SE Ranking vs Telescope (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SE Ranking grades higher than Telescope: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
SE Ranking grades higher on the free plan and platforms. Telescope grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SE Ranking
SEO platform for rank tracking, audits, research and AI visibility
Telescope
Low-cost SEO toolkit with pay-per-request keyword and backlink data
Which one is for you
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: deeper AI search tracking is an add-on at $71.20 a month on yearly billing ($89 monthly)
- Watch out: payments are non-refundable unless the service wasn't delivered as promised, and there's no desktop or phone app
Pick Telescope if
- Fits if you do keyword research now and then and would rather pay per search
- Works for small teams sharing one site's tracking, since seats aren't charged for
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to try it first, as there's no trial, only a money-back guarantee
- Skip it if you need rank tracking or audits on the $0 plan, as they start with Growth at $29 a month
- Tight if you run more than one site, since Growth covers 1 website and 200 keywords and Scale is $99 for 5
- Watch out: research costs 3 to 6 credits a request, and use beyond a plan's monthly credits is paid on top
- Watch out: no integrations or API are on record, so the data stays in Telescope
How we grade them
| 2.2GPASE RankingFair | 1.8GPATelescopeWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DCore is $103.20 a month billed yearly ($129 monthly), and it's the lowest self-serve plan. That's well above this category's middle, for one manager seat with 10 projects and 2,000 keywords tracked daily; extra seats start at $16. | CGrowth is $29 a month for 1,000 research credits, 200 tracked keywords and 30 audits, between this category's cheaper quarter and its middle. Seats are unlimited. The $0 plan charges per request: about $3 for 50 keyword pages and 20 keyword overviews. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but the 14-day trial needs no card and allows 10 projects, 750 keywords and 20 AI prompts a day. Payments are non-refundable after that, so use the trial properly. | FNothing free: the $0 plan only runs on credits you buy first, and there's no trial. The money-back guarantee and refunds on unused credits within 30 days aren't a trial. |
| Features | BDaily rank tracking with share of voice, keyword, competitor and backlink research with no caps on either plan, audits of 250,000 pages a month, reports, listings in 100+ directories, AI answer tracking and API credits. The whole job. | BKeyword research from a database it puts at over 5 billion keywords, clustering, competitor and backlink gaps, daily rank tracking, scheduled site audits and internal linking. It covers the whole job, though the $0 plan has no tracking or audits. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Projects, keyword lists and reports all need setting up before the tool pays off. | CNo rating on record. Research costs 3 to 6 credits a request, so there's a meter to watch, and tracking and audits need a project set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, connected to Looker Studio, Google Analytics, Search Console, Matomo, n8n, Make and Claude, with 25,000 API credits a month and MCP on Core. No desktop or phone app. | CWeb only, with no integrations or API on record, and no desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | tracking rankings across many client sites | paying per search for keyword and backlink data |
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: SE Ranking and Telescope. How we grade
Price against what you get
SE Ranking starts at $103.20 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Telescope starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3.
SE Ranking scores higher, and starts $74.20 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than SE Ranking for less, and 6 score higher than Telescope 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
- SE Ranking also covers reports.
- Telescope also covers internal linking.
At a glance
| SE Ranking | Telescope | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $103.20 per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly) | $29 per month for 1,000 research credits |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card required; 10 projects, 750 keywords and 20 AI prompts a day | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | SER Acquisition Inc. | Blank Page Studio |
| Price read from | seranking.com | withtelescope.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
- Deeper AI search tracking is an add-on at $71.20 a month billed annually ($89 billed monthly).
- Payments are non-refundable except where the service was not delivered as promised.
Telescope
- Research costs 3 to 6 credits a request; the pricing page estimates 50 keyword pages plus 20 keyword overviews at about $3.
- Rank tracking, site audits, competitor tracking and internal linking need Growth at $29 a month or Scale at $99.
- There is no free trial; the FAQ offers a money-back guarantee, and unused credits can be refunded within 30 days of purchase.
- Growth covers one website and 200 tracked keywords; more projects need Scale, which allows 5.
Key features
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 100 or 250 prompts a day across five AI models, 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.
Telescope
- Keyword research and clustering
- Search a database Telescope puts at over 5 billion keywords, see difficulty, volume and the live SERP, and group saved keywords into clusters.
- Competitor and backlink research
- Overview any website's keywords and backlinks, find keyword and backlink gaps against rivals, and follow competitors over time on paid plans.
- Rank Tracker
- Daily positions for up to 500 keywords per project, organized with tags, with history charts and a breakdown by ranking bucket.
- Site Audit
- Crawls every page on a manual or scheduled basis and reports a health score, errors and warnings, each with an explanation of how to fix it.
- Internal Linking Tool
- Finds internal linking opportunities across a website; it is included on the Growth and Scale plans.
Plans
SE Ranking
Core$103.20
per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)
1 manager seat, 10 projects, 2,000 keywords and 100 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 250 prompts daily, 2 million audit pages, all-time history and guest links.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom limits and terms, full API and advanced integrations, through sales.
Telescope
Pay as you go$0
per month, plus research credits bought in advance
1 project and 1 seat with every research tool, paid per request; no rank tracking, site audits or competitor tracking.
Growth$29
per month for 1,000 research credits
1 project, unlimited seats, 200 tracked keywords updated daily, 30 site audits a month, 10 competitors and the internal linking tool.
Scale$99
per month for 3,000 research credits
5 projects, 500 tracked keywords per project (2,500 in all), 150 audits a month, 15 competitors per project, Slack support and onboarding.
Ways to pay less
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.
Telescope
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SE Ranking or Telescope?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Telescope is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $103.20 a month for SE Ranking. SE Ranking starts at $103.20 per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly), and Telescope starts at $29 per month for 1,000 research credits.
Which has a free plan, SE Ranking or Telescope?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither SE Ranking nor Telescope has a free plan. SE Ranking 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.