Semrush vs Ahrefs (2026): Which SEO Suite Should You Pay For?
Semrush vs Ahrefs (or Ahrefs vs Semrush) is a choice between two all-in-one SEO suites. An SEO suite is one account for keyword research, backlink and competitor research, site audits and rank tracking, and both now also track how AI assistants such as ChatGPT mention your brand. Ahrefs is cheaper to start and meters reports with credits on its lower plans. Semrush has a free plan, a trial and published yearly prices.
The short answer
Choose Ahrefs if you want the cheapest paid start ($29 Starter, $129 Lite for 750 keywords) or unlimited reports for a team (Standard, $249/mo).
Choose Semrush if you want a free plan and trial first, yearly billing ($117.33/mo for SEO), or many AI prompts: 50 a day for $199/mo.
Semrush vs Ahrefs at a glance
 Semrush |  Ahrefs | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | SEO: $139/mo, or $117.33/mo billed yearly | Starter: $29/mo (monthly only); Lite: $129/mo |
| Free option | Free plan: 1 demo project, 10 reports a day | Ahrefs Free: Site Explorer and Site Audit for sites you verify |
| Free trial | 7 days | None listed |
| How usage is limited | Reports per day on Free; websites and keywords per plan | Credits per user on Starter (200) and Lite (1,000); unlimited from Standard |
| Keywords tracked (entry plan) | 500 on SEO (daily) | 50 on Starter, 750 on Lite |
| Ranking history | Not stated on the pricing page | 1 month (Starter), 6 months (Lite), 2 years (Standard), 5 years (Advanced) |
| Extra users | From $45/mo each | $40 (Lite), $60 (Standard), $80 (Advanced) per month each |
| AI answer tracking | 50 prompts a day on Starter ($199/mo), 100 on Pro+ ($299/mo); AI Visibility Toolkit alone $99/mo for 25 prompts | 5 prompts (150 checks a month) on Lite, 10 on Standard, 20 on Advanced; Brand Radar AI from $199/mo |
| Yearly discount | Up to 17%, with yearly prices shown | “Up to 17%”, but no yearly prices shown |
| Refunds | 7-day money-back on a first annual order; monthly plans not refundable | Generally none; monthly subscribers may ask if they haven’t used the service |
Price checked October 24, 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page, help center and refund policy, from a US connection. List prices before tax, in US dollars.
Pricing: Semrush vs Ahrefs plans
The two price in different ways. Semrush sells plans by how many websites, keywords and AI prompts you track. Ahrefs sells plans by credits, history and tracked keywords, and charges for each extra user at a rate that rises with the plan.
Semrush pricing
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | 1 demo project, 10 reports a day, no credit card |
| SEO | $139/mo | $117.33/mo | 5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily |
| Starter (SEO + AI Search) | $199/mo | $165.17/mo | 5 websites, 500 keywords, 50 AI prompts tracked daily |
| Pro+ (SEO + AI Search) | $299/mo | $248.17/mo | 15 websites, 1,500 keywords, 100 AI prompts tracked daily |
| Advanced | Custom | Custom | 40+ websites, 5,000+ keywords, unlimited AI prompts, team users |
| AI Visibility Toolkit (alone) | $99/mo | — | 25 tracked prompts; 50 more for $60/mo; no free trial |
Extra users start at $45/mo each; the pricing page doesn’t say how many users the SEO, Starter and Pro+ plans include. Yearly billing saves “up to 17%”. The refund policy allows one refund request within 7 days of a first annual order; month-to-month plans are not refundable.
Ahrefs pricing
| Plan | Monthly price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Free | $0 | Site Explorer and Site Audit, for websites you verify only |
| Starter | $29/mo | 1 user, 200 credits a month, 1 month of history, 250 rows per report, 50 tracked keywords, no exports; monthly only |
| Lite | $129/mo | 1 user (up to 2 more at $40), 1,000 credits per user, 6 months of history, 750 tracked keywords, 5 AI prompts (150 checks a month) |
| Standard | $249/mo | 1 user (up to 5 more at $60), unlimited credits, 2 years of history, 2,000 tracked keywords, 10 AI prompts (300 checks) |
| Advanced | $449/mo | 1 user (up to 10 more at $80), unlimited credits, 5 years of history, 5,000 tracked keywords, 20 AI prompts (600 checks) |
| Enterprise | $1,499/mo | Annual commitment; from 3 users (more at $100), unlimited history, from 10,000 tracked keywords |
A credit is Ahrefs’ unit of usage on Starter and Lite: opening a report costs one, according to its Starter plan help page and pricing page. The pricing page says paying yearly saves “up to 17%” but shows no yearly prices. Brand Radar AI starts at $199/mo, and extra custom-prompt packages start at $50/mo. Ahrefs says it generally doesn’t issue refunds.
What you’d pay: four examples
The cheapest published plan for each setup, at monthly prices. We only add up numbers shown on the two pricing pages; Semrush’s extra-user cost is its lowest listed rate.
| Your setup | Semrush | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| Occasional lookups on any site | Free (10 reports a day) | Starter, $29/mo (200 credits a month) |
| One person, about 500 tracked keywords | SEO, $139/mo ($117.33 yearly) | Lite, $129/mo (750 keywords) |
| Three people, 1,500 tracked keywords | Pro+ $299 plus extra users from $45 each | Standard $249 + 2 users at $60 = $369/mo |
| Track 50 AI prompts a day | Starter, $199/mo | Above Advanced’s 20 prompts; add a prompt package (from $50/mo) or Brand Radar AI (from $199/mo) |
So Ahrefs is cheaper for small, occasional or single-user work at monthly prices, and its team cost is fully published. Semrush is cheaper once you need many AI prompts, and it is the only one with a published yearly price. Neither list price includes tax.
