SEO
December 22, 2023
At first glance, Moz and Semrush appear pretty similar. Both offer a full SEO pack with several advanced features at a similar price.
However, the difference is in the details. While they both serve the same end goal, they use different ways to calculate metrics and visualize data in their own ways.
That’s why I’ve thoroughly tested all of their features to determine which one is better, in terms of user experience, data accuracy and unique functionalities.
Moz vs Semrush – after reading this article you will not have any more doubts and you’ll know which SEO tool better fits your needs.
I’ll now break down user experience, pricing plans and the most important features that I’ve thoroughly tested and compared to help you choose the right SEO software for you.
While some of Moz’s metrics are more accurate than Semrush’s (search volume estimates, for example), the biggest issue is that its data and keyword rankings update only once a week.
For some people, this is just a minor issue, but if you’re working in a highly competitive industry and your competitors are tracking their data in real time you might be falling short.
Source: Capterra.com
Semrush data is sometimes a bit different compared to the results of other popular SEO tools. For example, Semrush has a different formula for measuring keyword difficulty, and, compared to some other tools, it largely focuses on domain authority, neglecting some other factors. That’s why its results can sometimes be off.
While Semrush claims to provide real-time updates, that is not entirely true. Rank tracking results are updated once every 24-48 hours, depending on the day.
Source: G2.com
When it comes to keyword databases, the keywords are updated either daily, weekly or monthly, depending on their popularity. More popular keywords are updated more often, but if your strategy is to go after less popular high-impact keywords, you may need a Semrush alternative like Serpple, to get more accurate data.
Serpple not only provides real-time notifications and daily updates with a 99.9% accuracy, but it also helps you predict which keywords will get higher search volumes in the future, so you can rank for them before your competitors.
Moz offers a comprehensive way to track your search engine rankings and here’s what you can see in its dashboard:
Source: Capterra.com
On the other hand, Semrush focuses on tracking both paid and organic rankings. Here’s what you can get:
Source: G2.com
To put things into perspective.
Tracking 500 keywords with either of the tools would cost you over $100 per month, which doesn’t make sense if you’re looking for an SEO tool for freelancers or small businesses with a limited budget.
However, there’s a solution.
Serpple offers similar features, daily updates and supreme data accuracy for just a fraction of the price. You can track up to 500 keywords for only $29 per month, and up to 3,000 keywords for $99 per month, which would cost two and four times more with Moz and Semrush respectively.
To learn more, check out this guide on how to track search engine rankings.
Moz Keyword Explorer helps you organize large sets of keyword data by creating keyword lists that help you categorize and prioritize keywords to use and plan your future content around them.
It comes with thousands of intuitive suggestions on keywords that could help you rank, based on the competitor analysis and other keyword research best practices. It can also predict keyword performance and click-through rates with solid accuracy.
Source: Capterra.com
On the other hand, with its 25 billion keywords, Semrush is one of the leading SEO tools for a comprehensive keyword database.
With its keyword research tools, you can go into detail and analyze both organic and paid keywords, with metrics like keyword difficulty and CPC. Apart from these standard metrics, Semrush also shows you the search intent behind every keyword and suggests related keywords.
If you run out of inspiration, Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool allows you to generate 20 million ideas and word combinations for a single keyword, which can be organized, sorted and clustered for better comprehension.
Source: G2.com
However, many people complain that a large part of Semrush keyword suggestions simply isn’t relevant for actually ranking on search engines.
Serpple saves you a lot of time by handpicking personalized keyword suggestions, focusing on discovering high-impact keywords, niche keywords and long-tail keyword research.
Moz has a comprehensive backlink analysis with the following features:
Source: G2.com
On the other hand, Semrush has more backlink data compared to most other tools. Here’s what you can do:
Source: Capterra.com
One of the issues with both tools is the frequency of updating backlink data.
Serpple, on the other hand, does a comprehensive link check every three days, sending you real-time alerts about lost or broken links so you can fix them before they affect your ratings.
The pricing of these two tools seems similar, but make sure to thoroughly check what’s included in each plan to choose the one that’s the best for you.
Moz has four different plans, depending on the amount of data you want to analyze. The interesting thing is that all plans have very similar features, with minor differences.
*You can purchase additional seats with every plan for $49/month/seat.
