PR-CY vs Semrush (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, PR-CY 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
PR-CY grades higher on value for money. Semrush grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
PR-CY
Site checker, Google and Yandex rank tracker and AI tool catalog
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Which one is for you
Pick PR-CY if
- Fits if your sites need rankings in Yandex as well as Google
- Works for quick checks of a domain without making an account
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need Bing or any engine besides Google and Yandex, as no others are named
- Watch out: the Pro trial needs a bank card and turns into a paid plan after 7 days, with refunds asked within 48 hours
- Tight if you track a lot, as rank checks and tools share one pool, at 0.1 limit per keyword, engine and region
- Pricey if you need the API or a team, as the API starts on Pro at $35 and team access only comes with Agency at $140
- Tight if you stay free, with 1 project, about 100 keyword checks a day and a 10-page audit
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
| 2.4GPAPR-CYFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ABasic is $15 a month for 2 projects and about 500 keyword checks a day, or 12 months for the price of 10 on yearly billing, about $12.50 a month. That's under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter. The API waits for Pro at $35. | 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 | CA free plan: 1 project, 10 limits a day, about 100 keyword checks, and a 10-page audit. You'll hit that fast. The Pro trial lasts 7 days but needs a bank card and becomes a paid plan. | 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 with position history and URL change alerts, a site audit, instant domain checks, PDF reports, an AI assistant and a site analysis API. The gap the listing names: rankings cover Google and Yandex only. | 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. A domain check needs no account, but rank checks and tools draw on one shared pool of limits, which takes some working out. | 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 | CWeb only, with no integrations on record. The one link out is a site analysis API on Pro and Agency, and there's 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 | rank tracking in Google and Yandex | 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: PR-CY and Semrush. How we grade
Price against what you get
PR-CY starts at $15 a month and scores 2.0 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 $102.33 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, 4 score higher than PR-CY 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
- Semrush also covers backlink analysis.
At a glance
| PR-CY | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 1,500 limits (15,000 keyword checks), billed monthly | $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 1 project, 10 limits a day (about 100 keyword position checks), express site analysis and an audit of 10 pages. | 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 of the Pro plan; a bank card is required and is charged when the trial ends | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once |
| Web | ||
| Made by | PR-CY IO | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | pr-cy.io | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
PR-CY
- Rank checks and tools share one pool of limits: one keyword checked in one search engine and region uses 0.1 limit.
- The Pro trial needs a bank card and becomes a paid plan after 7 days; the FAQ allows a refund request within 48 hours of that charge.
- API access starts with Pro; team access for up to 10 users comes only with Agency.
- Rank tracking covers Google and Yandex only; the site names no other search engines.
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
PR-CY
- Rank tracking in Google and Yandex
- Automatic daily position checks, results for other locations, position history, summaries by group and alerts when the ranking URL changes.
- Site audit
- Checks a whole site for duplicate H1s, server response codes, speed and meta tags, sorts errors by priority and exports the report.
- Express domain analysis
- Enter any domain, without signing up, for a quick list of passed tests, warnings and errors, each with advice on how to fix it.
- AI assistant and tool catalog
- An AI assistant suggests fixes for each project. Paid plans include AI chat and image generation, and a catalog lists 149 AI-based apps for sites, keywords and text.
- Site Analysis API
- Returns more than 80 SEO and technical metrics for a domain as JSON: 1 credit per stored report, 5 credits to refresh it. On Pro and Agency.
- PDF reports
- PDF reports at 5, 20 or 100 a day on Basic, Pro and Agency, with a comparison table that also lists branding of the PDF report.
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
PR-CY
Free$0
1 project, 10 limits a day for site checks and tools, about 100 keyword checks a day and a 10-page audit.
Basic$15
per month for 1,500 limits (15,000 keyword checks), billed monthly
2 projects, about 500 keyword checks a day, site audit of 500 pages a day, 2 tracked competitors, 5 PDF reports a day and AI chat.
Pro$35
per month for 6,000 limits (60,000 keyword checks), billed monthly
5 projects, about 2,000 keyword checks a day, audit of 2,000 pages a day, 7 competitors, 20 PDF reports a day and API access. Has a 7-day trial.
Agency$140
per month for 27,000 limits (270,000 keyword checks), billed monthly
20 projects, about 9,000 keyword checks a day, audit of 5,000 pages a day, 100 PDF reports a day, API access and 10 team members.
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
PR-CY
- Annual discount
Two months free with annual billing
PR-CY's pricing FAQ says an annual subscription gives 12 months of access for the price of 10.
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, PR-CY or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, PR-CY is cheaper to start with: $15 a month, against $117.33 a month for Semrush. PR-CY starts at $15 per month for 1,500 limits (15,000 keyword checks), billed monthly, and Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, PR-CY or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both PR-CY and Semrush have a free plan.
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.