Semrush vs Similarweb 2024 [Which SEO Tool is Best?] – Revealing Hidden Differences

With the release of Semrush .Trends – a repackaged version of the suite’s market and competitive research tools – we’ve decided to revisit the good old Semrush vs Similarweb discussion.

These are the two tools that are considered to be the industry’s golden standard. However, you really have to do some research before making the final choice. 

Before begin, I would like you to know that our team have tried our hands thoroughly on both Semrush and Similarweb. The differences surprised us!

For the last 8 years, Semrush is always been our go-to SEO tool. But Similarweb seems powerful too.

Let me directly take you through the comparison…Are you ready?

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Semrush vs Similar Web – Summary

After closely comparing Semrush and Similarweb, it’s clear that each tool has unique strengths that meet different needs in digital marketing.

Why Choose Semrush?

Semrush comes out on top as a complete digital marketing platform. 

Its wide range of SEO tools is perfect for everyone, from beginners to experienced marketers. 

With powerful features for keyword research, backlink analysis, and content marketing, it’s an excellent choice for anyone looking to improve their SEO. 

Plus, its user-friendly design and reasonable pricing make it suitable for businesses of all sizes.

With Semrush.Trends add-on you can cover all the market research and intelligence tools that Similarweb leads in.

Why Choose Similarweb?

Similarweb stands tall in web analytics and competitive insights area. 

Its unique metrics, like the ‘deduplicated audience’ count and details about traffic sources, provide valuable information about how websites perform. 

However, its higher-tier plans can be costly, and many important SEO features are missing in the lower tiers, which may not appeal to smaller businesses or solo users.

In short, if you want a strong focus on SEO with a full set of tools, Semrush is the better choice. But if you need in-depth web analytics and are willing to spend more, Similarweb has its benefits. Ultimately, your decision should be based on your specific needs and budget.

Semrush Pros	Semrush Cons
Offers a complete set of SEO features at a reasonable price.	Trends add-on needs to be purchased to acquire complete traffic analytics features.
Offers a much larger keyword database than any other SEO tool available in the market.	Only shows data based on Google search engine.
You can access country-level data on all plans offered by Semrush.
Comparatively lesser plan wise features restrictions.
Offers a 14 days zero restriction based free trial.

Similarweb Pros	Similarweb Cons
Dedicated solution for market research and intelligence.	Can be highly expensive if you need all features.
Fetch traffic data from all search engines and not only Google	Limited SEO features.
A 7 Days free trial is available.	Doesn’t have a dedicated content marketing feature.

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Similarweb vs Semrush: Comparing Main Modules Side by Side 

Differences	Semrush	Similarweb
Pricing	Starts from $129.95/month	Starts from $149/month
Specific Countries Data	Available with .Trends add-on ($289)	Each country require additional $1000 or more
Market Trends	Available with .Trends	Available with additional cost
Rank Tracking	Included in all plans	Available with additional cost ($219)
Keywords Results	Unlimited per table	1000 per table
Historical Data	5 Years	3 Months
Keyword Database	25B	5B
Links Database	43T	3T
Click Metrics	Not Available	Available
Local SEO	Additional cost	Not available
Traffic Journey Analysis	Comes with .Trends	Available with additional cost
Bulk Analysis	Up to 100 domains at once	Not available
Keyword Gap	Available	Available
Content Marketing	Available	Not Available
Social Media Module	Available	Not Available
Customer Support	Email, Live Chat, Phone	Email, Account Manager
Known For	SEO Features	Market Research, Traffic & Audience Analysis

Keyword Research Battle:

Winner: Tie

Whether you want to check the ranking potential of a seed keyword or extract potential keywords from a competitor, you need a good keyword research tool in both cases.

Fortunately, both Semrush and Similarweb offer dedicated keyword research modules.

Keyword Research	Semrush	Similarweb
Database	25 Billion	5 Billion
Keyword Overview	✓	✓
Keyword Generator Tool	✓	✓
Keyword Gap Tool	✓	✓
Key Metrics	Personalized keyword difficulty	Click based metrics
Keyword Volume Accuracy	More	Less
Competitive Keyword Research	✓	✓
Country Specific Data	Free of cost	Require extra money
Number of Keyword Suggestions	More	Less
PDF Export	✓	✓
Number of Results Per Table	Unlimited	1000
Keyword Search Analysis	Basic	Advanced
Keyword Ad History	Yes	Yes
Keyword CPC Data	✓	✓
Volume Trends	✓	✓
Click Trends	X	✓
On Demand Keyword Metric Update	✓	X
Bulk Keyword Analysis	✓	X
Keyword Clusters	✓	X
LSI Keywords	✓	X
Separate Mobile & Desktop Keywords	✓	✓
Click Potential	X	✓

Semrush Keyword Research:

Winner: Semrush

We’ve relied on Semrush’s keyword research tool for years due to its vast keyword database, currently holding over 25 billion keywords. 

