ROUNDUP
Semrush is the most complete SEO platform most people will ever open — and, at $139.95 a month, the easiest one to overpay for. Most subscribers use only two or three of its modules. Here are eight genuine Semrush alternatives picked by the job you actually do — from a $20-a-month keyword tool to a near like-for-like suite — plus the free stack that covers a one-site owner for $0, and a switching checklist so you leave without losing your rankings data.
Updated October 2026 · Editorial roundup · Research-based: no hands-on testing is claimed for these tools
Prices checked October 2026 on official vendor pages. No sponsored listings — rankings on merit. How we review: https://smartrisehq.com/how-we-review-ai-tools/
60-second pick: Budget under $50? KeySearch. One dashboard for a team? SE Ranking. Backlinks first? Ahrefs.
Only tools that do Semrush’s SEO jobs are listed here — no website builders or CRMs filling the list.
CLOSEST ALL-ROUND REPLACEMENT
SE Ranking at a Glance
seranking.com
BEST FOR
Small teams that want one Semrush-style dashboard — Core at $129/month tracks 2,000 keywords a day across 10 projects, four times Semrush’s entry allowance, for less money.
CHEAPEST PAID PICK
KeySearch at a Glance
keysearch.co
BEST FOR
Bloggers and one-site owners who mainly need keyword research — Starter at $24/month ($20 billed annually) with 200 searches a day and a 7-day trial.
Alternatives · Verdict · Features · Pricing · Switching · FAQ
The 8 Best Semrush Alternatives
Start with the benchmark, because “cheaper than Semrush” only means something against a real number. Semrush’s SEO plan costs $139.95/month, or $117.33/month billed annually, for 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily, with a limited free plan and a 7-day trial on paid plans. Its Semrush One Starter plan is $199/month ($165.17 annually) for the same 5 websites and 500 keywords plus 50 AI prompts a day — so the AI-visibility layer, not more SEO capacity, is what the extra $60 buys. Every alternative below is judged against that: same job, lower bill, and the trade-off stated honestly. Prices were checked in October 2026; Semrush itself now shows two plan ladders, so confirm which ladder your checkout shows before you buy.
Replace the job, not the dashboard. That is the rule this list follows, and it is the angle other roundups skip: they rank ten tools and leave you to guess. Instead, ask which Semrush module you actually opened last week. Rank tracking and client reports point to SE Ranking. Backlink research points to Ahrefs. Keyword research on a budget points to Mangools or KeySearch. Competitor ad research points to SpyFu. The sections below are ordered by that logic, not by price alone.
1. SE Ranking — Best All-Round Semrush Replacement
SE Ranking is the closest thing to a smaller Semrush: rank tracking, site audits, keyword research, backlink checking, competitor analysis and AI-visibility tracking in one dashboard. Core costs $129/month, or $103.20/month billed annually, and covers 10 projects, 1 manager seat, 2,000 keywords tracked daily, 100 AI prompts a day and 250,000 audit pages a month. Growth is $279/month ($223.20 annually) for 30 projects, 3 seats and 5,000 daily keywords, and Enterprise is custom. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial that needs no card. The catches are the add-ons: white-label agency reporting needs the Agency Pack (from $69/month on annual billing), and there is no permanent free plan. Pick SE Ranking if you run client rank tracking and audits and want the same workflow at a lower price; skip it if you only need keyword research, where a lighter tool costs far less.
Visit SE Ranking’s official site →
2. Ahrefs — Best for Backlinks and Competitor Research
Ahrefs is Semrush’s peer, not its discount: switch for its link data, not to save money. Starter is $29/month (monthly only) for light keyword and competitor lookups, Lite is $129/month ($107.50 billed annually) for 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords updated weekly and 6 months of history, and Standard is $249/month ($207.50 annually) for 20 projects and 2,000 tracked keywords. There is no free trial on paid plans, but Ahrefs Free gives verified site owners limited Site Explorer and Site Audit data for sites they own. Note the weekly (not daily) rank updates on Lite, and that extra users and add-ons like Brand Radar push the real bill above the headline price. Pick Ahrefs if backlink research is the main reason you pay for Semrush; if you need PPC data or social and local toolkits, Semrush still covers more ground.
