Semrush API Pricing: Plans, Units, Limits, and Cost
Semrush API pricing is driven by access eligibility, included or purchased unit allowances, and the unit rate of each endpoint—not one public per-call price. This guide shows developers and buyers how to verify entitlement, translate response rows into units, compare API families, and run a sample before committing.
What does Semrush API pricing actually cost?
Semrush API pricing is a subscription-and-consumption decision, not a universal dollar fee per call. Your cost depends on whether your account has API access, how many units are included or purchased, and whether an endpoint charges per request or per returned line. The account purchase screen is the final commercial authority.
The practical verdict is simple: identify the eligible plan, price any required package through your account or a quote, then model unit burn from real response sizes. Semrush’s official API access guide explains entitlement combinations, but buyers should confirm their exact account before designing a production pipeline.
Which plans and unit packages provide API access?
Current documentation describes included access for certain subscriptions and purchasable unit packages for higher API needs. Names, entitlements, and checkout availability can change, so treat this table as a purchasing map rather than a promise. Verify the plan shown inside the Semrush account that will own the integration.
| Documented route | Unit allowance | Buying implication |
|---|---|---|
| SEO Classic Pro or Guru | 50,000 included units | Renews with the subscription; verify entitlement |
| Semrush One Starter or Pro+ | 50,000 included units | Renews with the subscription; verify entitlement |
| Business or One Advanced API use | 2M, 5M, 10M, or 20M packages | Purchase availability and dollar price come from account or quote |
The current Semrush API and MCP documentation describes the 50,000-unit inclusion. The official standard API package article lists the larger package sizes and says unused purchased package units expire at renewal. Do not assume units pool across products or accounts.
How do Semrush API units work?
API units are consumption credits deducted according to the endpoint’s billing rule. Some reports charge once per request, while many data exports charge for every returned line. That distinction makes an innocent-looking request expensive when it returns thousands of rows, even if it uses only one HTTP call.
Use this planning rule:
estimated units = requests or returned lines × endpoint unit rate
Then add measured headroom for retries, duplicate jobs, pagination, and unexpectedly broad filters. The official API FAQ explains request-versus-line charging, while the unit balance guide shows how to check remaining units. Log balance changes around controlled tests instead of trusting estimates alone.
How many units do common endpoints consume?
Endpoint documentation, not a general pricing page, controls the applicable unit rate. Common domain-report families publish sharply different live and historical costs, usually per returned line. Use the figures below for initial planning only, then confirm the exact report, database, parameters, and current documentation before production use.
| Domain report family | Live units/line | Historical units/line |
|---|---|---|
| Organic search | 10 | 50 |
| Paid search | 20 | 100 |
| Competitors | 40 | 200 |
| Domain versus domain | 80 | 400 |
| PLA | 30 | 150 |
Semrush’s domain reports reference documents these common rates where applicable. URL reports also require per-line caution, but do not assume every URL or domain endpoint shares one rate. Filters and returned rows directly affect consumption.
How should you estimate a real workload?
Estimate from the lines the API will actually return, not merely the number of calls your application sends. Build separate models for live and historical data, because historical rates can be several times higher. Also model pagination, scheduled refreshes, retries, and duplicate requests as explicit workload components.
The official planning example uses 1,000 keywords across 100 domains: 100,000 returned lines. At 10 units per live line, that is 1,000,000 units. At 50 units per historical line, it is 5,000,000 units.
1,000 keywords × 100 domains × 10 units = 1,000,000 units
Row filters may reduce returned lines, so test the real query. Compare the measured debit with your API unit balance before extrapolating monthly or annual demand.
Why is there no single public dollar price?
The verified public documentation lists standard package sizes but does not display dependable dollar prices for those packages. Therefore, no responsible guide can calculate a universal Semrush API price in dollars. Your quote or authenticated purchase screen must supply the commercial number used in a budget or procurement approval.
Convert that number only after testing: effective cost per usable row = package cost ÷ successful, retained rows. “Usable” matters because broad responses, retries, errors, and discarded rows can consume capacity without creating business value. Recheck renewal and expiration terms in the official package documentation before an annual commitment.
How are Trends API limits different?
Trends API is a separate product with its own allowance and cadence, so its units should never be blended into a standard SEO API budget. Semrush documents it as a quarterly product with 10,000 units per month and a limit of 10 requests per second. Separate ledgers prevent false capacity assumptions.
Confirm current terms on the official Trends API page. A team needing traffic-market intelligence may require Trends, while rankings, keywords, backlinks, or domain reports follow their respective API access and endpoint rules. Similar terminology does not make allowances interchangeable.
Who needs the API, and what should you test before buying?
The API fits teams that need repeatable Semrush data inside software, warehouses, dashboards, or large scheduled analyses. Occasional manual research may not justify integration overhead. Before buying, run a 100-row acceptance test that proves entitlement, unit economics, response usefulness, and operational compliance for the exact endpoint you intend to use.
Record these items in one test sheet:
- starting and ending unit balance, actual debit, filters, and returned rows;
- errors, retry behavior, pagination, duplicates, and planned headroom;
- cache duration, data retention, and the business owner approving use;
- server-side secret handling, rotation process, and incident owner;
- package quote, renewal date, expiration rule, and forecasted monthly volume.
Semrush’s usage restrictions commonly specify 10 requests per second, 10 concurrent requests, and caching for no longer than one month without written consent; verify the current terms. Its API key guidance treats the key as sensitive. Never expose it client-side, in logs, screenshots, repositories, or shared URLs, and rotate it after exposure.
StoreCited is a Shopify/DTC AI-citation-readiness diagnostic. It reports observable public content and structure gaps, but it cannot establish that a gap changed AI visibility and is not Semrush API access, usage estimation, or live rank data. Use each product for its stated job.
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