Semrush is a well-established SEO tool formed way back in 2008 — we’re getting old! Ubersuggest, however, is a newer project shaped by Neil Patel, a well-known marketing entrepreneur. We already have a good base for the Ubersuggest vs Semrush comparison.
We say this because they’re so similar, yet so different. Neil Patel did an amazing job and skyrocketed Ubersuggest to great heights. Simultaneously, Semrush’s day-to-day advancements make it a force to be reckoned with and a choice of serious SEO experts.
The question that burns inside of you is which one is better, but more importantly, which one is right for you.
If you want a short answer, Semrush is better than Ubersuggest for the most part. For beginners, however, Ubersuggest seems to be a more popular option. With that out of the way, let’s see how they compare in practice.
Ubersuggest vs Semrush: Quick Comparison
| Ubersuggest | Semrush | |
| 🔖 Starting Price | $12/mo | $117.33/mo |
| ✅ Free Plan | Yes | Yes |
| 🆓 Free Trial | 7 days | 14 days |
| 📃 Page Crawls per Project | 5,000 to 10,000 | 20,000 to 100,000 |
| 🈁 Tracked Keywords | 150 to 300 | 500 to 5,000 |
| 🌐 Content Marketing | Yes | Yes |
| 🏤 User Seats | 1 to 5 (additional seats are $5/mo) | 1 (additional seats start at $45/mo) |
| 💯 Best For | AI content creation, SEO on a tight budget, and rank-tracking | Keyword research, content marketing, and backlink analysis |
Keyword Research
Both Semrush and Ubersuggest are excellent for researching keywords. We know how vital keywords are for SEO, and in our testing, we had zero issues finding and using them in our content. Still, there are differences.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest comes with the Keyword Research tool, which begins with the Keyword Overview. Simply type in the keyword and get viable results, such as:
- Search volume per country (including global search volume!)
- SEO difficulty
- CPC & paid difficulty
- Search intent
- Search volume history
- Keyword ideas, etc.
Ubersuggest will also display content ideas based on pages already created by similar websites, which we think is very handy. What’s more, we found its SEO difficulty metric very accurate. The “SEO tools” keyword had a score of 89%, which sounds very realistic.
On the other hand, when we tested Mangools, we found its difficulty scores a bit more “forgiving” but hardly more accurate than Ubersuggest or Semrush. Keyword Ideas are mentioned briefly, and you can open this menu separately to see additional suggestions.
A user can employ different filters or even generate content with AI right away, based on the chosen keyword suggestion. One more tool worth mentioning is Similar Websites, also known as Competitive Analysis, where you’ll find keyword gaps and common keywords.
Ubersuggest automatically detects similar websites, but we must say it’s not the most accurate. I mean, Apple’s website isn’t really our competitor, but according to Ubersuggest, it is. Regardless, detecting keyword gaps is a piece of cake, which is expected from this SEO tool.
Semrush (Winner)
Semrush functions similarly. The Keyword Overview tool provides insight into valuable data, such as CPC, global volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, search volume trends, keyword ideas, etc. There’s also the Competitive Density metric that displays how competitive the keyword is.
It goes from 0 to 1, where 1 indicates the highest competitiveness level.
Semrush’s highlight is the Keyword Magic Tool, which displays thousands of suggestions based on the seed keyword. It uses advanced filters and works in multiple languages, allowing you to, for example, detect long-tail keywords for easier ranking on Google.
The Keyword Strategy Builder is another ace. You can use it to build a valid keyword strategy with pillar pages and subpages, which guides you in the right direction. Let’s not forget its Keyword Gap tool, which is a bit more advanced than the one from Ubersuggest.
Again, Semrush relies on advanced filters to discover more specific keywords, plus, you’re adding competitors yourself instead of relying on Ubersuggest to find “similar” websites. Last but not least, Semrush’s keyword-related data is more accurate, including the difficulty score.
After a bit of digging, we found that Semrush’s keyword database is a LOT larger, too. With over 26 billion keywords in its repository, it trumps Ubersuggest with only ~1.3 billion keywords. This is why it’s able to provide more information and is generally more reliable.
