Ahrefs vs. Semrush vs. Moz: The Battle of the SEO Tools

Ahrefs, Moz, and Semrush are the best SEO platforms on the market. All three SEO tools offer the user the ability to do in-depth keyword research and competitor analysis and provide backlink data and additional features designed to improve marketing effectiveness.

Whether you’re an in-house marketer looking to invest in the right SEO software for your team, or an agency looking to make a switch, you’re almost certainly choosing between one of these three major competitors.

We went in-house and asked our SEOs to compare Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz to weigh the pros, cons, and prices of each option.

We’ve got our favorite! But you might find one of these SEO tools is a better fit for your organization …

Read on for the results and more!

Choose Your SEO Keyword Research Tool (Carefully)

While each option has plenty of slick features, we used 1) keyword research functionality, 2) data accuracy, and 3) the “number of keywords tracked” as the core criteria that matter to us as an experienced SEO marketing agency.

In the results below, we also include a few notes about additional features each tool does well.

Semrush: The Paid One

Semrush grew from a simple browser extension into one of the most respected SEO tools on the market. It offers many nifty tools, including Sensor, a SERP volatility tracker, and its Keyword Magic Tool, which makes finding relevant keywords much easier than guessing and checking one-by-one. It also boasts keyword position tracking for all your domains, a keyword gap analysis tool, and plenty of additional features.

One of Semrush’s biggest perks is pay-per-click (PPC) paid keyword tracking. In addition to organic keywords and results, Semrush provides detailed information on PPC data to help you improve organic and paid alignment. It also allows you to analyze your competition’s paid and organic strategies.

Data is what makes Semrush so valuable, and it has plenty of that. Semrush claims to track 20 billion keywords and says it’s scraped over 43 trillion backlinks.

Semrush pricing starts at $140 per month for the Pro plan, with additional costs per user and any additional upgrades. If a single user used all the additional tools available, monthly costs would be north of $600. Most in-house teams can get away with the Pro plan, but make sure you’re getting all the features you need.

Ahrefs: The Big One

Ahrefs’ background is in backlinks. Until recently, Ahrefs’ primary competitors were backlink analysis tools like Majestic, but they’ve invested in wider keyword capabilities over the past few years. It’s perhaps no surprise that its backlink checker is a differentiator. In many cases, Ahrefs is days or even weeks ahead of its competitors in identifying new or lost backlinks. It also offers detailed click data to help marketers evaluate the real value of winning any specific keyword.

Ahrefs also has the most data to work with. It claims to track twice as many keywords as Semrush (and five times as many as Moz) and to do it all more accurately. They claim their traffic estimations correlate with Google Search Console 99% of the time, a nifty five points higher than Semrush.

Ahrefs pricing tiers start at $129 per month for the Lite plan and jump to $250 monthly for Standard. Like Semrush and Moz, Ahrefs charges more for additional users ($60 per month per seat), which pushes small agencies toward the $449 per month Advanced plan.

Moz: The Affordable One

Like Semrush, Moz grew from a browser extension into a full-fledged SEO research tool, and it hasn’t looked back since. The paid version, Moz Pro, has a robust keyword research tool on par with Ahrefs and Semrush, plus the basic site-auditing and keyword-position tracking you’d expect.

The knock on Moz is its scale. Moz tracks about 500 million keywords, which is a lot – but a fraction of the billions and trillions tracked by its competitors. That means Moz is less likely to track lower-volume keywords, including local keywords, long-tail keywords, or niche keywords. If your brand relies on those types of keywords, Moz might be missing valuable queries.

Moz pricing starts at just $49 for a single user and a single domain, which is perfect for in-house marketers with a single website to track. Agencies typically opt for the Large plan, which starts at $299 per month for up to three users.

Ahrefs vs. Moz vs. Semrush

Look, no offense to Moz, but it’s just a step below Ahrefs and Semrush. It lacks the range of features offered by its larger (and more expensive) competitors and lacks that standout feature Ahrefs and Semrush have in backlinks and PPC reporting, respectively.

That said, if you’re a one-person marketing hero with a limited budget, Moz is the affordable option that will get the job done.

So, What’s Better, Semrush or Ahrefs?

The primary difference between Semrush and Ahrefs is the breadth of features. Semrush has more tools that work with a wider range of data types, which means marketers can create content, compile reports, and even manage social media all in one place. We’ve also found that Semrush’s competitor analysis tools provide more actionable insights than Ahrefs, and the Keyword Magic Tool offers more detail at a glance.

That’s why Semrush is our SEO tool of choice, but we dabble with Moz and Ahrefs to monitor all platforms.

We also use tools like Screaming Frog, Answer the Public, and other SEO research methods to deliver top-quality research and content for our clients.

We Love Talkin’ Shop!

SEO tools might take the guesswork out of keyword research, but they aren’t a substitute for experience and sound strategy. Oneupweb has nearly three decades of SEO expertise working across diverse industries. From home services to global distribution, we’ve helped growing organizations leverage organic search to realize big wins.

See why Oneupweb is the best SEO hammer in your marketing toolbox; get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today to start the conversation.