cognitiveSEO vs Moz Pro (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, cognitiveSEO grades higher than Moz Pro: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
cognitiveSEO grades higher on value for money and platforms. Moz Pro grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
cognitiveSEO
SEO suite for backlink audits, rank tracking and content optimization
Moz Pro
SEO toolkit for keyword and link research, site crawls and rankings
Which one is for you
Pick cognitiveSEO if
- Fits if you're cleaning up a backlink profile after a Google penalty
- Works for consultants who audit other people's links for a living
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you'd rather not give a card for a trial, as the 7-day Starter trial needs a card or PayPal
- Skip it if you want AI answer tracking, which the maker sells separately as BrandMentions
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $129.99 against $89 on a 12-month contract
- Tight if you need white label or JavaScript crawling, which start at Premium at $199 a month
- Watch out: the pricing table puts the API on Elite only, while the API page says Premium and up
Pick Moz Pro if
- Fits if you're new to SEO and want crawl reports that say what to fix
- Works for a team of two or three on Medium or Large, where those seats are included
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you research keywords every day, as Standard stops at 150 queries a month against 5,000 on Medium
- Pricey if you grow: extra seats are $49 a month each, more campaigns $10 each and 200 more keywords $20
- Watch out: the trial covers only Medium billed monthly, needs a card, has no stated length and ends if you buy an add-on
- Skip it if you need the API or business listings, as the Moz API and Moz Local are separate products with their own prices
- Not for you if you want a desktop or phone app or integrations; it is web plus the MozBar extension
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAcognitiveSEOFair | 1.8GPAMoz ProWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $89 a month on a 12-month contract, or $129.99 billed monthly, for 5 campaigns, 2 users and 1,500 keywords. The yearly price sits at the edge of this category's dearer quarter; paying monthly puts it in the dearest tenth. | DStandard is $79 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly), and Moz pitches it at small businesses. That's about twice this category's middle for 1 user, 3 campaigns and 150 keyword queries a month. Proper research room sits on Medium at $143. Starter, at $49, is for one site. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free plan, and the 7-day trial of Starter needs a card or PayPal account up front. You can cancel before it ends, but it's not a no-strings look. | CA free Moz Community account gives limited use of Keyword Explorer, Link Explorer and MozBar. The trial only covers Medium billed monthly, needs a card, and Moz doesn't say how long it lasts. |
| Features | CSite audits, backlink analysis with penalty-risk detection, rank tracking by city, content scoring and automated reports. The gaps the listing names: no AI answer tracking, which is a separate product, and Starter has no JavaScript crawling or white label. | CKeyword Explorer, Link Explorer, rank tracking on up to four search engines, Site Crawl, and AI answer tracking across GPT, Gemini, AI Mode and Perplexity. The gap the listing names is on Standard: 150 keyword queries a month runs out fast. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Link audits and disavow work assume you know what you're looking at, and campaigns take setting up. | CNo rating on record. Onboarding tips and fix-it instructions in Site Crawl help beginners, but campaigns still need setting up and there's a fair bit to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with Google Analytics and PageSpeed Insights as its two integrations and an API for link, ranking and social data. The pricing table puts the API on Elite, the API page says Premium and up. No desktop or phone app. | CWeb plus the MozBar Chrome extension. The listing names no integrations, and the Moz API and Moz Local are separate products with their own prices. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | backlink audits and Google penalty recovery | guided SEO for small businesses new to it |
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: cognitiveSEO and Moz Pro. How we grade
Price against what you get
cognitiveSEO starts at $89 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Moz Pro starts at $49 a month and scores 2.0.
cognitiveSEO scores higher, and starts $40 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, 13 score higher than cognitiveSEO for less, and 27 score higher than Moz Pro 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
- cognitiveSEO also covers reports and content optimization.
At a glance
| cognitiveSEO | Moz Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $89 per month, billed annually ($129.99 billed monthly) | $49 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | Free Moz Community account: limited use of Keyword Explorer, Link Explorer and the MozBar extension. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of the Starter plan; a card or PayPal account is required | Free trial of the Medium plan billed monthly; credit card required, length not stated |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | GESKIMO SRL | SEOMoz, Inc. |
| Price read from | cognitiveseo.com | moz.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
cognitiveSEO
- Starter has no white-label reports, JavaScript crawling or success manager; those start at Premium.
- The pricing table lists API access on Elite only, while the API page says it comes with Premium and up.
- Yearly prices are 12-month contracts, and the trial needs a card or PayPal account up front.
- AI visibility and brand-mention tracking are not in these plans; the maker sells them as a separate product, BrandMentions.
