Moz vs SE Ranking

Quick verdict

Moz Pro is the long-running SEO suite built around Domain Authority® (DA), Page Authority, Brand Authority, Link Explorer, Keyword Explorer, site crawl, MozBar, and—on current Pro tiers—bundled AI/GEO visibility (tracked prompts across GPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode on mid/high plans). You pay for a shared industry metric language and education surface more than for the deepest keyword or link index.

SE Ranking is a mid-market all-in-one: daily rank tracking, audits, backlink and competitor research, content tools, local/map modules, research API + MCP credits, white-label Agency Pack, and an AI Search add-on aimed at AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity-style visibility. Pricing is structured for multi-project freelancers and agencies who want SEO+GEO without Semrush/Ahrefs enterprise spend.

Pick Moz if stakeholders already speak DA/PA, you want MozBar + Academy-style onboarding, and a modest campaign set (roughly 300–3,000 tracked keywords) is enough. Pick SE Ranking if you need daily ranks, flexible project counts, white-label client delivery, and API/MCP hooks at a mid-market bill.

Side-by-side

What each product is in 2026

Moz Pro (Moz / SEOMoz lineage, part of Ziff Davis) is a campaign-centric SEO platform: pick sites, track keywords, crawl for technical issues, research keywords and backlinks, and report with Moz’s proprietary scores. Domain Authority is explicitly not a Google ranking factor—it is a 1–100 comparative prediction from Moz’s link index, used industry-wide for benchmarking and sales decks. Brand Authority and Page Authority complete the storytelling stack. On 2026 pricing pages, Pro also ships AI Overviews-by-keyword, AI Visibility dashboards, tracked prompts (weekly frequency on list plans), AI citations data, and AI content briefs. Moz Local is a separate listings/reputation product. Free Community access still gates limited Keyword Explorer, Link Explorer, and MozBar for tire-kickers.

SE Ranking markets itself as AI SEO software spanning classic SEO and GEO (generative engine optimization): rank tracking, keyword/competitor/backlink research, website and on-page audit, content modules, local/map rank tracking, Looker Studio / GA / GSC-style integrations, research API credits, and MCP access on current Core/Growth cards. Vendor homepages have cited roughly multi-billion keyword and domain-profile figures plus broad country databases—treat as vendor claims, not third-party audits. The Agency Pack and AI Search add-ons are first-class monetization for client delivery and LLM answer visibility.

Pricing and real cost (TCO)

List prices are only half the bill. Count seats, keyword overages, AI prompt packs, white-label add-ons, annual prepay vs monthly, and whether you still need a second tool (Screaming Frog, Ahrefs for links, etc.).

Moz Pro

• Starter — about $49/mo (marketing also shows ~$39/mo annual on some third-party tables): single-site oriented; reviewers flag ~1 site / ~50 keywords as barely usable for real campaigns.
• Standard — $99/mo or $79/mo yearly (~$950 first year billed annually): 1 user, 3 campaigns/sites, 300 keywords, 400K pages crawled/mo in plan cards / 100k pages crawled/wk in compare table, 1 AI Visibility dashboard, 50 prompts, GPT+Gemini, weekly prompt tracking, 2 AI content briefs/mo.
• Medium — $179/mo or $143/mo yearly (~$1,719 first year): 2 users, 10 sites, 1,500 keywords, higher crawl (2M pages/mo marketing / 500k pages/wk compare), 2 AI dashboards, 100 prompts, GPT+Gemini+Google AI Mode, 10 AI briefs.
• Large — $299/mo or $239/mo yearly (~$2,868 first year): 3 users, 25 sites, 3,000 keywords, 4 AI dashboards, 200 prompts, 50 AI briefs, highest crawl quotas.
• Enterprise — custom; sales path for large orgs and agencies.

Add-ons that matter (pricing FAQ): extra user seats about $49/mo each; extra campaigns ~$10; extra 200 keywords ~$20; crawl and list packs documented on pricing FAQ; extra AI dashboards $20 each; extra prompts $50 per 100. Annual billing is roughly 20% off the base plan. Moz Local is billed separately if you need listings management. Branded reports unlock on Medium and Large, not Standard.

