7 Semrush Free & Paid Competitors & Alternatives for SEO

Table of Contents

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.

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:

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

Local SEO for location-specific searches:

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

Backlinks to boost your SEO:

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

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

Semrush Cons

Why looking 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: 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


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

7 Semrush competitors

Here is a summary list of 7 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 to identify high-potential keywords for your SEO strategy and to figure 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.

Free Semrush Alternatives

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console Key Takeaway

Google’s official tool to audit your website’s SEO.

Google Search Console SEO Features

Google Search Console Pricing

Free

Google Search Console Pros

Google Search Console Cons

2. Google Trends

Google Trends Key Takeaway

Google Trends allows you to search for the most trending keywords while proposing related queries.

Google Trends SEO Features

Google Trends Pricing

Free

Google Trends Pros

Google Trends Cons

3. Google Analytics

Google Analytics Key Takeaway 

Google Analytics is perfect to get an accurate depiction of your organic traffic. 

Google Analytics SEO Features 

Google Analytics Pricing 

Free

Google Analytics Pros 

Google Analytics Cons

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools’ Key Takeaway

Great to identify high-potential keywords for your SEO strategy and to know where your competitors get their backlinks.

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Features

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Pricing

Free but limited search results.

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Pros

Ahrefs’ Free SEO Tools Cons

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 for keyword research. 

Keywords Everywhere Features

Keywords Everywhere Pricing

Freemium. A free version is available, 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

Keywords Everywhere Cons

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs Key Takeaway

Ahrefs is a direct competitor of Semrush offering an all-in-one SEO toolset.

Ahrefs Features

Ahrefs Pricing


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

Ahrefs Pros

Ahrefs Cons

7. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest Key Takeaway

Ubersuggest is an all-in-one SEO web application at an affordable price, at the expense of data accuracy. Best for small-to-medium businesses.

Ubersuggest Features

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

Ubersuggest Cons

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, 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.


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