Comparison · checked September 2026
I have paid for Semrush for years and still use it for keyword and backlink work. This page is what I would tell a client who asked me which to buy for AI visibility: where Semrush is the right answer, where it is not, and the arithmetic for one business, three, and ten.
The short version. Semrush's toolkit is the right choice if your team already lives in Semrush and you want AI visibility beside rank tracking, site audits and client reports on one invoice. It is priced per domain, billed annually, and the standalone plan includes 25 prompts.
AI Visibility Tracking is the right choice if you are a local or online business, or an agency with several small clients, and you want a daily measurement with every answer kept, from $29 a month with no annual commitment — and a free plan to see where you stand before paying anything.
| Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | AI Visibility Tracking | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $99 / month per domain, billed annually | $29 / month, monthly or annual; free plan exists |
| Prompts / questions on entry plan | 25 prompts | 25 questions (Free: 5) |
| Extra prompts | +50 for $60 / month | Pro 50, Agency 200 — included in the plan |
| Businesses on one plan | 1 domain; each extra domain +$99 / month | Starter 1 · Pro 3 · Agency 10, questions pooled |
| Extra users | +$99 / month each | One login per account (share it with your team) |
| AI systems checked | ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews; Perplexity in some reports; Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek on Enterprise only | ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews; Perplexity daily on Pro and Agency |
| How often | Daily | Daily on paid plans; weekly on Free |
| Asked from where | Set per project | Anonymously, from your customer's country or city, every time |
| Every full answer kept and readable | Mentions and citations shown per prompt | Yes — click any question, read what each AI said and which pages it read |
| Score with a stated range | Visibility scores | Score, the range it sits in, and the band — method published |
| “AI search volume” per prompt | Yes — prompt research with estimated volume and intent | No. We do not print a number nobody can verify; we show what was answered — plus Google search demand per question, labelled as Google searches |
| Questions written from your website | Prompt research library and suggestions | Yes — reads your site, writes the questions your market asks, tags buying stage, flags places you do not serve |
| Who is recommended instead | Yes — AI competitor analysis | Yes — rival names from real answers, with counts |
| Sites to get listed on | Citation sources | Sites the AI actually read for your market, each with what to do |
| Website visits from AI | Via Google Analytics elsewhere in Semrush | Built in — connect GA read-only or paste one line; by AI, page and week |
| Site audit for AI readiness | Yes | No — we measure answers, not pages |
| Rank tracking, keywords, backlinks | Yes, in the wider Semrush suite | No — this is one tool that does one thing |
| Client reports | PDF and scheduled reports; white-label via a paid report add-on | PDF any time and monthly, weekly email per business, included |
| Try before buying | Free sample reports; trial only through the Semrush One bundle | Free plan, no card; question finder and live demo need no account |
| Commitment | Annual | Monthly; cancel any time, history kept |
Semrush figures read from semrush.com/pricing/ai and the Semrush knowledge base in September 2026, cross-checked against independent reviews. Semrush changes engine coverage and bundles often; check their page before buying. Our figures are the pricing page.
Semrush meters on domains; we meter on questions pooled across businesses. That is the whole difference in the arithmetic.
Per month. Semrush rows are $99 per domain on the standalone toolkit, before extra prompts ($60 per 50) or users ($99 each). The Semrush One bundles ($199 / $299 / $549) raise the prompt limit to 50 / 100 / 200 and add the SEO suite, but Brand Performance is still priced per domain.
We do not show “AI search volume”. Semrush prints an estimated number for how often each prompt is asked. It is an estimate — nobody outside OpenAI and Google can count that. Some teams find the estimate useful for planning; we chose not to print a figure we cannot stand behind. Every number on our dashboard comes from an answer we have on record — or, for search demand, from Google's own search numbers (Google Ads data), clearly labelled as Google searches.
We publish the method. The score formula, the range calculation and what is left out are on the how it works page. If a number looks wrong, the answer it came from is one click away.
Yes, and some agencies do: Semrush for keywords, backlinks and audits, this for the daily AI measurement and client reporting on AI visibility. There is no overlap in the SEO data, only in the AI answer tracking.
$99 a month per domain, billed annually, for one user and 25 prompts, as published in September 2026. Extra domains, prompts and users are priced separately, so a three-client agency setup lands well above $99.
Yes, on Pro and Agency — every morning, beside ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, and it counts in the score like the others. Free and Starter check those four. Visits arriving from Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Grok are also counted on the visits card if you connect Google Analytics.
Your account drops to the free plan and every answer, report and chart stays. Nothing is deleted unless you remove the business yourself.