SEO tools: the price on the page is for one person

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Every comparison of SEO tools quotes the headline price. Almost none of them mention that it buys one login.

If you are a solo consultant, the headline is the price. If there are three of you, it is not, and the difference is large enough to change which tool you pick.

What the vendors publish

Checked on 24 September 2026 on each company's own pricing page. Prices are in USD and change often — treat this as a worked example of the method, and check the current page before you buy.

Ahrefs lists Lite at $129 a month with 1 user included, and up to 2 extra users at $40 each per month. Standard is $249 with 1 user, extra users $60 each, up to 5. Advanced is $449, extra users $80.

Semrush lists its SEO plan at $139 a month and states additional users start at $45 per seat per month.

The same plans, for three people

Ahrefs Lite: $129 + (2 × $40) = $209 a month. Not $129.

Semrush SEO: $139 + (2 × $45) = $229 a month. Not $139.

Over a year, that Ahrefs Lite line is $2,508, against the $1,548 you would have budgeted from the sticker price. The gap — $960 — is the part nobody quotes.

Work it out for your own headcount and the plan you are actually considering:

Two things worth checking before you commit

Seat caps are real. Ahrefs Lite allows up to two extra users, and Standard up to five. If your team outgrows the cap you do not buy another seat — you move up a plan, and the jump is much larger than a seat. A team of four cannot stay on Lite at any price.

Limits are per account, not per person. Tracked keywords, projects and crawl credits are pooled. Ahrefs Lite lists 5 projects and 750 tracked keywords; Standard lists 20 and 2,000. Three people sharing 750 tracked keywords is a different experience from one person having them. The seat cost tells you what access costs; the limits tell you whether the plan is usable once shared.

We are not ranking these

This page compares two published price lists and stops there. Which tool is better depends on what you need it for, and we have not tested either against the other.

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