We've Tried Great Free Semrush Alternatives for Every Use

Helpful summary

Overview: We review the top free alternatives to Semrush for digital marketing, highlighting their benefits and how they can effectively support your SEO strategies.

Why you can trust us: At Embarque, we've helped startups like SignHouse achieve a 60x increase in organic traffic within 6 months and MentorCruise achieve more than a 1,600% increase in annual revenue. As Semrush users, our case studies demonstrate how we use SEO for business growth, adding credibility to our insights.

Why this is important: Small businesses often find Semrush's cost prohibitive. We suggest free alternatives, ensuring these businesses don't miss out on optimizing online presence and content for better Google rankings.

Action Points: Explore these free Semrush alternatives to enhance your digital marketing efforts, especially if you're working with a limited budget. These tools offer valuable insights and features to improve your website's SEO performance.

Further Research: Continue exploring various SEO tools and strategies, especially those that offer cost-effective solutions for improving website performance and achieving marketing goals.

Looking for a free Semrush alternative?

A full-featured digital marketing tool like Semrush can ensure your business stays relevant. But here’s the catch: it can be pricey. 

Suppose you’re a small startup and aren’t financially ready to start onboarding for an extensive digital marketing tool like Semrush. Does that mean you should miss out on the opportunity to optimize your website and content to rank highly on Google? Of course not! You can still gain similar marketing benefits from using free Semrush alternatives.

Embarque has helped fast-growing SaaS companies earn more revenue through organic search. So, we understand what features are necessary for a tool to propel your domain to the first page on Google. 

In this article, we’ll dive into some free Semrush alternatives, and see how they can help you rank on Google.

Why listen to us?

With hands-on experience in SEO, we at Embarque are well-equipped to discuss free Semrush alternatives. For instance, we boosted MentorCruise's yearly visits by 2 million, increased annual revenue by 1,600%, and raised monthly trials by 1,000% in 18 months through a revamped SEO strategy. 

Similarly, our work with Flick, an Instagram marketing tool, resulted in 9.6 million yearly organic search traffic within 12 months, establishing their blog as a key asset for conversions and improving Google rankings. 

Our demonstrated capacity to enhance traffic and boost revenue establishes our expertise in suggesting free Semrush alternatives, particularly beneficial for small businesses seeking cost-effective yet impactful SEO strategies.

‍

What is Semrush?

Semrush is a digital marketing tool suite that aims to improve online visibility and give you a detailed overview of marketing insights. It was created for marketers who work in the following services:

• SEO 
• Content Marketing 
• Social Media Marketing (SMM)
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
• Public Relations (PR)
• Campaign Management

Semrush features

With Semrush, you’ll get the following:

• Powerful keyword research tool
• Keyword suggestion tool
• On-page SEO
• In-depth domain analytics with real-time reporting
• Backlinks and analytics feature
• SEO auditing
• Competitor analysis
• Content creation and distribution tools
• Website monetization tools
• Social media marketing tools

Why look for Semrush Alternatives?

To fully grasp the significance of Semrush alternatives, it's important we acknowledge the platform's limitations and recognize where you might need different features or pricing options. 

Let's dive into some key points about the inconsistencies, drawbacks, and limitations of Semrush:

Mobile accessibility

One thing to note is that Semrush's mobile functionality is limited. If you want the full range of features, you'll have to rely on a desktop. Unfortunately, the mobile app has received lower user ratings and lacks some essential features.

Pricing and value for money

Now, let's talk about the cost. Semrush is relatively pricey compared to other SEO tools out there, which can be a big concern for smaller businesses or individuals. While they do offer different plans, the cost can be a barrier, especially since each plan only includes one user account. If you need additional user seats, be prepared for some hefty extra costs.

Complexity and overwhelming features

Semrush packs a lot of features, which can be overwhelming for some users. While this can be great for experienced digital marketers, it can be quite a challenge for beginners or small teams who might not need such extensive functionality.

