# SE Ranking Alternatives 2027: 9 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/se-ranking/
Prices checked: 2026-11-14 (Zekai Price Ledger)

The best SE Ranking alternatives in 2027 are Ahrefs (best overall, $129/mo), Semrush (best free plan) and OpenSEO (best open source, MIT). SE Ranking itself starts at $129/mo. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 14 Nov 2026; 6 more are compared below, including 1 with a free plan and 2 open source.

| Tool | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SE Ranking (the tool being replaced) | — | $129/mo | No | — | — | 2026-11-14 | [pricing](https://seranking.com/pricing.html) |
| Moz Pro | Paid | $99/mo | No free plan | — | Domain Authority-led reporting for small sites | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://moz.com/products/pricing) [pricing](https://moz.com/products/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/moz-pro/) |
| Ahrefs | Free plan + paid | $129/mo | Ahrefs Free plan listed; its caps were not read | — | Link research and large crawl budgets | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://ahrefs.com/) [pricing](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/ahrefs/) |
| Semrush | Free plan + paid | $139/mo | Free plan: 1 demo project, 10 reports per day | — | Free plan plus separate AI Search tiers | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://www.semrush.com/) [pricing](https://www.semrush.com/prices/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/semrush/) |
| Mangools | Free plan + paid | $61/mo | Free account and free mini SEO tools; account caps not read | — | Small budgets and simple interface | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://mangools.com/) [pricing](https://mangools.com/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/mangools/) |
| Conductor | Paid | Not checked | No free plan | — | Enterprise SEO programmes via sales |  | [site](https://www.conductor.com/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/conductor/) |
| SpyFu | Paid | $39/mo | No free plan | — | Budget competitor keyword research | 2026-11-14 | [site](https://www.spyfu.com/) [pricing](https://www.spyfu.com/pricing) |
| OpenSEO | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | Usage-billed SEO with agent access |  | [site](https://openseo.so) [code](https://github.com/every-app/open-seo) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/openseo/) |
| SerpBear | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | Unlimited self-hosted keyword tracking |  | [site](https://docs.serpbear.com/) [code](https://github.com/towfiqi/serpbear) |
| Seo Panel | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-2.0 | Self-run multi-site SEO control panel |  | [site](https://github.com/sendtogeo/Seo-Panel) [code](https://github.com/sendtogeo/Seo-Panel) |

## How each alternative compares with SE Ranking

- **Moz Pro** (Paid, $99/mo, checked 2026-11-14): Standard is $99/mo billed monthly ($79/mo yearly) for 1 user, 3 tracked sites, 300 keywords and 150 tracked prompts, with a $49/mo single-site entry plan; it adds Domain Authority and MozBar Premium. Switch if you report on one to three sites, want Domain Authority in client decks and prefer a lower starting price. Stay with SE Ranking if you need daily tracking for around ten projects and a 14-day trial with no credit card.
- **Ahrefs** (Free plan + paid, $129/mo, checked 2026-11-14): Lite matches Core's $129/mo and lists 750 tracked keywords, 150 AI prompt checks, 100,000 crawl credits and API plus MCP access; extra users are $40/mo each. Core lists 2,000 daily keywords and 1 manager seat. Switch if backlink data and the Content Explorer matter most and you will work alone or add paid seats. Stay with SE Ranking if you track thousands of keywords across ten projects and want local and content marketing tools included.
- **Semrush** (Free plan + paid, $139/mo, checked 2026-11-14): SEO plan is $139/mo for 500 daily keywords on 5 websites; a $0 plan gives 1 demo project and 10 reports a day. SE Ranking Core lists 2,000 daily keywords, trial only. Switch if you want a permanent $0 account to explore before paying, or Semrush's AI Visibility reports for any domain. Stay with SE Ranking if you want more tracked keywords and projects per dollar and a no-card trial.
- **Mangools** (Free plan + paid, $61/mo, checked 2026-11-14): Basic is $61/mo billed monthly with 200 tracked keywords and weekly rank updates, no extra seats; Agency is $141/mo with daily updates and 5 extra seats. Core lists 2,000 keywords tracked daily. Switch if you are a solo marketer who tracks a few hundred keywords and wants to spend under $65 a month. Stay with SE Ranking if you manage many client projects and need daily rank checks and website audit capacity.
- **Conductor** (Paid, Not checked): Lists Essentials, Growth and Enterprise plans with no dollar prices, limits counted in drafts per year and pages monitored, and usage-based pricing set by sales. SE Ranking prints Core and Growth prices. Switch if your site is large enough that an enterprise contract and usage-based limits make more sense than fixed tiers. Stay with SE Ranking if you want public prices, a self-serve trial and flat monthly plans for agency work.
- **SpyFu** (Paid, $39/mo, checked 2026-11-14): Basic is $39/mo billed monthly with 5,000 weekly tracked keyword rankings and extra seats at $15 each; Professional adds API access. SE Ranking Core also includes site audits and AI Visibility tracking. Switch if you mainly spy on competitors' keywords and want to spend roughly a third of Core's monthly price. Stay with SE Ranking if you need website audits of up to 250k pages a month and AI prompt tracking inside one plan.
- **OpenSEO** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): MIT-licensed; keyword research, rank tracking, backlinks, site audits and AI visibility run on your own DataForSEO API key with per-use billing, plus an MCP server. Core is a fixed $129/mo subscription. Switch if you can run Docker or a Cloudflare deploy and want to pay only for data you pull. Stay with SE Ranking if you want dedicated support, onboarding on Growth and Data Studio integrations without self-hosting.
- **SerpBear** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Tracks unlimited domains and keywords with email alerts and an API, reading Google through a scraper or proxies you supply; no backlink or audit feature is listed. Core caps tracking at 2,000 daily keywords. Switch if you only need rank tracking at large keyword volumes and can manage a Docker container and scraper bill. Stay with SE Ranking if you want audits, backlink research and AI Visibility tracking without assembling separate tools.
- **Seo Panel** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): PHP, MySQL and cURL control panel managing SEO for multiple websites, installed via Softaculous or a web installer, with no seat fees. Its README intro lists no AI features, unlike Core's AI Visibility. Switch if you host many client sites yourself and want a free panel you can modify under GPL-2.0. Stay with SE Ranking if you rely on a managed data index, API credits and support instead of maintaining a PHP app.