Features compared
Keyword research
Both have a keyword tool that shows search volume and difficulty: Semrush’s keyword research and Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. The practical difference is access. Semrush’s free plan allows 10 reports a day; Ahrefs Starter and Lite charge credits per report, which matters if you run many searches a day.
Backlinks and competitor research
Backlink research means seeing which sites link to a page, which is how you study a competitor’s link building. Ahrefs’ Site Explorer shows a site’s backlinks, the keywords it ranks for and its top pages; Semrush offers backlink and competitor analysis in the same plans. Neither pricing page is a fair test of data size or freshness, so look up the same three competitors in both before choosing.
Site audit and rank tracking
Both include a site audit that crawls your pages for technical issues, and a rank tracker. Semrush SEO tracks 500 keywords daily and Pro+ 1,500. Ahrefs Lite tracks 750 and Standard 2,000, and Ahrefs lists how much history each plan keeps (6 months on Lite, 2 years on Standard).
AI search visibility
AI search tracking shows whether AI assistants mention or link to your brand when people ask a set of questions, called prompts. Ahrefs’ Brand Radar measures mentions, citations and AI share of voice across AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, and custom prompts add Claude. Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit help page names ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for prompt tracking. Semrush includes far more prompts in its plans (50 a day for $199/mo against 5 on Ahrefs Lite). For tools built only for this job, see the best AEO tools.
Who should pick which
| If you want to… | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Try before paying | Semrush | Free plan plus a 7-day trial |
| Pay as little as possible for a paid tool | Ahrefs | Starter is $29/mo |
| Pay yearly at a published price | Semrush | SEO is $117.33/mo billed yearly |
| Run unlimited reports as a team | Ahrefs | Unlimited credits from Standard, $249/mo |
| Track many AI prompts | Semrush | 50 prompts a day on Starter, 100 on Pro+ |
Semrush: who it’s for / skip it if
Who it’s for: marketers who want to start free, pay yearly, or track AI answers alongside Google rankings in one plan.
Skip it if: you need a cheap paid plan for occasional research, want published prices for more than 15 websites, or want each plan’s included users stated up front.
Ahrefs: who it’s for / skip it if
Who it’s for: site owners who want a low-cost paid start, and teams that open many reports a day and want unlimited credits with long ranking history.
Skip it if: you want a free trial or refunds, need yearly prices up front, or want to track dozens of AI prompts without add-ons.
How we compared them
We read both pricing pages, Ahrefs’ Starter plan help page and Brand Radar page, Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit help page and Semrush’s refund policy on October 24, 2026, using a US connection for prices. We compared plan limits, the cost of four common setups and AI tracking. We haven’t tested either tool hands-on yet, so this page doesn’t judge data accuracy. Links are marked if they are affiliate links.
Cheaper options
If both feel expensive, SE Ranking Core is $129/mo with 2,000 tracked keywords and 100 AI prompts a day; see our SE Ranking vs Semrush comparison. If you’re leaving one of these tools, read our Semrush alternatives or Ahrefs alternatives. Full plan details are on the Semrush pricing and Ahrefs pricing pages. See more in the best AI SEO tools, or browse every AI SEO and AEO tool we list.
FAQ
Is Ahrefs better than Semrush?
Neither is better for everyone. Ahrefs has cheaper entry points ($29 Starter, $129 Lite) and unlimited report credits from Standard ($249/mo). Semrush has a free plan, a 7-day trial, published yearly prices and more AI prompts per dollar. We haven’t tested either hands-on, so compare the data on your own site before you commit.
Is Semrush or Ahrefs cheaper?
Ahrefs is cheaper to start: Starter is $29/mo and Lite $129/mo, against $139/mo for Semrush SEO (as of October 24, 2026). Semrush is the only one of the two that shows a yearly price ($117.33/mo for SEO); Ahrefs says yearly billing saves up to 17% but lists no figures. For AI answer tracking, Semrush gives more prompts per dollar.
Which is better for beginners, Ahrefs or Semrush?
Semrush is the lower-risk start: a free plan with 10 reports a day and a 7-day trial of paid plans. Ahrefs lists no free trial, and its $29 Starter plan is limited to 200 credits, 1 month of history and no exports. Ahrefs Free is a good start if you only need data on your own verified site.
Does Ahrefs have a free plan? Does Semrush?
Both have one. Ahrefs Free works only for websites you verify and includes Site Explorer and Site Audit. Semrush’s free plan works on any site but is limited to 1 demo project and 10 reports a day across its tools.
Can you use Semrush and Ahrefs together?
Yes, and some teams do, but it doubles the bill: Semrush SEO plus Ahrefs Lite is $268/mo at monthly prices. A cheaper mix is one paid suite plus the other’s free option, such as Semrush SEO with Ahrefs Free for your own verified site.
Which tracks ChatGPT and AI Overviews mentions?
Both, in different ways. Ahrefs Brand Radar covers AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, with custom prompts adding Claude. Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit help page names ChatGPT and Google AI Mode for prompt tracking. Semrush includes 50 daily prompts at $199/mo; Ahrefs Lite includes 5 prompts.
Sources
Checked October 24, 2026.