. Don't panic; that's the starting line, not a verdict.

Low score = not enough unique referring domains. That's almost always the root cause.
Don't chase the number directly. Buying links to juice a score is how profiles get penalized.
Add relevant links steadily. A few new referring domains a month beats a spike of fifty overnight.

If your reading came back weak, the fix is straightforward — see low domain authority fix for the step-by-step.

Now that you've got a baseline number, give it something to climb on. Sign up free and earn your first verified, niche-relevant backlinks — five swaps a month, no spend — then re-check your DR next month and watch it move.