Semrush vs zaDojo: price, data and AI agent access compared

Semrush is the better fit if you work in its interface all day, run paid ads, or need many years of history. zaDojo is the better fit if you have one site or a modest client list, want to do the work through Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Codex, and would rather pay for the data you pull than for a fixed tier.

On price the gap is large. Semrush's cheapest paid plan is $139 a month (about €124) for one person. zaDojo is €10 a month, and that €10 comes back to you as usage credits.

We make zaDojo, so read this page with that in mind. Every Semrush fact below comes from semrush.com and the Semrush Knowledge Base, and our testing and editorial policy explains how we check them.

When Semrush is the right choice

Pick Semrush, or keep it, in these situations:

• You buy Google or Meta ads and want to see competitors' ad copy and paid keywords. zaDojo has no ad research. Semrush's Advertising toolkit starts at $99 a month billed yearly (about €88).
• You need history going back years. On Pro+ and higher, Semrush keeps SEO data for its main country databases back to January 2012. zaDojo's domain and backlink overviews cover about the last year.
• You want listings management, review replies, content writing and traffic estimates from the same vendor. Semrush sells each as a toolkit. zaDojo covers local search data but does not manage your Google Business Profile or write articles inside the app.
• Your team spends most of the day inside Semrush and client fees cover the cost.

Semrush has been part of Adobe since 28 April 2026. Semrush told customers at the time that pricing, billing and contracts would not change immediately.

When zaDojo is the right choice

Pick zaDojo in these situations:

• You already ask an AI agent to do research and write up findings, and you want it to work from real keyword, SERP, backlink and Search Console data.
• You look after one site, or a handful, and research in bursts rather than every day.
• You want colleagues or clients in the account. zaDojo has no seat fees.
• You want to see the cost of a job before it runs. Rank trackers and AI prompt tracking show an estimate before you save them, and work pauses when credits run out, so there are no surprise bills.
• You want to track how ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention your brand without buying a separate toolkit.

Side by side

What three typical users would pay each month

These are monthly list prices. Semrush charges in US dollars; euro amounts use 1 EUR = 1.1225 USD. zaDojo figures are rough estimates of usage, so check your own numbers in the pricing estimator.

Three things change these numbers:

• Semrush's SEO and Starter plans each cover 5 websites. Anyone with 6 to 15 sites lands on Pro+, and more than 15 means Advanced, which Semrush prices on request.
• Paying Semrush for a year upfront cuts the monthly rate by up to 17%. Pro+ drops to $248.17 a month (about €221).
• zaDojo's cost depends on how much data you pull. Adding people doesn't change it. Daily rank tracking costs roughly seven times as much as weekly tracking, because it runs seven times as often. Tracking 500 keywords daily, as Semrush's SEO plan allows, costs about €47 a month in zaDojo (top 40 results, one device). The same 500 keywords checked weekly cost about €7.

Where the data comes from

Semrush builds its own databases. Its Knowledge Base lists 28.8 billion keywords across 142 country databases and a backlink index of 43 trillion links collected by its own crawler, which visits about 10 billion pages a day. Google results come through third-party providers, and traffic estimates come from clickstream panels.

zaDojo buys its SEO data from DataForSEO, a provider that sells keyword metrics, live Google results, domain data and backlinks to SEO tools and agencies. Keyword research covers many countries and languages.

Both tools estimate search volume and traffic, and estimates from different tools often disagree. The measured numbers for your own site are in Google Search Console. zaDojo connects to it read-only, without you creating a Google Cloud project, and Search Console reads use no credits. You get clicks, impressions and positions by query, page, country, device and date for up to 16 months, plus URL inspection.

AI agent access (MCP) compared

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the standard that lets an AI assistant call outside tools. Both products run an MCP server, but they package it differently.

