Compare the best Semrush alternatives for 2027, from Ahrefs and SE Ranking to Mangools and SpyFu, with verified pricing, limits and who each tool suits.
Semrush is still the broadest SEO and marketing suite most teams will ever trial. It covers keyword research, backlinks, site audits, rank tracking, competitor research and, more recently, AI search visibility. That breadth is also why people start looking for Semrush alternatives. The entry SEO plan now costs $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed annually, and it covers 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily. The Starter plan that adds dedicated AI Visibility tracking (50 prompts tracked daily) is $199 a month, Pro+ is $299 a month, and Advanced is quote-only. Extra users start at $45 a month each.
None of that is unreasonable for an agency or an in-house team that uses most of the toolkit. It is a lot for a freelancer who mostly needs keyword ideas and a rank tracker, for a small business tracking one site, or for a team that only cares about backlinks or market-level traffic data. Semrush does offer a free plan (one demo project and 10 reports per day) and a seven-day trial, but serious use means a paid seat, and seats add up quickly across a team.
The tools below were chosen because buyers actually shortlist them against Semrush. Every price, plan name and limit was checked on each vendor’s own pricing page in October 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we say so rather than estimate it.
Semrush Alternatives At A Glance
Tool
Starting Price
Best For
Standout Feature
Ahrefs
$29/mo (Starter); $129/mo (Lite)
Backlink research and content teams
Large backlink index plus free Ahrefs Free tier for site owners
SE Ranking
$129/mo or $103.20/mo annually
Agencies and SMBs wanting an all-in-one suite
2,000 daily tracked keywords on the entry plan
Moz Pro
$49/mo (starter); $99/mo (Standard)
Small businesses and authority metrics
Domain Authority and Brand Authority scores
Similarweb
From $125/mo (per Similarweb)
Market and competitor traffic analysis
Up to 37 months of history across 100+ countries
Serpstat
$50/mo
Budget-conscious teams needing API access
Team plan with 3 users at $100/mo
Mangools
$30.50/mo or $18.85/mo annually
Freelancers and beginners
Five simple tools plus AI Search Watcher in one bundle
Ubersuggest
$12/mo or $6.67/mo annually
Solo site owners on a tight budget
One-time lifetime purchase option
SpyFu
$39/mo or $33/mo annually
PPC and competitor keyword research
Up to 15 years of competitor ad and ranking history
Sistrix
€119/mo
European SEO teams
Visibility Index with up to 11 years of history
Ranktracker
$39/mo or $31.20/mo annually
Rank tracking with unlimited users
Top 100 SERP tracking and an AI Overviews tracker on every plan
Best Semrush Alternatives For 2027
1. Ahrefs — The Closest Like-For-Like Rival With A Free Tier For Site Owners
Ahrefs is the tool most teams compare directly against Semrush. It started as a backlink checker and grew into a full suite with Site Explorer, Keywords Explorer, Site Audit, Rank Tracker and, more recently, Brand Radar for tracking how brands appear in AI answers. If you are weighing just these two, our Ahrefs vs Semrush comparison goes deeper on data and workflow differences.
Pricing starts with a $29 a month Starter plan aimed at basic keyword and competitor lookups. The core plans are Lite at $129 a month (750 tracked keywords, 6 months of history, 1,000 credits per user), Standard at $249 a month (2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years of history, unlimited credits) and Advanced at $449 a month (5,000 tracked keywords, 5 years of history). Enterprise is $1,499 a month on an annual commitment. Each plan includes one user, with extra users at $40, $60 or $80 a month depending on the plan. Ahrefs says annual billing saves “up to 17%” but does not publish annual prices for each plan. Add-ons include Brand Radar AI from $199 a month and Report Builder at $99 a month.