Backlink Analysis & Link Building
The next Ubersuggest vs Semrush comparison takes us to the backlinks and all the research tied to them. We know Semrush and Ahrefs are exemplary picks for this purpose, but during this comparison, we found Ubersuggest pretty decent for a small-scale SEO tool. That’s why we’ll start with it.
Ubersuggest
This SEO software has two tools for backlink analysis and link-building:
- Backlink Overview
- Backlink Opportunity
The first one is your typical backlink analysis. You’ll provide the domain address and be able to check out its backlink profile. Things like domain authority, referring domains, backlinks (including nofollow ones), anchor texts, and new/lost referring domains are present here.
It’s worth noting that Ubersuggest also provides historical link data — albeit, so does Semrush! We can’t help but notice that Semrush’s historical data goes way back to 2012 for certain analyses, while Ubersuggest goes back to 12 months for backlinks and up to 24 months for keyword research.
Nevertheless, the Backlink Overview tool is simple to use and displays all the relevant data on a silver platter. No need to dig around like an angry terrier. Now, the Backlink Opportunity tool is your backlink gap feature. You can add up to 5 competitors, as well, which is great.
After doing so, you’ll see which websites link to your 5 (or fewer) competitors, but not to your website. The report is easy to grasp, but it’s also rather shallow. You’ll see the domain authority of the referring domain, and if you click on “Backlink”, you’ll see the exact backlink leading to a specific page.
It’s handy enough, but not the most comprehensive. If that’s an issue, let’s look at Semrush.
Semrush (Winner)
Semrush is both handy and comprehensive, more so than any of the Semrush alternatives you’ll find online. For example, the Keyword Overview tool displays even more information than Ubersuggest’s equivalent. That’s because of Semrush’s large backlink database.
We found more referring domains for our website, with things like the authority score, organic traffic, monthly visits, new/lost referring domains, top countries, and much more. You can also see the most used anchors for linking to your website, similarly to Ubersuggest.
The Backlink Gap tool in Semrush is here too, but we’re huge fans of the Link-Building Tool.
It provides not only backlink opportunities but ALSO allows you to contact each “prospect” or website for a backlink or a guest post. It’s a neat little CRM that allows for seamless collaboration and opening up new business propositions. Finally, the Backlink Audit tool.
We love this tool because it’s great for broken backlink building, which is essential when trying to improve your backlink profile. Another benefit is the detection of toxic backlinks, with the Disavow function that you can use to signal Google to ignore the given link.
The only minor downside is that the Backlink Gap tool compares four, instead of five, competitors to your domain, as is the case with Ubersuggest. On the other hand, the tool is much more comprehensive, and the report allows you to dig deeper and find some incredible information about your competitors.
With everything said, Semrush is a more robust and feature-rich SEO tool for backlink analysis and link-building.
Rank Tracking: Semrush or Ubersuggest?
Before discussing keyword rank-tracking, let’s glance at their project limits.
- Ubersuggest tracks 150 to 300 keywords per project, with daily updates, mobile rank-tracking, and up to unlimited selected locations.
- Semrush tracks 500 to 5,000 keywords per project, with daily updates, mobile rank-tracking, and 1, 10, or unlimited selected locations.
You can even be half-blind and see that Semrush is better for larger websites due to its more generous keyword rank-tracking limits. Beware that Semrush’s Pro plan, the starting one, limits you to one location, while Ubersuggest goes as low as 20, which is much better.
You have to upgrade from Pro to Guru in Semrush to get multi-device and multi-location tracking, along with cannibalization reports that Ubersuggest lacks. Other than that, they perform similarly.
As said, you’ll get better historical data on Semrush, but with daily rank-tracking, there’s no fear of missing out on important rank changes. Semrush does offer more features, but you’ll need to splurge on the Guru plan, which is multiple times more expensive than Ubersuggest.
Even in the Pro plan, we found that Semrush offers just a tad more information, and while you need to spend more on more advanced reports, at least you CAN — in Ubersuggest, the “base” is as far as you can go. Again, let’s not forget more generous rank-tracking limits.
All of this makes Semrush an overall better option for keyword rank-tracking.
