Semrush is an all-in-one SEO and search marketing suite for keyword research, site audits, rank tracking and competitor research, and it is best for freelancers, agencies and in-house marketers who do search work every week. Its paid SEO plan starts at $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed yearly (checked 2 November 2026), and I score it 6.5 out of 10. The data is strong; my worry is billing, where a missed confirmation email or a monthly plan can leave you with a charge Semrush’s policy won’t refund.
Disclosure: I don’t earn anything from Semrush. It runs an affiliate program through Impact, but I haven’t joined it, and every Semrush link on this page is a plain link.
The short version
Semrush on one receipt
| Line | How it looks |
|---|---|
| Time | Sign-up takes minutes; learning which of the many reports matter is the slow part, and Capterra users rate ease of use 4.3 out of 5 |
| Cost | Free plan with 10 reports a day; SEO plan $139 a month or $117.33 billed yearly; Semrush One Starter $199, Pro+ $299 |
| Output | Keyword lists, site audits, daily rank tracking for 500 keywords, backlink and competitor data, AI visibility reports |
| Real earning path | Selling keyword research and content plans to small local businesses, delivered as your own written report |
| Overall | 6.5/10 |
Pay for it, or pass?
Worth paying for if search traffic is part of how you or your clients make money, you’ll open it several times a week, and you can commit to a year. Yearly billing is the only way to get the 7-day money-back window, and it brings the SEO plan down to $1,407.96 a year.
Pass for now if you run one small site, want to try it month by month, or need several people on one login. The free plan and Google Search Console cover a lot of basic questions, and SE Ranking’s cheapest plan tracks four times as many keywords for less.
Where my 6.5 comes from
I haven’t used Semrush for paid client work, so this is a research review, not a hands-on test. On 2 November 2026 I read Semrush’s pricing page, Terms of Service (updated 25 August 2026), refund policy, cancellation help article, integrations page and affiliate page, Adobe’s acquisition announcement, Trustpilot, G2 and Capterra, the Ahrefs and SE Ranking pricing pages and two recent independent pricing write-ups. All the per-keyword and yearly figures are my own arithmetic.
| Area | Score | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 7/10 | G2 reviewers call it user-friendly, but the feature list is long and new users report a learning curve |
| Output quality | 8.5/10 | Keyword research, audits and competitor data are the most praised parts on G2 and Capterra, with some complaints about mismatched volumes |
| Value for money | 5.5/10 | $139 a month for one user and 500 tracked keywords, with paid extras for users, local listings and AI visibility |
| Trust and support | 5/10 | Long-running, now Adobe-owned, Capterra support 4.4; but Trustpilot sits at 1.6 with repeated trial and refund complaints |
| Overall | 6.5/10 | Average of the four |
If a price or rule here has changed, tell me through the contact page and I’ll fix it.
Is there a free version of Semrush?
Yes. The free plan gives you 10 reports a day across all tools and one demo project, with no card. That covers checking a handful of keywords or a competitor’s top pages, but not daily rank tracking or scheduled audits.
How much does Semrush cost in November 2026?
From $117.33 to $299 a month for the plans with listed prices, depending on billing. Yearly billing saves about 16% on the SEO plan and 17% on the Semrush One plans.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly (per month) | Yearly total | Websites | Keywords tracked daily | AI prompts daily |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | – | – | 1 demo project | – | – |
| SEO | $139 | $117.33 | $1,407.96 | 5 | 500 | Not listed |
| Semrush One Starter | $199 | $165.17 | $1,982.04 | 5 | 500 | 50 |
| Semrush One Pro+ | $299 | $248.17 | $2,978.04 | 15 | 1,500 | 100 |
| Advanced | On request | On request | – | 40+ | 5,000+ | Unlimited |
Add-ons on the same page: extra users from $45 a month, Lead Generation $90 a month, and report add-ons at $10 or $20 a month. Independent write-ups list extra users on Pro+ at $80 and on Advanced at $100, the Local toolkit at $30 or $60 per location and AI Visibility at $99 per domain. A two-person team on the SEO plan is really paying $184 a month, not $139.
Why do so many Semrush reviews quote old prices?
Because Semrush renamed its plans in May 2026 and plenty of articles haven’t caught up. The old Pro, Guru and Business plans cost $139.95, $249.95 and $499.95 a month; Semrush now calls them legacy plans. Pro roughly became the $139 SEO plan, so that quote is still close. Guru’s closest match is Pro+, though, and at $299 it costs $49.05 a month more, a 19.6% rise.
