Best Semrush alternatives after the Adobe acquisition — where should I migrate my SEO data?
- Tim Mueller
- Dec 3
- 14 min read
Executive Summary
The digital marketing landscape underwent a seismic structural shift on November 19, 2025, when Adobe Inc. announced its definitive agreement to acquire Semrush Holdings, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.9 billion. This acquisition, priced at $12.00 per share — representing a premium of nearly 75% over Semrush’s previous closing price —signals the end of an era for independent, large-scale SEO suites and the beginning of a new phase defined by "Agentic AI" and Generative Engine Optimization.
For the SEO professional, this merger validates the industry's critical role in the digital economy but introduces immediate risks regarding data sovereignty, pricing stability, and platform independence. The "Adobe Tax" — a colloquialism for the premium pricing and bundled complexity often associated with the Adobe Experience Cloud — looms large over the Semrush user base. Consequently, a significant portion of the community, ranging from freelance consultants to mid-sized agencies, is actively evaluating migration pathways to independent platforms that prioritize agility and transparent pricing over enterprise integration.
Short Answer: The Best Alternatives
For professionals seeking immediate alternatives to Semrush in the wake of this acquisition, the market offers five distinct, viable migration paths depending on specific operational needs:
SE Ranking: The premier "direct replacement" for agencies and SMBs. It offers the closest feature parity (including white-label reporting and lead generation tools) at a significantly more flexible price point, with a dedicated "Import from Semrush" tool.
Ahrefs: The "data purist’s" choice. Unrivaled for backlink intelligence and technical data depth, it is the preferred shelter for advanced SEOs who prioritize raw index quality over marketing suites, despite its controversial credit-based pricing model.
Moz Pro: The "heritage" option. Ideal for those focused on Brand Authority and Local SEO, offering a user-friendly interface and proprietary metrics that align well with the Helpful Content era’s focus on trust signals.
Mangools: The "UX specialist." A cost-effective, high-design option for freelancers and bloggers who need accurate keyword data and basic AI tracking without the enterprise bloat.
Ubersuggest: The "budget disruptor." Provides the lowest barrier to entry with lifetime deals and democratized access to AI visibility tracking, suitable for startups and early-stage marketers.
This report provides an exhaustive, expert-level analysis of the acquisition's implications, the emerging GEO paradigm, deep-dive comparisons of these alternatives, and a technical playbook for extracting and migrating historical data before the transaction closes in the first half of 2026.
Part I: Anatomy of the Acquisition
1.1 The Transaction Mechanics
The definitive agreement, announced mid-November 2025, outlines a merger wherein "Fenway Merger Sub, Inc.," a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adobe, will merge with and into Semrush. Semrush will survive as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adobe. The all-cash nature of the deal — $12.00 per share — provides a clean exit for Semrush shareholders but effectively removes the company from the public markets (NYSE: SEMR).
While the $1.9 billion valuation is substantial for a specialized SaaS tool, industry analysts like Rand Fishkin suggest it is a "strategic valuation" rather than a purely revenue-based multiple. Adobe is not merely buying a subscription revenue stream; it is acquiring a massive, structured data lake comprising over 25 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks. This data is intended to fuel Adobe's "Content Supply Chain," providing the "intelligence layer" for its generative AI models, Firefly and GenStudio.
1.2 The Strategic Logic: Agentic AI and GEO
To understand the urgency of potential migration, one must grasp Adobe's strategic intent. The acquisition is explicitly driven by the transition from traditional search to "Agentic AI" — autonomous software agents capable of executing complex marketing workflows.
The Content Supply Chain:
Adobe dominates the creation layer of content (Photoshop, Premiere, Express) and the analytics layer (Adobe Analytics). However, it lacked the intelligence layer — knowing what content to create to achieve organic visibility. Semrush fills this gap. By integrating Semrush’s keyword and competitive data, Adobe aims to allow its AI agents to autonomously identify high-value topics, generate content via Firefly, and optimize it for search engines without human intervention.
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO):
Anil Chakravarthy, President of Adobe’s Digital Experience Business, highlighted that "Brand visibility is being reshaped by generative AI". As users migrate from Google Search to LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude, the metric of success shifts from "ranking" to "citation." Adobe intends to build a "visibility layer" that tracks and optimizes brand presence across these LLMs. For enterprise clients, this is a dream scenario; for the average SEO, it suggests a product roadmap that will pivot sharply away from technical SEO and towards high-level "Brand Visibility" dashboards designed for the C-suite.