Where Ahrefs beats Semrush is in backlink research, which remains its reputation anchor, and in its free tier. Ahrefs Free (formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools) gives verified site owners Site Audit, a limited Site Explorer view of their own keywords and backlinks, and web analytics at no cost. Lite is also $10 cheaper than Semrush’s SEO plan on a monthly basis. Where it falls short: Lite’s 1,000 credits per user can run out quickly for heavy researchers, Keywords Explorer and Rank Tracker are paid-only, and AI visibility tracking costs extra through Brand Radar rather than being bundled at the entry level.
Ahrefs suits link builders, content teams and SEO specialists who live in backlink and organic keyword data and do not need Semrush’s PPC, social or local tools.
2. SE Ranking — Four Times The Tracked Keywords On The Entry Plan
SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform covering rank tracking, keyword research, competitor analysis, backlinks, site audits and content tools. It has become the default value pick for agencies that want most of what Semrush does without the per-seat costs climbing as fast.
There are two published plans. Core costs $129 a month, or $103.20 a month billed annually (a 20% saving), and includes 10 projects, 1 manager seat and 2,000 keywords tracked daily. Growth costs $279 a month, or $223.20 a month annually, with 30 projects, 3 manager seats and 5,000 daily tracked keywords. Enterprise is custom. Extra manager seats start at $16 each. Both plans include 25 AI prompts tracked daily across 5 AI engines, with a larger AI Visibility add-on from $71 a month. The Agency Pack (30 client seats, white-label reporting and a lead generator) adds $69 a month on annual billing. There is a 14-day free trial with no card required.
Compared with Semrush’s SEO plan, Core gives you twice the projects and four times the daily tracked keywords for a lower monthly price, and extra seats are far cheaper ($16 versus Semrush’s $45 starting price). Some AI prompt tracking is included out of the box. Where it falls short of Semrush: its PPC and market research tools are thinner, and its keyword and backlink databases are smaller, which matters most for teams researching very large or very international markets.
SE Ranking suits agencies and growing in-house teams that track many keywords across several client sites and need white-label reporting without paying enterprise prices.
3. Moz Pro — Authority Metrics And AI Visibility Dashboards From $99 A Month
Moz Pro is one of the oldest SEO suites, best known for creating Domain Authority and Page Authority. It now also offers Brand Authority, Keyword Explorer, Rank Tracker, Site Crawl and a growing set of AI and GEO features, including AI Visibility Dashboards and prompt tracking across GPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode.
Moz lists an entry-level plan at $49 a month for individuals managing a single website, though it does not publish that plan’s detailed limits on the main pricing table. The three main plans are Standard at $99 a month ($79 a month paid yearly) with 1 user, 3 tracked sites, 300 tracked keywords and 150 tracked prompts; Medium at $179 a month ($143 yearly) with 2 users, 10 sites, 1,500 tracked keywords and 300 prompts; and Large at $299 a month ($239 yearly) with 3 users, 25 sites, 3,000 tracked keywords and 600 prompts. Additional prompts cost $50 per 100. A free trial is offered.
Moz beats Semrush on price for AI search tracking: Standard includes 150 tracked prompts and 3 AI visibility dashboards for $99, while Semrush’s dedicated AI Visibility allowance starts on the $199 Starter plan. Medium also includes 2 users, which Semrush charges extra for. Where it falls short: the Standard plan is tight, with only 150 keyword queries a month and 300 tracked keywords, and Moz has no meaningful PPC or advertising research. Prompt tracking runs weekly rather than daily.
Moz Pro suits small businesses and in-house marketers who want a friendly interface, trusted authority metrics and a first look at AI visibility without paying for a full agency suite.
Similarweb is a digital intelligence platform rather than a pure SEO tool. It estimates total website traffic across channels, benchmarks competitors, and adds SEO, advertising and generative AI suites on top. Its Strategic SEO Suite covers keyword research, keyword gap analysis and rank tracking, while its Gen AI Intel Suite reports on AI traffic trends, AI brand visibility and prompt analysis. Our Semrush vs Similarweb breakdown covers where the two overlap in detail.
