Semrush is the broadest marketing platform in SEO — keyword research, competitor analysis, site audits, PPC, content and social in one account — and since April 28, 2026 it has been a wholly owned Adobe subsidiary following a $1.9 billion all-cash acquisition. Core plans run $139.95 for Pro, $249.95 for Guru and $499.95 for Business. The number that catches teams out is the add-on stack: AI Visibility is $99 a month per domain and another $99 per user who needs access, so a three-person team tracking one brand pays $297 for that feature alone.
Reviewed by EdGrows·Updated Aug 18, 2026Affiliate link — we may earn a commission
This analysis is based on documentation, public user reports, and vendor materials — not yet on our own hands-on testing. How we rate
On April 28, 2026, Adobe completed its $1.9 billion all-cash acquisition of Semrush at $12 per share — announced the previous November at a 77% premium, and closed ahead of the stated H1 target.
Semrush was delisted. It now operates as a wholly owned Adobe subsidiary inside Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration business, with Bill Wagner staying on as CEO. The pricing page carries an "An Adobe Company" lockup.
Adobe's reasoning was explicit and not really about keyword research. It was about Generative Engine Optimization — getting brands to appear in answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Adobe cited traffic from generative AI sources to US retail sites rising 1,200% year over year in October 2025. Semrush brought 118,000 paying customers, fifteen years of search data and enterprise relationships including Amazon, JPMorganChase and TikTok.
What it means for you, practically: contractual terms can't change before renewal, so anyone mid-contract is fine. The precedent worth reading is Marketo, which Adobe bought for $4.75 billion in 2018 and which subsequently drifted upmarket — more expensive, less accessible to smaller buyers. That's a pattern, not a prophecy. But if you're signing annual, get renewal terms in writing.
Core plans are legible enough:
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (~17% off) |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | $139.95 | ~$117 |
| Guru | $249.95 | ~$208 |
| Business | $499.95 | ~$417 |
The add-on menu is where budgets break:
| Add-on | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Social Media | ~$20 |
| Local SEO | ~$30 |
| Content Toolkit | ~$60 |
| Advertising Toolkit | ~$99 |
| AI Visibility | $99 per domain |
| Traffic & Market Trends | ~$289 |
| Additional user seats | From $45 |
And one detail that isn't on the pricing page: AI Visibility charges $99 per additional user who needs access, on top of their standard seat fee. A three-person team tracking one brand pays $297 a month for that feature, not $99.
Extra prompts run $60 for 50 more; each additional domain is another $99. For an agency tracking a dozen client brands, that arithmetic gets ugly quickly — which is precisely where flat-rate specialist tools compete hardest.
Semrush One pairs the classic SEO toolkit with AI Visibility: Starter $199, Pro+ $299, Advanced $549, with tracked prompts scaling roughly 50 to 200.
Run the sum on Starter: Pro at $139.95 plus AI Visibility at $99 bought separately is about $239. The bundle is $199 with a unified dashboard. Roughly $40 saved if you were buying both anyway.
If AI visibility is the only thing you want, the standalone $99 add-on is the honest comparison — and there the dedicated tools are worth pricing, since several charge flat rates covering multiple models and domains.
Beyond 200 prompts, or for coverage of Claude, Copilot and DeepSeek, Semrush routes you to custom-priced Enterprise AIO.
Around May 2026, shortly after the Adobe deal closed, Semrush repositioned its main plan family from the decade-old Pro/Guru/Business ladder toward "SEO + AI Search", with AI-visibility features bundled into paid tiers.
Two things follow. First, comparison articles written before mid-2026 describe a plan structure that has shifted underneath them. Second, the direction is clear enough: Semrush is betting that classic SEO tooling alone doesn't justify $140 a month in a market where AI answers intercept a large slice of search demand.
That's probably correct, and it's the same bet Ahrefs made with Brand Radar and Surfer made with AI Search Guidelines.
Breadth. Fifty-plus tools in one account: keyword research, competitor analysis, site audit, backlink analysis, rank tracking, content marketing workflows, social scheduling, PPC research, market intelligence.
