Summarize this article with AI
Moz vs Semrush vs Ahrefs isn't a contest with one winner. It's a job call. The three disagree on the same site's authority score by up to 78 points and on referring domains by more than tenfold, so "which is best" has no answer without the job you're paying for and how many seats you need.
On November 3, 2026, we read all three vendors' pricing pages and pulled their numbers for the same 35 sites. Here's what follows: which tool leads on which job, what the entry plan actually costs with add-ons tacked on, and how wide the three numbers spread when pointed at identical sites.
Moz vs Semrush vs Ahrefs: the short answer
Three tools, three jobs they lead on. Here's the quick table, built from our same-day check of each vendor's pricing page and the three tools' numbers for the same 35 sites.
| If you need | Pick | Why (one line) | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily rank tracking, AI search visibility in the plan, deep keyword and competitor research | Semrush (SEO $139/mo; Semrush One Starter $199/mo adds 50 AI prompts tracked daily) | Only one of the three with daily rank updates on the base plan and AI prompts bundled from Starter up | PPC research, competitor traffic estimates, local listings and content tools are paid add-ons |
| Link research and competitor organic + paid keyword data for one heavy user, or the cheapest way in | Ahrefs (Lite $129/mo; Starter $29/mo, monthly only, 200 credits, no exports) | Paid keywords and ads sit inside Site Explorer on every paid plan, and API access comes with every plan from Lite | Rank tracking is weekly on every plan; no trial; AI indexes (Brand Radar) only as a $199/mo add-on |
| The cheapest full suite, cheap extra seats, AI visibility from the entry suite plan | Moz Pro (Starter $49/mo; Standard $99/mo with AI visibility; extra seats $49 flat) | Cheapest full-suite entry, the same $49 seat price on every plan, AI visibility included from Standard | Tracks only the top 20 positions, weekly; no competitor traffic estimate; no PPC data; 150 keyword queries a month on Standard |
| Local SEO | Moz Local or Semrush Local (both per location) | Moz Local $20/$30/$40 per location (US, UK, Canada); Semrush Local $30 or $60 | Ahrefs has local rank tracking and GBP Monitor (beta), no listings sync |
The deciding question is one line: which job are you paying for, and how many people need a login?
None of the three is "the most accurate". Each platform models Google its own way, and on the same sites their scores and link counts disagree by a lot (more on that below). Pick by the job, not by the brand on the login screen.
What the entry plans cost and include (checked November 3, 2026)
Here's what each vendor's pricing page showed on the day. Prices in USD, monthly billing unless noted. (Semrush's page shows euros outside the US, so its dollar prices come from its US page and help center.)
| Moz Pro Standard | Semrush SEO | Ahrefs Lite | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price, monthly | $99 | $139 | $129 |
| Billed yearly | $79/mo | $117.33/mo | $107.50/mo |
| Seats included | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Extra seat | $49 flat | $45/mo | $40/mo (caps apply) |
| Projects / campaigns | 3 campaigns | 5 websites | 5 unverified projects (verified sites unlimited) |
| Tracked keywords | 300, weekly, top 20 | 500, daily | 750, keyword × location × project, weekly |
| Research allowance | 150 keyword queries + 5,000 backlink queries a month | 3,000 reports a day | 1,000 credits per user a month |
| Site audit | 100,000 pages per week | 100,000 pages a month (20,000 per audit) | 100,000 crawl credits (25,000 per project) |
| AI visibility | Included: 3 dashboards, 150 prompts weekly (ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode) | Add-on: Semrush One Starter $199 adds 50 prompts daily; AI Visibility Toolkit alone $99/mo | Add-on only: Brand Radar $199/mo per AI index, or $699/mo for all |
| Free access | Free Community account (10 keyword and 10 backlink queries a month) | Free plan: 10 reports a day across tools, 1 project | Ahrefs Free (for verified sites) |
| Trial | 7 days of Medium with a card | 7-day trial with a card | None |
Cheaper ways in: Ahrefs Starter at $29/mo (200 credits, no exports, monthly only; added September 2024) and Moz Pro Starter at $49/mo (75 keyword queries, 50 tracked keywords, 1 project). Semrush's cheapest route to the AI prompts is Semrush One Starter at $199/mo.1
The allowance units aren't the same. A Semrush "report" is one request to its analytics reports, an Ahrefs "credit" is spent when you open reports and request new data, and a Moz "query" is one Keyword Explorer or Link Explorer search. So an allowance number alone won't tell you which plan gives you more research.
