Semrush vs Moz: Is Semrush Actually Better Than Moz?

Semrush vs Moz.

The battle of the two OG SEO tools.

Both platforms have been around since the early days of SEO and have shaped how we optimise websites today.

I’ve spent thousands of hours using both tools across hundreds of client campaigns over the last decade.

On paper, they look like they do almost the same thing.

But when you get beneath the hood and start using them…

It’s a very different story!

In this in-depth comparison, I’ll show you exactly how Semrush and Moz stack up against each other in 2025.

You’ll learn:

• Which tool has the most accurate keyword data
• Who wins for backlink analysis
• The best technical SEO audit features
• Real pricing comparisons for different users
• Why one tool completely dominates the other
• My personal choice after 10+ years of using both

And so much more! Let’s get into it…

Introducing The Competitors

Here’s a head-to-head overview of Semrush vs Moz:

When Semrush and Moz launched almost 20 years ago, they looked very different.

Now, they compete in the massive $33.86 billion SEO software market.

But there are a lot of different features each tool offers that will suite different businesses and websites better.

Pros & Cons Summary

Here’s a quick summary of the pros and cons of Moz vs Semrush.

Semrush Wins At:

Moz Wins At:

Semrush vs Moz: In-Depth Comparison

So, which tool is better?

It’s time to dive deeper into each individual feature.

I’ve broken the Semrush vs Moz comparison down into seven rounds to evaluate each platform based on every main aspect of an SEO campaign.

Here’s what I’m covering-

This will give you a comprehensive comparison of the capabilities of both platforms and help you decide which is right for you.

With that in mind, let’s get into Round 1…

Round 1 – Keyword Research

Keyword research is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy.

The right tool makes all the difference in finding the best keywords to target and content to create.

If you don’t get keyword research right, your campaign is essentially finished before it even begins.

Semrush

Semrush’s Keyword research toolset is a true powerhouse with over 26.3 billion keywords in its database.

When you search for a keyword, you instantly see:

The layout is efficient.

You get a complete overview of the keyword in seconds, including a difficulty score (0-100), which helps you quickly gauge competition levels.

From the get-go, I have an excellent feel about whether the keyword is worth targeting.

What about getting keyword ideas?

The Keyword Magic tool is where Semrush really shines. It generates thousands of related keywords from your seed keyword, all organised by topics.

Each topic shows the total search volume and all the long-tail keyword opportunities. Click any keyword for detailed metrics and ranking data.

You can also update the data on demand to get the search volumes.

What I like here is Semrush’s efficiency with keyword research. You have so many keyword ideas and the data you need to make good decisions.

You can literally spend hours here finding thousands of keywords to target!

But here’s where it gets really interesting…

The Keyword Gap tool lets you compare your site against competitors.

Add your competitors in and Semrush will show you keywords they rank for that you don’t.

It’s perfect for finding those quick wins!

There’s also a dedicated “Questions” tab that groups keywords by search intent. This is perfect for featured snippet optimisation and content planning.

I like the number of filters that Semrush gives you, which allows you to get very granular with yoru keyword research.

Semrush also recently added an AI-powered feature that personalises the keyword difficulty based on your website.

You simply add in your website to get the insights.

It analyses your topical authority and rankings, adjusting the difficulty scores specifically for your domain.

This metric is called PKW% (personalised keyword difficulty percentage).

Cool, right?

This is probably one of the best AI-powered features I’ve found for SEO. It gives you a much more accurate estimate for the rankability of individual keywords.

The only downside I found for Semrush is the learning curve.

It took a new team member about an hour to become proficient and maximise each keyword feature.

There is so much data that it’s easy to get information overload. You’ll need a solid, proven keyword research process in place.

Otherwise, you could spend all day getting lost in there!

The truth is that there isn’t a more comprehensive tool on the market for keyword research than Semrush. It has every possible feature you need to find great keywords for your campaign.

Moz

Moz’s Keyword Explorer offers a streamlined approach to keyword research with a database of 1.25 billion keywords.

The first thing you will notice about Moz is the simplicity of the keyword research tool.

Type your keyword, click “Analyse”, and instantly see:

While there are fewer data points than Semrush, Moz focuses on practical metrics that matter. They also offer some unique ones.

For example, “Organic CTR” estimates the percentage of users likely to click organic results for your keyword.

This helps you avoid keywords that users rarely click through on websites.

The other metric I like is the “Minimum DA” (Domain Authority).

This is simply the lowest Domain Authority of all sites ranking in the “Top 10” in the organic search results.

It gives you a clear picture of the authority needed to compete.

What about finding more keywords?