Visit Ahrefs’s official pricing page →
3. Moz Pro — Best for Domain Authority and Simple Reporting
Moz Pro is the gentlest learning curve on this list, and the only tool here whose authority metric — Domain Authority — is quoted across the whole industry. Be clear, though: DA is a third-party score, not a Google ranking factor. Starter is $49/month ($39 billed annually) for 1 site, Standard is $99/month ($79 annually) for 3 sites, 300 tracked keywords and 400,000 crawled pages a month, and Medium ($179/$143) and Large ($299/$239) scale to 10 and 25 sites. A 7-day trial runs on Standard and Medium (card required); Starter has none. Extra seats run $49/user/month on secondary checks, so a team’s bill climbs fast. Pick Moz if you want readable reports and DA in client conversations; pick Ahrefs or SE Ranking if you need deeper keyword volume or daily tracking.
Visit Moz Pro’s official pricing page →
4. Serpstat — Best Full Suite Under $70 a Month
Serpstat is the cheapest tool here that still covers every core module: keyword research, rank tracking, site audit, backlink analysis and competitor research. Individual is $69/month monthly, or $50/month billed annually, for 5 projects, 100 searches a day, 10,000 position checks a month and 30,000 audit pages. Team is $129/month ($100 annually) with unlimited projects, 500 searches a day, API access and 3 user seats, and Team x2 and Agency scale from there. The 7-day trial verifies your card with a $1 charge that is refunded (per October 2026 checks), so set a calendar reminder before it converts. Its separate LLM Brand Monitor for AI visibility is sold apart. Pick Serpstat if your budget stops well below $100 and you still want a real suite; its link index is smaller than Ahrefs’, and its interface is denser than Moz’s or Mangools’.
Visit Serpstat’s official site →
5. SpyFu — Best for Competitor SEO and PPC Research
SpyFu does the job Semrush first became famous for: showing which keywords competitors rank for and bid on, with more than a decade of history on higher plans. Basic is $39/month, less billed annually (secondary checks differ on the exact annual equivalent, so confirm the live figure before buying), with 10,000-row results and exports, 5,000 weekly tracked keywords and 6 months of history. Pro adds 10+ years of history, API access and branded reports, and every plan carries a 30-day money-back guarantee. SpyFu is not a full audit-and-tracking suite and its backlink depth trails Ahrefs. Pick it if most of your Semrush time goes to competitor keyword and Google Ads research — for that one job, it is the sharpest tool on this list at the lowest suite price.
Visit SpyFu’s official pricing page →
6. Mangools — Best for Friendly Keyword Research
Mangools bundles five tools — KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner and SiteProfiler, plus an AI Search Watcher — behind the friendliest interface here. Basic is $61/month, or $37.70/month billed annually, for 100 keyword lookups a day, 200 tracked keywords and weekly rank updates; Premium ($81/$52.70) and Agency ($141/$97.70) raise the limits and add seats. A free account gives 5 lookups a day, and paid plans carry a 48-hour refund window. Note the price history: older roundups quote $49/$29.90, superseded by the current $61/$37.70 ladder — another reason to check the live page. Mangools is not a technical audit crawler and its link data is thinner than Ahrefs’. Pick it if keyword research is 80% of your Semrush use and you want to learn the tool in an afternoon.
Visit Mangools’s official site →
7. Ubersuggest — Best Budget All-Rounder (and the Only Lifetime Deal)
Ubersuggest is the only tool here that lets you stop paying monthly altogether. Its pricing page in October 2026 shows promotional monthly rates of Individual $12/month, Business $20/month and Enterprise $40/month, with one-time lifetime options of $120, $200 and $400 respectively. Individual covers 1 project and 125 tracked keywords; higher tiers cover 7 and 15 projects. Two warnings before you buy lifetime: the prices are promotional and move, and lifetime tiers are feature-reduced against the yearly tiers of the same name and non-refundable (per October 2026 checks) — trial the monthly plan first, on the 7-day trial. Ubersuggest’s own pages describe its numbers as estimates, so treat volumes as directional. For the wider budget picture, including where Ubersuggest sits against other sub-$30 tools, see our best SEO tools under $30 guide.
Visit Ubersuggest’s official pricing page →
8. KeySearch — Best Cheapest Keyword-First Tool
KeySearch is the smallest, cheapest tool that still covers the basics properly: keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking, site audit, backlink checking and YouTube research, plus a Content Assistant that scores drafts against top-ranking pages. Starter is $24/month, or $20/month billed annually, for 200 searches a day, 80 tracked keywords and 2,000 audit pages a month; Pro is $48/month ($40 annually) for 500 searches a day, 200 tracked keywords, 5,000 audit pages and the AI Foresight engine. A 7-day trial covers both plans. The database is smaller than Semrush’s and there is no paid-search intelligence or team workflow — for a blogger running one or two content sites, that rarely matters. If $24 still feels like too much, our best SEO tools under $30 guide compares it with the free stack below.
