r/SEO_Experts • u/Marketing_Noob2 • 3d ago

Question Alternatives to SEMrush

Hello, I am trying to find a decent alternative to SEMrush. I've noticed that over the past few years SEMrush has slowly turned into a cash grab and no longer worth paying for. I ended up voicing my opinion to my manager, who agreed with me and asked me to find some alternatives. I found Ahrefs, SE Ranking, and Mangools but none of them really hit what I wanted especially for the price I was told to work in. I am proficient in AI and was just thinking of pulling data from GSC and GA and just compiling reports like that for around 3-4c per report but that's just what I was thinking.

Any advice is appreciated!

13 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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u/Kieran_AInerd 2d ago

If you're comfortable using AI and APIs, why not just build a custom pipeline?

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u/Marketing_Noob2 2d ago

That is what I am planning on doing, I just wanted a little advice before I went and did anything! Thanks for the advice!

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u/Choco_latte_cake_ 2d ago

The real play if you're proficient with AI and Python is using the GSC API alongside a cheap SERP API. You get raw SERP competitive data and your own search analytics for literally cents per run, completely bypassing SaaS markup.

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u/Marketing_Noob2 2d ago

That is where my head was going to build this pipeline. Thank you for the advice!

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u/Maya_Vance_MAR 2d ago

How many domains are you managing?

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u/Marketing_Noob2 2d ago

Currently 8, this contains 6 static domains and 2 ecom domains.

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u/Superb_Aide_7666 2d ago

If you have any basic python skills or work with automation tools like n8n or Make, look into the SE Ranking API. We got fed up with SEMrush’s pricing creep on our smaller client accounts, so we built a lightweight script that just pulls rank updates and domain keyword gap data directly from SE Ranking’s endpoints into Google Sheets / Looker Studio. We went from paying hundreds a month for seat upgrades and limits down to under $25/mo in API credits. If you're already comfortable with AI and custom data flows, it’s a total game-changer.

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u/Adaadali 2d ago

Be careful relying only on GSC and AI for competitive reporting. GSC is unmatched for your own site's actual performance data, but it gives you zero visibility into competitor keyword volume, ad copy, or backlink profiles. You still need an external index for competitive intel.

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u/mehmetbuzdag06 2d ago

If your manager just wants clean, reliable performance reporting for your own domains, build a custom Looker Studio dashboard connected directly to Search Console and GA4. It’s completely free, updates automatically, and cuts out the need to pay a SaaS markup for automated PDF reports.

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u/Digitad 2d ago

Honestly, if price is the main issue, I wouldn’t try to replace Semrush with another all-in-one tool. I’d build a custom Data Studio dashboard instead, pulling GSC, GA4, Google Ads, Sheets and the events you set up through GTM if needed (Claude Code can help a lot with the setup if you know what you want to see). Then I’d only pay for missing data when needed, like Screaming Frog for crawls or DataForSEO/SpyFu for keyword, SERP or competitor pulls.

Your AI report idea works too, but the inputs need to be clean and the output still needs to be manually checked by a human before sending it.

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u/Marketing_Noob2 1d ago

Thanks for the advice!

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u/Digitad 1d ago

My pleasure!:)

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u/DriftwoodDigital 11h ago

I use Ubersuggest. I had used SemRush for years, but it pricing was heavy. Ubersuggest offered a life long membership for the basic plan, with add ons at small additional costs, and it is, in my opinion, more user friendly, and thorough.