Site Audits & On-Page SEO
Whether you opt for Ubersuggest or Semrush, you’ll be able to perform swift and efficient website audits. However, more expensive Semrush has an edge here, although Ubersuggest performs incredibly well for its scope. Let’s see what both SEO tools bring to the table.
| Ubersuggest | Semrush | |
| Pages crawled/report | 1,000 to 10,000 | 20,000 to 100,000 |
| Frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| JavaScript Rendering | No | Yes |
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest has a simple Site Audit tool, which crawls your website admittedly fast and digs out persistent issues, like an angry terrier we mentioned. You’ll get your on-page SEO score, along with organic keywords, organic monthly traffic, and the total number of backlinks.
Ubersuggest neatly displays the number of successfully crawled pages, along with redirections, broken, and blocked pages. The “top” issues are separated and can be addressed thanks to Ubersuggest’s clever advice on how to fix them — you can even ignore some issues if you want!
Scrolling down a bit more displays your website speed, e.g., Core Web Vitals, such as load time, interactivity, and visual stability. With a simple toggle, you can switch from desktop to mobile results and see how optimized your website is for mobile devices, which is important.
Why? Because improving your SEO has a LOT in common with proper mobile optimization!
Semrush (Winner)
Unfortunately for Ubersuggest, it doesn’t offer a lot more to play around with.
Semrush’s Site Audit tool works the same and detects the same annoying errors ready to be fixed. Core Web Vitals, crawlability, internal linking, and other aspects are covered, too, making Semrush a bit more comprehensive. We found a few other nifty additions.
One of them is crawling comparison, which compares the current crawl to the previous ones. This is useful for finding out if you’ve made any improvements from the last time. Thematic Reports are incredibly useful for detecting specific issues, with, let’s say, internal linking.
On top of that, Semrush has a dedicated on-page SEO tool called On-Page SEO checker.
It analyzes the given page separately and provides valuable advice on optimization. This isn’t only technical stuff. Semrush advises you on how to optimize your content, user experience, and semantic quality, as well.
So, in this Semrush vs Ubersuggest analysis, we can’t help but give the title to Semrush. Not because Ubersuggest is bad, but because it feels basic compared to its feature-packed competitor.
Content Marketing & Creation Features
Things are very exciting in the content marketing department. While Semrush offers a tad more, it’s surprising what Ubersuggest has in store. Both options leverage AI writing to help you get ahead of the competition and properly optimize your content. There are differences that we’ll address now.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest straight up has an AI Writer, which helps you create complete pages based on the keyword. I mean, it’s foolproof and very simple to use, plus, you can let AI create SEO meta tags, Instagram captions, social media ads, and much more for you. Very useful!
The AI Writer is a paid add-on, so even if you purchase the paid plan, the AI Writer has its own subscription plans. However, at $21/mo for the Blogger plan with 25,000 monthly words and no daily limits, we think it’s more than worth the price, drawing from our experience.
Another tool we liked is the Keywords Generator. It’s a great keyword research tool, but we think it belongs to content marketing/creation because of the way it works. It analyzes your site’s content and uncovers relevant keywords worth targeting. In practice, it works fine.
However, some of the found keywords in our review didn’t make much sense and weren’t relevant for our niche. This isn’t a big problem because Semrush’s Topic Research, while handy, also discovers some peculiar topics that you won’t be able to use, no matter what.
Semrush (Winner)
This segways into the Semrush part and its Topic Research tool. It requires a seed keyword or a topic on which the whole suggestion model is based. Suggestions are pretty much your “plans” because Semrush gives you title ideas with headlines and questions to cover.
The SEO Writing Assistant isn’t an AI writer, although it supports this function if you pay a bit more. It’s more for AI-driven content optimization and improvement, and is likely one of Semrush’s most innovative tools. We use it daily and have seen excellent results so far.
SEO Content Template is another one that is particularly useful for SEO briefs.
After providing the keyword, Semrush will recommend things like:
- LSI keywords
- Backlinks
- Readability score
- Text length
You’ll then be able to create a page based on these merits to have a higher chance of ranking properly in SERPs. Semrush’s “weapon” of choice for AI writing is ContentShake AI. It costs $60/mo after the trial and provides 25 new content ideas weekly, composes/rewrites articles, and creates SEO content briefs.
Not to mention that Semrush has an App Center, which supports hundreds of third-party integrations, many of which are for content creation — TrendFeed, Semrush Persona, and more. This consequently makes Semrush a far better option for content creation and marketing.