To connect zaDojo, add https://app.zadojo.com/mcp to your client. The first connection asks you to log in and approve access. Your agent then has more than 70 tools: keyword research, live Google results, ranked keywords for any domain, backlinks and referring domains, rank tracking, site audits, local search including Maps and Business Profile data, Search Console, Google Analytics and AI visibility. Twelve agent skills, such as Keyword Research and SEO Audit, give it step-by-step instructions for common jobs. When it finishes, it can save an HTML report to the project for your team to read, print or export. Reports use no credits. More on the MCP feature page.

Semrush's MCP is a good option if you already pay for Starter or Pro+ and only need your agent to read Semrush data. Traffic and market data through MCP needs a separate Trends API plan.

AI visibility compared

Semrush's SEO plan includes AI visibility reports for any domain and custom prompt monitoring. Starter tracks 50 prompts a day for one domain and Pro+ tracks 100. If you only want the AI side, the AI Visibility toolkit costs $99 a month per domain billed yearly (about €88) and tracks 25 prompts a day across ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity, with competitor analysis, prompt research and an AI readiness site audit.

zaDojo charges per check instead of per domain. Prompt Tracking collects answers from ChatGPT and Gemini by default, and Google AI Overviews if you add it, on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule. One prompt checked on one AI engine costs about €0.002. Tracking 25 prompts every day on ChatGPT and Gemini comes to about 1,500 checks a month, or roughly €3. Competitor and citation views show which brands and pages the answers mention, and viewing or exporting saved results is free. Prompt Research finds questions people ask around a keyword, with ChatGPT's answers and cited sources (US English data), for about €0.25 a keyword.

There are two differences to weigh. Semrush tracks Perplexity in its prompt tracking; zaDojo reaches Perplexity and Claude only in Prompt Explorer. And zaDojo shows no "AI search volume", because no one can measure how often a prompt is asked.

Moving from Semrush to zaDojo

1. Create an account at app.zadojo.com/sign-up. You get €0.10 of trial credits and no card is needed.
2. Add a project for each site, then connect Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
3. Export the keyword list from your Semrush tracking project and add it to a zaDojo rank tracker. Check the cost estimate before you save.
4. Connect your agent to https://app.zadojo.com/mcp and run the SEO Project Setup skill. It asks about the business, goals, positioning, competitors and key pages, and saves the answers as project context that every other skill reads.
5. Cancel Semrush before it renews. Submit the cancellation form at semrush.com/cancel, then click the link in the confirmation email within 24 hours. Semrush says an unconfirmed cancellation is not processed and billing continues.

Semrush refunds only a first annual plan or a first add-on, and only within 7 days. Monthly plans are not refunded, so time the cancellation to your renewal date.

FAQ

Is zaDojo a cheaper alternative to Semrush?

For most single sites and small client lists, yes: €10 a month against $139 (about €124) for Semrush's cheapest paid plan. If you plan to track hundreds of keywords every day, estimate that usage on the pricing page first.

Does Semrush have a free plan?

Yes. A free Semrush account allows 10 analytics requests a day, one project and 10 tracked keywords. The 7-day trial of a paid plan needs a card.

Who owns Semrush?

Adobe. The acquisition closed on 28 April 2026.

Can zaDojo replace Semrush for PPC research?

No. zaDojo shows cost-per-click in its keyword data but has no ad copy or competitor ad research. Keep Semrush or its Advertising toolkit for that.

Can my team share one zaDojo account?

Yes. Invite teammates by email at no extra cost. On Semrush, each extra user costs $45 to $100 a month (about €40 to €89) depending on the plan.

What happens when my zaDojo credits run out?

Work that uses credits pauses until you top up. Top-up credits never expire. Search Console and Google Analytics reads, saved reports and plain site audits keep working because they use no credits.

Can I get my money back?

zaDojo refunds your first charge within 30 days if you email hello@zadojo.com. You can cancel any time from the billing portal.

Can I send clients branded reports?

Your agent writes reports as HTML, so it can follow your layout and branding, and you can save the format as a report template for next month. Semrush sells white-label reports through its Pro Report add-on at $20 a month (about €18) per report.

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