Moz takes a slightly different approach to Semrush-

The big difference is that Semrush gives you as many data points as possible to evaluate keywords.

On the other hand, Moz helps you identify relevant keywords you can rank for with far less analysis needed.

Moz doesn’t include the CPC data in their suggestions or keyword overview.

This is a downside because the cost-per-click price is often a good idea of how valuable clicks from that keyword are.

Moz also has a Keyword Gap tool that allows you to compare up to 3 competitors.

While it doesn’t offer the level of insights as Semrush, it has the key data you need to identify new competitor-based keyword opportunities.

SERP analysis is where Moz also shines.

Their simplified dashboard makes it easier to evaluate ranking pages and competition strength.

You’ll quickly understand what it takes to rank for any keyword.

Keyword management is another positive aspect. Creating and organising keyword lists is more intuitive than Semrush.

You can:

I like this workflow, especially if you run smaller campaigns or are a beginner SEO.

While Moz doesn’t match Semrush’s data depth, it excels at simplicity.

The focused metrics and clean interface make it perfect for quick keyword research and evaluation.

If you want straightforward keyword research without data overload, Moz delivers what you need.

🏆 Keyword Research Winner Is…

Semrush wins keyword research in a big way.

Its larger database (20x bigger) and advanced keyword features give it a huge edge over Moz.

While Moz offers solid options, Semrush’s depth and breadth of data make it more valuable for those who want to take their keyword research to the next level.

Round 2 – Backlink Analysis

Backlinks are one of the core pillars of SEO.

Quality data on your backlinks helps you accurately measure your website’s authority and find new opportunities to build more links.

Let’s take a look at how Moz and Semrush stack up against each other when it comes to backlinks analysis.

Semrush

Semrush boasts an impressive backlink database with over 43 trillion links and 290 million domains.

What does that really mean?

You’ll catch virtually every link pointing to your site. With data refreshing every 15 minutes, it’s like having link monitoring in (almost) real-time.

That’s impressive!

But what about the backlink analysis tools itself…

There are two key areas where Semrush excels:

1. Competitor backlink analysis
2. Website backlink audits

For competitor analysis, simply enter a domain in the Backlink Analytics report to see their complete link profile:

This shows you every link your competitor has in their backlink profile!

The Backlink Analysis report also offers a ton of filters to find the competitor links that are actually valuable.

You can filter by:

The Categories feature is an excellent addition to the tool.

It allows you to find competitors’ referrin domains based only on relevant categories for your website.

That means high-quality, more effective links for your site!

Want to scale your research to multiple competitors?

The Backlink Gap tool compares up to 5 competitors simultaneously. It shows you exactly which valuable links your competitors have that you don’t

This is perfect for building your link acquisition strategy.

What about running a backlink audit on your own site?

The big standout tool here is Semrush’s toxic backlink detector. It uses AI to find spammy links in your own link profile.

It then scores links from 0-100 based on things like domain authority and spam signals.

You can even filter toxic links by markers.

For example, maliscious page or de-indexed domain. This is pretty advanced and allows you to see why Semrush is marking the link as toxic.

You can create and export a disavow file in seconds to remove any negative links that Semrush flags.

While you shouldn’t blindly disavow everything it flags, it’s great for identifying potentially harmful links.

Semrush’s backlink tool suite gives you everything needed to:

They even have a complete link building and outreach tool inside the platform.

What more do you need?

Moz

Moz’s Link index is slightly bigger than Semrush’s, with 44.8 trillion links.

It shows both fresh and historical data about all links in the index.

When you add a domain to Moz’s Link Research tool, you get a link analysis that looks like this:

You can see the:

The overview is basic compared to Semrush, but you can dive deeper to get more data.

A clear focus of Moz is showing you links you’ve gained/lost over time.

This is good because you can see if you lose any significant links and work to regain them.

Domain Authority is one of Moz’s best feature.

It predicts how well a site will rank on a 100-point scale.

Moz recently updated it to be more accurate, and most SEOs consider it more accurate than Semrush’s “Authority Score.”

The Inbound Links Report shows all links that Moz has found for any domain.

They’ve done a good job making this practical and usable, especially for those just getting started in link building.

It’s easy to see the complete “Domain Authority” (DA) for each link and the “Page Authority” (PA) of the individual linking page.

Moz also assigns a spam score to each domain, similar to Semrush’s Toxic Link Checker.

In my analysis, I found that it doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of links very well, so I would take it with a pinch of salt.

But it’s a general indicator to the quality of the link.

Moz also has the Link Intersect tool, which works well.

Type in up to 5 competitors’ domains, and Moz will show you a clear list of common backlinks they have but your site doesn’t.

