Semrush vs Ahrefs: which SEO suite is worth it in 2026?

Quick verdict

Prices are from semrush.com/pricing and ahrefs.com/pricing, checked in October 2026. Both vendors give up to 17% off for annual billing.

Pricing, plan by plan

Semrush

Semrush now sells "SEO" and "SEO + AI Search" plans:

• SEO: $139/mo, or $117.33/mo billed annually. 5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily, keyword research, competitor analysis, Position Tracking and Site Audit.
• Starter (SEO + AI Search): $199/mo, $165.17 annually. Same 5 sites and 500 keywords, plus 50 AI prompts tracked daily, AI visibility reports and MCP access.
• Pro+: $299/mo, $248.17 annually. 15 sites, 1,500 keywords, historical data, content optimization, cannibalization analysis and multi-location tracking, plus 100 prompts a day.
• Advanced: custom. 40+ sites, 5,000+ keywords, share of voice and API.
• Free: $0, one demo project and 10 reports a day across tools.

Extra users start at $45/mo. Reporting add-ons cost $10 or $20/mo.

Ahrefs

• Starter: $29/mo for basic keyword and competitor lookups.
• Lite: $129/mo. 5 non-verified projects (verified ones are unlimited), 6 months of history, 750 tracked keywords, 150 AI prompt checks, 100,000 crawl credits, API and MCP access, 1,000 credits per user. Up to 2 extra users at $40/mo.
• Standard: $249/mo. 20 projects, 2 years of history, 2,000 keywords, 300 prompt checks, unlimited credits, Content Explorer, Portfolios and Batch Analysis. Up to 5 extra users at $60/mo.
• Advanced: $449/mo. 50 projects, 5 years of history, 5,000 keywords, 600 prompt checks. Extra users $80/mo.
• Enterprise: $1,499/mo.
• Ahrefs Free: Site Explorer and Site Audit for sites you own.

What a real team pays

Price pages show one user. Here's a three-person team on the mid plans, monthly billing:

• Semrush Pro+: $299 + 2 × $45 = $389/mo
• Ahrefs Standard: $249 + 2 × $60 = $369/mo
• SE Ranking Growth: $279/mo with 3 seats included

For a solo user the gap is small. For teams it adds up, so count your logins before you compare.

Rank tracking

Ahrefs gives more tracked keywords at entry (750 vs 500). Semrush's Position Tracking is flexible, with multi-location and device tracking on Pro+. Ahrefs Rank Tracker is clean and simple.

Neither is the value leader here. If rank tracking is your main job, a tool built around it gives far more room: SE Ranking Core tracks 2,000 keywords daily, and dedicated trackers like Nightwatch start at 500 daily keywords for €79/mo. See our best rank tracker guide.

Keyword research

Both have huge keyword databases and good difficulty scores. Semrush has more ways to slice data (intent, topic research, PPC metrics). Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is fast and its traffic potential metric is popular with content teams.

The real difference is limits. Ahrefs Lite runs on credits (1,000 per user per month), and heavy research can eat them. Semrush caps reports per day by plan. Neither is unlimited at entry level. If research volume is your worry, SE Ranking's unlimited lookups on Core avoid the issue.

Backlinks

This is Ahrefs' home turf. Its crawler is one of the most active on the web, and many link builders won't switch for that reason alone. Site Explorer makes it easy to see new and lost links, referring domains and anchor text.

Semrush's backlink analytics is solid and good enough for most audits. If you run outreach campaigns every week, Ahrefs is the safer pick. If you check links once a month, either will do.

Site audit

Both audits cover the usual technical checks. Ahrefs counts crawl credits (100,000 on Lite); Semrush limits pages by plan. Ahrefs also offers an always-on audit. Semrush's audit is now pitched as "AI-ready" and flags issues that affect AI crawlers. For small sites, both are more than enough.

AI search tracking

Both now track AI answers, but they package it differently.

• Semrush: AI visibility starts on the $199 Starter tier with 50 prompts a day. The $139 SEO plan doesn't include prompt tracking.
• Ahrefs: Lite includes 150 AI prompt checks. Brand Radar, which lets you research any brand across a large prompt database, sits on higher plans or as a standalone product.

If AI visibility matters more than classic SEO, a dedicated tracker may suit you better. Compare options in our AI visibility tools guide.

Trials, refunds and payment

This is the most practical difference between the two.

• Semrush offers a 7-day free trial and a free plan. You can test before paying.
• Ahrefs says it never runs discounts or free trials. It generally doesn't refund either; on monthly plans you can ask for a refund if you haven't used the service, but Ahrefs may decline. Extra users and pay-as-you-go credits are charged automatically if you enable them.

If you can't test a tool before buying, you're taking a bigger risk. Ahrefs Free is a decent way to get a feel for the interface on your own site first.

Where Moz fits (Semrush vs Ahrefs vs Moz)

Moz Pro is the third name people compare. It's cheaper: Starter from $49/mo, Standard $99/mo ($79 billed yearly) with 3 tracked sites, 300 tracked keywords and 400,000 crawled pages. Moz's Domain Authority is the link metric clients often ask about, and its learning resources are excellent.

The trade-off: smaller limits and fewer tools. Moz suits beginners and small sites better than agencies. Check current plans on Moz's pricing page.

The cheaper option: neither

A lot of people comparing Semrush and Ahrefs use only three things: rank tracking, keyword research and site audits. If that's you, both are expensive for what you use.

SE Ranking Core costs $129/mo ($103.20 billed annually) and includes:

• 2,000 keywords tracked daily (vs 500 and 750)
• 10 projects
• unlimited keyword, competitor and backlink research
• 250,000 audited pages a month
• 25 AI prompts a day across 5 engines
• a 14-day trial with no card

Its databases are smaller than Semrush's or Ahrefs', which matters in big competitive niches. For most small and mid-size sites, the limits matter more. Read our full SE Ranking review.

Which one should you pick?

• You run PPC and SEO together: Semrush.
• You build links or audit backlink profiles every week: Ahrefs.
• You want to test before paying: Semrush (trial and free plan) or SE Ranking (14-day trial).
• You're a team of three or more: compare seat costs; SE Ranking Growth includes 3 seats.
• You're a beginner with a small budget: Moz Pro Starter, or a tool from our cheap SEO tools list.
• You track lots of keywords across many sites: SE Ranking or a dedicated rank tracker.

Already decided to leave one of them? We have separate guides to Semrush alternatives and Ahrefs alternatives.

How we compared Semrush and Ahrefs

We read both official pricing pages, plan comparison tables and FAQs in October 2026 and recorded prices, limits, user costs, trial and refund terms. Moz and SE Ranking numbers come from their own pricing pages on the same day. We also looked at what people ask alongside "semrush vs ahrefs" in search suggestions and forums to decide which comparisons matter.

We didn't run a side-by-side accuracy test for this article, so we don't claim one tool's data is more accurate by a measured margin. Where we describe a strength (for example Ahrefs and backlinks), it reflects the tools' own focus and wide agreement among users, not our own benchmark.

We don't earn anything from Semrush, Ahrefs or Moz links. We earn a commission from SE Ranking. See our affiliate disclosure.