# The best SEO tools for agencies in 2026 > The best SEO tools for agencies, scored on multi-client capacity, white-label reporting and per-seat cost, with the pricing math for a 10-client agency. Source: https://terradium.io/blog/best-seo-tools-for-agencies Last updated 14 October 2026 · Prices checked 14 October 2026 **The short answer** For most agencies, **SE Ranking** is the best-value core suite: 30 projects and 3 seats on Growth, with a white-label Agency Pack for +$69/mo. **Semrush** suits agencies that want the broadest toolkit and cheap white-label reports ($20/mo Pro Report), and **Ahrefs** suits link-building shops. Add **AgencyAnalytics** for white-labeled client dashboards, **Screaming Frog** for crawls and **Surfer** for content. **Terradium** ($29/mo) is how an agency adds a new line item: AI visibility reports plus the content that improves them. It has no white-label reporting, so you present the findings in your own deck. The best SEO tools for agencies are the ones that handle many clients at once, put your brand on client reports and don't charge a fortune per seat. In practice that means a core suite for research, rank tracking and audits (SE Ranking, Semrush or Ahrefs), a white-label reporting layer (AgencyAnalytics or the suite's own add-on), a crawler (Screaming Frog) and a content tool (Surfer). New in 2026: a tool for tracking how AI assistants answer your clients' buyers, which you can sell as its own service. We scored each tool on what the vendor publishes on its own pricing page, on the date at the top. We didn't test these tools ourselves, and every price below links to its source. ## What an agency needs from an SEO tool Before comparing tools, check each one against this list. Most agencies outgrow a tool for one of these reasons, not because of missing features. - **Multi-client capacity.** How many projects, websites or clients does a plan cover, and what does each extra one cost? - **Seats.** How many logins are included, and what does the next one cost? Shared logins often don't work (SE Ranking, for example, allows one active session per login). - **White-label output.** Can reports, or the whole client portal, carry your logo and domain? - **Client access.** Can a client see a live dashboard without a full paid seat? - **Crawl and tracking capacity.** Audit pages per month and tracked keywords, summed across all clients. - **AI search.** Can you show a client whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews mention them? Clients are starting to ask. - **Billing terms.** Some agency add-ons are annual only. Check before you commit. ## The tools at a glance | Tool | Type | Paid plans from | Free option | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | SE Ranking | All-in-one SEO suite | [$129/mo (Core)](https://seranking.com/subscription.html) | 14 days, no card trial | | Semrush | All-in-one SEO suite | [$139/mo (SEO)](https://www.semrush.com/pricing/seo-ai-search/) | Free plan (10 reports/day) | | Ahrefs | All-in-one SEO suite | [$129/mo (Lite)](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) | Ahrefs Free for your own verified sites | | AgencyAnalytics | Agency client reporting | [$25/mo (Core)](https://agencyanalytics.com/pricing) | 14 days, no card trial | | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | SEO crawler (desktop) | [$279/yr (Paid licence)](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/pricing/) | Free version (500 URLs per crawl) | | Surfer | Content optimization | [$59/mo (Discovery)](https://surferseo.com/pricing/) | Free Keyword Surfer extension | | Terradium | AI visibility + AI SEO content | [$29/mo (Starter)](https://terradium.io/pricing) | 7 days trial | Here's how each one scores on the three things agencies ask about most. Only vendor-published numbers are shown. | Tool | Multi-client capacity | White-label | Seats | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | SE Ranking | 10 projects (Core), 30 (Growth) | Agency Pack, +$69/mo, annual billing only | 1 (Core), 3 (Growth); extra from $16 | | Semrush | 5 websites (SEO, Starter), 15 (Pro+), 40+ (Advanced) | Pro Report add-on, $20/mo | Extra users from $45/mo | | Ahrefs | 5, 20 or 50 unverified projects by plan; unlimited verified | Not listed on the pricing page | 1 included; extra $40, $60 or $80/mo by plan | | AgencyAnalytics | Priced per client | White-labeled client portal on every client | Unlimited staff and client users | | Screaming Frog | Unlimited crawling with a licence | Not listed | $279 per user per year | | Surfer | 5 brand spaces on AI Search Analytics | Enterprise