15 Free and Paid Semrush Alternatives To Try Out in 2023

Every marketer, business owner, or freelancer that plays in the digital marketing space knows how powerful a tool Semrush is.

It’s one of the SEO tools that give you a comprehensive set of SEO features and functionalities that enable your website to gain huge visibility, attract quality leads, and convert them effectively.

However, Semrush is often considered expensive and you may be wondering if Semrush is your best partner to improve their SEO results.

That’s why I’ve written this article, to give you a list of worthy Semrush alternatives that might fall more within your budget.

Semrush and its key features

Semrush is a comprehensive digital marketing toolkit for content marketers, small business owners, and SEO bloggers.

It’s an ideal toolkit for content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media marketing. The tool provides valuable data and insights to upgrade your online marketing efforts, increase visibility, and ultimately increase your customer base.

These features make Semrush a favorite for most business owners and marketers:

• Keyword research
• Competitive analysis
• Site audit
• Backlink analysis
• Social media marketing, etc.

I am yet to see an SEO/ marketing toolkit out there that offers as extensive features as Semrush does.

If you’ve never used Semrush, use my affiliate link to get an exclusive 14-day free trial.

Why do you need a Semrush alternative?

While Semrush is an ideal content marketing toolkit, it might be difficult to fit it into the budgets of most small business owners, freelancers, and bloggers, as it comes with a big price tag.

I can understand why you’re seeking a Semrush alternative if you’re on a budget.

Besides, Semrush may have a sharp learning curve for beginners and it also provides data only for Google.

I could say that Semrush has lots of free and paid alternative tools out there.

However, while many claim to be the best Semrush alternative, only a few measure up in terms of the features, functionalities, and benefits Semrush offers its users.

Check some of these alternatives out, try them for yourself and decide which works best for you!

Free Semrush alternatives

Here are some free Semrush alternatives you might find valuable for your online marketing needs:

1. Google Keyword Planner

The keyword planner from Google is one of the best free Semrush alternatives. It provides comprehensive and accurate data on keywords relevant to your business, enabling you to create content that ranks and drives results.

How Google Keyword Planner compares to Semrush

Google Keyword Planner provides keyword research metrics, offering keyword ideas and volume mostly for Google Ads.

In contrast, SEMrush is a paid tool with data from various sources, providing extensive keyword research and competitor analysis.

You can know from both tools how well a keyword performs by looking at its impressions, the number of clicks it has garnered within a specific period, the difficulty score, and the amount advertisers pay to have their ads show for the keyword.

In a nutshell, Google Keyword Planner is ideal for advertisers, while SEMrush is versatile, offering insights for comprehensive SEO and marketing strategies.

Though the Google Keyword Planner has a robust keyword research function, its major advantage over Semrush is that it’s absolutely free. On the other hand, Semrush offers way more features and benefits.

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the most underrated Semrush alternatives for SEOs.

It provides a range of features that enable you to monitor and optimize your website’s presence in Google search results. With GSC, you can get a holistic view of how Google sees and interacts with your site, enabling you to discover areas that need improvement and fix them quickly.

Beyond checking your search performance, GSC allows you to monitor your site’s index coverage, submit sitemaps to Google, optimize your site for mobile usability, and identify link-building opportunities.

How Google Search Console compares to Semrush

The closest way GSC compares to Semrush is in its site audit feature. Both tools provide detailed site analysis, pointing out indexing, crawling, broken links, mobile usability, page speed, and other technical issues your site might have.

This makes Google Search Console one of the most valuable Semrush alternatives for business owners, SEO bloggers, and content marketers on a budget.

However, the key difference is that GSC focuses on monitoring website health and organic search traffic directly from Google’s search engine, whereas Semrush offers a broader range of features, including keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink data, and more,

Not to mention, Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google, whereas Semrush is a paid tool.

3. Google Trends

Google Trends is a vital SEO tool for identifying relevant and popular industry trends in any location.

It provides insights into search interests and volumes for specific industry keywords or topics, helping you identify trends and patterns in your target audience’s search behavior.

While Google Trends isn’t an exact Semrush alternative, it has some vital keyword research features that could be useful if you’re on a budget.

How Google Trends compares to Semrush

Google Trends provides insight into searcher’s intent and behavior through keyword analysis.

It examines keywords based on the volume of searches and the trends and patterns of occurrence.

Semrush, on the other hand, provides more detailed keyword analysis by examining search volume, keyword difficulty, and related keywords.

Both tools are excellent for helping you discover relevant keywords to improve your SEO efforts.

However, Google Trends is free, making it a more affordable option if you’re on a lean budget and only starting off with SEO.

4. Keyword Surfer

Keyword Surfer is your best bet if you’re looking for a free keyword research tool that helps you identify valuable content when surfing the net.

It is a Chrome extension tool that allows you to generate keyword ideas and see search volumes and other valuable data points without leaving the search engine result page (SERP).

The Chrome web store shows that over 500,000 content, SEO, and marketing specialists use Keyword Surfer for their digital marketing needs.

How Keyword Surfer compares to Semrush

The Keyword Surfer primarily focuses on search volume data and is a valid Semrush alternative only for elementary keyword research.

It provides valuable insights on search volume, cost-per-click (CPC), estimated traffic, keyword suggestions, and data on competitor’s organic traffic.

However, Keyword Surfer still remains primarily a keyword research tool, and does not offer the other features of Semrush.

