How much do SEO tools cost in 2026?
The SEO tool pricing index: the entry price of 11 SEO tools, what a team really pays, eight tool-by-tool breakdowns and five ways to pay less.
Short answer: the first paid plan of an SEO tool costs a median $54 a month on monthly billing in 2026, before tax, across the eight tools that show a monthly price. The cheapest paid doors are Ubersuggest at $16 a month billed annually, then Ubersuggest and Ahrefs Starter at $29 a month; Semrush's entry plan tops the list at $139.95. Seats, quotas and introductory prices decide the real bill more than the sticker price.
A few links on this page are affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The price of 11 SEO tools, cheapest to most expensive
An SEO tool is software that shows how a site ranks on Google and why: keyword research (what people search and how often), rank tracking (where your pages sit), backlink analysis (who links to you and to competitors) and site audits (technical errors a crawler finds). Full suites do all four; specialists do one. Most bill per user and per quota, so read the limits next to each price. Each card shows the first paid plan as the vendor lists it on its pricing page, on monthly billing when the vendor shows it, then the next tiers. Similarweb, sold as packages, closes the list.
USD, before tax. Monthly billing unless the card says billed annually or yearly. 2026 prices.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Free crawler, paid licence
Paid licence $279 per user per year (1 to 4 licences)
- Free version crawls up to 500 URLs
- $279 per licence per year, about $23 a month
- Down to $235 per licence from 20 licences
Ubersuggest
Individual, monthly
Business $49 · Enterprise $99 monthly ($27.17 and $54.75 billed annually) · Lifetime from $290
- 1 project on Individual, 7 on Business
- 7-day free trial on monthly plans only
- Lifetime plans are final and non-refundable
Ahrefs
Starter, the cheapest paid tier
Lite $129 · Standard $249 · Advanced $449
- Ahrefs Free for data on your own site
- Lite: 1 user, 1,000 API and MCP credits
- Extra users $40 to $80/month each
SpyFu
Basic, the cheapest tier
Pro + AI $59 the first month, then $119 · Annual: 3 months free (25% savings)
- Basic: 1 user, 10k-row search results
- Pro + AI: $30 per extra seat, $40 of API credits
- Team / Agency: 5 users included
Moz Pro
Starter, one website
Standard $99 ($79 yearly) · Medium $179 · Large $299
- Starter is for a single website
- Standard: 150 keyword queries a month
- Save 20% on yearly billing
Serpstat
Individual, billed yearly
Team $100 · Team x2 $169 · Agency $410 (billed yearly)
- Individual: 5 projects, 100 searches a day
- Save up to 27% with annual billing
- AI Visibility from Team: 1,500 checks a month
Surfer
Discovery, monthly
Standard $119 · Pro $219 · Peace of Mind $359 monthly ($99, $182, $299 billed yearly)
- Annual plan charged upfront for the year
- Credits reset yearly on annual plans
- Up to 17% off versus monthly
Mangools
Mangools Basic, monthly
$37.70/month billed yearly ($452.40) · Premium $81 and Agency $141 monthly
- About 35% off on yearly billing
- Daily rank tracking only on the Agency plan
- No extra seats on Basic, 3 on Premium
SE Ranking
Core
Growth $279 ($223.20 annually)
- Core: 10 projects, 1 manager seat
- Core: 2,000 keywords tracked daily
- Agency Pack +$69/month, annual billing only
Semrush
SEO, the entry plan
SEO + AI Search $199 · Pro+ $299
- Extra users from $45/month
- Save up to 17% billed annually
- AI Search tracking starts on the $199 plan
Similarweb
Sold through packages
Business packages quoted by sales · self-service packages for small teams
- Traffic and market data more than classic SEO
- Competitive Intelligence & SEO package for SEO teams
- Out of the median: no price shown
Screaming Frog sells a yearly licence and Serpstat shows its prices on annual billing only: both are listed but kept out of the monthly median. Similarweb shows no price on its package page.
