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 $139.95/mo (SEO); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 4 paid tiers, topping out at $549/mo (Advanced). It bills by country — entry £113.4/mo to a UK reader and €134.21/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads.
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 2026-10-11 · USD
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| SEO | $139.95/mo ($117.33 ↓) |
| Starter | $199/mo ($165.17 ↓) |
| Pro+ | $299/mo ($248.17 ↓) |
| Advanced | $549/mo ($455.67 ↓) |
Where they differ
- Cheapest way in: Ahrefs at $129/mo, against Semrush at $139.95/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 $549/mo. A deeper ladder is not a worse deal — it is a bill that keeps climbing if you keep growing.
- Semrush: It bills by country — entry £113.4/mo to a UK reader and €134.21/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads.
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.