What does one tracked keyword cost on each plan?
Between about 5 cents and 40 cents a month, and Semrush is the more expensive end. Rank tracking is the feature most small sites pay for, so dividing each plan’s price by its daily tracked keywords is a fair way to compare:
| Plan | Price used | Keywords tracked | Cost per keyword per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush SEO, monthly | $139 | 500 | $0.278 |
| Semrush SEO, yearly | $117.33 | 500 | $0.235 |
| Semrush One Starter, monthly | $199 | 500 | $0.398 |
| Semrush One Pro+, monthly | $299 | 1,500 | $0.199 |
| Ahrefs Lite, monthly | $129 | 750 | $0.172 |
| SE Ranking Core, monthly | $129 | 2,000 | $0.065 |
Starter costs $60 more than SEO for the same 500 keywords; that money buys AI visibility tracking and 50 AI prompts a day. If you don’t need to see how a brand shows up in ChatGPT-style answers yet, the plain SEO plan is the better buy.
Does the Semrush free trial lead to a refund if you forget it?
No, and this is where most of the anger in user reviews comes from. Semrush’s Terms say a trial converts to a paid subscription automatically at the end of the 7 days. Its refund policy offers a one-time 7-day money-back guarantee only on a first subscription of twelve months or longer, bought by card on semrush.com. Month-to-month plans and trials that convert to paid are excluded. So a forgotten trial on the SEO plan becomes a $139 charge with no refund under the policy.
Cancelling has an extra step too. After you submit the cancellation form, Semrush emails a confirmation link that is valid for 24 hours, and if you don’t click it, the request isn’t processed and billing continues. Afterwards, check that Subscription Info shows Recurring: Inactive.
Which tools does the $139 SEO plan include?
The core SEO kit: keyword research, position tracking, site audit, backlink and competitor analysis, plus AI visibility reports and AI sentiment monitoring for any domain, according to the pricing page. Pro+ adds historical data, content optimisation, cannibalisation checks and multi-location tracking. It connects to Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile, Looker Studio, Google Sheets, WordPress, Trello and Zapier.
Can you share one Semrush login with a team or client?
No. Section 4.1 of the Terms says two or more individuals may not share one user’s account, and Semrush may suspend or close an account it sees being used from different locations, devices or IP addresses beyond the plan’s limits. Some October 2026 Trustpilot reviewers describe suspensions and ID checks, so this is enforced. Budget $45 a month per extra person on the SEO plan.
Client work is less clear. Section 3.2 grants access “solely for your own internal business purposes”, and section 3.3 bars making the service available to any third party. Semrush also sells white-label report add-ons, which suggests agency reporting is expected, but the Terms don’t spell out what you may hand to clients. My reading is that delivering your own analysis is fine and giving a client your login is not; if your business depends on it, ask Semrush in writing. I’m not a lawyer.
Who owns Semrush now?
Adobe. It announced on 28 April 2026 that it had completed the acquisition, and Semrush now calls itself an Adobe company. Adobe says Semrush has more than 28 million users and promises “continued investment”; it didn’t say whether plans or the brand will change. The contracting company in the Terms is still Semrush Inc. of Boston.
What do Semrush users praise and complain about?
They praise the data and complain about billing. On 2 November 2026 G2 showed 4.4 out of 5 from 4,304 reviews and Capterra 4.6 from 2,330 (ease of use 4.3, customer service 4.4). Both lists credit keyword research, competitor analysis and site audits, and both name price and the learning curve as the main cons. Some Capterra reviewers also report keyword volumes that don’t match other tools.
Trustpilot is a different picture: 1.6 out of 5 from 1,423 reviews, 372 of them in the past year, split 41% five-star and 44% one-star. Semrush replies to 68% of negative reviews, usually within a day. The complaints from September and October 2026 repeat the same story: a trial that turned into a monthly charge, a refund refused because monthly plans are excluded, and a cancellation that failed because the confirmation email was missed. These are individual accounts, but they match the written policy.