This outshines competitors like Similarweb, with only 5 billion. A larger database means better keyword discovery for any niche.

Semrush offers four tools for keyword research: Keyword Overview, Keyword Magic Tool, Keyword Gap, and Keyword Strategy Builder. 

For single keyword research, I prefer the Keyword Overview, which provides key metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty (KD), intent, CPC, and SERP analysis.

In 2024, Semrush added an amazing AI feature to the Keyword Overview report, allowing you to find personalized keyword difficulty for any keyword. 

This is information you can’t extract from Similarweb, which is a significant downside.

Semrush also shows country-specific keyword volume for free. Unfortunately, if you want to view country-specific keyword search volumes in Similarweb, you’ll have to pay extra.

I also tried their Keyword Magic Tool. You can quickly find questions, related, long tail, and other sorts of keywords easily.

The Semrush Keyword Magic tool shows more keywords as compared to Similarweb Keyword Generator. Nothing surprising here, as they have a bigger database.

The freshness of keyword metrics really matters. The good thing is that Semrush gives you a manual option to fetch the latest data for a particular keyword. Again, Similarweb lacks in this area.

Their Keyword Gap tool proves incredibly helpful when we aim to enhance our existing posts.

By comparing up to five URLs, it reveals keywords that competitors are targeting but might be missing from our content.

Similarweb Keyword Research:

In the Similarweb SEO tool, you’ll also find tools like Keyword Overview, Keyword Generator, and Keyword Gap.

Despite having a smaller keyword database, Similarweb keyword research tools are still quite powerful.

When I entered a seed keyword in their Keyword Overview tool, I saw essential metrics such as volume, clicks, zero clicks, KD (keyword difficulty), CPC, intent, keyword ideas, and top players.

To be honest, the main strength of Similarweb keyword research tool lies in its click-based metrics.

Semrush doesn’t provide information on whether the total number of clicks for your keyword has increased or decreased over time. 

Additionally, with Similarweb “Zero-Click Searches,” you can see what percentage of users exit the search results without clicking on anything for the targeted keyword.

These days, AI overviews are becoming common, and Google has started showing AI snippets for most keywords. If you target a keyword where the search intent is fulfilled through AI overviews, the likelihood of getting clicks to your website may decrease.

In other words, With this metric, you can avoid low-click keywords.

The Semrush keyword SERP analysis seems basic to me as it only shows how much organic traffic the websites appearing in the search results receive.

In contrast, Similarweb shows the exact traffic each website receives from the analyzed keyword across different positions and timeframes.

Fortunately, Similarweb also helps you find keyword gaps across multiple domains. This feature is similar in both tools.

Quick Verdict:

The keyword research capabilities of both SEO tools are impressive, though there are a few differences. I had no issues finding questions, related terms, long-tail keywords, or any type of keyword with either tool. 

Semrush provides a larger keyword pool and free country-specific data, while Similarweb click metrics give added strategic insights. Overall, it’s a close call between the two.

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Rank Tracking:

Winner: Semrush

Setting up rank tracking in Semrush is simple. 

Once I enter my domain and target keywords, I get detailed, regular reports on my keyword performance across different regions.

I can also track competitors’ rankings and set up email alerts for any major shifts in position, which helps me stay on top of SEO changes in real time.

The best part is that this feature is included in all Semrush plans, so I don’t have to worry about paying extra.

Similarweb rank tracking tool is also packed with insights, especially for detailed competitor analysis.

It tracks keyword performance on both desktop and mobile and updates daily. The 360° competitor tracking report and SERP feature tracker give me a comprehensive view of both global and local ranking factors. 

However, to access Similarweb’s full rank-tracking abilities, I need the pricey ‘Search Intelligence’ add-on or the ‘Team’ plan, which costs considerably more than Semrush.

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Traffic Analytics:

Winner: Tie

When it comes to analyzing website traffic, I rely on tools that can give me clear insights into both my own site and my competitors. 

Understanding where traffic is coming from, how visitors engage, and which channels perform best helps shape my content strategy.

This is what Semrush Traffic Analytics report looks like:

Using Semrush’s Traffic Analytics, I get a full view of important metrics like monthly visits, unique visitors, and bounce rates. It’s easy to break down traffic sources by channels like direct, referral, and social.

I can see exactly where my audience is coming from and how they interact with my content. 