Two derived numbers, labeled as our own math from the prices we read. Cost per tracked keyword a month: Ahrefs Lite $0.172 (weekly), Semrush SEO $0.278 (daily), Moz Standard $0.330 (weekly, top 20). A three-person team on the entry plan: $197 at Moz Standard ($99 + 2 × $49), $209 at Ahrefs Lite ($129 + 2 × $40, the most extra seats Lite allows), $229 at Semrush SEO ($139 + 2 × $45).
For a tier-by-tier walk above the entry plans, see our Ahrefs vs Moz price-tier breakdown.
How we checked
Two first-hand checks, both dated November 3, 2026.
For prices and limits, we read each vendor's own pricing page and the help pages behind it, in US dollars. Then we took every price and limit claim the five top-ranking "Moz vs Semrush vs Ahrefs" comparisons make (170 claims across them) and compared each with the vendor's live page.
For the data, we pulled each tool's authority score and referring-domain count for the same 35 sites. Moz Domain Authority and linking root domains came from Moz's free Top 500 list (no account); Semrush Authority Score and referring domains from Semrush's free public domain pages (and the free Website Authority Checker for three small sites); Ahrefs Domain Rating and referring domains from the Ahrefs v3 API. The sample rule was fixed in a script before any Semrush or Ahrefs number was pulled.
What these checks don't show: which tool's numbers are "right" (there's no ground truth here, and no Search Console data went into it), the inside of the paid interfaces, and checkout prices or discounts you'd see after signing in.
Job by job: where each tool is stronger
Keyword research
Database claims, each in the vendor's own words. Semrush: "over 28 billion" keywords.2 Ahrefs: a 29 billion keyword index. Moz: "over 1.25 billion keyword suggestions". The three count differently, so the headline numbers don't rank them.
Each tool puts its own search volume and keyword difficulty score next to a query, and the models behind those metrics differ. So the same keyword rarely gets the same number in two tools, and the same goes for any search intent label a tool attaches.
The practical limit is the allowance. Semrush SEO gives 3,000 reports a day; Ahrefs Lite gives 1,000 credits per user per month (unlimited from Standard); Moz Standard gives 150 keyword queries a month (75 on Starter). If you run hundreds of lookups a week, Moz's monthly query cap is the ceiling you'll hit first.
One extra detail: Moz says its Keyword Explorer and Link Explorer stay on a 50-result SERP (its blog, October 2025).
For more free picks, see our Ubersuggest alternatives and Keywords Everywhere alternatives.
Backlink research
Vendor index claims. Semrush says its index holds over 43 trillion links, and Ahrefs puts its external backlink history at 35 trillion. Moz publishes its own count, and each vendor defines a link differently, so "biggest" is a label none of these counts can earn.
How quickly do new links show up? Semrush claims "within an hour", Ahrefs refreshes its index every 15 to 30 minutes (that's processing, not re-crawl), and Moz says new links show up within about 3 days of being found. History depth by plan: Ahrefs Lite 6 months, Standard 2 years.
Link building workflows look different too. From Standard up, Ahrefs throws in broken backlinks and Link Intersect (the sites that link to your competitors, not you). Moz builds its backlink analysis around Link Explorer and Spam Score instead.
For how the three counts compare on the same sites, see the data section below. For Majestic's link index next to Ahrefs', see our Majestic vs Ahrefs comparison.