Limited support for small projects

Another consideration is that Semrush's pricing structure might not align well with smaller projects or websites. This can make it less accessible for users with limited needs or resources.

Now, here's the good news! There are other tools available that may offer more affordable pricing, simpler interfaces, better mobile accessibility, or a feature set that's more tailored to your specific needs. In the ever-evolving world of SEO and digital marketing, having a range of tools at your disposal provides flexibility and the freedom to choose the right tool for the job.

Best Free Semrush Alternatives 

The Semrush alternatives we’re sharing aren’t complete all-in-one tools like Semrush itself. But there are amazing free alternatives right now that can help with different digital marketing features.

1. Google Search Console: Great for overall website performance analysis and keyword tracking
2. Google Keyword Planner: The best option for keyword research 
3. Siteliner: Best for identifying duplicate content
4. Google Trends: Great for learning keyword trends
5. UberSuggest: Great for collecting competitor data
6. Serpstat: Great for performing an SEO audit
7. BuzzSumo: Great for optimizing your content for social media
8. Free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: Great for optimizing your website

Google Search Console

The best for website performance analysis. 

‍

Google Search Console is a free tool that allows users to analyze various aspects of website performance in search results on Google. Signing up is free, as long as you have a Google account, so make sure to take full advantage of Search Console!

‍

‍

Top Features

• Google Search Console will show you its average position and the number of clicks and impressions you’re getting for various keywords. This is much more accurate than paid SEO tools, including Semrush and Ahrefs. Why? Because the number comes from Google itself. You’ll also be able to see the traffic source of these impressions. 
• The tool helps you identify any technical issues with your website and gives suggestions on how to fix them. You’ll receive email alerts with specific URLs when there are issues, and you can update the tool when you’ve actioned the solutions.  
• It provides data on the number of people looking at your website and the anchor text used to link back to it. 
• Google Search Console provides video training tutorials on interpreting results and how to use the tool efficiently.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Keywords and Impressions/Clicks Analysis: Google Search Console provides detailed insights into which keywords are driving impressions and clicks, helping in fine-tuning SEO strategies.
• Rich Results and Appearance Rankings: Showcases how your site appears in search results, including rich snippets, which can enhance click-through rates.
• Search Engine Terms Visualization: Offers visual representations of search queries, making it easier to understand and analyze user search patterns.
• Monitoring Website Performance: Tracks website performance metrics, offering critical insights into user behavior and site efficiency.
• Basic Search Engine Performance Analysis: Delivers a straightforward analysis of your website's search engine performance, ideal for foundational SEO strategies.
• Technical SEO Feedback: Provides actionable feedback on technical SEO aspects, helping to identify and fix issues affecting site ranking.
• Easy-to-Use Interface: Boasts a user-friendly interface that simplifies navigation and interpretation of SEO data.

Cons

• Data Inconsistency: Sometimes the data presented can be inconsistent or delayed, leading to challenges in real-time analysis.
• Limited .html Sitemap Support: Offers restricted support for .html sitemaps, which can be a limitation for certain website structures.
• Difficulty in Understanding Improvements: Users may find it challenging to interpret how to make meaningful improvements based on the data provided.
• Challenges for Non-Technical Users: The platform can be intimidating for non-technical users due to its comprehensive nature and technical jargon.
• Removed Key Tools: Over time, Google has removed some useful tools and features, potentially limiting its utility for certain SEO tasks.
• Re-Crawl Requests and Access Sharing: Managing re-crawl requests and sharing access with team members can be cumbersome and limited in functionality.
• Incomplete Data for Beta Features: Beta features often provide incomplete data, which can be frustrating for users seeking comprehensive insights.
• Inaccurate Mobile Usability Errors: Sometimes mobile usability errors may not be accurate, leading to unnecessary troubleshooting.

‍

Google Keyword Planner

The best option for keyword research. 