Visit KeySearch’s official site →
What you lose leaving Semrush
No single alternative on this list replaces Semrush outright, and an honest roundup should say so. Semrush bundles paid-search data, traffic and market analytics, local SEO and social toolkits that the suites here mostly do not: Ahrefs has no PPC toolkit to match it, SE Ranking’s paid-search data is thinner, and the budget tools have none at all. If you genuinely use four or more Semrush modules every week, the cheaper move is usually to stay — or to pair one suite with one specialist (for example, SE Ranking for tracking plus SpyFu for ad research) rather than expecting one subscription to do everything. AI visibility is the same story: Semrush’s AI tracking sits on the $199 Starter tier, SE Ranking tracks 100 AI prompts a day on Core, and the budget tools cover it lightly or not at all — a dedicated AI tracker is a separate purchase if that job matters to you.
The free stack: a $0 Semrush replacement for one site
If your budget is zero, combine free tools instead of buying a cheap plan you will outgrow in a month. Google Search Console gives you real first-party data for your own site — queries, clicks, impressions and average position — but no competitor data. Ahrefs Free adds limited Site Explorer and Site Audit for sites you verify. Screaming Frog’s free version crawls up to 500 URLs. Mangools’ free account adds a few keyword lookups a day, and Semrush’s own free plan covers spot checks. Together they cover tracking, audits and a little research; what they cannot do at scale is keyword difficulty and competitor research — those are the jobs that push most people to a paid plan, and KeySearch or Ubersuggest is where that paid step costs least.
Our Verdict
An honest editorial take — not sponsored, not influenced by affiliate relationships.
OUR VERDICT
Editorial opinion based on publicly available information.
SE Ranking is the best Semrush alternative for most teams; KeySearch is the best value pick overall. SE Ranking’s Core plan tracks four times Semrush’s daily keywords for less money, with the same one-dashboard workflow. KeySearch covers the core keyword job from $20/month billed annually. Stay with Semrush if you genuinely use its PPC, traffic, local and social modules together — no single tool here replaces that breadth at any price on this list.
Choose SE Ranking if you want one dashboard for tracking, audits, research and reports — the closest all-round swap.
Choose Ahrefs if backlink research is the job — accept the weekly rank updates and the higher real bill.
Choose KeySearch or Ubersuggest if budget decides it — real tools from $20–$24 a month, or a one-time lifetime payment if you trial it first.
Why the verdict holds
Semrush’s entry price is not the problem — its entry limits are. Five websites and 500 tracked keywords a day for $139.95 is a fair deal only if you use the breadth around it. SE Ranking beats that allowance outright (2,000 keywords, 10 projects, $129) while keeping the suite shape, which is why it wins the all-round contest. Ahrefs wins the specialist contest because its link index is the dataset link builders actually trust, even though Lite costs nearly the same as Semrush. And the budget tools win only when the job is narrow: KeySearch and Ubersuggest are honest keyword-and-tracking tools, not suites, and their prices reflect exactly that. The verdict follows the job, not the price tag — which is why a $129 tool can beat a $24 tool for one reader and lose to it for another.
Who should pick which
- Small teams and agencies wanting one dashboard: SE Ranking Core — 2,000 keywords a day, 10 projects, 14-day trial with no card.
- Link builders and competitor researchers: Ahrefs Lite — deep backlink data, weekly tracking, free tier for your own sites.
- Beginners and client-reporting teams: Moz Pro Standard — Domain Authority, readable reports, 7-day trial.
- Sub-$100 suite buyers: Serpstat Individual — every core module for $50/month billed annually.
- PPC and competitor-ad researchers: SpyFu Basic — a decade-plus of ad history behind a $39/month entry price.
- Keyword-first bloggers: Mangools Basic or KeySearch Starter — friendly research from $37.70 or $20/month billed annually.
- One-time-payment buyers: Ubersuggest lifetime — only after a 7-day trial, because lifetime tiers are feature-reduced and non-refundable.
