Today, marketers have lots of optimization tools to choose from. And while many of them offer similar features, some have distinguishing capabilities that make them better for certain tasks.
In this post, we’ll compare two of the most popular SEO tools out there: Ubersuggest vs. Semrush.
Ubersuggest is a free keyword research tool beloved by many SEO agencies, experts, strategists, etc. for its ease of use and comprehensive data. It can be a great introduction to keyword research for entry-level users and small blogs.
Semrush is a comprehensive SEO toolkit that offers features for keyword research, site audits, rank tracking, backlink analysis, and more. It is one of the most popular SEO tools on the market and is used by many top marketers.
Though both tools have their fair share of similarities, these products are certainly not interchangeable.
So, which SEO tool is better? In this article, we will compare the features and pricing of Ubersuggest and Semrush to help you make a decision.
Ubersuggest Key Features
NP Digital, a well-known agency co-founded by Neil Patel, acquired Ubersuggest in February 2017. Originally, it was designed to scrape Google’s Suggest data to provide users with valuable keyword ideas.
Since Neil Patel’s acquisition, the tool has become far more robust. Let’s examine its key features in-depth:
Keyword Ideas
Keyword Ideas is what Ubersuggest is best known for. Simply enter a seed keyword, and hit search.
Then, the Ubersuggest keyword research tool will generate a list of related keywords with monthly search volume, SEO difficulty, CPC, and more.
You can use the filter options left-hand side to refine your results further. For example, you can choose to view only long-tail keywords, filter by country, or show only keywords with a certain search volume.
Before choosing a keyword, you can also click on it to see a list of keyword suggestions based on your seed keyword. This data can help you further understand the keyword’s difficulty and potential traffic.
You can also browse different keyword types, including:
- Related: A list of keyword variations that relate to the target keyword but cover different topics (e.g. “weight loss” and “best recipes for weight loss”).
- Questions: A list of questions people search for on Google related to your keyword. For example, the keyword “SEO” might return a question like “does SEO work?”
- Prepositions: A list of keywords that contain prepositions, such as “for,” “to,” and “with.” For example, the keyword “online marketing” might return a preposition keyword like “tips for online marketing.”
- Comparisons: A list of keywords that compare two products or services. For example, this article discusses the difference between Ubersuggest vs. Semrush.
Visualizing relevant keyword suggestions means you’ll have a clearer understanding of what you should and shouldn’t aim to rank for based on your current SEO standing.
Keyword Overview
For each keyword you search with Ubersuggest, you’ll also get an overview of that keyword’s SEO difficulty, search volume, CPC, and more.
Unlike Keyword Ideas, the Keyword Overview tool gives you data for a single keyword on a comprehensive dashboard.
To use it, simply enter a seed keyword and click on “Overview.” Ubersuggest will then generate an overview report, including data such as:
Search Volume
The average monthly search volume for the keyword. This number is based on an average of unique visits and does not count a visitor more than once.
CPC (Cost-Per-Click)
The estimated cost-per-click (CPC) of the keyword. This is the amount you would pay for one click on an ad if you were to bid on this keyword.
SEO Difficulty
A score from 0 to 100 indicates how difficult it would be to rank in the top ten search results for this keyword. A lower difficulty score means it will be easier to rank for the keyword.
Paid Difficulty
A score from 0 to 100 measures the competition for paid ad space for a particular keyword. A lower difficulty score means it will be easier to rank for the keyword if you are willing to pay for ads.
Average Backlinks and Domain Score
Your keyword’s top ten search results are the average number of backlinks and Domain Score (Moz’s metric for domain authority).
SERP Overview
By clicking the “SEO Difficulty” tab, you can see an analysis of the top 100 search results for your keyword. This data includes backlink data and monthly web traffic.
Here, you’ll be able to see how many visits they get from the keyword and what links they have pointing to their site.
Being able to see a competitor’s backlinks means that you can perform your own keyword gap analysis and write competing content.
Content Ideas
If you’ve ever used BuzzSumo, the Content Ideas in Ubersuggest tool will look familiar. It shows you the most popular content for any given keyword, sorted by social shares.
Although it isn’t as comprehensive as BuzzSumo, it’s still a valuable tool for content ideas. To use it, simply enter a seed keyword and click on “Content Ideas.”
Ubersuggest will then generate a list of the most popular articles for that keyword, including the number of Facebook and Pinterest shares and backlinks each article has.
You can also use Ubersuggest’s Content Ideas tool to see what keywords these pages rank for. This can give you a good idea of what topics to target with your content.
Domain Overview
The Domain Overview tool gives you a bird’s eye view of your competitors’ SEO efforts (as well as your own). Simply enter a competitor’s domain and click on “Search.” Ubersuggest will generate a report that includes the following data:
Organic Keywords: A list of the organic keywords that your competitor ranks for. You can also see the keyword’s position, search volume, CPC, and SEO difficulty.
