Dragon Metrics vs Semrush (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Dragon Metrics grades higher than Semrush: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Dragon Metrics grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Dragon Metrics
Global SEO platform with rank tracking on Baidu, Naver and Google
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Which one is for you
Pick Dragon Metrics if
- Fits if you do SEO in China, Korea or Japan as well as on Google
- Works for agencies tracking many cities, languages and engines, with white-label reports from Basic
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you need daily rankings, which cost $50 to $250 a month extra on Starter to Standard
- Tight if you want the API, white label or Looker Studio on Starter, which has none of them
- Skip it if Naver research matters and your budget stops short of Standard at $415
- Watch out: each mix of keyword, engine, place, language and device counts as one keyword against the limit
- Watch out: the trial stops at 200 keywords, and onboarding with an account manager comes only with yearly plans
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
| 2.4GPADragon MetricsFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $82 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly) for 1,000 keywords, 5 campaigns and 3 users, mid-range for this category. But that's weekly rank updates; daily ones add $50 a month, which pushes it to the dear end. | 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 30-day trial with every feature and no credit card. It's capped at 200 tracked keywords. | 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 | BRank tracking on 8 engines in over 100,000 local areas, Baidu and Naver research, a site auditor with JavaScript rendering, competitor discovery, keyword gaps and a report builder. It covers the whole job, Asian engines included. | 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. Every mix of keyword, engine, place, language and device counts as one keyword, so campaigns take some planning. | 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 Looker Studio, with an API from Basic. 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 | SEO in China, Korea and Japan | 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: Dragon Metrics and Semrush. How we grade
Price against what you get
Dragon Metrics starts at $82 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 Dragon Metrics starts $35.33 a month lower. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Dragon Metrics 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
At a glance
| Dragon Metrics | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $82 per month for 1,000 keywords, billed yearly ($99 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 | 30-day free trial with every feature and 200 keywords, no credit card required | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Dragon Metrics | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | dragonmetrics.com | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Dragon Metrics
- Listed prices cover weekly rank updates; daily updates cost $50, $100 or $250 a month more on Starter, Basic and Standard.
- Each mix of keyword, search engine, location, language and device counts as one keyword against the plan's limit.
- Starter has no API access, white-labeled reports or Looker Studio connectors, and Naver keyword research starts at Standard.
- There is no free plan; the trial has every feature but only 200 tracked keywords. Onboarding with an account manager comes with annual plans.
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
Dragon Metrics
- Rank tracking on 8 search engines
- Tracks Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Naver, Sogou, Daum and Seznam, on mobile and in over 100,000 local areas, with more than 30 SERP features and 12 ranking reports.
- Tools for China, Korea and Japan
- Baidu and Naver keyword research and search volumes, a database of over 23 million Baidu results and a multilingual interface, alongside Google research.
- Site auditor and indexation tracking
- Crawls checked for 70+ technical issues with fix guides, including JavaScript rendering and Core Web Vitals, plus tracking of which URLs Google has indexed.
- Competitor discovery and keyword gap
- Finds the 50 highest-ranking sites for each engine, location and tag, shows keywords competitors rank for that you do not, and looks up any site in a 500M-result Google database.
- Report Builder
- Drag-and-drop custom reports shared on a white-labeled domain, scheduled Excel exports and custom alerts; white labeling starts at Basic.
- Search Console and Analytics data
- Pulls up to 50,000 Search Console keywords per campaign each day and 25+ Google Analytics reports, with ROI forecasting from ranking changes.
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
Dragon Metrics
Starter$82
per month for 1,000 keywords, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly)
5 campaigns, 3 users and 200,000 URLs crawled a month, with weekly rank updates. No API, white-labeled reports or Looker Studio connectors.
Basic$207
per month for 2,500 keywords, billed yearly ($249 billed monthly)
20 campaigns, 5 users and 500,000 URLs crawled a month, adding the API, white-labeled reports and Looker Studio connectors.
Standard$415
per month for 5,000 keywords, billed yearly ($499 billed monthly)
50 campaigns, 7 users and 1 million URLs crawled a month, adding Naver keyword research.
Pro$624
per month for 7,500 keywords, billed yearly ($749 billed monthly)
30 campaigns, unlimited users and 750,000 URLs crawled a month.
Enterprise$832
per month for 10,000 keywords, billed yearly ($999 billed monthly)
Unlimited campaigns and users, with 2 million URLs crawled a month.
CustomCustom
More than 10,000 keywords, quoted with volume discounts down to $0.01 per tracked keyword.
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
Dragon Metrics
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
Dragon Metrics' pricing FAQ says annual subscriptions get a discount equal to 2 months free, shown as saving 17%: Starter is $82 a month yearly instead of $99.
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, Dragon Metrics or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Dragon Metrics is cheaper to start with: $82 a month, against $117.33 a month for Semrush. Dragon Metrics starts at $82 per month for 1,000 keywords, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly), and Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Dragon Metrics or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Semrush has a free plan. Dragon Metrics 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.