Competitor traffic and PPC data
Think of competitive analysis as two lanes: organic visibility and paid search. Semrush's SEO plan shows organic traffic estimates and the queries driving them. Competitors' ads and paid keywords sit in the Advertising Toolkit ($99/mo Base, $220/mo Pro), and site-wide traffic estimates from Semrush's panel and clickstream data are the Traffic & Market Toolkit, $289/mo per Semrush's help center.
Ahrefs puts organic and paid keywords, CPCs and ads inside Site Explorer on every paid plan, at country level. Its Traffic Analytics adds any site's traffic sources for $99/mo.3
Moz shows no competitor traffic estimate: asked whether you can see competitors' traffic, Moz's help center answers "This isn't currently possible in Moz Pro." No PPC data either. All of these are estimates, and the vendors say so themselves (more on that in the Search Console section below).
If traffic estimates are the only piece you need, start with our free Similarweb alternatives post.
Rank tracking
The cadence is the thing most comparisons miss.
| Semrush SEO | Ahrefs Lite | Moz Standard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Update cadence | Daily | Weekly, every plan | Weekly, top 20 positions only (since October 20, 2025) |
| Tracked keywords at entry | 500 | 750 | 300 |
| Counting unit | Per keyword per target (each device or location target counts again) | Keyword × location × project | Per keyword |
| Daily option | Included | Not offered on any plan page | Only via STAT, from $360/mo |
If daily movement matters (news sites, retail, volatile SERPs), that single row narrows it to Semrush or STAT. For how to record SERP features alongside positions, see our SERP feature tracking guide.
Site audits
Start with the entry crawl budgets. Semrush SEO gets 100,000 pages a month, capped at 20,000 per audit. Ahrefs Lite matches that: 100,000 crawl credits, 25,000 per project. Moz Standard moves the most, 100,000 pages a week, which its plan card sums to 400,000 a month. Semrush lists "over 140" checks; Ahrefs says it finds "170+" issues. Ahrefs Free audits a verified site with 5,000 credits per project.
The technical SEO basics (broken links, crawl errors, the usual list) get flagged by all three audits. What separates them at the entry tier? Crawl volume and refresh cadence.
For dedicated crawlers at larger sites, our Screaming Frog alternatives post covers the picks beyond the three suites.
Local SEO
Moz Local is a separate paid product at $20, $30 and $40 per location per month (US, UK, Canada), with listings sync to 90+ directories. Semrush Local is $30 or $60 per location a month (add-on to a Semrush plan or standalone). Ahrefs has no listings sync ("The one piece Ahrefs doesn't handle is NAP syncing and bulk directory submission"), but offers local rank tracking down to ZIP code and a GBP Monitor currently in beta on paid plans.
Price local as a per-location line, not as "included".
Content tools
Semrush: SEO Writing Assistant inside the SEO Toolkit; the Content Toolkit at $60/mo as an add-on. Ahrefs: AI Content Helper from $99/mo; Content Explorer from the Standard plan. Moz throws On-Page Grader into every plan, and AI Content Briefs start at Standard with 2 a month (Medium 10, Large 50).
Doing topic research? Ahrefs opens Content Explorer at Standard and above. Moz's content side stops at keyword briefs and on-page scoring.
AI search visibility
The topic most other comparisons get out of date fastest. Two of the five top pages still say Moz has little or none; both are behind.
| Semrush | Ahrefs | Moz | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | AI Visibility Toolkit; Semrush One (SEO + AI Visibility) | Brand Radar (AI Visibility Index + Custom Prompts) | AI Visibility (in Moz Pro); Moz AI Explorer (standalone, launched October 28, 2026) |
| In the base plan? | SEO alone no; Semrush One Starter $199/mo adds 50 AI prompts tracked daily (Pro+ 100, Advanced 200) | No, always an add-on | Yes, from Moz Pro Standard: 3 dashboards, 150 prompts weekly |
| Standalone price | AI Visibility Toolkit $99/mo (25 prompts, no trial) | Brand Radar $199/mo per AI index, $699/mo for all | Moz AI Explorer from $45/mo ($38 billed yearly) |
| Engines | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews (varies by report); Copilot in Enterprise | AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot | ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode (as the pricing page lists them) |
| Extras | $99/mo per extra user for AI access | Custom prompt packages from $50/mo | Extra prompts $50 per 100 |
If AI visibility is the reason you're buying, price that product first and your SEO plan second.