I personally found that it works better when you add 2-3 key competitors.

What I really like about Moz is the simple user interface.

While it lacks some advanced features and data points compared to Semrush, everything is easy to use and focused on providing only practical data.

🏆 Backlink Analysis Winner Is…

Semrush wins for backlink analysis.

They provide better tools for running complete backlink analyses on competitors and finding quality links for link building opportunities.

The freshness of their link index is also a massive feature.

I ran a link analysis on 10 sites to see who would surface the most links:

Domain	Semrush	Moz
mindbodygreen.com	4.5m	3.8m
seriouseats.com	5.3	9.7
theverge.com	89.9m	44.m
nomadicmatt.com	875k	1.5m
edsurge.com	997k	2.0m
themodestman.com	577k	383k
mrmoneymustache.com	215k	1.3m
thespruce.com	11.1m	1.3m
nerdfitness.com	570k	625k
petapixel.com	55.9m	3.5m

In my small sample test, both tools won 5 out of 10 rounds.

This is a small sample test, so it would be hard to say that it’s conclusive. But it shows that each tool has a large backlink index.

The big differences is in the tools and features which is where Semrush really gains the advantage.

Round 3 – SEO Audits

Technical SEO is another one of the key pillars required to rank high.

I compared Semrush’s and Moz’s site auditing tools by analysing the same website to see which was best.

Semrush

Semrush’s Site Audit tool is powerful.

It took a pretty long 18 minutes to crawl my 900 page website. But it digs deep to find every possible technical and on-page SEO issue.

Each issue gets sorted into three clear categories:

1. Errors
2. Warnings
3. Notices

This is where Semrush’s SEO tool suite becomes very powerful. You see exactly what you need to focus on to improve your technical SEO.

What’s more?

Semrush provides clear explanations of what’s wrong and how to fix them.

In my audit test, here’s what Semrush found:

The errors that Semrush detected were spot on. They were high impact things like duplicate context, slow page load times or structure data issues.

But here’s the interesting part…

Many of the “Issues” it found were more cautionary than critical. While nice to fix, they weren’t urgent problems affecting rankings.

This helped prioritise which technical problems needed immediate attention. You aren’t just bombard with thousands of things to fix.

Moz

The Moz Site Crawler offers a comprehensive technical SEO audit solution with a unique approach to presenting problems.

It took 11 minutes crawl my 900 page website.

Moz groups issues by-

The crawler excels at finding basic technical problems like redirect chains, content problems and meta-data issues.

When it spots an issues, it shows you the URL and the issue name. You just need to click and make the fix.

I also like the Automated crawl scheduling that’s available.

Set up regular scans and get alerts when new issues appear. That means you’ll catch critical issues before they affect your SEO.

For the Audit test, Moz surfaced:

Compared to Semrush, Moz found far fewer issues detected. Moz also diagnosed more basic technical issues like URL length and meta-data.

These are important but are on the surface of what a site audit tool should do.

I do like the Moz On-Page Grader.

Enter a URL and target keyword to see how well the page is optimised. It also provides step-by-step recommendations on what to improve.

Think of it like a personalised on-page SEO checklist. Simple and practical.

🏆 SEO Audits Winner Is…

Semrush wins for SEO audits by a long way.

Its higher crawl limits and faster scans are great for big sites. The Semrush site audit is way more in-depth and robust.

It found significantly more technical issues than Moz and went much deeper.

Round 4 – Rank Tracking

Knowing your keyword rankings is one of the most important aspects of measuring the effectiveness of your SEO campaign.

Basic ranking tracking is one thing. But accuracy, reliability and additional insights into the SERPs are what seperate great rank trackers from the rest.

I used the same site and 20 keywords to compare the ranking tracking features for both Semrush and Moz.

Semrush

Semrush’s Position Tracker lets you monitor up to 500 keywords on their pro plan. Rankings are updated automatically daily.

There is a lot of data in Semrush’s rank tracker. I like the visibility score and how simple it is to dive deeper into a keyword, to understand how to improve rankings.

The setup is straightforward.

You can track mobile rankings, desktop rankings, or both by selecting your target search engines and locations.

You can also choose to add tags to group cetrain keywords together. This valuable if you are managing large keyword lists.

The position tracking is as accurate as it gets! Semrush is known for having one of the most accurate rank trackers in the industry.

I also like the SERP Features tracking. It shows what SERP features are being displayed for each individual keyword.

My team uses this data to help better optimise our content and win more featured snippets.

Semrush’s competitor tracking is probably the best in the industry.