Strengths and sore points
Strengths
- Keyword and competitor data that G2 and Capterra users rate highly
- Free plan with 10 reports a day and no card
- Daily tracking of 500 keywords and site audits on the base plan
- Connects to Search Console, Analytics, Looker Studio and WordPress
- Yearly billing cuts the SEO plan to $117.33 a month
Sore points
- No refunds on monthly plans or converted trials
- Cancellation needs a confirmation click within 24 hours
- One person per login, $45 a month per extra user
- Higher cost per tracked keyword than Ahrefs or SE Ranking
- Many reviews online still quote the retired plan names
Is Ahrefs or SE Ranking cheaper than Semrush?
Yes, both are cheaper at the entry level, and SE Ranking by a wide margin for rank tracking. Ahrefs suits people who mainly want backlink and content research, SE Ranking suits small agencies tracking many keywords, and Google Search Console is free for your own site.
| Tool | Price (checked 2 November 2026) | Tracked keywords | Trial and refunds | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush SEO | $139/mo or $117.33/mo yearly | 500 | 7-day trial; refund only on yearly, within 7 days | All-round SEO and competitor research |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129/mo (Starter $29/mo) | 750 | “Does not issue refunds in general” | Backlink and content research |
| SE Ranking Core | $129/mo or $103.20/mo yearly | 2,000 | 14-day trial, no card | Small agencies tracking lots of keywords |
| Google Search Console | Free | Your own site’s real queries | Free | Owners of one or two sites |
| Surfer SEO | See my review | Not a rank tracker | See my review | Writing and refreshing articles |
If your SEO work is mostly writing, my Surfer SEO review is the closer match, and the Grammarly review covers the editing side. For turning research into a newsletter, see the beehiiv review.
Where I land on Semrush
For people doing search work for a living, Semrush is still worth paying for, and the yearly SEO plan at $117.33 a month is the sensible way in: cheaper, and the only purchase that can be refunded. For a hobby site, the free plan plus Search Console is enough. If you take the trial, set a reminder two days before it ends.
Can Semrush pay for itself?
It can, if you sell the research it produces. My earning guide covers a keyword research and content plan service for small local businesses, real price ranges, a worked month in numbers and the Google and Semrush rules to respect.
Semrush FAQ: the questions I see most
Is Semrush free?
Yes, there is a limited free plan. On 2 November 2026 it allowed 10 reports a day across all tools and one demo project, with no credit card needed, which is enough to look up a few keywords but not to run a site properly.
How much does Semrush cost per month?
$139 a month for the SEO plan on monthly billing, or $117.33 a month billed yearly. Semrush One Starter is $199 ($165.17 yearly) and Pro+ is $299 ($248.17 yearly); Advanced is priced on request.
Can I get a refund from Semrush?
Only in a narrow case. The refund policy offers a one-time 7-day money-back guarantee on a first subscription of twelve months or longer bought by card on semrush.com; month-to-month plans, renewals and trials that convert to paid are not eligible.
Does the Semrush free trial charge you automatically?
Yes. When the 7-day trial ends, Semrush charges the plan fee unless you have cancelled through its cancellation form and clicked the confirmation link it emails you, which expires after 24 hours.
Can two people share one Semrush account?
No. Section 4.1 of the Terms says two or more people may not share one user’s account, and Semrush may suspend accounts it sees logging in from different locations or devices; extra users start at $45 a month.
Is Ahrefs cheaper than Semrush?
Yes, at the entry level. Ahrefs Lite is $129 a month against $139 for the Semrush SEO plan, and Ahrefs also has a $29 Starter plan, though Semrush’s yearly price of $117.33 a month undercuts Lite’s monthly price.
Is Semrush owned by Adobe?
Yes. Adobe announced it had completed its acquisition of Semrush on 28 April 2026, and Semrush now describes itself as an Adobe company; the release did not disclose the price.
Update log: 2 November 2026: first published, with prices checked that day.
Sources
- Semrush pricing
- Semrush Terms of Service (last updated 25 August 2026)
- Semrush cancellation and refund policy (updated 20 August 2025)
- Semrush help: cancelling your account
- Semrush help: integrations
- Semrush affiliate program
- Adobe: Adobe completes Semrush acquisition (28 April 2026)
- OpenSEO: Semrush pricing in 2026
- Alan Spicer: Semrush pricing 2026 (updated 28 October 2026)
- Trustpilot: Semrush reviews
- G2: Semrush reviews
- Capterra: Semrush reviews
- Ahrefs pricing
- SE Ranking pricing
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