5 tools compared
Best SEO tools
Keyword research, rank tracking, backlink analysis and technical crawling — the tooling behind every organic-traffic target.
The field
Every SEO platform worth considering
Cheapest first. Ranked properly once you tell us about your team.
Screaming Frog
A desktop crawler that does technical site auditing better than any cloud tool.
$21 · free tier
Ubersuggest
A deliberately cheap SEO suite aimed at small businesses and solo marketers.
$29 · free tier
Moz Pro
The original SEO suite, still strong on local search and famously readable metrics.
$99 · free tier
Ahrefs
The backlink index everyone benchmarks against, plus solid keyword and content tooling.
$129 · free tier
Semrush
The broadest toolkit in SEO, stretching into paid search, social and content marketing.
$139.95 · free tier
Prices are unverified estimates — useful for comparing orders of magnitude, not for budgeting. Confirm the current figure with the vendor before you commit to anything.
Feature matrix
What each SEO platform can do
Generated from the dimensions this category is compared on, so it stays true as the catalogue changes. Blank means we have not established it either way.
| Capability | Ahrefs | Moz Pro | Screaming Frog | Semrush | Ubersuggest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keyword databaseVendor-claimed size. Coverage outside English-speaking markets varies far more than the headline number suggests. | 28.7 B keywords | 1.25 B keywords | 0 B keywords | 25 B keywords | 5 B keywords |
| Backlink index | 35 T links | 40 T links | 0 T links | 43 T links | 1 T links |
| Rank tracking | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Technical site audit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content optimisation | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Local SEO | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Crawler | Cloud | Cloud | Desktop | Cloud | Cloud |
| Competitor research | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| SAML single sign-onAvailable on some tier — check which, it is usually the expensive one. | No | No | No | No | No |
| SOC 2 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| EU data residency | No | No | No | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No | No | No | No |
| Open source | No | No | No | No | No |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Native mobile apps | No | No | No | Yes | No |
How to choose
The questions that actually decide a SEO platform
Everyone asks about price and seat count. These are the ones specific to this category — and the ones our questionnaire asks you.
- 01
What do you mainly need it for?
Finding what to write about · Tracking where we rank · Finding technical problems on the site · Backlink research and outreach · Local and map-pack visibility
- 02
Who is going to use it?
An in-house SEO specialist · A generalist marketer · An agency reporting to clients · A developer, alongside other work
- 03
How big is the site?
Under 500 pages · 500 to 50,000 pages · More than 50,000 pages
The trade-offs
What each one asks you to accept
No tool here is strictly better than the others. These are the prices of admission.
A specialist tool, not a suite — you will still need something else for keywords and links.
Cheap enough to be worth it for small sites, inaccurate enough that you should not quote its numbers to a client.
Good value and easy to explain to stakeholders, with data depth that specialists will find thin.
You pay a premium for index quality, and the seat model punishes teams rather than solo operators.
The all-in-one option, priced so that the all-in-one bill is a lot larger than the sticker.
10 comparisons
Head to head
If you have narrowed it to two.
Questions
Choosing a SEO platform
What is the best SEO platform?
There is no single best one, and any page that names one without asking about your team is guessing. The credible options are Ahrefs, Moz Pro, Screaming Frog, Semrush, Ubersuggest. Which fits depends on the answers to the 3 questions this category turns on, plus your team size and budget — our questionnaire scores all 5 against them in about three minutes.
Is there a free SEO platform?
Ahrefs, Moz Pro, Screaming Frog, Semrush, Ubersuggest all have a free tier. The limits differ sharply though — usually on history, seat count, or exactly the features that pass a security review. Check what the free tier withholds before you plan around it.
How much should we expect to pay for a SEO platform?
This category is not priced per seat, so headcount is the wrong unit. Costs track volume or a flat account fee instead. Model both against your own numbers before comparing vendors, because the headline prices are not like for like.
When is it worth switching SEO platform?
When the problem is a capability the current tool does not have — a price that scales the wrong way, a compliance control it cannot enforce, an integration that does not exist. When the problem is how your team uses the tool, a new one reproduces the same mess in a fresh interface within six months, and you will have paid for the privilege.
What should we compare SEO platforms on?
The dimensions that actually separate them: keyword database, backlink index, rank tracking, technical site audit, content optimisation, local seo. Price matters, but it is rarely the thing that decides whether a tool survives contact with your team.