plan only (custom price) | 1 to 10 seats by plan | | Terradium | 15 tracked questions per account | None | $29/mo per account | ## The best SEO tools for agencies ### SE Ranking *All-in-one SEO suite · [$129/mo (Core)](https://seranking.com/subscription.html)* SE Ranking is a lower-cost SEO and GEO suite aimed at marketing teams and agencies. Growth covers 30 projects with 3 manager seats, 5,000 keywords and 250 AI prompts tracked daily, and 2 million audit pages a month. The Agency Pack add-on puts your brand on the platform and reports and adds 30 client seats. **Pros** - The most projects and seats per dollar among the suites here. - Extra manager seats from $16. - Daily AI prompt tracking included on every plan, so AI visibility can go straight into client reports. - Guest links on Growth for view-only client access, and a 14-day trial with no card. **Cons** - The Agency Pack is annual billing only. - No free plan. - Core keeps 6 months of history; all-time history needs Growth. **Best for:** small and mid-size agencies that want one suite with white-label built in. See how it stacks up in [SE Ranking vs Semrush](https://terradium.io/blog/se-ranking-vs-semrush). ### Semrush *All-in-one SEO suite · [$139/mo (SEO)](https://www.semrush.com/pricing/seo-ai-search/) · Free plan (10 reports/day)* Semrush is the broadest suite here, with separate toolkits for SEO, AI visibility, local, content, social and advertising. Its Agency Growth Kit has been discontinued (including Client Portal and CRM), so agencies now buy white-label reporting as the Pro Report add-on: $20/mo for branding and white-labeling, 20+ external integrations, AI summaries and sharing by link. **Pros** - Cheap white-label reports through the Pro Report add-on. - Daily rank tracking on every plan, with multi-location and device tracking from Pro+. - AI prompt tracking bundled from Starter (50 daily) and Pro+ (100 daily). - A free plan and a 7-day trial for testing on a client. **Cons** - Extra users start at $45/mo, the highest per-seat cost of the suites here. - Client Portal and CRM were sunset along with the Agency Growth Kit. - Semrush's knowledge base prices Pro reports per report, so check how many you need before you budget. **Best for:** agencies selling SEO alongside paid, social and local work from one vendor. ### Ahrefs *All-in-one SEO suite · [$129/mo (Lite)](https://ahrefs.com/pricing) · Ahrefs Free for your own verified sites* Ahrefs is a backlink- and crawler-led suite. For agencies, the useful detail is that projects on sites you've verified are unlimited on every plan; the 5, 20 or 50 project limit applies only to sites you haven't verified. Report Builder is included (5 reports on Lite and Standard, 15 on Advanced), with a $99/mo add-on for 50. **Pros** - Strong link research tools, with Content Explorer for link prospecting from Standard. - Unlimited projects for client sites you can verify. - Looker Studio integration and an Agency Directory listing on Advanced. - Brand Radar prompts included (5 to 20 daily by plan) for AI-search checks. **Cons** - White-label reporting isn't listed on the pricing page. - Rank Tracker updates weekly on every plan, which is slow for client reporting. - No free trial; each extra user is $40 to $80/mo. **Best for:** link-building and digital PR agencies. More options in [Ahrefs alternatives](https://terradium.io/blog/ahrefs-alternatives) and [Semrush vs Ahrefs](https://terradium.io/blog/semrush-vs-ahrefs). ### AgencyAnalytics *Agency client reporting · [$25/mo (Core)](https://agencyanalytics.com/pricing)* AgencyAnalytics is a client reporting platform priced per client. Every client includes unlimited staff and client users, unlimited reports and dashboards, 85+ integrations and a white-labeled client portal with your logo, colors and custom domain. **Pros** - The most complete white-label experience on this list: a branded portal, not just a branded PDF. - Unlimited staff seats, so the cost scales with clients, not headcount. - An AI Tracker add-on (beta) for brand visibility, sentiment and citations across AI engines, $25/mo per 250 credits billed monthly. - A 14-day trial with no card. **Cons** - It's a reporting layer. You'll still want a suite for keyword and backlink research. - Rank tracking is a paid add-on: $50/mo per 500 keywords billed monthly. - Cost grows linearly with your client list until volume pricing at 25+ clients. **Best for:** agencies whose clients expect a polished, branded dashboard. ### Screaming Frog SEO Spider *SEO crawler (desktop) · [$279/yr (Paid licence)](https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/pricing/) · Free version (500 URLs per crawl)* Screaming Frog SEO Spider is the standard desktop crawler for technical audits. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs; a licence removes the limit (bounded by your machine's memory and storage) and adds saved crawls, JavaScript rendering, scheduling, Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed integrations, and crawling with OpenAI and Gemini. **Pros** - Unlimited crawling for a flat annual fee per user. - Bulk licence discounts: $265 each for 5 to 9, $249 for 10 to 19, $235 for 20+. - Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. On a Mac? See our [best SEO software for Mac](https://terradium.io/blog/best-seo-software-for-mac-the-modern-macos-stack) guide. **Cons** - Annual billing only; no monthly plan. - The free version can't save crawls or schedule them, so it's not enough for ongoing client work. - White-label reporting isn't listed; you'll export and rebuild findings in your own reports. **Best for:** technical audits and migrations for client sites of any size. ### Surfer *Content optimization · [$59/mo (Discovery)](https://surferseo.com/pricing/) · Free Keyword Surfer extension* Surfer is a SERP-driven content editor that now bundles AI-search tracking. Seats scale with the plan: 1 on Discovery, 3 on Standard, 5 on Pro, 10 on Peace of Mind. A standalone AI Search Analytics plan ($95/mo) tracks 50 prompts daily across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini, with 5 brand spaces and 5 seats. **Pros** - A writing workflow content teams already know, with seats built into each plan. - AI Search Analytics' 5 brand spaces suit a handful of clients. - A free Keyword Surfer extension for quick checks. **Cons** - White-label is only on the custom-priced Enterprise plan. - Daily AI tracking across all models starts on Pro ($219/mo); Standard tracks 25 prompts weekly on ChatGPT only. - Surfer's own AI Tracker page notes its pricing cards and FAQ disagree on engine coverage per plan, so confirm before buying. **Best for:** agencies with a content team optimizing many client articles. ### Terradium *AI visibility + AI SEO content · [$29/mo (Starter)](https://terradium.io/pricing)* Terradium tracks how AI assistants answer the questions your client's buyers ask and writes the articles meant to get the client cited. Each week it samples 15 questions on 3 of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Gemini, reports whether the brand is mentioned and the site cited, lists what to write next, and writes it: 30 articles a month, published to a built-in CMS or the client's site via a signed webhook. **Pros** - Gives you a new deliverable: a monthly AI visibility report with the content work attached. - $29/mo per account with a 7-day free trial, which keeps the cost of a pilot client low. - Free [AI crawler checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-crawler-checker) and [AI visibility checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-visibility-checker) for sales calls. **Cons** - No white-label reporting. You present the results in your own template. - Weekly sampling and 15 questions, fewer than the daily trackers. - No backlink index, site crawler, Google rank tracking, keyword database at suite scale or local SEO. **Best for:** agencies adding AI visibility (AEO/GEO) as a service line next to their SEO retainer. **Where Terradium fits** Terradium is not an agency SEO suite. It has no backlink index, no site crawler or technical audit, no Google rank tracking, no large keyword database, no PPC data, no local SEO and no white-label reporting. You'll still need SE Ranking, Semrush or Ahrefs for that, and AgencyAnalytics or a suite add-on for branded reports. Where it fits is the new line item. Clients are asking whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention them. Terradium answers that weekly and produces the articles to close the gaps, so the report and the fix come from the same tool. ## Building an AI-visibility service An AI visibility (AEO/GEO) service is a retainer for getting a client named and cited in AI answers. It usually has four parts: an audit of today's answers, answer-first content, technical access for AI crawlers, and the same questions tracked on a schedule. Our [AEO service guide](https://terradium.io/aeo-service) covers the full scope. A simple way to start: 1. **Pick 15 questions per client.** Unbranded questions closest to a purchase, worded the way a buyer asks an assistant. 2. **Check crawler access.