Even on a Pro plan, Semrush includes location-based insights and lets me see historical data, which has been really helpful for tracking trends over time without a big price tag.

This is what Similarweb Traffic Analytics Report looks like:

Similarweb Traffic Analytics module covers a lot of the same ground, including visit counts, bounce rates, and channel breakdowns. 

One standout feature I like is their ‘deduplicated audience’ metric, which provides a more accurate count of unique visitors across devices by removing duplicates. 

This has been especially useful for getting a true sense of my reach. 

But I did find that I needed to upgrade to a Professional plan to access features like location insights and historical data, which is on the pricier side compared to Semrush.

Overall both SEO tools offer basic to advanced traffic metrics. It’s a tie.

To get maximum value from Semrush in this segment, you have to subscribe to the .Trends add-on which costs you $289/month additional. 

This provides you with extra features for market research and competitive intelligence. 

Similarly, if you want full access to traffic analytics features on Similarweb, you’ll need to go for their custom plans.

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Site Audit Module:

Winner: Semrush

Site audits and technical SEO analysis are crucial for optimizing website performance in search results. 

This module compares Semrush and Similarweb’s capabilities, focusing on site health assessments and SEO insights.This is how Semrush Site Audit tool report looks like:

I found Semrush Site Audit quickly identifies critical SEO issues (e.g., crawl errors, 4xx errors), providing a prioritized list for efficient fixes. 

Its On-Page SEO Checker delivers actionable insights, like UX improvements and keyword suggestions based on competitor data, making it an effective tool for ongoing optimization.

This is what Similarweb site audit report looks like:

Similarweb site audit module checks over 300 factors, offering a broad but limited-access analysis (in BETA on custom plans).

A unique feature is its ability to audit any URL, useful for competitor insights, but you have to subscribe to the custom plan (highly expensive). 

Semrush offers the site audit module in all their plans and hence offers the money advantage to all the users.

For comprehensive technical and on-page SEO, Semrush is the top choice. While Similarweb offers broad checks, Semrush’s accessibility, prioritization, and detailed on-page insights make it a better value for full-spectrum SEO efforts.

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Link Building Tools:

Winner: Semrush

To build a strong link profile, I rely on tools that can analyze existing backlinks and help identify new link-building opportunities. 

Semrush is my go to tool for Link Building.

I got 4 powerful Backlink related tools from them:

Semrush makes backlink analysis accessible on all of its plans, which I find incredibly useful. 

It lets me see the number of referring domains, track my backlinks, and even flag toxic links that could hurt my site’s performance. I appreciate how easy it is to get a complete view of my backlink profile in one report.

Plus, Semrush’s daily updates mean I’m always in the loop on new backlinks, helping me adjust my strategy as needed. 

The built-in outreach feature is another plus, as it allows me to initiate link-building activities right within the tool.

With Similarweb, accessing full backlink data requires a custom premium plan starting at $15,000 per year, which puts it out of reach for many businesses. 

On its standard plans, Similarweb only provides limited data on referring domains without showing individual backlinks, which is a disadvantage when you need a detailed link analysis. 

They’ve announced some upcoming link-building features, but for now, I find it lacks the depth and affordability that Semrush offers.

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Competitor Analysis & Research:

Winner: Semrush

By seeing how my site compares to competitors’ in traffic and search performance, I can find opportunities to improve my SEO. 

Both Semrush and Similarweb offer ways to analyze a domain’s strengths, which helps me pinpoint what it takes to rank better or even outrank the competition.

Here’s what a Semrush Domain Analysis report looks like:

Using Semrush for competitor analysis has been straightforward. 

I simply enter a domain and click on “Domain Overview,” which brings up all the data I need. I get a clear view of the site’s authority, estimated traffic, top-ranking keywords, and a complete backlink profile. 

Semrush’s authority score is based on backlinks, which, for me, is reassuring because of the strong link between backlinks and SEO rankings.

I can also compare up to 5 competitors at once:

Here’s how a Similarweb Domain Analysis report looks like:

Similarweb’s competitor analysis tool is also easy to access. 

I just enter a URL, and the “Website Performance” tab displays the core metrics: traffic, social channels, referring domains, and a “website ranking” score, which measures performance based on traffic and engagement. 

The “competitive tracker” in Similarweb is useful for a high-level look at traffic share, but it lacks detailed keyword insights, which limits my ability to identify specific SEO opportunities.

I do appreciate how Similarweb categorizes referring sites by industry, giving me an idea of the audience and market segments each competitor is reaching. 

For country-specific data, though, I’d need a custom plan, which can get pricey. In comparison, Semrush includes country-level filtering on all its plans, which has been a big advantage for my more targeted analysis.

