Semrush vs Moz: Which SEO Tool Is Better in 2026?

Semrush vs Moz is one of the most common comparisons people make when they shop for an SEO tool. Both tools help you track rankings, research keywords, check backlinks, and find problems on your website. But they are not the same product, and the price gap between them is large. Semrush starts at $139 a month. Moz Pro starts at $49 a month. This guide walks through what each tool gives you for the money, where each one is stronger, and who should pick which.

Last updated: November 2026

Semrush at a glance

Semrush is a large all-in-one marketing suite. It covers keyword research, competitor research, site audits, PPC tools, content tools, social media tools, and local SEO. Most people buy it as their main SEO tool, but many teams also use it for paid ads and content planning.

Its best-known strength is the size of its data. You can look up almost any website and see the keywords it ranks for, the ads it runs, and the pages that bring it the most traffic. You can also track your own rankings every day, which matters if you work in a fast-moving niche or report results to a client each week.

Semrush offers a free plan with limited features, and paid plans come with a short free trial. Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush on April 28, 2026.

Moz at a glance

Moz is one of the oldest names in SEO. It started as a blog and a set of free tools, and it grew into Moz Pro, a paid platform for rank tracking, keyword research, site audits, and link research. It is smaller and simpler than Semrush, and for many small teams that is the better buy.

Moz is best known for Domain Authority, a score from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results. SEOs talk about Domain Authority all the time. Clients ask about it. Link builders use it to judge a site before they ask for a link.

Moz also offers free tools that anyone can use without a paid plan, and paid plans come with a 30-day free trial, which is longer than most SEO tools offer.

Pricing compared

Price is where the two tools differ most. Moz starts much cheaper. Semrush costs more, but it includes more tools. The table below shows the monthly and yearly prices for each plan, along with the number of websites and tracked keywords.

Prices checked November 2026 — check the pricing page before you buy.

The gap is clear when you compare the entry plans. Moz Starter costs $49 a month for one website. Semrush SEO costs $139 a month for five websites and 500 tracked keywords. If you only manage one website, Moz gives you a much cheaper way in. If you manage several client sites, Semrush covers five websites on its cheapest plan, while Moz only covers three campaigns on its $99 Standard plan.

Yearly billing also works differently. Annual billing saves 20% on Moz, so the Standard plan drops from $99 to $79 a month. Annual billing saves up to 17% on Semrush, so the SEO plan drops from $139 to $117.33 a month.

At the top end, the two tools meet. Moz Large and Semrush Pro+ both cost $299 a month. At that level the choice comes down to features, not price.

Semrush vs Moz at a glance

Keyword research

Both tools help you find keywords, but Semrush has the larger keyword database and more ways to use it. You can type in a keyword and see search volume, difficulty, and related terms. You can also type in a competitor’s website and see every keyword it ranks for. That second feature is where Semrush earns its keep for many users.

Moz Keyword Explorer is simpler. You enter a keyword and get volume, difficulty, and a list of related ideas. It also shows the top pages ranking for that keyword. For a small site owner who needs ten good keywords a month, that is enough. You do not need a giant database to pick your next five blog posts.

The difference shows up when you work at scale. An agency that plans content for ten clients needs bulk keyword lists and gap analysis. A blogger who publishes twice a month does not. If you only do a few searches a week, Moz will do the job. If you do daily research across many sites, Semrush is the stronger tool.

Our wider comparison of tools in this cluster covers the same question from other angles. The pillar guide, Ubersuggest vs Ahrefs, compares two other popular tools, and our Semrush vs Ahrefs guide looks at Semrush against its closest rival.

Site audit

Both tools crawl your website and flag technical problems: broken links, missing meta descriptions, slow pages, duplicate content, and pages search engines cannot reach. Both give you a health score and a list of fixes ranked by importance. For most small and medium sites, either audit tool will find the problems that matter.

Semrush goes deeper. Its site audit checks more issues, lets you crawl larger sites, and ties the results into its other tools.

