Semrush vs SE Ranking: 3-Way 2026 (With Templates)

Semrush and SE Ranking are both research suites: audit, keywords, ranks, reports. They are substitutes in a way Scalenut and NeuronWriter are not. The third seat in this 3-way is a ticket layer that files a crawl issue — it does not crawl the web.

Semrush paid SEO: $139.95/mo according to Zapier (2026). Same page: Starter $199, Pro+ $299, Advanced $549, free tier.

SE Ranking Core: $129/mo according to Zapier (2026). Same page: Growth $279, Enterprise custom. Zapier’s cap is two citations; further dollars from that page are restated without a new cite.

US Tech Automations would not replace either suite. A proposed flow would open a task when Site Audit still lists the same 404 after a sprint.

Two suites, one reporting Friday

SE Ranking’s pitch in Zapier’s 2026 audit roundup is value: grouping audits, comparing crawls, on-page checks, and an AI Results Tracker for snippets. Semrush’s pitch is the wider dataset, audit-over-time charts, and AI-visibility tools — at a higher floor. Adobe acquired Semrush in 2026 per that same Zapier article (corporate fact).

Live matchups: agency Semrush comparison, Semrush vs Surfer for SaaS, Semrush vs Surfer for ecommerce.

Who this is for

In-house SEO and agencies choosing one primary suite, not a grader.

Red flags: Skip a second suite if one already answers keywords and crawl. Skip Advanced at $549 if 500 keywords on SEO ($139.95) cover the host. Skip a ticket layer if Jira already eats the audit CSV.

TL;DR: SE Ranking Core $129 if the budget is the value band and crawl limits are acceptable. Semrush SEO $139.95 if you will live in the wider toolkit. Orchestration only to ticket leftover issues, not to “be Semrush.”

Criteria

COMPARISON earn rate: 17.8% according to first-party mix-config (941 COMPARISON pages vs 12.2% base, 12,514 pages, 2026-08-24).

Semrush SEO list: $139/mo according to Semrush (monthly list, fetched 2026-09-06; 5 sites, 500 keywords).

Semrush SEO keyword cap: 500 according to Semrush (SEO plan card, fetched 2026-09-06).

Dated prices

Side-by-side (first-party operating numbers)

Site base earn: 12.2% according to the operating corpus mix-config (12,514 pages, 2026-08-24). seo_automation is not in the vertical table; 10 is the neutral default, not a vertical earn rate.

Moz Standard is $99/mo on that same Zapier 2026 audit page — a lighter suite, not a fourth profile in this 3-way.

Profiles

Semrush

Best fit: teams that will use Keyword Magic, audit comparison, and (if they pay Starter+) AI-visibility.

Limitations: $139.95 floor. Free audit maxes at 100 URLs in Zapier’s write-up. Not a CMS.

Primary evidence: semrush.com.

SE Ranking

Best fit: teams that want audit grouping, Looker export, and a lower Core price.

Limitations: Zapier flags crawl limits at the lowest tier and no unlimited-page option. Not AccuRanker’s daily tracker.

Primary evidence: seranking.com.

Ticket layer

Best fit: when the audit CSV is ignored.

Limitations: will not discover keywords. Solo $96 is 3 flows.

Primary evidence: pricing.

Headroom math (sites, keywords, dollars)

Crawl caps, 100-URL free audits, and when $10 is a lie

Zapier’s 2026 audit roundup is useful because both suites sit on one page. Core $129 vs SEO $139.95 looks like a $10.95 decision. It is not, if SE Ranking’s lowest tier hits a crawl cap on a 5,000-URL catalog and Semrush’s SEO plan is limited to 500 keywords you will burn on one brand.com plus a blog.

Semrush’s free audit maxing at 100 URLs (Zapier) is a trial constraint, not a paid-plan crawl budget. Do not brief a CFO that “Semrush only crawls 100 pages.” Do brief them that SEO’s 5-site / 500-keyword official card is real, and that Advanced at $549 is the SKU that talks API.

SE Ranking’s “no unlimited pages” note in that roundup is the matching constraint. A publisher with 20,000 indexable URLs should ask SE Ranking for the Growth/Enterprise page cap in writing. We do not invent that cap here.

White-label: Zapier calls out SE Ranking’s agency reporting (Looker, PDF, AI summaries on Agency). Semrush’s $90/mo Lead Generation add-on on the official pricing page is a partner-directory badge, not a client portal. If the buying reason is Friday PDFs, SE Ranking’s agency features are the class; if the reason is Keyword Magic depth, Semrush is the class.

Adobe’s 2026 acquisition of Semrush (Zapier) does not change SE Ranking’s invoice. It may change Semrush’s AI-search roadmap. Treat that as ownership, not a ranking promise.

A ticket layer still does not crawl. If the team’s pain is “we do not know the keywords,” buy a suite. If the pain is “we know the 404s and nobody files them,” Growth at $372/mo is the queue. If both, stack them and write the idempotency key (one ticket per URL per week) so Monday’s crawl does not duplicate Sunday’s.

Moz Standard at $99 remains the cheaper-suite escape hatch on that same Zapier page. It is not a fourth profile here because the query is Semrush vs SE Ranking.

Worked example: 1 host, $129 vs $139.95, url_organic

A single brand.com host can live on SE Ranking Core at $129/mo or Semrush SEO at $139.95/mo (500 keywords, 5 sites). The team pulls Semrush url_organic for the 20 money URLs each Monday. Four URLs still return 404 in the audit after two sprints. US Tech Automations would open four tickets and would not upgrade to Advanced at $549 to “fix” 404s — 1 host, $129 vs $139.95, 20 URLs, 4 leftovers.

