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Nextrank vs Semrush

Semrush is one of the broadest marketing platforms in the category. If your job includes advertising research, PR monitoring, content briefs, local listings and social scheduling, it replaces several subscriptions with one. That breadth sets the price: the SEO plan is $139 a month, and MCP access for your AI agent starts on Starter at $199.

What Semrush does better

Far more data sets: backlinks, advertising research, traffic analytics, local listings
Daily position tracking on every plan, with SERP features and share of voice
A large keyword database with years of historical trend data
Agency reporting: white-label PDFs, client portals, scheduled deliveries
AI-visibility tracking included from Starter

What Nextrank does better

Agent access on every plan, including Free. Semrush's starts at $199 a month
Research, rank tracking, Search Console and audits in one project per client, and nothing else to learn
More people per plan: 2 on Starter, 5 on Pro, 15 on Agency
A hard stop on credits, and a free cost estimate your agent can ask for before any paid call

Side by side

The table, with the rows that go against us left in.

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Feature	Nextrank	Semrush
Entry price	Better: $0, then $29/mo (Starter)	$139/mo (SEO)
Use from an AI agent	Better: MCP on every plan, including Free, with a free estimate before any paid call	MCP from Starter ($199/mo); not on the SEO plan
Keyword research	Ideas, volume, CPC, difficulty, intent	Better: The same, plus historical trends and a larger index
Rank tracking	Weekly on Free and Starter, daily from Pro, priced in keyword slots	Better: Daily on every plan, plus SERP features and share of voice
Sites on the entry plan	1 on Starter, 15 on Pro	Better: 5 on SEO, 15 on Pro+
Backlink analysis	Not offered	Better: One of the largest link indexes available
Site audit	36 issue types with fix guidance, first 50 pages free per audit	Better: A larger set of checks
People included	Better: 2 on Starter, 5 on Pro, 15 on Agency	1, then $45/mo per extra user

Price

Three tracking workloads, priced both ways.

Our column is the plan whose keyword slots cover the tracking. Theirs is their cheapest plan that covers the same tracking, from their own published prices.

One site, 50 keywords, weekly

A founder watching their own product site: 50 slots, fits Starter.

Nextrank: $29/mo
Semrush(SEO): $139/mo

Five clients, 100 keywords each, weekly

A freelancer with five client sites: 500 slots, fits Pro. Semrush's SEO plan covers exactly 5 sites and 500 keywords, but agent access needs Starter at $199.

Nextrank: $59/mo
Semrush(SEO): $139/mo

A dozen clients, 150 keywords each, weekly

A small agency: 1,800 slots, fits Agency. Semrush's Pro+ stops at 15 sites and 1,500 keywords, so this needs Advanced.

Nextrank: $129/mo
Semrush(Advanced): $549/mo

Semrush prices and limits checked on 2 October 2026 from semrush.com/prices. They change, so check theirs before you decide anything on the strength of ours.

Choose Semrush when

You need backlinks, advertising research, content briefs or white-label client portals. We don't have those.

Choose Nextrank when

You want keyword research, rank tracking, Search Console and audits for each client, run by your agent, without buying a suite to get agent access.

Work out what your workload costs here

Still not sure? Run both for a week.

The free plan needs no card, so you can put the same twenty keywords into Nextrank and Semrush and compare the numbers rather than the marketing.

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