Digital marketers and business owners use SEO software to enhance website traffic and improve the ROI of marketing campaigns. Choosing the best SEO tool for you might be challenging because so many options are available.
The good news is that you’re on the right track if you’re reading this. Both SemRush and SpyFu are dependable tools that have served thousands of users well for more than ten years. This guide will help you decide which tool is ideal for you by explaining the differences between the two options, including a thorough dive into their key features.
What Is SpyFu?
SpyFu is the most complete SEO tool for “spying” on your competitors’ keywords. SpyFu allows you to search for any domain and discover where it has appeared on search engines such as Google.
SpyFu can assist you in spying on your competitors by providing you with access to things such as:
- Every Adwords keyword your competitors have purchased.
- Every organic rank they have achieved, and every ad variant your competitors have used in the last 12 years to increase organic traffic and sales to their websites
SpyFu exposes all of your competitors’ keyword data, allowing you to easily uncover extremely profitable and low-hanging keywords to boost your website’s search rankings.
Pros of Spyfu
- SpyFu’s competitive keyword research tool is powerful, tracking over 80 million domains and five billion results. Every day, the tool conducts millions of searches that may be traced back to the original search engine results page. This is one of SpyFu’s most significant advantages.
- Spyfu promotes itself as a fully-featured tool with a user interface (UI) that is not overbearing. Users appreciate the simple, focused design that does not overwhelm them with irrelevant information. Users can save time by using simple dashboards and clear, easy-to-digest reports.
- Spyfu provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via email and chat. It also provides a library of instructive training videos and live, one-on-one webinars to assist with any questions.
- Spyfu offers a user-friendly interface that allows users to find things like competitor keywords with a simple copy and paste. Building or modifying digital campaigns is simple and intuitive, saving time that would otherwise be spent on intricate processes and steep learning curves.
Cons of Spyfu
- Users of Spyfu frequently express a lack of confidence in the company’s PPC statistics, notably its information on competitors.
- To obtain relevant data on rivals’ keywords, users frequently remark that they must make manual changes to verify whether the resulting data is accurate or not.
What Is SemRush?
SemRush is a comprehensive SEO tool that can be used for detailed competitor research. Whatever business you are in, SemRush data can help you simply analyze your competition and use that data to your advantage.
Here are some of SemRush’s figures:
- Over ten million people utilize it.
- There are almost 2 billion keywords.
- 80 million mobile keywords and 32 million mobile domains.
- 142 geodatabases are available for use.
- There are over 824 million domains.
- 543 million desktop keywords and 787 million desktop domains.
Based on the data presented above, we can confidently state that SemRush is one of the largest and most useful SEO toolkits for all types of bloggers conducting competitive research.
Pros of SemRush
- Simple Organic Ranking Tool: SemRush customers can quickly and easily receive in-depth research on how their site ranks, what keywords are effective, and how the competition compares.
- Support for Content Marketing: SemRush is beneficial to organizations that are focused on content. SemRush is a wonderful tool for optimizing content with tools that provide improvement suggestions in keyword performance, content performance, and even user experience.
- Slick PPC Campaign Functionality: Organizations who rely significantly on PPC to reach their goals will appreciate SemRush’s simple-to-use and successful PPC tool. Users like the flexibility to plan and monitor PPC campaigns with lots of analytics and tools that make running paid campaigns easier.
- Reporting Tools Simplified: SemRush provides reporting tools that are simple to develop, edit, and export. The SemRush reporting tool’s capabilities reduce the need for human data capture, saving time and money.
- Analyze and Track Social Media Effectiveness: SemRush assists brands in tracking their performance across all social media channels, including influencer marketing and paid social activity.
Cons of SemRush
- Difficult User Interface: The SemRush user interface is not intuitive for new users. While technical individuals may be able to quickly understand the technology, it may not be ideal for teams with less technical expertise.
- Single-user Login: This is problematic. Although they can be pricey, extra seats can be purchased. The program deletes history and preserves data when new IP addresses join with the same information, deterring credential sharing.
SpyFu vs SemRush: Features Comparison
Moving on, let us now discuss some of the impressive features available in both SpyFu and SemRush. Let us begin with a list of SpyFu’s features.
