Compare · SEO suites and rank trackers

Semrush vs SE Ranking

Semrush is the larger platform, and SE Ranking is the cheaper tool per tracked keyword. Both pricing pages read on 30 October 2026: Semrush's SEO plan is $139/mo for 5 websites and 500 keywords, and its SEO + AI Search plans start at $199/mo with 50 prompts. SE Ranking Core is $129/mo for 10 projects and 2,000 keywords tracked daily, with 25 AI prompts a day.

That works out at about 28 cents per tracked keyword a month on Semrush SEO against about 6.5 cents on SE Ranking Core (our arithmetic, monthly billing). The extra money buys size and breadth: Semrush states 28.8 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks against SE Ranking's 5.4 billion and 2.7 trillion, plus separate toolkits for traffic, local, social and ads.

Semrush

semrush.com

SE Ranking

seranking.com

Semrush vs SE Ranking side by side

From each product’s own site or our research, at the time of writing (September 2026). Prices and terms change, so check before you decide.

Comparison of Semrush and SE Ranking
Feature	Semrush	SE Ranking
Plans and monthly price	SEO $139 · Starter $199 · Pro+ $299 (Starter and up include AI Search) · Advanced: custom price, on request · Enterprise custom	Core $129 · Growth $279 · Enterprise custom
Billed annually (per month)	SEO $117.33 · Starter $165.17 · Pro+ $248.17 (up to 17% off)	Core $103.20 · Growth $223.20 (20% off); free migration on annual plans
Projects or websites	5 · 5 · 15 · 40 (websites to monitor)	10 · 30
Keywords tracked daily	500 · 500 · 1,500 · 5,000	2,000 · 5,000; extra keywords from $22.40 (Core) or $32 (Growth), billing period not stated
Cost per tracked keyword (our arithmetic, monthly billing)	SEO $0.28 · Starter $0.40 · Pro+ $0.20 (Advanced has no public price)	Core $0.065 · Growth $0.056; SE Ranking counts each keyword once per search engine
AI prompts tracked daily	SEO: no AI prompt tracking · Starter 50 · Pro+ 100 · Advanced unlimited; Starter also lists 300 AI visibility reports a day	25 on Core and 25 on Growth, across 5 AI engines; SE Visible adds 200, 450 or 1,000 prompts, from $71.20/mo
AI engines covered	ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, SearchGPT, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews	ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Gemini
Users	1 user per plan; extra users $45 on SEO and Starter, $80 on Pro+, $100 on Advanced	1 manager seat on Core, 3 on Growth; extra manager seats from $16/mo
Site audit crawl allowance	SEO and Starter 100,000 pages a month · Pro+ 300,000 · Advanced 1 million; JavaScript rendering from Pro+	250,000 pages a month (Core), 2 million (Growth)
Research limits	Results per report: 10,000 (SEO, Starter), 30,000 (Pro+), 50,000 (Advanced). Reports a day: 3,000 · 3,000 · 5,000 · 10,000	Keyword, competitor and backlink research listed as unlimited; data export up to 50,000 rows (Core) or 100,000 (Growth)
Historical data	Historical SEO data from Pro+	6 months on Core, full history on Growth
Keyword database (claimed)	28.8B keywords, 142 geo databases	5.4B keywords, 188 geo databases
Backlink index (claimed)	43T backlinks	2.7T backlinks across 420M domains
Free plan	Yes: 1 demo project and 10 reports a day, no card	None
Trial	7 days on the SEO plans; a card is needed and you're charged when it ends unless you cancel	14 days, no card; capped at 10 projects, 750 keywords and 20 AI prompts a day
Refunds	One 7-day money-back window on a first annual plan or first add-on; none on monthly plans	Non-refundable, except where the service wasn't delivered as promised
MCP and API	MCP on every plan; API access on Advanced only	MCP on Core and Growth; 25K or 100K API credits a month
Agency extras	Base Report $10/mo; Pro Report with white-labeling $20/mo	Agency Pack from $69/mo (annual billing only): white label and 30 client seats
Other toolkits	Traffic & Market Pro $289/mo billed annually; Local, Content, Social, Advertising and AI PR sold separately	Local Marketing (3 locations included) and Content Marketing (25 articles on Core, 50 on Growth), with extras sold on top

Which should you pick?

Pick Semrush if…

You need the largest keyword and backlink databases it states (28.8B keywords, 43T backlinks) for broad competitor research.
You'll use more than SEO and AI tracking: Traffic & Market, Local, Social, Advertising or AI PR.
You want a free plan to explore first (1 demo project, 10 reports a day) or a 7-day trial in the same account.
Your team or clients already work from Semrush reports and exports.

Semrush’s site · LaunchRanked vs Semrush

Pick SE Ranking if…

You track many keywords: 2,000 daily on Core costs less than Semrush's cheapest plan with 500.
You run several projects or clients and want 10 to 30 projects without moving up to a $299 plan.
You want a proper trial first: 14 days with no card, and AI prompt tracking in the base plan.
You'd rather add seats, keywords and locations as small add-ons than jump to the next plan.