Most users touch a handful. That's the standard criticism and it's fair on its own terms — but the counter-argument holds for the right buyer. One login, one invoice, one vendor beats four subscriptions and four procurement conversations when your work genuinely spans channels.
If it doesn't span channels, you're paying for idle surface area.
Pure SEO work. Ahrefs at $129 is faster and deeper on the parts you'd actually use.
Agencies tracking many brands in AI search. Per-domain and per-user AI Visibility pricing scales against you.
Small budgets. Pro at $139.95 before add-ons is a serious monthly commitment for a solo operator.
Buyers who need pricing certainty past renewal. New ownership plus a mid-2026 restructure is a reasonable moment to ask for terms in writing.
Against Ahrefs: Ahrefs has the superior backlink index and a cleaner interface, starting at $129 for Lite — but charges $40 to $80 per extra seat and meters report credits. Semrush is broader and, for agencies scaling across clients, often more practical since Ahrefs API costs become prohibitive at volume. Links, Ahrefs; multi-channel marketing, Semrush.
Against Surfer SEO: Surfer does on-page content optimisation properly, where Semrush's content tools are adequate rather than specialist. Many teams run Semrush for research and Surfer for the writing layer.
Against Frase: Frase covers SERP research and briefs from around $15, a fraction of Semrush's price. It doesn't attempt rank tracking, site audits or PPC. For a solo content operator it may cover the actual need.
Against MarketMuse: MarketMuse works at content strategy and topic modelling rather than the research-and-audit layer, and has moved to quote-only pricing. Different job, occasionally complementary.
Against SE Ranking: worth naming as the budget all-in-one — substantially cheaper, covers most of what agencies use daily, and includes AI search tracking without a separate add-on. For price-sensitive agencies it's the comparison Semrush least wants you to run.
| Item | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Pro | $139.95 |
| Guru | $249.95 |
| Business | $499.95 |
| Semrush One Starter | $199 |
| Semrush One Pro+ | $299 |
| Semrush One Advanced | $549 |
| AI Visibility add-on | $99/domain, +$99/user, +$60 per 50 prompts |
| Trends add-on | ~$289 |
| Extra seats | From $45 |
| Enterprise AIO | Custom |
Checked August 2026. Adobe completed its ~$1.9 billion acquisition on April 28, 2026, and Semrush restructured its plan family around May 2026 toward an "SEO + AI Search" positioning — so pre-mid-2026 comparisons describe a different lineup. Annual billing saves roughly 17%. Add-ons price per domain and per user; confirm on semrush.com before budgeting, and ask about renewal terms given the ownership change.
Add up the add-ons before comparing anything. Pro plus AI Visibility for three users is $436 a month, not $139.95.
Ask for renewal terms in writing. New enterprise owner, recent restructure, and a Marketo precedent that went upmarket. This costs nothing to request.
Only buy Semrush if you use more than SEO. The breadth is the product. Using six of fifty tools means a specialist stack is cheaper and better.
Price SE Ranking as the control. If it covers your daily workflow at half the price, that's worth knowing before renewal.
Semrush remains the broadest marketing platform in this category, and for agencies and in-house teams whose work genuinely spans SEO, paid search, content and social, the consolidation argument is real — one account, one invoice, one vendor relationship instead of four. The dataset behind it is serious: fifteen years of search data, 118,000 paying customers, and AI-visibility research built on 126 million analysed prompts.
The 2026 changes deserve attention. Adobe closed its $1.9 billion acquisition on April 28, making Semrush a wholly owned subsidiary, and the Marketo precedent — more expensive and less SMB-friendly over time — is the comparison the market keeps reaching for. The plan family was restructured around May 2026, invalidating most published comparisons. And the add-on stack prices per domain and per user, so AI Visibility for a small team costs three times what the pricing page suggests.
The standing criticism also still applies: fifty-plus tools where most users need six. That's excellent value for a multi-channel team and poor value for a pure SEO operator, and which one you are decides this cleanly.
For agencies and multi-channel marketing teams, recommend — with add-ons costed properly and renewal terms confirmed. For SEO-only work, Ahrefs plus a content tool usually costs less and does the job better.
