- SE Ranking is cheaper to start: Core is $129 a month against $139 for Semrush's SEO plan (November 2026, monthly billing). Billed yearly they fall to $103.20 and $117.33.
- SE Ranking tracks far more keywords per plan: 2,000 on Core and 5,000 on Growth, against 500 on Semrush SEO and 1,500 on Pro+. Both update rankings daily.
- SE Ranking covers more projects: 10 projects on Core and 30 projects on Growth, against 5 websites on Semrush SEO and 15 websites on Pro+.
- Semrush has a free plan; SE Ranking does not. Free plan: 1 demo project and 10 reports a day, no card. SE Ranking offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card; Semrush paid plans have a 7-day free trial.
- For your own sites on a budget, MrKeyword (our product) is free for one website, then $10 a month. It has a smaller link index and no third-party traffic data, so it does not replace either suite's competitor research.
Disclosure: MrKeyword publishes this page, and MrKeyword overlaps with both tools for work on your own site. Every price and plan limit below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, and the date we read it is printed under each table. Where a page did not state a figure, we leave it out rather than guess.
Which is cheaper, SE Ranking or Semrush?
SE Ranking is cheaper: its listed plans run $129 to $279 a month, against $139 to $299 for Semrush, and each SE Ranking plan includes more tracked keywords and projects. Both put their top plan (SE Ranking Enterprise, Semrush Advanced) on a custom price. SE Ranking takes 20% off for yearly billing; Semrush lists up to 17% off, paid upfront for the year. Our SE Ranking pricing and Semrush pricing guides cover each plan in more depth.
SE Ranking plans, as of November 2026
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly, per month | Projects / sites | Tracked keywords | Rank updates | Users | Extra user |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core | $129/mo | $103.20/mo | 10 projects | 2,000 | Daily | 1 manager seat | From $16 |
| Growth | $279/mo | $223.20/mo | 30 projects | 5,000 | Daily | 3 manager seats | From $16 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | Daily | Custom | Not stated |
Semrush plans, as of November 2026
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly, per month | Projects / sites | Tracked keywords | Rank updates | Users | Extra user |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | $139/mo | $117.33/mo | 5 websites | 500 | Daily | 1 | From $45/mo |
| Starter (SEO + AI Search) | $199/mo | $165.17/mo | 5 websites | 500 | Daily | 1 | $45/mo |
| Pro+ (SEO + AI Search) | $299/mo | $248.17/mo | 15 websites | 1,500 | Daily | 1 | $80/mo |
| Advanced (SEO + AI Search) | Custom | Custom | 40+ websites | 5,000+ | Daily | Team users | $100/mo |
Seats change the sum for teams. SE Ranking's Core includes 1 manager seat and Growth 3 manager seats, with extra seats from $16. Semrush's SEO, Starter and Pro+ plans list 1 user each, and extra users cost from $45/mo on SEO, $45/mo on Starter, $80/mo on Pro+ and $100/mo on Advanced.
Rank tracking compared
SE Ranking gives more tracked keywords for the money; both update rankings daily on every plan.
| Tool and plan | Monthly billing | Tracked keywords | Rank updates | Projects / websites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking Core | $129/mo | 2,000 | Daily | 10 projects |
| SE Ranking Growth | $279/mo | 5,000 | Daily | 30 projects |
| Semrush SEO | $139/mo | 500 | Daily | 5 websites |
| Semrush Starter (SEO + AI Search) | $199/mo | 500 | Daily | 5 websites |
| Semrush Pro+ (SEO + AI Search) | $299/mo | 1,500 | Daily | 15 websites |
SE Ranking's Core tracks 2,000 keywords for $129, 4 times the 500 on Semrush's $139 SEO plan. To pass 1,500 keywords on Semrush you need Advanced (5,000+, custom price); SE Ranking's Growth lists 5,000 at $279. SE Ranking also sells extra tracked keywords from $22.40. For trackers built only for this job, see best rank tracking software.
Keyword and competitor data
Both research keywords and competitors for any domain from their own databases; Semrush is the wider suite, while SE Ranking puts that research in cheaper plans.
- Semrush: keyword, competitor and advertising research share one login, and specialist toolkits are sold on top, such as Traffic & Market from $289 a month and AI Visibility from $99 per domain, both billed annually. The paid plans also track AI search prompts: 50 a day on Starter and 100 a day on Pro+.
- SE Ranking: keyword and competitor research come inside Core and Growth, and AI visibility tracking is included, with more prompts sold from $71 a month.
Neither vendor publishes its keyword database size counted the same way, so we do not rank their databases.
Backlinks
Both sell backlink research on any domain from their own web-wide link index. Each counts its index differently, so we do not compare their sizes. If links are the main job, compare both on a domain you know well during the trial: SE Ranking's 14-day free trial, no credit card, or Semrush's 7-day free trial. Our Semrush vs Ahrefs comparison covers the link-focused alternative.
Site audit
Both include a crawler-based site audit on every paid plan, and both raise the audit allowance on higher plans. Their pricing pages count audit limits in different ways, and our dataset does not hold those caps, so we do not quote them here. For a single page, our free site audit runs with no sign-up.