Feature Snapshot
Side-by-side facts drawn from publicly available product information.
| TOOL | STARTING PRICE | FREE PLAN / TRIAL | STANDOUT FEATURE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush (benchmark) | $139.95/mo ($117.33 annual) — SEO plan | Limited free plan; 7-day trial | Broadest bundle: SEO, PPC, traffic, local, social, AI tracking on Starter |
| SE Ranking | $129/mo ($103.20 annual) — Core | 14-day trial, no card; no free plan | 2,000 keywords/day, 10 projects, 100 AI prompts/day on Core |
| Ahrefs | $29/mo Starter; Lite $129 ($107.50 annual) | Ahrefs Free (own sites); no trial | Deepest backlink data; weekly rank updates on Lite |
| Moz Pro | $49/mo ($39 annual) — Starter | 7-day trial on Standard/Medium | Domain Authority + simplest client reporting |
| Serpstat | $69/mo ($50 annual) — Individual | 7-day trial (refunded $1 card check) | Full suite under $70; API from Team |
| SpyFu | $39/mo (less billed annually) — Basic | 30-day money-back; no trial claimed | Competitor PPC + organic history, 10+ years on Pro |
| Mangools | $61/mo ($37.70 annual) — Basic | Free account (5 lookups/day) | Friendliest keyword research; 5-tool suite |
| Ubersuggest | $12/mo promo (Individual); lifetime $120 | 7-day trial on monthly plans | Only lifetime deal here; prices promotional |
| KeySearch | $24/mo ($20 annual) — Starter | 7-day trial | Cheapest keyword-first tool; YouTube research included |
Pricing & Free Options
Plans change often — always confirm on the official site before buying. Prices checked October 2026. SpyFu’s annual equivalent and Ubersuggest’s promotional prices are flagged in the text rather than stated as fixed figures.
Semrush (for reference)
LIMITED FREE PLAN · FREE TRIAL · PAID PLANS
Limited free plan; 7-day trial on paid plans; two plan ladders now shown (SEO + Semrush One)
✓ SEO ($139.95/mo monthly, $117.33/mo annual): 5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily, core SEO toolkit
✓ Starter ($199/mo monthly, $165.17/mo annual): same SEO limits plus 50 AI prompts a day and AI brand reporting
✓ Pro+ ($299/mo monthly, $248.17/mo annual): 15 websites, 1,500 keywords, historical data; Advanced is custom
SE Ranking
FREE TRIAL · PAID PLANS
14-day free trial, no card; no permanent free plan; annual billing saves 20%
✓ Core ($129/mo monthly, $103.20/mo annual): 10 projects, 1 seat, 2,000 keywords/day, 100 AI prompts/day, 250,000 audit pages/mo
✓ Growth ($279/mo monthly, $223.20/mo annual): 30 projects, 3 seats, 5,000 keywords/day, 2M audit pages/mo, historical data
✓ Enterprise (custom): custom limits; Agency Pack add-on from $69/mo (annual) for white-label reporting
Ahrefs
FREE ACCOUNT · PAID PLANS
Ahrefs Free for verified own sites; no free trial on paid plans; annual billing saves up to 17%
✓ Starter ($29/mo, monthly only): light keyword and competitor lookups
✓ Lite ($129/mo monthly, $107.50/mo annual): 5 projects, 750 tracked keywords (weekly), 6 months history
✓ Standard ($249/mo monthly, $207.50/mo annual): 20 projects, 2,000 tracked keywords, 2 years history
✓ Advanced ($449/mo monthly, $374.17/mo annual): 50 projects, 5,000 tracked keywords; Enterprise $1,499/mo annual commitment
Moz Pro
FREE TRIAL · PAID PLANS
7-day trial on Standard/Medium (card required); annual billing saves about 20%
✓ Starter ($49/mo monthly, $39/mo annual): 1 site, 50 tracked keywords
✓ Standard ($99/mo monthly, $79/mo annual): 3 sites, 300 tracked keywords, 400,000 crawled pages/mo
✓ Medium ($179/mo monthly, $143/mo annual): 10 sites, 1,500 tracked keywords, 2 seats
✓ Large ($299/mo monthly, $239/mo annual): 25 sites, 3,000 tracked keywords, 3 seats; extra seats $49/user/mo
Serpstat
FREE TRIAL · PAID PLANS
7-day trial (refunded $1 card check); annual billing saves up to 27%
✓ Individual ($69/mo monthly, $50/mo annual): 5 projects, 100 searches/day, 10,000 position checks/mo, 30,000 audit pages
✓ Team ($129/mo monthly, $100/mo annual): unlimited projects, 500 searches/day, API access, 3 seats