Moz Pro
- Standard allows only 150 keyword queries a month, against 5,000 on Medium.
- Extra user seats cost $49 a month each; more campaigns are $10 a month each and 200 more keywords $20.
- The free trial is only for the Medium plan billed monthly, needs a credit card, and ends if you buy an add-on.
- Moz Local, for business listings, and the Moz API are separate products with their own prices.
Key features
cognitiveSEO
- Site Audit
- Crawls the pages of a site, lists technical problems with fixes, and checks speed through Google PageSpeed. JavaScript crawling starts at Premium.
- Backlink analysis
- Crawls and classifies the links pointing at your site and your rivals', from 200,000 backlinks per site on Starter to 3 million on Elite.
- Unnatural Link Detection
- Flags backlinks likely to draw a Google penalty, for link audits, disavow files and penalty recovery. Included on every plan.
- Rank Tracker
- Tracks Google rankings on desktop and mobile by country, language and city, daily or weekly, for 1,500 to 13,500 keywords per account.
- Content optimization
- A content assistant that combines keyword research, a look at the pages that rank and a content score, paid for with 150 to 1,000 audit credits.
- Reports and API
- Automated marketing reports on every plan, white label from Premium, and an API for link, ranking and social data.
Moz Pro
- Keyword Explorer
- Research keywords by topic or by the site that ranks for them; monthly query limits run from 150 on Standard to 15,000 on Large.
- Link Explorer
- Look up any site's backlinks, with 5,000 to 70,000 backlink queries a month and lists for tracking links you have built.
- Campaigns and rank tracking
- Each campaign tracks one site and three competitors, with keyword rankings on desktop and mobile across up to four search engines.
- Site Crawl
- Audit a site for technical errors with instructions for fixing them, and re-crawl on demand to check the fixes.
- AI visibility tracking
- Track prompts weekly across GPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity, with citations and sentiment, plus AI-written content briefs.
- MozBar Premium
- The full version of Moz's Chrome extension shows SEO metrics and on-page elements for any page or search result as you browse.
Plans
cognitiveSEO
Starter$89
per month, billed annually ($129.99 billed monthly)
5 campaigns, 2 users, 1,500 tracked keywords, 200,000 backlinks analyzed per site and 150 content audit credits. No white label.
Premium$199
per month, billed monthly (yearly view shows $209 a month)
10 campaigns, 5 users, 4,500 keywords, 1 million backlinks per site, white label and JavaScript crawling. Shown against a crossed-out $299.
Elite$349
per month, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
25 campaigns, 10 users, 13,500 keywords, 3 million backlinks per site, 1,000 content audit credits, API access and a success manager.
Moz Pro
Free account$0
Moz Community account with limited access to Keyword Explorer, Link Explorer and MozBar.
Starter$49
per month, billed monthly
Entry-level plan for individuals managing a single website.
Standard$79
per month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly)
1 user, 3 campaigns, 300 tracked keywords, 100,000 pages crawled a week, 150 keyword queries a month and 150 tracked AI prompts.
Medium$143
per month, billed yearly ($179 billed monthly)
2 users, 10 campaigns, 1,500 tracked keywords, 500,000 pages crawled a week, 5,000 keyword queries and 300 AI prompts.
Large$239
per month, billed yearly ($299 billed monthly)
3 users, 25 campaigns, 3,000 tracked keywords, 1.25 million pages crawled a week, 15,000 keyword queries and 600 AI prompts.
EnterpriseCustom
For enterprise businesses and agencies; priced by talking to Moz.
Ways to pay less
cognitiveSEO
- Annual discount
Save about 30% with yearly billing
The pricing page's yearly toggle says save 30%: Starter is $89 a month on a 12-month contract instead of $129.99 billed monthly, and Elite $349 instead of $499.
Moz Pro
- Annual discount
Save 20% with yearly billing
Moz's pricing page lists Standard, Medium and Large at 20% less when paid yearly, for example Medium at $143 a month instead of $179.
- Nonprofit
50% off for registered nonprofits
Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits get 50% off the regular monthly price, or 30% off the listed yearly price, by sending proof to Moz's Help Team.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, cognitiveSEO or Moz Pro?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Moz Pro is cheaper to start with: $49 a month, against $89 a month for cognitiveSEO. cognitiveSEO starts at $89 per month, billed annually ($129.99 billed monthly), and Moz Pro starts at $49 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, cognitiveSEO or Moz Pro?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Moz Pro has a free plan. cognitiveSEO does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do cognitiveSEO and Moz Pro run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Moz Pro lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.