Ahrefs vs Semrush vs Moz: which should a startup pick in 2026?
By Roshan, founder of SearchMaxx - - updated - 6 min read
For most startups starting to publish content, pick Semrush. Its $139 SEO plan includes keyword and competitor research, rank tracking and AI visibility reports in one bill. Pick Ahrefs if backlinks are the core of your work and you can pay $249 a month for unlimited credits. Pick Moz only if you mainly need rank tracking and AI prompt tracking on a small budget, because its cheaper plans limit keyword research.
Every number below comes from each vendor's own pricing, help or data pages, as of October 2026. The index sizes are what each company reports about itself. We have not run our own accuracy test.
Side by side
| Feature | Ahrefs | Semrush | Moz Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Starter, $29/mo | SEO, $139/mo | Starter, $49/mo, one site |
| Main small-team plan | Lite, $129/mo | SEO, $139/mo, or Starter, $199/mo | Standard, $99/mo |
| Billed yearly | "Save up to 17%" | $117.33/mo (SEO), $165.17/mo (Starter) | $79/mo (Standard), $143/mo (Medium) |
| Next plan up | Standard, $249/mo | Pro+, $299/mo | Medium, $179/mo |
| Users included | 1; on Lite, up to 2 more at $40/mo each | Not stated; extra users from $45/mo | 1 on Standard, 2 on Medium, 3 on Large |
| Projects or sites | 5 (Lite) | 5 (SEO and Starter) | 3 (Standard) |
| Tracked keywords | 750 (Lite) | 500 (SEO and Starter) | 300 (Standard) |
| Research limits | 1,000 credits per user on Lite; unlimited from Standard | SEO plan's research tools described as "basic" | 150 keyword queries and 5,000 backlink queries a month on Standard |
| History | 6 months (Lite), 2 years (Standard) | Historical SEO data from Pro+ | Not stated on pricing page |
| Backlink index, self-reported | 35 trillion external backlinks in history; 494 billion pages | Over 43 trillion backlinks; 808 million domains | Over 40 trillion links |
| Keyword database, self-reported | 29 billion; 217 locations | 28.8 billion; 142 country databases | Over 1.25 billion |
| AI visibility on the main plan | 5 tracked AI prompts (Lite) | AI visibility reports for any domain; 50 prompts a day on Starter | 150 prompts checked weekly across GPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity |
| Full AI visibility tool | Brand Radar AI, add-on from $199/mo | 100 prompts a day on Pro+ | 300 prompts on Medium; extra prompts $50 per 100 |
| Free option | Free plan for your own verified sites | Free plan, 10 reports a day; 7-day trial | Free trial on Medium; free Keyword Explorer, Link Explorer and MozBar |
Sources: Ahrefs pricing, Ahrefs Starter plan, Ahrefs data, Ahrefs Free, Semrush pricing, Semrush data, Moz Pro pricing.
Pricing: what you actually pay
Ahrefs looks cheapest at $29, but Starter is a sampler. It gives 200 credits a month, 1 month of history, 250 rows per report and 50 tracked keywords, with no exports and no extra users (Ahrefs help). The real starting point for a team is Lite at $129. Lite's limit is credits. Opening a report costs 1 credit, and each new filter or date range costs another (Ahrefs help). Standard at $249 removes the credit limit.
Semrush starts at $139 a month for the SEO plan, or $117.33 billed yearly. That covers 5 websites, 500 tracked keywords, a site audit and AI visibility reports. Starter at $199 adds 50 tracked AI prompts a day and MCP access for AI assistants. Pro+ at $299 adds historical data, 15 websites and 1,500 tracked keywords (Semrush).
Moz Pro is cheapest for a full plan. Standard costs $99 a month, or $79 billed yearly. Medium costs $179 and is the first plan with two users (Moz).
Data: backlinks and keywords
Ahrefs and Semrush report indexes of similar size: around 29 billion keywords each, and tens of trillions of links (Ahrefs, Semrush). Each company counts links its own way, so a bigger number on one page does not prove more useful data. Ahrefs says its live backlink index updates "every 15–30 minutes". Semrush says its crawler visits about 10 billion pages a day.
Moz reports over 40 trillion links but a much smaller keyword index, at over 1.25 billion keywords (Moz).
The useful test is your own market. During a trial, look up three competitors you know well. Check whether each tool finds the links and keywords you already know they have.
AI visibility features
All three now track whether AI assistants mention a brand. They do it differently.
- Ahrefs splits it in two. Every paid plan from Lite tracks a few prompts you choose: 5 on Lite, 10 on Standard, 20 on Advanced. Brand Radar AI, from $199 a month, searches a database Ahrefs puts at about 486 million prompts a month across AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity (Ahrefs, Ahrefs data). It is the broadest view of the three, and the most expensive.
- Semrush builds AI visibility into its plans. The SEO plan includes AI visibility reports for any domain and custom prompt monitoring. Starter tracks 50 prompts a day and adds 300 AI visibility reports a day (Semrush).
- Moz includes the most tracked prompts at the lowest price: 150 on Standard. It checks them weekly, not daily, across GPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity, and adds sentiment and citation data (Moz).
These tools show whether an assistant names you. They do not show why it skips you. A common reason is that the assistant's crawler cannot read the page at all. Our guides on AI crawlers in robots.txt and AI crawlers and JavaScript cover the two most common causes.
The limits that bite
- Ahrefs Lite: credits. 1,000 credits per user sounds like a lot until each filter costs one. Heavy researchers hit the cap.
- Semrush SEO: depth. Semrush calls the SEO plan's keyword and competitor research "basic". You also wait until Pro+ for historical data.
- Moz Standard: keyword queries. 150 a month is a few research sessions. Medium raises it to 5,000.
Which one to pick
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-launch or no one owns SEO | None yet | Google Search Console and Ahrefs Free cover your own site for $0 |
| One marketer starting a content plan | Semrush SEO or Starter | Research, rank tracking and AI visibility on one bill |
| Link building or digital PR is the main job | Ahrefs Standard | Unlimited credits and a backlink index updated every 15 to 30 minutes, per Ahrefs |
| You want broad AI search data across many prompts | Ahrefs with Brand Radar AI | The largest prompt database of the three, at $199 a month on top of a plan |
| Small budget, mainly tracking ranks and AI mentions | Moz Standard | 150 AI prompts and 300 keywords for $99 a month |
| Two people need logins on a budget | Moz Medium | Two users included at $179 a month |
Honest downsides
- Ahrefs: the cheapest useful plan is $129, credits run out on Lite, and the full AI tool costs extra.
- Semrush: the entry plan's research is limited, extra users cost $45 a month or more, and history starts on the $299 plan.
- Moz: the keyword index is far smaller than the other two, Standard's research limits are tight, and AI prompts are checked weekly.
If none of these fits your budget, SE Ranking tracks more keywords and prompts for $129 a month. We compare it in Ahrefs alternatives. If you have not set up the free tools yet, start with our list of the best SEO tools for early-stage startups.
A suite tells you where you rank. It does not tell you whether AI crawlers can read your site. Our free check answers that in about 10 seconds.
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