Marketing
DR3 vs DR4 Checker
Ahrefs is replacing Domain Rating 3 with DR4 on 1 December 2026. DR4 gives more weight to links from sites with search traffic, scores subdomains separately and pushes spam domains down. Enter your site and your competitors to see both scores side by side.
- Free to use
- How it works
How to use the dr3 vs dr4 checker
- 1Enter up to 5 domains or subdomains, separated by commas.
- 2Compare each DR3 score with its DR4 preview and the change between them.
- 3Check subdomains such as blog.example.com on their own: under DR4 they no longer inherit the root domain's rating.
The domains you enter are sent to our server and to Ahrefs to look up the ratings. We do not store them.
About the dr3 vs dr4 checker
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs’ score from 0 to 100 for the strength of a website’s backlink profile. On 1 December 2026 Ahrefs switches from DR3 to DR4, and many sites will see their number move. This checker asks Ahrefs’ free API for both versions of the score, so you can see your new DR4 before it appears in Ahrefs, compare it with competitors and explain the change to clients or investors before they notice it.
What changes in DR4
DR4 counts links from a smaller, higher-quality pool of sites. Links from sites that Ahrefs estimates get organic search traffic carry more weight. Subdomains get their own rating instead of inheriting the root domain’s: Ahrefs’ example is help.ahrefs.com at DR 75 against DR 92 for ahrefs.com. Domains labelled as spam fall sharply. Ahrefs reports that DR4 correlates more closely with Google rankings than DR3 did.
Why your DR went down
A lower DR4 usually means many of your links come from sites with little or no search traffic: low-quality directories, link farms or sites that exist to sell links. It can also mean a subdomain was borrowing the root domain’s strength. Nothing on your site has changed, only the way Ahrefs scores it. Links from sites that real visitors find through search are the ones that move DR4.
How to use DR4 when picking link opportunities
Use the DR4 column, not DR3, when you judge directories, guest-post sites and partners from December onward. A site whose score drops sharply was getting its rating from links with little value. Compare a few sites in the same niche rather than relying on one number, and check that the page linking to you is indexed and relevant.
Frequently asked questions
When does DR4 replace DR3?
Ahrefs makes DR4 the default on 1 December 2026. DR3 stays available through the API for a short time afterwards so you can compare.
Is DR4 a Google metric?
No. Domain Rating is Ahrefs’ own score. Google does not use it, although Ahrefs designed DR4 to track Google rankings more closely than DR3 did.
Why does my subdomain have a different DR4 score?
DR4 rates subdomains on their own links instead of giving them the root domain’s rating. Enter the subdomain itself, such as blog.example.com, to see its score.
Where does the data come from?
From Ahrefs’ free Domain Rating API, queried live each time you run a check. Scores can differ slightly from the Ahrefs app while DR4 is in preview.
Is this tool free?
Yes — completely free, no signup, no watermark and no limits. Startup OG funds the site through its directory and partner program, not paywalled tools.