What is Semrush?
Semrush is a web platform split into toolkits: SEO, AI Visibility, Traffic and Market, Content, Local, Advertising, AI PR and Social. You add a site as a project, track its rankings daily, crawl it for technical issues and study any competitor's keywords, backlinks and estimated traffic.
Its newer plans pair classic SEO with AI search, tracking how often ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers mention your brand. Against Ahrefs or smaller tools, the draw is breadth in one login; the catch is that many toolkits and extra seats cost more on top.
Who is Semrush best for?
Semrush is best for SEO specialists and agencies who need keyword, backlink, rank and AI answer data for many sites in one account.
Agencies with many client sites
Pro+ tracks 15 sites and 1,500 keywords a day, with white-label reports as an add-on.
In-house SEO and content teams
Keyword research, site audits, rank tracking and content scoring sit in one account instead of four tools.
Brands watching AI answers
The Starter and Pro+ plans track daily prompts in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode next to normal rankings.
Competitor research
Any domain's keywords, backlinks and traffic estimates are a search away, without access to that site.
What's included with Semrush?
Keyword research, daily rank tracking, site audits, backlink data, AI visibility tracking and scheduled reports, with an MCP server for AI assistants.
- Keyword research
- Finds and groups related search terms with volume and difficulty, drawn from a 29-billion keyword database.
- Position Tracking
- Daily rankings by device and location, with up to 20 competitors per project and AI Overview tracking.
- Site Audit
- Crawls your site for technical issues and checks whether AI crawlers such as OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot can reach it.
- Backlink analytics
- Shows the links pointing to any domain, yours or a competitor's, from a 43-trillion link index.
- AI visibility tracking
- Tracks chosen prompts daily and shows which brands and sources AI assistants cite instead of you.
- Reports and AI assistants
- Scheduled PDF reports as an add-on, plus MCP access that feeds Semrush data into ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor.
How much does Semrush cost?
Semrush has a free account with 10 reports a day; paid plans cost $139, $199 or $299 a month, and larger plans are priced on request.
- 1 demo project
- 10 reports a day across tools
- No card needed
- 5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily
- Position Tracking and Site Audit
- Basic AI search tracking
- SEO plus AI search: 50 prompts tracked daily
- 300 AI visibility reports a day
- MCP access
- 15 websites, 1,500 keywords tracked daily
- Historical data and content optimization
- 100 prompts tracked daily
Advanced (40+ sites, 5,000+ keywords, API and team users) and Enterprise are priced on request. Paying yearly saves up to 17%. Extra users start at $45 a month each, and report add-ons cost $10 or $20 a month. Paid plans start with a 7-day trial that converts to a paid plan unless cancelled, and month-to-month plans are not refundable. Full pricing on semrush.com. We checked these prices on .
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Semrush pros and cons
It covers almost every SEO job with very large data sets, but it is expensive, add-ons stack up, and billing and cancellation draw many complaints.
Pros
- One account covers keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, backlinks and competitor traffic, which reviewers on G2 name as its main strength.
- Very large data sets: 29 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks across 142 country databases.
- Tracks AI answers in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode alongside normal rankings, so one report covers both kinds of search.
- A free account with 10 reports a day is enough to check a few domains or keywords before paying.
Cons
- Expensive: the cheapest paid plan is $139 a month, and G2 reviewers often say add-on toolkits and extra seats push the bill higher.
- Billing complaints dominate its Trustpilot page: trials that renewed into large charges, a multi-step cancellation and refused refunds on monthly plans.
- Several reviewers say its traffic estimates can be far off or missing, even for large sites they know well.
- The number of toolkits makes features hard to find for new users, a point G2 reviewers raise often.
How do I connect Semrush to my AI agent?
Semrush MCP is Semrush's official MCP server. Add it to your agent once, then ask it to pull Semrush keyword, traffic and backlink data into a conversation.
Brings live Semrush data to your agent, from keyword metrics and domain traffic to backlinks and AI search visibility, so you can size up competitors and plan content.
Semrush gives each account its own server address. Open the setup guide, copy your address, then add it to Claude Code like any other server.
Use the address from Semrush's setup guide.
Semrush's setup guide covers the sign-in.
Then ask your agent
- Runs
- On the web
- Sign-in
- See guide
- Maker
- Semrush
- Guide
- semrush.com
What are the best Semrush alternatives?
Keyword.com for low-cost rank tracking, DiagnoSEO for an all-in-one SEO kit on a small budget, and Profound for AI answer visibility.
KeywordFreemiumChoose it when you only need daily rank tracking and AI search visibility for client reports; plans start at $4 a month for 50 keywords.
DiagnoSEOFreemiumChoose it when you want site audits, keyword research and backlink checks on a small budget; plans start at $9 per user per month.
ProfoundFreemiumChoose it when your main question is how AI answer engines describe your brand and you want help drafting fixes, not a full SEO suite.
AhrefsFreeChoose it when backlinks are the main job and you want a cheaper start; its Starter plan is $29 a month.
Questions about Semrush
What is Semrush?
Semrush, now part of Adobe, is a web platform for keyword research, backlink checks, rank tracking, site audits and AI answer tracking, built for SEO specialists, in-house marketers and agencies.
Who is Semrush for?
Semrush is best for SEO specialists and agencies who need keyword, backlink, rank and AI answer data for many sites in one account.
Is Semrush free?
Semrush has a free account with one demo project and 10 reports a day across its tools, with no card needed. Paid plans start at $139 a month and come with a 7-day free trial for first-time users.
How much does Semrush cost?
Semrush's paid plans are SEO at $139 per month, Starter at $199 per month and Pro+ at $299 per month.
Does Semrush have an MCP server?
Yes. Semrush MCP is Semrush's official MCP server, so agents such as Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and GitHub Copilot can pull Semrush keyword, traffic and backlink data into a conversation. Semrush runs it on the web.
What are the best Semrush alternatives?
The closest alternatives on Recaply are Keyword, DiagnoSEO, Profound and Ahrefs.
Where can I try Semrush?
On its official website, semrush.com.
How do I cancel Semrush and can I get a refund?
You cancel through a form while logged in to your account, and Semrush confirms it within 3 business days. Refunds are only offered within 7 days on a first 12-month plan or a first add-on; month-to-month plans are not refunded.
Does Semrush track rankings in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews?
Yes. Position Tracking shows AI Overviews for your keywords, and the AI visibility tools track prompts in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode daily. The number of prompts depends on the plan, from 50 on Starter to 100 on Pro+.
Is Semrush owned by Adobe?
Yes. Adobe has completed its acquisition of Semrush. The product is still sold on semrush.com under the Semrush name, with its own plans.
Our verdict
Semrush is the safe pick for agencies and SEO teams that want every kind of search data in one place and can carry the cost.
Its keyword and backlink databases are very large, and AI answer tracking now sits beside rankings, but the useful setup often means a higher plan plus paid add-ons.
- Skip it for
- Solo site owners and small businesses who only need rank tracking or a few audits a month.
- Check first
- The trial converts automatically and monthly plans are not refunded, so set a reminder before the seventh day.
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