SEMrush vs Ahrefs Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
SEO
- 5 websites to monitor
- 500 keywords to track daily
- Basic keyword research and competitor analysis
- Position Tracking
- Site Audit
- Track performance in AI search
- Monitor AI sentiment
- AI visibility reports for any domain
- Monitor custom prompts
Starter
- 5 websites to monitor
- 500 keywords to track daily
- Keyword research and optimization tools
- Competitors insights tools
- MCP access
- 50 prompts to track daily
- 1 domain for AI brand performance
- 300 AI visibility reports per day
- AI-ready Site Audit
Pro+
- 15 websites to monitor
- 1,500 keywords to track daily
- Historical SEO data
- Content optimization
- Keyword cannibalization analysis
- Multi-location/device tracking
- 100 prompts to track daily
Advanced
- 40 websites to monitor
- 5,000 keywords to track daily
- SEO share of voice
- API data integration
- 200 prompts to track daily
Free.
- 1 demo project
- 10 reports per day across all vital tools
- Help Center & Basic Onboarding
- AI Visibility features
Lite
- 5 projects
- 6 months of historical data
- 750 tracked keywords
- 5 tracked AI prompts
- 100,000 crawl credits
- 1,000 credits per user
- 1 user included
- Add 2 more users at $40/mo each
- Dashboard
- Site Explorer
- Keywords Explorer
- Brand Radar
- Tracked AI prompts
- Site Audit
- Always-on audit
- Rank Tracker
- Competitive Analysis
- SERP history
- Page Inspect
- Web Analytics
- API access
- MCP Server
- Report Builder
- Social Media Manager (Beta)
- GBP Monitor (Beta)
Standard
- 20 projects
- 2 years of historical data
- 2,000 tracked keywords
- 10 tracked AI prompts
- 500,000 crawl credits
- Unlimited credits per user
- 1 user included
- Add 5 more users at $60/mo each
- Portfolios
- Content Explorer
- Batch Analysis
- SERP comparison
- Brand Radar
- Web visibility
- Site structure
- Broken backlinks
- Broken links
- Outgoing links
- Calendar view
- Linking authors
- AI suggestions
- Keyword clusters
- Search intents
- Translations
- SERP updates
- Site structure
Advanced
- 50 projects
- 5 years of historical data
- 5,000 tracked keywords
- 20 tracked AI prompts
- 1,500,000 crawl credits
- Unlimited credits per user
- 1 user included
- Add 10 more users at $80/mo each
- Looker Studio integration
- Search type distribution
- Agency directory listing
- Segmentation (Soon)
- HTTP authentication
Enterprise
- Uncapped API access
- SSO & enterprise-grade security
- Access management & audit log
- Unlimited historical data
- Forecasting & trends
SEMrush vs Ahrefs FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Ahrefs is the cheaper option, starting at $129/mo vs $139/mo for SEMrush.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. SEMrush uses flat-rate pricing, while Ahrefs goes with hybrid. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. SEMrush: SEMrush sits in the premium-mid tier of SEO tooling — more expensive than Ubersuggest or Mangools, but undercutting Conductor or BrightEdge on the enterprise end. They're clearly targeting in-house marketing teams and mid-size agencies who've outgrown free tools but aren't ready for six-figure enterprise contracts. Ahrefs: Ahrefs sits firmly in premium territory — pricier than Ubersuggest or Serpstat, and generally a notch above Moz, positioning itself as the analytical gold standard rather than the budget pick. They're not chasing price-sensitive solopreneurs; they're fighting SEMrush for the serious SEO and content teams who treat data depth as non-negotiable.
Still deciding? See the best SEMrush alternatives or the best Ahrefs alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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