SE Ranking

• Core — $103.20/mo annual ($129 monthly): 10 projects, 1 manager seat, 2k keywords + 100 prompts daily, 5 GEO research domains, 250k audit pages/mo, 25K API credits + MCP, unlimited keyword/competitor/backlink research claims, 6 months historical data on research.
• Growth — $223.20/mo annual ($279 monthly): 30 projects, 3 seats, 5k keywords + 250 prompts daily, 15 GEO domains, 2M audit pages, 100K API credits, historical data for project lifetime, guest links, page-change monitoring, dedicated support.
• Enterprise — custom limits and pricing.

Add-ons (live subscription cards): Agency Pack +$69/mo (annual only) for white-label platform/reporting, client seats, scheduled reports, Agency Catalog placement, lead generator; AI Search add-on from roughly $71.20 annual / $89 monthly expanding AI Results Tracker (AI Overviews, AI Mode, Perplexity, ChatGPT) and related research; standalone/extra API packs from ~$45 upward depending on packaging; extra keywords and seats listed on plan compare. Free trial is 14 days with documented starter caps (trial FAQ examples: up to 10 projects, 750 keywords/day, limited AI prompts). Free assisted migration is marketed with annual subscriptions.

Third-party write-ups remain useful for feature shape (older Essential/Pro/Business keyword ladders, content article packs) but treat their dollar figures as historical unless confirmed live.

Feature depth: where they actually differ

Keywords and rank tracking

Independent head-to-heads (Style Factory, DemandSage, and similar) consistently report that SE Ranking’s keyword database feels larger than Moz’s for discovery work, and that SE Ranking’s rank tracking is built around daily checks with multi-engine and local depth. Moz Keyword Explorer is usable and beginner-friendly; Standard’s 300 tracked rankings and 150 keyword queries/mo research cap (per compare table) are tight for multi-site freelancers. Medium’s jump to 1,500 rankings and 5,000 keyword queries/mo is where Moz becomes a serious tracker for a small portfolio—not a multi-client factory.

Backlinks and authority

Moz’s commercial differentiator is still the authority score stack (DA/PA/Brand Authority, Spam Score) plus Link Explorer. Some independent tests still give Moz strong marks on certain backlink breadth claims; Reddit/r/bigseo consensus still treats Ahrefs (and often Semrush) as deeper for competitive link intel. SE Ranking includes backlink research and monitoring without selling a DA clone—fine for monitoring and prospecting, weaker if your only job is advanced link-gap warfare.

Audits, content, local

Both ship site audits and on-page checkers. SE Ranking’s audit page budgets (250k–2M/mo) and multi-project model suit agencies rotating clients. Moz’s crawl quotas scale with tier and include on-demand crawls and performance metrics URLs. For local, Moz Local is a full listings/reputation product sold separately; SE Ranking bundles local/map rank tracking and listing features inside the suite with location add-ons—different products solving overlapping but not identical jobs.

AI search / GEO

Neither is a pure “AI search only” specialist, but both now monetize GEO. Moz folds AI Visibility into Pro with weekly prompt frequency and model limits by tier (Google AI Mode starts at Medium). SE Ranking includes daily GEO prompts on Core/Growth and sells an AI Search add-on for expanded multi-engine tracking and competitive AI research. Validate the engines you care about (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, AI Mode) during trial before annual lock-in.

Community sentiment (Reddit / HN / reviews)

Moz praise: Intuitive UI for beginners; Domain Authority as a portable industry score; Spam Score and Link Explorer still useful; educational content (Beginner’s Guide, Whiteboard Friday lineage, Academy) remains how many people learn SEO—Hacker News threads still point learners at Moz guides. G2/Capterra-style product scores often land around the mid-4s for functionality when the use case is teaching, reporting DA, or running a small campaign set.

