SE Ranking Review 2026: Pricing, AI Visibility and Who It Suits
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SE Ranking is an SEO platform for rank tracking, keyword and backlink research, audits, local SEO and AI visibility tracking. Since February 2026 its cheapest plan, Core, costs $129 a month, up from $65.
Verdict: 3.7/5 (output quality not scored). Core is good value for 2,000 daily keywords, local SEO for three locations and AI prompt tracking in one plan. Skip it if backlinks are your main job, you need refunds, or you track only a few hundred keywords.
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On this page: overview, pricing, Core vs Growth, AI tracking, local SEO, trial and refunds, vs Semrush, reliability, who it suits, score, FAQ.
What SE Ranking is in 2026
SE Ranking puts the standard SEO toolkit in one account: rank tracker, keyword and competitor research, backlink checker, site audit, content editor with an AI writer, local SEO tools and a report builder. The rank tracker checks the top 100 results daily on Google, Bing, Yahoo and YouTube. By SE Ranking’s count, its keyword database holds 5.4 billion keywords in 188 geographic databases.
The product has been sold since 2013, and the company says “more than a million businesses, agencies, and SEO experts” have relied on it. Its terms of service name SER Acquisition Inc., with addresses in Delaware and London. The about page mentions a team of 150+. Two sister products sit alongside it: SE Visible for AI search and Planable for social media.
2026 changed the offer. In February, the Essential, Pro and Business plans gave way to Core, Growth and Enterprise. Local SEO, a separate add-on from $9 a month in December 2025, is now part of every plan, and so is a daily quota of AI prompts. A release note from 20 April 2026 is titled “API Update: All Plans Now Feature API Access”.
SE Ranking pricing after the 2026 plan change
There are two self-serve plans, plus Enterprise with custom limits and pricing through the sales team. Annual billing saves 20%, but the whole year is charged upfront. The dollar prices below come from the vendor’s FAQ and an archived copy of its plans page from 5 October 2026. From an EU connection the page shows euros instead: Core is €109 a month, or €87.20 a month billed annually.
| Plan detail | Core | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $129 a month | $279 a month |
| Annual billing | $103.20 a month | $223.20 a month |
| Projects and manager seats | 10 projects, 1 seat | 30 projects, 3 seats |
| Keywords tracked daily | 2,000 | 5,000 |
| AI prompts tracked daily | 100 | 250 |
| Site audit, pages per month | 250,000 | 2 million |
| API credits, MCP access | 25,000 a month | 100,000 a month |
| Local SEO | 3 locations, 1,500 local keywords | 3 locations, 1,500 local keywords |
| Content Editor articles | 25 | 50 |
| Historical data | Limited (listed as “6/mo”) | Project lifetime |
The old entry plan was much cheaper. On 31 January 2026, Essential cost $65 a month ($52 billed annually) for 5 projects and 500 daily keywords; by 28 February the cheapest option was Core. Former Pro customers face a different trade. Pro cost $119 for 2,000 keywords with 3 seats and 30 projects, while Core keeps the 2,000 keywords for $10 more but drops to 1 seat and 10 projects.
Add-ons work with either plan. Their dollar prices come from the 5 October archive of the plans page; the FAQ confirms the Agency Pack and API figures.
- Agency Pack: from +$69 a month (30-project tier; 50- and 100-project tiers cost more), annual billing only. White-label platform and reports, 30 client seats, a lead generator and a listing in the vendor’s agency catalog.
- AI Search: +$71.20 a month billed annually, or $89 monthly, for 200 extra prompts, with 450 and 1,000-prompt tiers.
- API: +$45 a month, annual billing only, from 3 million credits. A standalone API plan starts at $179 a month, also annual.
- Extra limits: keywords from $22.40 on Core ($32 on Growth), manager seats from $16, locations from $18.40 and Content Editor articles from $39.20.
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Core or Growth: what the extra $150 a month buys
Growth costs $150 more per month on monthly billing, or $120 more billed annually. Besides higher limits, it adds four things Core does not have:
- Full historical data. The plan table lists Core’s historical data as “6/mo” without explaining it; Growth keeps data for the lifetime of each project.
- Guest links, so clients can view reports without a paid seat.
- Page changes monitoring, listed with the audit tools.