** If robots.txt blocks AI crawlers or pages are client-rendered, no content will get cited. The free [AI crawler checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-crawler-checker) tests this. 3. **Baseline the answers.** Record whether the client is mentioned and cited on each engine, and who is cited instead. 4. **Write to the gaps.** Publish articles aimed at the questions where the client is missing. 5. **Report monthly.** Show the trend in mentions and citations, plus the articles shipped. If you need daily tracking, more engines or enterprise features, compare dedicated trackers in [the best AI visibility tools](https://terradium.io/best-ai-visibility-tools), or read [Profound alternatives](https://terradium.io/alternatives/profound) and [Otterly.AI alternatives](https://terradium.io/alternatives/otterly-ai). ## Pricing math for a 10-client agency Here's the monthly cost of three typical stacks for an agency with 10 clients and 3 staff, using only the prices on each vendor's pricing page. Your mix will differ, so swap in your own numbers. **Stack 1: SE Ranking with white-label.** Growth covers 30 projects and 3 seats. The Agency Pack is annual billing only, so this uses Growth's annual price. - Growth, billed annually: $223.20/mo - Agency Pack: $69/mo - Total: $223.20 + $69 = **$292.20/mo**, or $29.22 per client **Stack 2: Semrush with white-label reports.** Pro+ covers 15 websites. The pricing page doesn't say how many logins are included; assuming one, you need two extra users. - Pro+, billed monthly: $299/mo - 2 extra users from $45: $90/mo - Pro Report add-on: $20/mo - Total: $299 + $90 + $20 = **from $409/mo**, or from $40.90 per client **Stack 3: Ahrefs plus AgencyAnalytics for branded dashboards.** Ahrefs Standard covers 20 unverified projects; AgencyAnalytics is priced per client with unlimited staff. - Ahrefs Standard: $249/mo - 2 extra Ahrefs users at $60: $120/mo - AgencyAnalytics, 10 clients at $25: $250/mo - Total: $249 + $120 + $250 = **$619/mo**, or $61.90 per client **Add a crawler.** Three Screaming Frog licences cost 3 × $279 = $837 a year, or $69.75/mo. **Add an AI visibility service line.** If you run one Terradium Starter account per client on the service, 10 clients cost 10 × $29 = **$290/mo**, or $29 per client. That covers 15 weekly questions and 30 articles a month for each. Whatever you charge above $29 a month, plus your time, is the margin on the new line item. ## Free SEO tools for agencies - **Semrush free plan:** 1 demo project and 10 reports a day. - **Ahrefs Free:** Site Explorer, Site Audit and Web Analytics, but only for sites you've verified, so each client would need to verify their site. - **Screaming Frog free:** crawls up to 500 URLs. - **Keyword Surfer:** Surfer's free Chrome extension. - **Trials:** SE Ranking and AgencyAnalytics offer 14 days with no card, Semrush 7 days, Terradium 7 days. - **Terradium's free tools:** the [AI crawler checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-crawler-checker) and [AI visibility checker](https://terradium.io/tools/ai-visibility-checker), useful in a sales pitch. ## Questions **What is the best SEO software for agencies?** SE Ranking offers the most projects and seats per dollar among the suites, with a white-label Agency Pack. Semrush suits agencies that want the broadest toolkit, Ahrefs suits link-building shops, and AgencyAnalytics adds white-labeled client dashboards on top of any of them. **Which SEO tools offer white-label reporting?** SE Ranking's Agency Pack (+$69/mo, annual billing only), Semrush's Pro Report add-on ($20/mo) and AgencyAnalytics, which includes a white-labeled client portal with every client. Surfer offers white-label only on its custom-priced Enterprise plan. Terradium has no white-label reporting. **Does Semrush still have the Agency Growth Kit?** No. Semrush discontinued the Agency Growth Kit, including Client Portal and CRM. White-label reporting is now sold as the Pro Report add-on, and the Agency Partners listing as a $90/mo Lead Generation add-on. **Are there free SEO tools for agencies?** Yes, with limits. Semrush has a free plan with 10 reports a day, Ahrefs Free covers sites you've verified, and Screaming Frog's free version crawls up to 500 URLs. SE Ranking and AgencyAnalytics offer 14-day trials with no card. **How can an agency sell AI visibility?** Track 15 or so buyer questions per client on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, report whether the client is mentioned and cited, and publish content aimed at the gaps. Terradium covers the tracking and the articles for $29/mo per account, and you present the results in your own report template.