## Open-source options in detail

- **OpenSEO** (https://github.com/every-app/open-seo): Licence: MIT; Commercial use: Yes (MIT).; Runs on: Any server or computer with Docker, or a free Cloudflare account; no GPU.; Setup: moderate: Docker or Cloudflare deploy plus a DataForSEO API key.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-11; GitHub stars: 27,700 (2026-11-14)
- **SerpBear** (https://github.com/towfiqi/serpbear): Licence: MIT; Commercial use: Yes (MIT).; Runs on: Small server or container with Docker; scraper or proxy credentials needed.; Setup: moderate: Docker image plus a third-party scraper API or your own proxies.; Last commit: 2026-10-30; Last release: 2026-10-30; GitHub stars: 2,200 (2026-11-14)
- **Seo Panel** (https://github.com/sendtogeo/Seo-Panel): Licence: GPL-2.0; Commercial use: Yes; GPL-2.0 requires sharing source of any distributed modifications.; Runs on: Web server with PHP, MySQL and cURL enabled; shared hosting is enough.; Setup: moderate: Upload files, set folder permissions, run the web installer.; Last commit: 2026-11-11; Last release: 2026-11-11; GitHub stars: 138 (2026-11-14)

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to SE Ranking in 2027?
Ahrefs is the best overall SE Ranking alternative on this page ($129/mo). For no cost, Semrush has a free plan (Free plan: 1 demo project, 10 reports per day). To self-host, OpenSEO is open source (MIT).

### Is there a free version of SE Ranking?
No. SE Ranking has no free plan; paid plans start at $129/mo, checked on 14 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to SE Ranking?
Yes. OpenSEO, SerpBear, Seo Panel are open source and free to self-host. Ahrefs, Semrush, Mangools have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

### What is cheaper than SE Ranking?
Mangools starts at $61/mo, against $129/mo for SE Ranking, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 14 Nov 2026.

### How much do SE Ranking alternatives cost for a team of 5?
If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 14 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is SpyFu $195/mo, Mangools $305/mo, Moz Pro $495/mo, against SE Ranking $645/mo for SE Ranking. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

### Which is better, Ahrefs or SE Ranking?
Lite matches Core's $129/mo and lists 750 tracked keywords, 150 AI prompt checks, 100,000 crawl credits and API plus MCP access; extra users are $40/mo each. Core lists 2,000 daily keywords and 1 manager seat. Choose Ahrefs if backlink data and the Content Explorer matter most and you will work alone or add paid seats. Stay with SE Ranking if you track thousands of keywords across ten projects and want local and content marketing tools included.

### Why are people leaving SE Ranking?
The documented reasons are: The pricing page lists AI visibility as an add-on from $71/mo (SE Visible, starting at 75 prompts) on top of Core's 25 daily prompts, so heavier AI tracking costs more (30 Oct 2026); Core allows 10 projects and 1 manager seat; Growth ($279/mo monthly) is needed for 30 projects and 3 seats, and the Agency Pack is a further add-on at $69/mo billed annually (30 Oct 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

### SE Ranking vs Semrush: which is better?
SE Ranking Core lists more daily tracked keywords and projects for a lower monthly price, while Semrush has a permanent $0 plan and separate SEO + AI Search tiers. Check the limits in the table above against your project count.

## Related on Zekai

- [Moz Pro alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/moz-pro/)
- [Ahrefs alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/ahrefs/)
- [Semrush alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/semrush/)
- [Writesonic alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/writesonic/)
- [AI for Marketing & Content Creation](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-marketing-content-creation-automation/)

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Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/se-ranking/