Features of Spyfu
- Unlimited Domain Search Results
- Unlimited Keyword Search Results
- Unlimited Backlinks Searches
- Unlimited Competitors Results
- Unlimited Keyword Group Results
- Unlimited Domain Comparisons (Kombat)
- Unlimited Exports for all search results
- Custom SEO & PPC Reports
- Top Lists (Top PPC Spenders, etc.)
- Track Ad Placement & SEO Rankings
- Export Advanced Sales Leads Info
- Add Your Own Keywords
- Filter Sales Leads
- 10 Years of Historical Data
- Custom Branded Reports (only available for “Professional” and “Team” accounts)
- Multiple User Accounts (only available with “Team” account)
- API Access (only available for “Professional” and “Team” accounts)
If you type in a domain, the main dashboard of SpyFu shows you data including but not limited to the following:
- Organic search results
- Paid search keywords
- Competitors
- Top paid competitors
With Spyfu, you may also quickly determine how many top page rankings your competitors hold, as well as how many estimated monthly views they receive from certain keywords from search results.
Features of SemRush
- Keyword Research
- Display Advertising
- Domain vs. Domain
- Social Media Tool
- Domain Analytics
- Site Audit
- Backlinks
- SEO Ideas
- Keyword Magic
- Position Tracking
- Video Advertising Research
- PDF-reports
- Content Tool
- Organic Research
- Backlink Audit Tool
- Product Listing Ads
- Brand Monitoring
- SEO Content Template
- Advertising Research
- Organic Traffic Insights
If you type in a domain, the main dashboard of SemRush shows you the following:
- Top organic keywords
- Organic positions
- Number of backlinks
- Paid search results if any
- Organic search results
- Related competitors list together with their keywords
Overall, both SpyFu and SemRush offer their consumers a wide range of practical features. However, there are a few key differences with regard to some of their features which we’d look at below.
Keyword Analysis
SpyFu
As soon as you log into the SpyFu system, you’ll notice that it’s a powerful tool for keyword research. The best part is that everything has been reduced to its most vital details.
The Overview page gives you the details you need to get started. It provides comprehensive details about a specific website’s SEO potential, highlighting its natural keywords and the associated click value.
With SpyFu, you can operate practically any domain name you can imagine. It performs data analysis to display the top rival websites and their organic keywords. The servers allow you to compare numerous websites as well.
Furthermore, SpyFu presents all the pertinent information in the shape of a stylish Venn diagram because words and figures can sometimes be too dense and hard to digest quickly. This visual display is helpful when you’re trying to analyze and understand how well different keywords are performing.
Research on keywords and SEO is another option. You will find two distinct tabs with definitions that appear to be similar yet have different purposes.
The goal of keyword research is to find the specific groups of keywords that are generating visitors to a website. You can use it to locate precise keywords related to your website’s niche.
In contrast, SEO Research reveals all of the keywords linked with a website’s SEO. The specific word groups that determine a website’s grade.
Surprisingly, you can go back in time with SpyFu by going through prior records to see what keywords were used previously and how they have evolved over time. This puts you ahead of the curve.
SemRush
SemRush is stacked with many advanced capabilities. Essentially, everything is combined into a single solution. Therefore, it makes sense if you need more time to get acclimatized with this tool than with SpyFu, especially when it comes to keyword research.
The Keyword Analytics tab isn’t the only element dealing with keywords, the Organic Research tab in Domain Analytics gets the job done as well.
And it does precisely what you could have guessed by now. It will display the specific keywords for which a website ranks.
SemRush makes provision for lengthy and complex lists by including a filtering tool to assist you in identifying specific sets of keywords that match your desired specifications.
The Position Changes tab allows you to track how different keywords have affected a site’s overall rankings. It also includes information on any keywords that have been deleted or lost.
Moving on, the keyword analytics tab helps you determine which keywords to target for the highest ranking. For each term you type, the algorithm scans search engines to give you other relevant, high-ranking options. You generate both primary and secondary keywords in the same manner.
This is all well and good but not quite as fantastic as SemRush’s brand-new Keyword Magic Tool. This is the ultimate keyword-generating exercise. Thanks to its comprehensive filters and reliable stats, you may accurately determine the exact phrases that would actually improve the ranking of your site and help you get more organic traffic.
