Moz vs SEMrush
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Moz is pricing not verified, SEMrush is from $129/user/mo.
- How to start: Moz is pricing not verified, SEMrush is from $129/user/mo.
- Where they differ: on what we checked they match — both offer public api and sso (saml).
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Moz is
Moz provides SEO tooling: rank tracking, site audits, keyword research and its own link index and domain authority metric. Domain Authority remains its most-cited output, useful as a rough comparative signal rather than a target to chase. Its link index and keyword data are smaller than the leading crawlers, which is the trade for a gentler interface and price.
What SEMrush is
SEMrush is the Swiss Army knife of digital marketing, offering all the data needed for SEO, PPC, content marketing, and competitor analysis in one platform. With a database of over 25 billion keywords and 800 million domains, it allows you to see exactly which keywords your competitors are ranking for, how much they spend on ads, and their content strategies. From 'Site Audit' to 'Keyword Magic Tool,' it provides the strategic data required to dominate the search engine result pages.
Side by side
What Moz is built to do
- Link index and Domain Authority
- Reports referring domains and a comparative authority score.
- Keyword research
- Estimates volume and difficulty for target queries.
- Site crawl
- Audits pages for technical and on-page issues on a schedule.
What SEMrush is built to do
- Keyword Magic Tool
- Discover thousands of high-traffic, low-competition keywords for your niche.
- Site Audit
- Scan your website for over 140 technical criteria to measure and fix SEO health.
- Market Explorer
- Analyze the traffic sources and market share of your top industry competitors.
- Content Optimizer
- Grade and improve the SEO compliance of your articles in real-time as you write.
Choose Moz if
- Small teams doing SEO without a dedicated specialist.
Choose SEMrush if
- SEO Specialists, Digital Marketers, and Content Strategists.
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Moz: pros & cons
- Domain Authority is widely referenced
- Approachable interface for non-specialists
- Good learning material
- Link index smaller than Ahrefs or Semrush
- Rank tracking limits on lower plans
- Some data updates slowly
SEMrush: pros & cons
- Comprehensive Data: The gold standard for competitor analysis and market research.
- Technical SEO Expert: Identifies even the smallest site errors and offers solutions.
- All-in-One Suite: Replaces the need for 5-6 different marketing tools.
- PPC Support: Powerful not just for SEO, but also for paid advertising strategies.
- High Cost: Can be expensive for small businesses and individual practitioners.
- Complex UI: It is easy to get lost among the dozens of advanced features at first.
- Reporting Limits: Lower tiers have restrictions on daily queries and exports.
Our verdict on Moz
Fine as a first SEO tool. Serious link analysis needs a bigger index.
Our verdict on SEMrush
An indispensable suite for serious marketers aiming for data-driven organic growth.