GEO Toolbox vs Semrush (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Semrush grades higher than GEO Toolbox: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
GEO Toolbox grades higher on value for money. Semrush grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
GEO Toolbox
Tracks how eight AI engines cite your brand, with content fixes
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Which one is for you
Pick GEO Toolbox if
- Fits if you're an SEO consultant tracking AI citations for one to five brands
- Works for agencies with up to 25 client brands that need white-label reports
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need daily numbers, as scans are weekly and daily scans are an add-on on Scale and Enterprise only
- Pricey if Gemini and Claude matter, as they start at Plus for $159 a month, and all 8 engines need Pro at $399
- Not for you if you want to try it without a card, and the trial gives only a quarter of the credits
- Watch out: credits don't roll over, and a Claude check costs 20 credits and Grok 31, against 1 for Perplexity
- Too light for SEO work: no keyword ranks, backlinks, site-speed audits or API, so you'll keep an SEO suite
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
| 2.0GPAGEO ToolboxFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $79 a month billed yearly, or $99 monthly, for 1 brand and 50 prompts on 3 engines. That sits between this category's middle and its dearer quarter, and adding Gemini and Claude means Plus at $159. | 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 | DA 7-day trial that needs a card, and you only get a quarter of the month's credits during it. There's no free plan, though a few free one-off checks sit on the site. | 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 | CCited, mentioned or missing on up to 8 engines, a 21-signal page grader, an AI crawler scan, briefs and drafts. The gaps: scans are weekly on every plan, and Starter only gets ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews. | 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 tool draws on one credit pool, and a Claude check costs 20 credits against 1 for Perplexity, so there's budgeting to do. | 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, with no desktop or phone app. It connects to Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4, and no API is listed. | 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 | weekly AI citation checks with page-level fixes | 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: GEO Toolbox and Semrush. How we grade
Where they differ
- GEO Toolbox also covers AI search visibility and content optimization.
- Semrush also covers keyword research, rank tracking, site audit and backlink analysis.
At a glance
| GEO Toolbox | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $79 per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($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 | 7-day free trial on Starter, Plus, Pro and Growth; card required, a quarter of the credits | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once |
| Web | ||
| Made by | GEO Toolbox | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | geotoolbox.ai | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
GEO Toolbox
- Starter covers only ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews; Gemini and Claude need Plus, and all eight engines need Pro or Scale.
- Scans are weekly on every plan; daily scans are a paid add-on on Scale and Enterprise only.
- Credits do not roll over, and Claude (20 credits) and Grok (31) checks cost far more than Perplexity (1) or ChatGPT (4).
- It does no keyword rank tracking, backlink analysis or site-speed audits; the vendor says to keep an SEO suite for those.
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
GEO Toolbox
- AI visibility tracker
- Weekly checks of your prompts on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, Bing Copilot and Grok, split into cited, mentioned and not found.
- GEO Scan and Query Fan-Out
- Runs one prompt across all engines for a 0 to 100 visibility score, and lists the sub-questions the engines ask behind it.
- Content Analyzer
- Grades any URL on 21 signals such as schema markup, AI bot access, JavaScript rendering and freshness, and maps each to a fix.
- Agent Readiness scan
- Fetches a site as several AI crawlers and checks robots.txt against 34 bots, with a score and a list of problems.
- Content Studio
- From Plus up, writes SEO briefs and article drafts; each article costs 250 credits from the monthly pool.
- Competitor and community intel
- Shows who is cited instead of you, and from Plus up, the Reddit and forum threads that AI answers quote.
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
GEO Toolbox
Starter$79
per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
1 brand, weekly scans on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, 12,000 credits a month and 180 days of history.
Plus$159
per month for 100 prompts, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)
Up to 3 brands, any 5 of the 8 engines, 30,000 credits, 2 seats, share-of-voice reports, content briefs and about 15 articles a month.
Pro$399
per month for 150 prompts, billed monthly ($3,828 billed yearly)
Up to 5 brands, all 8 engines, 50,000 credits, 3 seats, 50 AI analyst questions and about 30 articles a month.
Growth$399
per month for 15 brands, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
For agencies: 50 prompts per brand, any 5 of the 8 engines, 80,000 credits, unlimited seats and white-label client reports.
Scale$999
per month for 25 brands, billed monthly ($9,588 billed yearly)
For agencies: 50 prompts per brand on all 8 engines, 130,000 credits, a daily-scan add-on and priority support. No free trial.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credit volumes, unlimited brands and prompts, SSO, a dedicated success manager and a support SLA. Arranged on a call.
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
GEO Toolbox
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
GEO Toolbox says annual billing saves 20%, about two months free: Starter is $79 a month billed annually instead of $99 billed monthly.
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, GEO Toolbox or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, GEO Toolbox is cheaper to start with: $79 a month, against $117.33 a month for Semrush. GEO Toolbox starts at $79 per month for 50 prompts, billed annually ($99 billed monthly), and Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, GEO Toolbox or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Semrush has a free plan. GEO Toolbox 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.