In short: Semrush is a large marketing suite, and for deep keyword and backlink research in many countries it is hard to replace. People look for a Semrush alternative when the bill grows faster than the work it does: extra users, paid add-ons for local and AI tracking, and a long list of tools they never open. This article covers six real options, what each costs on its own pricing page, who it suits, and the cases where staying with Semrush is the right call. If you only want the head-to-head, read RankThat vs Semrush.
All prices below were checked on official pricing pages in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you buy.
Why people look for an alternative to Semrush
Semrush is good at what it was built for. The reasons people leave are usually about fit, not quality.
- The base price is only the start. The SEO plan is $139 a month for 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily. Local is sold separately from $30 a month per location, the AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month per domain, the Content plan is $60 a month, and Pro Report white-label reports are $20 a month (add-on prices billed annually).
- Seats cost extra. Additional users start at $45 a month each. A three-person agency team adds up quickly.
- Agency features moved. Semrush retired its Client Portal along with the Agency Growth Kit, so agencies that relied on it need another way to give clients a login.
- It’s a lot of software. PPC research, market data, social tools and lead generation sit in the same account. If you run SEO for ten local businesses, most of that is noise you pay for.
- It tells you what to fix, then stops. Site Audit lists issues with tips and can hand them to a developer, but the fixing happens somewhere else.
None of these are flaws if you use the whole suite. They become reasons to switch when your work is mostly audits, fixes, rank tracking and monthly client reports.
What a small agency actually pays for Semrush
Take a fictional three-person agency with five local clients: a plumber, a dentist, a coffee roaster, a law firm and a landscaper. They want rank tracking, a local map view for each client, white-label reports and a login for each team member. Using the prices on Semrush’s own pages:
| Item | Semrush price |
|---|---|
| SEO plan (5 websites, 500 keywords) | $139/mo |
| Two extra users | from $90/mo ($45 each) |
| Local for five locations | from $150/mo ($30 each, billed annually) |
| Pro Report white-label reports | $20/mo |
| Total before AI tracking | from $399/mo |
AI tracking comes on top: either the AI Visibility Toolkit at $99/mo per domain, or the SEO + AI Search Starter plan at $199/mo instead of the $139 SEO plan, which adds AI visibility and MCP access.
The same agency on RankThat Professional pays $99/mo for 5 projects with 1,000 tracked keywords each, 3 team members per project, a Local Rank Grid, AI visibility and white-label reports. That is not a like-for-like swap, and it is worth being clear about what you give up: Semrush tracks AI prompts daily where RankThat Professional checks 4 times a month, Semrush Local Pro adds listing management and review generation, and Semrush’s research data is far larger. Work out which of those your clients actually notice before you decide.
What to check in any Semrush alternative
Before you trial anything, write down the jobs you do every month and test each one:
- Tracking: how many keywords per client, which locations, and how often positions update.
- Fixing: whether the tool only lists issues or can make changes on the site, and whether you can undo them.
- Reporting: white label, a client login, and how long each monthly report takes you to finish.
- Seats: what each extra team member costs.
- Local and AI: whether map rankings and AI answers are included or sold per location or per domain.
The shortlist
1. RankThat
Who it suits: agencies, freelancers and in-house marketers running SEO for several local or WordPress sites.
Price: Starter $50/mo (1 project), Professional $99/mo (5 projects, 1,000 tracked keywords per project), Enterprise $199/mo (unlimited). Yearly billing is 10 months’ price. 14-day free trial on every plan; you add a card at sign-up and aren’t charged until the trial ends. See pricing.
Strengths:
- Fixes get applied, not just listed. The Site Audit runs 100+ checks, then the free WordPress Bridge plugin applies approved fixes such as SEO titles, redirects, schema, alt text and internal links, each with one-click undo.
- AI visibility (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews) and a local rank grid are included on Professional instead of sold per domain or per location.
- A monthly report is drafted for each client in plain English, which you edit and approve; clients can log in read-only to a white-label client portal.
Limitation: its keyword and backlink data covers client work well but is much smaller than Semrush’s, and there is no public API or PPC research.
2. SE Ranking
Who it suits: agencies that want a broad research and tracking platform at a lower price than Semrush.
Price: Core $129/mo (10 projects, 2,000 keywords tracked daily, 1 seat), Growth $279/mo (30 projects, 5,000 keywords, 3 seats). Billed annually: $103.20 and $223.20 a month.
Strengths:
- Tracks Google, Bing, Yahoo and YouTube, down to ZIP level.
- 10 projects on the entry plan suits agencies with many small sites.
- 14-day free trial without a credit card.
Limitation: AI Search ($89/mo) and the Agency Pack with white label (+$69/mo, annual billing only) are add-ons, so the agency setup costs more than the headline price.
3. Ahrefs
Who it suits: SEOs who spend most of their day in backlink and keyword research.
Price: Lite $129/mo (750 tracked keywords), Standard $249/mo (2,000), Advanced $449/mo (5,000), Enterprise $1,499/mo with an annual commitment. A Starter plan is $29/mo.
Strengths:
- A backlink index of 35T records, updated every 15 minutes.
- 28.7B keywords across 217 locations.
- API and MCP access from Lite.
Limitation: each plan includes one user (extra users $40 to $80/mo), and Brand Radar AI (from $199/mo) and Report Builder ($99/mo) are add-ons.
4. Moz Pro
Who it suits: teams that rely on Domain Authority and want training resources for junior staff.
