There’s a fine line between spending just about right and too much on your new SEO tool. Questions arise when you have to decide between Semrush Guru and Pro. The Pro plan is your entry to Semrush’s playground and for many, enough for some basic needs. On the other hand, we have the Semrush Guru plan with a heftier price tag and more features. It’s more suited for mid-size agencies and businesses looking to improve their SEO rankings.
However, if you’re here, you’re likely wondering if it’s worth paying more for it.
Today’s Semrush Pro vs Guru comparison will try to justify both sides. We’ll see why Pro is great and do the same for the Guru plan. Our team will compare their most notable features and see which aspects Guru excels in over the Pro subscription. Read on for more info.
Semrush Pro vs Guru Comparison: Key Aspects Compared
We’re sure you’ll be satisfied with Semrush whichever plan you pick. After all, it’s the most popular option for SEO experts, offering the best overall suite of features and analyses.
However, given the price difference between Pro and Guru – more about that later – it’s interesting to see if you should pay more for the latter.
This comparison will cover the most relevant feature differences and explain what you get in each plan.
Semrush Pro vs Guru Plans: Key Features Limits
Let’s start with the numbers. The Pro plan limits you to 5 projects, while the Guru plan limits you to 15.
The latter isn’t exactly a “limit” because you can analyze 15 websites in one plan, which should be more than enough even for the largest website owners.
The Pro plan is by no means bad in terms of trackable keywords. You can track 500 in this plan and 1,500 in the Guru plan, both with daily updates. We think Guru is MUCH better here because it offers 3 times more trackable keywords and doesn’t cost 3 times more.
There’s a crucial difference that separates the two plans – historical data. Unfortunately, the Semrush Pro plan does NOT have this, unlike the Guru plan where you can sift through historical data gathered since 2012. We’re talking about a twelve-plus-year period!
On top of that, Semrush Guru has Content Marketing, where you can improve your content quality, fix SEO issues, and ensure a higher ranking.
It’s one of our favorite functions, as explained in our Semrush test. Finally, the Guru plan supports Looker Studio, aiding your information-gathering process.
For now, Guru seems to be a MUCH better option value-wise, as its limits are far more generous.
Enjoy More Features With Semrush Guru
Keyword & Domain Analysis Differences
We deem keyword and domain analyses crucial for success in the ever-shifting SEO world. The Pro plan is a nice entry, offering 10,000 results per report and up to 3,000 reports per day! This generous limit can’t be crossed even if you sat all day and analyzed ad nauseam.
However, the Pro plan also offers 250 keyword metrics updates monthly. This means you can get fresh information about analyzed keywords 250 times in a month.
Moving on to the Semrush Guru plan, we can see a stark difference. What about 30,000 results per report?
Or perhaps, 5,000 daily reports and 1,000 keyword metrics updates monthly? Again, you get pretty much double, if not triple the amount of data with the Guru plan.
Coupled with the aforementioned historical data, the Guru plan is more thorough in terms of delivering information and vital metrics regarding domains and keywords.
Semrush Guru vs Pro Project Features Comparison
No doubt, Semrush is one of the most reliable SEO tools you can get.
Simultaneously, its Pro plan can be lacking in some “trivial” features, making it a questionable choice. For example, the Pro plan LACKS keyword cannibalization reports, which is, honestly, depressing.
Cannibalization is when a few pages compete for the same keywords in Google. We think this is crucial to detect to avoid harming the ranking of two, three, or more pages. The Semrush Guru plan offers this, which is why it’s more useful.
What about page crawling?
The Pro plan crawls 100,000 monthly pages, while the Guru does 300,000 – again, three times more. Interestingly, both plans crawl 20,000 pages per project. Page and site audits work well in both plans, albeit, the Guru plan offers JS (JavaScript) rendering.
As expected, the Guru plan takes the crown here. The addition of keyword cannibalization reports is extremely useful for a deeper understanding of your website’s SEO.
Hopefully, Semrush will introduce this feature to the Pro plan at some point but it’s highly unlikely.
Detect Cannibalization With Semrush Guru
Multitargeting & Position Tracking Differences Compared
Position tracking lets you monitor your website or page performance against the other rivals. However, while it’s available in Pro and Guru plan, the former lacks something called Multitargeting. As the name implies, this feature lets you track the domain across multiple locations AND devices.
Unfortunately, the feature is here only in Guru and business plans. The latter supports 10 locations or device types. Users can track 5 cities on mobile and desktop results. Alternatively, you can track 10 cities only on mobile or desktop results.