Moz complaints: Smaller keyword/backlink databases than Ahrefs/Semrush; restrictive lower plans (50–300 keywords); missing traffic estimates in some independent tests; US-centric feel; dated UI notes from long-time users; rank update frequency lagging daily-first tools; Trustpilot softer than G2—billing/cancellation friction appears in aggregate digests. r/bigseo “one month only” tool threads rarely crown Moz for competitive intel depth. Ten-year Moz users on Reddit debate switching mainly when they need broader competitive data or daily multi-client rank ops—not because DA stopped being useful for storytelling.

SE Ranking praise: All-in-one value for agencies; daily rank tracking; white-label and multi-project fit; support quality called out on G2-style comparisons; listed among “best for agencies / budget reporting” SEO roundups in 2026 (ZDNET reporting software, ClaroRank, Marketer Milk, Nightwatch-style lists). r/bigseo users in 2026 budget threads call it underrated: lighter and cheaper than Semrush/Ahrefs, solid for tracking, reporting, and basic audits. Thirty-day trial write-ups on Reddit often land positive on affordability vs feature coverage.

SE Ranking complaints / caveats: Price hikes vs older Essential pricing confuse buyers reading stale blogs; add-on stacking (Agency Pack, AI Search, API) can erase the “cheap vs Semrush” story; some AI visibility coverage still maturing vs specialist AI rank trackers; not a replacement for Ahrefs-level link graphs if that is your only job; occasional UI “busy/convoluted” comments in older Moz-comparison threads; churn threads exist when ROI on retainers is unclear—users ask what replaced it, not whether it is fake.

When Moz wins

• You (or your clients) already manage SEO with DA/PA/Brand Authority as the shared KPI language.
• You want Moz’s education surface + MozBar for in-SERP checks and onboarding juniors without a second LMS.
• Campaign count and keyword caps fit Standard–Large (3–25 sites, 300–3,000 KWs) and you value branded Moz reports over full white-label SaaS rebrand.
• You combine Moz Pro with Moz Local for listings in supported markets and want one vendor family.
• Procurement/trust prefers a 20-year brand and published AI/GEO features inside the Pro SKU without hunting third-party AI trackers first.
• Your primary “link work” is opportunity scoring with Spam Score/DA, not industrial-scale link-gap mining.

When SE Ranking wins

• You need daily rank tracking at 2k–5k keywords with multi-engine/local depth as the core job.
• You are an agency/freelancer who needs white-label platform + reports (Agency Pack) and guest client access.
• You want SEO research, audits, content assist, and GEO/AI answer tracking in one subscription path (with clear add-ons).
• You care about API/MCP hooks to pull ranks, keywords, backlinks, and AI visibility into dashboards or agents.
• G2-style “best for agencies / all-in-one mid-market” fit matches your team better than DA evangelism.
• You outgrew Moz Standard’s 300 keywords but refuse Semrush/Ahrefs list prices for the same client load.

Risks and failure modes

• Stale pricing blogs: Budgeting SE Ranking from Essential/Pro/Business posts without checking Core/Growth will miss the 2026 list structure and add-ons.
• Starter trap (Moz): $49 looks friendly; ~50 keywords / single-site shape forces an immediate Standard jump for real work.
• Seat math: Moz extra seats ~$49; multi-person agencies hit Medium/Large or seat packs fast. SE Ranking seats are cheaper per seat but Agency Pack is annual-only.
• DA misuse: Treating Domain Authority as a Google ranking factor or absolute score instead of a relative benchmark misleads clients and damages trust.
• Index depth gap: Neither tool is the default power-user pick vs Ahrefs/Semrush on Reddit for deepest links/keywords—expect to dual-subscribe for hard link building.
• AI visibility still early: Both ship AI/GEO features; coverage, frequency (Moz weekly prompts on list plans), and specialist competitors differ—validate engines before paying add-ons.
• Billing friction: Moz’s product scores can look better than Trustpilot narratives around cancellation/billing—read current terms before annual prepay.
• Downgrade locks: Moz will block plan downgrades until campaigns/keywords fit the lower tier—plan migrations, don’t surprise finance.
• Add-on creep (SE Ranking): Core looks mid-market until Agency Pack + AI Search + keyword packs stack; recompute yearly before sales demos lock the number.