Quickly compare your site’s visibility to competitors and spot ranking gaps that need to be filled.

What I love most is how actionable the data is.

Beyond basic ranking positions, you get practical insights to improve your SEO strategy.

Moz

The first thing that stands out about Moz’s Rank Tracker is how solid it feels.

It offers a great user interface that gives you accurate insights into your keyword rankings.

The Standard Moz plan allows you to track up to 300 keywords, which is fewer than Semrush, but it the plan also costs less.

Keywords are updated automatically on a daily basis, just like Semrush. You also have the ability to group keywords together with labells for easy management.

The local rankings features are a standout.

I can track rankings for multiple locations, which is perfect for small local businesses with multiple stores.

Moz offers universal ranking tracking as well. You can monitor position changes for images, videos, and other SERP features where your content appears.

While it isn’t as detailed as Semrush, it’s very easy to use.

The truth is that Moz offers a great rank tracker that is accurate and provides great insights. It has all the features you would expect.

🏆 Rank Tracking Winner Is…

I give the edge to Semrush for rank tracking.

It offers more keywords on the entry plans and better competitor insights.

The mobile-specific rank tracking data is also way more detailed.

I like Moz’s local rank tracking features, but Semrush also offers similar features for local businesses.

Semrush provides more value in tracking rankings across devices and SERP features.

Round 5 – Interface & Ease Of Use

My approach to SEO is speed.

I want to get things done quickly. The user interface and design are the most important factors in achieving this.

If you’ve read through the rest of the comparison between Semrush and Moz, you already have a good idea of how each tool looks and feels.

So, for this section, I will focus primarily on how easy the tools are to navigate and how intuitive the features are.

Semrush

Semrush’s interface is built for efficiency.

The dashboard shows key metrics and quick links to main tools right away.

The main navigation is logical, with the primary categories on the left:

Underneath these categories are Semrush’s individual tools and features.

The reason this works so well is because you can navigate the entire Semrush tool suite in 1-2 clicks regardless of where you are on the platform.

That’s pretty impressive!

The project setup is just as smooth smooth.

Semrush provides a step-by-step wizard to guide you through each aspect of setting up a campaign. What’s great about Semrush is you don’t have to setup every aspect of the project immediately.

You simply add the URL, then you can choose to setup individual parts of the campaign individually.

This limits the information overload and allows you to focus on the part of the campaign that are important to you.

For example, you might want to run a site audit and connect to Google Search Console without having to go through everything else lik Position Tracking setup or backlink audit.

You can do that!

There is a lot of data and information that Semrush offers users.

But because of the logical organisation of each feature, it doesn’t take as long to get used to it. Once you get over the initial data overload, it’s an incredibly intuitive user experience.

Moz

Moz’s main interface is clean and uncluttered.

It’s a more straightforward layout than Semrush and puts only the key data points in front of you.

Like Semrush, Moz has its main navigation on the left. This is where things get a little tricky…

Everything is hidden in drop-downs. It’s harder to find the main tools, and it doesn’t feel as intuitive.

Despite the simplified layout, I find myself getting lost more often in Moz.

Setting up campaigns is straightforward. You connect your Google accounts and add the keyword tracking info in a few steps.

Moz’s setup wizard feels slightly more intuitive than Semrush’s overall.

Data export is another strong point for Moz. It’s essentially a one-click download for CSV and PDF reports almost anywhere on the platform.

You’ll find these features incredibly useful if you frequently use Excel/Google Sheets for data analysis or want to send PDF reports to clients.

While Moz’s user interface looks simpler at first glance, I scrolled and clicked more to find specific features within the platform.

It’s certainly not bad, but it does slow down your workflow compared to Semrush.

🏆 Interface & Ease Of Use Winner Is…

Semrush wins this round for me by a small margin.

I thought that Moz would be easier to use. But to my surprise, I found Sermush more intuitive.

The entire tool suite is better organised, and individual reports are easier to find. The customisation options and visual reports in Semrush give it the edge.

While Moz is great for beginners, Semrush’s interface scales better as your SEO skills grow.

Round 6 – Support & Customer Service

If you’ve ever had an issue when using (or learning to use) a SaaS product, you’ll know that good support can make or break your experience.

I contacted Moz and Semrush customer support to see which offers the best service.

The results are surprising.

Semrush

Semrush offers a lot of ways to get support-

I called Semrush to see if they would pick up and how long it would take. I was connected to a customer support agent in less than 4 minutes.

I also contacted Semrush through Live Chat. You are greeted with an AI chat bot before connecting with a live agent.

The truth is that the AI Chat bot was pretty good. It gave specific answers and was clearly trained well on the Semrush knowledge base.

