Developers looking for Semrush API alternatives usually want one of two things: SEO data inside a script or pipeline, or SEO data that a coding agent like Claude Code or Cursor can fetch on its own through MCP. Semrush offers both, but only on higher plans. This piece compares how each main option prices programmatic access, and why per-run pricing tends to suit agent workloads better than a seat.
Plans were checked on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.
How Semrush gates API and MCP access
On Semrush's current pricing page, MCP access starts on the Starter plan at $199 a month ($165.17 billed annually). The SEO plan at $139 does not list it. Full API data integration sits on the Advanced plan, which is now quoted on request rather than listed at a price. If you only want a script to pull a competitor's keywords once a week, that is a lot of plan to buy for one endpoint.
The alternatives compared
| Tool | Programmatic access | Cheapest plan that includes it | How usage is counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| seogeoaeo.ai | MCP and REST | Indie, $29 a month | Credits per run, price shown before each run |
| SE Ranking | API and MCP | Core, $129 a month | 25K API credits a month on Core |
| Ahrefs | API and MCP | Lite, $129 a month | 1,000 credits per user on Lite |
| Semrush | MCP from Starter, API on Advanced | Starter, $199 a month (MCP) | Plan limits |
Why seogeoaeo.ai fits agent workloads
seogeoaeo.ai was built around single-purpose tools, and every one is exposed the same three ways: in the browser, as an MCP tool named by its slug, and as a REST endpoint. Every plan includes all three, so there is no upgrade step between trying a tool by hand and wiring it into an agent.
The tools that replace the usual Semrush API calls:
domain-overview(50 credits): keywords a domain ranks for, estimated visits, the ad value of that traffic, and its link count.competitor-keywords(35 credits): up to 100 keywords for a domain, ordered by estimated visits, with volume, difficulty and cost per click.keyword-gap(85 credits): up to 300 keywords a competitor ranks for in the top 20 that your domain misses.keyword-metrics(33 credits): volume, difficulty and cost per click for up to 100 keywords you paste in.backlink-finder(70 credits): the 100 strongest linking sites and 50 link texts.
A REST call looks like this:
curl -X POST https://seogeoaeo.ai/api/v1/tools/domain-overview/runs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SEOGEOAEO_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"input":{"url":"https://www.example.com","market":"us"}}'
The MCP server lives at https://seogeoaeo.ai/api/mcp. Two details matter for anyone letting an agent spend money. Each call accepts maxCredits, which makes the server refuse a run above that price, and idempotencyKey, which lets a retry go through without paying twice. Runs that fail on the platform side are refunded. Agent runs cost the same as browser runs.
The Indie plan's 2,000 credits a month cover 40 domain overviews or around 57 competitor keyword pulls. The credit plans and top-ups go up to 130,000 credits a month.
For a weekly job that pulls keywords for five competitors, the math is simple: five Competitor Keywords runs at 35 credits is 175 credits a week, or about 700 a month, well inside the Indie balance.
Tracking usage across a team
Per-run pricing makes cost tracking simple: each run has a fixed credit price, published per tool in https://seogeoaeo.ai/api/v1/tools, so a log of runs is also a log of spend. Monthly credits reset at renewal and do not roll over; top-up credits never expire and are spent after the monthly ones.
Limits to know before you switch
seogeoaeo.ai is not a full Semrush API replacement. It has no rank tracking endpoint, keeps no link index of its own, and does not return historical snapshots of a domain. Data comes from a third-party provider and is estimated. It also does not return the keywords a competitor bids on. If your pipeline depends on daily position data, SE Ranking's Core plan, with its API credits and 2,000 tracked keywords, is the closer match.
Which to choose
- An agent or script that looks up competitors and keywords on demand: seogeoaeo.ai.
- A pipeline that needs rank tracking data too: SE Ranking Core.
- Heavy backlink work through an API: Ahrefs.
- A team already deep in Semrush's toolkits: stay, and budget for Starter or a custom Advanced quote.
The complete list of Semrush alternatives adds traffic and ad research options.