Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SE Ranking
Score 9.2 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
An SEO toolset for agency and in-house pros.
$65
per month
Semrush
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Semrush is a relatively popular search engine optimization tool set from the company of the same name based in Pennsylvania and founded in 2008. Largely the platforms relies on competitive intelligence, and features SEO staples like backlink checking, keyword analysis to refine SEO and PPC campaigning and locate low-cost / high-yield keywords, analysis of competitors who co-occupy desired ad and listing spaces, domain vs. domain analysis, as well as site audit and domain tracking. Semrush can…
$139.95
per month
SurferSEO
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
SurferSEO, from Polish company Surfer, is presented as a modern tool for SEOs and marketers for efficient and comprehensive on-page SEO optimization.N/A
Pricing
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
Editions & Modules
Essential
$65
per month
Pro
$119
per month
Business
$259
per month
Pro
$139.95
per month
Guru
$249.95
per month
Business
$499.95
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
Free Trial
YesYesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsSE Ranking’s subscription plans are available at a 20% discount for annual pricing.17% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
Considered Multiple Products
SE Ranking
Chose SE Ranking
It has a simple user interface and gives me the exact overview I need to take my next step.
Chose SE Ranking
SE Ranking is way more budget-friendly and suitable for less demanded SEO projects.
Chose SE Ranking
For us it's mainly a tool we use and/or suggest because of the price. It's complete enough to get yourself kickstarted and learn about your website and its positions in Google. But once you grow bigger and want more data it's smart to look around for more complete tools.

For as …
Chose SE Ranking

The interface is much more friendly. The databases for the backlinks database seems to be bigger and more qualitative.


Chose SE Ranking
SE Ranking is really easy to use and it's rather cheap. So there is no reason why we should switch to other services.
Chose SE Ranking
We chose SE Ranking because of the price as it was very affordable and also helped us cover our needs.
Semrush
Chose Semrush
For me, Semrush has a good UX and is a trustworthy source of organic traffic data. When compared to other tools, they sometimes could be pretty much off when I observe data in Google Search Console and Google Analytics. That's why I think Semrush does a pretty good job for any …
Chose Semrush
Semrush is an all in 1 tool for SEO and SEA, and does specific things really well even better then the competition.
The mean issue i could have with Semrush is the pricing, for $119 a month you get the full tool but with limitations of projects, users etc.
When you wanna add more …
SurferSEO
Chose SurferSEO
Semrush's content and page optimisation tool is quite poor; it's not in the same bracket as Surfer.

