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The Stack / Writing & SEO
Semrush
05 OutcomesYes for operations that live or die by search visibility — Semrush remains the measurement standard, and the April 2026 Adobe acquisition folded AI-visibility tracking into every paid plan. The entry SEO plan is $139.95; the Semrush One bundles start at $199. It's priced for businesses, not hobbyists; the data depth is why.
The job in the stack
The visibility-measurement seat: rank tracking, competitive intelligence, and AI-answer visibility for channels that must prove movement.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 project, 10 reports/day, basic AI visibility |
| SEO | $139.95/mo | $117.33/mo annual; 5 projects, 500 tracked keywords; now includes AI visibility reports, AI sentiment, and custom prompt monitoring. Replaces the old Pro tier. |
| Starter (Semrush One) | $199/mo | $165.17/mo annual; 5 projects, 500 keywords, 50 AI prompts tracked daily |
| Pro+ | $299/mo | $248.17/mo annual; 15 projects, 1,500 keywords, 100 prompts daily |
| Advanced | $549/mo | $455.67/mo annual; 40 projects, 5,000 keywords, 200 prompts daily |
Pricing verified 2026-10-07. Plans change — the source of truth is Semrush's own pricing page.
Models & versions
- SEO + AI Search ladder Post-Adobe plan structure: SEO, then the Semrush One bundles (Starter, Pro+, Advanced). The old Pro / Guru / Business ladder is retired.
The honest read
What works
- + The deepest keyword/competitor dataset in mainstream reach
- + AI Visibility tracking answers the new question: do assistants cite you?
- + Position tracking that stands up in client reporting
What breaks
- − Priced for agencies and revenue teams — steep solo
- − Adobe acquisition (Apr 2026) means roadmap and pricing churn risk
- − Feature sprawl demands onboarding discipline
Use it for
- →Agencies proving ranking movement to clients
- →Brands tracking AI-answer citations alongside SERPs
- →Competitive intelligence at content-strategy scale
Skip it if
- ×You publish occasionally — Frase-tier tooling covers you
- ×You need on-page optimization, not measurement — that's Surfer
Questions operators ask
?Semrush or Surfer?
Different layers: Surfer optimizes pages before publishing (Creation-adjacent); Semrush measures what happened after (Outcomes). Serious content operations run one of each, not two of either.
What changed
- CORRECTION: the Pro / Guru / Business ladder is gone. Semrush's official pricing page now sells SEO ($139.95 monthly, $117.33 annual), then Starter $199, Pro+ $299, and Advanced $549 (annual $165.17 / $248.17 / $455.67), plus a Free plan. Even the entry SEO plan now includes AI visibility reports. Third-party coverage dates the change to early August at the latest, so our Aug 26 and Sept 19 "no change" entries were wrong. Pricing table, verdict, guide, and ranking rewritten to match.
- Freshness sweep: no changes. Pro $139.95, Guru $249.95, Business $499.95 monthly and Semrush One $199 all hold; AI Visibility still sells as a $99/mo per-domain add-on covering ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode/Overviews. Adobe (which closed the acquisition in April) now markets the suite around SEO plus generative and agentic search optimization; no repricing for existing plans.
- Freshness sweep: no changes. Pro $139.95, Guru $249.95, Business $499.95, Semrush One $199 all hold. Full add-on menu confirmed: Local SEO $30, Social Media $20, Content $60, Advertising $99, AI Visibility $99, Traffic & Market Trends $289 (all /mo).
- Freshness sweep: no changes. Pro $139.95, Guru $249.95, Business $499.95, Semrush One $199 all hold. AI Visibility also sells as a standalone add-on at $99/mo per domain for teams not ready for the One bundle.
- Re-confirmed on release from staging: core pricing unchanged. Semrush One also ships Pro+ ($299) and Advanced ($549) tiers above the base $199 bundle for teams needing deeper AI-visibility coverage.
- Added to the stack (visibility-measurement seat, Outcomes layer). Verified: Pro $139.95, Guru $249.95, Business $499.95; Adobe acquired Semrush Apr 28, 2026; Semrush One $199/mo adds AI visibility.
Give Semrush a job
The visibility-measurement seat: rank tracking, competitive intelligence, and AI-answer visibility for channels that must prove movement.
Try Semrush →Alternatives with different jobs
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Frase
02 DecisionsThe SEO-content seat: turning a target keyword into a data-backed brief, then scoring your draft against what actually ranks.
vidIQ
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