Moz Pro is one of the first SEO suites many people meet. It gave the industry Domain Authority, the 1 to 100 score that still turns up on agency reports and link-buying spreadsheets.
The trouble starts when you read the plan. Moz Pro Standard is $99 a month and includes 150 keyword queries. That is about five a day. Starter is $49 and covers one website. So people go looking for a Moz alternative for one of two reasons. They want the same research for less, or they want it somewhere other than a suite they have to log into for every question.
This guide ranks seven options. The pick is ContextBolt SEO, which is ours, so weigh the bias. It runs keyword, competitor, backlink, audit and AI visibility research inside the AI agent you already work in. Every result saves to your SEO Dashboard, and it costs $35 a month after a 7-day free trial.
- ContextBolt SEO is the pick. Try it free for 7 days, inside Claude, Cursor, Codex or ChatGPT. Then it is $35 a month for 1,000 credits, and a keyword lookup costs one. Moz Standard’s $99 buys 150 keyword queries a month.
- Semrush is the full suite if you want a bigger Moz, at $139 a month.
- Ahrefs is the backlink specialist, with Domain Rating in place of DA, from $129 a month on Lite.
- SE Ranking and Mangools are the cheaper suites for agencies and small sites.
- Google Search Console is free and shows your site’s real Google numbers. Pair it with one research tool.
The short list
| If this sounds like you | Best pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You do your own SEO and work in an AI agent | ContextBolt SEO | Keyword, competitor, backlink, audit and AI visibility research in the chat, saved to your SEO Dashboard, $35 a month. |
| You want a bigger suite than Moz | Semrush | More data and more tools, in the same log-in-and-click shape, at a higher price. |
| Links are the whole reason you use Moz | Ahrefs | A link index built for backlink work, and Domain Rating in place of DA. |
| You run client reports for an agency | SE Ranking | Scheduled reports, with white-label reporting as an Agency Pack add-on. |
| You want the simplest suite for one site | Mangools | Five small tools with a friendly interface. |
| Budget is the only constraint | Ubersuggest | Advertised from $29 a month in the US. |
| You only need your own site’s numbers | Google Search Console | Free, first-party, and the real numbers the paid tools estimate. |
Prices were read from each vendor’s own pricing page in September 2026. Moz’s plans were read on September 26, 2026.
What you are paying Moz for
Moz Pro has four plans on its pricing page. Starter is $49 a month for one website. Standard is $99, or $79 a month billed yearly. Medium is $179, or $143 yearly. Large is $299, or $239 yearly.
The numbers that matter sit in the plan table, not the headline. Standard gives one user, three tracked campaigns, 300 tracked keyword rankings and 150 keyword queries a month. Medium raises that to 5,000 queries and two users. Standard also carries one AI visibility dashboard with 50 tracked prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.
Then there is Domain Authority. Here is my uncomfortable take. DA is the most-reported number in SEO, and it tells you least about what to do next. Moz’s own Domain Authority guide says it is not a Google ranking factor and has no effect on the results page. It is a comparison score. It moves slowly, it looks good in a slide, and it never tells you which page to fix or which site to ask for a link.
So a good Moz alternative is not one that prints a different score. It is one that gets you from “this page underperforms” to a change you can make, without rationing your queries.
Moz alternatives compared at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Authority data | Where you use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. ContextBolt SEO | Research in your agent, saved to your SEO Dashboard | $35/mo, 7-day trial | Domain rank, referring domains, link gap | Claude, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT |
| 2. Semrush | A bigger suite | From $139/mo | Authority Score | Web app, MCP from Starter |
| 3. Ahrefs | Backlink specialists | Lite $129/mo | Domain Rating | Web app, MCP from Lite |
| 4. SE Ranking | Agency reporting | €109/mo (€87.20 yearly) | Yes | Web app, API and MCP by plan |
| 5. Mangools | One site, simple suite | $61/mo ($37.70 yearly) | Lighter | Web app, MCP and API |
| 6. Ubersuggest | Lowest paid entry | From $29/mo (US) | Limited | Web app |
| 7. Google Search Console | Your own site’s real data | Free | Your own links only | Google’s web app |
1. ContextBolt SEO: the $35 pick that runs in your agent
Best for: founders, marketers and small teams who do their own SEO and already work in Claude, Cursor, Codex or ChatGPT.
