Semrush is still a serious platform. But at $139.95 a month for the entry plan, and now under Adobe's ownership, a lot of people are asking whether they're paying for a suite they only half use. If you mainly need keyword research and rank tracking, one of these seven tools will almost certainly fit better, and cost less. The prices below were checked in July 2026 against each tool's own pricing page.
Why so many people are leaving Semrush right now
Two things changed. First, Adobe completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush on April 28, 2026, and Semrush is now officially an Adobe company. Adobe's history with acquired products (Magento is the usual example people point to) has plenty of long-time users bracing for enterprise pricing and slower updates. Nothing has been announced, but the number of people searching for a way out tells you how many aren't waiting to find out.
Second, the price was already hard to justify for smaller teams. Semrush's entry plan costs $139.95/month for 5 projects, 500 tracked keywords, and a single user seat. Every extra teammate costs around $45/month on top. If you mainly use it for keyword research and rank tracking, you're paying for a paid-ads suite, a social toolkit, and market intelligence features you never open.
None of that makes Semrush a bad platform. We still recommend it in our Semrush review, and if you use its PPC and traffic intelligence tools daily, staying put is a defensible call. But if you're paying $1,679 a year for maybe a third of the toolkit, one of these seven will almost certainly fit better.
The 7 best Semrush alternatives compared
Prices below are entry-level plans, checked July 2026. Most of these tools bill about 17 to 20% less on annual plans.
| Tool | Starting price | Best for | Free trial? |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking | $129/mo ($103.20/mo annual) | All-round Semrush replacement | 14 days, no card |
| Ahrefs | $29/mo Starter; $129/mo Lite | Backlink analysis and content research | No (free Webmaster Tools) |
| Moz Pro | $49/mo | Beginners | Yes |
| Mangools | $30.50/mo | Budget keyword research | Yes (free account) |
| SpyFu | $39/mo | PPC and competitor intelligence | No (30-day guarantee) |
| Ubersuggest | $29/mo | Casual use, lifetime-deal hunters | 7 days |
| SEO PowerSuite | Free version; from $349/yr | Annual license, no monthly fees | Free version |
1. SE Ranking: the closest like-for-like replacement
SE Ranking is what most people actually want when they search for a Semrush alternative: the same core stack (rank tracking, site audits, keyword and competitor research, backlink monitoring) at a lower price, with white-label reporting included rather than sold as an add-on.
The platform restructured its plans in late 2025. The current entry plan, Core, runs $129/month on monthly billing or $103.20/month paid annually, and covers 10 projects with 2,000 keywords tracked daily. That's double Semrush's project limit at roughly three-quarters of the cost. SE Ranking also tracks visibility inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, though that runs through a paid AI add-on, so check what your plan includes before you commit.
Reviewers agree with the value case. SE Ranking holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating on G2 from over 1,500 reviews, ahead of Semrush's 4.5, with its biggest wins in usability and support. The trade-off is database size: its keyword and backlink indexes are smaller than Semrush's or Ahrefs', which matters more in tiny niches and non-US markets. The 14-day trial needs no credit card, so testing it against your own data costs nothing. Our full SE Ranking review breaks down the plan limits and the refund terms. See how SE Ranking compares with Semrush for the pricing and capacity gaps.
2. Ahrefs: the power pick for backlinks and content
Ahrefs is the tool serious SEOs compare everything else against. Its backlink index is the largest independent one on the web, and new links are usually discovered within a few days, faster for high-authority pages. If link building, digital PR, or content gap analysis is the core of your work, nothing else on this list matches it.
Ahrefs also made its entry pricing more interesting with a $29/month Starter plan that cut the cost of getting in by about 70%. Be clear about what Starter is, though: one project, tight monthly credits, and only light rank tracking (about 50 keywords). It's a taster, not a workspace. The realistic professional entry point is Lite at $129/month (about $108/month annually), which adds 5 projects and 750 tracked keywords but keeps a credit system that active users burn through fast. AI search tracking (Brand Radar) is a separate add-on starting at $199/month, and there's no free trial; the free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools only covers sites you own.
