We Tested 8 Semrush Free & Paid Competitors & Alternatives for SEO

Helpful summary

Overview: We discuss 8 free and paid competitors and alternatives to Semrush for SEO, acknowledging that while Semrush is widely used, it may not suit every business's unique needs.

Why you can trust us:  We explored numerous Semrush alternatives, applying their expertise in SEO and content marketing. Our expertise is demonstrated through case studies like a 16X year-over-year revenue growth and a 300% increase in MRR using SEO tools for our clients.

Why this is important: Different SEO tools offer unique data sets. Varying tools can provide a competitive edge by combining insights from various sources.

Action points: We suggest exploring different categories of SEO tools, like keyword research and backlink analysis, as alternatives to Semrush. 

Further research: To understand more about effective SEO strategies, exploring our case studies and services can provide deeper insights.

Looking for the best Semrush alternative?

30% of Fortune 500 companies use Semrush to drive their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) initiatives. But it comes with a hefty price tag and you might ask yourself whether the return on investment is worth it or not. 

At Embarque, we tried dozens of competitors and alternatives to provide the best to our customers. This article documents our findings for you.

Why listen to us?

Finding the right SEO tools is crucial for small businesses, often leading you to explore alternatives to popular options like Semrush. At Embarque, we understand this challenge. Our work with Cleanvoice, an AI SaaS company, showcases our ability to drive growth using the right SEO tools and strategies. Within six months, our strategies led to significant gains: 

• over 30k in monthly SEO traffic, 
• a 7.9% click-through rate, 
• and more than 40k in average monthly organic traffic​​. 

Our approach included a focus on trending topics, optimizing content with Google Search Console, and a continuous content update system​​. 

The results? A substantial increase in impressions and clicks, exemplifying our expertise in leveraging SEO tools to skyrocket traffic and revenue growth for small businesses​​.

What is Semrush?

Semrush is a software tool to improve your visibility on the Internet using search engines. In this article, we will focus on features and tools designed for Google Search, but Semrush also provides tools for social media marketing and advertising.

Semrush’s Key Features

Keyword research to find the best keywords to rank for:

• Keyword overview: metrics like Keyword Volume, Keyword Difficulty, Search Engine Result Pages, Keyword Variations, and Trends.
• Organic research: to find the best keywords used by competitors
• Keyword magic tool: to find the best-related keywords
• Keyword gap: to find high-potential keywords not used by competitors 
• Organic traffic insights: website performance metrics like Total Users, New Users, Sessions, Pages/Sessions, Avg. Session Duration, Bounce Rate, and Goal Completions for your top 50 web pages by traffic 

On-page SEO to improve your website content and structure:

• Site audit: automated content and technical SEO checks for all web pages like crawlability, site performance, internal linking, and HTTPS verification
• On-page SEO checker: ideas to improve the ranking of each web page (keyword strategy, backlink ideas, technical SEO fixes)
• Log file analyzer to simulate how Google bots crawl your website: HTTP status code of each crawled page, file types 

Local SEO for location-specific searches:

• Listing management: to publish your business in online repertories and monitor its reputation using ratings and reviews

Rank (SERP) tracking to keep track of your SEO progress:

• Position tracking: to track keywords, domains, competitors, and how your own rankings evolve over time
• Sensor: to detect possible changes in the way Google’s algorithm works to better adapt
• Ranks: to find the most popular sites 

Backlinks to boost your SEO:

• Backlink Analytics: to find the best backlinks available online
• Backlink audit: to monitor your website’s backlinks
• Backlink gap: to find relevant backlinks that aren’t used by your competitors yet
• Link building tool: to automate link building by finding contact information, crafting outreach emails, and monitoring outreach results

Competitor analysis to get an insight into your competitor’s strategy:

• Organic research
• Keyword gap
• Backlink analytics
• Backlink gap

Semrush Pricing

You can try Semrush for free but you will be limited to one project and 10 keyword searches per day. Pricing plans start at $99 per month with 3000 keyword searches per day. You will need to add $20 per month for features regarding local SEO, and upgrading your plan will increase your daily limits and give you access to the Content Marketing Platform for features helping with the content side of on-page SEO.

Semrush Pros

• Data quality: High data quality using Google Search Console
• Customer support: Great support and learning material
• Diversity of tools: not just SEO, but also content marketing, social media, and advertising

Semrush Cons

• Pricing: $99 per month is expensive for a plan aimed at beginners 
• Complexity: too many different tools in one interface

Why look for Semrush alternatives for SEO?

