Last Updated on September 11, 2026
Checked against Companies House on 7 September 2026: neither Semrush nor Ahrefs gives a UK business a UK contract. Semrush contracts from Delaware in dollars, under Adobe’s ownership since 28 April 2026, per the UK register. Ahrefs bills in pounds but contracts from Singapore, and has no active UK company on the register at all.
Semrush vs Ahrefs arguments are usually about keyword databases. Both are excellent, and you will not pick wrong on data quality. Three facts matter more this year: who now owns Semrush, what currency your renewal will arrive in, and where you would have to go to enforce the contract. All three are on the record. We read it.
Key facts
Key takeaways
- Semrush is now Adobe-owned, and the UK register proves it. Adobe Inc. was registered as the person with significant control of Semrush UK Ltd. on 28 April 2026, the same day Semrush Holdings, Inc. ceased. If the comparison you are reading calls Semrush an independent company, it is out of date.
- Ahrefs has no active UK company. A UK company incorporated in November 2020 under the name AHREFS PTE. LTD. was renamed in January 2023 and dissolved on 17 March 2026, but its filings show a sole director with no stated link to Ahrefs and nothing on the register connects it to the Singapore business, so we do not treat it as Ahrefs’ own. Your contract is with Ahrefs Pte. Ltd., Singapore, under Singapore law with SIAC arbitration.
- Ahrefs prices in pounds; Semrush prices in dollars. Ahrefs’ published UK ladder runs £23 to £1,199 a month. Semrush runs $139 to $549 a month, so your renewal moves with the exchange rate.
- Both fail the who-you-sue test for a UK buyer. That does not make either a bad tool. It makes the “just expense it” decision bigger than it looks at the checkout.
The who-you-sue test
Before you compare crawlers, ask which legal entity is on the other side of the subscription, and whether you can read its filings on a register you trust. We call this the who-you-sue test. For the two biggest SEO platforms sold to UK businesses, the answer is: nobody in the UK.
| Checked 7 September 2026 | Semrush | Ahrefs |
|---|---|---|
| You contract with | Semrush Inc., a Delaware corporation, Boston, MA (stated in its terms) | Ahrefs Pte. Ltd., Singapore, UEN 201227417H (stated in its terms) |
| Governing law for UK customers | Republic of Ireland; venue Dublin (stated in its terms) | Republic of Singapore; SIAC arbitration, seat Singapore (stated in its terms) |
| UK-registered entity | Semrush UK Ltd., 16543410, active, incorporated 26 June 2025. Not the entity you contract with. | None active. 13005560 LTD (formerly AHREFS PTE. LTD.) dissolved 17 March 2026. Its filings show no connection to Ahrefs. |
| Ownership on the UK register | PSC: Adobe Inc. (Delaware), 75%+ ownership, registered 28 April 2026; Semrush Holdings, Inc. ceased the same day | None |
| Billing currency shown to UK buyers | USD | GBP |
Verdict: a draw, and a warning. Neither offers a UK counterparty. In our six-tool comparison series, only the two CRMs (HubSpot and Pipedrive) do. Between these two: Semrush now sits inside one of the world’s largest software companies, and what Adobe does to its pricing will be readable on this page’s next dated check. Ahrefs bills you in your own currency and puts any dispute a continent away in arbitration. Both facts sit on the open record for anyone who looks.
What they cost a UK business
Prices read from each vendor’s own pricing page on 7 September 2026, from a UK connection. Monthly-billing rates shown with annual-billing rates in brackets; VAT/taxes excluded. Semrush publishes no GBP prices, so sterling figures depend on the exchange rate on your billing date.
| Rung | Semrush (USD) | Ahrefs (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| Free / entry | Free plan, $0 | Starter: £23/month |
| First full tier | SEO: $139/month ($117.33 annual) | Lite: £99/month |
| Mid | Starter (SEO + AI Search): $199 ($165.17) · Pro+: $299 ($248.17) | Standard: £199/month |
| Top of published ladder | Advanced: $549/month ($455.67 annual) | Advanced: £359 · Enterprise: £1,199/month |
Both ladders changed shape in 2026: Semrush has rebuilt its plans around AI search (its tiers now sell prompt tracking and AI visibility alongside keywords), and Ahrefs has added a £23 Starter rung below its long-standing £99 entry point.
A year of Semrush’s cheapest full plan is $1,668 before exchange movement and card fees. A year of Ahrefs Lite is £1,188, fixed in sterling. Dollar-priced software costs UK businesses more than the sticker suggests. We showed why in our dollar-pricing guide.
Which one fits, by stage
Start: neither, yet. At this stage your constraint is doing the basics rather than measuring them. Ahrefs’ £23 Starter or Semrush’s free plan are the only rungs worth touching, and only once you have content live to measure.
Build: pick by billing shape as much as toolset. If a fixed sterling line on the P&L matters, Ahrefs Lite at £99 is the predictable choice. If you want rank tracking, AI-visibility monitoring and content tooling in one subscription, Semrush’s $139–$199 rungs carry more of the job, priced in a currency you don’t control.
Scale: at agency or multi-site scale the real comparison is data allowances and API access (Semrush Advanced $549 vs Ahrefs Advanced £359/Enterprise £1,199), and at that spend you should be reading the contract properly, which is exactly when the Delaware/Dublin versus Singapore/SIAC difference stops being trivia.
For the wider field, including the free options, see our UK SEO software guide.
What this comparison did not do
- We did not benchmark index sizes or crawl freshness ourselves. No outside party can verify those claims properly, and we do not repeat vendors’ own numbers as findings.
- We did not run the two products side by side for this page, and we make no hands-on speed or usability claims.
- Every fact above is read from the public record or the vendors’ own published pages and terms, on the dates shown.
A comparison is only worth reading if it says what it could not check. How Whito works sets out the rest of the method.
Sources and dates
All read 7 September 2026: Companies House filings for Semrush UK Ltd. (including the PSC register showing Adobe Inc.) and 13005560 LTD (formerly AHREFS PTE. LTD.); Semrush’s terms of service (contracting entity and governing-law clauses); Ahrefs’ terms (contracting entity and governing-law clauses); semrush.com/prices; ahrefs.com/pricing.
Part of our head-to-head series: HubSpot vs Pipedrive · Mailchimp vs MailerLite. Related: Best SEO software UK.
Correction, 7 September 2026: an earlier version of this page described that dissolved UK company as Ahrefs’ own. Its filings show no connection to Ahrefs, and the page now says so.
