Semrush Pricing in 2026: Plans, Cost & Free Trial

The cheapest paid Semrush plan is Pro at $139.95/month, or approximately $117/month on annual billing. The free plan with 10 daily queries is available at no cost. For teams where Pro's limits are too restrictive but the budget doesn't reach Guru, a common approach is starting on Pro for 1 to 2 months to validate the workflow, then upgrading to Guru once Semrush becomes a core tool in the research process. Cheaper alternatives in the SEO space include Moz Pro starting at $99/month and Ahrefs Lite at $129/month, though both have different strengths and data coverage.

Pro gives you 5 projects and 500 tracked keywords. Guru gives you 15 projects and 1,500 keywords. Beyond the higher limits, Guru adds three capabilities Pro lacks entirely: 18 months of historical data for keyword and traffic trend analysis, the full Content Marketing Toolkit (Topic Research, SEO Writing Assistant, Content Audit), and multi-device and multi-location rank tracking. For agencies managing multiple clients or in-house teams tracking content performance over time, the jump from Pro to Guru is usually necessary rather than optional — Pro's 5-project limit is often insufficient for multi-client work, and the Content Marketing Toolkit makes the difference for teams producing regular SEO content.

Yes. Annual billing on any Semrush paid plan saves approximately 17% compared to monthly pricing. Pro on annual billing runs roughly $117/month; Guru drops to roughly $208/month; Business to roughly $416/month. For teams that have validated Semrush fits their workflow and expect consistent use over the next 12 months, annual billing makes sense. The savings are equivalent to getting about 2 free months per year. Annual plans typically bill upfront for the full year.

For a growing SEO agency with 5 or more active client accounts, Guru at $250/month is almost always justified. Consider the economics: if you're billing clients an average of $1,000/month per SEO retainer, Guru represents 5% of a 5-client agency's revenue while providing the keyword research, competitive analysis, rank tracking, and client reporting infrastructure those retainers require. The alternative — manual research using free tools — costs more in analyst time than the subscription. The white-label reporting feature in Guru alone saves 3 to 5 hours per client per month in report preparation. If your agency is billing $5,000+ in monthly SEO retainers, Semrush Guru is a standard operating cost, not a discretionary expense.

Yes. Semrush's free plan is always available with 10 daily queries across core tools — no credit card needed. Semrush also periodically offers free trials of Pro or Guru access for 7 to 14 days. Trial availability changes, so check semrush.com directly for current promotions. The free plan is useful for exploring the interface and running limited competitive research. For a meaningful evaluation of whether Semrush fits your professional workflow, a paid trial or one month of Pro is more informative — the free plan's query limits run out too fast during real research sessions.

No. The SEO Writing Assistant is part of the Content Marketing Toolkit, which is included in Guru and Business plans only — it's not available on Pro. The Writing Assistant provides real-time optimization recommendations as you write, with integrations for Google Docs and WordPress. For content teams producing SEO articles who want in-editor optimization guidance alongside Semrush's keyword research, Guru is the minimum required plan. If you're on Pro and want content optimization capabilities, you'd need a separate tool like Surfer SEO rather than relying on Semrush's Writing Assistant.

Pro tracks up to 500 keywords across all your projects combined. Guru tracks up to 1,500 keywords; Business tracks up to 5,000. For individual consultants or small agencies tracking 2 to 3 client domains with targeted keyword sets, 500 is typically sufficient. For agencies tracking 10+ client domains with 50+ keywords per client, Pro's limit is restrictive — you'd hit 500 quickly and need to prioritize which keywords to track, which creates reporting gaps. Most growing agencies find Guru's 1,500-keyword limit provides enough headroom for multi-client rank tracking without constant management of what's in and out of the tracker.

Yes. The Semrush API is included in the Business plan and allows programmatic access to keyword data, domain analytics, backlink data, and audit results. This is useful for teams that want to integrate Semrush data into custom dashboards, internal reporting tools, or automated marketing workflows. Pro and Guru users can purchase limited API access as an add-on, though the full API is a Business plan feature. API call costs are separate from the base subscription on plans where API access is purchased as an add-on.

It depends on how central organic search is to your business. For a small business where SEO drives 20%+ of leads or revenue, Semrush Pro at $140/month is justifiable — the keyword research and competitive intelligence can identify and validate organic opportunities that generate far more than the subscription cost. For solo operators and early-stage businesses where search traffic is minimal, the investment is harder to justify until organic becomes a real channel. The free plan with 10 daily queries is a reasonable starting point for small businesses doing occasional competitive research. When you find yourself hitting the free plan's query limits regularly, that's the signal to consider Pro.