Our Verdict
You can clearly see that SemRush and SpyFu are both tremendously helpful for keyword research. And they are really similar.
They both have a keyword tracker, keyword rank history, a domain against domain keyword assessment, an SEO overview, and potent keyword suggestion metrics Basically, from a keyword research point of view, it’s a tie.
Competitor Analysis
You must carry out a competitor analysis if you want to develop a marketing plan for your business that will work every time. By looking at your competitors’ marketing initiatives, you can identify gaps in the market and opportunities for your brand.
Both SemRush and SpyFu can offer a comprehensive report on the SEO and PPC activities of your rivals. Which SEO tool, however, offers the most features and the most reliable data? Let’s get to it.
SpyFu
SpyFu is straight to the point when it comes to competition analysis. By allowing access to the crucial information that your rivals would do anything to keep secret, it goes for the kill.
You are probably aware that one of the first things you will discover are the keywords of your rivals. This should help you choose the keyword strategy your website should use.
Sounds exciting, right? Well, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond this, SpyFu is aggressive in giving you specific information about the SEO tactics used by your rivals.
This includes things like the organic development of your chosen keywords compared to other websites, rivals bidding on your PPC AdWords, backlinks that raise the rankings of other websites, the overall performance of competitor ads, marketing campaigns by other domains and their impact, and more.
You don’t even need to refresh the page to stay up-to-date. SpyFu handles this by sending alerts when your competitors’ strategies change.
To be honest, this is a great deal of information to keep track of. That’s why SpyFu simplifies everything with lists, graphs, and charts for quick interpretation.
SemRush
SemRush will also frustrate your rivals. It doesn’t just concentrate on the areas where your rivals are doing well. It also focuses on their weaknesses to show you where their defenses are vulnerable so you can launch a counterattack.
It offers helpful guidance on how to outmaneuver your competitors methodically.
SpyFu has demonstrated that the analysis isn’t just limited to keywords. That is merely a small component of the whole. And the same can be said about SemRush as well. The entire SEO approach is covered by SemRush, which also identifies all relevant keywords.
You’ll essentially get historical data to identify any algorithmic ranking patterns and possible ranking penalties in the past.
You also have the option to view other websites that are in the same position as yours in relation to your main competitors, suggestions on new possibilities, and findings on the general performance of your competitors’ paid and organic search campaigns.
SemRush also allows you to compare multiple domains side by side to assess comparative power, and view updates on.
Our Verdict
As we’ve seen, SpyFu and SemRush both carry out an in-depth analysis of the competition. We are sure you’re getting goosebumps just thinking about the idea that your rivals or competitors may be using these services against your website.
Both Spyfu and SemRush assess the keywords and the associated SEO approach, which may include paid search campaigns. You can identify ROI, weak points, as well as future opportunities, with the help of the reports.
Having said that, SemRush produces slightly more precise data than SpyFu. It takes a deeper look to dig out a lot of information that SpyFu might often miss.
For instance, consider the quick report on the top organic competitor keywords. SemRush goes above and beyond to determine the precise number of related keywords shared by organic competitors, while SpyFu takes the lead at the list level.
Link Review
In addition to keywords embedded into content, link building is unquestionably crucial to SEO. Links are one of the most important elements that make your content rank higher on google.
Moreover, when it comes to SEO efforts, most businesses believe that backlinking is the most difficult. In order to help make things easier for you, SemRush and SpyFu both offer a wealth of features to help with link reviews.
SpyFu
SpyFu has a variety of helpful tools for analyzing not only your links but also the complete link structure of your main competitors. In the end, it all adds up to a thorough report on their entire SEO structure.
You can initially view a thorough list of external links from any site. On top of that, you can also find a compilation of inbound links from other domains to that particular site.
Additionally, to create a clear picture, SpyFu further divides them into different categories of inbound links that point to the site.
You’ll also discover information about each link’s overall strength, traffic projections, and social statistics. Also, the filtering tool can be used to sift through the pile and dive deeper into the most crucial links.