Organic Monthly Traffic: Your competitor’s estimated monthly organic traffic from their organic keywords.
Domain Authority: A score from 0 to 100 that indicates the strength of your competitor’s domain. A higher Domain Authority score means your competitor has a stronger domain and is more likely to rank for competitive keywords.
Backlinks: A list of the backlinks that point to your competitor’s site. You can also see the link’s source, target, and anchor text.
You’ll also have access to a Traffic Trends Chart, showing how your competitor’s traffic has changed over time.
At the bottom, the SEO Keywords Ranking graph shows you where the site you searched for tends to rank for its keywords.
Site Audit Ubersuggest
The Site Audit tool is a comprehensive site health checker. It crawls your website and analyzes it for common SEO issues, such as;
- Broken Links
- Duplicate Content
- Meta Tags
- Robots.txt File
- Sitemap
When you use the tool, it will return a report with the same information you would get from other site auditors like Screaming Frog. But it also has some unique features, such as;
Critical Errors: Ubersuggest will flag any critical errors that it finds on your website. These are the most important issues to fix, as they can harm your SEO.
Warnings: The Site Audit tool will warn you of any technical SEO issues that could negatively affect your site.
Recommendations: In addition to errors and warnings, a site audit will also give you recommendations on improving your site. These are situationally applied based on the knowledge base on Neil Patel’s website (which is expansive).
Ubersuggest Pricing
Ubersuggest’s claim to fame is its competitive pricing model. While some SEO tools can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month, Neil Patel uses his wealth of resources for good.
His goal of creating an affordable SEO tool means that anyone – from small businesses to freelance consultants – can use it without breaking the bank.
Ubersuggest offers a few different pricing tiers:
Ubersuggest Free Version
The free plan gives you access to most of Ubersuggest’s features, including keyword research, site audit, and content ideas. You’re limited to three searches per day, but that should be enough for some people.
Ubersuggest Individual Plan
The Individual plan costs $29 per month and gives you access to course materials and SEO guides.
You’ll be able to pull 150 reports per day and manage one project, so it is perfect for those who just need it for their business.
Ubersuggest Business Plan
The Business plan costs $49 per month and gives you access to almost all of Ubersuggest’s features.
You’ll be able to pull 300 reports per day, access 50,000 keyword suggestions, and manage seven projects, making it perfect for beginning freelancers or businesses with multiple websites.
Ubersuggest Agency/Enterprise Plan
The Enterprise plan is $99 per month and is ideal for businesses that need up to 15 projects simultaneously.
With 900 reports per day, 200 tracked keywords per project, and 100,000 keyword suggestions, it’s perfect for agencies or businesses that need to track multiple competitors.
Semrush Key Features
The first thing you’ll notice about the Semrush SEO Toolkit is that it’s much more comprehensive than Ubersuggest. This is because Semrush was designed for digital marketing agencies and businesses who need an all-in-one solution for their SEO needs, and it’s a great tool for many other functions.
Here are some of the key features that make Semrush stand out:
SEO Dashboard
Semrush has just about every feature that Ubersuggest has. But one of the things that makes Semrush’s SEO Dashboard so great is the way that it presents information.
The interface is clean and easy to navigate, and you can see all of the important information at a glance.
It is also far more comprehensive than Ubersuggest’s simple dashboard, which only shows a few metrics. Semrush dashboard insights include:
- Domain Analytics: This show some key metrics that you will also find on Ubersuggest such as Authority Score, organic traffic, organic keywords, paid keywords, and referring domains.
- Traffic Analytics: Site visits, unique visitors, pages per visit, average visit duration, bounce rate.
- Organic Keywords: New, improved, declined, and lost.
- Backlink Analytics: Backlink data including new and lost referring domains, new and lost backlinks, anchor text distribution, and backlink toxicity report.
You can also add customized widgets based on your SEO needs and integrate with Google Search Console and Google Analytics to get even more insights into your data.
Keyword Research
Semrush’s keyword research tool is one of the best in the industry. It’s comprehensive, easy to use, and gives you a ton of relevant keywords you can use to improve your SEO.
Here are the main features included in the Semrush Keyword Research tool:
Keyword Overview
You can view, track, and analyze keyword difficulty, search volume, CPC, keyword variations, PLA copies, ad copies, SERP features, and keyword ad history with the keyword overview.
And you can do this all from customizable SEO dashboards that are clear and easy to understand.
Keyword Magic Tool
The Semrush Keyword Magic Tool lets you view long-tail keywords, related keywords, common questions, competitor keywords, intent, and SERP features.
Then, save keywords into lists for organization and further analysis and tracking in the Keyword Manager.
