Morningscore vs Semrush (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Morningscore 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
Morningscore 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.
Morningscore
Gamified SEO tool tracking Google and ChatGPT rankings
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Which one is for you
Pick Morningscore if
- Fits if you're new to SEO and want a to-do list in order of impact
- Works for WordPress or Shopify sites that want fixes pushed through a plugin
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you care about Bing or other search engines, as it reads only Google and ChatGPT
- Tight if you track lots of keywords, as Lite stops at 100 for $69 a month
- Not for you if you need client reports or CSV exports on Lite, which has neither; reports start at Business for $99
- Watch out: yearly plans bind you for 12 months, and the only free option is the 14-day trial
- Watch out: scheduled health scans start at Business, and website scans at Pro for $159 a month
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
| 2.2GPAMorningscoreFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CLite is $69 a month, or about $57.50 with the 2 free months on yearly billing, for 100 tracked keywords and 3 websites. That's in the middle of this category's range, though 100 keywords isn't much, and reports start at Business for $99. | 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 14-day trial with no credit card needed. Yearly plans bind you for 12 months, so try it properly first. | 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 | CDaily rank tracking, AI visibility for ChatGPT and AI Overviews, site health with one-click fixes, backlinks and missions. The gaps the listing names: Google and ChatGPT only, and Lite has no reports, CSV export or scheduled scans. | 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. There are missions in order of impact and human chat support, but you still pick keywords and prompts and work through the list yourself. | 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 Search Console, plugins for WordPress and Shopify that push fixes, and the API, MCP and an agent on every plan. 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 | small businesses new to SEO | 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: Morningscore and Semrush. How we grade
Price against what you get
Morningscore starts at $69 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Semrush starts at $117.33 a month and scores 2.7.
Semrush scores higher, and starts $48.33 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, 12 score higher than Morningscore 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
- Morningscore also covers AI search visibility.
At a glance
| Morningscore | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $69 per month for 100 keywords, 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 | 14-day free trial, 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 | Morningscore ApS | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | morningscore.io | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Morningscore
- There is no free plan, only the 14-day trial; yearly plans bind you for 12 months.
- Morningscore reports data from Google and ChatGPT only, not Bing or other search engines.
- Lite has no report tool, CSV exports or scheduled health scans; website scans start at Pro.
- The Journey programme adds 12 months of guidance with a yearly Business plan for $1,590 a year.
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
Morningscore
- Daily rank tracking
- Tracks chosen keywords on Google every day, with brand visibility in AI Overviews for each one, and shows all keywords any site ranks for.
- AI visibility and GEO Score
- Tracks whether a brand is used in ChatGPT answers or cited in Google AI Overviews for your own or suggested prompts, against competitors.
- Website health
- Scans for basic, technical and content issues, prioritized, with one-click fixes through the tool, the CMS plugins or the API.
- Backlinks
- A Link Score, any site's backlinks, new and lost links tracked daily, link intersect and guides for building links.
- Missions
- A gamified to-do list of SEO tasks ordered by expected impact, with human chat support for advice on where to start.
- Plugins, API and MCP
- The RANK AI plugin for WordPress and Shopify pushes fixes and publishes AI-written articles; every plan includes the API, MCP and an agent.
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
Morningscore
Lite$69
per month for 100 tracked keywords, billed monthly
2 users, 3 websites, 10 tracked AI prompts, 100 AI credits and 25 keyword research lookups a month. No report tool or CSV export.
Business$99
per month for 500 tracked keywords, billed monthly
4 users, 10 websites, 100 tracked prompts, 1,000 AI credits, 3 reports a month and scheduled health scans.
Pro$159
per month for 2,000 tracked keywords, billed monthly
10 users, 30 websites, 500 tracked prompts, 5,000 AI credits, 30 reports a month, ongoing reports and backlink CSV export.
Premium$299
per month for 5,000 tracked keywords, billed monthly
20 users, 100 websites, 2,000 tracked prompts, 20,000 AI credits and 100 reports a month; can be customized through chat.
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
Morningscore
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
Morningscore's pricing page says yearly plans get 2 months free, a 16.67% discount on the monthly price.
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, Morningscore or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Morningscore is cheaper to start with: $69 a month, against $117.33 a month for Semrush. Morningscore starts at $69 per month for 100 keywords, billed monthly, and Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Morningscore or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Semrush has a free plan. Morningscore 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.