Pick Ahrefs if backlink data quality justifies the spend. Skip it if you need generous limits on a budget.
3. Moz Pro: the gentlest learning curve
Moz Pro is the tool we'd hand to someone doing SEO for the first time. The interface explains itself, the learning resources are the best in the category, and its Domain Authority score is still the metric half the industry quotes when sizing up a site. Entry pricing starts at $49/month, roughly a third of Semrush's entry plan. If you're weighing the two directly, our Semrush versus Moz breakdown shows where each one wins.
The honest downside is data freshness. Moz's link index updates more slowly than Ahrefs', and its keyword database is smaller than Semrush's, which is why experienced users tend to outgrow it. We've covered where it shines and where it falls short in our full Moz review, and if Moz itself is the tool you're trying to replace, our guide to Moz alternatives walks through that decision separately.
4. Mangools: the cheapest full suite
Mangools bundles five small tools (KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner, and SiteProfiler) into one subscription from $30.50/month. KWFinder is the star: it's arguably the most pleasant keyword research tool on the market, and its difficulty scores are reliable enough to build a content calendar on.
What you give up is everything Semrush does beyond research. There's no crawler-based site audit at scale, no content marketing toolkit, and the backlink data is thin. For bloggers and small sites that mostly need to answer "what should I write next and can I rank for it", that's a fine trade at a fifth of Semrush's price. Our Semrush versus Mangools comparison breaks that trade down tier by tier.
5. SpyFu: the competitor intelligence specialist
SpyFu does one thing better than tools costing four times more: showing you every keyword a competitor has bought or ranked for, going back over a decade. Plans start at $39/month, though that entry tier caps you at 10,000 search-result rows a month; unlimited digging starts on the $119 Pro tier. Either way there are no per-day caps, just a monthly allowance.
Its data is deepest in the US and UK, though it now covers dozens of countries, and its technical SEO side is weak; there's no serious site audit here. Treat SpyFu as a research weapon you pair with something else, or as a full replacement only if competitor and PPC intelligence is genuinely most of what you used Semrush for.
6. Ubersuggest: the cheapest way in
Ubersuggest, Neil Patel's tool, starts at $29/month for keyword research, basic audits, backlink data, and content ideas. Its party trick is the lifetime deal: pay once and keep the tool forever, which no other mainstream SEO platform offers in 2026.
The data depth reflects the price. Volumes and difficulty scores are rougher than the tools above, and power users hit the ceilings quickly. But for a side project or a first site, it covers the basics for the cost of two takeaway coffees a month.
7. SEO PowerSuite: own it, no monthly fees
SEO PowerSuite works differently from everything else here: it's a desktop application, not a web app. The free version is genuinely usable, and paid licences start at $349/year. Because it runs on your machine, you can track effectively unlimited keywords without hitting the API caps that SaaS tools meter you on.
The trade-offs are the desktop workflow itself (your data lives locally, reports need exporting) and an interface that feels a generation older than SE Ranking's. For budget-conscious consultants who'd rather own software than rent it, it's the most underrated option on this list.
How to actually choose
Don't start with features; start with the two or three reports you opened in Semrush every week. If those were backlink reports, the answer is Ahrefs. If they were rank tracking and client reports, SE Ranking will feel like a straight upgrade for less money. If they were keyword lists for your own blog, Mangools or Ubersuggest keep you around $30 a month. And if you run a local business, the tool matters far less than the fundamentals: our local SEO guide covers what actually works.
Then run the trial against a site you know cold. Check whether the tool's volume and difficulty numbers roughly match what you've seen play out in real rankings. And before you cancel anything, export your Semrush data: position history doesn't migrate itself. For a wider look at the whole category, including tools that aren't direct Semrush replacements, see our list of the best SEO tools.
Still on the fence about whether to leave at all? Read our Semrush review first, then start with SE Ranking's 14-day trial. It's the only tool here where you can test the full replacement case without entering a card.