Similarweb’s pricing page states that Web Intelligence plans start from $125 a month and offers self-service packages for individuals and small teams plus a free trial. It does not publish a plan-by-plan breakdown of seats, countries or features for those self-serve tiers. Business and enterprise packages, which unlock premium features, are custom-priced through sales. Annual billing is arranged by contacting Similarweb support.
Where Similarweb beats Semrush is the scope of its traffic data: it looks at a site’s whole audience mix (direct, referral, social, paid and search), with up to 37 months of history and country-level data for more than 100 countries. That makes it stronger for market sizing, investor research and channel benchmarking. Where it falls short: day-to-day SEO execution tools such as site audits and backlink research are not its focus, and the lack of published limits makes it hard to compare costs without a sales conversation.
Similarweb suits strategy, growth and market research teams who care more about competitor traffic and market share than about fixing technical SEO issues.
5. Serpstat — Three Users And API Credits For $100 A Month
Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform with keyword research and clustering, competitor analysis for SEO and PPC, rank tracking, site audits, a traffic checker and an API. It has a strong following among cost-conscious agencies and in-house teams outside the US.
There are four plans. Individual is $50 a month with 5 projects, 100 searches a day and 10,000 position checks a month. Team is $100 a month with 3 users, unlimited projects, 500 searches a day and API access. Team x2 is $169 a month with 6 users, and Agency is $410 a month with 30 users and 5,000 searches a day. Annual billing saves $228 a year on Individual, $348 on Team, $484 on Team x2 and $1,068 on Agency, though Serpstat does not list per-month annual prices. AI tools, AI visibility checks (1,500 a month) and an MCP integration for ChatGPT and Claude are included from Team upward. A 7-day free trial covers the Individual and Team plans.
Serpstat’s Team plan is the standout: three users, API credits and AI visibility checks for less than Semrush charges for one SEO seat. Rank tracking is metered by position checks rather than a fixed keyword count, which can be more flexible if you track some keywords less often. Where it falls short of Semrush: its databases are smaller in many markets, the Individual plan has no API or AI tools, and the interface takes some getting used to.
Serpstat suits small agencies and teams that need multiple logins and API access on a modest budget.
6. Mangools — Five Beginner-Friendly Tools For Under $20 A Month Annually
Mangools bundles five focused tools: KWFinder for keyword research, SERPChecker for SERP analysis, SERPWatcher for rank tracking, LinkMiner for backlinks and SiteProfiler for domain metrics. Every plan now also includes AI Search Watcher PRO, which monitors up to 500 prompts across several large language models, plus API and MCP access.
Mangools Basic costs $30.50 a month, or $18.85 a month billed annually ($226.20 a year), with 100 keyword lookups per 24 hours, 200 tracked keywords and 100,000 backlink rows a month. Mangools Premium is $40.50 a month or $26.35 a month annually, with 500 lookups a day, 700 tracked keywords and up to 3 extra seats. Mangools Agency is $70.50 a month or $48.85 a month annually, with 1,200 lookups a day, 1,500 tracked keywords, daily rank updates and up to 5 extra seats. Annual billing saves about 35%. A free account gives 5 lookups per 24 hours, and paid plans carry a 48-hour money-back guarantee.
Mangools beats Semrush on price and ease of use by a wide margin, and its 500 monitored AI prompts on every plan is generous at this price point. Where it falls short: rank tracking updates weekly except on the Agency plan, the Basic plan allows no extra seats, and there are no PPC, content marketing or market research modules. Site auditing is also not part of the bundle.
Mangools suits freelancers, bloggers and small business owners who mainly need keyword research and basic rank tracking in a clean interface.
7. Ubersuggest — Core SEO Data From $12 A Month With A Lifetime Option
Ubersuggest, from Neil Patel Digital, covers keyword research, site audits, rank tracking, competitor analysis, backlinks and, more recently, AI search visibility and AI article writing. It is built for site owners who want straightforward recommendations rather than raw data exports.
