Salience vs Semrush
Salience and Semrush are both SEO tools tools. Salience is aimed at agencies and small businesses, while Semrush is aimed at agencies and enterprise. Salience costs less, from $19/mo versus $139/mo for Semrush. Both have a free plan.
Log analytics that shows how bots, AI crawlers and users hit your site
All-in-one marketing intelligence
| Pricing | Freemium · $19 | Freemium · $139 |
| Starting price | $19/mo | $139/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 7 days |
| Built for | Agencies, Small businesses, E-commerce, Developers, Enterprise | Agencies, Enterprise |
| Platforms | web | web |
| Country | GB · 2026 | US · 2008 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Salience if
Technical SEO teams and agencies that want continuous log analysis of search and AI crawler traffic.
- Shows real crawler behaviour that JavaScript analytics never sees
- Free plan includes the API and MCP server
- Works on Cloudflare's free plan through a Worker
Look elsewhere if: Marketers who only need visitor analytics or a site crawler (Plausible, Screaming Frog SEO Spider).
Choose Semrush if
Agencies and marketing teams who need SEO plus paid and content tools in one place.
- Broadest marketing toolset in one subscription
- Huge keyword database and competitive intelligence
- Strong PPC research
Look elsewhere if: Backlink-focused SEOs who prefer Ahrefs or small sites needing basic tracking (SE Ranking, Mangools).
Salience vs Semrush pricing
Salience
- Free$01 site, 500K requests/mo, 30 days of history
- Solo$19/mo1 site, 1 user, 5M requests, 6 months history; 2 months free yearly
- Starter$49/mo5 sites, 20M requests, 1 year history, webhooks; 2 months free yearly
- Growth$149/mo15 sites, 100M requests, 2 years history; 2 months free yearly
- Pro$499/mo50 sites, 500M requests, 4 years history, shared Slack support
Semrush
- Free$0For trying out the platform, no card required
- SEO$139/mo$117.33/mo annually; 5 sites, 500 tracked keywords
- Starter$199/mo$165.17/mo annually; SEO + AI Search, 50 prompts
- Pro+$299/mo$248.17/mo annually; 15 sites, 1,500 keywords
- AdvancedCustom40+ sites, 5,000+ keywords, API access
Salience · Key features
- Analysis of every request from CDN or server logs, with no sampling by Salience
- Crawler verification against official IP ranges to expose spoofed user agents
- Recognition of 200+ bots, with AI crawlers grouped by training, search or user fetch
- Requests linked to paths, status codes, sitemaps, robots.txt rules and index state
- Alerts checked every minute; Slack from Solo, webhooks from Starter
- REST API, CLI and MCP server on every plan, including Free
Cons
- Company incorporated in August 2026, so there is little track record
- Core data is hosted in AWS London (eu-west-2), with no other region offered
- Vercel needs a Pro or Enterprise team and Netlify works only on Enterprise
Semrush · Key features
- Keyword research with Keyword Magic Tool and intent data
- Site Audit, Position Tracking and On Page SEO Checker
- Backlink Analytics and Link Building tool
- Advertising Research and PPC keyword tools
- Content toolkit: Topic Research, SEO Writing Assistant
- AI visibility toolkit for AI Overviews and chatbots
Cons
- Expensive, with add-ons for local, social and trends
- Interface can feel overwhelming
- Backlink index slightly behind Ahrefs for some
Salience vs Semrush: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Salience or Semrush?
Salience starts at $19/mo and Semrush at $139/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Salience and Semrush have a free plan?
Yes, both Salience and Semrush have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.
Which is better for small businesses, Salience or Semrush?
Salience lists small businesses as a core audience, while Semrush is aimed more at agencies and enterprise.