What each SEO tool really costs
Eight breakdowns: the entry price, what it includes, the limit that raises the bill and one tip. For a ranking on quality rather than price, see our best SEO tools.
Semrush: the most expensive entry, with add-ons on top
All-in-one suiteSemrush is one of the two big SEO suites, and its entry plan has the highest entry price read in this index: $139.95 a month on monthly billing, or $117.33 a month billed annually. That plan is called SEO. The plan that adds AI search tracking, SEO + AI Search, costs $199 a month ($165.17 billed annually), and Pro+ costs $299.
The sticker price covers one login. Each extra user starts at $45 a month, so a team of three on the SEO plan pays about $230 a month on monthly billing before any report add-on. Reporting add-ons are extra too: $10 a month for the Base Report and $20 for the Pro Report.
Our tip. Decide whether you really need AI search tracking now. If not, the SEO plan billed annually saves about $270 a year against monthly billing. Read our Semrush review, and if the bill is the problem, our Semrush alternatives.
- Entry price
- $139.95/month, $117.33 billed annually
- Extra user
- From $45/month
- Best for
- Teams that want one suite for SEO and AI search
Ahrefs: a $29 door, then a $100 jump
Cheapest paid entry from a big suiteAhrefs now opens with a Starter plan at $29 a month, described as a way to see what people search and spy on competitors. It's the cheapest paid door into one of the two big suites. Ahrefs Free gives you Ahrefs data on your own site at no cost.
The jump comes after: Lite costs $129 a month, Standard $249 and Advanced $449. Lite includes 1 user, 100,000 crawl credits a month and 1,000 API and MCP credits per user, and extra users cost $40 a month on Lite, $60 on Standard and $80 on Advanced. Crawl credits are spent by Site Audit as it crawls your site, API credits by the scripts or AI assistants that pull Ahrefs data: a large site or a heavy automation week can use them up.
Our tip. Start on Ahrefs Free for your own site plus Starter for keyword research, and only move to Lite when you need full site audits and more credits. Paying yearly saves up to 17%. Leaving Ahrefs? Read how to switch from Ahrefs, or compare Semrush vs Ahrefs.
- Entry price
- $29/month Starter; Lite $129
- Extra user
- $40 to $80/month
- Best for
- Backlink and competitor research
Moz Pro: $49 for one site, $99 for the real plan
Cheapest yearly StandardMoz Pro has an entry-level plan at $49 a month, designed for individuals managing a single website. The main plans are Standard at $99 a month ($79 billed yearly, $950 for the first year), Medium at $179 ($143 yearly) and Large at $299 ($239 yearly).
The catch is in the quotas. Standard includes 150 keyword queries and 5,000 backlink queries a month; Medium raises that to 5,000 and 20,000, Large to 15,000 and 70,000. A query is one lookup in the keyword or link research tool: 150 a month is about seven a working day.
Our tip. Count your lookups for a week before you choose. If you look up more than about 35 keywords a week, Standard runs out; 10,000 extra keyword queries then cost $10 a month, far less than the $80 step to Medium. Moving away? See how to switch from Moz Pro.
- Entry price
- $49/month Starter; Standard $99 ($79 yearly)
- Quota
- 150 keyword queries/month on Standard
- Best for
- A single site with light research
SE Ranking: the mid-price suite with daily tracking
Daily tracking at mid-priceSE Ranking's Core plan costs $129 a month, or $103.20 a month billed annually. It includes 10 projects, 1 manager seat, 2,000 keywords tracked daily and 250,000 pages a month in the site audit. Growth costs $279 a month ($223.20 annually), with 30 projects, 3 manager seats and 5,000 tracked keywords.
Add-ons are where the price moves: the Agency Pack adds $69 a month and is sold on annual billing only, and the API costs $29 a month on monthly billing.