✓ Team x2 ($209/mo monthly, $169/mo annual) / Agency ($499/mo monthly, $410/mo annual): higher limits, white-label reports on Agency
SpyFu
MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE · PAID PLANS
30-day money-back guarantee; no free trial claimed; annual equivalent differs across October 2026 checks — confirm live
✓ Basic ($39/mo monthly, less billed annually): 10,000-row results/exports, 5,000 weekly tracked keywords, 6 months history
✓ Pro (from $79/mo monthly, less billed annually): unlimited results/exports, 10+ years history, API access, branded reports
Mangools
FREE ACCOUNT · PAID PLANS
Free account: 5 lookups/day; 48-hour refund on paid plans
✓ Basic ($61/mo monthly, $37.70/mo annual): 100 lookups/day, 200 tracked keywords, weekly rank updates
✓ Premium ($81/mo monthly, $52.70/mo annual): 500 lookups/day, 700 tracked keywords, up to 3 seats
✓ Agency ($141/mo monthly, $97.70/mo annual): 1,200 lookups/day, 1,500 tracked keywords, daily updates, up to 5 seats
Ubersuggest
FREE TRIAL · PROMOTIONAL PRICING · LIFETIME OPTION
Promotional prices shown October 2026 — confirm live before buying; lifetime tiers are feature-reduced and non-refundable
✓ Individual ($12/mo promo; $120 lifetime): 1 project, 125 tracked keywords
✓ Business ($20/mo promo; $200 lifetime): 7 projects, 150 tracked keywords per project
✓ Enterprise ($40/mo promo; $400 lifetime): 15 projects, 300 tracked keywords per project; 7-day trial on monthly plans
KeySearch
FREE TRIAL · PAID PLANS
7-day trial on both plans; annual billing gives two months free
✓ Starter ($24/mo monthly, $20/mo annual): 200 searches/day, 80 tracked keywords, 2,000 audit pages/mo
✓ Pro ($48/mo monthly, $40/mo annual): 500 searches/day, 200 tracked keywords, 5,000 audit pages/mo, AI Foresight engine
Strengths & Trade-offs
Our editorial assessment of where each tool shines — and where it doesn’t.
SE Ranking
THE ALL-ROUND SWAP
PRO 2,000 keywords a day for less than Semrush’s entry price.
PRO 14-day trial with no card; AI prompts included on Core.
CON White-label reporting costs extra (Agency Pack).
CON No permanent free plan; thinner paid-search data than Semrush.
Ahrefs
THE LINK-DATA LEADER
PRO The backlink dataset link builders trust most; $29 Starter entry.
PRO Free tier for your own verified sites.
CON No free trial; Lite tracking updates weekly, not daily.
CON Extra users and add-ons push the real bill well above Lite’s price.
Moz Pro
THE SIMPLE REPORTER
PRO Domain Authority is the industry’s most-quoted authority score.
PRO Gentlest learning curve here; readable client reports.
CON Small keyword allowances per tier; DA is not a Google factor.
CON No trial on Starter; extra seats at $49/user/month.
Serpstat
THE BUDGET SUITE
PRO Every core module for $50/month billed annually.
PRO API and 3 seats on Team at $100/month billed annually.
CON Denser interface; smaller link index than Ahrefs.
CON Trial needs a card ($1 check, refunded) — diary the renewal.
SpyFu
THE COMPETITOR SPY
PRO A decade-plus of competitor ad and organic history.
PRO 30-day money-back guarantee; unlimited searches.
CON Not a full audit-and-tracking suite; weaker backlink depth.
CON Basic history capped at 6 months.
Mangools
THE FRIENDLY RESEARCHER
PRO Friendliest interface here; free account to learn on.
PRO Five tools plus AI Search Watcher in every plan.
CON Weekly rank updates on Basic; no deep technical crawler.
CON Link data thinner than Ahrefs or Semrush.
Ubersuggest
THE LIFETIME DEAL
PRO The only one-time payment here — no subscription after payback.
PRO Genuine all-rounder: research, audit, tracking, backlinks in one login.
CON Prices are promotional and move; lifetime tiers are feature-reduced and non-refundable.
CON Its own pages describe volumes as estimates — directional, not precise.
KeySearch
THE CHEAPEST KEYWORD TOOL
PRO Full basics from $20/month billed annually, with a 7-day trial.
PRO Content Assistant and YouTube research included.
CON Smaller database than the suites; 80 tracked keywords on Starter run out fast.
CON No PPC intelligence or team workflows.
