Adobe closed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush in early 2026. The deal is already changing how people think about the platform. Semrush also restructured its plans around the same time, folding the old Pro, Guru and Business tiers into a new lineup that starts at $139.95 a month. Two changes, one question: is Semrush still the right tool for you? For teams that picked Semrush because it was an independent, SEO-first product, that’s worth ten minutes of checking.
We tested pricing, feature depth and positioning across ten Semrush alternatives, verifying every price directly against each vendor’s live pricing page in September 2026. Two of them changed more than their prices. Mangools and AgencyAnalytics both rebuilt their entire pricing model in the past few months, so if you’re comparing against an older roundup, some of these numbers will surprise you.
Semrush Alternatives at a Glance
Here’s the short version. Each tool below is verified against its live pricing page as of September 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | All-around SEO research | $29/mo (Starter), $129/mo (Lite) | Limited (Webmaster Tools) |
| SE Ranking | Budget all-in-one suite | $103.20/mo annual | No (free trial) |
| Moz Pro | Beginners and small teams | $49/mo (1 site) | No (free trial) |
| Mangools | Solopreneurs on a budget | $29.90/mo annual | No (free trial) |
| Serpstat | Growth marketing on a budget | $50/mo | No (7-day trial) |
| SpyFu | Competitor PPC + SEO research | $39/mo | Limited free search |
| SEO PowerSuite | One-time desktop license | $349/yr (or free tier) | Yes, permanent free tier |
| Similarweb | Market and traffic intelligence | $125/mo annual | Limited free lookups |
| Ubersuggest | Cheapest full-featured option | $29/mo | Limited daily searches |
| AgencyAnalytics | White-label client reporting | $20/client/mo annual | No (free trial) |
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is the alternative most people land on first, and for the same reason Semrush built its own backlink index: its Site Explorer and Keywords Explorer are still the benchmark most other tools get compared against. It covers keyword research, rank tracking, site audits and content research in one product. Its backlink index is one of the largest in the industry.
Pricing
Ahrefs runs a Starter plan at $29/month for light competitor lookups, then three main tiers: Lite at $129/month (5 projects, 750 tracked keywords, 100,000 crawl credits), Standard at $249/month (20 projects, 2,000 keywords, 500,000 crawl credits), and Advanced at $449/month (50 projects, 5,000 keywords, 1.5 million crawl credits). Enterprise starts at $1,499/month on an annual contract. Paying annually saves about 17% on any tier. We’ve broken the full plan structure down separately in our Ahrefs pricing guide and full Ahrefs review.
Pros: Best-in-class backlink data, clean UI, strong content and rank-tracking tools.
Cons: No plan under $129/month gives you the full toolset; crawl credits run out fast on larger sites.
Best for: Agencies and in-house teams who want Semrush-level research depth without Semrush’s exact feature list.
2. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is the closest like-for-like Semrush swap on this list. It bundles rank tracking, keyword research, backlink analysis, site audits, and now AI-visibility monitoring into a single dashboard aimed at the same agency and in-house SEO audience Semrush targets, at roughly half the entry price.
Pricing
The Core plan runs $129/month (or $103.20/month billed annually) for 10 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, and 250,000 pages of monthly audit crawling. Growth jumps to $279/month ($223.20/month annually) for 30 projects, 5,000 keywords, and higher API limits. Enterprise is custom-priced. AI Search visibility tracking is a $79/month add-on rather than a built-in feature.
Pros: Genuinely comparable feature breadth to Semrush at a lower price; white-label agency add-on available.
Cons: AI-search tracking costs extra; API access is also a paid add-on.
Best for: Agencies that want Semrush’s scope without Semrush’s invoice.
3. Moz Pro
Moz was doing keyword research and domain authority scoring before most of today’s SEO tools existed, and Moz Pro is still a reasonable on-ramp for teams that find Semrush’s interface overwhelming. The 2026 version leans harder into AI search than most people expect, with dedicated AI Visibility Dashboards tracking how a site shows up across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity.
Pricing
An entry-level Starter plan runs $49/month for one site. The three main plans are Standard at $99/month ($79/month annual) for 3 tracked sites and 300 keywords, Medium at $179/month ($143/month annual, Moz’s most popular tier) for 10 sites and 1,500 keywords, and Large at $299/month ($239/month annual) for 25 sites and 3,000 keywords. Every paid tier now includes AI Overview tracking and a set number of AI content briefs per month.
Pros: Simpler learning curve than Semrush or Ahrefs; AI-visibility tracking built into every tier, not an add-on.
Cons: Smaller backlink index than Ahrefs or Semrush; keyword-tracking limits are tighter than competitors at the same price.
Best for: Small businesses and solo marketers who want one clear dashboard rather than a dozen modules.
