# Free Semrush alternatives: keyword research, rank tracking and audits without the bill

> Free alternatives to Semrush, job by job: Search Console, Keyword Planner and Google Trends for keywords, Search Console for positions, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools and Screaming Frog for audits — and where free runs out.

Canonical: https://crawlwise.site/blog/site-audits/free-semrush-alternatives
Last updated: 2026-10-29

Semrush bundles keyword research, rank tracking, competitor data and site audits. Free tools cover each job separately: Search Console for your real queries and positions, Keyword Planner and Google Trends for demand, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools and Screaming Frog for audits, and Semrush’s free account for 10 reports a day. Competitor keyword data is where free runs out.

by Adnan Arodiya

Updated October 29, 2026 · 8 min read

## Key takeaways

- Search Console measures; every other keyword and rank tool estimates.
- Keyword Planner needs a Google Ads account with billing details; Trends shows relative interest, not volume.
- Free audits: Semrush 100 URLs a month, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools 5,000 credits, Screaming Frog 500 URLs.
- Competitor keyword and traffic research is where free tools run out.

Semrush is a suite: keyword research, rank tracking, competitor research, site audits, content tools and now AI search tracking, in one subscription. Its plain SEO plan is $139 a month, or $117.33 a month billed annually. If you use two of those jobs, you can usually do both for free. Here is each job with the free tool that does it, and what you give up.

## Keyword research

**Google Search Console** shows the queries your site already appears for, with clicks, impressions and average position — measured numbers, not estimates. **Google Keyword Planner** gives estimates of how many searches a keyword gets each month; it lives inside Google Ads, and Google asks you to complete account setup, including billing information, to use it. **Google Trends** shows relative interest: Google divides each data point by total searches for that place and time and scales the result from 0 to 100, so it compares terms and seasons but does not give search volumes.

What you give up: Semrush’s database of the keywords your competitors rank for.

## Rank tracking

Search Console’s average position is “The average position of the topmost result from your site,” reported for every query you appeared for. For coverage, that beats any tracker, and it costs nothing. What it does not do is show a position for a keyword you do not yet appear for, or a daily position on a fixed list in a fixed location. Semrush’s free plan tracks up to 10 keywords, according to its blog.

## Competitor research

This is where free runs out. Semrush’s free account itself is the best free option: 10 reports a day across its main tools, enough for a handful of competitor checks. Ahrefs’ free backlink checker previews any site’s links. Past that, competitor keyword and traffic data comes from paid indexes. See [free Ahrefs alternatives](https://crawlwise.site/blog/site-audits/free-ahrefs-alternatives) for the backlink side.

## Site audits

Semrush’s free plan audits up to 100 URLs a month, per its blog. For a bigger free crawl, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools audits verified sites with 5,000 crawl credits per project per month, and Screaming Frog’s free version crawls 500 URLs from your machine. Crawlwise audits one page a day free with no account, and its paid plans crawl a site up to 10,000 pages.

> Search Console measures. Everything else estimates. Start with the free tool that measures.
>
> Adnan Arodiya, Crawlwise

## AI search visibility

Semrush now sells AI search tracking. Its SEO + AI Search plans start with Starter at $199 a month, which tracks 50 prompts daily across engines Semrush lists as Google Search, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. The free options are previews. Ahrefs’ AI Visibility Checker gives a one-time snapshot with the top five results per section — “No signup, no credit card” — and the Crawlwise [AI mention checker](https://crawlwise.site/tools/ai-mention-checker) asks ChatGPT one question and reports whether your brand was named. For the full field, see [the best AI visibility tools](https://crawlwise.site/blog/site-audits/best-ai-visibility-tools).

