Conductor vs Semrush (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Conductor and Semrush share a 2.2 GPA, and only Semrush has a free plan.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Conductor grades higher on value for money. Semrush grades higher on features. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Conductor
Enterprise SEO and AI search visibility platform with site monitoring
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Which one is for you
Pick Conductor if
- Fits if your team tracks both Google rankings and AI answers
- Works for enterprise content teams producing and scoring pages at scale
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're on Essentials, with 500 keywords, 5 competitors and no AI search credits listed
- Skip it if you want a price before talking to sales, as none is published
- Tight if you write a lot, as drafts are capped at 60 a year on Essentials and 180 on Growth
- Not for you if you're a small business, as even the smallest plan is meant for smaller enterprise teams
- Skip it if you need backlink research, as none is on record, and there's no desktop or phone app
Pick Semrush if
- Fits if you want research, rank tracking and audits in one account and can pay $117.33 a month or more
- Works for agencies that need keyword data for many countries and compare client sites with competitors
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're one person with one site, at $117.33 a month even yearly, and the trial checks your card with a small charge
- Tight if your team is more than just you, since every extra user is from $45 a month
- Skip it if AI answer tracking is the point, as the SEO plan leaves it out and Starter is $165.17 a month
- Watch out: the API and share of voice need the custom-priced Advanced plan, and scheduled PDF reports are $10 to $20 a month extra
- Watch out: local, content, social and ad tools are separate toolkits with their own prices, and the free plan allows 10 reports a day
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAConductorFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo prices are published. The Essentials, Growth and Enterprise plans are usage-based and arranged with Conductor's sales team, so the price is only given on a sales call. | 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 a free trial of 3 weeks with no credit card needed. After that, the price comes from the sales team. | 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 | CResearch, rank tracking, AI visibility, an AI writer and 24/7 site monitoring. The gaps the listing names are on Essentials: 500 keywords, 5 competitors, no AI search credits and 60 writing drafts a year. No backlink research is on record either. | 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. It's built for enterprise teams, with research, content and monitoring to set up, and plenty to learn. | 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 only, connected to Search Console, Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, with Conductor data inside ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot, plus a data API and an MCP server. 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 | enterprise SEO with round-the-clock site monitoring | all-in-one SEO research for teams with a budget |
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: Conductor and Semrush. How we grade
Where they differ
- Conductor also covers AI search visibility and content optimization.
- Semrush also covers backlink analysis.
At a glance
| Conductor | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $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 | Free for 3 weeks, no credit card needed | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Conductor | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Conductor
- No prices are published; the Essentials, Growth and Enterprise plans are usage-based and arranged with Conductor's sales team.
- Essentials tracks 500 keywords and 5 competitors and lists no AI search credits; Growth includes 2,500 a year.
- Writing assistant drafts are capped per year: 60 on Essentials and 180 on Growth.
- It is aimed at enterprises; the smallest plan is described as for smaller enterprise teams.
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
Conductor
- Conductor Intelligence
- Keyword, topic and audience research, competitor market share, rank tracking and dashboards that tie search and AI visibility to traffic and revenue.
- AI visibility tracking
- Tracks brand mentions, citations and sentiment in AI answers; Conductor names ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, Claude and Google AI Overviews.
- Conductor Creator
- An AI writing assistant drafts content, with content scores, content profiles for brand rules and internal link recommendations.
- Conductor Monitoring
- Watches websites 24/7 for technical SEO problems and changes, including how AI bots crawl the site, with real-time alerts.
- AgentStack, API and MCP
- Conductor data inside ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot, a data API and MCP server for building agents, and ready-made content and technical agents.
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
Conductor
Pricing could not be confirmed. See conductor.com.
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
Conductor
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Conductor or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Conductor has no price we could confirm, and Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Conductor or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Semrush has a free plan. Conductor does not, though it has a free trial.
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.