Individual costs $12 a month or $6.67 a month billed annually ($80 a year), with 1 user, 1 project, 125 tracked keywords and 150 searches a day. Business is $20 a month or $10.42 a month annually ($125 a year), with 2 users, 7 projects, 150 tracked keywords per project and 300 searches a day. Enterprise is $40 a month or $22.58 a month annually ($271 a year), with 5 users, 15 projects, 300 tracked keywords per project and 900 searches a day. A lifetime purchase option is also offered. Add-ons such as extra users or 250 more tracked keywords cost $5 a month each. Monthly plans come with a one-time 7-day free trial.
Ubersuggest beats Semrush on cost by an order of magnitude, and its Business plan includes two users for $20 a month. The built-in SEO training course is useful for beginners. Where it falls short: rank tracking is weekly, data exports cap at 2,000 to 10,000 rows per report, backlink history is limited to three years and there is no API. Its data depth is not in the same class as Semrush for agency-level research.
Ubersuggest suits solo founders and small business owners who want an affordable, guided SEO tool for one or a handful of sites.
8. SpyFu — Unlimited Searches And Up To 15 Years Of Competitor History
SpyFu specializes in competitor research for both organic search and Google Ads. You enter a competitor’s domain and see the keywords they rank for, the keywords they buy, their ad copy history and how their visibility has changed over time.
Basic costs $39 a month, or $33 a month billed annually ($399 a year), with 10,000 search result rows, 10,000 export rows, 5,000 weekly tracked keyword rankings and 6 months of history. Pro is $79 a month, or $58 a month annually ($696 a year), with unlimited search results and exports, 15,000 weekly tracked rankings, API access and the full historical archive (SpyFu’s feature table lists 15 years). Each plan includes one seat, with extra seats at $15 (Basic) or $30 (Pro). All plans include US and international data, and SpyFu offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
SpyFu beats Semrush for long-range competitor PPC research: years of ad copy and keyword buying history at a fraction of the price, with unlimited rows on Pro. Where it falls short: rank tracking is weekly, site auditing and content tools are limited compared with Semrush, and it is less useful as a single home for all SEO work.
SpyFu suits PPC managers, small agencies and founders who mainly want to see what competitors are bidding on and ranking for.
9. Sistrix — Visibility Index Tracking With Up To 11 Years Of History
Sistrix is a German SEO suite built around its Visibility Index, a single score that tracks how visible a domain is in Google over time. It also includes keyword research, domain analysis, a backlink index, JavaScript-capable crawling, AI Check and Prompt Tracking (in beta), and Amazon product research.
Pricing is published in euros, plus tax. Start costs €119 a month with 1 user, 3 projects and 3 months of history. Plus is €239 a month with 3 users, 15 projects, 5 years of history and content tools. Professional is €419 a month with 6 users, 40 projects, full API access and the full 11-year history. Premium is €799 a month with 12 users and 100 projects. Extra users cost €24.90 each from Plus upward. Plans can be cancelled monthly, and Sistrix mentions lower monthly costs on an annual contract without publishing the figures. Start and Plus come with a 14-day free trial.
Sistrix beats Semrush for historical visibility analysis, which makes it a favorite for diagnosing the impact of Google updates, and its multi-user plans include more seats than Semrush’s comparable tiers. It is particularly strong in European markets. Where it falls short: the Start plan holds only 3 months of history, US dollar billing is only available on Enterprise deals, and its PPC research is lighter than Semrush’s.
Sistrix suits SEO teams and agencies in Europe, and anyone who needs long-term visibility history to explain traffic changes.
10. Ranktracker — Daily Top 100 Rank Tracking With Unlimited Users
Ranktracker is built around rank tracking but bundles a Keyword Finder, SERP Analyzer, Backlink Checker and Monitor, Website Audit and reporting. Every plan includes Deep SERP Scan (Top 100 results), an AI Overviews tracker, API access, MCP server access and a Google Search Console integration.
Launch costs $39 a month or $31.20 a month billed annually, with 500 keywords tracked daily. Growth is $89 a month ($71.20 annually) with 1,000 daily keywords, Scale is $149 a month ($119.20 annually) with 2,000, and Authority is $299 a month ($239.20 annually) with 5,000. Tracking less frequently stretches each allowance: the Launch plan, for example, covers 3,500 keywords weekly or 15,000 monthly. All plans include unlimited users and unlimited projects. There is a 7-day free trial with no payment details required.
Ranktracker beats Semrush on rank tracking value: Launch matches Semrush’s 500 daily tracked keywords for $39 instead of $139, and unlimited users removes the per-seat charges entirely. Where it falls short: its keyword and backlink databases are not as deep, and it lacks Semrush’s PPC, content marketing and market research modules.
Ranktracker suits agencies and in-house teams whose main SEO job is monitoring rankings for many keywords and sharing that data across a team.
How To Choose A Semrush Alternative
Which Semrush Features Do You Actually Use?
Open your Semrush account and look at what you used last month. Many teams pay for the full suite and use three things: keyword research, rank tracking and a site audit. If that is you, a focused tool such as Mangools, Ubersuggest or Ranktracker covers the essentials for a fraction of the cost. If you rely on backlink research, Ahrefs is the natural move. If PPC competitor research is your main use, SpyFu is purpose-built for it.
How Many People Need A Login?
Seat pricing is where costs creep up. Semrush’s extra users start at $45 a month, and Ahrefs charges $40 to $80 a month per extra user. By contrast, Ranktracker includes unlimited users, Serpstat’s Team plan includes 3 users at $100 a month, SE Ranking’s extra seats start at $16, and Ubersuggest’s Business plan includes 2 users at $20 a month. Count your real users before comparing headline prices.
How Many Keywords Do You Need To Track, And How Often?
Semrush’s SEO plan tracks 500 keywords daily. SE Ranking Core tracks 2,000 daily for less money, while Moz Standard tracks 300 and Mangools Basic tracks 200 on a weekly cycle. Daily tracking matters for competitive or volatile keywords; weekly is fine for most small sites. Ranktracker’s model of trading frequency for volume can be useful if you track a large long tail.
Do You Need AI Search Visibility Tracking?
Buyers increasingly want to know how their brand shows up in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI answers, not just in blue links. Semrush reserves its dedicated AI Visibility allowance for Starter and above. Moz Standard includes 150 tracked prompts, SE Ranking includes 25 daily prompts on both plans, Mangools includes AI Search Watcher on every plan, and Ahrefs sells Brand Radar as an add-on. If you are still deciding how much to invest in AI search, our guide to GEO vs SEO explains how the two disciplines differ.
Which Markets Do You Work In?
Database coverage varies by country. Sistrix is particularly strong in Europe and bills in euros. Similarweb covers more than 100 countries at the traffic level. Smaller tools can have thin data outside major English-speaking markets, so run your own key terms and competitors through each free trial before committing.
Do You Need An API Or Data Integrations?
If you build reports or feed SEO data into other systems, check API access carefully. Serpstat includes API credits from the Team plan, Mangools includes API and MCP access on every plan, Ranktracker includes API and MCP access on all plans, SpyFu includes the API on Pro, and Sistrix offers full API access from Professional. Ubersuggest currently offers no API.
Conclusion
There is no single best replacement for Semrush, because Semrush does so many things. The right Semrush alternative depends on which part of it you actually use. Ahrefs is the closest full-suite rival and the better choice for backlink-heavy work. SE Ranking offers the most complete all-in-one package for the money, with far more tracked keywords and cheaper seats. Moz Pro is the friendliest option for small businesses and includes AI prompt tracking at a lower price point.
For tighter budgets, Mangools and Ubersuggest cover the SEO basics for a small fraction of Semrush’s cost. Specialists should look at SpyFu for PPC competitor research, Similarweb for market-level traffic intelligence, Sistrix for long-term visibility history, Serpstat for affordable team access with an API, and Ranktracker for rank tracking with unlimited users.
Most of these tools offer a free trial, a free plan or a money-back guarantee. Run the same handful of keywords and competitor domains through two or three of them before you cancel Semrush, and compare the data you actually rely on, not the feature list.
