Kafkai vs SE Ranking (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Kafkai if

• Fits if you already work in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and want search data inside it
• Works for one-off research projects, since you pay as you go

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want an article writer, because there is no writing tool of its own
• Not for you if you don't use an AI assistant over MCP
• Tight if you want rank tracking, since research runs only when asked
• Watch out: prices are in yen with Japanese consumption tax, and credits expire after 90 days

Pick SE Ranking if

• Fits if you track lots of keywords daily across several client sites
• Works for small marketing teams who want research, audits and tracking under one login

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you're one person with one site, as Core is $103.20 a month even on yearly billing and there's no lower plan
• Tight if you need old data, since Core keeps 6 months of history and has 1 manager seat; extra seats start at $16 a month
• Pricey if you want white-label reports, as the Agency Pack is $69 a month extra and sold on yearly billing only
• Watch out: both plans track only 25 AI prompts a day, and more needs the separate AI visibility product, from $71 a month for 75 prompts
• Watch out: payments are non-refundable unless the service wasn't delivered as promised, and there's no desktop or phone app

Kafkai

• Prices are in Japanese yen and include Japanese consumption tax; the checkout works out tax from the billing address.
• Credits expire 90 days after they are granted or bought.
• It does not track rankings on a schedule; research runs only when asked.
• It is used through an AI assistant over MCP, with a roughly 30-minute one-time setup, and has no writing tool of its own.

SE Ranking

• Core keeps only 6 months of historical data and includes 1 manager seat; extra seats start at $16 a month.
• White-label reports need the Agency Pack, $69 a month and sold on annual billing only.
• Both plans track only 25 AI prompts a day; more needs the separate AI visibility product, from $71 a month for 75 prompts.
• Payments are non-refundable except where the service was not delivered as promised.

Kafkai

Keywords and content gaps

Lists the keywords a site ranks for with position and monthly search volume, and the keywords competitors rank for that it does not.

Competitor finding

Returns the sites that rank for the same searches and how far their keywords overlap with yours.

Backlinks

Shows who links to a site, new and lost links by date, and the sites that link to competitors but not to you.

Search Console for your own site

After you prove the domain with a DNS record, pages and searches losing clicks can be read through the same AI.

Amazon and Google Shopping checks

Shows where a product appears in Amazon and Google Shopping results for a keyword, in the supported countries, at 5 credits per keyword.

WordPress drafts

Your AI writes the article and Kafkai sends it to a WordPress site as a draft; Kafkai itself does not write or store articles.

SE Ranking

Rank Tracker

Track rankings daily across major search engines, devices and locations, with Google top-100 tracking and share of voice.

Keyword, competitor and backlink research

Research keywords, competitors' traffic and backlinks with no usage caps on either plan, plus backlink monitoring.

Website audit

Crawl sites for technical issues, from 250,000 pages a month on Core to 2 million on Growth, with an on-page checker.

AI visibility tracking

Track 25 prompts a day across five AI models on either plan, with AI source tracking and AI competitor research by domain.

Reports and local SEO

Report Builder (10 or 30 reports), and local tools covering 3 locations, map rank tracking and listings in 100+ directories.

API and MCP

Plans include 25,000 or 100,000 research API credits a month and MCP access for querying the data from AI assistants.

Kafkai

• 1,000 credits¥1,000

  one-time top-up, used as you go (¥1,100 with consumption tax)

  1,000 credits, enough for one project with one competitor, per the features page.

• 3,000 credits¥3,000

  one-time top-up, used as you go (¥3,300 with consumption tax)

  3,000 credits with no bonus.

• 5,000 credits¥5,000

  one-time top-up, used as you go (¥5,500 with consumption tax)

  5,000 credits with no bonus.

• 10,500 credits¥10,000

  one-time top-up, used as you go (¥11,000 with consumption tax)

  10,000 credits plus a 5% bonus.

• 22,000 credits¥20,000

  one-time top-up, used as you go (¥22,000 with consumption tax)

  20,000 credits plus a 10% bonus.

SE Ranking

• Core$103.20

  per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)

  1 manager seat, 10 projects, 2,000 keywords and 25 AI prompts tracked daily, 250,000 audit pages a month and 6 months of history.

• Growth$223.20

  per month, billed annually ($279 billed monthly)

  3 manager seats, 30 projects, 5,000 keywords and 25 AI prompts daily, 2 million audit pages, all-time history and guest links.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom limits and terms, full API and advanced integrations, through sales.

Kafkai

No public discounts listed.

SE Ranking

• Annual discount

  Save 20% with annual billing

  SE Ranking's pricing page lists Core at $103.20 a month billed annually instead of $129 monthly, and Growth at $223.20 instead of $279.