XeoRank vs Semrush: the full suite against a smaller tool that makes the fixes

Semrush is the bigger product: it has far more keyword and backlink data, plus PPC, local and market research that XeoRank does not offer. XeoRank is the smaller, cheaper option, with an MCP server on every plan, AI visibility per engine, and an AI agent that edits your existing WordPress, Framer and code sites, with your AI assistant asking before each change.

We make XeoRank. Every Semrush fact below comes from Semrush's own pages, checked 13 October 2026. Prices change, so confirm on both pricing pages before you buy.

The short answer

Stay with Semrush if you run paid search, manage local listings, research keywords or links across many countries at scale, or your team already works in Semrush reports. Choose XeoRank if you want a smaller, cheaper tool with an MCP server you can act through on every plan, AI visibility per engine and an agent that edits your existing WordPress, Framer and code sites, with your AI assistant asking before each change.

Side by side

Where Semrush is ahead

Data depth is the first gap. Semrush's data page reports 28.8 billion keywords across 142 databases and 43 trillion backlinks. XeoRank uses real search volumes for the keywords you research and track, but its keyword and backlink databases are smaller.

Breadth is the second. Semrush's pricing page puts SEO, PPC, local, content and market data in one account, with its SEO, Starter, Pro+ and Advanced plans covering 5, 5, 15 and 40 websites and 500, 500, 1,500 and 5,000 tracked keywords. Its Site Audit runs over 140 checks and covers 100,000 pages a month on the entry tier.

When to stay with Semrush

Stay with Semrush if any of these is true:

• You run paid search. XeoRank has no PPC or ads research suite.
• You manage local listings. XeoRank does not.
• You research keywords or links across many countries at scale. Semrush's databases are larger.
• Your team already works in Semrush reports, and retraining would cost more than the subscription.
• You only want AI answers next to the Semrush data you already have. The AI Visibility Toolkit adds that for $99 a month without switching tools.

Best for teams that need PPC, local and market research alongside SEO. Skip it if you want your AI assistant to act on the site as well as read the data.

Where XeoRank is different

Price

XeoRank Starter is $19 a month with a 14-day free trial and no card. Pro is $49 a month and Growth $109 a month, and pricing lists what each includes. Semrush's pricing page starts at $139 a month for the SEO plan and $199 for the first plan with AI prompts. Semrush's SEO Toolkit help article lists slightly different figures ($139.95, $249.95 and $499.95 for Pro, Guru and Business), so check which one applies to you.

An MCP server you can act through, on every plan

The XeoRank MCP server has more than 200 tools and is on every plan, including Starter. It works with Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, and covers audits, keyword research, rank tracking (live checks on Pro and above), Search Console, GA4, AI visibility and site editing. Semrush's MCP server is read-only and consumes API units, and API access sits on its Business and Advanced plans. With Semrush your assistant can read the data; with XeoRank it can also act on the site.

AI visibility per engine, in the plan

XeoRank asks ChatGPT, Gemini (grounded in Google Search) and Perplexity your buyer questions and reports each engine separately, next to an overall citation rate; see pricing for what each plan includes. You can try a free three-question Gemini check on the AI visibility page without logging in.

At Semrush, the pricing page shows no AI prompts on the SEO plan and 50, 100 or 200 on Starter, Pro+ and Advanced. The separate AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 a month for 25 prompts with no free trial. Semrush's pages disagree on its engines: the pricing page shows Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, while the knowledge base names Google AI Mode and ChatGPT.

An agent that edits the site you already have

This is the main reason to pick XeoRank. With the free XeoRank Connector plugin, your AI assistant can edit existing WordPress pages and posts, including Elementor layouts as native containers and widgets, write titles and meta descriptions to Yoast, Rank Math or All in One SEO, add schema and upload images. On Framer it can edit pages, text and CMS items and publish to staging or production.

On code sites it can commit to GitHub and deploy to Vercel.

On WordPress, writes stay off for each site until you enable them, new pages are created as drafts, and every change to a page's content is snapshotted so you can restore it. Semrush's Content Toolkit, $60 a month billed annually, includes a WordPress plugin that publishes content live or as a draft. See the AI SEO agent for what you can ask for.

Reports for clients and teams

XeoRank's Search Console and GA4 report covers clicks, impressions, CTR, position, branded and non-branded traffic, top queries and landing pages, and AI referral traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, compared with the previous period. It exports as a PDF or a Google Doc in your Drive, and on Growth it can carry your agency's name (white-label reports). Workspaces have owner, admin and member roles, and members are read-only unless you give them write access. Semrush's pricing page charges for extra users from $45 a month.

What XeoRank does not do

• Smaller keyword and backlink databases than Semrush.
• No PPC or ads research suite, and no market research data.
• No local listings management.
• Fewer AI engines than dedicated trackers. AthenaHQ, for example, covers 11 engines on its Starter plan.
• No built-in SEO agent. The SEO agent runs in your own AI assistant, such as Claude or ChatGPT.

Best for teams that want an agent to edit the site they already have. Skip it if paid search, local listings or database size decide the purchase.

How to compare them fairly

Run both on the same site in the same week. Semrush's pricing page offers a 7-day trial and a free plan; XeoRank Starter has a 14-day trial with no card on our pricing page. Compare the issues each crawler finds, the search volumes each shows for your own keywords, what each reports for every AI engine, and how long it takes to get a fix live on your site. If you would rather see more options first, read Semrush alternatives or Semrush vs Ahrefs.

Sources and how we compared

We compared each tool using its own pricing page, feature pages and help documentation, all checked on 13 October 2026. For each one we recorded the lowest paid plan, the free option, keyword and backlink data, the technical audit, AI visibility, PPC and local features, whether it can change your website, and whether it offers an MCP server.

Where two of a vendor's own pages disagree, we show both figures. We did not buy every plan, so features behind a sales call are described from the vendor's documentation. XeoRank is our product, and its details come from our own pricing page and documentation.