Semrush is widely recognized as a comprehensive, powerful tool for digital marketing. However, its extensive feature set can be complex, and its pricing may be a significant investment for freelancers, small businesses, or agencies just starting.
If you are exploring other options, this guide details the top SemRush alternative tools. We selected these tools based on their functionality, pricing, ease of use, and data reliability, ensuring you can find a suitable match for your specific SEO needs.
Let’s get started!
Eduma – Education WordPress Theme
We provide an amazing WordPress theme with fast and responsive designs. Let’s find out!
All-in-One SEO Tools
These platforms aim to provide a complete suite of tools, much like Semrush, covering everything from keyword research to technical SEO audits.
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is arguably the most direct SemRush alternative, offering a robust and comprehensive SEO toolset. It is particularly renowned for its powerful backlink index (Site Explorer), which many professionals consider the industry’s best. Like Semrush, it provides a full suite of tools for rank tracking, site audits, and competitor analysis, making it a favorite among SEO professionals.
Key Features:
- Site Explorer: In-depth backlink analysis and organic traffic research.
- Keywords Explorer: Detailed keyword research tool with difficulty scores and click metrics.
- Site Audit: Comprehensive technical SEO crawler to find and fix on-site issues.
- Rank Tracker: Automated tracking of keyword rankings from any location.
- Content Explorer: Discovers popular content by topic and analyzes its performance.
- Competitive Analysis: Identifies competitor strategies, top pages, and keyword gaps.
Pricing:
- Ahrefs is a premium tool with pricing similar to Semrush.
- Plans start with the Lite plan at $129/month, which offers core features with some limitations.
- The Standard plan ($249/month) unlocks more comprehensive features and higher data limits.
- Ahrefs does not offer a traditional free trial but provides limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit via its free Ahrefs Webmaster Tools.
2. SE Ranking
SE Ranking has established itself as a versatile and highly cost-effective SemRush alternative. It provides a complete set of SEO tools, including accurate rank tracking, website auditing, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring. Its user-friendly interface and flexible pricing make it an excellent choice for small business owners, agencies, and SEO professionals who need powerful data without the highest price tag.
Key Features:
- Keyword Rank Tracker: Provides 100% accurate, real-time ranking data.
- Website Audit: Scans for technical SEO errors and provides a prioritized to-do list.
- On-Page SEO Checker: Analyzes individual pages for optimization opportunities.
- Backlink Checker: Analyzes any website’s backlink profile.
- Keyword Research Tool: Includes difficulty scores, search volume, and competitor data.
- Content Editor: An AI-powered tool to assist with writing SEO-optimized content.
Pricing:
- SE Ranking is significantly more affordable than Semrush.
- It offers a 14-day free trial.
- Paid plans are highly customizable based on ranking check frequency and the number of keywords.
- The Essential plan starts at approximately $65/month, making it an accessible option for most users.
Keyword Research Tools
If your primary need is finding and analyzing keywords, these specialized tools offer deep insights, often for a fraction of the cost.
1. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a unique keyword research tool that visualizes search data. It focuses on discovering the questions, prepositions, and comparisons people are typing into search engines. While not a direct competitor for all of Semrush’s features, it serves as an excellent SemRush free alternative for content ideation, helping you understand user intent and build topic clusters around what your audience is actively asking.
Key Features:
- Question Visualization: Organizes queries by “what,” “why,” “how,” etc.
- Proposition-Based Queries: Finds keywords using “for,” “with,” “to,” etc.
- Comparison Queries: Identifies “vs,” “and,” or “or” searches.
- Alphabetical Sourcing: Lists keyword ideas in alphabetical order.
- Data Export: Allows you to export visualizations as images or data as a .csv file.
- Platform-Specific Insights: Can generate ideas for Google, YouTube, Bing, and more.
Pricing:
- AnswerThePublic offers a limited number of free searches per day.
- For more extensive use, the Individual plan starts at $5/month.
- The Pro plan ($99/month) is designed for agencies and marketing teams needing unlimited searches and team members.
2. Keyword Surfer
Keyword Surfer is a powerful and completely free Chrome extension. It functions as one of the best SemRush alternatives free of charge for on-the-fly keyword research directly within Google’s search results. Once installed, it displays search volume, a list of keyword ideas, related terms, and domain-level insights right in the SERP, streamlining the initial research process.
Key Features:
- SERP Data Integration: Shows search volumes for your query and all results.
- Keyword Ideas: Provides a sidebar with related keyword ideas and their volumes.
- Domain Insights: Estimates traffic, word count, and keyword density for top-ranking pages.
- Related Terms: Displays a list of terms semantically related to your main keyword.
- Global Search Volumes: Allows you to check volumes for various countries.
- Content Editor: Links to a free content editor for writing optimized articles.
Pricing: Keyword Surfer is 100% free to use as a Chrome extension.
Link Building Tools
These tools focus specifically on backlink analysis and outreach, providing specialized features for this crucial off-page SEO task.