## A free stack instead of Semrush

| Job | Free tool | What you give up |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Keyword ideas and demand | Keyword Planner, Google Trends | Competitor keyword lists |
| Your own queries and positions | Google Search Console | A fixed daily keyword list |
| Competitor snapshots | Semrush free account (10 reports a day) | Depth and history |
| Site audit | Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, Screaming Frog (500 URLs), Crawlwise | Scheduled crawls of big sites |
| AI crawler access | Crawlwise AI crawler checker | Tracking over time |

## When Semrush is worth paying for

When competitor research is the job: agencies pitching clients, content teams choosing topics from competitors’ rankings, PPC teams. Semrush’s keyword database, position tracking across locations and team features have no free equivalent, and our [Semrush comparison](https://crawlwise.site/vs/semrush-site-audit) says so. If your work is mostly your own site, the free stack above covers it, and [Crawlwise keyword research](https://crawlwise.site/docs/tools/keywords) and [Ranks](https://crawlwise.site/docs/tools/ranks) are there on a plan when you want them in one place.

## What a plan actually costs

The free tools stay free. You can open them, run them, and leave without an account. A plan is for the moment you want the report saved, a few sites watched, or the same checks from the API. The price on this table is the price at checkout. A yearly plan is ten months of the monthly price, so two months are on us.

| Plan | Monthly | Credits | A good fit when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | $4.99 | 10 | You look after one site and check it now and then |
| Pro | $14.99 | 40 | A few sites, plus the API and a handful of watched URLs |
| Studio | $49.99 | 150 | Client work that would burn through Pro mid-month |
| Agency | $99.99 | 400 | Many locations, reported under your own name |

A single-page audit is about 1.25 credits, and that includes the live probe of answer-engine crawlers. You see the estimate before anything runs. If a hold is not used, it comes back to your balance. Extra credits, when you already subscribe, are $9.99 for 20.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Semrush have a free plan?

Yes, a free account: 10 reports per day across its main tools and one demo project, according to Semrush’s knowledge base.

### Is Google Keyword Planner free?

It is part of Google Ads, and Google asks you to complete account setup, including billing information, before you can use it. Its search volumes are estimates.

### What is the best free tool for keyword research?

Search Console for keywords you already appear for, because its numbers are measured. Keyword Planner and Google Trends for new ideas, remembering that Trends shows relative interest, not volumes.

### Does Crawlwise do keyword research and rank tracking?

On paid plans: keyword data is bought per query, and Ranks tracks keywords you choose on a schedule for a verified site. Semrush’s own keyword database is much larger.

## Sources

Every page below was read on 2026-10-29. Vendors change prices, limits and documentation without notice, so check the original before you act on a detail.

- [Semrush — Plans and pricing](https://www.semrush.com/pricing/)
- [Semrush Knowledge Base — Subscription plans & Toolkits](https://www.semrush.com/kb/856-subscription-plans-comparison)
- [Semrush Blog — What can you do with a free Semrush account? (December 10, 2025)](https://www.semrush.com/blog/what-can-i-do-with-a-free-account-from-semrush/)
- [Search Console Help — Performance report (Search results)](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7576553)
- [Google Ads Help — Use Keyword Planner](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7337243)
- [Google Trends Help — FAQ about Google Trends data](https://support.google.com/trends/answer/4365533)
- [Ahrefs — Ahrefs Webmaster Tools](https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools)
- [Ahrefs — Free backlink checker](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker)
- [Ahrefs — Free AI visibility checker](https://ahrefs.com/ai-visibility-checker)
- [Screaming Frog — SEO Spider pricing](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/pricing/)

## Crawlwise and a Semrush subscription

| What you get | Crawlwise | Semrush |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Keyword database | Bought per query on paid plans | Large, with years of history |
| Rank tracking | Keywords you choose, on a schedule, for a verified site | Many devices and locations, with history |
| Free tools without an account | Yes, every one | Free account, 10 reports a day |
| Fetches a page as each AI crawler | Free, about 17 crawlers | Not listed on the pages we read |

Try it on your URL

## Run the checks on your live site

Free tools answer one question. A full audit scores the page, tests answer-engine crawlers, and saves to history on a plan.

- Live crawler probes
- Core Web Vitals
- One free full audit

[Get my free report](https://crawlwise.site/#audit-url) [Open free tool](https://crawlwise.site/tools/ai-crawler-check) [Compare plans](https://crawlwise.site/plans)

## Meet the author

Adnan Arodiya

Crawlwise

Writes about what Crawlwise actually measures: on-page evidence, crawler access, and performance signals — with the limits stated up front.

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