Ranking on Google is now half the job. These five tools cover the other half — whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews name your brand — plus the classic keyword and backlink work. Two of them pay affiliates well, two pay nothing, and one is the most trusted tool in SEO with no program at all.
Disclosure: Semrush, SE Ranking and Frase run affiliate programs and those links are affiliate links. Ahrefs and Otterly pay nothing, and both still appear on merit. Nothing here changes the price you pay.
One subscription for rankings, backlinks and AI citations. The safest pick for an agency that bills clients for reporting.
Visit SemrushFour times the tracked keywords of Semrush's $139 plan for $10 less — and the best affiliate terms in the category.
Visit SE Ranking$39–49 a month for SERP and AI-answer briefs. The cheapest way to stop guessing what to write.
Visit FraseThe backlink index everyone benchmarks against. No affiliate program, which is exactly why it is worth trusting here.
Visit AhrefsEntry price is the cheapest paid plan on monthly billing. Annual prices are shown separately because several vendors quote the annual figure as the headline.
| Tool | Entry price | Free option | Best for | Standout feature | Affiliate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SemrushEditor score 4.6 | $139/mo $117 annual |
7-day trial | SEO + AI visibility in one bill | AI Visibility Toolkit | $100–$450 / sale |
| SE RankingEditor score 4.4 | $129/mo $103 annual |
14-day trial | Agencies tracking at scale | Keywords per dollar | 30% / 120 days |
| FraseEditor score 4.2 | $49/mo $39 annual |
7-day trial | SEO and GEO content briefs | AI-answer research | 30% / 12 months |
| AhrefsEditor score 4.7 | $99/mo Lite tier |
No trial | Links and technical audits | Backlink index | None |
| Otterly.aiEditor score 4.1 | $29/mo 15 prompts |
Free trial | Tracking AI citations | Cheapest AI visibility | None |
Vendor pricing pages read November 2026. Ahrefs repriced its Lite tier during 2026, and SE Ranking's own pages disagree on the Core price — the pricing page figure is used here.
Filter by what matters to you, or sort by price.
SEO data plus AI citations
Best for: teams that need rankings and AI visibility without stitching two tools together.
Affiliate link · we may earn a commission
Rank tracking at scale
Best for: agencies that track thousands of keywords and still care about margin.
Affiliate link · we may earn a commission
SERP and AI-answer briefs
Best for: writers who want a research brief before they start typing.
Affiliate link · we may earn a commission
Backlinks and technical depth
Best for: link building and technical audits where data quality decides the answer.
No affiliate program · plain link
AI citation tracking
Best for: a first, cheap test of whether AI assistants mention your brand.
No affiliate program · plain link
Pros, cons and the verdict for the tools most readers actually shortlist.
$139/mo monthly · $117/mo annual · 7-day trial
Verdict: buy it if you bill clients for SEO reporting. If you only need rank tracking, SE Ranking does most of the job for less, and Frase plus Otterly covers content and citations for under $80.
Visit Semrush$129/mo monthly · $103/mo annual · 14-day trial
Verdict: the best combination of price, coverage and affiliate terms. If you write about SEO for agencies, this is the one to recommend first.
Visit SE Ranking$49/mo monthly · $39/mo annual · 7-day trial
Verdict: the right first purchase if content is your bottleneck. Upgrade to Surfer when scoring starts to matter more than speed.
Visit FrasePick a tool, set your seats and months. The discount line assumes the common “two months free” annual deal — check the vendor, since some quote annual only.
Entry-plan prices, excluding tax. Agencies usually land on a higher tier — use the plan you would really buy.
Annual billing usually requires paying up front for 12 months. The saving is real; so is the lock-in.
Two different jobs get the label. The first is using AI to do classic SEO — briefs, drafts, audits — which Frase and Surfer cover. The second is optimising to be cited by AI answers (GEO/AEO), which Semrush, SE Ranking, Ahrefs Brand Radar and Otterly track. Most teams now need a bit of both.
Yes. AI Overviews and most assistants ground their answers in pages that already rank or are well cited. Losing organic visibility usually means losing AI visibility too — which is why the tools that combine both are worth the premium.
Semrush pays the largest single payout — roughly $100 to $450 per sale plus $10 per trial, with a 120-day cookie. SE Ranking pays 30% on every rebill with the same 120-day cookie, which often beats a one-off bounty for a $129/mo customer. Frase pays 30% for 12 months, rising to 35% and 40% at volume.
Because a comparison that only lists paying tools is an advert. Ahrefs is the data benchmark and Otterly is the cheapest AI-visibility entry point; leaving them out would make the page less useful and easier to distrust.
No, but the easy wins are gone. Comparison and “is X worth it” pages still convert because buyers are close to a decision. The pages that fail are generic “best tools” lists with no testing, no prices and no opinion.