Low-Cost SEO Tools: Where Cheap Tiers Stop

Overview

Low cost SEO tools have a specific problem, and it is not the price. The entry tier of every platform in this category is genuinely affordable. What it is not is durable, because the cheap tier limits the things that scale with client work: tracked keywords, projects, seats, historical data and branded reporting. You do not discover the limit while comparing prices. You discover it in month two, with a client waiting.

This page is the companion to our price floor comparison. That page answers what the cheapest published tier costs. This one answers what the cheapest published tier allows, where it stops, and what the next step costs in money rather than in adjectives.

Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page on 30 October 2026, and the site's other pages in this cluster were checked against the same tables the same week, so the numbers agree with each other. That matters more than usual in a category where tier names move, for the reason set out next.

What the entry tiers have in common now

The tier names across this category now read as AI visibility products rather than rank tracking products. Moz leads with Standard, Medium and Large. Semrush leads with SEO, Starter and Pro+. SE Ranking leads with Core and Growth. Ahrefs leads with Lite, Standard and Advanced, with a cheaper Starter tier kept on a side banner. Surfer leads with Discovery, Standard, Pro and Peace of Mind, with an AI Search Analytics tier alongside them.

What matters for a buyer is what those names contain. Four of the five bundle AI prompt tracking into the entry tier: SE Ranking Core includes 100 prompts a day, Moz Standard 150 tracked prompts, Ahrefs Lite 150 prompt checks, and Semrush SEO includes AI search tracking and custom prompts. Surfer is the exception, and it is an explicit one: Discovery tracks no AI prompts at all and refreshes none, so its cheapest tier is a content tool rather than a visibility tool. That bundling is why the keyword caps look low next to the price. Part of what you are paying for is prompt tracking, and if you do not need prompt tracking you are paying for something you will not use.

This is also why the date matters more than usual on a page like this one. Every figure below was read on the day it is stamped with, and the site's older pages were written against the same tier tables, so they agree. When you read a comparison of these tools anywhere, check the date on it, including on our own pages.

What the entry tier allows today

All five figures read on 30 October 2026.

Three things stand out when the numbers sit next to each other.

The keyword allowance is quoted in different units. SE Ranking and Semrush publish a daily figure. Moz publishes a monthly figure. Ahrefs publishes a tracked total. A daily cap of 500 and a monthly cap of 300 are not the same kind of limit, and neither is a tracked total of 750. Read the unit before you compare the number.

The project cap is the real dividing line, not the price. SE Ranking sells 10 projects at its entry tier. Ahrefs sells unlimited verified projects but only 5 unverified ones. Moz sells 3 sites. Semrush sells 5 websites. Surfer's entry tier is not a rank tracking product at all, so its 1 brand workspace and 10 tracked pages are a different purchase.

The historical data allowance is where the cheap tier is thinnest. SE Ranking Core and Ahrefs Lite both publish 6 months. Moz and Semrush do not list historical data at their entry tiers, and Semrush lists historical SEO data as an addition at Pro+, which tells you where it starts. If a client asks what their rankings did last year, the entry tier may not be able to answer.

The four walls a cheap tier hits

These are the four limits that turn a cheap plan into an upgrade conversation. None of them are about features, which is why the feature comparison on a pricing page will not warn you.

Wall one: the keyword cap

Tracked keywords are the unit of work in this category, and every entry tier caps them. SE Ranking Core allows 2,000 a day. Ahrefs Lite allows 750. Semrush SEO allows 500 a day. Moz Standard allows 300 a month.

The cap matters once you hold more than one client. A single local business can consume a few hundred tracked terms without trying. Four clients sharing 750 tracked keywords is a planning problem, and four clients sharing 300 a month is not workable for anything except a very small engagement.

The escape routes are priced differently, which is the part worth knowing before you choose. Moz publishes an add-on of $20 a month for an additional 200 tracked keywords. SE Ranking publishes extra keywords from $22.40 a month on Core. Ahrefs and Semrush do not publish a per-keyword add-on at their entry tiers, so the route there is a tier jump: Ahrefs Lite to Standard is $120 a month more, and Semrush SEO to Starter is $60 a month more.

Wall two: the project or site cap

Projects are how you separate clients, and the cap is where agencies feel the entry tier first.

SE Ranking Core allows 10 projects, which is the most generous published figure in this set and the reason it is our pick for a small agency running several clients. Ahrefs Lite allows unlimited verified projects, which sounds unlimited until you notice that unverified projects are capped at 5: verification means you control the domain, so a competitor analysis you do not own counts against the smaller number. Moz Standard allows 3 tracked sites. Semrush SEO allows 5 websites.

If you are an agency, count client domains first and compare the rest afterwards. A platform that caps keywords generously but projects tightly will fail earlier than one that does the opposite.