Recommendation by profile

Switching notes

Moz → SE Ranking: Export keywords; replace DA slides with ranks/visibility metrics—SE Ranking does not print Moz DA. Use the 14-day trial and annual migration assist to rebuild projects.

SE Ranking → Moz: Expect tighter keyword caps below Medium/Large; branded reports are not full white-label portals. Both + Ahrefs: common for links depth—count seats twice.

FAQ

Is Moz more expensive than SE Ranking?
Depends on tier and add-ons. Moz Standard annual ($79/mo effective) can undercut SE Ranking Core annual ($103.20), but Moz’s keyword caps are lower (300 vs 2k daily) and seats cost more (~$49 vs ~$16). Moz Large ($239/yr effective) vs SE Ranking Growth ($223.20) is closer—add Agency Pack/AI on SE Ranking or seats on Moz before calling a winner.

Which has daily keyword rank tracking?
SE Ranking’s product positioning and reviews emphasize daily rank tracking across plans. Moz provides campaign keyword rankings; independent 2026 reviews still criticize slower/less daily-feeling updates on lower Moz tiers relative to price.

What is Domain Authority and does SE Ranking have it?
DA is Moz’s 1–100 predictive, comparative score from its link index—not a Google ranking factor. SE Ranking does not ship Moz DA; it uses its own competitive research and visibility metrics.

Does SE Ranking offer white-label reporting?
Yes. The Agency Pack add-on (about +$69/mo, annual billing) enables white-label platform and reporting, client seats, scheduled reports, and related agency features documented in SE Ranking’s help center.

Does Moz include AI search / GEO tools in 2026?
Yes on Pro plans: AI Overviews by keyword, AI Visibility dashboards, tracked prompts (weekly on list plans), multiple AI models by tier, AI citations data, and AI content briefs. Limits scale Standard → Large.

Which is better for freelancers and small agencies?
Usually SE Ranking for multi-client daily ops and white-label. Moz if the freelance brand sells “we manage your DA and teach SEO fundamentals” and keyword volume is modest.

Can I try before buying?
Moz commonly offers a 7-day trial path; SE Ranking documents a 14-day free trial without credit card and free migration assistance on annual plans.

Should I use either instead of Ahrefs or Semrush?
Many r/SEO and r/bigseo users still treat Ahrefs/Semrush as the default deep-data pair. Moz and SE Ranking compete more on mid-market price, metrics brand (Moz), and agency packaging (SE Ranking) than on winning pure index wars.

Are older SE Ranking Essential/Pro prices still valid?
Often no. Treat Essential/Pro/Business tables in blogs as historical unless the live subscription page still shows them. Mid-2026 self-serve emphasizes Core and Growth.

Sources

This comparison is backed by 100+ distinct primary and secondary sources stored in research_cache/moz-vs-se-ranking_sources.json: official Moz and SE Ranking pricing, product, help, privacy, and changelog pages; Domain Authority documentation; Reddit and Hacker News threads with praise and complaints; G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and TrustRadius listings; independent 2025–2026 reviews and pricing breakdowns (Style Factory, DemandSage, ZDNET, TechRadar, ClaroRank, and others); white-label and AI visibility analyses; and product videos. Sources live in the research cache only—not as footnote markers in this page. Re-check vendor pricing pages before purchase; tiers and AI add-ons change.

Bottom line

Moz is the right buy when Domain Authority is part of how you sell, teach, or report SEO—and your tracked portfolio fits hundreds to low thousands of keywords with weekly AI visibility checks. SE Ranking is the right buy when daily ranks, multi-project agency delivery, white-label, API/MCP, and SEO+GEO tooling matter more than Moz’s metric brand. Neither fully replaces Ahrefs/Semrush for specialists; both can replace a bloated multi-tool stack for mid-market teams that trial honestly and count seats, keywords, and add-ons—not homepage stickers.