SemRush
SemRush is also a credible option for link analysis. It scans websites to find incoming links, then produces data on how well they perform in comparison to rival websites, all link sources, and overall link strength.
You can learn the specific IP addresses of the backlinks to your site, the types of content that produce the backlinks, the sources of the strong backlinks of your competitors, and whether or not your own backlinks are spam.
Verdict
To sum it up, the link review features for these two services are quite impressive for tools that primarily promote themselves as keyword research solutions. They both produce detailed reports on any website’s inbound and outbound links.
Despite that, when examined more closely, it becomes clear that SpyFu’s backlink reports are more thorough than SemRush’s.
SEO Audit Tool Analysis
Another aspect of these tools that we should compare is their SEO audit tool. An SEO audit is essential because it measures performance and informs you of where you stand.
You may examine how you can enhance your performance by correcting your errors and analyzing your competitor’s websites to see how you can rank your website higher.
SEO audits thoroughly examine your website, scrutinizing every detail and assisting you in maintaining an SEO-friendly site. Auditing may not seem as important as keyword research and backlink tracking, but it is actually the backbone of your SEO.
An SEO audit tool assists you and your website in seamlessly adapting to SEO adjustments.
SemRush includes a highly advanced SEO audit tool, which is one of the most popular SemRush tools. It does several checks before providing the findings of each given site. It keeps track of any existing issues on your website and provides methods to fix them. This improves your site’s rating and performance.
The SemRush site audit tool runs approximately 130 tests on your site to ensure that all aspects are covered.
You will be awarded a health score for your website, which is calculated by the number of faults the tool discovered on your site through the numerous tests it ran. They provide everything and write a full report for your interpretation.
Spyfu does not have an SEO audit tool but, according to reports, will shortly explore adding one. Therefore, when it comes to an SEO site audit, we have one clear winner and that is SemRush.
Rank Tracking Analysis
Rank tracking is a straightforward concept; rank tracking analysis tells you where your site ranks on a search engine for your target keywords. This is a vital consideration because every site owner is concerned with their site’s place on search engines and how to improve it.
Rank tracking is essential for SEO since it not only notifies you about the existing rank but shows you the potential rank and how you can get there. You can also investigate why your competitors are ranking so well and examine their rankings.
SemRush
SemRush provides an excellent rant tracking analysis; it not only informs you of your rankings but also suggests keywords that can help you rank higher.
They also have a geolocation option that allows you to see ranks based on where you are. With the combination of their rank tracking and geolocation technology, you may learn where your site ranks in a search engine in various locations for your desired keywords.
A position tracking report is included with this SemRush tool. This analysis provides information on three essential metrics: the current position of your website, the traffic you will produce on your website, and the areas where your website still requires improvement.
Spyfu
Spyfu, on the other hand, has a fantastic tool for tracking the ranking of your website. It is much easier to use; however, its functionality differs significantly from that of SemRush. Spyfu requires you to enter the appropriate keywords on your site before receiving the results.
Spyfu’s rank tracker has a big disadvantage because it is only updated once a week, whereas SemRush’s site ranking tool is updated daily. SemRush is the clear victor when it comes to rank tracking.
Functionality and Interface Design
A nice and easy user interface (UI) design for a tool that is intended to be used frequently. It’s one of the reasons why some users prefer Telegram over Facebook Messenger, or why some users prefer Amazon Kindle over other reading apps like Scribd or Kobo.
Both SemRush and SpyFu have attributes and flaws in terms of the user interface. Both tools have been redesigned several times in recent years but they have always used the same overall visual style.
We believe the user interface of SemRush is more well-organized and user-friendly. However, the features of the tool may overwhelm a novice user with only the most rudimentary knowledge of SEO tools. You may find it challenging to move between different sections among other issues.
Nevertheless, the interface for SpyFu has always been straightforward but dull and dated. Compared to some of the other SEO tools available, this one is simpler and easier for beginners to use. But after playing around with the different options and settings for a while, you can’t help but feel as though you’re using a product that’s somewhat stuck in the past in terms of UI.
Therefore, SemRush’s well-organized slick user interface puts it ahead of Spyfu in this regard.
Pricing
SpyFu
Unfortunately, SpyFu does not offer a risk-free trial. Therefore, it is technically impossible to test-drive it. You’ll have to pay money from day one to use it.
However, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee for the service. It means that you can terminate your SpyFu subscription by email, live chat, or phone, and they will instantly refund your money, sans inquiry.
The three main plans are Basic, Professional, and Team.
Basic
If you pay annually, it costs $33 per month; if you choose the month-to-month payment plan, it costs $39 per month. Among its provisions are:
- 10 AdWords Advisor PPC reports
- SEO for 10 small domains report
- 10,0000 top-list outcomes
- 5,000 tracked keyword rankings per week
- 250 domain contacts and sales leads
- Countless search outcomes
- Unlimited PDF domain overviews
- Unlimited data exports
Professional
This plan costs $58 per month if paid annually; $39 for the first month and $78 per month after that if paid on a month-to-month basis. Among its provisions are:
- All basic features
- Using white labels
- 30 Report from AdWords Advisor PPC
- Report on 10 medium domains’ SEO
- 30 small domain SEO reports
- 50,000 results for top lists
- API Access
- Personalized reporting
- 15,000 tracked keyword rankings per week
- 500 domain contacts and sales leads
Team
If you choose to pay annually, it will cost you $199 per month; otherwise, it will cost you $299 per month. Among its provisions are:
- Every feature of a professional
- Using white labels
- Unlimited Report from AdWords Advisor PPC
- 10 large domain SEO reports
- 30 medium-domain SEO reports
- SEO report for unlimited small domains
- 5 user profiles
- 75,000 results for top lists
- API Access
- 40,000 tracked keyword rankings per week
- 2000 domain contacts and sales leads
SemRush
Unlike Spyfu, SemRush is open to the idea of a free trial. However, it is only valid for 14 days and only applies to SemRush Pro. If you’re fortunate, you might come across an offer from one of its affiliate partners that effectively extends the trial period to 30 days.
If you like the features, you can purchase extended use in four different packages.
Pro Plan
Since this tool has been designed for startups and those with a budget, the prices are affordable. The monthly cost is $99.95, or $999.40 if you choose to pay yearly and save $200. Along with the SemRush standard features, you’ll get:
- 5 planned PDF reports
- Up to 100,000 web pages can be found by crawling
- 500 maximum keywords can be tracked
- 5 projects
- 3,000 daily reports
- 10,000 results per report
Guru Plan
The Guru plan is perfect for growing marketing companies as well as small and medium-sized businesses. The monthly cost is $199.95, or $1999.40 if you prefer to pay yearly and save $400. Along with the standard features of SemRush, you also get:
- Data from past dealings
- Customized PDF reports
- 20 scheduled PDF reports
- Searching through up to 300,000 websites
- Monitoring for as many as 1,500 keywords
- 50 projects
- 5,000 daily reports
- 30,000 outcomes per report
Enterprise Plan
The Enterprise Plan is a special package for power users with complex requirements. Instead of providing a fixed price, the SemRush team is open to negotiating with potential customers. Along with the standard features of SemRush, you also get:
- Features that can be requested as add-ons
- Custom limits
- Unlimited website crawling
- Training on-site
Our Verdict
Even though the free trial for SemRush only lasts two weeks, it’s a pretty good deal. SpyFu may argue that their risk-free money-back guarantee is the best option, but the truth is that it can never match SemRush’s free trial option
SpyFu, however, outperforms SemRush in terms of cost. It is more affordable and ideal for both micros as well as macro-sized users. However, larger users ought to think about SemRush’s Enterprise plan, which can easily accommodate unique requirements at a bargain price.
Conclusion
We’ve examined every feature of Spyfu vs SemRush, and we hope our comparison has helped you decide which tool is best for you. Both tools are excellent; but, SemRush outperforms Spyfu in several respects, and that too by a large margin.
When compared to a relatively simple and basic tool like Spyfu, SemRush is a really elite tool. However, Spyfu has an advantage over SemRush in terms of price.
SemRush is appropriate for major organizations or SEO professionals, whereas SpyFu is most suited for individual users as well as small teams because it offers all of the capabilities at an affordable price.
At the end of the day, you have to decide which one of these tools would work best for you. Now you have all the information that you need to make that call.