4. Mangools
Mangools has been the budget pick in this category for years. It’s built around five focused tools (KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner, SiteProfiler) instead of Semrush’s sprawling module list. It repositioned itself in 2026 as an “AIO + SEO bundle,” and every plan now folds in AI Search Watcher PRO, an AI-visibility monitor most competing roundups still list as a separate paid product.
Pricing
Basic is $49/month, or $29.90/month billed annually. Premium is $69/month ($44.90/month annual) and adds extra seats and higher daily lookup limits. Agency is $129/month ($89.90/month annual). AI Search Watcher PRO, bundled at every tier, tracks 500 prompts across multiple LLMs with no separate charge.
Pros: Cheapest full toolset on this list when billed annually; genuinely easy to learn in a day.
Cons: Daily lookup limits on the Basic plan are tight for anything beyond a single site; no dedicated site-audit crawler like Semrush’s.
Best for: Freelancers and solopreneurs who don’t need Semrush’s full research depth, just the essentials plus AI visibility.
5. Serpstat
Serpstat markets itself as a growth-hacking platform more than a pure SEO suite, which shows up in features like batch keyword analysis and its own AI Overview brand-opportunities report. It covers the same core ground as Semrush (keyword research, rank tracking, site audit, backlink analysis) at noticeably lower price points.
Pricing
Individual is $50/month for 5 projects and 100 daily searches. Team is $100/month with unlimited projects, API access, and ChatGPT/Claude integration via MCP. Agency runs $410/month with white-label reports and phone support. Annual billing saves roughly 27% across all three. Serpstat also ships a standalone LLM Brand Monitor tracking mentions across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and more than 140 other AI models.
Pros: API access and MCP integration included starting at the Team tier, not gated to Enterprise; strong batch-analysis tools for agencies.
Cons: Backlink index is smaller than Ahrefs or Semrush; Individual plan has no API access at all.
Best for: Agencies running keyword research at volume who want API access without an enterprise price tag.
6. SpyFu
SpyFu built its reputation on competitor PPC intelligence, showing exactly which keywords a domain bids on and how its ad copy has changed over time, then layered SEO research and, more recently, AI-visibility tools on top. If Semrush’s competitor-research module is the feature you actually use most, SpyFu is worth a look.
Pricing
Basic runs $39/month with 10,000-row exports and one live tracking project. Pro + AI is $119/month after an introductory $59 first month, unlocking unlimited exports, 10 tracking projects, and RivalFlow (SpyFu’s AI-visibility and brand-monitoring feature) for one site. Team/Agency is $249/month with 5 user seats and RivalFlow coverage for 5 sites.
Pros: Unmatched historical PPC data, some of it going back 10+ years; ChatGPT integration for pulling SpyFu data directly into prompts.
Cons: SEO features (site audit, content tools) are thinner than Ahrefs, Semrush, or SE Ranking.
Best for: Teams running paid search alongside SEO who want competitor ad intelligence in the same tool.
7. SEO PowerSuite
SEO PowerSuite is the outlier on this list: a downloadable desktop application (Rank Tracker, WebSite Auditor, SEO SpyGlass, LinkAssistant) rather than a cloud dashboard, sold as an annual license instead of a monthly subscription. It also has a genuinely free forever tier, not just a time-limited trial.
Pricing
The free tier covers one project, 500 URLs crawled, and 1,100 backlinks tracked, permanently. Professional is $349/year (about $29/month) with unlimited projects and keywords. Enterprise is $599/year (about $50/month) and adds white-label reporting and scheduled report delivery. Max+ is $899/year (about $75/month) with priority onboarding and support extras. Multi-year prepayment knocks another 20 to 34% off.
Pros: Only tool on this list with a genuine no-time-limit free tier; annual license means no surprise monthly renewal.
Cons: Desktop software means no built-in team collaboration the way cloud tools offer it; data lives on your machine, not synced across a team by default.
Best for: Freelancers and small agencies who’d rather buy a license once a year than manage another monthly subscription.
8. Similarweb
Similarweb isn’t really a Semrush replacement for keyword research or backlinks, it’s a market and traffic intelligence platform that happens to overlap with Semrush’s Traffic Analytics module. If competitive traffic estimates, industry benchmarking, or e-commerce market share are what you actually use Semrush for, Similarweb goes deeper on that specific job.
Pricing
The self-service Competitive Intelligence plan starts at $125/month billed annually ($199/month monthly) for basic traffic and competitor benchmarking. Adding keyword research and AI-search visibility bumps that to $333/month annual ($399/month monthly). A top self-service tier adding paid-search data runs $542/month annual ($649/month monthly). Beyond that, Team, Business, and Enterprise plans move to custom sales-assisted pricing starting around $14,000 a year. We cover the full breakdown, including the sales-assisted tiers, in our Similarweb pricing guide.