- Onboarding and Customer Success. Core customers get the Help Center, Academy, chat and email support.
Our rule of thumb: Core works for up to 10 sites and one person doing the work. Growth makes sense once you manage more than 10 client sites, need historical data for the whole life of a project, or want clients to open reports without logging in.
Sharing one login is not a workaround. The plans page puts it plainly: “Only one active session is allowed at a time”, and a second sign-in triggers a prompt to hand off the session. Extra seats on Core start at $16 a month each, so a small team can stay on Core. Projects are different: the plan table lists extra seats, keywords, locations and articles, but not extra projects.
AI visibility tracking: included, with a catch
Every plan tracks your brand in AI answers. Core covers 100 prompts a day and Growth 250, across four engines: Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini (Perplexity is tracked in SE Visible, SE Ranking’s separate AI platform). SE Ranking says it queries these tools through their user interfaces and “captures the responses as a real user would see them”. Tracking covers 7 markets and 5 languages.
The AI Overviews tracker also estimates the traffic you could get from AI Overviews. That fills a real gap: Google Search Console counts AI Overview clicks inside its general Web report and does not break them out.
The catch is the vendor’s own messaging. Its FAQ says AI-answer visibility is the job of SE Visible, and that “SE Ranking itself stays focused on classic search (SEO)”. Meanwhile the plans page sells 100 to 250 prompts a day inside the main platform.
As we read the two pages, the plan quota covers prompt tracking and competitor research in AI answers. SE Visible is a separate dashboard for brand mentions and citations, from $99 a month ($79 billed annually) with a 10-day free trial. The AI Search add-on includes SE Visible access for the same number of prompts.
How rival entry plans handle AI answers, checked on 7 October 2026:
- Semrush SEO ($139.95): no prompt tracking. It starts with the $199 Starter plan at 50 prompts a day; the separate AI Visibility Toolkit costs $99 a month with no free trial.
- Ahrefs Lite ($129): 5 tracked AI prompts. Brand Radar’s AI index starts at $199 a month.
- Mangools: 5 prompts on its SEO-only plans, and 500 prompts, each checked weekly, in the SEO + AI bundle that its pricing page shows first.
If AI answers are your main channel rather than one report among many, compare dedicated AI visibility platforms too. We cover one of them in our Writesonic review.
Local SEO: now included in every plan
For a small business, the local module is the main reason to consider SE Ranking. Both plans include 3 locations, a local and map rank tracker for 1,500 keywords, listing management in 100+ directories and a Google Business Profile integration. Each extra location costs from $18.40 a month.
- Rankings can be tracked by city or ZIP code.
- Reviews from Google, Facebook, Apple, Bing, Yelp, TripAdvisor and other sites can be monitored and answered from the tool.
- Business details in Google Business Profile can be managed from the platform.
One thing to check during the trial: the plan table lists Google Business Profile posts as included, but the Local Marketing page still labels its post scheduler “Coming soon”. The trial of the local tool is limited to three listings.
For comparison, Semrush sells local tools as a separate toolkit priced per location: $30 a month on Local Base and $60 on Local Pro. Covering three locations on Local Base would add $90 a month to any Semrush plan.
Free trial, refunds and billing traps
The free trial lasts 14 days and needs no credit card, so there is no automatic charge when it ends. Trial limits: up to 10 projects, 750 tracked keywords a day, 20 AI prompts a day and AI competitor research for 3 domains. SE Ranking’s FAQ adds 3 manager seats and 100,000 API credits, and the Agency Pack is open during the trial.
There is no permanent free plan, only free single-purpose tools on the website (see the FAQ below).
Five terms to read before you pay:
- No refunds. The plans page says “Payments are non-refundable”, except when the service wasn’t delivered as promised or a promotion says otherwise. The terms of service, updated on 25 June 2026, say the same.
- Annual means upfront. The 20% discount requires paying for the year in one charge. A quarterly schedule with an annual commitment can be discussed with sales.
- Plan migrations. Two Trustpilot reviews by long-time customers, dated 1 April and 16 June 2026, say they were moved to a new plan without their consent; the June reviewer says the new plan costs significantly more.
- Annual-only add-ons. The Agency Pack and the API add-on can’t be paid monthly.
- Currency follows location. Check which currency the plans page shows you before paying.