Seats, reports and API access for teams
Extra-seat prices: Moz $49 on any plan (Medium includes 2 seats, Large 3); Semrush $45 on SEO and Starter, $80 on Pro+ and $100 on Advanced; Ahrefs $40, $60 and $80 on Lite, Standard and Advanced, each with a cap, and Starter can't add users. White-label reports: Semrush sells them at $20 per report a month; Ahrefs has the Report Builder; Moz branded reports arrive on Medium and Large. API access: Ahrefs includes its API in every plan from Lite up (not Starter); Semrush exposes MCP units on paid plans; Moz API is a separate product.
For how to set up a reporting stack around any of them, see our SEO reporting tools post.
Semrush vs Ahrefs: where the two big suites actually differ
For plenty of people who compare all three, the pick narrows to Semrush or Ahrefs. Daily rank refreshes on Semrush, with AI prompts bundled from Semrush One Starter on up.4 Ahrefs updates weekly across the lineup and keeps AI indexes behind a $199/mo add-on.
Ahrefs puts paid keywords and ads inside Site Explorer on every plan; Semrush puts PPC in the Advertising Toolkit for $99/mo and site-wide traffic in Traffic & Market for $289/mo. Ahrefs is the only one of the two without a free trial.
| Semrush SEO ($139/mo) | Ahrefs Lite ($129/mo) | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank tracking | Daily | Weekly |
| AI visibility | From Semrush One Starter $199/mo (50 prompts daily) | Brand Radar add-on only, $199/mo per index |
| PPC and ads | Advertising Toolkit $99/mo | Included in Site Explorer, every plan |
| Traffic from all sources | Traffic & Market $289/mo | Traffic Analytics (beta) $99/mo |
| Entry | Free plan + 7-day trial | Ahrefs Starter $29/mo, Ahrefs Free, no trial |
| Extra seats | $45 to $100/mo by plan | $40 to $80/mo by plan, with caps |
How closely do their link counts agree in our data? For 22 big sites that have all three tools, Semrush and Ahrefs rank them nearly in the same order on referring domains (Spearman correlation 0.897), but Ahrefs' live count is a median 0.62 of Semrush's figure for the same site.
So: if you need both daily rankings and link depth, that's the case for one suite plus a cheap second tool, not two full suites.
The same sites in all three tools: how far apart the numbers are
We pulled Moz Domain Authority and linking root domains, Semrush Authority Score and referring domains, and Ahrefs Domain Rating and referring domains, for 35 sites on November 3, 2026. 22 big sites from Moz's Top 500 plus our own domain have all three.
A small sample of what one day looks like.
| Domain | Moz DA / LRD | Semrush AS / Ref. domains | Ahrefs DR / Ref. domains (live) |
|---|---|---|---|
domainmarket.com |
94 / 999,975 | 16 / 224,056 | 92 / 223,189 |
ovhcloud.com |
93 / 2,257,176 | 67 / 118,430 | 92 / 122,870 |
dailymotion.com |
95 / 1,103,024 | 100 / 602,478 | 91 / 212,152 |
weibo.com |
93 / 1,553,374 | 68 / 540,807 | 94 / 479,571 |
onamae.com |
93 / 307,518 | 50 / 663,396 | 90 / 443,946 |
getseoheatmap.com (our own) |
8 / 122 | 2 / 708 | 1.4 / 831 |
A few headlines from the full set.
Rank the same big sites by authority score and the three tools only roughly agree. Across those 22 sites, Spearman lands at 0.536 (DA vs AS), 0.544 (DA vs DR), and 0.446 (AS vs DR). One caveat: Moz DA here only runs from 92 to 100, which gives the correlation a thin range to work with.
