What does Semrush cost in October 2026?
Semrush's entry SEO plan costs $139 a month on monthly billing, or $117.33 a month billed annually, according to its pricing page (checked 24 October 2026). The page describes it as including basic keyword research and competitor analysis, 5 websites to monitor and 500 keywords tracked daily. The SEO + AI Search plans start at $199 a month.
Semrush also sells separate toolkits for ads and traffic data. The Advertising toolkit Base plan costs $99 a month billed annually and lists competitor keyword analysis. The Traffic & Market toolkit's Pro plan costs $289 a month billed annually.
Here is what that means for a small team that wants all three kinds of competitor data inside Semrush, on annual billing:
- SEO plan: $117.33 x 12 = $1,407.96 a year
- Advertising Base: $99 x 12 = $1,188 a year
- Total: about $2,596 a year, before Traffic & Market or extra users
Semrush is also under new ownership. Its own customer FAQ, dated 28 April 2026, says Adobe has officially acquired Semrush. Two commenters in the June 2026 r/SEO thread below raised the acquisition as a worry about future pricing and terms.
Which cheaper Semrush alternatives cover competitor data?
Mangools, SpyFu and Ahrefs Starter all cost under $40 a month on monthly billing, and each covers part of what Semrush does for competitor research. SE Ranking Core ($129) and Moz Pro Standard ($99) sit closer to Semrush's price. Prices below are from each vendor's own pricing page, checked 24 October 2026, in US dollars before tax.
| Tool and plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Competitor features its plan lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush SEO | $139/mo | $117.33/mo | Basic keyword research and competitor analysis |
| Ahrefs Starter | $29/mo | Not shown | Keyword research and a look at competitors; credit limit not listed on the pricing page |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129/mo | $1,290/yr | Site Explorer, Competitive Analysis, 20 competitors per project |
| SE Ranking Core | $129/mo | $103.20/mo | Unlimited keyword, competitor and backlink research |
| Moz Pro Standard | $99/mo | $79/mo | 3 tracked sites, 300 tracked keywords |
| Mangools Basic | $30.50/mo | $226.20/yr | 100k backlinks a month, 20 site analyses a day, 200 tracked keywords |
| SpyFu Basic | $39/mo | $29/mo | 10k-row domain, competitor and backlink results, 10+ years of ad history |
Two notes. Ahrefs' pricing page shows the $29 Starter plan without an annual price. An Ahrefs post first published in September 2024 still says Starter comes with 200 credits a month, so check current limits before you rely on it. Moz's page also offers a $49-a-month entry plan for individuals managing a single website.
What do the cheaper plans leave out?
Mostly seats, history and volume. A second user is often where a cheap plan stops being cheap, so price the team you actually have. These seat prices are from the same pricing pages, checked 24 October 2026, added to each plan's monthly price.
| Plan | Extra user | Two people, per month |
|---|---|---|
| Semrush SEO | From $45/mo | From $184 ($139 + $45) |
| Ahrefs Lite | $40/mo, up to 2 extra | $169 ($129 + $40) |
| SE Ranking Core | From $16 | From $145 ($129 + $16) |
| SpyFu Basic | $15 | $54 ($39 + $15) |
| Mangools Basic | No extra seats | Premium ($40.50/mo) is the cheapest plan with extra seats; seat price not listed |
History is the other gap. Ahrefs Lite keeps 6 months of historical data, against 2 years on Standard. Mangools Basic updates tracked rankings weekly; its Agency plan updates daily. If you need to show a rival's rise over a year, check the history limit before the price.
What competitor data can you get free?
Competitor ads are the easiest part to get free, because the platforms publish them. Rankings and backlinks are harder.
- Google ads. Google's Ads Transparency Center is a searchable repository of advertisers and the ads they have served on Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube. You can search by advertiser or website name and filter by date and targeted location.
- Meta ads. The Meta Ad Library covers all ads currently running across Meta technologies, and anyone can use it with or without a Facebook account.
- LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn's Ad Library shows the advertiser, format and creative. Ads stay in it for one year after their last impression, and ads targeted to the EU also show impressions, targeting and run dates.
- Backlinks. Ahrefs' free backlink checker gives a glimpse of any site's referring domains, backlinks and Domain Rating. Ahrefs' pricing FAQ says website owners can also sign up for Ahrefs Free, with limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit.
- Semrush itself. The free plan includes one demo project and 10 reports a day across its main tools.
For your own site, free Google tools cover most of what you need. Our free keyword research stack walks through them.
Which tool should a small team pick?
Pick by the single job you do most often, not by the longest feature list. This table is our suggestion, based on the plan limits above.
| Your main job | Start with | Cost per year, cheapest billing shown |
|---|---|---|
| See what ads rivals run | Google, Meta and LinkedIn ad libraries | $0 |
| Rivals' Google Ads keywords and ad history | SpyFu Basic | $348 on annual billing ($29 x 12) |
| Check rivals' backlinks once a month | Mangools Basic | $226.20 on annual billing |
| Quick look-ups now and then | Ahrefs Starter or Semrush free | $348 ($29 x 12) or $0 |
| Track your ranks and rivals' ranks daily | SE Ranking Core | $1,238.40 on annual billing ($103.20 x 12) |
| Client reports and deep research | Semrush or Ahrefs | From $1,290 (Ahrefs Lite annual) |
Before you pay, try the tool on your three real competitors. The trial terms differ a lot:
- Semrush: a seven-day free trial, per its pricing page.