ContextBolt SEO is an SEO toolkit that lives inside your AI agent. You connect it once with an MCP URL, then ask in plain English. What does this keyword look like. Who ranks for it. Which sites link to my three rivals and not to me. Audit my site and tell me what to fix first.
It covers five jobs on one plan. Research (keywords, the live top ten, competitor domains). Audit and fix (a scored fix list for your pages). Authority (a backlink overview with domain rank and spam score, referring domains, and a gap finder). AI visibility (whether ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers name you). Your real data (Google Search Console, connected free, with daily snapshots).
The Moz comparison that matters is volume. Moz Standard gives you 150 keyword queries a month for $99. ContextBolt gives you 1,000 credits for $35, and a keyword lookup costs one credit. A backlink check costs three and a page in a site audit costs one. You spend the credits on whichever job the week needs, instead of hitting a per-feature wall.
The data comes from DataForSEO’s keyword and link index. Like Moz’s own numbers, they are estimates, decision-useful and directionally right, and your connected Search Console sits beside them with Google’s own figures.
Every lookup saves automatically to your SEO Dashboard, a private page you sign into from any machine. Ask about a keyword next month and the answer leads with what changed since last time. You can run the next lookup from the dashboard too, on the same credits.
The fix happens where you are. Ask for an audit, get the worst problems first, and have the agent draft the change in the same conversation. If you want the long version of that loop, site audit with Claude walks through one.
Verdict: the pick. Room for 1,000 keyword checks a month against Moz Standard’s 150, backlinks and AI visibility included, at about a third of the price, in the tool you already write in. Start with the 7-day free trial, 100 credits, card required.
2. Semrush: a bigger suite than Moz
Best for: teams that want more data and more tools, and are not switching to save money.
Semrush is what Moz would look like with twice the surface area. Keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, a large backlink index, PPC data and content tools, in one web app. Its Authority Score is the nearest thing to DA.
The entry plan, now called SEO, is $139 a month or $117.33 billed yearly. That is more than Moz Standard, not less. Semrush also runs an MCP server, and for a new customer it starts on the $199 Starter plan.
Verdict: the upgrade if you have outgrown Moz and have the budget. It is still a suite you go to for every question, and it costs four times ContextBolt’s $35, with its MCP starting on the $199 plan. Our best Semrush alternatives guide covers the rest of that field.
3. Ahrefs: the backlink specialist
Best for: people who used Moz mostly for Link Explorer and DA.
Ahrefs built its name on backlinks. Its Domain Rating does the job DA did on your reports, and its link index is the product it is best known for. It also covers keywords, rank tracking and site audits.
Starter is $29 a month and narrow. Lite, where the MCP server is included, is $129. Standard is $249.
Verdict: the choice if links are the whole job and you want a score your clients recognize. If you mostly want to know which sites link to your rivals and not you, ContextBolt’s backlink gap answers that inside your agent for $35. The best Ahrefs alternatives guide goes deeper on that trade.
4. SE Ranking: agency reporting for less
Best for: agencies that send clients scheduled reports.
SE Ranking is a full suite priced below the leaders. Rank tracking, site audits, keyword and backlink research, with white-label reporting and client-facing tools sold as an Agency Pack add-on. Its pricing page shows Core at €109 a month, or €87.20 a month billed yearly, in the EUR view, and it localizes by region, so check yours. API and MCP access come with its plans, with the amount set by tier.
Verdict: the pick for scheduled client reporting. It is still a suite with per-plan limits, and the research questions you ask between reports are faster to answer in your agent.
5. Mangools: the simple suite
Best for: bloggers and single-site owners who want to click, not configure.