Price: Standard $99/mo (3 sites, 300 keywords, 1 user), Medium $179/mo (10 sites, 1,500 keywords, 2 users), Large $299/mo (25 sites, 3,000 keywords, 3 users). Yearly: $79, $143 and $239 a month. A $49/mo plan covers one site.
Strengths:
- Domain Authority, Page Authority and Brand Authority, metrics many clients already recognize.
- AI prompt tracking for GPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode is in every plan (150 prompts on Standard).
- MozBar Premium, a Chrome extension, is included.
Limitation: local SEO is a separate product (Moz Local), and Standard’s 300 keywords and single user are tight for an agency.
5. Mangools
Who it suits: freelancers and small teams who mainly need keyword research and light rank tracking.
Price: Basic $30.50/mo, Premium $40.50/mo, Agency $70.50/mo on monthly billing; $18.85, $26.35 and $48.85 a month billed annually.
Strengths:
- Low price for KWFinder, SERP analysis, rank tracking, backlinks and site profiles in one bundle.
- AI Search Watcher (500 prompts) and API and MCP access are included in every plan.
- Unlimited tracked domains; the Agency plan tracks 1,500 keywords daily.
Limitation: Basic and Premium update rankings weekly, and there’s no site audit with fixes or client reporting built for agencies.
6. Ubersuggest
Who it suits: business owners doing SEO on their own site, on a tight budget.
Price: their pricing page shows US$29 to US$99 a month, plus a one-time lifetime option. 7-day free trial on monthly plans.
Strengths:
- Step-by-step SEO training and email support.
- AI visibility checks across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overview.
- Cheap $5/mo add-ons for extra projects, keywords and users.
Limitation: rankings update weekly, and Ubersuggest says it doesn’t offer white-label reports or client portals.
Semrush alternatives compared
| Tool | Entry price for agency use | Rank tracking | AI visibility | Local map grid | White-label client reports | Applies fixes on the site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush | $139/mo (5 sites, 500 kw) | Daily | From $199 plan or $99/mo per domain | Local add-on, from $30/mo per location | Pro Report, $20/mo | No |
| RankThat | $99/mo (5 projects, 1,000 kw each) | Daily or weekly | Included | Included | Included, plus client portal | Yes, WordPress |
| SE Ranking | $129/mo (10 projects, 2,000 kw) | Daily | Add-on, $89/mo | Local and map tracker | Agency Pack, +$69/mo | No |
| Ahrefs | $129/mo (750 kw, 1 user) | Weekly | Brand Radar AI, from $199/mo | Not listed | Report Builder, $99/mo | Patches, $200/mo per project |
| Moz Pro | $99/mo (3 sites, 300 kw) | Yes | Included (GPT, Gemini, AI Mode) | Moz Local, separate | Branded reports on Medium and up | No |
| Mangools | $30.50/mo (200 kw) | Weekly; daily on Agency | Included | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Ubersuggest | US$29 to US$99/mo | Weekly | Included (3 models) | Not listed | No | Not listed |
When to stay with Semrush
Be honest about how you use it. Stay if any of these describe your work:
- You do research at scale. 28B+ keywords in 142 geographic databases and 43T+ backlinks puts Semrush with Ahrefs and Moz at the top of this list for data. International and enterprise research needs that depth.
- You run paid search too. Semrush covers PPC and advertising research. RankThat has no ads tools, and neither do most lighter alternatives.
- You need daily AI prompt tracking. Semrush tracks prompts daily. RankThat’s Professional plan checks AI visibility 4 times a month.
- You build on an API. Semrush offers API access on Advanced and Enterprise. RankThat has no public API.
- Your team already lives in it. Retraining has a cost. If the add-ons you pay for are the ones you use, the bill may be fair.
A common middle path: keep one Semrush seat for research and move the client delivery work (audits, fixes, tracking, reports) to a cheaper platform.
How to switch from Semrush to RankThat
Semrush is the one tool whose ranking history can come with you: ask us to import your Position Tracking data and our team brings it across, so ranking trends in client reports don’t restart at zero. It isn’t a self-serve button, so request it early. Here is the order that works.
- Export what you want to keep. Download your tracked keyword lists (with tags and locations), a final rankings export for your records, any backlink disavow file, and PDFs of past client reports.
- Start the trial and add each site as a project. Add sites before the import, because Position Tracking data is matched to projects by domain.
- Connect Google. Link Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 for each site. Click and impression history comes from Google, not from Semrush.
- Ask us to import your Position Tracking history. Once it’s done, ranking history and keywords appear in the Rank Tracker. Check the location and devices on each project afterwards.
- Install the Bridge plugin on WordPress sites, run a site audit, and review the drafted fixes before approving any.
- Add competitors so share of voice and AI visibility comparisons have a baseline from the first week.
- Run both tools for one reporting cycle. Compare the first RankThat monthly report with your last Semrush one before you cancel.
Cancel Semrush add-ons first (Local, AI Visibility Toolkit, Pro Report) once RankThat covers them. For a five-client agency, Local and Pro Report alone can cost more than the base plan.
For setting up the report side, the monthly SEO report template for clients shows what to include.
Sources
Prices and features checked October 2026 on these official pages:
- Semrush pricing: semrush.com/prices, Local, AI Visibility Toolkit, Content, Agency Growth Kit sunsetting
- SE Ranking: seranking.com/subscription.html
- Ahrefs: ahrefs.com/pricing
- Moz Pro: moz.com/products/pro/pricing
- Mangools: mangools.com/plans-and-pricing
- Ubersuggest: ubersuggest.com/en/pricing