1.3 The "Walled Garden" Risk
The primary driver for migration is the fear of ecosystem lock-in. Adobe operates a "walled garden" model, where the full value of its tools is unlocked only through expensive, bundled subscriptions to the Adobe Experience Cloud.
Data Gating: There is a high probability that Semrush’s unique "AI Visibility" data — insights into how brands appear in LLM responses — will eventually be gated behind Adobe’s enterprise tier, inaccessible to independent consultants.
Pricing Complexity: Adobe’s pricing models are notoriously opaque and contract-heavy. Community fears center on the elimination of Semrush’s flexible, month-to-month "Pro" and "Guru" tiers in favor of annual enterprise contracts.
Innovation Stagnation: Post-acquisition integration often leads to a "feature freeze" where the acquired company’s engineering resources are diverted to integration tasks rather than core product innovation. This phenomenon, observed in acquisitions like Magento, raises concerns that Semrush’s core SEO features will languish.
Part II: The Industry Narrative & Community Reaction
The announcement triggered an immediate and polarized reaction across the digital marketing community, revealing deep-seated anxieties about consolidation and the future of the open web.
2.1 The Skeptics: Fear of "Enshitification"
A significant portion of the SEO community views the acquisition through the lens of "enshitification" — the gradual degradation of platform quality in pursuit of monetization. On platforms like Reddit, the sentiment was visceral. "Adobe ruins anything it gets its hands on," noted one user, drawing parallels to the stagnation of products like Flash and ColdFusion after corporate absorption.
The "nickel-and-dime" critique is prevalent. Users fear that features currently included in Semrush’s base plans (like the Social Media Toolkit or Content Marketing Platform) will be unbundled and sold as separate Adobe "add-ons," or conversely, bundled into a monolithic subscription that is prohibitively expensive for small agencies. The consensus among skeptics is that the tool will transition from a nimble research utility to "bloatware" designed to upsell Adobe Creative Cloud users.
2.2 The Experts: Strategic Validation
Conversely, industry veterans interpret the deal as a watershed moment for the SEO profession.
Rand Fishkin (SparkToro, Moz Founder):
Fishkin argues that the acquisition is a "strategic valuation" where Adobe is buying critical data infrastructure for the AI era. He notes that Semrush was "undervalued" by Wall Street, which failed to appreciate the immense value of its clickstream and keyword data for training LLMs. For Fishkin, this deal confirms that proprietary data on human search behavior is now a strategic asset for AI development.
Seth Besmertnik (Conductor CEO):
Besmertnik sees the acquisition as validation. "For a long time, big tech ignored SEO... Today is that day," he stated, emphasizing that Adobe’s entry validates organic search as a primary channel worthy of enterprise-grade investment.
Aleyda Solis (Orainti):
Solis points to the broader implication: the shift towards "Authority." As AI reduces the volume of informational clicks, the remaining traffic will flow to authoritative brands. Adobe’s move to acquire a tool that measures "Brand Authority" signals that the future of SEO is less about keywords and more about entity reputation management.
Barry Schwartz (Search Engine Roundtable):
Schwartz highlights the consolidation trend. With Semrush (which previously acquired Third Door Media/Search Engine Land) now under Adobe, the editorial independence of major industry publications is questioned, reinforcing the narrative of a shrinking, centralized ecosystem.
2.3 The "Bifurcation" of SEO
The synthesis of these reactions suggests a bifurcation of the industry.
Enterprise Track: Large corporations will embrace the Adobe/Semrush integration, valuing the seamless data flow between SEO insights and content creation tools.
Performance Track: Independent agencies and specialists will migrate to "pure-play" tools (Ahrefs, SE Ranking) that remain focused on the tactical execution of SEO rather than broad "brand visibility".
Part III: The New Paradigm – Tracking AI Visibility
Any migration decision made in 2025 must account for the new reality of search: Generative Engine Optimization. Migrating to a tool that only tracks "Ten Blue Links" is a backward step. The Adobe-Semrush deal is predicated on the rise of "Answer Engines" — Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, Gemini — where the goal is not to rank a link, but to be cited in a synthesized answer.
3.1 From Rank Tracking to "Share of Model"
Traditional rank trackers monitor the position of a URL on a static SERP. In the GEO era, this metric is obsolete. The new KPIs are:
Citation Frequency: How often is the brand or URL cited as a source in the AI's response?
Share of Model: The percentage of prompts in a specific category (e.g., "Best CRM for small business") where the brand is mentioned.
Sentiment Analysis: Is the AI's description of the brand positive, neutral, or negative?
