Finding customers · 10 of 110 stories

Ahrefs

A search engine optimization (SEO) tool: it shows which keywords people search, which sites link to a page, and where a site ranks in search results.

Price: From US$29 a month (Starter plan); the Lite plan is US$129 a month for one user (read 13 October 2026) Free plan: yes, limited ahrefs.com

Who uses it, and for what

One row per story. The grade is for the claim that the business uses this tool, not for its revenue.

Story	What it does there	Grade	Source
SEObot	Traffic analytics script on the marketing site. Web Analytics	B	SEObot home page, read 13 October 2026
HeadshotPro	Keyword research: the founder checked search volume and keyword difficulty for headshots before building the product. keyword research	C	The Bootstrapped Founder, 9 August 2023: Danny Postma, an indie hacker's business evolution
Tweet Hunter	Search-engine optimisation research, listed in the founder's Starter Story tool list.	C	Starter Story, 18 May 2023: How we built a $3.5M ARR LinkedIn tool that will be acquired for $10M-$15M
SiteGPT	Keyword research: finds low-difficulty search terms, and the founder builds one free web tool for each. Keywords Explorer	C	Superframeworks case study, 10 January 2026: $13K MRR, engineering as marketing masterclass
Talknotes	Checks the domain rating of each startup directory before the app is listed on it.	C	Nico Jeannen's blog diary, 30 August 2023 onwards: TalkNotes, From $0 to $200,000 in 1 year
Magai	Monitors the site's keyword rankings in search engines.	C	StationLM transcript of the podcast version: I built a $99K/month AI app, Starter Story
My AskAI	Listed by the founder as the search-optimization tool of the business.	C	Starter Story, 18 June 2024, interview with Mike Heap: I Built A $300K/Year AI Business For Less $50 Bucks
Neural Frames	Keyword research for the search pages and blog posts.	C	Starter Story, 16 November 2023: How A Doctorate In Physics Built An AI Video Generation Tool [$17K MRR]
aiCarousels	Search research for the SEO work that became the largest source of traffic.	C	Starter Story, 28 November 2023: I Accidentally Built A SaaS in 10 Days & Quit My 9-5, interview with Fernando Pessagno
Setter AI	The founder checks what people search for in Ahrefs to choose blog content.	C	Indie Hackers, 29 July 2025, by James Fleischmann: From desperation and dwindling runway to $10k MRR

Grade A: the tool's maker or a payment processor confirms the use. Grade B: an independent report, or the tool is visible in public code. Grade C: the founder or the company says so.

Used in the same businesses

Other tools in the stories above, with the number of stories that share both.

Stripe9 Product Hunt9 X8 OpenAI API8 Cloudflare8 Rewardful6 Google Analytics6 Google Ads5 Figma5 Vercel5

Other tools for the same job

Finding customers, with the number of stories that use each.

X67 Meta ads40 Product Hunt39 YouTube33 TikTok30 Reddit28 LinkedIn25 Instagram24 Google Ads23 Rewardful19 Google Search (organic)15 Tolt15

Back to all tools