Semrush Alternatives 2026: Ahrefs, SE Ranking, Moz, Similarweb and More

Why buyers look past Semrush

Semrush is the broadest SEO suite we have reviewed, but breadth is not what every buyer needs. Some only want keyword research or rank tracking, and for them the full suite means paying for tools they never open. The entry plan alone is US$139 a month ^[1], before extra users, white-label reports or any of the add-on toolkits. That is the first reason people shop around. The second is leaving. In our sample of the 100 most recent Semrush reviews on Trustpilot, 87 gave one star, 76 were about billing and 57 about refunds, and many describe a charge after a trial or a renewal they meant to stop.

Rivals that let you cancel from your own account settings remove most of that risk. Below we compare the tools buyers most often weigh against Semrush, each on its own pricing page as we read it on 12 October 2026, with Semrush's figures taken from its pricing page and help center. The arithmetic is ours. One name is missing on purpose. Serpstat ranks high in US search demand for Semrush comparisons, but its pricing page did not load for us, so we do not review it here rather than guess.

The Semrush baseline you are comparing against

Semrush sells four core plans: SEO at US$139 a month, Starter at US$199, Pro+ at US$299 and Advanced at US$549, or 15.6% to 17% less when billed annually ^[1]. On top of those sit six specialist toolkits, each sold separately. The SEO and Starter plans track 500 keywords with daily ranking updates, and Starter adds 50 AI prompts tracked daily, while the SEO plan has no prompt quota at all. A 7-day trial is available, but it needs a card.

The refund rule is the detail most buyers miss. Monthly plans are not refundable. The only guarantee covers a first annual purchase, within 7 days. Canceling also takes more steps than with most rivals: you fill in a form, then click a confirmation link that arrives within 24 hours. Keep those three facts in mind, because the alternatives below differ from Semrush more on refunds and exits than on price.

Ahrefs: deeper on links, stricter on exits

What you get

Ahrefs leads US search demand for Semrush comparisons by far. Lite costs US$129 a month, Standard US$249 and Advanced US$449, with Enterprise at US$1,499 a month on an annual commitment ^[2]. Lite tracks 750 keywords against Semrush SEO's 500, but rankings update weekly rather than daily. It includes one user, 5 unverified projects, 100,000 crawl credits a month, 6 months of history and 2,500 rows per report. Standard moves to 20 projects, 2 years of history and 30,000 rows, and Advanced to 50 projects, 5 years and 75,000 rows. Ahrefs advertises up to 17% off on annual billing but did not list the annual monthly figure in the text we read.

Who it suits

Ahrefs fits large sites and link-focused SEO work, and API and MCP access come on every plan, which developers will like. You can cancel from the account settings, and Ahrefs says there are no contracts or setup fees. Add-ons include a Content Kit from US$99 and Project Boost from US$20 per project, while Brand Radar, its AI visibility research tool, is sold on its own from US$199 a month. For one site you own and can verify, Ahrefs Free gives you Web Analytics, a 170-check Site Audit and Site Explorer at no cost, which covers much of what a paid entry plan does.

The catch

There is no trial, and there are no refunds in general; monthly users may ask only if they have not used the service. Extra users cost US$40 a month each on Lite, and they are charged automatically, as are pay-as-you-go credits once enabled. Lite also tracks only 5 AI prompts. For the full feature-by-feature split, see our Semrush vs Ahrefs comparison.

SE Ranking: the most tracked keywords per dollar

Plans and limits

SE Ranking Core costs US$129 a month, or US$103.20 billed annually, and Growth costs US$279, or US$223.20 ^[3]. Annual billing saves 20%. Core includes 10 projects, one manager seat, 2,000 tracked keywords and 100 AI prompts a day. Growth raises that to 30 projects, 3 manager seats, 5,000 keywords and 250 prompts. Core also covers 10 report-builder reports, 50,000 export rows, 250,000 audited pages, 25 content articles a month, 3 local locations and 1,500 Maps keywords, and Growth raises most of these and adds all-time history.

Who it suits

Core tracks four times Semrush SEO's keywords for less money. That makes SE Ranking the obvious pick for small teams that live in rank tracking. A 14-day trial needs no card, so you can test the tracking before paying anything. Agencies can add an Agency Pack for white-label reporting at US$69 a month, annual billing only. Developers get MCP access and research API credits on both plans, 25,000 or 100,000 a month, and a standalone API plan starts at US$179 a month, annual only.