You can get a 20% discount by purchasing annual plans. There’s also a 30-day free trial to test all the features.
What’s interesting about Semrush plans is that they all come with only one user. It’s possible to purchase additional seats but make sure to calculate before you make a decision, as costs quickly add up.
There are three plans available:
You can get up to 17% discount by purchasing annual plans. There’s also a 7-day free trial, which is a bit limited compared to Moz’s.
Unlike Moz, Semrush has many add-ons that can enrich your SEO efforts, for example:
Moz has a complex interface, showing too much data on the same screen, and it can be a bit challenging for beginners. Also, personally, I think its design could use a modern touch.
Source: Capterra.com
Semrush has a modern user interface, but it can be difficult to navigate and even overwhelming due to having too many features.
You’ll need time to master it as it’s often difficult to find what you’re looking for, which can be frustrating and time-consuming.
Source: Capterra.com
Moz is mostly used among marketing agencies and SEO professionals who consider it a reliable SEO suite. However, it has a steep learning curve, and it’s not suitable for beginners.
Also, its long-time users complained about the lack of innovations and adding new features to keep up with the trends.
G2: 4.4
Capterra: 4.5
I also asked Neil Hodgson-Coyle, the COO, TechNews180, why he switched from Semrush to Moz. He says:
“Moz Pro has been a great alternative for SEO and digital marketing aspects. At Technews, we’ve utilized Moz Pro for its keyword research tools. The keyword suggestions and SERP analysis provide decent insights for developing SEO strategies. Its simplicity in presenting complex data is a big plus, as it allows our team members, who are not deeply technical, to understand and use the insights effectively.
Moz Pro also excels with its site audit and crawl feature. It’s thorough and offers actionable recommendations for improving site health and SEO performance. This has been particularly beneficial for optimizing our website’s performance at Technews. While SEMrush is undoubtedly powerful, Moz Pro’s user-friendliness and robust features make it a better fit for our needs.”
Semrush is a popular SEO tool among marketing agencies with bigger budgets. However, many users complain that this amount of features makes it overwhelming and difficult to use. It has a challenging learning curve, and the lack of proper customer support doesn’t help.
G2: 4.5
Capterra: 4.7
If you’re looking for a more user-friendly and affordable alternative without having to give up on their advanced features, you’re in the right place. Serpple offers all that and more, for a much more convenient price, suitable for small teams and individuals.
When creating this tool, I aimed to create a professional SEO tool that would be easy to use and suitable for professionals and beginners alike.
Here’s what makes it stand out:
I believe Serpple is the best keyword rank tracking software on the market because we track rankings daily and provide you with real-time data with a 99.9% accuracy rate as well as actionable alerts when your ranking changes, so you can fix the issue.
Also, our keyword tracking feature helps you find new content opportunities so you can future-proof your content.
While other tools focus on (more or less) real-time data, Serpple goes one step beyond and provides you with future trends and keyword opportunities.
It helps you spot high-impact keywords with low competition or cost and rank for them before your competitors discover them. It’s also a great tool for those who understand the importance of long-tail keywords and want to base their SEO strategies on them.
To learn more, check out this article on using long-tail keywords for image SEO optimization.
Another feature that sets Serpple apart is its AI Competitor analysis making it the best competitor keyword analysis tool at the moment.
You can analyze search engine results pages and monitor all your competitors in a single dashboard and get notified when they outrank you or when they add a new keyword to their website or Google ads campaigns, so you can optimize your content to stay competitive.
Finally, Semrush and Moz can give you many useful insights, but implementing those insights and actually fixing your search rankings require a lot of technical knowledge and background.
Serpple decided to take a different approach. Our Content audit feature not only does an effective on-page site audit but also provides you with actionable insights on the exact things you need to fix.
Serpple eliminates the guesswork out of on-page SEO as you can track the impact of the changes you make in real-time, using our page score metrics.
And what about the price? I said the price is just a fraction of what you’d have to pay for Semrush and Moz and you can now witness it yourself.
Serpple has three plans, for individuals and small teams, for small and mid-agencies offering SEO services to clients, to large enterprises. Check them out:
All plans come with a 14-day free trial to test Serpple’s features and accuracy. You can also get a huge discount by purchasing an annual plan.