Our tip. Annual subscriptions come with free assisted migration, which helps if you're moving years of rank history from another tool. On a monthly plan, you migrate with the self-serve import. Considering a move? Read how to switch from SE Ranking.
- Entry price
- $129/month, $103.20 billed annually
- Projects
- 10 on Core
- Best for
- Agencies and teams that track many keywords
Surfer: yearly prices up front, credits that reset yearly
Content optimizationSurfer is a content optimization tool more than a full SEO suite. Its plans billed yearly start at $49 a month for Discovery, then Standard at $99, Pro at $182 and Peace of Mind at $299; an AI Search Analytics plan costs $82 a month billed yearly. On monthly billing, the same four plans cost $59, $119, $219 and $359.
Two terms matter. The annual plan is charged upfront for the entire year. And on an annual plan, credits reset yearly, not monthly: you can use a year's credits in a busy quarter, but nothing tops up until the next year or a plan change.
Our tip. Annual billing saves up to 17% against monthly payments. If you publish in bursts, the yearly credit pool suits you; if you publish steadily, check you won't run dry in month nine. Read our Surfer review and our Surfer pricing breakdown.
- Entry price
- $59/month, $49 billed yearly
- Billing
- Annual plan paid upfront
- Best for
- Writers and content teams
Ubersuggest: the cheapest yearly price, with a lifetime trap
Cheapest yearly priceUbersuggest is the cheapest paid suite in this index on annual billing: Individual costs $16 a month ($192 billed annually) for 1 project, Business $27.17 a month ($326 annually) for 7 projects, and Enterprise $54.75 a month. On monthly billing, the same plans cost $29, $49 and $99.
It also sells lifetime plans, a one-time payment, from $290 for Individual. Those purchases are final and non-refundable, and the 7-day free trial applies only to monthly subscriptions, once.
Our tip. Run the free trial on a monthly plan first. Only buy lifetime once you've used the tool for a few months and know it covers your needs. Read our Ubersuggest review or compare Semrush vs Ubersuggest.
- Entry price
- $16/month billed annually
- Projects
- 1 on Individual
- Best for
- Solo site owners on a tight budget
Mangools: a simple bundle with a big yearly discount
Simple bundleMangools sells a simple bundle aimed at beginners, with keyword research and rank tracking (SERPWatcher) in the same subscription. Its entry plan, Mangools Basic, costs $61 a month on monthly billing, or $37.70 a month billed yearly ($452.40 a year); the higher plans cost $81 and $141 a month on monthly billing.
The yearly discount is about 35%, second in this index only to Ubersuggest's (about 45%). Rank tracking updates weekly, and daily only on the Agency plan. Basic has no extra seats: a second person means Premium, which allows 3. Refunds are possible within 48 hours of payment.
Our tip. If you need daily positions, price the Agency plan from the start rather than the entry one. For other options, see the Mangools alternatives.
- Entry price
- $61/month, $37.70 billed yearly
- Discount
- About 35% on yearly billing
- Best for
- Beginners and small sites
Serpstat and SpyFu: two mid-price options with conditions
Budget competitor researchSerpstat starts with Individual at $50 a month, billed $600 upfront for the year, for 5 projects and 100 searches a day; Team costs $100 a month ($1,200 upfront), Team x2 $169 and Agency $410 a month on the same yearly basis, and annual billing saves up to 27%. Team allows 500 searches a day for 3 users, Team x2 1,000 and Agency 5,000, and AI Visibility checks start on Team, 1,500 a month.
SpyFu's Basic plan costs $39 a month for 1 user, with search results capped at 10,000 rows. Pro + AI costs $59 for the first month, then $119 a month, with unlimited results, 1 user ($30 for each additional) and $40 of API credits; paying annually gives you 3 months free, a 25% saving.
Our tip. Budget SpyFu at $119, not $59: the low price is for the first month only. See the Serpstat alternatives and the SpyFu alternatives.