3.2 The "Agentic" Requirement
Adobe is building "Agentic AI" that does the work. Migrating users should look for alternatives that are also moving in this direction. This means tools that don't just report data but offer "Agents" that can:
autonomously audit sites and fix technical errors.
rewrite content to optimize for LLM citation.
monitor "Brand Radar" to detect shifts in AI sentiment in real-time.
The following section evaluates alternatives based not just on their ability to replace Semrush’s current features, but on their readiness for this future paradigm.
Part IV: Deep Dive – The Alternatives
The following alternatives have been selected based on their feature parity, data quality, AI readiness, and pricing stability.
4.1 SE Ranking: The "Balanced Scaler"
Best For: Agencies, SMBs, and scaling startups looking for a direct feature-for-feature replacement at a lower cost.
Architecture & Usability:
SE Ranking is the most logical "lift-and-shift" destination for Semrush refugees. It mirrors Semrush’s all-in-one approach, offering keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink tracking, and site audits in a unified dashboard. Its interface is widely praised for being cleaner and more intuitive than Semrush’s legacy UI.
The AI Advantage (GEO Readiness):
SE Ranking has been aggressive in deploying its AI Search Toolkit. Unlike legacy tools playing catch-up, SE Ranking offers specialized trackers for:
AI Overviews (AIO): Tracking visibility in Google’s SGE/AIO snapshots.
LLM Tracking: Monitoring brand mentions in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
Competitor Benchmarking: Comparing your "Share of Model" against competitors.
Agency-First Features:
For agencies fleeing Adobe’s potential pricing hikes, SE Ranking offers:
White Label Reporting: Fully customizable reports with the agency's domain and logo.
Lead Generator: A widget that can be embedded on the agency’s site to capture leads by offering free SEO audits.
Unlimited Projects: On higher tiers, avoiding the arbitrary project limits that frustrate Semrush users.
Migration Capability:
SE Ranking offers the smoothest migration path, featuring a dedicated "Import from Semrush" tool. This tool allows users to upload CSV exports of their ranking history and have it visualized immediately in the SE Ranking dashboard, preserving historical context.
Pricing:
Starting at ~$55/month, it undercuts Semrush significantly while offering a flexible "pay-for-what-you-need" model (e.g., paying less for checking rankings weekly instead of daily).
4.2 Ahrefs: The "Data Purist"
Best For: Technical SEOs, link builders, and data analysts who prioritize data integrity over all-in-one marketing features.
Architecture & Usability:
Ahrefs is the "industrial strength" option. It does not try to be a social media manager or a content marketing platform. It focuses entirely on SEO data. Its Site Explorer is the gold standard for backlink analysis, powered by a crawler (AhrefsBot) that is the second most active on the web after Googlebot.
The AI Advantage (GEO Readiness):
Ahrefs has introduced Brand Radar, a sophisticated tool designed to track brand visibility across the web and LLMs. It focuses on "Share of Voice" and "Word of Mouth" metrics, which are critical for influencing the training data of LLMs. Ahrefs argues that the best way to rank in an LLM is to be the most cited entity on the open web, aligning with their link-first philosophy.
The "Credits" Controversy:
Migration to Ahrefs requires a cultural shift. Unlike Semrush’s generous daily limits, Ahrefs operates on a "Credits" system where almost every click consumes a credit. This creates a predictable but rigid cost structure that some users find restrictive, especially for exploratory research.
Migration Capability:
Ahrefs does not support direct project imports or historical ranking imports from Semrush. Migration is a manual process: users must export keywords from Semrush and re-upload them as new projects. Historical ranking data is lost in the Ahrefs interface, necessitating a data warehousing strategy (see Part VI).
4.3 Moz Pro: The "Heritage Choice"
Best For: Local businesses, in-house marketing managers, and those focused on "Brand Authority."
Architecture & Usability:
Moz prioritizes accessibility. Its metrics — Domain Authority and the newly launched Brand Authority — are the industry's common language. For businesses where SEO is just one part of a broader marketing remit, Moz provides the most understandable KPIs.
The AI Advantage (GEO Readiness):
Moz has pivoted to address the HCU and AI shifts by launching Brand Authority. This metric quantifies the strength of a brand entity, which is the primary signal LLMs use to determine trustworthiness. Moz Pro also includes features to track AI Overviews, though its LLM tracking is less granular than SE Ranking’s.
Local SEO Dominance:
Moz Local is superior to both Semrush and Ahrefs for managing local listings (NAP consistency) and reputation. For brick-and-mortar businesses, this makes Moz a more holistic replacement.