Who should pick SE Ranking, and who should pick Semrush?
Pick SE Ranking if rank tracking across many sites is the core of the work and budget matters; pick Semrush if you need the widest research suite and its add-on toolkits.
| If you are… | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A freelancer tracking many keywords for a few clients | SE Ranking Core | 2,000 daily keywords and 10 projects for $129 |
| A small agency with two or three people | SE Ranking Growth | 3 manager seats, 30 projects, and white-label reports through the Agency Pack (+$69 a month, annual billing only) |
| A team that also runs paid search or market research | Semrush | Advertising research in the suite, and Traffic & Market and other toolkits as add-ons |
| An agency with many sites and a larger budget | Semrush Pro+ or Advanced | 15 websites on Pro+, 40+ websites on Advanced |
| Someone who wants to try before paying, then keep a free tier | Semrush | Free plan: 1 demo project and 10 reports a day, no card |
Mind the refund terms before paying yearly. SE Ranking says: payments are non-refundable unless the service was not delivered as promised. Semrush offers a 7-day money-back on first annual purchases only.
Is there a cheaper option for your own sites?
Yes, if you only work on sites you own: MrKeyword, which we make, is free for one website and $10 a month after that, but it is not a replacement for SE Ranking or Semrush. It reads your Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools data, keeps a daily history, crawls your site and gets keyword volumes from Google Keyword Planner through the official Google Ads API.
MrKeyword plans (our product)
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly | Websites | Tracked keywords | Rank updates | Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 website | 25 | Daily, from Search Console | 1 |
| Starter | $10/mo | $8.33/mo ($100 a year) | 1 website | 500 | Daily, from Search Console | 2 |
| Growth | $19/mo | $15.83/mo ($190 a year) | 3 websites | 1,500 | Daily, from Search Console | 3 |
| Agency | $49/mo | $40.83/mo ($490 a year) | 10 websites | 5,000 | Daily, from Search Console | 10 |
What it gives up, honestly: its link index is smaller than either suite's, and it has no third-party traffic data. The website traffic checker shows MrKeyword's own modelled estimate as a range, not measured traffic.
- No web-scale keyword index. It cannot list every keyword a competitor ranks for. Its search volumes come from Google Keyword Planner through the official Google Ads API, for the keywords you research.
- Competitor positions are predicted, not measured. The Competitors tab in rank tracking estimates where rival domains rank from MrKeyword's own index and labels every figure Predicted.
- No live SERP checks. It never scrapes Google. Your positions are Google's own average positions from Search Console (and Bing Webmaster Tools), for sites you verify, with Google's usual 2 to 3 day delay.
- A smaller link index. Backlinks and Link Authority come from MrKeyword's web graph, which is smaller than the link indexes the big suites run.
- No local pack, map or ads tracking, and no social media or PPC toolkits.
Track one website's rankings free, no cardMrKeyword's free rank tracker follows 25 keywords from your own Search Console positions, every day, with no end date.
Start tracking freeFor every vendor side by side, see SEO tool pricing compared. SE Ranking and Semrush are trademarks of their owners, used here only to compare them. MrKeyword is not affiliated with either.
Questions and answers
SE Ranking vs Semrush questions
Is SE Ranking as good as Semrush?
For rank tracking, SE Ranking gives more for the money: Core tracks 2,000 keywords daily for $129 a month, where Semrush's SEO plan tracks 500 for $139. Semrush is the wider suite, with advertising research and add-on toolkits, so it suits teams that need more than SEO.
Does SE Ranking or Semrush have a free plan or trial?
Semrush has a free plan with 1 demo project and 10 reports a day, no card, and a 7-day free trial of its paid plans. SE Ranking has no free plan, but offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Which is better for agencies, SE Ranking or Semrush?
SE Ranking suits budget-minded agencies: Growth costs $279 a month with 30 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords and 3 manager seats, and its Agency Pack adds white label for $69 a month on annual billing. Semrush suits larger agencies that need 15 websites on Pro+ or 40+ websites on Advanced and its wider toolkits.
Which is cheaper, SE Ranking or Semrush?
SE Ranking. Core is $129 a month ($103.20 billed yearly) and Semrush's SEO plan is $139 ($117.33 billed yearly), prices checked November 2026.
Can I use SE Ranking and Semrush together?
Yes. Some teams pay for SE Ranking's rank tracking and use Semrush's free plan for occasional research on other domains. Paying for both full suites is rarely needed for one website.
Sources
- SE Ranking plans and pricing — plans, prices and limits; checked 1 November 2026
- Semrush pricing — plans, prices and limits; checked 2 November 2026
- Semrush: semrush.com/kb/1409-user-management — limits, add-ons or terms; checked 2 November 2026
- Semrush: semrush.com/pricing/local — limits, add-ons or terms; checked 2 November 2026
- Semrush: semrush.com/pricing/content — limits, add-ons or terms; checked 2 November 2026
- Semrush: semrush.com/pricing/traffic-and-market — limits, add-ons or terms; checked 2 November 2026
- Semrush: semrush.com/pricing/ai — limits, add-ons or terms; checked 2 November 2026
- Semrush free trial — trial of paid plans
- MrKeyword pricing — our own plans and limits