- SE Ranking: a 14-day trial with no credit card required, per its subscription page.
- Mangools: a full refund within 48 hours of payment, per its pricing FAQ.
- SpyFu: a 30-day money-back guarantee, per its pricing page.
- Ahrefs: its FAQ says it never runs discounts and points website owners to Ahrefs Free.
If backlinks are the part you care about, our guide to getting backlinks for a new SaaS site shows how to pitch the "best tools" list posts that already include your rivals.
What do SEO practitioners say about leaving Semrush?
Across three threads we read on 24 October 2026, several replies sorted the decision by job, not by brand. These are individual commenters' views, and many replies in all three threads had been removed by moderators or bots.
- In an r/marketing thread from November 2025 asking for a Semrush replacement, Ahrefs was the most named option: 11 of the 37 visible replies in the archive copy we read mentioned it.
- In an r/SEO thread from June 2026 (about 125 comments when checked), several commenters said free Google tools cover tracking your own site. One commenter said "the only thing genuinely hard to replace cheap is competitor + backlink data".
- In a second r/SEO thread from July 2026 (about 77 comments), the poster had looked at Ahrefs, SE Ranking and Mangools and said none fit the budget they were given. Several replies suggested building reports from Google Search Console, Google Analytics and AI, while others still named Ahrefs. One reply asked how the poster would then see competitors' performance.
That last question is the useful filter. If you only report on your own site, you may not need a paid suite at all. If you need to watch rivals, you are paying for third-party data, and the cheapest plans above are where to start.
Where does a weekly competitor briefing fit?
A briefing fits when your question each week is "what changed at our rivals?" rather than open-ended research. If that is your main use of a suite, compare what you pay per year with what you actually look at.
- Write down the three questions you ask every month. For example: who started bidding on our name, which new sites link to our rival, which rival pages now rank for our main term.
- Match each question to the cheapest source above. Ads questions often cost nothing.
- Cancel or downgrade the suite at renewal if two of the three are covered. Put the date in your calendar a week before renewal.
Siela's Competitor Watch is one way to get those answers without logging in. It sends a briefing every Monday morning on what each competitor launched, priced, hired or posted, with links and a "so what for us" line. It also checks backlinks, who ranks for their terms, AI-assistant visibility and ads, and remembers past reports so it shows only what changed. For pages and pricing you would rather watch yourself, our guide to tracking competitors without drowning in feeds has a free routine.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free Semrush alternative for competitor research?
Partly. Google's Ads Transparency Center, Meta's Ad Library and LinkedIn's Ad Library show competitors' ads for free. Ahrefs' free backlink checker gives a glimpse of any site's backlinks, and Semrush's own free plan allows 10 reports a day. Full competitor ranking and backlink data generally needs a paid plan, such as Mangools Basic at $30.50 a month, checked 24 October 2026.
Is Ahrefs cheaper than Semrush?
At the entry level, yes, if Starter is enough. Ahrefs' pricing page lists Starter at $29 a month and Lite at $129 a month, against Semrush's SEO plan at $139 a month on monthly billing, checked 24 October 2026. Annual billing changes the gap: Semrush SEO is $117.33 a month billed annually, while Ahrefs Lite is $1,290 a year.
What is the cheapest way to see a competitor's Google ads?
Google's Ads Transparency Center is free. Search by the advertiser or website name, then filter by date and targeted location to see the ads they have served on Search, Display, Gmail and YouTube. For keyword-level ad history, SpyFu's Basic plan costs $39 a month on monthly billing and lists more than 10 years of ad history, checked 24 October 2026.
Did Adobe buy Semrush?
Yes. Semrush's customer FAQ, dated 28 April 2026, says Adobe has officially acquired Semrush and that customers can expect continued support. Semrush's pricing page, checked 24 October 2026, still lists its own plans, starting with the SEO plan at $139 a month on monthly billing.
How do I test a cheaper SEO tool before switching?
Run the same three competitor domains through each tool you are considering and compare what you would actually use. Use the vendor's trial or refund window: SE Ranking offers a 14-day trial without a card, Semrush a seven-day trial, Mangools a 48-hour refund and SpyFu a 30-day money-back guarantee, according to their pages on 24 October 2026.
Sources
- Semrush: Plans and pricing (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Semrush: Advertising Toolkit plans (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Semrush: Traffic & Market plans (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Semrush: FAQ for Customers: Adobe Acquires Semrush (28 Apr 2026)
- Ahrefs: Plans and pricing (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Ahrefs blog: Ahrefs' $29 Starter plan, what's included (2 Sep 2024)
- Ahrefs: Free Backlink Checker (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- SE Ranking: Subscription plans (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Moz Pro: Pricing (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Mangools: Plans and pricing (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- SpyFu: Pricing (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Google Advertising Policies Help: Ads transparency (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Meta Ad Library (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Ad Library (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- r/marketing: I'm Over SEMRush, What Other Platform Is A Viable Competitor? (10 Nov 2025)
- r/SEO: Semrush. Worth it? Any cheaper alternatives? (15 Jun 2026)
- r/SEO: Alternatives to SEMrush (28 Jul 2026)