A Semrush alternative for people who need an answer a few times a month
Semrush is a deep platform with its own keyword, backlink and traffic index, and if you are in it every day the $139 a month pays for itself. Semrush will beat it on database depth and on daily tracking.
Prices checked on 1 Nov 2026 from each company's own pages
In Semrush
Step 1 of 8A site audit against two rivals, as their pages describe it
- Log in to the platform
- 2Create a project
- 3Set up the site audit
- 4Run the crawl
- 5Read the issues
- 6Add the competitors
- 7Set up position tracking
- 8Export the report
In your AI, with Loadout
1 requestSEO Audit, about 400 credits
- SEO Auditworking
- Scan website
- Check keywords
- Check competitor SEO
- Research keywords
Starting price
Semrush
$139 a month for the SEO plan, or $117.33 a month billed annually. The SEO plan covers 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily, with position tracking, site audit and AI search tracking. MCP access is listed on the Starter plan at $199 a month, or $165.17 billed annually. Extra users start at $45 a month and the white labelled Pro Report is $20 a month. There is a free plan with 1 demo project and 10 reports a day.
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Best for
Semrush
In house SEOs and agencies who work in one tool every day and need deep keyword, competitor and historical data on tap.
Loadout
Agencies, freelancers and consultants who sell SEO among other services and want the audit, the keyword map and the page briefs without a daily platform habit.
Price model
Semrush
$139 a month for the SEO plan, with users and reporting as paid add ons
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
What you get
Semrush
5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily, keyword research, competitor analysis, position tracking, site audit and AI search tracking
Loadout
62 powers grouped into playbooks. SEO is one of them, next to prospecting, ads, local, reputation, web design and AI automation.
Where it runs
Semrush
A web platform, with MCP access listed on the Starter plan at $199 a month
Loadout
Inside ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Muse, Claude Code or Codex, as a connector
The data behind it
Semrush
Semrush's own keyword, backlink and traffic index, with historical data on higher plans
Loadout
Live reads from the providers the big SEO, maps and contact tools use, with every report naming its sources and how each number was measured
Daily tracking
Semrush
500 keywords tracked daily on the SEO plan, 1,500 on Pro+
Loadout
No daily rank tracking. You run the audit and rerun it to compare.
Backlinks
Semrush
Backlink analysis built on their own crawler
Loadout
Backlink reads for any site, priced per call: counts, summaries, new and lost links, history and the pages that earn them
White label reporting
Semrush
The Pro Report add on at $20 a month adds branding and white labelling
Loadout
Reports go out under your brand at no extra cost, as published pages that can sit on your own domain on the paid plan
Free option
Semrush
A free plan with 1 demo project and 10 reports a day
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Choosing
Semrush or Loadout.
Stay with Semrush if
- You live in the tool. 500 keywords tracked daily, historical data and the keyword database are the reason people pay $139 a month, and none of that is here.
- Backlinks are most of your work. Semrush has its own index and tools built around it, where Loadout reads backlinks one question at a time.
- You want to try a lot before you pay. Semrush has a free plan with 1 demo project and 10 reports a day.
Look at Loadout if
- You use it a few times a month.
- You want MCP without the step up.
- SEO is part of what you sell. The same credits cover prospecting at about 202 for 50 businesses with 20 verified emails, ad research at about 25, and proposals at no credit cost.
Other options
Other Semrush alternatives people look at.
Starting prices from each company's own page, checked on 1 Nov 2026.
The strongest backlink index of the group, with API and MCP access on every paid plan.
$20 a month on Lite, or $16 a month billed yearly
Local listings, review monitoring and a local grid, for local work.
$41 a month for one location on the Track plan
Local SEO audits and rank tracking priced per location.
In Loadout
The powers that do this work.
Each one is a proven method your AI follows step by step, with the live data each step needs, and a price shown before it runs.
Opening 12 November
Join the waitlist.
Loadout opens to everyone on 12 November. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment it does.
Questions
Before you run it.
What does Semrush cost right now+
Read from their pricing page on 1 Nov 2026. The SEO plan is $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed annually. Starter, which is where MCP access is listed, is $199 a month or $165.17 annually. Pro+ is $299 a month or $248.17 annually, and Advanced is custom. There is a free plan with 1 demo project and 10 reports a day.
Does Loadout have a keyword database+
It reads live keyword volumes through its own tools and holds no index you can browse. The keyword map power groups 100 keyword ideas and 10 results pages into a page plan for about 110 credits, and the SEO audit power maps keywords to pages for about 400.
Can I use Semrush inside ChatGPT or Claude already+
Yes. Their pricing page lists MCP access on the Starter plan at $199 a month, or $165.17 a month billed annually. It is not listed on the $139 SEO plan.
+
It depends on the depth. A full SEO audit against three rivals is about 400 credits, so seven of those would fill the month. A keyword map is about 110, a page brief about 25 and a website teardown 8, and every job shows its cost before it runs.