SE Ranking vs Semrush Pricing 2026: SEO Tools for Small Teams

SE Ranking Essential costs $52/month (annual). Semrush Pro costs $117/month (annual). Both track 500 keywords and manage 5 projects at their entry tier, but you’re paying $65/month more for Semrush.

Is Semrush worth the premium? For some teams, yes. For most small teams, no. Here’s the full breakdown.

Price comparison at every tier

	SE Ranking Essential	Semrush Pro	SE Ranking Pro	Semrush Guru	SE Ranking Business	Semrush Business
Monthly	$65	$140	$119	$250	$259	$500
Annual	$52	$117	$95	$208	$207	$417
Keywords	500	500	2,000	1,500	5,000+	5,000
Projects	5	5	30	15	Unlimited	40
Users	1	1	3	1 (+$80/ea)	5	1 (+$100/ea)

Key insight: SE Ranking’s Pro plan ($95/mo) tracks 2,000 keywords with 3 users and 30 projects. Semrush’s Guru plan ($208/mo) tracks 1,500 keywords with 1 user and 15 projects. SE Ranking gives you more for less than half the price.

Where SE Ranking matches Semrush

Rank tracking: Both offer daily keyword tracking with local and global SERP data. SE Ranking’s rank tracker is accurate and includes competitor comparison, search volume trends, and SERP feature tracking.

Site audits: Both crawl your site for technical SEO issues: broken links, redirect chains, thin content, missing meta tags. SE Ranking’s audit tool covers up to 100K pages on Essential (Semrush doesn’t publish page limits but handles most sites).

Keyword research: Both provide search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keyword suggestions. SE Ranking includes search intent classification on all plans.

Backlink monitoring: Both track your backlink profile, identify lost/new links, and provide domain authority metrics.

On-page SEO checker: Both analyze individual pages and give optimization recommendations.

Where Semrush justifies the premium

Larger backlink database. Semrush has one of the largest backlink databases in the industry. For competitive backlink analysis and link building campaigns, the data depth matters.

Content marketing toolkit. Semrush Guru ($208/mo) includes the SEO Writing Assistant, Topic Research, and content audit tools. SE Ranking has content marketing features but they’re less mature.

Advertising research. If you run PPC campaigns, Semrush’s advertising data, including competitor ad copies, display ads, and PLA analytics, is unmatched. SE Ranking doesn’t compete here.

Historical data. Semrush Guru includes historical keyword and domain data going back years. This is valuable for trend analysis and understanding seasonal patterns.

Brand recognition. Semrush is the industry standard. Clients, employers, and collaborators will recognize it immediately. This matters if you’re an agency presenting reports.

Where SE Ranking wins on value

User seats included. SE Ranking Pro includes 3 seats. Semrush Pro includes 1 seat, with additional users at $45/month each. A 3-person team on Semrush Pro costs $207/month. On SE Ranking Pro: $95/month. That’s a $112/month savings just on seats.

More projects. SE Ranking Pro allows 30 projects vs Semrush Guru’s 15. For agencies managing multiple clients, this is significant.

No credit card for trial. SE Ranking’s 14-day trial doesn’t require a credit card. Semrush’s 7-day trial does, and auto-renews at $140/month. Many users report unexpected charges.

Simpler pricing. SE Ranking’s pricing is straightforward: pick a plan, use the features. Semrush has add-on products (Semrush Local $40/mo, Trends $200/mo, Agency Growth Kit $150/mo) that inflate the real cost.

Cost per keyword tracked

Plan	Annual price	Keywords	Cost per keyword/mo
SE Ranking Essential	$52	500	$0.10
Semrush Pro	$117	500	$0.23
SE Ranking Pro	$95	2,000	$0.05
Semrush Guru	$208	1,500	$0.14

SE Ranking’s cost per tracked keyword is 56–64% lower than Semrush across comparable tiers.

Who should choose which

Choose SE Ranking if:

• Core SEO (rank tracking, audits, keyword research) is your primary need
• You have a small team and need multiple user seats without paying extra
• You manage 10+ sites and need generous project limits
• Budget matters and you want 80% of Semrush’s capabilities at 40% of the cost

Choose Semrush if:

• You need the content marketing toolkit (SEO Writing Assistant, Topic Research)
• PPC/advertising research is part of your workflow
• You need the deepest possible backlink database
• Client-facing reports need the Semrush brand recognition
• You need historical data for trend analysis

The verdict

For small teams focused on organic SEO, SE Ranking is the better value. You get comparable core features, more user seats, more projects, and a friendlier trial, at roughly half the price.

Semrush earns its premium for agencies that need the full marketing toolkit, teams running paid ads alongside SEO, or professionals who rely on Semrush’s deeper data and brand credibility. But if you’re a small team doing SEO and not using Semrush’s content or advertising tools, you’re paying double for features you don’t touch.

Read the full breakdowns: SE Ranking pricing | Semrush pricing | Mangools pricing (even cheaper alternative)

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Pricing sourced from SE Ranking’s official pricing page and Semrush’s pricing page. Last checked February 2026.