Head to head · Last updated August 2026
SE Ranking vs Semrush vs Ahrefs: pricing, daily keyword limits and rank tracking compared
The short answer
SE Ranking Core costs $129 a month and Semrush SEO costs $139, and on rank tracking the gap between them is enormous: SE Ranking checks 2,000 keyword targets a day where Semrush checks 500, so you get four times the daily ranking data for ten dollars less. Two caveats decide whether that holds for you. SE Ranking counts a target as one keyword on one search engine, so adding Bing halves your phrase count. And white labeling is no longer in the plan: it moved into a separately billed Agency Pack. Semrush is the better buy only if you want the wider marketing suite around the tracker.
Every price and limit below was read off seranking.com and semrush.com on August 21, 2026, with the Ahrefs column read on August 20. Serpstracker builds a dedicated rank tracker and competes with the ranking module inside all three. We are not affiliated with any of them and earn no commission on any link here.
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What each one charges, and what you actually get for it.
These are list prices on monthly billing, in dollars, for the plans that include rank tracking. All three vendors price by region, so a European visitor sees euros and slightly different numbers. The keyword column is the one to read carefully, because the three companies do not count the same thing.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Tracked keywords | Update frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking Core | $129 | $103.20 | 2,000 daily targets | Daily |
| SE Ranking Growth | $279 | $223.20 | 5,000 daily targets | Daily |
| SE Ranking Enterprise | On request | On request | Custom | Daily |
| Semrush SEO | $139 | $117.33 | 500 keywords | Daily |
| Semrush Starter | $199 | $165.17 | 500 keywords | Daily |
| Semrush Pro+ | $299 | $248.17 | 1,500 keywords | Daily |
| Semrush Advanced | $549 | $455.67 | 5,000 keywords | Daily |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129 | about $108 | 750 keywords | Weekly |
| Ahrefs Standard | $249 | about $208 | 2,000 keywords | Weekly |
| Ahrefs Advanced | $449 | about $374 | 5,000 keywords | Weekly |
SE Ranking annual billing is a flat 20 percent off. Semrush annual works out near 15 percent. Ahrefs advertises up to 17 percent and will not switch you to annual self serve, you have to email support. Neither SE Ranking Enterprise nor Semrush Enterprise publishes a figure, so we quote none. Full tier by tier breakdowns live on SE Ranking pricing, Semrush pricing and Ahrefs pricing.
SE Ranking sells targets. Semrush sells keywords. They are not the same unit.
Almost every comparison you will read states that SE Ranking Core tracks 2,000 keywords against Semrush SEO's 500 and stops there. SE Ranking's own tooltip on its comparison table says something more specific:
Daily keywords are counted as targets: keyword x search engine. Example: 30 keywords in 2 engines = 60 targets.
So the honest translation depends entirely on how many search engines you track. Watch Google only, which is what most United States businesses do, and 2,000 targets really is 2,000 phrases: SE Ranking genuinely gives you four times the Semrush allowance for less money. Add Bing and you are down to 1,000 phrases. Add a third engine and you are at roughly 667, which is only slightly ahead of Semrush Pro+ at more than twice the price.
Semrush counts differently. Its allowance is phrases tracked daily in Position Tracking, and each campaign is tied to one search engine, device and location combination. Ahrefs counts phrases too, but checks them weekly rather than daily, which is a separate problem covered in weekly vs daily rank tracking.
SE Ranking Core, 2,000 targets
Google only
2,000 phrases
Four times Semrush SEO
Google and Bing
1,000 phrases
Twice Semrush SEO
Google, Bing, Yahoo
667 phrases
Close to Semrush Pro+
Plus a second location
Halves again
Locations multiply too
The list price is not the bill. Here is what sits outside it.
This is where SE Ranking has changed most, and where the roundups are furthest out of date. Three things that used to be plan features are now separately billed packs, and two of them are annual billing only, so you cannot try them for a month.
| Add on | Vendor | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency Pack (white label, client seats, scheduled reports) | SE Ranking | about $69/mo | Annual billing only. No longer part of any plan. |
| AI Search tracking (200 prompts) | SE Ranking | EUR 79/mo, EUR 63.20 annual | Quoted in euros because we could not confirm a dollar list price. |
| API access (3M credits) | SE Ranking | EUR 39/mo | Annual billing only. |
| Extra tracked keywords | SE Ranking | from EUR 20.80 (Core) | Priced per block, on top of the plan. |
| Extra user seats | Semrush | varies by plan | One user included; Semrush charges per additional seat. |
| Project Boost (daily positions) | Ahrefs | $20 to $200 per project/mo | The tier that turns on daily rankings is undocumented. |
| Report Builder | Ahrefs | $99/mo | Reporting is not in the base plan. |
The practical consequence for an agency: a white labeled SE Ranking Growth setup is roughly $348 a month once the Agency Pack is added, not $279. If client branded reporting is the reason you are shopping, read what the term actually covers on white label rank tracker before you compare prices, because the definition varies wildly between vendors.