Semrush vs Ubersuggest Price Comparison
As a better, more equipped tool, Semrush is naturally going to be more expensive. We love the no-quibble approach on both sides — you get what you pay for. If you want to save money, Ubersuggest is a good option, but at a slightly higher price, you can get way better SE Ranking.
By the way, you can read our SE Ranking review here if you’re interested.
For now, we’ll move on to the Ubersuggest vs Semrush price comparison and see how it looks.
Ubersuggest (Winner)
Ubersuggest is very flexible and, above all else, cheap. The Individual plan starts at $12/mo, with one user, one domain, 150 searches a day, 125 tracked keywords, etc. It’s not the best “set” of features, but at the price, it’s pretty good. Now, we have two more plans.
Business and Enterprise at $20/mo and $40/mo, respectively.
The former supports 2 users, while the latter supports 5, so you DO get user seats, which is excellent. The screenshot above displays their features and limits, and as you can see, they’re generous for the price tag. Plus, you can buy add-ons at just $5/mo if you need more daily searches, users, +250 tracked keywords, etc.
Neil Patel made a staggering move and introduced Lifetime plans — these are fantastic!
You’ll pay from $132 to $439 and be able to use Ubersuggest for as long as it or you exist.
Ubersuggest has a free plan, which gives you access to all of its tools but excludes certain metrics like search intent, historical data, and a few more.
Semrush
Semrush is another class, price-wise. The Pro plan, which starts at $117.33/mo for the annual variant, is nearly as expensive as Ubersuggest’s Individual Lifetime plan! However, you’re looking at higher limits, more projects (sites), more keywords, and tons of other features.
The Guru plan, while costing a whopping $208.33/mo, is the best-value pick for us. It includes everything you need, with Content Marketing, multi-location and multi-device tracking, and more. The Business plan is likely out of your reach, as is the case for many.
Please note that by clicking the button below, you’ll be able to enjoy a 17% discount by committing to a yearly plan instead of paying month by month. There’s no need to enter any Semrush coupon code — the discount is applied automatically.
Save 17% on Semrush Annual Plans
Disappointingly, all Semrush plans are for one user, and additional user seats start at $45/mo. Business plan users will pay $100/mo per user. Semrush also has countless paid add-ons that boost the experience tremendously at, honestly, pretty steep prices.
It does have a free plan, plus you can obtain a Semrush free trial for 14 days to test it out. At some point, you’ll have to buy it if you’re serious enough. That will be a considerable investment compared to Ubersuggest, which is significantly less expensive in comparison.
Customer Support
Semrush and Ubersuggest’s support teams are on par with what you’d expect from them.
As a more expensive pick, Semrush uses live chat and email support, making it extremely convenient to get in touch and resolve problems. On-site documentation is ubiquitous, so there’s the Help Center that explains every nook and cranny to help you get started.
Ubersuggest, as a less expensive tool, relies strictly on its ticketing system, i.e., email support. You’ll have to state the subject, attach files if needed, and describe the issue. The support team usually comes back in a few hours, after which, the problem-solving process begins.
Ubersuggest’s site is populated with FAQs, how-to guides, and coaching/training articles. Thus, there’s virtually no need to get in touch most of the time. There’s a chatbot that isn’t the most efficient for complex questions, leaving email support as a more viable choice.
All in all, we give Semrush a slight advantage because of convenient 24/7 live chat support.
Conclusion: Semrush Is Better Than Ubersuggest
You didn’t need us to tell you that Semrush is better than Ubersuggest, but here we are. As hinted at previously, this is a case of “you get what you pay for”. Yes, Semrush is way better, but also way costlier. Ubersuggest is VERY good for the price, so it’s hard to blame it.
Remember that it starts at $12/mo, while Semrush starts at $117.33/mo — 10 times more!
We don’t want to govern anyone’s budget. However, if you’re serious about SEO and want to control and monitor every aspect, plus have endless scalability, Semrush should be your go-to option.
Ubersuggest is no slouch, but it’s way better for beginners and those on a budget. It’ll do its job just fine, although when your website takes off, you’ll likely need more comprehensive tools to keep it afloat and monitor your progress. In this case, it’s better to save some money and get Semrush.