It took 4 minutes to be connected which is pretty quick.

The Semrush help center is packed with detailed articles. The search function works well for finding specific topics you need help with.

The step-by-step guides also cover every Semrush feature in detail.

Semrush Academy has free courses on SEO, content marketing, and PPC.

It covers basic to intermediate SEO topics using the Semrush tool as the basis for everything.

Overall, Semrush’s support and customer service options are good, and the time to reply is decent.

Moz

Moz offers customer support through-

The team wasn’t online when I first contact them and there wasn’t any AI Chat. It also says that you will get a reply to your email.

It took about 3 hours to get a response and their support was helpful. But, in my test, definitely not as quick as Semrush.

I will say that when the team was online it only takes a few minutes to connect.

Like Semrush, there is tons of documentation about how to use Moz, and the search function works well.

The Moz Learning Center has in-depth articles and video tutorials about SEO. I like how they explain complex SEO concepts in simple terms.

I think Moz’s SEO tutorials are more practical and easier to follow than Semrush’s.

Moz remains true to its origins as an SEO blog by providing high-quality search engine optimisation guides and tutorials.

Moz Pro subscribers get access to premium support. This includes custom training sessions and faster response times.

🏆 Support & Customer Service Winner Is…

Semrush clearly wins the support and customer service round.

Firstly, their customer support was faster, they offer phone support and generally more ways to get in contact.

That’s not to say Moz was bad, but I found Semrush better when I contacted both platforms.

Round 7 – Pricing & Plans

Price isn’t the only factor to consider when choosing an SEO tool, but getting good value is important.

Comparing Moz vs Semrush pricing isn’t straightforward because they offer different features and plan limits.

I’ve provided an outline of their pricing below and given my thoughts.

Semrush

Semrush offers three main pricing plans:

1. Pro: $139.95/month
2. Guru: $249.95/month
3. Business: $499.95/month

If you pay annually upfront, you can save 17% per month on each of the plans. There are also enterprise plans available if you need larger limits.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the key limits:

Pro is aimed at small businesses and freelancers. Guru and Business are designed for large companies and agencies.

All Semrush plans include 1 user. Additional users start at $45+ per month, depending on the plan you have.

Semrush provides good value for money, especially at higher tiers. The Business plan offers a lot of extra features for larger agencies.

When you consider everything that Semrush includes, these prices are very competitive.

Moz

Moz has four pricing plans:

1. Starter: $49/month
2. Standard: $99/month
3. Medium: $179/month
4. Large: $299/month

Choosing an annual plan will get you a 20% discount each month, which is more generous than Semrush. Moz also offers Moz Enterprise if you need more options.

Here is an overview of each plan:

The Starter plan is an interesting addition for casual users who only need to track one campaign/website.

Standard and Medium are best for freelancers and small agencies. The Large plan is designed for companies and bigger agencies.

You can see straight away that Moz’s plans are more budget-friendly. They also include most features in their base plans and don’t rely as much on add-ons as Semrush does.

Moz offers solid value, especially for small to medium businesses. Their plans are straightforward, include key features and are far cheaper.

🏆 Pricing & Plans Winner Is…

After comparing core features, Moz is the winner for pricing and plans.

Their lower entry price makes them more accessible to small businesses and freelancers. Moz also includes more features in base plans without relying on add-ons.

In saying that, Semrush offers more tools and features.

So, there is no doubt that Semrush is offering good value for money as well.

The main reason for Moz winning this round is because they offer four plans that are more accessible. Semrush can feel a bit restrictive, depending on your needs.

Wrapping It Up

Who wins Semrush vs Moz?

The clear winner is Semrush. They beat Moz in almost every area.

Here’s the breakdown of each round:

As you can see, Semrush wins 6 out of 7 rounds.

The reality is that Semrush is a much more powerful all-in-one SEO tool. You get way more features and significantly more data.

Semrush has a bigger keyword database, better backlink analysis, and more thorough site audits. Its rank tracking is accurate, and it offers good value for money.

But that doesn’t mean it’s right for every user.

Here are my final thoughts…

If you are a beginner SEO or small business owner with just one site to manage, I recommend you take Moz’s 30-day free trial.

Moz has all the core tools and features you need to execute a smaller SEO campaign. It’s also much more budget-friendly and offers excellent customer support.

But if you are a freelancer, run an agency or operate a larger business – it doesn’t get much better than Semrush.

Semrush has all the advanced tools and features to execute a serious SEO campaign. Get an exclusive Semrush 14-day free trial here.

Want to see how Semrush stands against other top SEO tools? You should take a look at these posts: