When it comes to intelligent and intuitive search engine marketing tools, few services come close to SEMrush, Ahrefs and SE Ranking.
Those three services or SEO research tools are my go-to places for both SEO and PPC campaigns. While there are many other tools in the market, I find these three companies providing the best of features, value for money and of course extensive competitor analysis reporting.
Considering all three SEM tools are quite closely matched in terms of features and what they deliver, I thought it would be a good idea to compare them on pricing.
It will help us understand which company provides the best value for money, what features are offered in each price tier and what it means for an individual or an agency.
Free Trials
SEMrush
Free Trial Available: Yes, comprehensive.
Free Trial Duration: 7 days
Credit Card Required: Yes. You need to cancel your free trial before expiry to avoid being charged for the first month.
Ahrefs
Free Trial Available: Yes, comprehensive.
Free Trial Duration: 7 days
Credit Card Required: Yes. You need to cancel your free trial before expiry to avoid being charged for the first month.
SE Ranking
Free Trial Available: Yes, limited.
Free Trial Duration: 14 days
Credit Card Required: No. You will not be charged automatically. Although free trial is limited, you do get enough data to test out SE Ranking’s total offering.
Pricing and Packages Offered
SEMrush, Ahrefs and SE Ranking, all offer multiple packages at various price points. For most users, including those owning multiple websites can easily opt for the base or the cheapest package as they cover everything you need for your SEO and PPC campaign including competitor analysis.
I believe only agencies and those with high budgets with several websites may sign up for the higher package.
Note: The prices given below are monthly billed packages. If you opt to pay annually, you get 10% to 20% discount on the monthly prices. However, you are charged for the entire year upfront.
Also, all three services allow you to upgrade or downgrade your package at any point.
SEMrush Pricing and Packages
Pro: US $119.95 per month
Guru: US $229.95 per month
Business: US $449.95 per month
You may opt for a custom package as well if you are an extremely heavy user. The custom packages cost above the Business package.
Ahrefs Pricing and Packages
Lite: US $99 per month
Standard: US $179 per month
Advanced: US $399 per month
Agency: US $999 per month
SE Ranking Pricing and Packages
Optimum: US $39 per month
Plus: US $89 per month
Enterprise: US $189 per month
SE Ranking offers a custom plan as well that would cost above the Enterprise package.
As you can see from the above comparison, SE Ranking has the lowest starting point at US $39 per month.
Although Ahrefs seems to have the highest package of US $999 per month, it offers a lot especially if you are an agency.
Features
All of the three services are quite closely matched when it comes to the features they offer. Right from the base package, you can expect the following:
1) SEO and PPC competitor analysis
Competitor analysis is one of the key factors for a successful SEO and PPC campaign. You should be able to find out your competitor’s keywords, how much they are paying, cost per click and other important metrics.
SEMrush, Ahrefs and SE Ranking, all provide comprehensive data of your competitors for both their organic search results and Google Ads campaigns.
2) Backlink profile
You can get not only your own website’s current backlink profile, but also of your competitors. This gives you a good idea where you stand and where you can find new backlink opportunities.
3) Onsite SEO health
These services can provide you with complete diagnostics of your website and its onsite SEO health. They suggest hundreds of parameters which you can implement for better search rankings.
4) Keywords for content
Based on the keywords you enter, you can get a whole list of related keywords or key-phrases that can possibly help you rank higher in search engines. These keywords are also accompanied with metrics that suggest how hard it will be to rank for those keywords.
Many marketers use Ahrefs and SEMrush for this reason as they get new content ideas from the keywords and key-phrases suggested by the services.
Final verdict
Each of the three services offer comprehensive features for both SEO and PPC campaigns.
From value for money point of view, nothing can beat the offering by SE Ranking. If you are mainly looking for competitor analysis and suggestions for improving your SEO campaign, then you can easily opt for SE Ranking.
If you are someone who is mainly looking for content suggestions that will rank on search engines, then you can look at Ahrefs and SEMrush.
Of course if you are a large agency and need millions of rows worth of data for yourself or your clients, then you need to check which service can provide that for you.
Ideally you should try the free trial of each of the services and check whether they suit your requirements.
One final suggestion would be not to opt for the annual package even though you get a 20 percent discount. This is because sometimes you may have all the data you need within the first one or two months itself. You may also want to shift services in between. Only when you are absolutely sure that you need a particular service for a long period of time, then only opt for the annual package.
All three services allow changing packages and duration at any point of time during your subscription.