Pricing:
Moz is priced similarly to Ahrefs but offers more generous "seats" (user accounts) on mid-tier plans, making it cost-effective for larger in-house teams.
4.4 Mangools: The "UX Specialist"
Best For: Freelancers, bloggers, and solo consultants who need affordability and design.
Architecture & Usability:
Mangools unbundles the SEO suite into five specific apps: KWFinder (Research), SERPWatcher (Tracking), LinkMiner (Backlinks), SERPChecker (Analysis), and SiteProfiler (Metrics). This modular approach results in a superior User Experience (UX) compared to the dense dashboards of enterprise tools.
The AI Advantage (GEO Readiness):
Mangools punches above its weight with AI Search Watcher. This dedicated tool tracks brand mentions across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, and Llama. Crucially, it runs each prompt multiple times (e.g., 5x) to account for the stochastic nature of LLMs (where answers vary per session), providing a more statistically robust "Visibility Score" than many competitors.
Cost-Benefit:
Starting at ~$29/month, Mangools allows freelancers to retain professional-grade keyword and AI tracking capabilities without the "Adobe Tax" risk.
4.5 Ubersuggest: The "Budget Disruptor"
Best For: Startups, early-stage marketers, and non-technical founders.
Architecture & Usability:
Under Neil Patel’s ownership, Ubersuggest has aggressively democratized SEO data. It offers a lifetime pricing model (pay once, use forever) which is a massive financial hedge against the recurring subscription fatigue of the SaaS era.
The AI Advantage (GEO Readiness):
Ubersuggest has rolled out AI Search Optimization features that track brand visibility, sentiment, and citations in AI answers. While the data depth is lower than Ahrefs, the tool provides directional insights into LLM performance at a fraction of the cost, making it accessible to users who cannot afford enterprise suites.
Part V: Comparative Technical Analysis
To facilitate a data-driven decision, the following table contrasts the capabilities of these platforms against the pre-acquisition Semrush benchmark.
5.1 Feature & Pricing Matrix
Feature / Capability | Semrush (Adobe) | SE Ranking | Ahrefs | Moz Pro | Mangools | Ubersuggest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primary User Persona | Enterprise / Full-Stack | Agency / SMB / Scaling | Technical SEO / Data Analyst | Local / In-House / Brand | Freelancer / Blogger | Startup / Founder |
Pricing Model | High Tiered (Risk of Increase) | Flexible / Pay-per-usage | High Tiered + Credits | Mid Tiered | Low Tiered | Monthly + Lifetime |
Entry Price (Approx.) | ~$130/mo | ~$55/mo | ~$99/mo | ~$99/mo | ~$29/mo | ~$29/mo |
Backlink Database | Massive (43T) | Large & Rapidly Growing | Massive (Industry Leader) | Large (High Quality) | Medium (Moz/Majestic Data) | Medium |
AI/LLM Tracking | High (AI Toolkit / Copilot) | High (AI Search Toolkit) | High (Brand Radar) | Medium (AI Overview / Brand Auth) | High (AI Search Watcher) | Medium (AI Visibility) |
Agentic Features | Advanced (Adobe Integration) | Medium (Content Editor AI) | Low (Focus on Data) | Low | Low | Medium (AI Writer) |
Data Import | N/A | Direct Import Tool | Manual CSV Only | Manual CSV | Manual | Manual |
Historical Data | Guru Plan Only (2012+) | Available on Pro Plans | No History Import | Available | Limited | Limited |
Local SEO | Listing Management Tool | Marketing Tool | Basic Rank Tracking | Moz Local (Best in Class) | Basic | Basic |
5.2 Technical Considerations
API Access: For teams building custom dashboards, Ahrefs and Semrush (Business) offer the most robust APIs. SE Ranking offers API access on mid-tier plans, whereas Ubersuggest’s API is more limited.
Crawl Budgets: Semrush and Ahrefs offer massive crawl budgets (100k+ pages) suitable for large e-commerce sites. Mangools and Ubersuggest have lower caps, making them unsuitable for sites with >10,000 pages.
Data Latency: Ahrefs updates its index roughly every 15-30 minutes. Semrush updates daily. Moz updates less frequently (weeks). For news SEOs, Ahrefs is the critical choice.
Part VI: The Great Migration – A Technical Playbook
Migrating away from Semrush is complex due to the platform's restrictive data export policies. Historical data is the most valuable asset an SEO team possesses, and losing it can blind a team to long-term trends. The following playbook outlines how to execute a secure migration.