Moz Site Crawl is easier to read. The reports are shorter and the advice is written in plain language. If you are new to SEO, that matters. A tool that shows you 200 issues you do not understand will not help you as much as a tool that shows you the 20 that matter most.

Link data and Domain Authority

This is Moz’s home ground. Domain Authority is the metric most people in SEO know by name. When someone says a site “has a DA of 60,” everyone in the room knows what that means. Moz built that metric, and it still owns the term. Its link index is also strong, and its link research tools make it easy to see who links to a site and which pages attract the most links.

Semrush has its own metric, Authority Score, and its own large link index. It is good, and for most practical work it gives you the same answers. But Authority Score does not have the same name recognition as Domain Authority. If you report to clients who ask about DA by name, Moz saves you an explanation every time.

That said, do not buy a tool for one number alone. Domain Authority is a useful guide, not a ranking factor. Google does not use it. A site with a high DA can still rank badly if its content is weak, and a new site with a low DA can outrank bigger sites with one great page. Use DA to compare sites and spot link opportunities. Our Ahrefs vs Moz guide goes deeper into how Moz’s link data holds up against another major tool.

AI search visibility

Search is changing. People now get answers from AI tools as well as from Google, and both Semrush and Moz have added features to track how your site shows up in AI answers.

Moz Standard includes AI Visibility dashboards and tracked prompts. That means the $99 a month plan, or $79 a month billed yearly, already gives you AI tracking.

Semrush bundles AI search tracking in its Starter and Pro+ plans. The basic SEO plan at $139 a month does not include it in the same way, so you need to step up to the $199 Starter plan to get the full AI search features.

Who should pick which?

There is no single winner here. The right tool depends on your budget and what you will actually use. A tool with 50 features is a bad buy if you only use five of them. A cheap tool is a bad buy if it cannot do the one job you need. Start from your real work, not from the feature list.

Pick Moz if:

• Budget is your main concern. At $49 a month, Moz Starter is the cheapest way into a serious SEO tool in this comparison.
• You mainly need rank tracking, link metrics, and Domain Authority. Moz does these jobs well at a fair price.
• You are a small team or a solo site owner. Moz is simpler to learn, and its reports are easier to explain to a client or a boss.
• You want a long free trial. Thirty days is enough time to test the tool on real work before you pay.

Pick Semrush if:

• You want one tool for SEO plus PPC and content work. Semrush covers all three, so you pay once instead of three times.
• You need daily rank tracking. Semrush updates rankings every day on its paid plans.
• You need deep competitor data. Its keyword and traffic data on rival sites is stronger and easier to act on.
• You manage several websites or clients. Five websites on the cheapest plan is a good deal for agencies.

If you are still unsure, use the trials. Moz gives you 30 days. Semrush gives you a short trial and a free plan. Test both on the same website for a week. The tool that feels easier to use on your real work is usually the right one.

Frequently asked questions

Is Semrush better than Moz?

Semrush is the bigger tool, with more features for keyword research, PPC, and content. Moz is cheaper and simpler, and its Domain Authority metric is the best known in SEO. Neither is better for everyone. Pick Semrush if you want one all-in-one suite. Pick Moz if budget matters most and you mainly need rank tracking and link data.

Is Moz cheaper than Semrush?

Yes. Moz Pro starts at $49 a month for one website. Semrush starts at $139 a month for five websites and 500 tracked keywords. At the top end they cost about the same, with Moz Large and Semrush Pro+ both at $299 a month.

What is Domain Authority, and does Semrush have it?

Domain Authority is Moz’s score from 1 to 100 that predicts how likely a website is to rank. Semrush does not have Domain Authority. It has its own metric called Authority Score, which works in a similar way but is not the same number.

Do Semrush and Moz track AI search visibility?

Yes, both do. Moz Standard includes AI Visibility dashboards and tracked prompts. Semrush bundles AI search tracking in its Starter and Pro+ plans.

Can I try Semrush or Moz for free?

Yes. Moz offers free tools for all users and a 30-day free trial on paid plans. Semrush offers a free plan with limited features and a short free trial on paid plans. Try both on the same website so you can compare the results fairly.