5. Seobility Software Suite

Keyword research, rank tracking, and competitor analysis are 100% free features on Seobility, making the tool a great free Semrush alternative for SEOs, content marketers, and small business owners.

The free tool allows you to perform extensive keyword research, competitive analysis, and website audits.

This is vital in helping you discover keywords in your niche that your competitors use to attract high-quality leads.

The website audit also enables you to discover promising keywords you’re already ranking for, helping you strengthen your content in those areas.

How Seobility Software Suite compares to Semrush

Seobility Software Suite and Semrush have similar keyword research, competitive analysis, and website audit capacities. Both tools allow you to access keyword suggestions, search volume data, and other valuable keyword details, enabling you to create content that drives results.

Even more, you can perform extensive competitive analysis and website audits with Seobility Software Suite and gain valuable data as you would with Semrush.

Paid Semrush alternatives

Here are some paid Semrush alternatives that guarantee you value for your money while offering you similar features and functionalities to Semrush:

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is the closest paid Semrush alternative you can find in your quest for a comprehensive SEO toolkit.

It provides almost every feature and functionality an SEO tool should have, from comprehensive keyword research to site audits and competitive analysis.

Ahrefs is most popular for its backlink database, which allows you to build relevant backlinks and eliminate spammy ones.

It also has one of the best site explorer features among SEO tools, as you can conduct a detailed competitor analysis by exploring your competitors’ websites.

Here are the main features of Ahrefs:

• Keyword research
• Website explorer
• Website auditing
• Backlink research
• Rank tracking

How Ahrefs compares to Semrush

Ahrefs offers almost all the SEO features of Semrush, but it does not offer the other toolkits of Semrush including the Content Marketing Toolkit with Topic Research, an SEO Writing Assistant, and SEO Content Template.

These tools empower you with valuable insights, data, and guidance to produce high-quality and search engine-optimized content.

Though the difference between their pricing is negligible, Ahrefs is the more affordable option among the two tools.

While Semrush’s cheapest plan costs $129.95 per month, Ahrefs costs only $99 per month.

7. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is up there with Semrush as one of the SEO tools with the best features and functionality.

Its user-friendly platform makes it suitable for all users, making it easy for you to perform complex tasks like deep website analysis, rank tracking, etc.

Here are SE Ranking’s main features:

• Keyword research
• On-page SEO checker
• Website audit
• Keyword rank tracking
• Competitive analysis
• Backlink analysis
• Content generation
• White-label reporting
• API (Available in the business plan)

How SE Ranking compares to Semrush

SE Ranking offers all the SEO features and functionalities Semrush offers its users, from keyword research to rank tracking and competitive analysis.

While Semrush has a bigger database and features, SE Ranking offers more affordability and flexibility in terms of pricing. In fact, SE Ranking has one of the most flexible pricing plan compared to most other SEO tools.

Your price per month depends on number of features, type of subscription, etc. SE Ranking’s pricing plans range from $44 per month to $191.20 per month, which is relatively affordable compared to Semrush’s pricing plans, which range from $129.95 to $499.95 a month.

One of the major distinguishing factors is that you can add users to your SE Ranking account at no extra cost. However, to do the same in Semrush, you must pay an extra fee of $45 to $100 per month per user you want to add.

8. Ubersuggest

Though it’s popularly known for its freemium keyword research tool, Ubersugges (Neil Patel) has been transformed into a complete SEO tool since it was acquired by legendary digital marketer and SEO, Neil Patel.

It offers comprehensive SEO functionality, from keyword research to rank tracking, site audits, traffic estimation, and backlink building.

Therefore, it is not a surprising addition to this list, as it’s duly earned its place as a reliable Semrush alternative.

Here are the main features of Ubersuggest:

• Rank tracking
• Keyword research
• Chrome extension
• Site audit
• Traffic estimation
• Backlinks building

How Ubersuggest compares to Semrush

While Semrush offers you more robust SEO functionality, Ubersuggest comes at a ridiculously low price, offering you premium services on a budget.

With pricing plans that start at $12 per month and go up to $40 per month, Ubersuggest’s most expensive plan is far below Semrush’s cheapest plan.

If you’re on a low budget, Ubersuggest presents you with the best cost-cutting Semrush alternative while offering you decent SEO features.

9. SEO Powersuite

SEO Powersuite is one of the few SEO tools similar to Semrush in features and functionality. In fact, many users rate it as one of the top competitors to Semrush.

SEO Powersuite has one of the most robust link-building databases, with over 2.7 trillion links in its index. Its keyword suggestion feature is also one of the most comprehensive among SEO tools.

SEO Powersuite offers its services to users in four distinct tools:

• Website auditor: Handles website analysis and on-page SEO
• Rank Tracker: For extensive rank monitoring and keyword research
• SEO Spyglass: For backlink research and auditing
• LinkAssistant: Used to execute link-building campaigns and management

How SEO Powersuite compares to Semrush

While Semrush offers a web-based platform with additional features and integrations, SEO Powersuite is a desktop SEO toolkit.

As a desktop SEO toolkit, SEO Powersuite offers many advantages over Semrush, such as offline access to the software and high-level data privacy, as your SEO data and website information are stored locally on your computer.

They also have occasional discounts, making it even more affordable than Semrush’s monthly subscription plans.

I personally prefer using cloud-based SEO tools but that is just my preference.

At $299 per year for its Professional plan and $499 per year for the Enterprise plan, you can see why SEO Powersuite might be the best alternative to Semrush for your business.