Competitor Analysis	Semrush	Similarweb
Domain Authority Metric	Authority Score based on backlinks	Authority Score based on backlinks
Traffic Estimates	Organic and paid	Organic and paid
Top Keywords	Keyword data with intent categorization	Limited, no keyword insights
Backlink Analysis	Detailed with categories	Limited to list of top referring sites
Competitor Visualization	Competitive positioning map	Competitive tracker bar chart
Country-Level Data	Available on all plans	Requires custom plan

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Miscellaneous Features:

I’ve covered all the key features so far!

At this point, most readers likely have a good sense of which SEO tool might suit them best.

However, there’s still more to explore in the Similarweb vs Semrush comparison.

1.) Local SEO Module:

Winner: Semrush

Local SEO is crucial for businesses that rely on local customers. 

With Semrush, managing local SEO is simple. 

I can search location-specific keywords, review search volume, competition, and CPC, and get a clear sense of keyword potential for my target areas. 

The Listing Management tool is a huge plus, allowing me to manage my Google My Business data, track directory listings, and optimize my local presence. For any business needing to improve local search rankings, Semrush offers everything in one place.

Similarweb doesn’t offer dedicated local SEO tools.

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2.) Content Marketing Module:

Winner: Semrush

Semrush covers the entire content process, from brainstorming to SEO optimization. 

Its Content Marketing Platform helps me find new topics, create SEO-friendly outlines, and draft content using the SEO Writing Assistant, which checks readability, keyword usage, and originality in real time. 

The AI-powered “ContentShake” feature also speeds up writing by generating initial drafts from prompts, making it a huge time-saver.

Similarweb focuses more on content discovery and competitor analysis. 

Its “Keywords by Industry” tool is great for finding trending terms in my niche, while the Keyword Seasonality report helps me plan for timely content—ideal for seasonal campaigns. 

However, hands-on creation tools like Semrush aren’t available, and accessing advanced features requires a custom plan, which adds to the cost.

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3.) Paid Advertising Module:

Winner: Semrush

With Semrush, I found many useful tools for PPC. It made it easy to analyze keywords, track where ads appear, and see what competitors are doing. The Ads Launch Assistant was especially helpful for setting up campaigns and running tests.

On the other hand, Similarweb provided good PPC insights but didn’t give me the detailed information I needed. Users on non-custom plans only get general global data, which is limited.

PPC Features	Semrush	Similarweb
Keyword Analysis	1 billion ads for in-depth research	250 million ads, less detailed
Ad Positioning	Clear insights by country	General global data
Competitor Tracking	Lots of competitor data	Limited regional focus
Ad Campaign History	Strong historical data tracking	Basic insights
Country-Specific Data	Available on all plans	Only on custom plans
Ads Launch Assistant	Yes, includes testing options	No similar feature

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Pricing: Which Offers More Money Value?

Both Semrush and Similarweb offer annual and monthly plans.

Plans	Similarweb	Semrush
Annual	$125, $333	$117.33, $208.33, $416.66
Monthly	$199, $449	$139.95, $249.95, $499.95
Free Trial	7 Days	14 Days

Both tools are on the expensive side compared to other SEO options, so understanding what each plan offers is essential for making the right choice.

In my experience, Semrush provides more money value, especially with its Pro plan, which is great for bloggers managing their websites. 

For SEO contractors and agencies, the Guru or Business plans are ideal as they cover everything needed for comprehensive SEO work.

On the flip side, I found Similarweb’s Starter plan to be limited. 

At $199 a month, I lacked location-specific keyword research, updated rankings, and historical data beyond three months. Upgrading to a custom plan was necessary to access the features I wanted.

Pricing	Semrush	Similarweb
Entry-Level Price	$139/month for Pro	$199/month for Starter
Key Features	Includes essential tools	Missing backlink, rank tracking, and audit features
Historical Data	14+ years with Guru plan	Limited to 3 months on Starter
Country-Specific Data	Available on all plans	Only on custom plans
Results per Report	10,000 to 50,000	Max 1,000 to 5,000
Database Size	25.8 billion keywords	5 billion keywords
User Access	Additional users for a fee	Additional users for a fee

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FAQs:

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Similarweb vs Semrush: Final Verdict

We hope you’ll find this thorough comparison of Semrush vs Similarweb’s capabilities comprehensive enough to make your own judgment.

Yet as for us, it seems like a no-brainer that Semrush offers the best value per dollar when it comes to market and competitive data coverage. With more features, more accurate data, and a myriad of other digital marketing tools included in the package, Semrush comes with transparent pricing and top-notch customer support. 

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