Why do I get different results in the Ahrefs interface vs. the API?

In order not to get confused by different stats reported, make sure you are using the same parameters, modes and targets for your queries:

API:

https://apiv2.ahrefs.com/?token=XXX&target=ahrefs.com&limit=1000&output=json&from=metrics_extended&mode=subdomains 

Site Explorer:

https://app.ahrefs.com/site-explorer/overview/v2/subdomains/live?target=ahrefs.com

In above examples I analysed target ahrefs.com in 'subdomains' mode and got the same numbers for both requests.

Moreover, it is worth mentioning that API data is currently available for Live index only, so consider that when comparing results as well.

Related:

• What do "API rows" and "Each result costs 1 row" mean in API documentation?

• Does Ahrefs API provide organic keyword related data?

• Is it possible to use your API functions with a usual Ahrefs subscription?