Semrush alternative for rank tracking: what you keep and what you save

Semrush vs SerpBeats: plans and limits side by side

If you are weighing a Semrush alternative, start with the numbers. This is what each company's own page showed on 4 November 2026. Prices are in US dollars per month, without tax. Where a price has two numbers, the second is the monthly share of a yearly payment.

Sources: Semrush prices and SerpBeats pricing, both checked on 4 November 2026. Semrush also lists a Starter plan at $199 a month with 500 keywords and 5 websites, a custom Advanced plan, a free plan with one demo project, and a 7-day free trial on its paid plans. Prices change, so check its page before you decide. If you see a different number, tell us and we will fix it.

For 500 keywords the gap is $79 a month: $139 for the Semrush SEO plan against $60 for SerpBeats Scale. Over twelve months that is $948. Against Semrush's yearly billing ($117.33 a month) the gap is $57.33 a month, about $688 a year. That gap is why SerpBeats works as a Semrush alternative for people who only track rankings.

The table shows one thing clearly: if you track 50 to 500 keywords, a focused tool costs much less than a suite. It does not say which one is better, because a suite has things a rank tracker does not.

What a Semrush alternative for rank tracking does not do

Semrush's home page lists keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, technical site health, local SEO and AI visibility next to rank tracking, which it calls position tracking. SerpBeats does rank tracking and the parts around it, not that whole list. A Semrush alternative that only tracks rankings cannot replace the rest of it. Stay on Semrush if:

• You use its other tools every week. Keyword research and backlink analysis are what you pay for. SerpBeats has keyword ideas for your own site and competitor tracking, but no backlink index and no large keyword database.
• You track more than 500 keywords in one place. Semrush Pro+ lists 1,500. Our biggest self-service plan has 500, and larger lists go through our Enterprise contact.
• Your team lives in Semrush reports. Moving means rebuilding the reports and the habits around them, and that has a cost of its own.

When SerpBeats is the better Semrush alternative

The best Semrush alternative is the one that matches what you actually open each week. SerpBeats fits when:

• Rank tracking is the part you open. You log in to see where 30 to 500 keywords are, and the rest of the suite sits unused.
• You have a small site, a local business or a few clients. $60 for 500 keywords is less than half of $139, and 50 or 200 keywords cost $10 or $30.
• You need many projects. Scale has 40 projects. Semrush lists 5 websites on its SEO plan and 15 on Pro+.
• You want AI Overview and Google Maps tracking in the plan. Both are in every SerpBeats plan, and Maps tracking scans from 13 points around a business for 5, 10 or 25 local keywords, depending on the plan. Tracking your brand in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity is a separate add-on. Semrush also lists local SEO and AI visibility, so compare what each plan includes before you count this as a gain.
• You want to try first. The 7-day trial needs no card, and nothing is charged when it ends.

The product is explained in full on the rank tracker page.

How to switch to a Semrush alternative in an afternoon

1. Export your keywords from Semrush, for example Organic Research, then Positions, then Export as CSV or XLSX. A plain list with one keyword per line works too.
2. Add a project in SerpBeats and choose the country, a city if you want one, and the device.
3. Import the file or paste the list. SerpBeats reads TXT, CSV, TSV, XLSX and Search Console ZIP files up to 8 MB.
4. Add your competitors, or accept the suggestions.
5. Run both tools for a week and compare the trend, not the exact number. Two tools rarely see the same results page on the same day.
6. Cancel Semrush when the trends agree. SerpBeats starts a keyword's history at its first scan and takes no old positions from the file, so keep your Semrush export if you need the old numbers.

If a different Semrush alternative suits you better, see the best rank tracking tools and the Ahrefs alternative page.

Frequently asked questions