Semrush's entry "SEO" plan costs $139 a month if you pay monthly (about $117.33/mo billed annually), and that is before you add the Starter, Pro+, or Advanced tiers most content teams and agencies actually need. If the price is the problem and not the data, there are tools that cover 80-90% of what most people actually use Semrush for, at a third of the cost or less.
This is not a 20-tool megalist that quietly includes "cheaper" tools priced the same as Semrush. Every option below has to clear one bar: a real, current, per-month price that is genuinely lower than Semrush's $139/mo entry floor, what you keep at that price, and what you give up.
Why "Cheaper Alternative to Semrush" Searches Keep Climbing
Semrush now prices its plans as SEO at $139/mo, Starter (SEO + AI Search) at $199/mo, Pro+ at $299/mo, and Advanced at $549/mo (all monthly billing; annual billing knocks off roughly 17%, bringing the entry tier to $117.33/mo). The entry SEO tier caps out at 500 tracked keywords and 5 monitored sites, basic enough that most small teams outgrow it into the $199/mo Starter tier quickly once they want the AI-visibility tracking Semrush now bundles in above the base plan.
That is the gap this list fills. <mark class="km-highlight" style="--hl:#FEF08A;background:#FEF08A">Every tool below costs less than Semrush's $139/mo entry tier</mark>, not just less than its higher plans.
The 9 Cheaper Semrush Alternatives, by Price
1. Ubersuggest ($12/mo) - the rock-bottom budget pick
Neil Patel's Ubersuggest starts around $12/month and has a usable free tier: basic keyword ideas and site audit checks with no card required. At $12/mo you get keyword suggestions, content ideas, and basic rank tracking. The backlink index is thin and updates less often than Semrush's, so it will not replace Semrush's 500-keywords-a-day tracking for competitive research at scale, but for someone deciding whether to pay for SEO tooling at all, it is close to free.
Best for: solo bloggers and side projects testing the water before committing real budget.
2. Mangools ($30-37/mo) - easiest interface for beginners
Mangools bundles keyword research (KWFinder), SERP analysis, rank tracking, and backlink data (LinkMiner) at roughly a quarter of Semrush's entry price. The actual selling point is the interface: Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool buries useful numbers in dense filters, while Mangools surfaces search volume, keyword difficulty, and SERP position with almost no learning curve. The honest trade-off is database size: Mangools' keyword and backlink indexes are smaller, so heavy competitive research on a large site will feel thin.
Best for: freelancers and small business owners doing their first serious keyword research.
3. SpyFu ($39/mo) - best for competitor and PPC research
SpyFu's Basic plan runs $39/month, well under a third of Semrush's entry price. You get 10,000-row exports, one live tracking project, 10+ years of historical data, and 5,000 weekly tracked rankings. Its standout is competitive PPC and organic history: SpyFu shows a competitor's ad copy and keyword history going back years, a depth Semrush's own PPC toolkit does not match at this price. The trade-off is the 10,000-row ceiling, which becomes real once you are auditing large sites.
Best for: solo marketers and small agencies whose main job is tracking what competitors rank for and advertise on.
4. Moz Pro (from $49/mo) - simplest learning curve at scale
Moz's Standard tier starts around $49/month, roughly a third of Semrush's entry price, with a 30-day free trial. It still holds up for keyword research and site audits, and its Domain Authority metric remains widely recognized even outside SEO circles. The real trade-off: Moz's keyword and link index is smaller than Semrush's, so link research depth is genuinely thinner.
Best for: small-to-mid sites that want an established, simpler suite without Semrush's steeper learning curve.
5. Majestic (from $49.99/mo) - if backlinks are most of your Semrush usage
Majestic does one thing, backlink analysis, and does it well, at roughly a third of Semrush's entry price. It skips keyword research, rank tracking, and content tools entirely, so it is a specialist you pair with something else, not a full replacement. Its Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics are still widely cited in link-building specifically because Majestic has focused on nothing else for over a decade.
Best for: link builders and digital PR teams whose Semrush usage is almost entirely the Backlink Analytics tab.
6. Serpstat (from $69/mo) - closest like-for-like at half the price
Serpstat covers keyword research, rank tracking, backlink analysis, and site audits in one dashboard, positioning itself directly against Semrush on scope. Its entry tier runs about half of Semrush's entry price and includes API access at a lower tier than Semrush offers it. The trade-off: its keyword and backlink databases, while solid, are smaller than Semrush's for competitive research in saturated markets like US enterprise SaaS.
Best for: teams that want an all-in-one tool covering the same ground as Semrush without paying Semrush's price.
7. SE Ranking ($65-119/mo depending on tier) - best for white-label agency reporting
SE Ranking bundles rank tracking, site audits, keyword research, and AI-visibility tracking (showing up in ChatGPT and AI Overviews), with white-label reporting built into its mid tiers, something Semrush charges extra for via its Base and Pro Report add-ons ($10-20/mo each). Entry pricing starts lower than Semrush's SEO tier and stays cheaper through its mid tier before approaching price parity at the top. Where it is genuinely cheaper than Semrush is white-label client reports bundled in, rather than billed as an add-on.
Best for: agencies that want branded client reports without paying Semrush's per-report add-on fees on top of a subscription.
8. Ahrefs Lite ($129/mo) - not cheap, but cheaper and deeper on backlinks
Ahrefs' Lite plan runs $129/mo billed annually, a smaller gap than the others but still under Semrush's $139/mo entry tier, and its backlink index is widely considered the deepest in the category. If your Semrush usage skews heavily toward backlink audits and competitor link research, Ahrefs Lite covers that at a marginally lower price with arguably better data.