Referring-domain counts tell a different story. Semrush and Ahrefs track each other closely (0.897 across the 22 sites, 0.923 all-time), while Moz sits further out from both (0.64 and 0.66). The typical same-site gap? About 1 point between DA and DR, 9.5 between DA and AS, and 7 between AS and DR. The widest authority gap in the group is domainmarket.com (DA 94, AS 16, DR 92): a 78-point split between DA and AS on one domain, same day. Semrush's Authority Score also weighs organic traffic and spam signals, not just links, and Semrush's public page estimates organic search traffic of 18 for that domain, so a mixed score and two link-based scores part ways.
On organic traffic, Ahrefs' number lands at a median 0.30 of Semrush's Organic Search Traffic across 25 sites (range 0.11 to 3.28). The two still rank those sites in nearly the same order (0.968 correlation). The pull dates behind the numbers don't match (Semrush September 15, 2026; Ahrefs November 3, 2026), and neither do the models.
What this means when you buy.
- The same score number means a different thing in each tool. Compare a score only to itself over time.
- A site's link count depends on whose index you're reading. In our 22-site group, Semrush's referring-domain count ran from 0.05 to 2.16 times Moz's for the same site (
ovhcloud.comat the low end,onamae.comat the high end). - When you switch tools, reset your baselines and re-benchmark competitors in the new tool. The comparison that mattered yesterday won't survive the migration.
- None of DA, AS or DR is a Google metric. All three are vendor models.
Two limits of our own: this is one day, and the Moz side covers only its free Top 500 (the web's biggest sites, DA 92 to 100 here) plus our own domain, read from one free page. We didn't open paid accounts, and no Search Console data went into it. A gap between the tools isn't an error in either one.
For what each metric is built from, see our Semrush vs Moz post on where their numbers disagree.
What other Moz vs Semrush vs Ahrefs comparisons get wrong
Of 170 price and limit claims in the five top-ranking comparisons for this search, 165 could be checked against the vendors' live pages on November 3, 2026. 32 (about 19%) were wrong on the day. By tool: Semrush 14 of 53 claims, Moz 12 of 52, Ahrefs 6 of 60. Older pages miss more (a 2020 page had 6 wrong of 7), but a page updated in October 2026 still had 11 wrong of 48.
A few of the biggest misses, claim versus what the vendor page showed that day:
| Claim in a top-ranking page | What the vendor's page said on November 3, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Moz trial "30 days" | 7 days (Medium plan, card required) |
| Moz Starter "3 campaigns, 300 tracked keywords" | 1 campaign, 50 tracked keywords |
| Moz Medium "$99/mo" | $179/mo |
| Moz top plan "$599/mo" | Large $299/mo |
| Semrush entry "$129.95/mo" or "around $130" | SEO $139/mo |
| Semrush Advanced "$549/mo" | "Custom" (not listed) |
| Ahrefs cheapest "$99/mo" | Starter $29/mo; Lite $129/mo |
| Ahrefs "$1 for a week trial" | "We don't provide any free trials" |
Prices have moved more than most pages reflect. Take Semrush's entry: $119.95 in 2022, up to $129.95 by November 2023, then $139.95 by November 2024. It reads $139 in 2026. Ahrefs Lite? It was $99 back in 2022 and hit $129 by April 2025. Moz Standard has held at $99 at every Wayback capture since January 2022; Moz Starter was added at $49 by November 2024; the trial moved from 30 days to 7 along the way.
The practical take: check the vendor's pricing page in US dollars on the day you buy. Plans, names and prices change faster than the comparison pages that quote them.
What changed at the three companies
Two of the three changed hands or rebuilt their product lines recently, and most comparisons haven't caught up.
Semrush is now part of Adobe. The announcement went out November 19, 2025, at $12 per share (about $1.9 billion).5 Adobe's newsroom and Semrush's 8-K filing both date the closing to April 28, 2026. The brand continues as "Semrush, an Adobe company"; customers were told to expect "no immediate changes" at close. In June 2026, Adobe rolled out Brand Visibility, which pairs Adobe LLM Optimizer with Semrush's AI optimization tools.6
Moz has been part of Ziff Davis since 2021, and the AI rebuild started in 2024. Moz AI shipped that year; rank tracking moved to STAT's systems the same year and, by October 2025, was trimmed to the top 20 positions. The unified Moz API came in 2025. AI Visibility reached Moz Pro Standard in June 2026, and Moz AI Explorer launched October 28, 2026.
