Ahrefs vs Semrush

Ahrefs vs Semrush compared side by side on price, plans and features. Cheapest paid option for one person: Ahrefs $29/mo on Starter, against Semrush $117.33/mo on SEO. Cheapest paid option for a team of 10: Semrush $522.33/mo on SEO, against Ahrefs $1,094.17/mo on Advanced.

Updated Oct 4, 2026Pricing checked Oct 4, 2026

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Our verdict

Updated Oct 4, 2026

The deciding difference is how often you need fresh rankings and which research you'd pay extra for. Semrush's Position Tracking updates daily, by device and down to ZIP code, on every paid plan. Its SEO plan costs $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed yearly, for 5 websites and 500 tracked keywords, while historical data and JavaScript rendering in Site Audit start on Pro+ at $299 a month, and local, content and advertising toolkits cost extra. Ahrefs updates rankings weekly, but Site Explorer covers backlinks and organic and paid keywords for any domain, Ahrefs Free covers sites you verify, and API access starts on Lite at $129 a month. Lite meters reports with 1,000 credits a month, and Standard, at $249 a month, gives each user unlimited credits. Extra seats cost $45 to $100 a month at Semrush and $40 to $80 at Ahrefs. Choose Semrush for daily rank reporting across several sites, and Ahrefs for link and competitor research or API access on a lower tier.

The numbers

At a glance

How Ahrefs and Semrush stack up on price and plans. The highlighted cell wins the row; costs are monthly, at the yearly rate where one is published.

At-a-glance comparison of Ahrefs and Semrush
Metric	Ahrefs	Semrush
Cheapest for 1 person	$29/moStarter	$117.33/moSEO
Cheapest for 10 people	$1,094.17/moAdvanced	$522.33/moSEO
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	No	Yes (7 days)
Best for	Best for SEO teams and agencies that research competitors' backlinks and keywords	Best for marketing teams that want daily rank tracking and competitor research in one login

Pricing

Pricing compared

Per month, at the yearly rate where one is published. Checked against both vendors' pricing pages (Ahrefs Oct 4, 2026, Semrush Oct 4, 2026).

Ahrefs

From $29/mo

Ahrefs FreefreeFree
Starterper month, monthly billing only$29/mo
Liteper month, 1 user included$107.50/mo
Standardper month, 1 user included$207.50/mo
Advancedper month, 1 user included$374.17/mo
Enterpriseper month, annual commitment required$1,499/mo

Full Ahrefs pricing

Semrush

From $117.33/mo

FreefreeFree
SEOper month, 1 user included$117.33/mo
Starterper month, 1 user included$165.17/mo
Pro+per month, 1 user included$248.17/mo
Advancedper month, 1 user included$455.67/mo
Enterprisecustom pricingCustom

Full Semrush pricing

Cheapest paid Ahrefs and Semrush plan by team size
Team size	Ahrefs	Semrush
1 person	$29/moStarter	$117.33/moSEO
5 people	$447.50/moStandard	$297.33/moSEO
10 people	$1,094.17/moAdvanced	$522.33/moSEO
25 people	$3,699/moEnterprise	$1,197.33/moSEO

Feature by feature

Ahrefs vs Semrush features

Every feature either tool lists, grouped by area. A check means it's included.

Only in Ahrefs: 0 features

Nothing Ahrefs offers alone.

Only in Semrush: 1 feature

White-label reporting

Platform2 features

Feature	Ahrefs	Semrush
Data API	Included	Included
White-label reporting	Not included	Included

Research Data4 features

Feature	Ahrefs	Semrush
Backlink index & analysis	Included	Included
Competitor traffic analysis	Included	Included
Keyword research database	Included	Included
Paid search & ad data	Included	Included

Site Auditing4 features

Feature	Ahrefs	Semrush
Automated site audit	Included	Included
Custom data extraction	Not included	Not included
JavaScript rendering	Included	Included
Log file analysis	Included	Included