Semrush Alternative for Keyword Research: Pay As You Go From $5

KWScanner vs Semrush: feature comparison

Semrush is a full SEO suite and KWScanner is a keyword research tool, so the table shows both what you keep and what you give up.

Why look for a Semrush alternative?

The most common reasons people who mainly need keyword data move away from an all-in-one suite.

The price of the whole suite

Semrush plans start at $139 a month. That buys backlinks, audits and rank tracking too, which is a lot to pay if keyword numbers are the part you open it for.

Paying in months you do not use it

Keyword research comes in bursts: a launch, a quarterly plan, a new client. A subscription charges the same in the quiet months.

Numbers that match Google Ads

Semrush models its volumes from third-party and clickstream data. If you plan paid search, figures drawn from Google Keyword Planner line up with what the ads account will show.

A tighter free tier than it looks

The free Semrush plan allows 10 reports a day, which runs out part-way through a single piece of research.

Less to learn

A suite has dozens of reports. A keyword tool has a box to paste keywords into and a table that comes back.

Keyword data in your AI assistant

Semrush offers its assistant connection on selected plans and bills it in API units. KWScanner's costs one credit per keyword from the same balance as everything else.

KWScanner as a Semrush alternative: features

One balance of credits covers a dashboard for bulk research, a Chrome and Firefox extension, and a connection for AI assistants.

• Numbers that match Google Ads. Volume, average CPC, competition and monthly trends are drawn from Google Keyword Planner, so they line up with what advertisers see in their own accounts.
• Pay as you go. There is no monthly plan and nothing to cancel. Credits start at $5 for 10,000, one credit looks up one keyword, and volume discounts apply automatically.
• Credits that never expire. Buy them for one project and finish them on the next. If a keyword returns no data, the credit is refunded automatically.
• Bulk research and lists. Paste up to 3,000 keywords at once, save the results into named lists, then filter, sort and export to CSV or XLSX.
• Keyword data on Google as you browse. The Chrome and Firefox extension shows volume, CPC, competition and a trend of up to four years on the results page, plus related keywords with volume and CPC.
• Domain Rating and age on every result. Each Google result gets a Domain Rating and domain age badge, so you can size up who ranks at a glance. Free, with no credits used.
• A free on-page SEO audit. One click checks any page: title and meta, headings, links and broken links, images, structured data, indexability and Core Web Vitals, with a PDF report. Free, with no credits used.
• Right-click lookups. Select a phrase on any website, right-click, and see its search volume, CPC and competition in a small card.
• AI assistants. Connect Claude, Claude Code or Cursor with one click and let the assistant look up real numbers. See the KWScanner MCP server.

Start free with 10,000 credits

Semrush pricing vs KWScanner pricing

Semrush is sold as monthly or annual plans, starting at $139 a month for the SEO plan, and its free plan allows 10 reports a day.

In KWScanner, one credit covers researching one keyword. There is no subscription and no annual commitment. Buying in volume lowers the rate per keyword, credits never expire, and new accounts get double credits on their first purchase.

When Semrush is the better choice

KWScanner replaces one part of Semrush, not all of it. Stay where you are if you rely on these.

• Backlink research. KWScanner has a free Domain Rating checker and nothing more. Semrush has a full link index.
• Rank tracking and site audits. KWScanner does neither.
• Keyword difficulty and search intent. Semrush scores both. KWScanner shows advertiser competition, which is a different measure.
• Competitor research. Seeing which keywords another site ranks for, and its estimated traffic, is Semrush territory.
• Many countries. KWScanner covers worldwide totals plus the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

Plenty of teams keep one seat of a suite for audits and links, and use KWScanner for the day-to-day volume checks that would otherwise eat a suite's daily limits.

Other Semrush alternatives

KWScanner is the right swap if keyword data is what you need. If you need something else Semrush does, one of these may fit better.