Wall three: the seat

This is the quietest wall and often the most expensive one, because it is charged per person per month and it recurs.

SE Ranking Core includes 1 manager seat, with extra manager seats from $16 a month. Moz Standard includes 1 user, and additional seats cost $49 a month each on any plan level. Ahrefs Lite includes 1 user with up to 2 more at $40 each. Semrush lists additional users as an add-on from $45 a month. Surfer Discovery includes 1 team seat, rising to 3 at Standard and 5 at Pro.

The same need, a second person who can log in, costs between $16 and $49 a month depending on the platform. Over a year that gap is worth more than the difference between most of these entry tiers, and it is invisible on a pricing page that lists the base price only.

One related rule is worth reading before you buy. SE Ranking states that only one active session is allowed per login, so sharing credentials will log the other person out. If two people need access, that is a seat or a guest link, not a shared password.

Wall four: history, exports and the branded report

The last wall is the one clients notice, because it is the wall between you and a document with their logo on it.

On history: SE Ranking Core and Ahrefs Lite publish 6 months. SE Ranking Growth and Ahrefs Standard publish all time and 2 years respectively. Moz and Semrush do not list historical data at their entry tiers.

On exports: Ahrefs Lite publishes 500,000 export rows a month and a 2,500 row limit per report, while Standard raises both to 1.5 million rows and 30,000 rows per report. SE Ranking Core publishes 50,000 export rows, rising to 100,000 at Growth.

On branded reporting, the costs are published and they differ sharply. SE Ranking's Agency Pack is $69 a month, adds 30 client seats and white label, and is available on annual billing only. Semrush sells a Pro Report add-on at $20 a month for branding, white labelling and AI summaries. Moz lists branded reports as unavailable at Standard and available from Medium, which makes branding part of a $179 a month monthly plan or $143 a month billed yearly. Ahrefs sells Report Builder as a separate $99 a month add-on.

So the cost of putting your own logo on a client report ranges from $20 a month to a tier jump of $80 a month, depending on which platform you already pay for. That is the number to check before choosing, not the entry price.

The upgrade triggers, in money

Stated as the specific moment rather than as advice. All figures read on 30 October 2026.

The pattern is consistent. Seats are the cheapest thing to add. Branding is the most awkward, because three of the five sell it as a separate product rather than as part of the tier. Keywords sit in the middle, and only two vendors sell them by the unit.

What the free plans actually include

Check these on the day you sign up. Free tiers change more often than paid ones, and every figure here was read on 30 October 2026.

Semrush Free is the only permanent free plan in this set. It gives 1 demo project, 10 reports a day across the tools, and access to the AI visibility features, with no card required. It is a genuine way to test whether the platform suits your workflow before paying, and it is not a working plan for a client account.

Ahrefs Free gives limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit for website owners. Ahrefs states plainly that it never runs discounts and that the free route is the way to sample the data.

Moz offers a free trial plus a free Moz Community account, which gives limited access to MozBar, Keyword Explorer and Link Explorer for backlink research. Moz also states that it has no student discount, and that registered 501(c)(3) non-profits can apply for one.

SE Ranking runs a 14 day free trial with no credit card required, covering 10 projects, 750 tracked keywords a day, 20 AI prompts a day and AI competitive research for 3 domains. That is enough to run a real client project before deciding, which is more than most trials allow.

Surfer publishes a start for free button and a $49 a month entry tier billed yearly, but no permanent free plan appears on its pricing page. Treat the entry tier as the free route's replacement, and note that annual plans there are charged for the entire year upfront.

Moz Starter deserves its own line because it is unusual. Moz continues to sell a $49 a month plan for an individual managing a single website, outside the Standard, Medium and Large table. It is the only single-site plan in this set sold at a single-site price, and it is the cheapest published way to use a full platform rather than a free tool on one domain.

Where a low cost tool stops being the right answer

Three situations, stated plainly, because pretending otherwise is how people end up paying twice.

You are reporting to clients who pay you. If a client is paying a retainer and expects a monthly document with your branding and a year of history behind it, the entry tier is the wrong instrument. The branded report and the history are the deliverable. Buy the tier that includes them, or the saving you made on the plan is paid back in an awkward conversation.

Two or more people touch the account. A single seat forces shared credentials, and at least one platform states outright that shared logins will be interrupted. Seats are cheap relative to the cost of two people locked out of the same dashboard.

You are buying data rather than workflow. If your need is keyword and backlink data at volume, a cheap all-in-one tier is a poor substitute, and the row limits and export caps will be the first thing you hit. That is a data purchase, and the honest test is whether the entry tier's row limit survives one month of real work.

In every other case, and for a one or two person practice working on a small number of sites, the entry tier is the correct purchase. It is also worth saying that the cheapest published plan in this set, at $29 a month, is cheaper than most of the free tiers are worth in time saved.

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