Ahrefs vs Semrush
Both ladders below were read from the vendors’ own pricing pages, in this market, on the dates shown. Nothing is converted: what you see is what each page showed a reader here.
What each one is
Ahrefssite ↗pricing ↗
An SEO toolset built on its own web crawler — backlinks, keywords, rank tracking and site audits. Paid plans start at $129/mo (Lite); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 4 paid tiers, topping out at $1499/mo (Enterprise).
Semrushsite ↗pricing ↗
A broad SEO and digital marketing suite covering keywords, competitor research, ads and content. Paid plans start at $117.33/mo (SEO); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 4 paid tiers, topping out at $455.67/mo (Advanced). We read the same $117.33/mo in every market we check, so this vendor does not price by country. It quotes USD here rather than local currency, so your bank sets the conversion.
The two ladders
Ahrefssite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-08-27 · USD
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $129/mo ($107.5 ↓) | 5 projects, 6 months of historical data, 750 tracked keywords, 5 tracked AI prompts, 100,000 crawl credits, 1,000 credits per user. Described on the page as essential data for small businesses and personal projects. |
| Standard | $249/mo ($207.5 ↓) | 20 projects, 2 years of historical data, 2,000 tracked keywords, 10 tracked AI prompts, 500,000 crawl credits, unlimited credits per user. Adds Content Explorer, Batch Analysis, SERP comparison and portfolios. |
| Advanced | $449/mo ($374.17 ↓) | 50 projects, 5 years of historical data, 5,000 tracked keywords, 20 tracked AI prompts, 1,500,000 crawl credits, unlimited credits per user. |
| Enterprise | $1499/mo ($1249.17 ↓) | Published with a price on the same table as the other three rather than behind a contact-sales form. Project and keyword ceilings sit above the Advanced row; the individual figures were not all readable in the plan card and are deliberately not reproduced here. |
Semrushsite ↗pricing ↗
read 2026-08-31 · USD
| Plan | Price | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| SEO | $117.33/mo | |
| Starter | $165.17/mo | |
| Pro+ | $248.17/mo | |
| Advanced | $455.67/mo |
Where they differ
- Cheapest way in: Semrush at $117.33/mo, against Ahrefs at $129/mo. That is the entry price in this market on the dates shown, not a judgement about which suits you.
- Free plans: only Semrush publishes one — a plan priced at zero, not a trial.
- How far each ladder goes: Ahrefs tops out at $1499/mo, Semrush at $455.67/mo. A deeper ladder is not a worse deal — it is a bill that keeps climbing if you keep growing.
- Semrush: We read the same $117.33/mo in every market we check, so this vendor does not price by country. It quotes USD here rather than local currency, so your bank sets the conversion.
How to choose in this category
- Entry prices are high and annual billing is where the discounts live.
- Tiers are data limits — keyword counts, tracked sites, report caps — more than features.
- Prices in this category move; check the change log before quoting one.