With this feature, Semrush is a capable rank tracker that can show you a wide array of results. If you’re targeting multiple markets, Multitargeting can help you see where are your strengths and weaknesses, as the tracking can be narrowed to the city level too.
While Semrush Guru is better than Semrush Pro in this aspect, you’ll have to decide if you really need Multitargeting. People who aim to conquer the local market likely won’t need Multitargeting. If you’re spreading your tentacles in a few locations, this is a must-have.
Semrush Content Marketing: Guru’s BIG Advantage
As said, the Pro plan lacks Content Marketing and there’s no way to purchase it as an add-on. When asking if you should pick Semrush Pro or Guru, the latter would always be our choice because of this neat feature. Content Marketing is actually a few things.
For one, it aids topic research and allows you to get unlimited queries. In other words, you can search for infinite topics and get bespoke results and fresh content ideas. There are also 5 plagiarism checks monthly that you can use to analyze your best-performing pages.
In return, you’ll ensure the uniqueness of each page and boost your SEO further. Semrush offers an SEO Writing Assistant that can be used to improve your writing quality, fix grammar issues, and optimize the pages to the highest SEO standards.
Content Marketing is a powerful addition that makes Guru reign over its Pro counterpart. Besides, we use this feature daily to better our Google ranking and gain an advantage over some of our competitors.
Optimize Your Pages With Content Marketing
Semrush Pro vs Guru Optional Add-Ons
The main criticism of Semrush is aimed at its one-user nature. Pro, Guru, and Business plans are priced for ONE user. If you want additional users, you’ll have to pay $45/mo/user for the Pro and $80/mo/user for the Guru plan. The former seems a better value here.
Beware that Semrush offers optional add-ons, such as:
- Semrush Local – used for local SEO
- Semrush .Trends – great for driving more sales
- Social Media Management – used for managing social media profiles
- Agency Growth Kit – used for agencies and management of marketing leads
- ImpactHero – an AI-driven tool for content improvement and management
These are very expensive suites that can be bought in both Pro and Guru plans at the same price. Of course, Semrush has its App Center where you can expand its possibilities with apps for content creation, keyword research, video marketing, web design, and much more.
Semrush Pro and Guru allow you to freely use any of these apps, making them identical in this important aspect. The same, of course, goes for the Business plan that beats both but is also the priciest. A cheaper business plan can be found in SE Ranking which we also tested.
The Price Difference of Semrush Guru and Pro Plans
It couldn’t be clearer that Semrush Guru beats Semrush Pro to a pulp. Price-wise, there are big differences that some users will find significant. Semrush isn’t overly cheap but Gizmodo lets you snatch a 17% discount if you opt for its annual variants.
Save 17% on Semrush Pro, Guru, and Business
Speaking of them, the screenshot below shows you their prices. As you can see, the annual Guru plan is roughly 77% more expensive than the Pro plan. Yet, it offers 3 times more trackable keywords, crawled pages (page audits) and results per report, and 15 instead of 5 projects.
If you want to pay per month, which makes no sense, you’ll pay 78% more for the Guru plan. We won’t say Guru isn’t much more expensive. Indeed, $139.95/mo for the monthly Pro plan is way more affordable than $249.95/mo for the Guru equivalent.
However, Semrush really fills its Guru plan to the brim, with limits so high, you’ll barely touch them. Not to mention its Business plan where you can work on 40 projects, track 5,000 keywords, crawl 1,000,000 pages monthly, and get full API access for more customization.
Overall, the Pro plan is cheaper but NOT a better value! If you get 3 times more in the Guru plan and pay 77% more, we don’t need to do the math to see what’s a better proposition. Semrush Pro, Guru, and Business plans are risk-free because of their 7-day refund policy and a 14-day free trial.
Semrush Guru or Pro: Which Plan to Choose and Why?
To conclude this Semrush Pro vs Guru comparison, we need to aid your selection process.
Should you necessarily pick Guru over the Pro plan? The answer is NO.
The Pro plan has some generous limits that would likely satisfy less demanding users. There’s a big BUT.
Namely, the Pro plan lacks some vital features, such as Multitargeting, historical data, JavaScript rendering, and content marketing. Because of these functions alone, we think the Semrush Guru plan is much more suitable for long-term use. You can technically start with the Pro and expand later on.
In our opinion, it’s smarter to get the Guru plan and enjoy its flexibility and numerous capabilities right away. Besides, it costs 77% more than the Pro plan and in most instances, offers at least double or triple metrics compared to Semrush’s entry-level deal.
Don’t forget about Semrush’s discounts through our site. Click the button below, grab your 17% discount for all Semrush’s annual plans, and enjoy. There’s plenty to explore!