‍

Google Keyword Planner is a fantastic free alternative to Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool. As most businesses aim their SEO efforts to rank on Google, it only makes sense that Google would provide a top-notch Keyword Planner to help make that happen. As long as you have a Google account, which you can make for free, you can leverage the full features of this tool. 

Top Features

• To use the tool, you must enter your seed keywords or your website URL. It will show you keyword suggestions and SEO campaign ideas based on those suggestions.  All the keyword ideas are easily downloadable to your desktop.
•  You get useful metrics, such as search volume and cost-per-click (CPC). This helps you run your PPC ads.
• You can filter your search results with advanced sorting spotlights like clicks, clickthrough rate, average CPC, and impressions.
• Using the tool, you’ll have access to historical data like average monthly searches and competitor analysis for your keywords.
• It shows forecasts on a keyword’s performance based on calculations of predicted clicks and likely conversions.    

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Hyper-local Search Volume: Targeting specific zip codes benefits local service-based businesses by providing detailed geographic targeting.
• Free of Charge: Unlike other keyword research tools that require monthly subscriptions, GKP is accessible at no cost.
• Ease of Use: GKP has a user-friendly interface and a straightforward process for adding new ad groups, making it suitable for users with different levels of expertise.
• Data Export Capability: You can quickly export data to Excel from GKP, which makes further analysis easier.
• Unique Multiply Keywords Tool: GKP combines keyword lists to generate new phrases, helping you discover and test new keywords.
• Wide Range of Alternatives: GKP suggests hundreds of alternatives to the keywords and phrases you enter, offering numerous opportunities for keyword optimization.
• Flexible Filters: GKP allows you to include or exclude words and add filters based on location and language, enhancing the targeting of your keyword research.

Cons

• No Indication of Trends: GKP provides an average of the last 12 months of search data, which limits its insight into current search trends.
• Lack of Mobile vs. Desktop Traffic Data: You can't filter search volume by device in GKP, which could be a drawback for optimizing web properties based on device usage.
• Broad Range for Search Volume: GKP now provides a broad range instead of exact search volume numbers, which reduces precision in keyword research.
• Limited Utility of Competition Score for SEO: The competition score in GKP indicates the advertiser bidding level but doesn't reflect the difficulty of ranking for those terms in SEO.
• Absence of Negative Keyword List: GKP doesn't offer an option for a negative keyword list, which limits its usefulness for some users.
• Limited Long-Term Keyword Suggestions: GKP doesn't suggest long-term keywords for most categories, which could be a drawback for long-term SEO planning.

Google Trends

Great for learning keyword trends. 

Google Trends is a tool that helps you identify the trend and search volume of any keywords on Google. With this tool, you’ll be able to decipher which keywords are best for your website and blog posts. 

Top Features

• The tool shows how the keywords you enter perform online and their annual interest level (increasing or declining) among searchers. The interest level will be based on a specific time and location. 
• Google Trends differs from Semrush because it highlights the specific geographic locations that are best to target certain keywords. 
• It’s best to use it when researching topic ideas for your blog posts. 
• The tool is easy to set up, use, and administer. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Trending Keywords and Topics: It provides data on popular keywords and topics, which is crucial for SEO and content strategies.
• Regional Specificity: It offers insights into trends across different regions, helping tailor content or marketing strategies to specific geographical areas.
• Seasonality Insights: The tool is useful for understanding product and category seasonality, which is important for businesses with seasonal fluctuations.
• User Interface and Accessibility: It has a visually appealing interface, is simple to use, and provides helpful comparison charts.
• Valuable for Campaign Planning: It is particularly beneficial for initial planning and keyword research in advertising campaigns.

Cons

• Minimum Traffic Requirement: To be featured or ranked in Google Trends, there's a requirement for minimum traffic, which can exclude lesser-known or new websites.
• Potential for Inaccurate Data: Sometimes, the data provided may be estimated or inaccurate, particularly for sites with low traffic.
• Limited Interpretation Capabilities: The tool may not always accurately interpret user queries, leading to irrelevant results.
• Limited Analytics: Lack of detailed analytics may hinder in-depth analysis.
• Lack of Integration with Other Google Products: Users have noted the lack of seamless integration with other Google tools like Keyword Planner.

