Both tools have roughly the same headline price. The actual workflow difference is large. We've used both at agency scale across 2024-2026 and this is the unvarnished comparison — what each tool wins, where the marketing pages oversell, and which buyer should pick which.
**Semrush wins for most working SEO buyers in 2026.** Bigger keyword database, deeper site audit, better workflow integration, broader feature coverage (PPC, social, content marketing, listings). **Moz wins** specifically when you need (a) the brand recognition of Domain Authority for external communication, (b) the friendliest onboarding for non-SEO team members, or (c) the lowest credible entry-level price ($79/mo Standard tier vs Semrush Pro at $139.95/mo).
Semrush's keyword database is approximately 25 billion+ keywords across 142 country databases. Moz's keyword database is around 500M, with stronger Google Suggest integration but thinner long-tail and international coverage.
For a Canadian SEO agency: Semrush returns cleaner data on .ca domains and bilingual EN/FR sites. Moz under-indexes both. For a US-focused publisher: the gap narrows significantly — Moz's US data is competitive and the lower price point makes it a credible alternative.
Semrush includes (in the Pro tier and above): keyword research, rank tracking, site audit, backlink analysis, PPC research, content marketing toolkit, social media scheduling and analytics, agency reporting, listings management, brand mentions monitoring, and a writing assistant.
Moz Pro includes: keyword research, rank tracking, site crawl, link explorer, on-page grader, MozBar. Add-ons (Moz Local for citations, STAT for enterprise rank tracking) are billed separately.
For a marketing team that needs SEO to live alongside paid search and content workflow, Semrush is operationally cheaper at the same headline price because you're not buying three separate tools. For a team where SEO is a discrete function with no need for PPC or social tooling, Moz is more focused.
Semrush Position Tracking includes Google, Bing, mobile, desktop, and the local-pack on a geo-grid (Map Rank Tracker is included in Pro). For agencies tracking GBP rankings across neighbourhoods, this is a built-in capability you'd otherwise pay $30-200/mo extra for elsewhere.
Moz Pro Rank Tracker is more limited — Google + Bing, desktop + mobile, no built-in geo-grid local-pack tracking. For local-pack tracking with Moz, you'd add Moz Local at $14-33/mo per location, which gets expensive past 5 locations.
Semrush Site Audit covers ~170 issue types with full Core Web Vitals integration, JavaScript rendering, and an Action Plan view that orders fixes by impact. The On-Page SEO Checker plugs directly into the SEO Content Template workflow.
Moz Pro Site Crawl covers ~80 issue types and presents them more simply but with less actionability. The On-Page Grader is the most under-improved tool in Moz's lineup since 2019; we don't use it on client work.
**Moz Pro Standard:** $79/mo. 1 user. Cheapest serious tier in the comparison. **Moz Pro Medium:** $179/mo. 2 users. The de facto agency tier. **Moz Pro Large:** $299/mo. 3 users. **Moz Pro Premium:** $599/mo. 5 users.
**Semrush Pro:** $139.95/mo. 1 user (additional users $45/mo each). 5 projects. **Semrush Guru:** $249.95/mo. 1 user. 15 projects, more historical data, content marketing platform. **Semrush Business:** $499.95/mo. 1 user. White-label, API access.
**Watch out for:** Semrush charges per-seat, Moz bundles multiple seats per plan. For a 3-person team, Semrush Pro lands at $229.95/mo (1 base + 2 additional seats); Moz Medium for the same team capability is $179/mo. Moz wins on seat economics; Semrush wins on data and feature depth per dollar.
Semrush Pro for any agency doing more than basic SEO — the broader feature set covers more client work without bolting on additional tools. Moz Pro Medium for agencies focused exclusively on SEO with a price-sensitive client base.
Neither vendor offers official bundle pricing with the other. Some annual-pay discounts apply (~17% on Semrush, ~20% on Moz). The total still lands above $200/mo combined for the cheapest serious tiers of both, which is rarely worth it unless you have a specific workflow that demands both.
No — Semrush uses its own metric called Authority Score. The two scales correlate but are not interchangeable. If you need to report DA specifically (e.g., a journalist asks for it), you'll need a Moz Pro subscription or Moz's free Link Explorer (limited to 3 free queries per day).
Both offer email support on all paid tiers and live chat on higher tiers. Semrush's response times are faster in our experience (under 4 hours during business hours vs Moz's 12-24 hours). Both have robust knowledge bases and active community forums.
Not at the same feature parity. The serious all-in-one SEO platforms are all US (Ahrefs is Singapore-based but US-priced). Mangools (Slovakia) is the closest serious sub-$100 alternative for Canadian small businesses.