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Introduction: For years, website owners and marketers looked to the Alexa Rank as a key measure of site popularity on the web. Alexa Internet (an Amazon subsidiary) provided a global ranking of websites based on traffic data, and it became a familiar benchmark. However, Alexa’s service was discontinued on May 1, 2022, leaving a void in the website ranking space. Into that void stepped Similarweb’s ranking system, which has rapidly become the go-to alternative for comparing website traffic and influence. In this article, we’ll compare Similarweb’s ranking with the old Alexa Rank, discuss how they differ in methodology, and explain why Similarweb has effectively become the “new standard” for website competitive ranking and analysis.

If you’re still wondering where to turn after Alexa’s shutdown – or why Similarweb is showing different numbers than Alexa used to – read on. By understanding the differences, you’ll be better equipped to trust and leverage Similarweb’s data for your SEO and marketing decisions.

Alexa Rank was a global ranking system that graded millions of websites in order of popularity. The rank number was calculated using Alexa’s proprietary data, primarily from users who had the Alexa toolbar/extension installed in their browsers. In simple terms, Alexa looked at the estimated average daily unique visitors and pageviews over a rolling three-month period to assign a rank (with Rank #1 being the site with the most traffic). If a site’s traffic increased relative to others, its Alexa rank would improve (drop to a smaller number). Alexa also provided country-specific ranks and some basic engagement metrics to its users.

One limitation was that Alexa’s data was skewed towards the browsing habits of those who had its toolbar, which was not a universal sample of internet users. This led to accuracy questions, especially for sites with audiences that didn’t overlap with Alexa’s user base. Nevertheless, Alexa Rank was widely quoted. Site owners loved to brag about being in the “top 100k” or “top 10k” sites globally, and many advertising deals or site sales included Alexa Rank as a valuation component. It was a common metric on site analytic tools and dashboards.

However, Amazon decided to retire the Alexa service after 25 years, officially shutting it down in 2022. This meant no more Alexa toolbar updates and no more Alexa traffic rank. Many webmasters who relied on it were left seeking alternatives. As one tech news outlet quipped, “Amazon is retiring Alexa — no, not that one”, highlighting the confusion between Alexa Internet and Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa (completely unrelated).

Post-shutdown, former Alexa users have turned to several alternatives: Semrush, Ahrefs, and notably Similarweb, which actually launched a free website ranking API and trial specifically to welcome former Alexa users. Let’s examine how Similarweb’s approach compares and why it’s considered more robust.

Similarweb’s ranking system shares the same goal as Alexa’s – ranking sites by traffic and engagement – but it achieves it through a much broader and more modern data collection methodology. Similarweb analyzes data from over 100 million websites across more than 190 countries. Instead of relying on a single browser toolbar, Similarweb pulls from multiple sources: a gigantic global panel of internet users (through various browser extensions and apps), direct traffic measurements from sites that opt-in or connect their analytics, partnerships with ISPs and other data providers, and its own web crawler/scraper for supplemental info. This multidimensional approach means Similarweb’s dataset is more comprehensive and less prone to the sampling bias that Alexa’s was.

Key differences and advantages of Similarweb vs Alexa:

• Data Depth and Timeframe: Alexa provided a 3-month trailing rank and limited site metrics (like bounce rate, daily pageviews per user, etc.). Similarweb, on the other hand, offers up to 24 months of traffic data (for paid users) and tracks a wide range of metrics – including total visits, unique visitors, pages per visit, average visit duration, bounce rate, and even breakdown by traffic sources and geographies. This means you can get a much more granular view of a site on Similarweb. For instance, Similarweb lets you see if a site’s traffic is growing seasonally, which Alexa’s 3-month average might obscure. It also means Similarweb’s Global Rank is updated continuously with fresh data (often monthly for free, daily for certain paid features), whereas Alexa’s was a bit more static and slow to catch up with sudden changes.

• Inclusion of Engagement Metrics: Alexa Rank was one-dimensional – a single number rank. Similarweb not only gives a rank but also shows engagement metrics publicly for each site, like bounce rate and pages/visit. This offers context. Two sites might have similar traffic, but if one has users spending 5 minutes on site and another only 30 seconds, Similarweb will show that difference. This is valuable for marketers evaluating site quality.

• Accuracy and Representativeness: Because Similarweb’s algorithms draw on many data points, its traffic estimates tend to be more accurate, especially for medium to large sites. A recent independent study (by SparkToro) found that Similarweb’s traffic estimations were the “most accurate and closely aligned to users’ Google Analytics data” among digital intelligence providers. Alexa’s accuracy, in contrast, could vary widely, especially for sites outside the top tier. Alexa often heavily undercounted or overcounted certain niches. Similarweb’s use of multiple data streams and constant algorithm refinement (including filtering out bot traffic) generally produces results that align more closely with reality, particularly for sites receiving 5k to 100k visitors per month where its panel strength is solid.

• Modern Features and Tools: Alexa did offer some SEO tools and competitive analysis features in its later years, but Similarweb comes out-of-the-box with a robust platform. With Similarweb you can do things like see what keywords send traffic to a site, view its top referring sites, compare multiple sites side by side, and even analyze audience demographics and interests (on higher tiers). Essentially, Similarweb is not just a ranking; it’s an entire competitive intelligence suite built around that ranking. Alexa’s offering by the end of its life was comparatively limited (and its premium plans were discontinued long before the shutdown).