The catch

The extras add up. SE Ranking sells a separate social media platform from US$33 a month, with 20% off when bundled, much as Semrush sells its Social toolkit separately from US$20 a month billed annually; both treat social as an extra, not part of the core plan. Extra keywords start at US$22.40 on Core, extra manager seats at US$16 each, and AI search tracking beyond the included prompts is a US$89 add-on, or US$71.20 annually. Historical data on Core is limited to six months.

Moz Pro: a gentle start with weekly AI tracking

Moz Pro Standard costs US$99 a month, or US$79 billed annually; Medium costs US$179, or US$143; and Large costs US$299, or US$239 ^[4]. Yearly billing saves 20%, and Moz also offers a US$49 plan for a single website. When we read the page, it was advertising a time-limited discount of up to 40%. Standard covers 3 tracked sites, 300 keywords and 400,000 crawled pages a month, with 1 user seat. Medium and Large add seats (2 and 3), more tracked campaigns (10 and 25) and more tracked keywords (1,500 and 3,000). Backlink queries run 5,000, 20,000 and 70,000 a month across the three plans.

The AI side is generous on volume. Moz tracks 150, 300 or 600 prompts across GPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity, with sentiment and citation data, but tracking runs weekly, and extra prompts cost US$50 per 100. Every plan includes 24/7 support and the MozBar Premium extension, and Moz says you can cancel "no questions asked" ^[4]. It suits beginners. The trade-off is that Moz tracks fewer keywords than Semrush at similar prices, its overages are not included in the plan prices by its own note, and there is a free trial but no student discount.

Mangools: five small tools and a real refund

Mangools is a bundle of five small tools rather than one platform: KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner and SiteProfiler. It sells Basic, Premium and Agency, each with API and MCP access. Rank tracking covers 200, 700 or 1,500 keywords, updated weekly except on Agency, which updates daily. Keyword research allows 100, 500 or 1,200 requests a day, and Premium and Agency add 3 or 5 extra seats. Every plan includes an AI Search Watcher that monitors 500 prompts. The plan cards were shown to us in euros, so we do not quote dollar prices, though Mangools puts its annual saving at about 35%.

The refund is the real difference. Mangools promises: "If you are not satisfied we will issue a full refund within 48 hours of your payment." That applies to monthly payments too, unlike Semrush's annual-only guarantee, although it does not cover two consecutive subscriptions. Mangools is also the only option here that says it takes PayPal, through Paddle, alongside cards, bank transfer and cryptocurrency. Downgrades and cancellations happen inside the account. For a cautious first-time buyer, that combination lowers the cost of a wrong guess.

Ubersuggest, SpyFu and Similarweb: narrower picks

Ubersuggest for do-it-yourself site owners

Ubersuggest's own comparison table puts its price range at US$29 to US$99 a month, against US$139 to US$499 for Semrush and US$129 to US$449 for Ahrefs. The Semrush range there matches neither Semrush's current plans nor its legacy ones exactly. Check any rival's figures on the rival's own page. Always. Ubersuggest markets itself mainly on price against the larger suites, and it includes step-by-step SEO training, templates and email support on its plans, which suits site owners doing their own SEO.

Plans are organized by websites, not seats: Individual for one site, Business for 2 to 7 and Enterprise for 8 to 15. They run 150, 300 and 900 daily reports, 125, 150 and 300 tracked keywords per project updated weekly, and site audits of 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 pages, with AI prompt tracking for 10 to 20 prompts per brand. Plan prices were shown to us in euros, with a yearly offer of five months free and a discounted lifetime deal, so we do not quote them.

SpyFu for paid search research

SpyFu is the paid-search specialist in this group. It focuses on competitors' search ads and keywords, with an AI-powered site audit and a ChatGPT integration on its homepage. It claims data updated every 15 seconds across 38 countries; those are SpyFu's figures. We could not read a current price list. So we make no price claim. If paid search research is your main reason for paying Semrush, check SpyFu's current prices yourself, because we cannot set them against the others here.