Ahrefs added Starter at $29/mo in September 2024, kept credits only on Starter and Lite (Standard and up are unlimited), renamed Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to Ahrefs Free, and still doesn't offer a trial.
Calibrate your pick with your own Search Console data
Your own clicks, impressions and position? Search Console has them, as they actually happened on your site. Each tool models a slice of the same thing for every other site on the web. The fastest trust test? Line a tool's numbers up against Search Console for your own pages. Whatever the gap is, carry that into any competitor numbers you read from it.
Three steps.
- Grab 10 to 20 pages and the main query driving each.
- In the same period and country, place the tool's traffic estimate and reported position next to Search Console's clicks and average position. Stick to clicks here. From May 13, 2025 through April 27, 2026, Google's Search Console inaccurately reported impressions, plus the CTR and average position tied to them.7 Clicks weren't affected.
- Write down which way the gap runs, and how big it is on your own site. Apply the same haircut when you read that tool's competitor numbers.
The vendors warn about the gap themselves. Ahrefs' FAQ puts its traffic estimates at roughly 20 to 50 percent off actual Search Console data, depending on the site.8 Semrush's help center says "the best use of Semrush is not to measure your own website's traffic statistics."9 Moz shows no competitor traffic, so the calibration there is on keyword positions, not on clicks.
Where we fit: SEO Heatmap's Pages heatmap shows each page's Search Console clicks by month, week or quarter, with a growing/falling filter. It's the baseline you hold a tool's traffic estimate against before you trust it on a competitor. Free for one Search Console property. (Average position and impressions still come from Search Console's own Performance report.)
For the fuller calibration method, see our Semrush vs Moz post and our Google Search Console alternatives guide.
Which one should you pay for?
Short profiles to help you choose, one line each.
- Solo SEOs and small businesses on a budget: either Moz Pro Starter ($49) or Ahrefs Starter ($29, monthly only).
- In-house team that wants daily rankings and AI visibility in one bill: Semrush One Starter ($199). Neither Ahrefs nor Moz Pro offers both in one plan.
- Link builder or content team living in competitor and link data: Ahrefs Lite ($129); Standard if you need more projects, more history and no credit meter.
- Small agency adding seats: Moz Pro. For a three-person team, Moz Standard came out cheapest in our math at $197 a month. Every plan charges $49 per extra seat, though Medium bakes in 2 (and Large, 3).
- Local business or multi-location brand: bolt Moz Local or Semrush Local onto whichever suite you're already buying, priced by location. Local rank tracking is built into every paid Ahrefs plan.
- Free first: Semrush free plan, Ahrefs Free, a Moz Community account and Search Console for your own clicks. See our free Ahrefs alternatives, free Semrush alternatives, Moz alternatives and SpyFu alternative for cheaper picks per job.
Whichever you pick, hold its traffic estimates against your own Search Console clicks before trusting it on competitors. SEO Heatmap breaks those clicks out page by page, and it's free for one property.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Ahrefs or Semrush?
That depends on what you're paying it to do. On Semrush, rankings refresh daily, and AI prompt tracking ships with the Semrush One Starter plan at $199/mo. Ahrefs is weekly across the board. The AI indexes sit behind a $199/mo Brand Radar add-on. Site Explorer holds paid keywords and ads on every Ahrefs plan. Semrush gates the equivalent behind the $99/mo Advertising Toolkit.
Want daily movements and AI visibility on one invoice? Semrush. If link depth and competitor PPC in one place matter most, that's Ahrefs.
Is Ahrefs more accurate than Moz or Semrush?
