Kafkai vs Semrush (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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kafkai

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.