‍

Siteliner

Best for identifying duplicate content. 

Siteliner is a freemium tool that helps with auditing your website. It allows you to scan around 250 pages on your website free of charge. You’ll need to pay one cent per page if you exceed 250 pages. 

Top Features

• The tool identifies any duplicate content issues on your website which can affect your search engine ranking.
• Any unnecessary duplicate words or text phrases are highlighted so you can see them and remove them quickly. You’ll also get a percentage indicating the amount of duplicate content on your website. 
• You can check for any broken links or redirects on your website.
• Siteliner allows you to make comparisons of average page loading speed and the total number of words between your website and others on the internet. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fast Results Retrieval: Siteliner is known for its speed in delivering results.
• Free Access for Basic Use: It offers a free version that allows scanning up to 250 pages, suitable for small websites or blogs.
• Comprehensive Features in One Tool: Siteliner consolidates multiple functionalities like checking for broken links and scanning for duplicate content.
• Versatile Report Formats: Reports can be downloaded in various formats like PDFs, CSV files, and Excel sheets.
• User-Friendly Interface: The interface of Siteliner is designed for easy navigation.
• Integration with SEO Tools: It integrates seamlessly with other leading SEO tools.

Cons

• Limitation to Own Website Scans: Siteliner only scans the user’s website, not allowing for direct competitor comparison.
• Lack of In-depth Analysis: While it shows some metrics like page speed, it doesn’t provide detailed insights or improvement suggestions.
• Errors in Some Features: The broken link feature sometimes inaccurately highlights functioning links as broken.
• Limited Advanced Features in Free Version: The free version offers limited advanced features, requiring an upgrade for full functionality.

UberSuggest

Great for collecting competitor data.

‍

Ubersuggest is a freemium SEO tool owned by digital marketer Neil Patel that can be used as a great alternative to Semrush.  

Top Features

• It can perform an SEO audit of your website to identify any issues that are stopping you from ranking and offer suggestions to fix them. 
• You can research keywords to discover their search volume, cost-per-click, and difficulty levels.
• It allows you to discover your competitors' backlinks and top-performing site pages based on their search traffic and social shares. 
• For this free version, you get three keyword searches daily.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• User-Friendly Onboarding Tutorial: Excellent onboarding process for beginners.
• Export Reports and Keywords: Flexible data management and analysis through file, report, and keyword export.
• Free SEO Training Resources: Access to free training materials for effective SEO strategy development.
• Chrome Extension Integration: Convenient access to UberSuggest's features via the Chrome extension.
• Social Media Results: Insights into social media metrics for building a comprehensive online strategy.
• Powerful Keyword and Content Discovery: Robust keyword research and content ideas for valuable SEO opportunities.
• Comprehensive SEO Analysis: Clear and prioritized SEO analytics for strategic decision-making.

Cons

• Low Competitor Limit on Basic Plan: Limited capacity for competitor analysis on the basic plan.
• Performance Issues: Potential slowdown when running multiple reports simultaneously.
• Confusing Relationship Between Keywords and Lists: Connection between keywords, keyword lists, and tracking can be confusing.
• Limited Backlink and Competition Analysis for Top Websites: Less effective backlink tracking and competition analysis for high-traffic websites.
• Need for Improved User Interface and Speed: Suggestions to enhance UI and speed, especially by reducing unnecessary elements or tooltips.
• Enhance Keyword Research for Non-English Languages: Room for improvement in keyword research capabilities for languages other than English.
• Issues with Customer Service: Some users report dissatisfaction with customer service quality and responsiveness.

Serpstat

Great for performing an SEO audit. 

Serpstat is an SEO software suite that evolved from a simple keyword research tool into a growth hacking tool. It allows users to use the basic features for free, of course, within a limit. 