Next to Semrush, the trial is friendlier: Semrush asks for a card, charges automatically when its 7-day trial ends unless you cancel, and only refunds first annual purchases within 7 days. On refunds, though, Semrush is the more generous of the two. Downgrades here are self-serve: you can change plan at any time in the billing settings.
SE Ranking vs Semrush and Ahrefs: price, limits, data
How the entry plans line up against Semrush and Ahrefs, with Mangools added as the budget option:
| Entry plan | SE Ranking Core | Semrush SEO | Ahrefs Lite | Mangools Basic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly billing | $129 | $139.95 | $129 | $49 ($61 with AI) |
| Annual, per month | $103.20 | $117.33 | $107.50 | $29.90 ($37.70 with AI) |
| Tracked keywords | 2,000, daily | 500, daily | 750, weekly | 200, weekly |
| Per 1,000 tracked keywords, a month (annual billing) | $51.60 | $234.66 | $143.33 | $149.50 |
| AI prompt tracking | 100 a day | None on this plan | 5 prompts | 5 prompts (500 with AI) |
| Backlink index, vendor’s figure | 2.7T to 2.9T links | 43T+ links | 35T links, history | 9.5T (Majestic data) |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | 7 days, card required | None | Free plan instead |
| Refunds | No | First annual plan, 7 days | Generally no | Within 48 hours |
| Trustpilot, 7 Oct 2026 | 4.2 (712 reviews) | 1.7 (1,411) | 2.2 (323) | 4.5 (167) |
Notes: Semrush’s pricing page displays the SEO plan as $139; its pricing code and help center list $139.95. Mangools’ pricing page opens on its SEO + AI bundle (figures in brackets); the lower prices belong to the SEO-only plan, which the per-1,000-keyword row uses. Index sizes are each vendor’s own claim and are counted differently, so they show scale, not quality.
Where it wins: tracking volume per dollar. Billed annually, Core costs less than Semrush SEO and Ahrefs Lite, yet tracks four times as many keywords as Semrush’s plan, daily. Ahrefs’ pricing page lists weekly rank updates on every plan, Lite included (checked 7 October 2026). Its plan configuration mentions a paid daily-update add-on that the public page does not advertise.
Core also includes AI prompt tracking and local SEO, which Semrush sells separately or in higher plans. Extra users cost from $16 a month here, from $45 on Semrush and $40 on Ahrefs Lite.
Where it loses: data depth. SE Ranking’s FAQ concedes that its search volume figures “currently trail both competitors”. If link research is your main job, compare Ahrefs and Semrush first: both publish far larger link counts, though Ahrefs’ 35 trillion counts link history. Ahrefs Lite costs $129 a month with no trial and generally no refunds.
Is SE Ranking reliable?
On review sites it rates well. On 7 October 2026, Trustpilot showed 4.2 out of 5 from 712 reviews; the profile carries a “Paid Trustpilot subscription” label. An archived copy of its G2 page from 28 August 2026 showed 4.7 out of 5 from 1,601 reviews. On Trustpilot the same day, Semrush stood at 1.7 and Ahrefs at 2.2.
The negative reviews from autumn 2026 are specific and worth reading before you commit.
- Outage: an October review reports a breakdown of more than a week, which the reviewer blames on a Google update.
- Tracking errors: another October review says keywords often show as deindexed while they are still in Google.
- Support access: a September review says it is very hard to get past the AI support bots to a person.
On the positive side, a review from 29 September 2026 praises pre-sale and post-sale support by name. One from 31 August calls the tool a nice alternative to the far pricier Semrush.
SE Ranking’s own numbers need a pinch of salt too. Its data page puts the backlink index at 2.7 trillion links across 420 million domains, while its Backlink Checker page says 2.9 trillion links and 411 million referring domains. Its FAQ also calls the index “on par with Ahrefs and Semrush”, whose published counts are 35 trillion (Ahrefs, link history) and 43 trillion (Semrush).
Our reading: the ratings are high, but the recent complaints concern tracking accuracy, uptime and billing, so check results on your own keywords during the 14-day trial before paying for a year. By the vendor’s own admission, its search volume data is weaker than Semrush’s and Ahrefs’.
