Clearscope vs Semrush
We give Clearscope and Semrush the same GPA: 2.2 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Clearscope
Content optimization with term guidance and AI answer tracking
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAClearscopeFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DGraded against other content editors. Essentials is $129 a month with no yearly discount, against $49 for Surfer, $39 for Frase and $19 for NeuronWriter. Users are unlimited, so a team of five pays about $25.80 a head, but one marketer pays the lot. | DThe SEO plan, the one Semrush aims at freelancers and small businesses, is $117.33 a month billed yearly ($139 monthly). That's in this category's dearest tenth, for one user. AI search tracking needs Starter at $165.17, and each extra person is from $45 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but there's a 14-day free trial, and the listing doesn't say whether it asks for a card. | CA free account with no card: 1 project, 10 reports a day and 10 tracked keywords. Fine for a look around, but you'll hit the wall in an afternoon. The 7-day trial of the paid plans checks your card with a small charge that's refunded at once. |
| Features | BTerm and intent guidance with a live grade, AI drafts, query discovery, tracking of your brand in ChatGPT and Gemini, content monitoring with 404 and indexing alerts, and internal links while you write. The whole content job. | BKeyword research from a database it puts at 29 billion keywords across 142 countries, competitor and backlink analysis, daily rank tracking and Site Audit. It covers the whole job, though the SEO plan only gets the basic research tools and no AI visibility. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Clearscope includes live onboarding and training, but there are tracked queries, pages and drafts to manage within each month's limits. | CNo rating on record. It's a big suite with a lot of reports, and there are projects to set up and plenty to learn before it all makes sense. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with add-ons for Google Docs, Microsoft Word and WordPress, and links to Google Analytics and Search Console. No API on record, and no desktop or phone app. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. It connects to Google Analytics, Search Console, Wix, Yoast, AIOSEO, Supermetrics and Monday.com, has MCP from Starter, and the API comes with the custom-priced Advanced plan. |
| Best for | content teams with lots of writers | the broadest all-in-one SEO suite |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Clearscope and Semrush. How we grade
Price against what you get
Clearscope starts at $129 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Semrush starts at $117.33 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Semrush starts $11.67 a month lower. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Clearscope for less, and none scores higher than Semrush for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Clearscope starts at $129 per month, billed monthly. Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
- Semrush has a free plan. Clearscope does not, though it has a free trial.
- Clearscope also covers long-form writing.
- Semrush also covers reports, rank tracking, site audit and backlink analysis.
At a glance
| Clearscope | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $129 per month, billed monthly | $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Free account: 1 project, 10 analytics reports a day across the main tools and 10 keywords in Position Tracking. No credit card needed. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Mushi Labs | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | clearscope.io | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Clearscope
- Content teams with many writers who all need access
- Editors who work in Google Docs, Word or WordPress
- Brands refreshing older articles that are losing traffic
Semrush
- Freelancers and in-house marketers who want research, tracking and audits in one account
- Agencies comparing many client sites against their competitors
- Brands that want to watch their visibility in AI chat answers alongside Google rankings
Worth knowing
Clearscope
- There is no free plan, and the pricing page shows no discount for paying yearly.
- Essentials allows 50 tracked queries and 50 monitored pages; more pages and drafts are paid add-ons.
- The pricing page names ChatGPT and Gemini for query tracking, while the homepage also names Claude.
- Invoice payment is only for custom yearly plans; other plans are paid by card.
Semrush
- Each plan includes one user; extra users start at $45 a month each, priced by plan level.
- Scheduled PDF reports are an add-on at $10 a month, or $20 with white-labeling; Advanced includes reporting.
- API access and share of voice come only with the custom-priced Advanced plan.
- Local, content, social, advertising, AI PR and traffic tools are separate toolkits with their own prices.
Key features
Clearscope
- Term and intent guidance
- Get suggested terms, questions and search intent for a target query, with a content grade that updates as you edit.
- AI drafting
- Generate and edit first drafts inside Clearscope; plans include 20 drafts a month, with more sold as add-ons.
- Query Discovery
- Enter a topic or a website to surface the queries that bring traffic and attention in Google and AI chat tools.
- AI query tracking
- Track chosen queries in ChatGPT and Gemini to see when your brand is mentioned and which competitors are recommended.
- Content monitoring
- Watch published pages with Google Analytics and Search Console data, and get alerts for 404s, indexing and crawl problems.
- Internal linking
- See internal link opportunities from your connected content while you write, tied to the recommended terms.
Semrush
- Keyword research
- Look up search volume, difficulty and intent from a database Semrush puts at 29 billion keywords across 142 country databases.
- Competitor and backlink analysis
- See which keywords and pages bring a rival site its traffic, and inspect any domain's backlink profile.
- Position Tracking
- Track daily rankings for 500 to 5,000+ keywords depending on the plan; Pro+ adds tracking by location and device.
- Site Audit
- Crawl your sites for technical SEO problems. From the Starter plan the audit also checks how ready a site is for AI search.
- AI visibility tracking
- Starter and above track daily whether set prompts in AI chat tools mention your brand, with sentiment monitoring. The SEO plan has none of this.
- MCP and API access
- Starter and above can query Semrush data from AI assistants through MCP; the API itself comes with the Advanced plan.
Plans
Clearscope
Essentials$129
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited users and projects, 50 tracked queries, 50 pages, 20 topic explorations and 20 AI drafts a month.
Business$399
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited users, 300 tracked queries, 300 pages, 50 topic explorations and 20 drafts a month, and a dedicated account manager.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits and agreements, crawler whitelisting and single sign-on, through sales.
Semrush
Free$0
1 project, 10 analytics reports a day and 10 tracked keywords, for trying the tools.
SEO$117.33
per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly)
1 user, 5 websites, 500 keywords tracked daily, basic keyword and competitor research, and Site Audit. No AI search tracking.
Starter$165.17
per month, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)
5 websites and 500 keywords, full keyword research tools, MCP access, 50 AI prompts tracked daily and 300 AI visibility reports a day.
Pro+$248.17
per month, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
15 websites, 1,500 keywords, historical data, content optimization, cannibalization checks, multi-location tracking and 100 AI prompts.
AdvancedCustom
40+ websites, 5,000+ keywords, share of voice, API access, team users, reporting and unlimited AI prompts. Sold after a demo.
Ways to pay less
Clearscope
No public discounts listed.
Semrush
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% with annual billing
Semrush's pricing page lists annual billing at up to 17% less: Starter is $165.17 a month billed annually instead of $199 billed monthly.