Top Features

• You can perform a website analysis of your competitor’s sites and get insights into their visibility, search engine traffic, and PPC. You’ll even be able to see how their traffic and visibility have changed over a specific timeframe. 
• You can view data on your competitor’s best SEO keywords and the Google Ads keywords that bring them the most traffic. 
• Serpstat has a comprehensive keyword tool to help you find relevant keyword ideas for your niche. 
• You can perform an SEO audit of your site, and will generate results in 5 to 8 minutes. The report you get is quite detailed, and you’ll be able to quickly identify and fix any issues on your site. Serpstat even categorizes the issues into “low, medium, and high” levels. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Comprehensive Site and Backlink Analysis: Serpstat offers thorough site audits and backlink analysis for effective SEO assessment.
• Strong Keyword Research Capabilities: Serpstat excels in robust keyword research, providing insights into competitors' keyword usage.
• Effective for Producing Better Content: Serpstat enhances content creation by offering valuable insights to improve quality and relevance.
• Great User Experience (UX): Serpstat is praised for its clean UI, easy navigation, and access to various features.
• Responsive Customer Support: Users appreciate the fast and helpful support team, providing timely assistance.
• Daily Rank Tracking: Serpstat's rank tracker updates daily, providing up-to-date information on site rankings.
• Valuable PPC Analysis: The PPC tool suite is effective for Google Ads users, offering solid PPC analysis capabilities.

Cons

• Uses a Credit System for Keyword Research: Some users prefer a more transparent warning system about credit usage instead of a credit-based approach.
• Some Inaccuracy in SEO Research: Discrepancies in keyword difficulty metrics and overall data accuracy have been noted in the SEO research report.
• Confusing UX Writing: Certain explanations within Serpstat are unclear, making some features difficult to use effectively.
• Lack of Unique Features: Serpstat lacks distinctive features that would differentiate it from competitors like Ahrefs and Semrush.
• Limited Content Marketing Tools: While claiming to support content marketing, Serpstat's features in this area are limited and not as developed as its SEO and PPC functionalities.

‍

BuzzSumo 

Great for optimizing your content for social media. 

As Semrush is an all-in-one tool for digital marketing, it also helps users find good content ideas to schedule and publish on social media. So a great free alternative for that feature is BuzzSumo.

Top Features

• BuzzSumo gives you many relevant content ideas relevant to your target keyword. The tool only suggests content ideas with high social media engagement and traffic. 
• You can also find relevant social media influencers to promote your business. 
• You can track your website’s backlinks performance against others. 
• With this free version, you’ll get a limit of 10 keyword searches monthly.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Accurate Social Share Counts: Provides reliable metrics on how content is shared across social platforms.
• Competitor and Keyword Research: Useful for analyzing what competitors are doing and for researching effective keywords.
• Content Research Capabilities: Strong in content research, helping to identify what types of content are successful.
• Trend Analysis: Offers effective trend analysis, helping users stay current with popular topics and content ideas.
• Monitoring and Alerts: Capable of monitoring for brand mentions and providing alerts, which is useful for staying updated with relevant industry news and tracking competitors.
• Influencer Database and Search: The influencer database and search function are highly regarded, assisting in finding and connecting with influencers.
• Vast Content Database: Offers a vast database of content, providing inspiration and allowing users to identify the most shared content and analyze its performance.

Cons

• Limited Free Trial Options: The free trial has limited search options, which may restrict new users' ability to fully evaluate the tool's capabilities.
• Lack of Instagram Insights: Currently does not include insights for Instagram, which could be a drawback for users focusing on this platform.
• Bugs with Integrations: Some users have reported bugs when integrating BuzzSumo with other platforms like Slack.
• Limited Audience Data: There is a lack of detailed data about audiences, which may limit the tool's effectiveness in targeted content marketing.
• User Interface and Content Curation Features: Some aspects of the user interface and content curation features could be improved for a better user experience.
• Customer Support: Some users have suggested that customer support could be better.