Switching from Semrush: the checklist
Do this in order, before you cancel anything. 1. Export first: download your tracked keyword lists, position-tracking history, site-audit reports and backlink lists — most of this is not recoverable after cancellation. 2. Overlap, don’t swap: run the new tool’s trial alongside Semrush for at least a week and compare the same keywords, so a data shock does not look like a rankings drop. 3. Re-baseline in Search Console: your own clicks, impressions and average position are the ground truth both tools should be checked against. 4. Rebuild reports: client report templates, scheduled sends and white-label settings do not migrate — budget an hour to rebuild them, or a month of the Agency Pack where it applies. 5. Cancel last: only cancel Semrush once the new tool holds your keywords, your audits and your reports — and diary the trial end dates of anything card-verified (Serpstat’s $1 check, Moz’s trial) so a trial never becomes a bill by accident.
Bottom Line
You do not have to leave Semrush to get value from this list — if you use its PPC, traffic, local and social modules together, it is still the broadest platform here. But if you opened Semrush last week for one or two jobs, stop paying for the rest: SE Ranking for the full-suite swap, Ahrefs for backlinks, SpyFu for competitor ads, Serpstat for a suite under $70, Mangools for friendly research, KeySearch for the cheapest keyword tool, and Ubersuggest if you would rather pay once than monthly. Run two trials side by side on the same keyword list before you move — that one week of overlap is what turns a cheaper subscription into a safe switch. And if your budget is tighter still, start with our best SEO tools under $30 guide before spending anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free alternative to Semrush?
No single free tool replaces Semrush. The strongest free stack is Google Search Console for your own site’s real data, Ahrefs Free for limited audits on sites you verify, Screaming Frog free for crawls up to 500 URLs, and Mangools’ free account for a few keyword lookups a day. Together they cover tracking and audits for one small site; keyword difficulty and competitor research at scale are what push most people to a paid plan.
Which Semrush alternative is cheapest?
KeySearch Starter at $24/month ($20 billed annually) is the cheapest straightforward paid plan here, and Ubersuggest’s promotional $12/month Individual plan — or its $120 lifetime option — can undercut it if the promotion is live when you buy. Both are keyword-first tools, not full suites, so compare their limits (80 vs 125 tracked keywords) before choosing on price alone.
Which alternative is closest to Semrush overall?
SE Ranking. Core at $129/month ($103.20 annually) covers rank tracking, audits, keyword research, backlinks, competitor analysis and AI-visibility tracking in one dashboard — the same shape as Semrush, with 2,000 keywords tracked daily against Semrush’s 500 on its entry plan. What it does not match is Semrush’s PPC, traffic and market breadth.
Can one tool fully replace Semrush?
For most solo users and small teams, yes — if you only use two or three Semrush modules. For teams that genuinely use its PPC, traffic analytics, local and social toolkits together, no single alternative here replaces all of it; the honest setup is one suite plus one specialist (for example, SE Ranking plus SpyFu for ad research).
Which Semrush alternative is best for agencies?
SE Ranking Core for small agencies (10 projects, white-label reporting via the Agency Pack add-on) or Serpstat Team for API access and 3 seats at $100/month billed annually. Ahrefs Standard is the pick if client work centres on backlink research, but budget for extra users on top of the headline price.
Which alternative is best for competitor PPC research?
SpyFu. Basic at $39/month gives 10,000-row results and exports and 5,000 weekly tracked keywords, and Pro adds more than a decade of competitor ad history, ad copy and landing-page data that the general suites do not go as deep on. It is a specialist, not a suite — pair it with Search Console for your own tracking.
Keep comparing
- Semrush vs Moz — the head-to-head between Semrush and its simplest rival.
- Moz vs SpyFu — authority metrics against competitor-ad intelligence.
- Ubersuggest vs Semrush — the budget all-rounder against the suite it undercuts.
- Best SEO Tools Under $30 — the budget end of this list, compared in full.
How we compare
Each tool is evaluated against the same criteria — features and coverage, ease of use, pricing and value, and limitations — using official documentation, pricing pages, and published product information. If we test a tool ourselves in the future, the review will say so and include our screenshots, test tasks, and observations. This verdict is editorial opinion based on publicly available information, not sponsored, and not influenced by affiliate relationships. SmartRiseHQ currently uses no affiliate or referral links.
A note on pricing
SEO tool pricing and plan limits change frequently — tracked keywords, projects, seats, trial terms and promotional prices all move. Prices above were checked in October 2026 against vendor pricing pages and October 2026 checks of those pages; where a vendor page did not render as readable text in this run (noted for SpyFu’s annual equivalent and Ubersuggest’s promotional ladder), the article says so rather than printing a single figure as fact. Always confirm current plans on the vendor’s official pricing page before buying.