- Serpstat entry
- $50/month Individual, $600 upfront
- SpyFu entry
- $39/month Basic; Pro + AI $119 after a $59 first month
- Best for
- Competitor research on a budget
Five ways to pay less for SEO tools
The traps we found most often on the pricing pages, and how to avoid them.
Billed annually is a different number, not a discount on the same bill
Most vendors here show their annual price as a monthly figure: Semrush $117.33, SE Ranking $103.20, Moz $79, Mangools $37.70. You still pay the year upfront: $950 for Moz Standard in the first year, $1,200 for Serpstat Team, $452.40 for Mangools. Surfer states it plainly: the annual plan is charged for the entire year at purchase.
Compare tools on the same billing. On monthly billing, the entry plans read in this index run from $29 (Ubersuggest, Ahrefs Starter) to $139.95 (Semrush).
- Saving
- 17% to 45% depending on the tool
- Watch
- Upfront payment for 12 months
Count the seats before the plan
The entry price is almost always one user. Semrush charges from $45 a month per extra user, Ahrefs $40 to $80 depending on the plan, SpyFu $15 per extra seat on Basic and $30 on the higher plans. For a team of three, that can add more than the plan itself costs.
Share one seat for research and give the others read-only reports where the tool allows it, or choose a plan that includes several seats (SE Ranking Growth has 3 manager seats).
- Saving
- $15 to $80 per seat per month
- Where
- Semrush, Ahrefs, SpyFu
Read the quotas, not just the price
A cheap plan with a small quota is expensive per lookup. Moz Standard gives 150 keyword queries a month; Serpstat Team 500 searches a day; Ahrefs Lite 100,000 crawl credits a month. A query or search is one lookup in a research tool; a crawl credit is what a site audit spends as it crawls your pages.
Before you subscribe, list what you run in a normal week and multiply by four. If the quota is below that, the next plan is your real price.
- Watch
- Lookups per month or per day
- Fix
- Size the plan on a real week
Budget the price after the promotion
SpyFu's $59 is the first month; the plan then costs $119. Ubersuggest's lifetime plans are final and non-refundable. Surfer's yearly credits reset only once a year on an annual plan. Each of these changes the real cost of year one.
Write down the month-two price, the renewal rule and the refund window before you enter a card. Mangools refunds within 48 hours of payment; plan your test around that window.
- Watch
- Month-two price, refund window
- Where
- SpyFu, Ubersuggest, Mangools
Cover the basics for free first
A site owner can do a lot without paying: Google Search Console for clicks and queries, Ahrefs Free for Ahrefs data on your own site, and the free Screaming Frog crawler for audits up to 500 URLs. In 2026, SEO forum threads still recommend this stack to beginners who find $120 a month out of reach.
Pay only for what free tools can't show: competitors' keywords and backlinks, large crawls, rank tracking at scale.
- Saving
- $0 for your own site's data
- Limit
- 500 URLs on the free crawler
How much to budget
Two ways to turn the entry prices into a real number.
What to budget by profile
On the plans read in this index, before tax:
- A blogger or a single small site: from $0 (Search Console, Ahrefs Free, Screaming Frog free) to $16 a month (Ubersuggest Individual, billed annually) or $29 (Ahrefs Starter).
- A freelancer with a few clients: $37.70 to $61 a month (Mangools Basic) or $39 a month (SpyFu Basic).
- An in-house marketer: $99 to $139.95 a month for a full suite on monthly billing (Moz Standard, Ahrefs Lite, SE Ranking Core, Semrush SEO).
- An agency: $279 a month for SE Ranking Growth with 3 manager seats, or $449 for Ahrefs Advanced, plus seats and add-ons.
For a pick by profile rather than by price, see our rankings for small businesses, freelancers and agencies.