None of these is bad software. They are aimed at different jobs.
SE Ranking
Best value per tracked keyword
- Four times the daily ranking allowance of Semrush SEO for $10 less, if you track one engine.
- Google top 100 rather than top 10, plus a share of voice score we do not compute.
- Local and map tracking for 1,500 keywords across three locations.
- Five trackable LLMs in the AI Search pack.
- Ten projects on Core, thirty on Growth.
Semrush
Best if you want one suite for everything
- Advertising, content, social and PR tooling that neither of the others matches.
- The larger United States keyword database, with more intent context per term.
- Daily Position Tracking on all four published plans.
- A free trial, and a genuinely deep site audit.
- Caps websites per plan: 5, 5, 15 and 40.
Ahrefs
Best backlink index in the category
- New link data refreshed every 15 to 30 minutes; full database update roughly every two months.
- Unlimited projects on domains where you have verified ownership.
- Rank Tracker reads weekly on all four plans, including the $1,499 Enterprise tier.
- No free trial, no discounts, and no refunds in general.
- The $29 Starter plan does not include Rank Tracker at all.
Two of those bullets are things we do not do. SE Ranking and Semrush both read the Google top 100; we store the organic top 10. SE Ranking computes a share of voice score and we do not. If either matters to your reporting, buy theirs.
The only unit that compares these fairly.
Divide the monthly list price by the number of keywords the plan checks every day. Ahrefs is excluded from the daily column because it checks weekly by default, so a like for like reading would flatter it by a factor of seven. Figures assume one search engine.
| Plan | Monthly | Daily keywords | Cost per keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serpstracker Agency | $249 | 5,000 | $0.050 |
| SE Ranking Growth | $279 | 5,000 | $0.056 |
| SE Ranking Core | $129 | 2,000 | $0.065 |
| Serpstracker Growth | $99 | 1,500 | $0.066 |
| Semrush Advanced | $549 | 5,000 | $0.110 |
| Serpstracker Starter | $39 | 250 | $0.156 |
| Semrush Pro+ | $299 | 1,500 | $0.199 |
| Semrush SEO | $139 | 500 | $0.278 |
| Semrush Starter | $199 | 500 | $0.398 |
Read this honestly and SE Ranking Growth sits within a fraction of a cent of our own Agency plan, and SE Ranking Core beats our Growth plan. What the table does not price is the rest of what you are buying: SE Ranking is a full suite with keyword research, audits and content tooling, and we are a tracker. If you need the suite, the suite is better value. The wider field is priced out on rank tracker cost comparison.
Pick by the job you do most days.
You track a lot of Google keywords and want a suite
SE Ranking Core, $129
Two thousand daily targets on one engine is the most ranking data per dollar of any suite here, and the audit and research tooling is competent. Budget for the Agency Pack if you need white labeling.
You want one tool for SEO, ads, content and social
Semrush SEO, $139
Nothing else in this comparison covers that much ground. Accept that 500 tracked keywords is modest and that the step up to 1,500 costs $299.
Backlinks are central to your work
Ahrefs Lite, $129
The link index is the reason to buy Ahrefs and it is still the best in the category. Do not buy it as a rank tracker: the default cadence is weekly on every plan.
You already own a suite and just need better positions
A dedicated tracker
This is the case we build for. Daily positions per location and device, the organic top 10 stored on every check, from $39 a month for 250 keywords.
We are not trying to replace a suite. We replace the tracker inside one.
If you are choosing between SE Ranking and Semrush because you need keyword research, site audits, content tooling and rank tracking in one subscription, buy one of them. We do not build most of that and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.
The case for a dedicated tracker is narrower. Plenty of teams keep a suite for research and find its ranking module either too small, as with Semrush SEO's 500 keywords, or too slow, as with Ahrefs at weekly. Adding 250 daily keywords for $39 is cheaper than stepping a suite up a tier for the same headroom, and it does not duplicate anything you already pay for. That trade is spelled out in do you need a rank tracker with Semrush or Ahrefs.
What we do not do, stated plainly: no top 100 depth, no share of voice score, no backlink index, no keyword research database, and no branded PDF reporting. You export CSV. If any of those is a requirement, one of the three tools above is the right purchase.
Serpstracker plans
Starter
250 keywords, daily
$39
Growth
1,500 keywords, daily
$99
Agency
5,000 keywords, daily
$249
Every plan checks daily, stores the organic top 10 on each check, and separates desktop from mobile. See pricing.