Keyword Manager
This is a great way to organize your keywords into lists for further analysis and tracking. You can also add negative keywords to your list, so you don’t waste time on keywords that aren’t relevant to your business.
You can also divide keywords into groups, separate them into projects, and use them for different business goals.
Link Building
Link building is an integral part of SEO, and Semrush has one of the best SEO tools for it. The main features include:
Backlink Analytics
With the backlink analytics tool, you can track any domain’s backlinks, conduct a deep analysis of their link-building strategy, delve into your competitors’ PR and marketing strategies, and use this data to build your link-building strategy.
You can also monitor your backlink profile and that of other SEO projects you have.
Backlink Audit
The Backlink Audit tool helps you clean up your backlink profile by identifying and disavowing toxic links. With this tool, you’ll also be able to keep an eye on your competitors’ backlink profiles and see where they’re getting their links from.
Link Building Tool
The Link Building Tool helps you find link-building opportunities, reach out to new blog and site owners, track your progress, and measure the success of your campaigns – all from one place.
Reaching out to prospective websites for link insertions, guest posts, and features is one of the most challenging parts of all SEO strategies. With Semrush’s arsenal of backlink analytics tools, it’s easy.
Bulk Backlink Analysis
With bulk backlink analytics, you can check the link-building strategy and backlink profile of up to 200 domains at once with this tool.
You’ll be able to see what’s working for them and what isn’t, and you can use that information to build your strategy.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO plays a critical role in your site’s SERP rankings. And since you can fix many of your on-site issues in a few hours, knowing where they’re hiding is essential to maintaining a healthy site.
Here are the main features of Semrush’s On-Page SEO Checker:
Site Audit
The Site Audit tool helps you find and fix on-site issues that could be holding you back from ranking in SERP.
It also provides insights into your website’s health, performance, and mobile friendliness with an on-page SEO score.
You can configure the crawler settings to match your website’s needs (e.g. robots.txt, sitemap.xml, etc.), and you can set up email notifications to stay on top of your website’s SEO health.
Listing Management
Among other local SEO functionalities, the listing management feature helps you compete with other local businesses in SERP by optimizing your “Google My Business” listing.
With the listing management feature, you can monitor your business listings on over 50 directories and ensure that your NAP (name, address, phone number) is consistent across all of them.
This is important for both local SEO and reputation management.
SEO Content Template and Writing Assistant
The SEO Writing Assistant and SEO Content Template help you write SEO-friendly content that is optimized for your target keywords.
The Writing Assistant provides real-time feedback on your writing, and the Content Template helps you create a well-structured article or blog post.
You’ll also be able to create outlines based on what other top SEO pages are writing about.
Topic Research Tool
This useful tool helps you distinguish between varying topics related to your keyword. It’s especially useful for businesses with names that others have in different industries.
On-Page SEO Checker
The feature-rich SEO checker includes SEO strategy suggestions, user experience (UX) improvements and ideas, content ideas, backlink-building ideas, and a structured list of technical issues throughout your website.
You can use these suggestions to implement changes on your site in real-time and improve your SERP rankings.
Log File Analyzer
Log files are the raw data of your website’s activity. They can provide insights into your website’s health, performance, and SEO.
The Log File Analyzer tool helps you analyze your log files with a drag-and-drop interface and provides actionable insights into how Googlebot crawls your website.
Semrush Pricing
Unlike Ubersuggest, Semrush is a fully paid tool; there is no free version. But it does offer a free trial, so you can try out all of its features before committing to a subscription.
The pricing plans are as follows:
- Pro plan: $119.95/mo (+ $45/mo per additional user)
- Guru plan: $229.95/mo (+ $80/mo per additional user)
- Business plan: $449.99/mo (+ $100/mo per additional user)
In addition to these three pricing tiers, you can add other SEO tools to your subscription for an additional fee:
- Listing management: $20/mo
- Semrush Trends: $200/mo
- Agency Growth Kit: $150/mo
- ImpactHero: $200/mo
Semrush vs. Ubersuggest: The Verdict
So, what is the difference between Ubersuggest and Semrush, and which one is the better overall choice?
The answer depends on what you need in an SEO tool. The most critical activities that you may want to perform in SEO research include:
- Site auditing
- Keyword research
- Competitive analysis
- Backlink analysis and management
- On-page SEO optimization
- Content creation and optimization
- Local SEO
- Pricing
Let’s take a look at how each SEO tool measures up:
Site Auditing: Ubersuggest vs Semrush
Both Ubersuggest and Semrush offer site auditing features, but Semrush’s Site Audit is more comprehensive. It includes more technical SEO issues (e.g. sitemap and robots.txt) and provides insights into your website’s health, performance, and mobile friendliness.
Ubersuggest, however, has a very easy-to-use interface that beginners and experts both love for its simplicity. So, if you’re looking for an SEO tool that is easy to use and understand, Ubersuggest is a good choice.