‍

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Great for optimizing your website. 

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is a recent Ahrefs update made for website owners and bloggers to use free of charge. 

Top features

• The tool notifies you of any website's technical issues, such as 404 errors, broken links, slow-loading pages, and thin content. You’ll also receive suggestions on fixing these issues and improving your website’s SEO score. 
• You can view all the keywords your blog posts rank for and get information on their difficulty levels and search volume. 
• It’s superior to other premium tools because it gives you a backlink profile that consists of a list of all the referring domains with corresponding backlinks to your site. This helps you find any toxic backlinks and discard them. 
• Ahrefs also offers other tools that you can use as free Semrush alternatives;
• Ahrefs Keyword Generator - provides a short list of keyword ideas with corresponding search volume and keyword difficulty for Google, YouTube, Bing, and Amazon. 
• Ahrefs Keyword Rank Checker - checks the keyword position of any domain name for 229 countries. 
• Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty Checker - helps you check keyword difficulty and shows you the number of backlinks and referring domains you need to rank at the top of Google. 
• Ahrefs Backlinks Checker - allows you to check the backlinks of any website. As it’s free, you only get limited backlink data. 
• Ahrefs Broken Link Checker - helps you identify and remove any broken links found on your website. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Downloadable Reports: You can download SEO reports for site audits, highlighting various aspects like affected pages, Page Speed Performance, Social tags, HTML tags, and more​​.
• Free Access: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is accessible for free to everyone, without the need to create an account or subscribe to a plan​​.
• User-Friendly Interface: The platform is known for its intuitive user interface, with straightforward features across the navigation menu and sidebars​​.
• Domain Ranking Metrics: Provides Domain Rating (DR) metrics, beneficial for evaluating websites for guest posting to increase domain ranking and backlink count​​.
• Technical SEO Audits and Internal Linking Recommendations: Ahrefs is commended for its comprehensive technical SEO audits and useful internal linking suggestions​​.
• Comprehensive Keyword Research: Users appreciate the depth and detail provided in Ahrefs' Keyword Explorer for specific keywords​​.
• Solid Data and Site Audit Feature: The data quality in Ahrefs, including search volume, backlinks, rankings, or social shares, is highly regarded. The site audit tool is considered one of the best in the industry​​.
• Effective Competition Analysis: Ahrefs is praised for its competition analysis capabilities​​.
• Clear Layout for Metrics: The tool's layout is praised for its clarity in understanding domain ratings, organic traffic numbers, and keyword rankings​​.

Cons

• No Free Trial for Premium Plans: Ahrefs does not offer a free trial for its premium subscription plans, which can be a hurdle for small business owners and potential plan subscribers​​.
• Pricing Concerns: Some users find Ahrefs' premium plans expensive, although they are cheaper than some competitors like Semrush​​.
• Lacks Certain SEO Features: Ahrefs does not include features like AI Content Writing Assistants and Local SEO tools, which are available in other top SEO toolkits​​.
• Irrelevant Keyword Suggestions: The Keyword Explorer tool sometimes produces irrelevant results, and there is no feature to filter these out​​.
• Poor Rank Tracking and Limited PPC Features: The rank tracking reports update frequency is considered insufficient, and the PPC features are limited compared to competitors like Semrush​​.
• Inaccurate Traffic Levels: Some users have reported that the traffic levels reported by Ahrefs can be highly inaccurate compared to data from Google Search Console​​.

Wrapping Up

If you can’t afford Semrush, there’s no need to despair! There are plenty of free alternatives that keep you informed of your digital marketing strategies, especially if you combine them.  Your marketing strategy doesn’t have to rely on one tool. As long as you keep track of them, you’ll be able to manage multiple tools free of charge. 

If you want some additional help on your SEO content strategy, Embarque can help you search for high-volume keywords with low difficulty and use them in quality content that ensures you rank highly. Feel free to explore our packages to get started!