Semrush pricing: the plans as published, the limits that set your cost, and how to choose
What each tier includes, which limits actually bite, and the free alternatives for the jobs you only do once.
Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 12 October 2026
Semrush sells its tools in separate product lines, each priced on its own tab of the Semrush pricing page. On the SEO and AI Search tab, checked on 9 October 2026, there is a free plan at no cost, then four paid tiers: SEO at $139 a month, Starter at $199, Pro plus at $299 and Advanced at $549, with annual billing bringing each of those down. Enterprise is quoted individually. The three limits that decide which tier you need are how many websites you monitor, how many keywords you track daily, and how many people need their own login.
Prices and plan names in this category move, so treat the figures below as a dated snapshot and open the pricing page before you buy. The structure is the part worth understanding, because it is what makes one plan the right size and another one wasted money.
The plans as published on 9 October 2026
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually | Websites monitored | Keywords tracked daily |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | n/a | 1 demo project | Limited to 10 reports a day across the main tools |
| SEO | $139 | $117.33 a month | 5 | 500 |
| Starter | $199 | $165.17 a month | 5 | 500 |
| Pro plus | $299 | $248.17 a month | 15 | 1,500 |
| Advanced | $549 | $455.67 a month | 40 | 5,000 |
| Enterprise | Quoted | Quoted | Unlimited projects, custom limits | Custom |
The page advertises a saving of up to 17 percent for paying annually, which is the single largest discount available to a small team. The older Pro, Guru and Business plan names no longer appear on that tab, so advice written around them should be read as history.
The add-ons, which is where budgets slip
- Additional users start at $45 a month. Seats are the most common source of an unexpected invoice, so count the people who genuinely need their own login before you choose a tier.
- Lead generation is $90 a month.
- Report add-ons are listed at $10 a month for the base report and $20 a month for the pro report.
Beyond the SEO tab, Semrush prices other lines separately: AI visibility, traffic and market research, local, content, social, advertising and public relations tools each have their own tab. The AI visibility and agency reporting features carry their own limits, which is why two companies on the same named plan can pay different totals.
The three limits that decide your tier
- Projects, meaning websites monitored. An agency hits this first. Five is a small client list; fifteen is a working one.
- Keywords tracked daily. Count the queries you will actually act on, not every phrase you can think of. Most businesses act on far fewer than five hundred.
- Users. Buy the seats you need rather than sharing credentials, which breaks reporting and usually breaks the terms of service too.
Who each tier suits
- One site, one person, straightforward SEO work. The entry tier, with annual billing.
- A small in house team running a handful of sites. Starter or Pro plus, decided by seat count rather than by feature list.
- An agency with a real client list. Pro plus or Advanced, plus the reporting add-on, and check the white label options against what your clients expect to receive.
- A large organisation with procurement and several markets. Enterprise, where the conversation is about data limits, access control and contract terms rather than list price.
What the free plan genuinely covers
The free plan allows a limited number of reports a day, and that is enough for a specific set of jobs: a one off look at a competitor's top keywords, a sense check on a domain before a meeting, a quick backlink count. Pair it with the free tools that have no such limit and you can get a long way without a subscription:
- Google Search Console for your own queries, positions, clicks and indexing. This is the data Semrush cannot replace, because it comes from Google.
- Google Analytics for what happened after the click.
- Bing Webmaster Tools for a second search engine's view of your site, including its own backlink data.
- A desktop crawler for technical audits of a small site.
- Ahrefs' free tier for verified sites for a capped view of your own backlinks and a technical crawl.
The alternatives, described fairly
| Tool | Its particular strength | Pricing shape |
|---|---|---|
| Semrush | Breadth across SEO, ads, content, social and market research in one account | Tiers by projects, tracked keywords and seats, with add-ons |
| Ahrefs | Backlink index and keyword data, plus a free tier for sites you verify | Tiers published on its own pricing page |
| Moz Pro | Long established metrics and a gentle learning curve | Tiered subscription |
| SE Ranking and similar | Rank tracking and client reporting at a lower entry price | Tiered subscription, often cheaper per tracked keyword |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Deep technical crawling, free up to 500 URLs per crawl | One annual licence for the full version |
Pick by the job you do most. If you spend your week on technical crawls, a crawler and Search Console beat any suite. If you spend it on competitor research across many markets, a suite earns its fee in the first week.
This page covers Semrush plans, limits and add-ons as published on the date above. For getting value out of the reports once you have a subscription, see Semrush SEO analysis, the Semrush backlink audit and Semrush AI visibility.
The semrush pricing questions worth an answer
Is there a free trial?
Semrush publishes any current trial offer on the pricing page itself, and the free plan is always available as a way to see the interface before paying. Check the page on the day you buy, because promotional terms change.
What happened to the Pro, Guru and Business plans?
The SEO and AI Search tab now lists SEO, Starter, Pro plus and Advanced instead. Older comparisons written around the three previous names describe a plan structure that has been replaced, so compare against the live page.
Is annual billing worth it?
The page advertises up to 17 percent off for annual payment, which is the simplest saving available. Run a month on the monthly price first, confirm your team logs in weekly, then switch.
Do I need the agency reporting add-ons?
Only if clients receive branded reports from you. If you assemble reports yourself in a slide deck or a document, the export from the standard plan is enough.
Can two people share one login?
Buy the seats instead. Shared logins collide in projects and reports, and the additional user add-on exists precisely because the platform tracks activity per user.
Which single report justifies the subscription?
For most buyers it is the keyword gap against two named competitors, because it turns into a content plan the same afternoon. If that report does not change what you do, the subscription is not earning its place.
A line item to check before you renew
Semrush pricing is published by plan and limit, and you can weigh it against what you use. Before renewing, add a question: does the subscription show what assistants say about your brand, and if not, where will you see that?
A monthly manual check in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity costs little. AI Knows Us offers the same view with citations, so you can weigh the cost of tracking it beside the cost of your tools.