Mangools bundles five small tools, KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher, LinkMiner and SiteProfiler. Basic is $61 a month, or $452.40 a year, which the page shows as $37.70 a month. The current bundle includes MCP and API access. Rank tracking on Basic updates weekly.
Verdict: the friendliest suite on this list for one site. You give up depth on links and audits, both of which ContextBolt includes at $35.
6. Ubersuggest: the lowest paid entry
Best for: beginners who want the lowest price to start.
Ubersuggest covers keyword ideas, basic rank tracking, site audits and competitor pages. It is advertised from $29 a month for an individual in the US, and its pricing localizes by region.
Verdict: fine for learning. It is a web app you click through, and once your decisions depend on the numbers you will want competitor links and AI visibility in the same place, which is ContextBolt’s $35 plan.
7. Google Search Console: your real numbers, free
Best for: everyone, alongside one research tool.
Google Search Console is Google’s own report on your site. Real clicks, impressions, average position, the queries behind them, and which of your pages are indexed. Every paid tool above estimates. This one does not.
It only covers sites you own, so it cannot show you a competitor, a keyword you do not rank for yet, or who links to a rival.
Verdict: free and essential. Connect it to ContextBolt SEO at no credit cost and your real numbers sit in the same chat as the estimates, which is the setup I would run on any small site.
Where Moz still fits
Moz is still the right buy for four jobs. If your reports quote Domain Authority, nothing else produces that exact number. If you live in MozBar, Moz’s browser extension, the alternatives work differently. If you manage business listings across directories, that is Moz Local, a separate product that none of these research tools replaces. And if a client contract says a rank report lands every Monday, Moz Pro’s scheduled tracking is built for that rhythm. ContextBolt checks rankings when you ask and keeps daily Search Console snapshots of your own site in between.
Those are reporting and listings jobs. Most people searching for a Moz alternative have a research job. Find the keywords, read the top ten, see who links to rivals, fix the page. That job runs faster inside your agent, and ContextBolt SEO does it for $35.
Moz has noticed the shift too. Its Moz API plans now list MCP access in beta, starting at $20 a month for 3,000 rows on the API pricing page. That is a separate subscription from Moz Pro, with a row allowance per plan and no Moz Pro projects behind it.
How to switch off Moz without losing anything
- Start the ContextBolt trial first, before you cancel Moz. Seven days and 100 credits, card required, and it becomes $35 a month unless you cancel.
- Export your Moz keyword lists and tracked keywords as CSV while you still have access.
- Connect Google Search Console to ContextBolt. It is free and never spends credits, and it gives you the rankings Moz was estimating.
- Paste your top keywords into the agent and ask for volume, difficulty and the live top ten. The results save to your SEO Dashboard, so the list you built in Moz is rebuilt in one session.
- Run a backlink gap against your two closest rivals. That replaces the “is this site worth a link” job DA used to do.
The link building with Claude guide walks through step 5 in full. Cancel Moz once a week’s work has run without opening it.
Copy this prompt
Here are the 20 keywords I was tracking in Moz.
For each one, give me monthly volume, difficulty,
and who ranks in the top three right now. Then tell
me which five my site could realistically rank for
this quarter, and why.How to choose a Moz alternative
Pick the line that sounds like you.
- You do your own SEO and work in an AI agent: ContextBolt SEO, $35 a month, 7-day free trial.
- You want a bigger suite and have the budget: Semrush.
- Links and a DA-style score are the job: Ahrefs.
- You send clients branded reports every month: SE Ranking.
- You run one site and want the simplest suite: Mangools.
- Price is the only thing that matters today: Ubersuggest.
- You want your real Google numbers: Google Search Console, free, next to whichever tool you pick.
The strongest cheap setup is two tools, not one. Search Console for the truth about your own site, and one research tool for everything outside it. With ContextBolt SEO both land in the same chat and the same SEO Dashboard, for less than Moz’s entry plan. For how the credits, seats and yearly bills compare across the whole category, read the SEO tool pricing guide.