SEO is key. It allows you to reach customers on a global scale by addressing deep queries your business can profit from (e.g. ‘How to create an amazing digital experience?’, ‘How to make it easy for people to find us?’ ‘What makes a great website?’ 

And the best part is that SEO will also support all your other digital tactics, like paying for ads: copy that converts will make all your digital investments even more worthwhile! 

Semrush can help with that, but there are many tools like Semrush. Each business is unique so it’s essential to find the solution that suits your specific needs at a given time to maximize your SEO return-on-investment.

Last but not least, if everyone uses Semrush, everyone gets access to the same datasets. Semrush and its competitors all use different ways to collect, transform, and validate SEO data. Varying your SEO tools helps you stay ahead of the competition by combining insights from an infinite amount of proprietary data sources, so let’s have a look at the criteria to consider.

Criteria to consider when choosing Semrush alternatives

• Pricing: how much does it cost?
• Pricing limitations: what are the limits on the pricing plan? 
• Free trial: can I try the tool for free?
• Data quality: how accurate is the SEO data?
• Simple user interface: how easy is it to use and get results?
• Feature-completeness: what can I do with the tool that Semrush can as well?

The rest of the article lists SEO software competitors and alternatives that are better than Semrush in one criterion or another.

8 Semrush competitors

Here is a summary list of 8 tools like Semrush. For a spreadsheet version, click here.

1. For site audit and rank tracking, use Google Search Console.
2. To find the most popular keywords or the best-related keywords, use Google Trends.
3. For accurate organic traffic insights, pick Google Analytics.
4. Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools is best for identifying high-potential keywords for your SEO strategy and figuring out where your competitors get their backlinks.
5. To perform deep keyword research, go for Keywords Everywhere.
6. For a cheaper, powerful, and dedicated all-in-one SEO solution, use Ahrefs.
7. For the cheapest alternative, pick Ubersuggest.
8. For streamlined and enhanced link research, we suggest MOZ.

Free Semrush Alternatives

1. Google Search Console

‍

Google Search Console Key Takeaway

Google Search Console, formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, is a free platform provided by Google that serves as a valuable resource for website owners and administrators. Its primary function is to offer insights into how Google perceives and interacts with its websites, allowing for effective optimization of the site's organic presence in search results.

The platform provides users with a range of tools and data to enhance their understanding of how their website is indexed and ranked by Google.

Google Search Console SEO Features

• Organic traffic insights - total web search clicks, accurate search volume figures via total impressions
• Site audit - to understand your content and technical SEO performance: top performing keywords (most searched queries, most trending queries), top pages by click and impression, CTR, average position in Google results, and internal links
• On-page SEO checker - tips to fix your technical SEO: core web vitals, mobile usability, HTTPS
• Log file analyzer - accurate coverage measurement and sitemap extraction 
• Position tracking - average search engine results page rank for each page  
• Backlink audit - backlink profile of your domain: external links (top linking sites, top linking text), internal links, top linked pages

Google Search Console Pricing

Free

Google Search Console Pros

• Pricing
• Minimalist user interface
• Data quality: provides accurate volume figures, while other tools just provide estimates

Google Search Console Cons

• No off-page keyword research feature
• No competitor analysis
• Limited on-page SEO checker: no keyword or backlink suggestions

2. Google Trends

Google Trends Key Takeaway

Google Trends is a valuable tool offered by Google that enables users to explore and analyze the popularity and interest levels of specific search terms over time. This feature provides insights into how frequently a particular search term is entered into Google's search engine, offering a relative perspective about the total search volume on the platform during a specific period.

One of the primary uses of Google Trends is in comparative keyword research. Users can compare the popularity of different keywords and phrases, helping them make informed decisions about content creation, SEO strategies, and online marketing efforts.

Google Trends SEO Features

• Keyword overview - keyword trends
• Keyword magic - the best-related keywords for a given search query
• Position tracking - to track how keywords evolve with historical data

Google Trends Pricing

Free

Google Trends Pros

• Pricing
• Minimalist interface
• Data quality: straight from Google result pages, with historical data available up to 2004
• Great tool for manual keyword research

Google Trends Cons

• Keyword scoring is only available on a relative scale, so it’s impossible to identify keyword potential in terms of search volume or difficulty without performing a manual search.
• Time-consuming: a lot of manual manipulations are needed to get meaningful results when other SEO tools can automate this in a blink. You can subscribe to a newsletter like Exploding Topics to find trending topics before they take off.

