Semrush vs Sitebulb
We give Semrush a 2.2 GPA and Sitebulb a 2.6, out of 4.0. Semrush grades higher on features. Sitebulb grades higher on value for money and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Semrush
SEO suite for keyword research, rank tracking and AI search visibility
Sitebulb
Website auditing crawler for Windows and Mac, with a cloud edition
How we grade them
| 2.2GPASemrushFair | 2.6GPASitebulbGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | BGraded against its alternatives. Lite is $180 a year, $15 a month, for 1 user and 10,000 URLs per audit, cheaper than Screaming Frog's $279 and far under Semrush or Ahrefs. Pro, with scheduling and comparisons, is $425 a year. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | CNo free plan, but the 14-day trial needs no card and works like Sitebulb Pro on the desktop. |
| Features | 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. | CIt does the audit job fully: 100+ hints on Lite or 300+ on Pro, JavaScript crawling on every plan, crawl maps and MCP. But auditing is one slice of SEO, and Lite lacks scheduling, comparisons and several report types. |
| Ease of use | 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. | BNo rating on record, but this is the friendly crawler: install it, start an audit, and each problem comes ranked by priority and explained in plain terms. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BDesktop apps for Windows and Mac plus Sitebulb Cloud in the browser, with Google Analytics, Search Console, Sheets, Looker Studio, Claude and ChatGPT. The cloud version is priced separately, from $125 a month. |
| Best for | the broadest all-in-one SEO suite | site audits explained in plain words |
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: Semrush and Sitebulb. How we grade
Price against what you get
Semrush starts at $117.33 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Sitebulb starts at $18 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Sitebulb starts $99.33 a month lower. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Semrush for less, and none scores higher than Sitebulb 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 starts at $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly). Sitebulb starts at $18 per month, billed monthly.
- Semrush has a free plan. Sitebulb does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Sitebulb lists Windows and macOS apps.
- Semrush also covers keyword research, rank tracking and backlink analysis.
At a glance
| Semrush | Sitebulb | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $117.33 per month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly) | $18 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | Free account: 1 project, 10 analytics reports a day across the main tools and 10 keywords in Position Tracking. No credit card needed. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of paid plans; a card is checked with a small charge that is refunded at once | 14-day free trial equal to Sitebulb Pro desktop, no credit card |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Made by | Semrush Holdings | Sitebulb Limited |
| Price read from | semrush.com | sitebulb.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Semrush
- Freelancers and in-house marketers who want research, tracking and audits in one account
- Agencies comparing many client sites against their competitors
- Brands that want to watch their visibility in AI chat answers alongside Google rankings
Sitebulb
- SEO consultants and agencies who want audits explained for clients
- Freelancers auditing small sites on a low monthly budget
- Teams that need to crawl very large sites from the cloud
Worth knowing
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.
Sitebulb
- Lite caps each audit at 10,000 URLs and lacks scheduling, comparisons and several report types.
- Desktop crawls are limited by the computer: Pro's default cap is 500,000 URLs, raisable to 2 million.
- Sitebulb Cloud is priced separately, from $125 a month, and needs at least 2 users.
- Purchase order and invoice payment is only for yearly plans.
Key features
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.
Sitebulb
- Prioritized hints
- Each audit flags issues against 100+ hints on Lite or 300+ on Pro, ranked by priority and explained in plain terms.
- JavaScript crawling
- Render JavaScript-heavy sites during a crawl on every plan, at no extra cost.
- Audit comparison and scheduling
- On Pro, compare audits to see what changed and schedule audits to run automatically, with auto-export to Google Sheets.
- Crawl maps and reports
- See site structure as visual crawl maps, and on Pro produce customized PDF reports for clients.
- Pro-only checks
- Pro adds performance and mobile, structured data, hreflang, spelling, accessibility and AMP reports.
- MCP access
- Connect audits to Claude, ChatGPT and other AI tools through Sitebulb's MCP server, included on every plan.
Plans
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.
Sitebulb
Lite$18
per month, billed monthly
Desktop, 1 user, 10,000 URLs per audit, 100+ hints, JavaScript crawling, crawl maps and GA, GSC and Sheets integration.
Pro$42
per month, billed monthly
Desktop price for 1 user; more users from $11 a month each. 500,000 URLs per audit, 300+ hints, scheduling, comparisons, PDF reports.
Sitebulb Cloud$125
per month and up, billed monthly
Browser-based cloud crawling for 2+ users, no project limits, recurring crawls and Data Studio integration.
Ways to pay less
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.
Sitebulb
- Annual discount
Save 15% with yearly plans
Paid yearly, Lite is $180 a year and Pro $425 for 1 user, with extra users at $115.60 a year; Sitebulb Cloud starts at $1,500 a year.