Best for: link-focused SEOs who want Semrush-adjacent depth without Semrush's PPC and social add-ons they never use.
9. Google Search Console + a free crawler - if your budget is genuinely $0
Google Search Console is free and gives you your own actual ranking, impression, and click data straight from Google, more reliable than any third-party estimate. Pair it with Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs crawled) for technical audits, and you cover real ranking data plus technical health for zero dollars. What you lose entirely: competitor keyword and backlink research, and rank tracking for keywords you do not already rank for.
Best for: anyone auditing only their own site, not researching competitors, who does not need a paid tool yet.
Cheaper Semrush Alternatives Compared
| Tool | Starting Price | What You Keep | What You Give Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubersuggest | $12/mo | Keyword ideas, basic audits, free tier | Limited backlink depth, slower updates |
| Mangools | $30-37/mo | Simple interface, keyword + SERP + backlink basics | Smaller keyword/link database |
| SpyFu | $39/mo | Competitor PPC + organic history, keyword research | Row limits, thinner backlink index |
| Moz Pro | $49/mo | Simpler UI, Domain Authority metric | Smaller index than Semrush |
| Majestic | $49.99/mo | Deep backlink specialization (Trust Flow) | No keyword research or rank tracking |
| Serpstat | ~$69/mo | All-in-one scope like Semrush, lower-tier API access | Smaller databases in saturated markets |
| SE Ranking | $65-119/mo | White-label reports, AI-visibility tracking | Approaches price parity at top tier |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129/mo | Deepest backlink index in the category | Still a marginal saving, not a budget pick |
| GSC + Screaming Frog | Free | Real ranking data, technical crawls | No competitor data at all |
The Question a Price Comparison Cannot Answer
Every tool above, Semrush included, does the same core job: it tells you something is wrong. A page dropped in rankings. A competitor outranks you for a keyword. A backlink disappeared. None of them do anything about it. You still export the data, open a ticket, brief a writer, rewrite the page, publish it by hand, and hope someone remembers to check whether it actually worked 30 days later.
That gap, detection without action, is what Murkuz is built to close. Rather than adding a tenth dashboard to check, Murkuz auto-detects declining pages and content decay straight from your Google Search Console data every day, turns each one into a task with the fix already attached, drafts the rewrite with AI grounded in your own brand voice, and publishes it to WordPress, Webflow, or Framer with one click. Its Impact Scorecard then attributes the ranking recovery to the specific fix, not a vague traffic chart. On price specifically, Murkuz's Starter plan comes in under Semrush's $139/mo entry tier, and every plan can be tried before you commit (see pricing).
That does not make Semrush or the tools above bad choices. If broad marketing intelligence across SEO, PPC, and social is genuinely what you need in one login, Semrush still does that better than a focused SEO-operations tool will. But if "cheaper alternative to Semrush" really means "I am tired of paying for reports I still have to act on manually," that is a different question than which tool has the lowest sticker price, and it is worth answering before you sign another annual contract.
How to Choose Without Overthinking It
Match the pick to what you actually spend most of your Semrush time doing:
- Mostly keyword research? Ubersuggest ($12/mo) or Mangools ($30-37/mo), depending on how much database depth you need.
- Mostly competitor and PPC research? SpyFu ($39/mo) is built around exactly that.
- Mostly backlink audits? Majestic ($49.99/mo) or Ahrefs Lite ($129/mo) if you want more scope alongside it.
- Want the closest like-for-like at half price? Serpstat (~$69/mo) covers the same categories Semrush does.
- Mostly agency client reporting? SE Ranking's white-label tiers are worth the price gap closing at the top.
- Want the manual follow-through handled too? None of the above do that. Check Murkuz's workflow if writing tickets and copy-pasting fixes into your CMS is the actual bottleneck, not the reporting itself.
Whichever you pick, start on a monthly plan or trial before committing to annual billing. Every tool on this list, including Murkuz, offers a low-cost way in specifically so you can confirm it covers your real workflow first.
FAQ
What is the cheapest real alternative to Semrush?
Ubersuggest, at roughly $12/month, is the cheapest paid option that still covers keyword research, content ideas, and basic site audits. Google Search Console paired with Screaming Frog is the cheapest option overall, at $0, but it only covers your own site, not competitor research.
Is there a free alternative to Semrush?
Not a full one. Google Search Console is the most reliable free source for your own site's ranking and click data, and Screaming Frog covers technical audits for free up to 500 URLs. Ubersuggest's free tier adds basic keyword ideas. None of these match Semrush's competitor keyword and backlink research for free.
Why did Semrush get so expensive?
Semrush's current published pricing (SEO $139/mo, Starter/SEO + AI Search $199/mo, Pro+ $299/mo, Advanced $549/mo, all monthly billing) reflects AI-visibility tracking and expanded content tools layered onto the original keyword and rank-tracking toolkit. Annual billing lowers each tier by roughly 17%, but the realistic entry cost for teams that want AI-search tracking, not just the base SEO tier, starts at $199/mo.
What is the closest tool to Semrush that costs less?
Serpstat covers the same core categories, keyword research, rank tracking, backlinks, and site audits, at roughly half of Semrush's entry price, making it the closest like-for-like swap rather than a specialist tool.
Can I negotiate Semrush's price or get a discount?
Semrush occasionally runs annual-billing discounts (around 17% off list price) and offers a free plan (10 reports/day, 1 demo project) to try the platform first, but there is no published path to a lower monthly rate on the standard SEO, Starter, Pro+, or Advanced tiers.
Junaid Khalid is the founder of Ertiqah and the builder of Murkuz. He has run SEO as the first growth channel across his own SaaS products, which is why Murkuz is built to fix ranking drops, not just report them.