3. Google Analytics

Google Analytics Key Takeaway 

Google Analytics is a robust web analytics service that offers a suite of tools and statistical insights designed to aid in search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing efforts. As an integral component of the Google Marketing Platform, Google Analytics provides a comprehensive set of features, and it is accessible for free to individuals with a Google account.

Google Analytics' primary purpose is to track and analyze website performance, offering valuable data and metrics to help organizations make informed decisions about their online presence.

Google Analytics SEO Features 

• Organic traffic insights: users, sessions, page views, session duration, incoming traffic sources, etc.
• Site audit: like Google Search Console, Google Analytics monitors your site's technical SEO performance 
• Backlink audit: all your acquisition channels in one place, along with the corresponding keywords

Google Analytics Pricing 

Free

Google Analytics Pros 

• Data quality: clear, detailed, accurate, and real-time organic traffic insights
• Free 

Google Analytics Cons

• Complexity: lots of metrics that aren’t directly related to SEO
• The amount of metrics has an impact on your website loading speed, which can impact your technical SEO
• User privacy concerns

4. Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools’ Key Takeaway

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO toolset designed to assist website owners, digital marketers, and SEO professionals in optimizing websites and increasing search traffic. This powerful toolset plays a crucial role in enhancing online visibility and understanding the competitive landscape within the digital realm. 

Ahrefs crawls the web extensively, systematically indexing and collecting data on various websites. This involves examining website content, backlinks, and other relevant information that contributes to a website's search engine visibility.

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Features

• Keyword overview - keyword volume, keyword difficulty, SERP ranks, and keyword variations 
• Keyword magic - relevant related keywords are proposed on each search  
• Position tracking - to track keyword ranks
• Backlink analytics and audit - to monitor backlinks for any website

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Pricing

Free but limited search results.

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Pros

• Dead-simple user interface
• Data quality: Ahrefs is among the top players in the SEO field

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Cons

• Limited search results
• You are asked to confirm you’re not a robot on each query
• Long response time

Paid Semrush Alternatives

You can already do a lot with free Semrush alternatives, but you will need a paid solution to get a global overview of the online market. These tools result from large efforts to aggregate and transform data from multiple sources to find correlations. 

There is no simple way to do that at scale for hundreds of keywords and domains, which explains the price tags of all Semrush competitors.

5. Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere Key Takeaway

Keywords Everywhere is a browser add-on designed for Chrome and Firefox, offering a convenient solution for individuals engaged in keyword research and search engine optimization (SEO). This tool simplifies the process of obtaining essential information about keywords directly within the user's browsing environment.

Users can access data on the cost per click for various keywords. CPC is an important metric for individuals running paid advertising campaigns, as it indicates the amount advertisers are willing to pay for each click on their ads related to specific keywords.

Keywords Everywhere Features

• Keyword overview - monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, and trend data, including long-tail keywords
• Organic research - to find the top 5000 keywords used by competitors in the top 20 Google search results with estimated traffic
• Keyword magic - to find affiliated keywords
• Keyword gap - popular keywords not used by the competition
• Organic traffic insights - traffic per month and ranking keywords
• Site audit - keyword analysis for all your pages
• Position tracking - top 1000 pages for your domain
• Search volume and trends insights added to your Search Console and Google Analytics dashboard.

Keywords Everywhere Pricing

Freemium. A free version is available, and then you have to buy credits for monthly search volume and competition data. One credit gives you all the available metrics for a given keyword. $10 for 100,000 credits.

Keywords Everywhere Pros

• Lightweight and practical user interface using a browser add-on
• Good pricing that makes it easy to scale progressively
• Automated keyword research for any keyword or URL, just by browsing online
• Number of keyword metrics

Keywords Everywhere Cons

• Browser add-on only available on Chrome and Firefox
• The Competitor Keyword Gap Analysis tool is in beta and only allows up to 5 competitors

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs Key Takeaway

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO software suite renowned for its diverse set of tools tailored to assist individuals, marketers, and SEO professionals in optimizing websites for higher search engine rankings. Offering an extensive range of features, Ahrefs facilitates crucial aspects of digital marketing, including link building, keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and site audits.