Questions people ask before they pick one.
Which is better, SE Ranking or Semrush?
SE Ranking is better value for rank tracking and Semrush is better as a marketing suite. SE Ranking Core checks 2,000 keyword targets daily for $129 where Semrush SEO checks 500 for $139. Semrush covers advertising, content, social and PR, which SE Ranking largely does not, and has the deeper United States keyword database.
Is SE Ranking cheaper than Semrush?
Yes, at every comparable tier. SE Ranking Core is $129 a month against $139 for Semrush SEO, and $103.20 against $117.33 on annual billing. The gap widens sharply per tracked keyword: $0.065 per daily keyword on SE Ranking Core against $0.278 on Semrush SEO, a little over four times the cost.
How many keywords can you track with SE Ranking?
Core tracks 2,000 daily targets and Growth tracks 5,000. A target is one keyword on one search engine, so 2,000 targets means 2,000 phrases if you only watch Google, or 1,000 if you also watch Bing. Extra keyword blocks start from about EUR 20.80 a month on Core.
Does SE Ranking update rankings daily?
Yes. Both Core and Growth check tracked keywords daily, and the allowance is literally described as daily keywords. This matches Semrush Position Tracking, which also runs daily on all four published plans, and differs from Ahrefs, which lists Rank Tracker as weekly on every plan.
Does SE Ranking include white label reports?
Not in the plan any more. White labeling moved into a separately billed Agency Pack at roughly $69 a month, and that pack is annual billing only. Most comparison articles still list white labeling as a Core or Growth feature, which was true of the older plan lineup and is not true now.
What is the difference between SE Ranking and Semrush?
Scope and unit price. SE Ranking is a focused SEO platform sold on generous tracking limits; Semrush is a broad marketing suite where rank tracking is one module among many. SE Ranking reads the Google top 100 and computes share of voice. Semrush caps the number of websites per plan at 5, 5, 15 and 40.
Is SE Ranking good for agencies?
It is, with a budget caveat. Growth gives you 30 projects, 3 seats and 5,000 daily targets for $279, which is strong for a multi client workload. Add the Agency Pack for white labeling and client seats and the real figure is nearer $348 a month. Compare that against a dedicated tracker at $249 for the same 5,000 keywords.
Does SE Ranking have a free trial?
Yes, 14 days with no credit card, but at reduced limits rather than full plan limits. The trial gives you 10 projects, 750 keywords a day and 20 AI prompts a day. Semrush also offers a free trial. Ahrefs offers no trial on paid plans and states in its own FAQ that it never runs discounts.
Why does SE Ranking pricing look different on other sites?
The plan lineup changed. Essential, Pro and Business are retired and appear nowhere on the current subscription page, which lists only Core, Growth and Enterprise. Most review articles still quote the old three. SE Ranking also prices by region, so a European visitor sees euro figures at a different ratio.
Which is better for keyword research, SE Ranking or Semrush?
Semrush, for United States work. Its keyword database has historically been the larger domestically and its reports carry more intent and context around each term. SE Ranking keyword research is perfectly capable and considerably cheaper, and for most small teams the difference will not change what you decide to target.
Should I buy SE Ranking, Semrush or Ahrefs?
Buy SE Ranking if tracking volume per dollar matters most, Semrush if you want one subscription covering SEO plus advertising and content, and Ahrefs if backlink analysis is central to your work. If you only need positions and already own a suite, none of the three is the cheapest answer.
Can I use SE Ranking or Semrush to track Bing rankings?
Both can, with a cost. SE Ranking counts each additional engine as a separate target, so tracking Google and Bing halves the number of distinct phrases your plan covers. Semrush campaigns are tied to one engine, device and location combination, so a second engine consumes a second slice of your keyword allowance.
The narrower buying questions are answered in is SE Ranking worth it for rank tracking and is Semrush worth it, and the head to head between the other two is on Ahrefs vs Semrush.
Price the rest of the field.
SE Ranking pricing
Every tier, target multiplier and add on pack.
Semrush pricing
Where two plans share one keyword ceiling.
Ahrefs vs Semrush
The other head to head, weekly against daily.
Serpstracker vs SE Ranking
How a dedicated tracker compares to the suite.
Semrush alternatives
What replaces the suite, module by module.
Moz vs Semrush vs Ahrefs
How Moz Pro prices against the other two suites.
Rank tracker cost comparison
Cost per tracked keyword across eleven tools.
Best rank tracker
The full roundup of the category.
Rank tracker for agencies
Multi client tracking and what reporting really costs.
Serpstracker pricing
Our three plans and what each keyword ceiling costs.
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Daily Google positions per location and device, the organic top 10 stored on every check, and same-day drop alerts. From $39 a month for 250 keywords.