- Solo
- $0 to $29/month
- Agency
- From $279/month
The cost of year one for a team of three
Take three people on a monthly entry plan for 12 months, before tax and add-ons. Semrush SEO with two extra users: $139.95 + 2 × $45 = $229.95 a month, or about $2,759 a year. Ahrefs Lite with two extra users at $40: $209 a month, $2,508 a year. SE Ranking Core includes 1 manager seat: check its seat pricing before you plan on three.
On annual billing, Semrush SEO falls to $117.33 a month for the main seat. The gap between tools is often smaller than the gap between one seat and three.
- Semrush, 3 users
- About $2,759/year monthly
- Ahrefs Lite, 3 users
- $2,508/year monthly
Do you make a tool in this category? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we collected the prices
We don't use third-party comparison sites or prices from memory. For each tool, we opened the vendor's official pricing page in a browser, with monthly and annual views, and recorded the first paid tier and the next ones, in 2026. The median of $54 is calculated on the first paid plan of the eight tools that show a monthly price: Ubersuggest Individual $29, Ahrefs Starter $29, SpyFu Basic $39, Moz Starter $49, Surfer Discovery $59, Mangools Basic $61, SE Ranking Core $129 and Semrush SEO $139.95. With eight values, it is the average of the 4th and 5th, $49 and $59. Screaming Frog (a yearly licence), Serpstat (prices shown on annual billing only) and Similarweb (no price shown) are listed but kept out of it. We measure price, not quality: to pick a tool, read our best SEO tools ranking, and for crawlers alone, the best SEO crawlers.
- SourceOnly the vendor's pricing pageOfficial page
- Price usedFirst paid tier, monthly billing when shownPaid entry
- MedianTools with a readable monthly entry price8 tools
- SeatsExtra users listed, never averaged inSeparate
- ExclusionsPackages or annual-only prices: out of the medianUnclear price
- TaxAll prices before taxExcluded
Prices change: always check the vendor's page before you pay. We update this index whenever we spot a pricing change.
SEO tool pricing FAQ
Do SEO tools charge extra for AI search tracking?
Often, yes. Semrush tracks AI search only from its SEO + AI Search plan at $199 a month, about $59 more than its SEO plan, and Ahrefs sells Brand Radar AI from $199 a month on top of its plans. Others fold it in: Moz Pro tracks prompts weekly on 3 AI models from Standard at $99, Serpstat includes 1,500 AI Visibility checks a month on Team, and Ubersuggest Individual includes 10 AI prompts per project a month.
Why are SEO tools so expensive?
Because the data is the cost. These tools crawl the web and store billions of keywords and links. As one forum user put it in 2026, you get the tool, but it costs you to get the data. That's why quotas, credits and seats, not features, decide the bill.
Can I cancel an annual SEO tool plan?
Usually you can stop the renewal, but the year is already paid. Surfer charges the full year upfront, Ubersuggest's lifetime plans are final and non-refundable, and Mangools refunds within 48 hours of payment. Read the refund window before choosing annual billing.
Can I try an SEO tool for free before paying?
Yes, with conditions that differ by tool. Serpstat gives 7 days free on Team but checks your card with a $1 charge it returns within 30 minutes, SE Ranking's trial needs no credit card, Moz Pro offers a free trial on Medium, and Ubersuggest's 7-day trial runs once, on monthly plans only. Ahrefs states that it does not issue refunds in general, so test it with Ahrefs Free or the $29 Starter plan before you buy Lite.
Should a beginner pay for an SEO tool?
Not in the first months. Search Console, Ahrefs Free and the free Screaming Frog crawler cover your own site. Pay once you need competitor data: that's what free tools can't show.
Do agencies get discounts on SEO tools?
Partly. Screaming Frog lowers the licence price with volume, from $279 to $235 per licence a year from 20 licences, and SE Ranking sells an Agency Pack at $69 a month on annual billing. For the other suites, ask sales about volume pricing once you pass five seats.
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Pricing grids change often. We'll write when a price moves.