SE Ranking’s site · LaunchRanked vs SE Ranking

Where LaunchRanked fits

Disclosure: LaunchRanked is our product. Where we list it, we say so, and we place it under the use case it fits rather than at the top by default. Everything else here is from the vendors’ own sites or our research, and we say where they’re better.

LaunchRanked isn't an SEO suite. We don't have a keyword database, a backlink index or a rank tracker, and we're not a substitute for either tool here. For one product site, either tool plus Search Console is more data than most founders have time to act on. The harder part is deciding what to change.

If what you actually want is content published and existing pages fixed, Autopilot ($49/mo, founding price) publishes 30 articles a month and rewrites titles and snippets on pages ranking on page 1–2 of Search Console. Done-for-you (from $999/mo) runs the whole playbook for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is SE Ranking cheaper than Semrush?

Yes, at similar tracking volume. On 30 October 2026 SE Ranking Core was $129/mo for 2,000 daily keywords, 10 projects and 25 AI prompts a day, and Semrush's SEO plan was $139/mo for 500 keywords and 5 websites. Billed annually that's $103.20 against $117.33 a month. Pro+ narrows the gap: $299/mo for 1,500 keywords is about 20 cents a keyword, against 5.6 cents on SE Ranking Growth ($279 for 5,000). Semrush's Advanced plan (5,000 keywords) no longer shows a public price.

How many keywords, projects and users does each plan allow?

SE Ranking Core: 2,000 keywords, 10 projects and 1 manager seat. Growth: 5,000 keywords, 30 projects and 3 seats. Semrush SEO and Starter: 500 keywords and 5 websites with 1 user. Pro+: 1,500 keywords and 15 websites. Advanced: 5,000 keywords and 40 websites. Extra users cost $45 on Semrush's SEO and Starter plans, $80 on Pro+ and $100 on Advanced; SE Ranking's extra manager seats start at $16/mo.

Which is better for tracking AI search?

Both track prompts daily. SE Ranking includes 25 prompts a day on both Core and Growth, across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini (its plan table listed 100 and 250 on 7 October), and sells more through SE Visible, from $71.20/mo for 200. Semrush's SEO plan has no AI prompt tracking. Starter and Pro+ track 50 and 100 prompts a day, and Advanced, now priced on request, lists unlimited prompts. So for prompts alone, Semrush Starter ($199) now includes twice what SE Ranking Core ($129) does. The prompt count you need is where the prices diverge, so check it against the plan.

Is Semrush's data better than SE Ranking's?

Semrush states a bigger database: 28.8 billion keywords, 808 million domains and 43 trillion backlinks, against 5.4 billion keywords, 2.2 billion domain profiles and 2.7 trillion backlinks for SE Ranking. SE Ranking states more geo databases (188 against 142). Size isn't accuracy, and the two count differently. Put your own keywords and your main competitors through both trials and compare against Search Console.

Can I try SE Ranking and Semrush for free?

SE Ranking has no free plan, but its 14-day trial needs no card (capped at 10 projects, 750 tracked keywords and 20 AI prompts a day). Semrush has a free plan (1 demo project and 10 reports a day, no card) and a 7-day trial of its SEO plans that needs a card and charges you when it ends unless you cancel (its standalone AI Visibility plan has no trial).

Can I get a refund from either?

SE Ranking's pricing page says payments are non-refundable except where the service wasn't delivered as promised. Semrush offers a one-time 7-day money-back guarantee on a first annual subscription or first add-on, and none on month-to-month plans. Use the trials first.

Which is better for agencies?

SE Ranking's Agency Pack (from $69/mo, annual billing only) adds white label and 30 client seats. Semrush's Pro Report add-on ($20/mo) adds white-labeled reports, and Advanced allows 40 websites. Count the client projects you need to track daily and price both: SE Ranking is simpler to scale on a budget, Semrush if your clients need its larger databases and extra toolkits.

Sources we checked

Checked on their own sites on 7 October 2026. Prices and terms change, so check before you buy. Domain ratings are approximate third-party estimates.

Prices are as shown to us in US dollars; Semrush's monthly figures are its Monthly view. Cost per tracked keyword is our arithmetic from the published monthly prices. SE Ranking counts daily keywords as targets, one per keyword and search engine, so check how each tool counts engines, devices and locations before you compare. Semrush's Site Audit help page uses the older Pro, Guru and Business toolkit names and gives the same page limits. Database sizes are each vendor's own claims; SE Ranking's data page gives 5.4 billion keywords, and its FAQ still gives 2.7 trillion backlinks. Both pricing pages and SE Ranking's data page were read again on 30 October 2026: SE Ranking's AI prompts had dropped to 25 a day on both plans, and Semrush's Advanced plan had moved from $549/mo to a custom price.