Similarweb for market and traffic research

Similarweb is built for market and traffic research rather than SEO execution: competitive intelligence, demand analysis, app and retail data, with up to 37 months of history, 100+ countries, an AI Studio for natural-language questions, APIs, MCP and SSO. It overlaps most with Semrush's Traffic & Market toolkit, which starts at US$289 a month. It publishes no self-serve prices, though it mentions a free trial and individual packages. Everything else goes through sales, which makes budgeting hard. We cover the overlap in Semrush vs Similarweb.

Side by side: price, keywords and AI prompts

Among these four, Moz is the cheapest entry plan both month-to-month and on annual billing. SE Ranking, though, gives far more tracked keywords for its price. Per US$100 of monthly list price, that is about 360 keywords on Semrush, 581 on Ahrefs, 1,550 on SE Ranking and 303 on Moz, by our arithmetic. By a wide margin, SE Ranking leads. On AI prompt tracking, frequency matters as much as volume. Moz tracks the most prompts at entry level but only weekly, while Semrush and SE Ranking update daily. Semrush tracks fewer prompts than Moz at entry level and publishes a daily prompt quota only from Starter; its SEO plan lists custom prompt monitoring without a number.

Refunds, cancellation and payment

Refund rules differ more than prices across this group. Semrush refunds only a first annual purchase, within 7 days. Ahrefs offers no refunds in general. Mangools refunds within 48 hours on any payment. Moz lets you cancel any time, with no refund promise in the text we read. SE Ranking's 14-day trial without a card reduces the need for a refund in the first place.

Canceling follows the same pattern. Semrush requires the form and the confirmation link, while Ahrefs and Mangools let you cancel in the account, and Moz says you may cancel or change plans at any time. Of our 100 recent Semrush Trustpilot reviews, 59 mention cancellation. Contract terms are worth a glance too: Semrush's Terms require individual arbitration, with an opt-out within 30 days. On payment, Mangools accepts PayPal, bank transfer and cryptocurrency, Ahrefs accepts UnionPay, and Semrush takes four card brands but refuses virtual cards.

Which alternative fits which job

Agencies and local businesses

Agencies need seats, white-label reports and enough projects for every client. Semrush Pro+ or SE Ranking Growth are the strongest fits: Pro+ has 15 sites, daily tracking and white-label reports at US$20 each, while Growth has 30 projects, 3 seats and an Agency Pack for US$69 a month. Ahrefs Standard suits link-heavy agencies. For local work, look at Semrush's Local toolkit, from US$30 per location, or SE Ranking, whose plans include 3 local locations and listing management in 100+ directories. Ahrefs' GBP Monitor is still in beta.

AI visibility, enterprise and free tiers

AI tracking is now included in almost every SEO suite, at very different volumes. Mangools includes 500 monitored prompts on every plan, Moz Standard tracks 150 weekly, and SE Ranking Core tracks 100 daily. Semrush Starter tracks 50 daily. At the top end, Ahrefs Enterprise costs US$1,499 a month on an annual commitment, while Semrush and Similarweb price enterprise plans through sales; all three offer SSO at that level. At the other end, try the free tiers before paying anyone. Ahrefs Free serves verified site owners, Semrush's free plan allows 10 queries a day, and Moz offers a free community account with limited tool access.

Stay, switch, and how to leave cleanly

Stay with Semrush if you need local listings, social scheduling, PR and AI visibility alongside SEO, because no alternative here bundles as much. Daily rank updates and AI prompt tracking on Starter are strong too, and agencies that use Local, Content and reporting together will pay more elsewhere to assemble the same stack. Our Semrush pricing guide breaks down what that bundle really costs.

Switch when one feature you use daily is cheaper or better elsewhere. Rank tracking at volume points to SE Ranking. Link analysis and developer access point to Ahrefs. A simple start points to Moz Standard or Ubersuggest, and pure market research at large-company scale points to Similarweb. If you do leave, export first. Semrush deletes monitoring data 30 days after cancellation, keeping only the oldest project. It exports Backlinks data to Excel, CSV and PDF, for example, so keep the raw files rather than only PDF reports. Then cancel through the form and click the link.

The bottom line

Semrush is the most complete suite here; the alternatives are cheaper, narrower or easier to leave. Pick the one whose strongest feature matches the task you do most often, because the tool you open every morning matters far more than features you use twice a year. For most small teams, the deciding factor will be tracked keywords per dollar, which favors SE Ranking, or how easily you can leave, which favors Mangools, Moz and Ahrefs over Semrush. Big agencies that use the whole bundle should usually stay.