Frase is a good alternative from a cost perspective (if not paying the AI writing functions), it's cheaper, and Frase's keyword/topic heatmaps are quite unique.
Chose SurferSEO
Surfer is designed to automate the process of content optimization. The team behind it is continuously working to add more features to improve this.
Features
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
SEO
Comparison of SEO features of Product A and Product B
SE Ranking
7.9
16 Ratings
3% above category average
Semrush
8.0
154 Ratings
5% above category average
SurferSEO
8.1
3 Ratings
6% above category average
Keyword analysis7.99 Ratings8.6154 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Backlink management7.316 Ratings8.3147 Ratings4.01 Ratings
SERP ranking tracking7.915 Ratings8.3150 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Page grader7.611 Ratings7.7129 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Competitive analysis7.915 Ratings8.5149 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Site audit / diagnostics7.916 Ratings8.0150 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Site recommendations8.412 Ratings7.6139 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Task management7.910 Ratings6.691 Ratings7.02 Ratings
SEO Channels
Comparison of SEO Channels features of Product A and Product B
SE Ranking
8.1
14 Ratings
7% above category average
Semrush
8.2
140 Ratings
9% above category average
SurferSEO
7.0
1 Ratings
7% below category average
Local SEO8.111 Ratings8.1128 Ratings6.01 Ratings
Mobile SEO8.112 Ratings8.4113 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Global SEO8.213 Ratings8.2114 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Social SEO00 Ratings8.0106 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO Platform & Account Management
Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Product A and Product B
SE Ranking
8.4
14 Ratings
0% below category average
Semrush
8.4
125 Ratings
0% below category average
SurferSEO
8.0
2 Ratings
5% below category average
Multi-domain support8.512 Ratings8.2115 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Integration with web analytics tools8.413 Ratings8.7119 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
Small Businesses
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Nozzle
Nozzle
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Advanced Web Ranking
Advanced Web Ranking
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.5 out of 10
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.5 out of 10
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Dupli Checker (DupliChecker.com)
Score 8.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(16 ratings)
8.2
(154 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(4 ratings)
8.1
(10 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.3
(6 ratings)
9.9
(17 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
SE RankingSemrushSurferSEO
Likelihood to Recommend
SE Ranking
SE Ranking is a fantastic tool if you are a marketing agency or freelancer looking for a single tool for the majority of your SEO work. It also includes B2B tools like their lead generation widget and white label reports that can help you generate new leads for your business. It would get 10 stars if their database was larger to accommodate research for small geographic areas, but they are always expanding their database so it may just be a matter of time. Research SE Ranking has pricing plans available for every budget.
Read full review
Semrush
This is suited to plan for keywords in a single market, but it struggles when you need to consolidate several markets. It is well-suited to discover new keywords directly related to the ones being used currently to expand the content the company is creating to get better results.
Read full review
Surfer
Surfer is well suited for:
  • Creating (and resisting) articles and web pages to increase their SEO relevancy for a keyword.
  • To identify NLP terms and the frequency of terms to be added to the page
  • To find internal linking opportunities
  • To plan pillar pages/topic clusters
Surfer is not a tool for
  • Technical SEO
  • Crawl Audits
  • Serp / Keyword Tracking
  • Project Management
Read full review
Pros
SE Ranking
  • Rank racking. It’s really important for us that the ranks are tracked accurately.
  • Monitoring of changes made on the website. We’ve found this feature really useful.
  • Reports. This includes auto reports and manuals. We can easily and quickly create reports to check our SEO progress month by month.
Read full review
Semrush
  • Great visuals for keyword position tracking, love that you can see the page that is ranking
  • Enjoyed the auto-generated reporting feature (specifically in the context of keyword position tracking)
  • Shows many different and useful views for competitive research
  • Great templated keyword research tools for those who are not as hands-on with SEO
  • I LOVE the Keyword Magic Tool for honing in on longtail, high-opportunity keywords
Read full review
Surfer
  • Analysis for on-page ranking factors
  • Competition analytics
  • NLP Analysis for webpage content
  • Content SEO scoring
  • Content editor with details about what to rank for
  • Plugin that helps with search data on Google
Read full review
Cons
SE Ranking
  • I really don't think SE Ranking has many flaws. They are also rolling out an app at the moment - SE Ranking Pro - need to test that one.
  • Some more video tutorials on the site on how to use some tools would be helpful.
  • More in-system popups would be more helpful too.
Read full review
Semrush
  • Extra seats can be expensive, as [an] agency with multiple team members this can be frustrating
  • Backlink data is not great, misses out a lot of backlinks (better off using a specialist backlink tool like Link research tools LRT)
  • Tracking multiple keywords, across multiple clients can be costly
Read full review
Surfer
  • Can improve their algorithm to serve better for technical articles
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
SE Ranking
No answers on this topic
Semrush
I [previously] used Semrush for many years and I cannot find any other tool being so complete and easy to use.
Read full review
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Usability
SE Ranking
They had a huge update recently and the platform is now even better. Although not all the tools are yet in the new design.
Read full review
Semrush
The interface is a little less intuitive than it could be. The data is often available but filtering and manipulating the data can be a little difficult at times. Expanded comparisons would be helpful since most of the time seeing more than a few competitors at a time allows for a better sense of how to forecast.
Read full review
Surfer
Because, I've been using this tool since many years and I haven't looked for any other tool when it comes to content optimization
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
SE Ranking
No answers on this topic
Semrush
Semrush available when you need it!
Read full review
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Performance
SE Ranking
No answers on this topic
Semrush
SemRush performs well with few errors!
Read full review
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
SE Ranking
The support is great but they don't have 24/7 support. And time zones can also be an issue sometimes. On the other hand there are plenty of guides and videos around to get yourself started. I never really needed support for "big" issues. And the help I got was good enough.
Read full review
Semrush
I'm in a FB group for Semrush paid users and it amazing! They are fast to respond, take suggestions and help with questions. I have not felt alone in using this product at all. Highly recommend their support team. When I had an issue I can jump into the group and they will help get me the right person to help or even tag their programmers to look at something that is going on. Love the group!
Read full review
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
SE Ranking
No answers on this topic
Semrush
I did it by myself and do not have a comment!
Read full review
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
SE Ranking
SE Ranking is better than Serpstat or MOZ or Ahrefs when it comes to tracking keyword rankings, but it lacks in every other SEO category, such as onsite and offsite SEO metrics, content analysis, etc... It's a good choice for agencies that are interested in tracking keywords for their clients, but other than that it underperforms in every other SEO category.
Read full review
Semrush
We have used both Ahrefs and Semrush extensively at our agency and Semrush remains the tool of choice. We find that Semrush has the largest selection of tools & features to use, with the highest accuracy, and provides top-tier analysis recommendations. It's really is the ultimate all-in-one tool when comparing other performance measurement tools in the digital marketing space.
Read full review
Surfer
Semrush's content and page optimisation tool is quite poor; it's not in the same bracket as Surfer. Frase is a good alternative from a cost perspective (if not paying the AI writing functions), it's cheaper, and Frase's keyword/topic heatmaps are quite unique. Sufer has a better UI and a shorter learning curve. It has an advantage in that it offers internal linking recommendations, which Frase lacks. Surfer also has limited competitor analysis (backlinks and page speed), which Frase does not. Both tools allow you to choose the number of competitors on the SERPS
Read full review
Scalability
SE Ranking
No answers on this topic
Semrush
Semrush is flexible and scalable software which can be deployed across multiple departments and sites as needed.
Read full review
Surfer
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
SE Ranking
  • The website "health" report has allowed us to fix things that Google might find strange or cause us to lose rankings, which has been very helpful.
  • It's given us more visibility into what exactly our SEO management company is doing and how they are performing, and if things are changing or not. It's very easy to see right from the dashboard.
  • Being able to see how our competitors stack up against us has helped us know where to improve, what to focus on, and how to be even better.
Read full review
Semrush
  • Using Semrush on behalf of our clients, we have seen some impressive growth in organic visibility, traffic, conversion and revenue, across multiple industries.
  • The site checks available with Semrush have helped us to pitch and sell our services, securing new clients.
Read full review
Surfer
  • SuferSEO has helped us rank in the top 10 for results that are over 1M in search volume
  • SurferSEO gives our team the ability to rank quicker than without the tool
  • SurferSEO helps us close prospects by showing them the depth of our analysis and knowledge.
  • SurferSEO makes our agency look and feel like a professional that knows what they are doing
Read full review
ScreenShots

SE Ranking Screenshots

Screenshot of SE Ranking main dashboardScreenshot of SE Ranking keyword researchScreenshot of SE Ranking website auditScreenshot of SERP CompetitorsScreenshot of Organic SERP HistoryScreenshot of Content tool