Ahrefs excels in analyzing a website's link profile. Users can explore detailed insights into backlinks, assessing their quality, quantity, and origin. This information is crucial for devising effective link-building strategies to enhance a website's authority and search engine visibility.

Ahrefs Features

• Everything Semrush does, Ahrefs does it as well.
• Proprietary metrics, such as Keyword Difficulty and Domain Rating, assess the competitiveness of keywords and domains.

Ahrefs Pricing

7-day trial for $7. Plans start at $82 a month with 175 keyword searches per week.

Ahrefs Pros

• Data quality: you can connect your Google Search Console to get more accurate data
• Powerful user interface solely dedicated to all things SEO
• Bootstrapped team
• Great support and learning material
• Less expensive than Semrush and all features are included in every plan

Ahrefs Cons

• More limitations on searches than Semrush
• Complex pricing

7. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest Key Takeaway

Ubersuggest is a user-friendly SEO tool that focuses on providing users with fresh keyword ideas to enhance their search engine optimization efforts. Initially established as a tool that scraped Google Suggest terms, Ubersuggest has evolved and expanded its capabilities under the ownership of entrepreneur Neil Patel.

Ubersuggest excels in generating a wide array of keyword suggestions based on a user's input. By offering an extensive list of related terms and phrases, the tool aids individuals and marketers in discovering new keywords to target in their content and SEO strategies.

Its focus on simplicity and accessibility has become a popular choice for individuals and small businesses looking for an efficient and free SEO tool.

Ubersuggest Features

• All the main features of Semrush

Ubersuggest Pricing

Freemium. Pricing plans start at $29 per month with 100 keyword searches per day, with a 7-day free trial. There is also the possibility of a lifetime plan starting at $290. 

Ubersuggest Pros

• Complete tool set
• The most affordable paid competitor 
• Super simple user interface

Ubersuggest Cons

• Data quality: alternatives provide more accurate results 
• No global data

8. MOZ

MOZ Key Takeaway

Moz, known for its Moz Pro platform, is a comprehensive SEO solution designed to provide users with the insights and tools necessary to enhance their online visibility, outrank competitors, and optimize their digital presence. 

Moz Pro offers a range of features aimed at assisting individuals, marketers, and SEO professionals in effectively managing and improving their websites.

MOZ  Features

• Keyword Research: Dive into a treasure trove of potential keywords, complete with Keyword Difficulty scores, accurate search volumes, and a peek into the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) landscape.
• Competitive Research: Uncover the strategies of your competitors, spot those keyword gaps, and pinpoint link opportunities that can boost your organic presence, giving you an edge over the competition.
• Link Research: Explore the authority and link profile of any website in a flash. Discover the linking domains, key pages, anchor text, and Domain Authority, gaining valuable insights at a glance.
• Rank Tracking: Keep tabs on the performance of a multitude of keywords across a whopping 170+ search engines, ensuring you're on top of your game across diverse platforms.
• Domain Overview: Grab a speedy SEO snapshot of any domain with a dashboard that spills the beans on metrics like Brand Authority and Domain Authority. Plus, get the lowdown on ranking keywords and top-notch backlinks.
• Site Crawl: Conduct a thorough site audit to unveil and diagnose any lurking technical SEO issues that might be playing hide and seek with your organic search rankings. Receive actionable recommendations to ensure your site is finely tuned for optimal performance.

MOZ Pricing

MOZ offers several pricing tiers, that cater to different user needs:

• Standard Plan ($79/mo) 
• Medium Plan ($143/mo)
• Large ($239/mo)
• Premium ($479/mo)

MOZ Pros

• Offers keyword research tools
• Tracks ranking
• On-page SEO optimization
• Identifies critical technical SEO issues
• Backlink research
• High-quality support and resources
• Great user experience

MOZ Cons

• Reporting features lack support for important charts
• Requires a technical understanding of SEO
• Limitations in rank tracking
• No mobile application

Take your SEO to the next level with Embarque

You can find hundreds of SEO tools online, which can be divided into 7 categories: keyword research, on-page SEO, local SEO, rank tracking, backlink analysis, competitor analysis, and all-in-one tool suites. Taken separately or together, they become viable alternatives to Semrush.

Installing, mastering, and using SEO tools take a considerable amount of time, however. If you find yourself out of breath after a hard day working on your online business, an agency like Embarque can help by providing high-quality SEO content using the best SEO tools available on the market so that you don’t have to pay for them yourself.