• Public Availability: One thing that many appreciated about Alexa Rank was that it was free and public – anyone could quickly check a site’s rank. Similarweb similarly offers free public info for sites (global rank, country rank, etc., plus limited recent data). But Similarweb also has a paid model for deeper data. Overall, though, Similarweb has stepped in by providing a free Website Traffic Checker tool and a free ranking API for developers, signaling they intend to capture Alexa’s user base by offering accessible data. This means for the casual user who just cares about “how popular is site X,” Similarweb is a convenient solution.

In summary, Similarweb’s ranking is based on a far richer dataset and gives more context than Alexa ever did. It’s like the difference between an old single-lens camera and a modern multi-lens camera – both take a picture of site popularity, but Similarweb’s is higher resolution and in full color.

Beyond the technical differences, there’s the simple fact of market adoption. When Alexa shut down, Similarweb was ready and eager to fill the gap. They even explicitly marketed themselves as “the official measure of the digital world”, especially now that Alexa was gone. They launched features to attract Alexa’s customer base, such as a free ranking API and extended free trials. Many industry professionals quickly pivoted to Similarweb as the nearest equivalent for benchmarking site traffic.

The tech community and SEO industry have largely embraced Similarweb in Alexa’s absence. Articles listing “Alexa Rank alternatives” often put Similarweb at or near the top of the list. Other tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz provide their own metrics (e.g., domain authority, etc.), but those aren’t straightforward traffic-based rankings like Alexa was. Cloudflare launched Radar, which provides some traffic insights for sites using Cloudflare, but it’s not comprehensive. Thus, Similarweb really stands out as the holistic solution for cross-site traffic comparison.

It’s also telling that thousands of businesses now rely on Similarweb’s rankings and data. Similarweb’s lists of top websites (global and by country/category) have grown in trust to the point of being referenced in places like Wikipedia’s “Most popular websites” page. In other words, Similarweb is increasingly viewed as an authority on web traffic statistics, much as Alexa was (and arguably more so, now that Alexa is historical data only).

For anyone who used to track Alexa Rank: you’ll find that tracking your Similarweb global rank is the closest analog. If your site was, say, Alexa Rank 500k at one point, you might find it’s ranked around #400k or #600k on Similarweb (the numbers won’t directly match because the methodologies differ, but the relative idea is similar – top X globally). And because Similarweb can integrate directly with your analytics, you can even verify the data. Alexa never had that feature.

From a practical standpoint: Similarweb is the go-to choice for competitive benchmarking after Alexa’s demise. It provides the continuity (we still have a global ranking system) and improves upon it with greater accuracy and insight.

If you’re accustomed to Alexa, here’s how you can adjust to using Similarweb:

• Finding a Site’s Rank: Simply go to similarweb.com and enter the site domain in the search bar. You’ll get a wealth of info. At the top, it will show the Global Rank, Country Rank, and Category Rank for that site (if available). For example, if a site is ranked #50,000 globally, that’s roughly equivalent to saying “Alexa Rank ~50k” in the old days. You’ll also see the country where it’s most popular and its rank there, which is a nice touch Alexa had as well.

• Understanding the Metrics: Below the rank, Similarweb will display traffic overviews – total visits (monthly), engagement metrics, etc. This is data Alexa users never had freely. Use this to contextualize rank. For instance, two sites might both be around the 100k global rank, but one might have 300k visits in the last month vs. another’s 250k. Similarweb lets you see that nuance.

• Competitive Analysis: Similarweb’s interface allows comparing up to 5 sites side by side (free accounts might be limited, but with the extension or a free trial you can see some comparisons). Alexa had a “Compare Sites” feature too, but Similarweb’s is more robust, showing traffic trends and source breakdown for each side by side. This is extremely useful for identifying where your competitor might be getting traffic that you are not (for example, competitor gets a lot of referrals from certain sites – you might pursue those opportunities too).

• No More Alexa Toolbar: If you used Alexa’s browser extension to quickly check ranks while browsing, you can replace it with the Similarweb browser extension (available for Chrome, Firefox, etc.). It gives instant access to a site’s traffic rank and overview with one click, much like the Alexa toolbar did. The Similarweb extension is quite popular and provides the convenience that Alexa’s did, with arguably better data backing it.

• API and Integration: If you had any scripts or tools pulling Alexa Rank via API, consider switching to Similarweb’s API. They have a developer API (with free tier limitations) that can provide global rank and traffic stats. Given Similarweb’s emphasis on courting Alexa’s user base, they’ve made such transitions as smooth as possible.

It’s also worth noting that Alexa’s historical data is no longer updating, so by now (2025) any Alexa Rank numbers are outdated. If you have old Alexa Rank values in reports, it’s advisable to update those benchmarks using Similarweb data for the current picture.

Similarweb has proven to be a robust and reliable replacement for Alexa Rank, so much so that it’s not just a replacement but an upgrade. With Alexa gone, Similarweb’s “official ranking of the digital world” is where web analysts, SEO professionals, and digital marketers turn to gauge site performance in the internet hierarchy. It offers greater accuracy, more detailed metrics, and a platform of tools to derive insights from those rankings.

If you haven’t already, now is the time to fully embrace Similarweb. Whether you’re benchmarking your own site, doing market research on competitors, or hunting for partnership opportunities, Similarweb’s data will guide you more effectively than Alexa’s ever could. The web has evolved, and measuring it requires more sophisticated approaches – Similarweb brings that to the table.

In summary, Similarweb vs Alexa comes down to breadth and depth of data. Alexa served us well in a simpler time, but Similarweb is built for the modern internet. It is the new standard for website rankings – providing continuity from the past and confidence for the future. So update your workflows, install that Similarweb extension, and enjoy the richer perspective on web traffic that Similarweb provides. Your analysis and decisions will be all the better for it.

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