Semrush is a digital marketing and SEO software platform used for keyword research, competitive intelligence, rank tracking, site auditing and paid-search analysis. It is built around a very large keyword and advertising database, which makes it strongest as a competitor-research tool rather than a pure technical SEO crawler.
Semrush at a glance
| Best for | In-house SEO and marketing teams, Agencies reporting to multiple clients, Competitor and paid-search research |
|---|---|
| Category | SEO, Marketing, AI |
| Starting price | From $139.95/month (Pro, billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | 7 days on Pro and Guru |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | Semrush Holdings, Inc. |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Founders | Oleg Shchegolev, Dmitry Melnikov |
| Platforms | Web |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | Yes |
| Mobile apps | None |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | Up to $200 per subscription sale, $10 per trial, via Impact |
| Founder verified | No |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Semrush pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 1 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: 7 days on Pro and Guru.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | per month | 10 requests per day, 1 project, limited rows per report |
| Pro | $139.95 | per month | 1 user — 5 projects, 500 keywords tracked |
| Guru | $249.95 | per month | 1 user — Adds Content Marketing Toolkit and historical data |
| Business | $499.95 | per month | 1 user — Adds API access and share-of-voice reporting |
Who Semrush is for
Best for
- In-house SEO and marketing teams
- Agencies reporting to multiple clients
- Competitor and paid-search research
Not recommended for
- Solo bloggers on a tight budget
- Teams who only need a technical crawl
- Anyone needing one seat shared across several people
Key features
- Keyword Magic Tool with a very large keyword database
- Domain Overview and organic competitor analysis
- Position Tracking with daily rank updates
- Site Audit crawler with prioritised issue lists
- Backlink Analytics and link-building outreach workflow
- Advertising Research covering competitors' paid keywords and ad copy
- Content Marketing Toolkit and SEO Writing Assistant
- Listing Management and local SEO tools
Integrations
- Google Analytics 4
- Google Search Console
- Google Ads
- Google Business Profile
- Looker Studio
- Trello
- Zapier
- Microsoft Word and Google Docs (SEO Writing Assistant)
Our assessment
Semrush is the most complete marketing research platform in this category, and the breadth is genuinely useful if more than one team touches SEO, content and paid search. The trade-off is price and seat policy: additional users cost extra on every tier, and several of the tools marketers assume are included — historical data, API access, share of voice — sit behind the higher plans. If your work is mostly technical SEO on a single site, you will pay for a great deal you never open.
What works in Semrush
- Best-in-class advertising and competitor research data
- Very wide toolset covering SEO, content, PPC and local in one subscription
- Position tracking and site audit are reliable and easy to schedule
- Strong reporting and white-label client deliverables for agencies
What doesn't
- Expensive once you add seats, and seats cannot be shared
- API access is restricted to the Business tier
- Interface is dense and takes real time to learn
- Keyword volume figures diverge noticeably from Google Ads in smaller markets
Semrush competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Stronger backlink index and a cleaner interface; weaker on paid-search data. |
| Google Search Console | Free and authoritative for your own site, but gives no competitor data. |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | A far cheaper desktop crawler if all you need is technical auditing. |
What Semrush is actually for
Semrush began as a keyword-and-competitor research tool and the database is still the reason to buy it. When you type a competitor’s domain into Domain Overview you get their estimated organic traffic, their top ranking keywords, the keywords they bid on, and the ad copy they run. Very few products do all four well.
Everything else Semrush has added over the years — site auditing, content optimisation, social scheduling, listing management — is competent, but it is not usually the reason a team switches.
Who should not buy it
Three situations where Semrush is the wrong purchase:
- You need one shared login. Semrush enforces per-seat pricing and actively logs out concurrent sessions. Budget for real seats or pick something else.
- You only crawl your own site. A dedicated crawler costs a fraction of the price.
- You work in a small non-English market. Keyword volumes get thin, and the estimates drift further from reality the smaller the market gets.
How the pricing actually lands
The advertised entry price is a single seat. A realistic three-person in-house team on Guru with two extra seats is a meaningfully larger annual commitment than the headline figure suggests. Annual billing removes roughly a sixth of the cost. The 7-day trial requires a card.
Semrush versus Ahrefs, briefly
Buy Semrush if paid search and competitor advertising matter to you, or if several disciplines share the tool. Buy Ahrefs if backlinks and a fast, uncluttered interface matter more. Teams doing serious link acquisition often run both and drop one at renewal.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Semrush pricing page — checked 1 August 2026
- Semrush affiliate programme terms — checked 1 August 2026
- Semrush Holdings investor relations — checked 1 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email editorial@everyany.one and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.