Who it suits, and who should skip it
A good fit:
- Agencies and freelancers who report to clients: daily tracking on every plan, extra seats from $16 and white-label reports through the Agency Pack.
- Small businesses with one to three locations that want local and general SEO in one account.
- Marketing teams that need AI answer tracking without a second subscription.
- Semrush customers who want to cut costs. SE Ranking imports ranking history from Semrush, Ahrefs, AgencyAnalytics, AccuRanker and Serpstat, and assisted migration is free with an annual plan.
Look elsewhere if:
- Backlink research is the core of your work. Compare Ahrefs and Semrush, whose published link counts are many times larger.
- You track a few hundred keywords for one site. Mangools‘ SEO-only Basic plan costs $29.90 a month billed annually for 200 keywords (Premium: 700 for $44.90), with weekly updates, and Google Search Console is free.
- You need a permanent free plan. Semrush’s free plan allows 10 reports a day, Ahrefs Free gives site owners limited Site Explorer and Site Audit access, and Mangools gives 5 free lookups a day.
Our score: 3.7 out of 5, and how we checked
We score every tool on six weighted criteria, explained on our How we test page. We have no SE Ranking account yet, so output quality is not scored, and the total is the weighted average of the other five.
| Criterion | Weight | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price for real work | 25% | 4 | 2,000 daily keywords for $103.20 a month billed annually; entry price doubled in 2026 |
| Output quality | 25% | Not scored | No account yet |
| Limits and fine print | 15% | 3 | No refunds, annual paid upfront, one session per login, limited historical data on Core |
| Billing and reputation | 15% | 4 | Public prices, cancel any time, Trustpilot 4.2; two 2026 reviews report forced plan changes |
| Support and learning | 10% | 3 | Help Center, Academy, chat and email; onboarding only on Growth |
| Maturity of AI features | 10% | 4 | Prompt tracking live on Core; the vendor’s FAQ sends AI tracking to SE Visible |
The math: 0.25 × 4 + 0.15 × 3 + 0.15 × 4 + 0.10 × 3 + 0.10 × 4 = 2.75. Divided by 0.75, the total weight of the scored criteria, that gives 3.67, rounded to 3.7. On our scale, 3.0 to 3.9 means good for specific cases: read the limits first.
Sources: the vendor’s plans page, FAQ, terms of service and product pages, read on 7 October 2026. Our location showed euro prices, so dollar figures come from the FAQ and an archived copy of the plans page from 5 October 2026. G2 blocked our requests, so its rating comes from an archived copy. We will re-check prices within 90 days, or sooner if the plans change.
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Frequently asked questions
No. There is no permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial that needs no credit card. The trial allows up to 10 projects, 750 tracked keywords and 20 AI prompts a day. Without an account, you can still use the free tools on SE Ranking’s website, including a free AI visibility checker limited to 5 checks a day.
On 7 October 2026, Core cost $129 a month, or $103.20 a month on a yearly plan, and Growth cost $279, or $223.20 on a yearly plan. Enterprise is priced on request. Add-ons are extra: the Agency Pack starts at $69 a month on annual billing only, and 200 more AI prompts cost $71.20 a month billed annually.
It can be, if local search matters to you. Core includes three locations, local and map rank tracking for 1,500 keywords and listings in 100+ directories. If you only check a few dozen keywords for one site, $129 a month is a lot. Google Search Console costs nothing, and Mangools’ SEO-only plan starts at $29.90 a month on a yearly plan.
Usually not. Payments are non-refundable unless the service wasn’t delivered as promised or a special promotion says otherwise, and the terms of service updated on 25 June 2026 confirm it. Annual plans are charged for the whole year at once, so use the 14-day trial first and consider monthly billing until you are sure.
Yes. Core tracks 100 prompts a day across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini, and Growth tracks 250, although the vendor’s own FAQ points AI tracking to SE Visible. More prompts come with the AI Search add-on, which also unlocks SE Visible, the company’s separate AI visibility platform that covers Perplexity. Claude is not covered yet: SE Visible says it will be added soon.
Yes, on every plan. Core includes 25,000 API credits a month and Growth 100,000, both with MCP access for connecting AI assistants. Bigger volumes need the API add-on from $45 a month, billed annually only, or the standalone API plan from $179 a month, also annual. Trial accounts get 100,000 credits to test the endpoints.