Category by category
| Category | Semrush | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Stronger | – |
| Backlinks | Stronger | – |
| Keywords | Stronger | – |
| Ease of use | – | Stronger |
| Starting price | from £113.40/mo | no published price |
Category calls are editorial judgements, not lab test results. Swipe sideways if the table is cut off.
- Features
- Semrush covers all SEO and marketing disciplines. GKP is a keyword and bid planning tool designed for Google Ads, not organic SEO
- Backlinks
- Semrush has comprehensive backlink analysis. GKP has no backlink data
- Keywords
- Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool has 26B+ keywords with organic difficulty, SERP features, and intent data. GKP shows ad competition and bucketed volume ranges
- Pricing
- Cheapest paid plans: Semrush £113.40/mo, Google Keyword Planner no published price. The vendors publish prices in different currencies, so neither is called cheaper here. Plan limits are in the tables below.
- Ease of use
- GKP is familiar to anyone who uses Google products. Semrush requires investment to learn but delivers far more actionable insights
Side by side
| Detail | Semrush | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | SEO, £113.40/mo | not published |
| Paid plans | 3 | not published |
| Sites or projects (that plan) | 5 | not published |
| Tracked keywords (that plan) | 500 | not published |
| Other limits (that plan) | Basic keyword research and competitor analysis; AI search tracking | not published |
| Free plan | Yes | not published |
| Free trial | 7 days, card needed | not published |
| Currency shown | GBP | USD |
| Prices checked | 31 Oct 2026 | 3 Oct 2026 |
"Not published" means the vendor's pricing page did not show it on the check date; it is not assumed to be zero or unlimited. Swipe sideways to see both tools.
What Semrush and Google Keyword Planner cost for the same workload
The cheapest plan on each tool whose published limits cover the workload, and what the first year costs at list price. Yearly billing is used where the vendor publishes it.
| Workload | Semrush | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| 1 site, 100 tracked keywords, 1 userSolo blogger or one business site | SEO: £1,140.84 | Limits not published |
| 5 sites, 500 tracked keywords, 1 userFreelancer with a few clients | SEO: £1,140.84 | Limits not published |
| 15 sites, 1,500 tracked keywords, 2 usersSmall agency | Limits not published | Limits not published |
"Limits not published" means the vendor's pricing page did not list a limit needed to judge the plan. Try your own numbers in the plan finder.
Every Semrush and Google Keyword Planner plan
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly, per month | Sites or projects | Tracked keywords | Users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush SEO | £113.40 | £95.07 | 5 | 500 | not published |
| Semrush Starter | £161.25 | £133.84 | 5 | 500 | not published |
| Semrush Pro+ | £242.28 | £201.09 | 15 | 1,500 | not published |
Prices are shown in the currency each vendor published, before tax. Swipe sideways to see every column.
- Prices read from vendor site; some terms not published thereSemrush: prices read from semrush.com on . Shown in GBP as the vendor displayed it; not converted.
- Prices read from vendor site; some terms not published thereGoogle Keyword Planner: source information reviewed from support.google.com on .
Semrush Black Friday 2026
Not announced yet. Black Friday is Friday 27 November and Cyber Monday is Monday 30 November.
No Black Friday offer from Semrush has been found on its own site for 2024 or 2025.
Checked 31 Oct 2026. Every SEO tool's Black Friday offer.
Which should you pick?
Pick Semrush if
You do professional SEO work and need competitor intelligence, organic difficulty scores, and comprehensive keyword databases
Semrush plans and catchesPick Google Keyword Planner if
You're planning Google Ads campaigns and want native Google data, or you're just starting out and have no SEO budget
Google Keyword Planner plans and catchesThe verdict
Every experienced SEO uses Google Keyword Planner, not as their primary tool, but as a cross-check. When Semrush shows a keyword with 5,000 monthly searches and GKP shows it in the 1K-10K range, you're at least in the right ballpark. But building an SEO strategy solely on GKP data is limiting. The bucketed volumes, the ad-focused competition metrics, and the lack of organic SERP data all constrain what you can learn. Semrush's Keyword Magic Tool gives you the specificity and competitive context that GKP can't match.