Semrush vs Profound
Semrush adds AI visibility to an SEO suite: a toolkit with a published monthly price, captured answers and a database of 317M+ prompts to research what people ask, with Semrush One bundling the SEO tools. Profound is a platform for AI visibility alone: a 7-day trial for brands, then Enterprise by quote with up to 9 engines, content agents and AI crawler analytics.
Checked against semrush.com's and tryprofound.com's own pages between October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026. Sources at the foot of the page.
What each one costs, plan by plan.
Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit
Semrush starts at $99 a month.
FreeFree, with no card needed
AI Visibility Toolkit Base$99 a month, billed monthly or yearly
Per domain; the same rate billed yearly
Semrush One Starter$199 a month
$165.17 a month billed yearly
Semrush One Pro+$299 a month
$248.17 a month billed yearly
Semrush One Advanced$549 a month
$455.67 a month billed yearly
EnterpriseBy quote
AI prompt tracking at a scale set per contract[5]
Profound
Profound prices brand plans on request.
TrialFree for 7 days
50 prompts, run daily for 7 days[6]
Agency Growth$99 a month
Plus add-ons; no yearly price shown
For an agency's pitches; a client's workspace costs extra.
10 pitch workspaces a month: 25 prompts each, daily, for 7 days[7]
EnterpriseBy quote
A prompt count set per contract, run daily[6]
Agency EnterpriseBy quote
Pitch and client workspaces set per contract[7]
How Semrush and Profound work.
| What you get | Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit | Profound |
|---|---|---|
| Free to try | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitA Free plan with a limited set of AI Visibility features, by its help pages; no trial on the paid toolkit; a 7-day Semrush One trial; a free AI Search Visibility Checker[1, 2, 4, 8, 9] | ProfoundA 7-day trial with 50 prompts a day on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews; a free AEO Report[6, 10] |
| Engines | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini across its reports, with your own prompts on ChatGPT, AI Mode or Gemini; Claude, Copilot and Grok only on Enterprise[11, 12, 13] | ProfoundUp to 9 on Enterprise: ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek and Exa Search[6] |
| How answers are collected | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitCaptured from real requests, not model APIs[14] | ProfoundCaptured from the consumer apps, not API outputs[10] |
| Prompts | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitYour own: 25 in Prompt Tracking, 50 more for $60 a month; plus a database of 317M+ prompts[4, 14] | ProfoundTrial: a recommended set you can't edit. Enterprise: your own[6] |
| How often | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitPrompt Tracking daily; Brand Performance reports weekly[4] | ProfoundDaily[6] |
| How sure the numbers are | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitPoint values Semrush calls directional signals[14] | ProfoundPoint values, with published formulas[15] |
| AI crawler checks | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitSite Audit's AI Search Health flags AI bots blocked in robots.txt, on free and paid Semrush accounts[1, 16] | ProfoundAgent Analytics reads AI crawler visits from server logs[17] |
| API and MCP | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitNo API for the toolkit; the Semrush MCP has no AI visibility tools[11, 18] | ProfoundMCP for Enterprise customers; API on Enterprise[6, 19] |
| Agencies and white-label | Semrush AI Visibility ToolkitBranded PDF reports at $20 a month per report[2] | ProfoundAgency Mode, with client and pitch workspaces[20] |
Pick by what you need.
Choose Semrush if
You already use Semrush for SEO and want AI tracking, prompt research and site audits in the same login.
Choose Profound if
You want up to 9 engines, content agents, AI crawler visits from your logs and an agency mode, on an enterprise contract.
Where GEOFast stands against both.
GEOFast starts at $29 a month with unlimited seats, where Semrush's toolkit includes one user, and asks Claude on every plan (weekly on 5 to 25 prompts, by plan), where both keep Claude for Enterprise. It puts a 90% range on how often you're mentioned and picked first, which neither does. It has no SEO suite and no analytics of AI crawler visits.
Questions about Semrush and Profound.
Is Semrush or Profound cheaper?
Semrush starts at $99 a month; Profound prices brand plans on request. Seats, engines and prompts differ by plan, so compare the plan that fits your size.
Do Semrush and Profound show how sure their numbers are?
Neither gives a range. Semrush calls its AI visibility numbers directional signals; Profound publishes how each metric is calculated and reports point values.
Which engines do Semrush and Profound cover below Enterprise?
Semrush's toolkit reports on ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity and Gemini, and runs your own prompts on ChatGPT, AI Mode or Gemini. Profound's trial covers ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews, and its Agency Growth plan ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews; its 9 engines come with Enterprise.
Where each fact comes from.
Every claim about another tool links to that vendor's own page, read between October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026. Prices are as each vendor lists them, in US dollars unless marked; vendors change them, so check before you buy.
- 1Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: AI visibility featuressemrush.com/kb/1626-ai-visibility-features
- 2Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Subscriptionssemrush.com/kb/1011-subscriptions
- 3Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: AI Visibility Toolkit pricingsemrush.com/pricing/ai/
- 4Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: AI Visibility Toolkitsemrush.com/kb/1493-ai-visibility-toolkit
- 5Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: SEO and AI Search plans and pricingsemrush.com/pricing/seo-ai-search/
- 6Profound: Pricingtryprofound.com/pricing
- 7Profound: Pricing for agenciestryprofound.com/pricing?tier=agencies
- 8Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Semrush Onesemrush.com/kb/1608-semrush-one
- 9Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: AI Search Visibility Checkersemrush.com/free-tools/ai-search-visibility-checker/
- 10Profound: Free AEO Reporttryprofound.com/aeo-report
- 11Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Enterprise pricingsemrush.com/pricing/enterprise/
- 12Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Prompt Trackingsemrush.com/kb/1503-prompt-tracking
- 13Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Brand Performance reportssemrush.com/kb/1595-brand-performance-reports
- 14Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Semrush AI visibility datasemrush.com/kb/1607-semrush-ai-visibility-data
- 15Profound: How metrics are calculateddocs.tryprofound.com/cookbook/metrics/how-metrics-are-calculated
- 16Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: AI Search Health auditsemrush.com/kb/1601-ai-search-health-audit
- 17Profound: Agent Analyticstryprofound.com/features/agent-analytics
- 18Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit: Semrush MCPdeveloper.semrush.com/api/v4/introduction/semrush-mcp/
- 19Profound: The Profound MCP Evolution, Part 1 (May 20, 2026)tryprofound.com/blog/the-profound-mcp-evolution-part-1
- 20Profound: Agency Mode overviewhelp.tryprofound.com/articles/8593548222-agency-mode-overview
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