No tool here is the ground truth, and the three disagree a lot. On 22 big sites we checked on November 3, 2026, the three authority scores ranked the sites only loosely in the same order (Spearman 0.45 to 0.54), and Ahrefs' organic traffic estimate came in at a median 0.30 of Semrush's for 25 sites. The vendors say as much about their own traffic estimates. Before you lean on any of them for competitor numbers, calibrate the one you pick against your own Search Console.
Is Domain Authority the same as Domain Rating or Authority Score?
No. DA, DR and AS come from three separate vendor models (Moz Domain Authority, Ahrefs Domain Rating, Semrush Authority Score). All three sit on 100-point scales, but the inputs behind each number differ. None is a Google ranking factor. Across the 22 sites we checked, DA and DR sat a median 1 point apart. DA and AS were 9.5 points apart, and on one domain the gap stretched to 78. Trend inside one tool; don't compare scores across them.
Which is cheapest: Moz, Semrush or Ahrefs?
The cheapest door in is Ahrefs Starter at $29 a month, though it's monthly-only, capped at 200 credits, and has no exports. Moz Pro Starter follows at $49/mo (1 campaign, 50 tracked keywords). The usual "first serious" tiers are Ahrefs Lite at $129/mo and Moz Standard at $99/mo. Semrush SEO opens at $139/mo. Need AI visibility in the bundle? Moz Standard is the cheapest route there. On the Semrush side, the cheapest path to AI prompts is Semrush One Starter at $199/mo.
Do any of Moz, Semrush or Ahrefs offer a free trial?
Only Moz and Semrush. Moz offers a 7-day trial of the Medium plan with a card, and Semrush offers a 7-day trial that converts after it ends (also with a card). Ahrefs has no trial at any price point. All three do have free entry points: Semrush's free plan (10 reports a day), Ahrefs Free (for verified sites you own), and a free Moz Community account (10 keyword and 10 backlink queries a month).
Who owns Semrush now?
Adobe. The announcement came November 19, 2025 at $12 per share, worth about $1.9 billion. The deal closed April 28, 2026. The brand continues as "Semrush, an Adobe company"; Bill Wagner was CEO at close, and customers were told to expect no immediate changes to their services or agreements. Adobe Brand Visibility shipped in June 2026, bringing Adobe LLM Optimizer together with Semrush's AI optimization tools.
Is Moz still an SEO tool worth paying for in 2026?
Yes, for a few profiles. Moz is the cheapest full-suite entry ($49 Starter, $99 Standard), its extra seats cost $49 on every plan, and a three-person team came out cheapest on Moz Standard in our math. Standard is also the cheapest suite plan of the three with AI visibility included (3 dashboards, 150 prompts checked weekly). The catches: rank tracking is weekly and limited to the top 20 positions since October 20, 2025 (daily is sold separately as STAT from $360/mo), and Moz shows no competitor traffic estimate.
What are the best SEO tools besides these three?
It depends on the job you'd hand them. Majestic covers link data on its own, a dedicated crawler such as Screaming Frog covers site audits, and traffic-estimate tools such as Similarweb cover competitor visits; our alternatives guides go through each job. Google Search Console is the actual record of your clicks, impressions and positions. The paid tools are modeling it.
Once you know your own baseline, suite comparisons get easier to judge. SEO Heatmap plots your Search Console clicks as a page-by-page heatmap, by month, week or quarter, so you can read any tool's traffic estimate against what actually happened. It's free for one property.
Sources (9)
SEO Heatmap Knowledge relies on primary sources: Google's documentation, web standards, peer-reviewed research, and vendors' own pages for their pricing and features. Our editorial standards
- Semrush. “Semrush Features for AI Visibility.”
- Semrush. “Semrush.”
- Ahrefs. “Traffic Analytics.”
- Semrush. “SEO and AI Search Plans and Pricing.”
- Adobe. “Adobe to Acquire Semrush.”
- Adobe. “Introducing Adobe Brand Visibility.”
- Google Search Console Help. “Data anomalies in Search Console.”
- Ahrefs. “Ahrefs FAQ.”
- Semrush. “Traffic Analytics vs Domain Analytics.”