1. Linkody
Linkody is a user-friendly and affordable tool dedicated to backlink monitoring. It helps you track your backlink profile, receive alerts for new or lost links, and analyze your competitors. While Semrush includes this, Linkody is a more focused and budget-friendly SemRush alternative for users who primarily need to manage and protect their existing link profile.
Key Features:
- 24/7 Backlink Monitoring: Continuously tracks your entire backlink profile.
- New/Lost Link Alerts: Sends email notifications when links are gained or removed.
- Competitor Analysis: Allows you to track your competitors’ link-building activities.
- Link Metrics: Integrates data from Moz (like Domain Authority) and Majestic (Trust/Citation Flow).
- Spam Score: Helps identify and assess potentially harmful links.
- Disavow File Generator: Simplifies the process of creating a disavow file for Google.
Pricing:
- Linkody offers a 30-day free trial.
- The Webmasters plan starts at a very low $14.90/month, making it accessible for small websites to track two domains and 500 links.
- Plans scale up to the Agency XL plan ($153.90/month) for extensive needs.
Technical SEO Tools
These tools are built for in-depth technical audits, helping you diagnose and fix on-site issues related to crawling, indexing, and page speed.
1. Screaming Frog SEO Spider
The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a desktop-based website crawler and the industry standard for deep technical SEO audits. It provides a granular level of detail that is unmatched by most cloud-based crawlers. For pure technical analysis, it’s the most powerful SemRush alternative, allowing you to find broken links, audit redirects, analyze page titles, and much more.
Key Features:
- Find Broken Links: Quickly crawls a site to find 404s and server errors.
- Audit Redirects: Identifies temporary and permanent redirect chains.
- Analyze Page Titles & Meta Data: Finds missing, duplicate, or long titles and descriptions.
- Discover Duplicate Content: Locates pages with duplicate content.
- Generate XML Sitemaps: Creates XML sitemaps for your website.
- Integrations: Connects with Google Analytics, Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights APIs.
Pricing:
- This tool offers a robust SemRush free alternative version, which allows you to crawl up to 500 URLs.
- The Paid License is $259/year and unlocks unlimited crawls, scheduling, and advanced features.
2. GTmetrix
GTmetrix is a specialized tool focused on website performance and page speed analysis. While Semrush’s Site Audit tool checks for performance issues, GTmetrix provides a much more detailed diagnosis using Google’s Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals metrics. It’s the ideal SemRush alternative for web developers and SEOs who need to pinpoint the exact factors slowing a site down, from large images to render-blocking scripts.
Key Features:
- Performance Score: Grades your page based on Lighthouse metrics.
- Core Web Vitals: Provides detailed metrics for LCP, TBT, and CLS.
- Detailed Waterfall Chart: Visualizes the loading process of every asset on your page.
- Performance Monitoring: Allows you to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly tests to monitor performance.
- Global Test Locations: Test your page load speed from various locations around the world.
- Load Simulation: Tests your site on different devices and connection speeds.
Pricing:
- GTmetrix has a free plan for basic, on-demand analysis.
- Paid plans, like the Micro plan (starting around $5/month), offer monitoring, more test locations, and premium features.
FAQs About Semrush Alternatives
What is the best free SemRush alternative?
The best SemRush free alternative depends on your needs.
For Keyword Research: Keyword Surfer (a Chrome extension) is excellent for on-the-fly SERP analysis.
For Technical SEO: Screaming Frog SEO Spider offers a powerful free version for crawling up to 500 URLs.
For All-in-One (Limited): Ahrefs Webmaster Tools provides free (but limited) access to its Site Explorer and Site Audit tools for your own verified sites.
Is Ahrefs a good SemRush alternative?
Yes, Ahrefs is considered the most direct SemRush alternative. Both platforms offer comprehensive, all-in-one SEO toolsets. Ahrefs is often praised for its superior backlink index, while Semrush is noted for its stronger keyword research database and broader marketing features (like social media and content marketing tools).
Why would I need SemRush alternatives?
There are several common reasons to seek SemRush alternatives:
Cost: Semrush is a premium tool, and many alternatives offer more affordable plans.
Specific Needs: You may only need one specific function (e.g., technical crawling) and prefer a specialized, best-in-class tool like Screaming Frog.
User Interface: Some users may simply prefer the dashboard and user experience of a different platform.
Data Discrepancies: All SEO tools use different crawlers and databases. Some professionals use multiple tools to get a more comprehensive view of the data.
Conclusion
Finding the right SemRush alternative is about identifying your primary goals and budget. While Semrush remains a market leader, it is not the only option.
For those seeking a true all-in-one competitor, Ahrefs is the closest match, while SE Ranking offers remarkable value and a comprehensive feature set at a more accessible price. For specialized tasks, tools like Screaming Frog for technical SEO and Keyword Surfer for free keyword research provide powerful, focused solutions.
We recommend using the free trials offered by these SemRush alternatives to determine which platform best aligns with your workflow and strategic objectives.
Read more: FOMO Marketing: A Guide to Boost Sales
Contact US | ThimPress:
Website: https://thimpress.com/
Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/ThimPress
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThimPressDesign
Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/thimpress