6.1 The Historical Data Trap
Semrush restricts access to historical data (data prior to the current month) to its Guru and Business plans. Users on the Pro plan cannot export historical ranking data. Furthermore, daily ranking history exports are limited to the last 60 days; beyond that window, data is aggregated to weekly points.
The "Lifeboat" Strategy:
If you are on a Pro plan, you must upgrade to Guru for one month prior to cancellation to unlock and export your historical data back to 2012. This investment is negligible compared to the cost of losing years of performance context.
6.2 Step-by-Step Migration Workflow
Phase 1: Audit and Benchmark (Pre-Cancellation)
Do not cancel your subscription until you have successfully secured your data.
Full Site Audit: Run a final Site Audit to capture a snapshot of current technical health (Score, Errors, Warnings). Export the All Issues report.
Backlink Extraction: Go to Backlink Analytics > Backlinks. Export the "Active" backlinks list. This is critical for populating the "Disavow" or "Monitoring" lists in your new tool.
Keyword Ranking Dump: Go to Position Tracking > Overview. Set the date range to "All Time." Export as Excel/CSV. Ensure you select "Daily" granularity if within the 60-day window, or accept "Weekly" for older data.
Competitor Intelligence: Export the Organic Research > Competitors report to preserve your list of identified algorithmic competitors.
Phase 2: Tool-Specific Import Procedures
Migrating to SE Ranking:
Create a new Project in SE Ranking.
Navigate to the Keywords tab.
Select "Import from CSV/XLS with positions history."
Choose "XLSX/CSV from Semrush" from the format dropdown.
Upload the file exported in Phase 1. SE Ranking will parse the dates and positions, reconstructing your ranking history graph.
Migrating to Ahrefs:
Ahrefs does not support historical ranking imports.
Create a "Portfolio" or Project.
Upload your keywords via CSV/Clipboard.
Workaround: Store your Semrush historical CSVs in a data warehouse (Google BigQuery or Looker Studio) to maintain a "legacy" view for retrospective analysis, while building new history in Ahrefs from Day 1.
Migrating to Moz:
Use the "Campaign Setup" wizard.
Moz allows CSV import of keywords but, like Ahrefs, does not visualize imported historical rankings on its primary graph.
Connect your Google Analytics and Search Console accounts immediately to backfill traffic data.
Phase 3: Post-Migration Calibration
Metric Translation: Prepare stakeholders for metric shock. A "Authority Score" of 60 in Semrush might be a "Domain Rating" of 45 in Ahrefs. These are different algorithms; do not treat a drop in the metric as a drop in performance.
Bot Whitelisting: Update your robots.txt file and server firewalls to whitelist the user-agent of your new tool (e.g., AhrefsBot, SerpstatBot, DotBot for Moz). If you block the crawler, your audits will fail.
Parallel Run: Run both tools for 14–30 days. Compare search volume data for your top keywords to understand the "delta" in estimation accuracy between the two platforms.
Part VII: Future Outlook (2026 and Beyond)
The Adobe-Semrush acquisition is a harbinger of a broader industry transformation. By 2026, the SEO landscape will likely settle into a bifurcated state.
The "Agentic" Enterprise:
Adobe will integrate Semrush data into a closed-loop "Content Supply Chain." Enterprise CMOs will utilize dashboards that not only show visibility gaps but automatically trigger Firefly agents to generate content, publish it via Experience Manager, and measure the lift in "Share of Model" across LLMs. This will be powerful, expensive, and largely automated.
The "Human" Specialist:
Independent SEOs using tools like Ahrefs and SE Ranking will focus on high-value, strategic interventions that AI agents cannot yet master: creative digital PR, entity authority building, and deep technical architecture. These tools will evolve to provide "AI Visibility" insights but will remain distinct from the content generation layer, preserving the "check-and-balance" relationship between data and creation.
Conclusion
The acquisition of Semrush by Adobe is a validation of SEO's power but a warning bell for its practitioners. The risk of pricing escalation, data gating, and roadmap stagnation is real. For the independent professional, the path forward involves a strategic migration to platforms that align with the new reality of Generative Engine Optimization while respecting data sovereignty.
Recommendation:
For Agencies, migrate to SE Ranking for the smoothest transition and client continuity.
For Technical SEOs, migrate to Ahrefs to secure the highest quality data infrastructure.
For Local Businesses, migrate to Moz to safeguard brand and local authority.
The era of "ten blue links" is ending. The migration from Semrush is not just about changing software; it is about retooling for an era where the search engine is an answer engine, and the SEO is the architect of brand truth in an AI-driven world.
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