Note: Semrush does not currently have an affiliate program with AIVario. We earn no commission, and this rating carries no commercial incentive.
Best for: Agencies running multi-channel campaigns, in-house teams needing SEO plus PPC plus content in one account, competitive and market research, brands tracking AI search visibility on a single domain Not ideal for: Pure SEO specialists, agencies tracking many brands in AI search, small budgets, buyers needing pricing certainty beyond their current term Bottom line: The broadest platform in the category, now an Adobe company — worth it if you use more than the SEO tools, and worth pricing the add-ons before you sign.
Yes, and the deal is closed. Adobe announced the acquisition on November 19, 2025 at $12 per share — roughly $1.9 billion, a 77% premium — and completed it on April 28, 2026, ahead of the announced H1 target. Semrush was delisted and now operates as a wholly owned Adobe subsidiary inside Adobe's Customer Experience Orchestration business, with Bill Wagner remaining CEO. The pricing page logo now reads 'Semrush — An Adobe Company'.
It's worth factoring in rather than panicking about. Adobe can't alter contractual terms before renewal, so anyone mid-contract is unaffected. The precedent people cite is Marketo, which Adobe acquired for $4.75 billion in 2018 and which subsequently became more expensive and harder for SMBs to access. Nothing guarantees that pattern repeats, but if you're signing an annual contract it's reasonable to get renewal terms in writing.
Pro at $139.95 a month, Guru at $249.95 and Business at $499.95, with annual billing saving around 17%. Semrush also restructured its main plan family around May 2026 from the long-running Pro/Guru/Business ladder toward an 'SEO + AI Search' positioning, with AI-visibility features bundled into tiers. Semrush One bundles start at $199 and run to $549. Additional user seats cost from $45 a month each.
They stack quickly. Local SEO around $30 a month, Social Media $20, Content Toolkit $60, Advertising Toolkit $99, AI Visibility $99 per domain, and Traffic & Market Trends $289. The AI Visibility Toolkit has a particular wrinkle: adding a team member who needs access costs another $99 per user on top of their standard seat fee, so a three-person team tracking one brand pays $297 for that feature rather than the $99 the pricing page implies.
A bundle pairing the classic SEO toolkit with the AI Visibility Toolkit, starting at $199 a month for Starter with roughly 50 tracked prompts, $299 for Pro+ and $549 for Advanced. Starter is essentially Pro at $139.95 plus AI Visibility at $99 sold together for about $40 less, with a unified dashboard. If you were buying both anyway it's better value; if AI visibility is your only interest, the standalone $99 add-on is the cleaner comparison.
It's credible and it's priced per domain, which shapes who it suits. The $99 base covers one domain with around 25 tracked prompts, with 50 more prompts at $60 and each extra domain another $99. Semrush's underlying dataset is substantial — its 2026 AI visibility research analysed 126 million AI search prompts. For agencies tracking many client brands the per-domain model gets expensive fast, and dedicated flat-rate competitors compete hardest exactly there.
Semrush is broader; Ahrefs has better backlink data. That summary has held for years. Semrush covers PPC, social, content marketing and market research alongside SEO, which suits teams doing multi-channel work in one account. Ahrefs is faster and deeper on links specifically. One practical difference reported by agencies: Ahrefs API costs become prohibitive when scaling across many clients, which pushes some agency workflows toward Semrush.
For pure SEO work, arguably yes. The platform bundles 50-plus tools and most users touch a handful, which means paying for surface area that sits idle. That's the trade for consolidation — one login, one invoice, one vendor relationship instead of four. If your work genuinely spans SEO, ads, content and social, the breadth earns its price; if you only do SEO, a specialist tool plus a cheaper research option usually costs less and works better.
The leading GTM data platform, repriced from the ground up in March. Two plans now, two credit types, and a lot of stale advice floating around.
The category leader in revenue intelligence, priced accordingly. The per-seat number is the smallest part of what you'll actually pay.
The best backlink data in the industry, sold with a credit meter and single-seat plans that make the real cost hard to read.