AYKA Tool Lab

SE Ranking review: pricing, plans and who it suits

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Short answer

SE Ranking's Core plan costs $129 per month, or $103.20 per month billed annually, and tracks 2,000 keywords daily across 10 projects. That is more tracked keywords per dollar than Semrush or Ahrefs offer on their entry plans, which makes SE Ranking a strong fit for freelancers, small teams and agencies on a budget. Prices checked in October 2026.

Key figures

Core plan, monthly billing
$129 per month
Core plan, billed annually
$103.20 per month
Growth plan, monthly billing
$279 per month
Keywords tracked daily on Core
2,000
Projects on Core
10
Free trial
14 days, no credit card
Price per tracked keyword, SE Ranking Core
$0.065
Price per tracked keyword, Ahrefs Lite
$0.172
Price per tracked keyword, Semrush SEO plan
$0.278
Core + Agency Pack, billed annually
$172.20 per month

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform: rank tracking, keyword and backlink research, website audits and tracking of how brands appear in AI answers. This review sticks to what can be verified on SE Ranking's own pricing page: what each plan costs, what it includes, what the add-ons add to the bill, and where the limits bite.

No credit card required.

Comparison

Entry priceFree optionTracked keywords (entry plan)Projects (entry plan)Users (entry plan)
SE Ranking$129/mo (Core); $103.20/mo billed annually14-day trial, no card2,000 daily101 manager seatTry SE Ranking free
Semrush$139/mo (SEO); $117.33/mo billed annuallyFree plan + 7-day trial500 daily5 websitesextra users from $45/mo
Ahrefs$129/mo (Lite); Starter $29/mo is research-onlyFree limited account, no trial750 (Lite)5 (Lite)1 (+$40/mo each, up to 2 more)
Moz Pro$99/mo (Standard); $79/mo billed annually (save 20%)Free trial on the Medium plan300 (Standard)3 tracked sites (Standard)1 (Standard)

Pricing checked:

SE Ranking pricing in 2026

SE Ranking sells two self-serve plans and a custom Enterprise tier. Paying yearly saves 20%.

  • Core: $129 per month, or $103.20 per month billed annually. 10 projects, 1 manager seat, 2,000 keywords tracked daily, 100 AI prompts tracked daily, 250,000 site-audit pages per month and 6 months of historical data.
  • Growth: $279 per month, or $223.20 per month billed annually. 30 projects, 3 manager seats, 5,000 keywords tracked daily, 250 AI prompts daily, 2,000,000 site-audit pages per month and all-time history.
  • Enterprise: custom limits and pricing through sales.

All prices are US list prices without VAT.

What the Core plan includes

The Core plan already covers the daily work of most small SEO teams: rank tracking across major search engines, unlimited keyword, competitor and backlink research, a website and on-page audit, and integrations with Looker Studio, Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console.

The main reasons to move up to Growth are people and history: Growth adds 2 more manager seats, keeps data for the lifetime of a project instead of 6 months, and adds page-change monitoring and guest links for clients.

No credit card required.

Add-ons that change the final price

SE Ranking's headline prices are low, but three add-ons matter for agencies and AI-search work:

  • Agency Pack: +$69 per month, annual billing only. Adds white-label reports, 30 client seats and a lead generator.
  • AI Search: +$71.20 per month on annual billing, for more AI prompts and the AI results tracker.
  • Extra manager seats: from $16 each.

An agency that needs white label on Core therefore pays $103.20 + $69 = $172.20 per month on annual billing.

Price per tracked keyword: SE Ranking vs Semrush and Ahrefs

Tracked keywords are the clearest like-for-like number on all three pricing pages. Dividing each entry plan's monthly price by its tracked keywords gives:

  • SE Ranking Core: $129 for 2,000 keywords, about $0.065 per keyword.
  • Ahrefs Lite: $129 for 750 keywords, about $0.172 per keyword.
  • Semrush SEO plan: $139 for 500 keywords, about $0.278 per keyword.

This compares quantity, not data quality: update frequency and the depth of each tool's backlink and keyword databases differ and are not listed on the pricing pages.

Weaknesses to know before you buy

  • One manager seat on Core. A second person costs extra (from $16 per seat) or requires Growth.
  • Only 6 months of history on Core. Year-over-year ranking comparisons need Growth.
  • White label is not included. It comes with the Agency Pack, which is billed annually.
  • No permanent free plan. After the 14-day trial you need a paid plan, while Semrush and Ahrefs both keep a limited free account.

Who should choose SE Ranking

SE Ranking is the better buy if your work is mostly tracking many keywords for several websites, auditing sites and reporting to clients, and you want that for $129 a month or less. It is a weaker fit if you need the largest backlink index (Ahrefs) or a broad marketing suite with advertising and content research in one place (Semrush).

The 14-day trial needs no credit card, so the cheapest way to decide is to load your own keywords into it. Start the SE Ranking trial.

Verdict

For most freelancers, small in-house teams and growing agencies, SE Ranking offers the most rank tracking and auditing per dollar among the big SEO suites. Choose Ahrefs if backlink data is your core job, or Semrush if you also need its wider marketing toolset. Try SE Ranking free for 14 days.

Questions

How much does SE Ranking cost?

The Core plan costs $129 per month, or $103.20 per month billed annually. Growth costs $279 per month, or $223.20 per month billed annually. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Does SE Ranking have a free trial?

Yes. The trial lasts 14 days, needs no credit card and includes up to 10 projects, 750 tracked keywords per day and 20 AI prompts per day.

Is SE Ranking cheaper than Semrush?

Yes for rank tracking. SE Ranking Core tracks 2,000 keywords daily for $129 per month; Semrush's SEO plan tracks 500 keywords for $139 per month.

Does SE Ranking track AI search answers?

Yes. Core tracks 100 AI prompts per day and Growth 250; the AI Search add-on (+$71.20 per month, annual) raises the limits.

What is the main downside of SE Ranking?

Core includes only 1 manager seat and 6 months of history, and white-label reporting is a paid add-on.