Winner: Semrush
Keyword Research: Ubersuggest vs Semrush
Ubersuggest and Semrush both offer robust keyword research features, but they differ in the depth of their keyword data and what they allow you to do with that data.
Both platforms visualize keyword data, including search volume, CPC, and competition.
But Ubersuggest does not have as much data as Semrush does, which results in an inferior user experience, occasionally inaccurate data, and more limited keyword research capabilities.
Moreover, the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool and Keyword Manager enable you to group keywords into lists, track their rankings, and get real-time alerts when they move up or down in the SERPs.
This is valuable for managing large keyword portfolios and keeping tabs on your SEO progress.
Winner: Semrush
Competitive Analysis: Ubersuggest vs Semrush
Both Ubersuggest and Semrush offer competitive analysis features, but the feature is more comprehensive on Semrush.
It includes more data points (e.g. keyword gap, traffic shares, shared keywords), and it provides insights into your competitors’ PPC campaigns, organic research, and backlink profiles.
It also integrates with Google Search Console and Google Analytics, allowing you to create customizable SEO dashboards with everything you need.
Winner: Semrush
Backlink Analysis and Management: Semrush vs Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest and Semrush both offer backlink analysis features, but Ubersuggest lacks the insights needed for data-driven decision-making.
Both platforms show you the number of backlinks your site has and the number of backlinks your competitors have.
But Semrush goes a step further by also showing you the quality of your backlinks, as well as the quality of your competitor’s backlinks.
You can do this on Ubersuggest as well, but the analytics aren’t as visible or as easy to understand.
In addition, Semrush’s Backlink Audit tool helps you detect and disavow toxic backlinks. This is a valuable feature for protecting your site from Google penalties.
Winner: Semrush
On-Page SEO Optimization: Semrush vs Ubersuggest
One of the most critical components of any site’s online presence, on-page SEO is the process of optimizing your website’s content and structure to make it more visible and relevant to search engines.
Ubersuggest offers excellent suggestions for on-site SEO based on your site’s content. The platform breaks everything down and links to relevant content from Niel Patel’s extensive online knowledge base.
Semrush offers user experience suggestions and other actionable improvements that Ubersuggest does not. But it is harder to make sense of them if you aren’t an SEO expert.
Winner: Tie
Content Creation and Optimization: Semrush vs. Ubersuggest
If the content is a big part of your online marketing strategy, you’ll want to choose an SEO platform that can help you with content creation and optimization.
Ubersuggest’s Content Ideas feature is one of our favorite app features. It allows you to quickly and easily generate content ideas based on keywords, competitor analysis, and other data points.
However, it only shows users’ Pinterest and Facebook features, which is a bit limiting. It also does not help with outlining or content optimization.
Semrush, on the other hand, offers an all-in-one SEO writing assistant that helps you with everything from keyword research to content optimization.
The app analyzes your text and makes recommendations for improvement based on your target keywords, competitor analysis, and other data points.
It also provides a real-time content optimization score that lets you know how well your text is optimized for your target keywords.
Winner: Semrush
Local SEO: Semrush vs Ubersuggest
Small businesses with limited SEO needs should be a large part of Ubersuggest’s target market. This is why it is so surprising that the platform has so few marketing tools for local SEO.
The only way to track your local rankings is to manually enter your city and state into the search bar and then look at the SERP results.
Semrush, on the other hand, offers a comprehensive set of features for local SEO, including listing management, for a small additional cost.
If you want a 360º view of your business’ performance against local competition, you need Semrush.
Winner: Semrush
Pricing: Ubersuggest vs Semrush
Ubersuggest is a freemium tool, which means that it offers a limited free version and a more comprehensive paid version. The free version includes three daily queries, while the paid version starts at $29 per month.
Its low cost and ease of use make Ubersuggest accessible for all.
Semrush is a subscription-based tool with three pricing tiers: Pro, Guru, and Business. The Pro plan starts at $99.95 per month, while the Guru and Business plans start at $229.95 and $449.95 per month, respectively.
With additional features, you could spend nearly $1,000 per month using Semrush.
Ultimately, your needs will influence whether or not you think Ubersuggest or Semrush is worth the price.
Winner: Ubersuggest
The Bottom Line: Ubersuggest vs Semrush
Whether you decide to use Ubersuggest vs. Semrush comes down to your specific needs.
If you need the best SEO tool, you need Semrush. Its robust set of features and functionalities is unrivaled. And yes, it is worth the high price tag.
If you’re on a budget or only need a few SEO features, Ubersuggest is another great option. It’s low-cost and easy to use, making it perfect for individuals and online businesses that only need basic SEO features.
But don’t use Ubersuggest if you need help with content creation, local SEO, or extensive SEO analysis. Leave that job to the pros at Semrush.
