Raven Tools vs Semrush (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Raven Tools 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
Raven Tools grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Raven Tools
SEO tools and white-label client reports for agencies
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Which one is for you
Pick Raven Tools if
- Fits if you send clients branded monthly SEO and marketing reports
- Works for small agencies that want audits, rankings and backlinks in one account
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you might want your money back, as there are no refunds and annual plans can't be downgraded
- Tight if you track daily on Small Biz, since 1,500 checks is 50 keywords a day
- Pricey if you want reports on your own domain, which starts at Grow for $139
- Watch out: your data is deleted 30 days after you cancel
- Watch out: payment is by credit card only, and yearly plans are paid for the full year upfront
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
| 2.4GPARaven ToolsFair | 2.2GPASemrushFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CSmall Biz is $39 a month prepaid for the year ($468), or $49 monthly, for 2 domains, 2 users and 1,500 rank checks. Mid-range for this category, with unlimited reports included. | 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 7-day trial where a card is only asked for when you upgrade. | 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 | BSite audits of up to 7 million pages, rank tracking on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex and Baidu, backlink research, uncapped keyword and competitor research, and reports from 30+ data modules. The whole job, built around client reporting. | 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. Reports are drag and drop, but rank checks are metered per keyword, device and engine, so there's some maths before you track. | 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, connected to Google Analytics, Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Mailchimp, CallRail and Majestic. 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 | white-label client reports for agencies | 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: Raven Tools and Semrush. How we grade
Price against what you get
Raven Tools starts at $39 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Semrush starts at $117.33 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Raven Tools starts $78.33 a month lower. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Raven Tools 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
At a glance
| Raven Tools | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $39 per month for 1,500 rank checks, billed yearly ($49 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; a credit card is entered only when upgrading | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once |
| Web | ||
| Made by | TapClicks, Inc. | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | raventools.com | semrush.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Raven Tools
- Rank tracking is metered in checks: one keyword on one device and engine, once. Daily tracking uses a check per keyword each day; extra checks cost $0.003 each.
- There are no refunds: partial months are not refunded, annual plans cannot be refunded or downgraded, and data is deleted 30 days after cancelling.
- Small Biz and Start brand reports only on a Raven subdomain and email; a custom domain needs Grow or above.
- Payment is by credit card only, and annual plans are prepaid for the full 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
Raven Tools
- Site Auditor
- Crawls 50,000 to 7 million pages a month by plan, scores site health out of 100, lists issues by severity as a checklist and compares results month over month.
- SERP Rank Tracker
- Daily, weekly or monthly checks on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex and Baidu, by device, language, city or zip code, compared against competitors.
- Backlink Explorer and Link Spy
- Backlink research on Majestic and Moz data, up to 50,000 links per URL, plus a Link Manager that stores and monitors 25,000 to 150,000 links.
- Marketing Reports
- Drag-and-drop reports from 30+ data modules covering SEO, analytics, ads, social, email and call tracking, run on a schedule or on demand. Every plan has unlimited reports.
- Competitor and keyword research
- Compare domains on Moz and Majestic metrics, discover organic competitors and their keywords, and research keywords with Google search volume, all without a cap.
- Tasks and content
- A light task manager for campaigns, publishing to WordPress and ordering written content from Textbroker, paid by use.
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
Raven Tools
Small Biz$39
per month for 1,500 rank checks, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly)
2 domains, 2 users and 50,000 page crawls a month, with unlimited reports branded on a Raven subdomain. $468 prepaid for the year.
Start$79
per month for 15,000 rank checks, billed yearly ($109 billed monthly)
20 domains, 4 users and 400,000 page crawls a month. $948 prepaid for the year.
Grow$139
per month for 20,000 rank checks, billed yearly ($199 billed monthly)
80 domains, 8 users and 2 million page crawls, with full white label on your own domain. $1,668 prepaid for the year.
Thrive$249
per month for 25,000 rank checks, billed yearly ($299 billed monthly)
160 domains, 20 users and 5 million page crawls a month. $2,988 prepaid for the year.
Lead$399
per month for 30,000 rank checks, billed yearly ($479 billed monthly)
320 domains, 40 users and 7 million page crawls a month. $4,788 prepaid for the year.
EnterpriseCustom
More users, domains, keywords, crawls or backlinks than Lead, quoted on request.
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
Raven Tools
- Annual discount
Up to 30% off with yearly prepaid billing
Raven's pricing page offers up to 30% off for paying a year upfront: Grow is $139 a month ($1,668 a year) instead of $199 a month.
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, Raven Tools or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Raven Tools is cheaper to start with: $39 a month, against $117.33 a month for Semrush. Raven Tools starts at $39 per month for 1,500 rank checks, billed yearly ($49 billed monthly), and Semrush starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Raven Tools or Semrush?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Semrush has a free plan. Raven Tools 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.