Pros: Traffic and market-share estimates that Semrush and Ahrefs don’t attempt to match; strong for competitive and industry research beyond pure SEO.
Cons: Gets expensive fast once you need SEO or ads data layered on top; not a real keyword-research or backlink tool on its own.
Best for: Teams whose main Semrush use case is competitor traffic estimation, not keyword or backlink research.
9. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is Neil Patel’s budget SEO tool, and it’s stayed the cheapest full-featured option on this list for years. The 2026 version bakes AI-search features (ChatGPT and Gemini insights in keyword research, Google AI Overview tracking) into every plan rather than charging extra for them.
Pricing
Individual is $29/month for one project, 125 tracked keywords, and 150 daily searches. Business is $49/month for 7 projects and 300 daily searches. Enterprise is $99/month for 15 projects and 900 daily searches. A custom agency tier is available on request. Ubersuggest also runs a recurring lifetime-access promotion at a steep discount off the annual list price, worth checking if you plan to use it for years rather than months.
Pros: Lowest entry price of any tool on this list with a genuinely usable feature set; simple enough to hand to a non-specialist.
Cons: Data depth (especially backlinks and historical data) trails Ahrefs, Semrush, and SE Ranking noticeably.
Best for: Solopreneurs and small sites who need the basics done well, cheaply.
10. AgencyAnalytics
AgencyAnalytics is the one tool here that isn’t trying to replace Semrush’s research engine at all, it’s a white-label client-reporting and dashboarding layer. It pulls data from Google Search Console, Google Analytics and dozens of other sources, including Semrush or Ahrefs themselves, into branded client reports. If the Semrush feature your agency actually pays for is its reporting module, this is worth pricing out separately.
Pricing
AgencyAnalytics moved to flat per-client pricing in 2026: $20 per client per month billed annually ($25/month on monthly billing), with every feature (unlimited data sources, reports, dashboards, staff and client users) unlocked at that single rate. A Rank Tracker add-on runs about $41.67/month per 500 keywords, and an AI Tracker add-on for AI-visibility monitoring runs about $18/month per 250 credits, both billed annually. Enterprise pricing kicks in for agencies managing 25 or more clients.
Pros: Simple per-client pricing scales predictably as an agency grows; strong white-label branding and client-portal features.
Cons: Not a keyword-research or backlink tool by itself, needs to be paired with one; rank tracking and AI tracking are separate paid add-ons.
Best for: Agencies whose bottleneck is client reporting, not raw SEO data.
How to Choose the Right Semrush Alternative
The honest answer is that “Semrush alternative” covers a few different jobs, and no single tool on this list does all of them better than Semrush across the board.
If budget is the main driver
Mangools and Ubersuggest both undercut Semrush’s entry price by a wide margin while still covering keyword research, rank tracking, and basic competitor analysis. SEO PowerSuite’s free tier is worth trying first if you don’t need cloud collaboration.
If you want the closest feature match
SE Ranking and Ahrefs both cover the same core ground as Semrush (keyword research, site audit, backlink analysis, rank tracking) in one dashboard. SE Ranking is closer on price, Ahrefs is closer on data depth.
If your main use case is narrower than “everything”
SpyFu for competitor PPC intelligence, Similarweb for market and traffic estimation, and AgencyAnalytics for white-label reporting are all stronger at their one job than Semrush’s equivalent module, and cheaper if that’s genuinely all you need.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are people looking for Semrush alternatives in 2026?
Two things happened close together: Adobe closed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush in early 2026, and Semrush restructured its plans, replacing the old Pro/Guru/Business names with a new lineup starting at $139.95 a month. Neither change breaks existing accounts, but both have prompted teams to double-check whether Semrush is still the best fit.
What is the closest alternative to Semrush?
SE Ranking covers the widest overlap with Semrush’s feature set: keyword research, rank tracking, site audit, backlink analysis and an AI-search add-on, at about half the starting price. Ahrefs matches or exceeds Semrush’s data depth but doesn’t undercut it on price.
Is there a free alternative to Semrush?
SEO PowerSuite has the only genuinely permanent free tier on this list, covering one project with limited crawling and backlink tracking. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for verified site owners but only covers your own site, not competitor research. Every other tool on this list offers a free trial rather than a free plan.
Do any of these alternatives include AI search visibility tracking?
Most of them now do. Moz Pro, Mangools, Ubersuggest, and Serpstat all include AI-visibility features in their standard plans as of 2026. SE Ranking and AgencyAnalytics offer it as a separate paid add-on rather than building it into the base price.