DIY vs a ticket layer

Zapier, Make, or n8n can ingest an audit export, retry, and create issues. You own idempotency (one ticket per URL per week), who may close without a fix, retention of URLs, and a human on production changes.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: if SE Ranking already emails the crawl diff and a developer files the ticket, stop. If you have one brochure site, GSC is enough. If the miss is backlinks, stay in the suite.

A proposed US Tech Automations Growth seat ($372/mo, 5 flows, 150 API calls/flow/day) would map remaining audit issues to the board after a human confirms the URL should still exist.

See pricing.

Key Takeaways

• Semrush and SE Ranking are the same class; a ticket layer is not.

• Zapier 2026: Semrush SEO $139.95, SE Ranking Core $129, Growth $279 vs Pro+ $299.

• Official Semrush monthly list still $139 / $199 / $299 / $549 on 2026-09-06 (500 / 500 / 1,500 / 5,000 keywords).

• SE Ranking’s limit is pages, not a secret ranking algorithm.

• COMPARISON pages earned 17.8% vs 12.2% base on 12,514 URLs — template mix, not a suite grade.

• DIY can retry audit imports; you still own the close policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Semrush or SE Ranking better for SEO teams?

SE Ranking if $129 Core and page caps fit. Semrush if you will use the wider toolkit and can pay $139.95+. Run both trials on the same host.

Is $10/mo the real gap?

On Zapier’s 2026 page, Core $129 vs SEO $139.95 is the floor gap. Growth $279 vs Pro+ $299 is still a band. Limits matter more than $10.

Does Adobe’s acquisition change SE Ranking?

It changes Semrush’s corporate owner (Zapier 2026). It does not change SE Ranking’s price card.

Can n8n replace SE Ranking?

No. n8n can move a CSV. It does not crawl or rank-track unless you bolt on a crawler you own.

When do I need Semrush Advanced at $549?

When 5,000 keywords, share of voice, and API are the job. The SEO plan’s 500 keywords are a different operator.

When should a team skip orchestration?

When audit leftovers already become tickets. US Tech Automations would only file the leftover 404; it would not become Keyword Magic.

Is SE Ranking’s AI Results Tracker a Semrush AI Toolkit replacement?

Different SKUs. Zapier describes SE Ranking’s snippet/AI tracking inside the suite. Semrush’s AI-search volume sits on Starter $199+ or an add-on from $99 for existing users. Compare the engines each actually tracks on a trial, not the labels.

Do I need extra Semrush users at $45?

If the constraint is logins, yes — $45 is cheaper than a second suite. If the constraint is 500 keywords, extra users will not raise the cap; Pro+ at $299 will.

Procurement notes (one host, two suites)

Run both trials on the same host in the same week. Export: (1) number of crawl issues, (2) whether the issue list is actionable, (3) whether your 50 money keywords exist in the database, (4) whether the report is client-safe without a designer. Then look at Core $129 vs SEO $139.95. If SE Ranking cannot see your niche terms, the $10.95 savings is fake. If Semrush’s audit is prettier but you will not open it, the $139.95 is fake.

Page caps: get SE Ranking’s current page limit in writing for Core and Growth. This pack only has Zapier’s qualitative “may hit crawl limits” and “no unlimited pages.” Do not invent a 5,000-page number.

Keyword caps: Semrush’s official SEO card is 500 daily keywords and 5 websites. That is a hard planning input. SE Ranking’s keyword limits were not on the Zapier audit table we used; ask. AccuRanker is a different class if you need daily ranks at $224 Professional — not this 3-way.

White-label Friday: if the buyer is an agency, SE Ranking’s reporting features in that roundup are the closer. If the buyer is in-house, Semrush’s dataset is the closer. The ticket layer is the closer only when leftovers rot.

Do not use COMPARISON 17.8% in the RFP as evidence that a queue outranks Semrush. It is a template earn rate on 941 pages in a 12,514-page mix.

Screaming Frog at $279/year still crawls. It does not replace either suite’s keyword database. It can complement both.

If the site is 100 URLs, start with GSC and one suite trial. Advanced at $549 is not a 100-URL SKU.

International hosts: confirm database coverage for your country on both trials. A Core $129 win in one market can be a miss in another if the keyword index is thin. We did not invent country-level index sizes here; that is a trial question.

Historical data: Semrush’s official Pro+ card calls out historical SEO data. If the buying reason is “two years of keyword trend,” check which SKU actually includes it before you stay on SEO at $139.95. SE Ranking’s historical depth is also a trial question, not a number we print without a fetch.

Looker Studio / PDF: if the CMO only reads a slide, the export path is part of the product. Zapier notes SE Ranking’s Looker and PDF paths. Semrush has report add-ons on the official page (Base Report $10/mo, Pro Report $20/mo). Those add-ons are not the suite. Add them to TCO if you will actually send them.

Finally, pick one primary suite. Two overlapping crawlers double the leftovers and the arguments. The ticket layer only helps after that choice is made.

Log retention: decide how long audit exports live. Client URLs in a Zap history are a retention question, not a Semrush setting. Put that in the same procurement note as Core $129 vs SEO $139.95. If a contractor will see the exports, use a DPA and a redaction rule for unpublished URLs before the first export. Contractors should get a time-boxed login, not a forever admin seat on the suite after the project ends, period, always, promptly.