Semrush alternatives: cheaper picks sorted by what you need to replace

The best Semrush alternative is the cheapest tool that still does the one or two jobs you actually open Semrush for. Semrush's SEO plan costs $139 a month (read 2 November 2026); every plan and add-on is broken down in our Semrush pricing guide, and what the free account still allows is in is Semrush free?. This page sorts the alternatives by need. For one-to-one reviews, read Semrush vs Ahrefs, SE Ranking vs Semrush, SpyFu vs Semrush, Ubersuggest vs Semrush and Moz vs Semrush.

Which Semrush alternative fits your need?

Start with the report you open most often, not the longest feature list.

• Full suite, backlinks and site audits: Ahrefs or SE Ranking.
• Keyword research on a budget: Mangools or Ubersuggest.
• Competitors' paid and organic keywords: SpyFu.
• Rankings, clicks and audits for sites you own, on Google and Bing: MrKeyword, which we make.

Full suite and backlinks: Ahrefs or SE Ranking

If you use Semrush for backlinks, competitor gaps, site audits and rank tracking together, you need another full suite. These two are the usual moves.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs Lite is $129 a month (read 2 November 2026) for 5 unverified, unlimited verified, 750 tracked keywords updated weekly, 1,000 per user a month credits and 100,000 a month crawl credits. Its backlink index is the main reason people choose it. What you give up: rank updates are weekly on Lite against Semrush's daily, research is metered by credits, and Semrush's separate local, content, ads and social toolkits have no direct match. See Semrush vs Ahrefs, tool by tool.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking Core is $129 a month (read 1 November 2026) for 10 projects and 2,000 keywords tracked daily, so it tracks far more keywords than Semrush's 500 on the SEO plan. What you give up: a smaller keyword and backlink database than Semrush's, fewer marketing toolkits, and some extras sold as add-ons. Our SE Ranking vs Semrush comparison sets the plans side by side.

Keyword research on a budget: Mangools or Ubersuggest

If you mostly open Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool, a smaller keyword tool costs much less.

Mangools

Mangools Basic is $61 a month (read 1 November 2026) for KWFinder, SERPWatcher and the rest of its bundle: Unlimited domains, 100 keyword lookups / 24h and 200 tracked keywords updated weekly. What you give up: daily rank checks, a full-site crawler (SiteProfiler analyzes domains, it does not audit every page) and Semrush's depth on competitors and backlinks. Seats are 1 (no extra seats available).

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest's plans run from $29 a month in US dollars (read 1 November 2026), with 1 to 15 projects across the three plans and 125 to 300 per project tracked keywords updated weekly; it also sells one-time lifetime plans. What you give up: its traffic and keyword numbers are its own estimates, the database is smaller than Semrush's, and rank updates are weekly. Read Ubersuggest vs Semrush for the plan-by-plan match-up.

Competitor PPC and organic research: SpyFu

If you use Semrush mainly to see which keywords competitors buy ads on and rank for, SpyFu is built for that job. SpyFu Basic is $39 a month (read 1 November 2026) with 1 tracking project and 5,000 tracked keywords updated weekly. What you give up: daily rank tracking, Semrush's site audit and backlink depth, and its local, content and social toolkits. Our SpyFu vs Semrush comparison covers each plan.

Tracking your own sites from Search Console and Bing data: MrKeyword

If most of your Semrush time goes on your own rankings, clicks and audits, you are paying for a web-wide database you rarely open. MrKeyword, which we make, reads Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools data for the sites you verify and keeps a daily history. Google positions are Search Console averages, with the usual 2 to 3 day delay; Bing positions sit on a separate tab (Bing rank tracking from Webmaster Tools data). It adds keyword volumes and its own crawler for audits; try one page on the free site audit tool with no account.

• Free: 1 website, 25 tracked keywords, 100 audit pages a month.
• Starter: $10 a month for 1 website and 500 tracked keywords.
• Growth: $19 a month for 3 websites and 1,500 tracked keywords. Every limit is on the MrKeyword pricing page.

What you give up: everything about domains you do not own. See the section below.

What MrKeyword does not do

• It does not scrape live search results, so there are no city or ZIP-level snapshots and no on-demand refresh.
• It does not measure competitors' rankings; competitor views are predictions, labelled Predicted.
• It has no advertising research, no web-wide backlink database on the scale of Semrush or Ahrefs, and no social or content marketing toolkits.

• 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.

Who should keep Semrush?

Stay on Semrush if you use several of its parts every week. If you research competitors' keywords, backlinks and ads, track rankings daily across 5 websites, and also use its local, content or social toolkits, replacing it means paying for two or three tools and learning each one. Price that combination before you cancel.

Semrush is a trademark of its owner, used here only to describe alternatives. MrKeyword is not affiliated with Semrush, Ahrefs, SE Ranking, Mangools, SpyFu or Ubersuggest.

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