Profound vs Semrush: 2026 Comparison

Profound is an AI marketing platform that tracks how brands appear in answers from ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Claude and other answer engines, and Semrush is an SEO suite whose AI Visibility Toolkit tracks brand mentions and a set of custom prompts in ChatGPT, Google's AI features, Gemini and Perplexity.

The Top GEO Agencies research team took prices and plan details from each vendor's pricing, plan and help pages as of October 8, 2026. All prices are list prices in US dollars per month before tax, billed monthly unless the row says otherwise, and a "prompt" means one question the tool asks the AI engines on your behalf.

Profound vs Semrush Plans, Prompts and AI Engines

Before comparing prices, it helps to know what each company sells, how many prompts each plan tracks and which AI engines it checks for brand recommendations.

Profound now sells two plans to brands: a free 7-day trial and a custom-priced Enterprise plan. The only Profound plan with a published price is Agency Growth, which is built for agencies that pay per client workspace. Semrush sells its AI Visibility Toolkit on its own for $99 per month, billed annually, or bundled with its SEO Toolkit in three Semrush One plans.

Semrush's own pages do not agree on which engines Prompt Tracking covers. The toolkit pricing page names ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini and Perplexity, and the toolkit help page gives Google AI Mode and ChatGPT as examples without a full list. The Semrush One pricing page lists no engines. The Semrush One help article lists Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT for Prompt Tracking. The Prompt Tracking help article lists ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Gemini, and its data article lists all four of AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini and ChatGPT Search. Perplexity appears only in Brand Performance reports, which Semrush builds from its own database of queries and refreshes weekly.

Semrush also says it maintains a database of more than 317 million prompts for its research reports. Profound does not publish a comparable figure on its pricing page.

Profound vs Semrush Cost for the Same Workload

Because the two companies package prompts and engines differently, the Top GEO Agencies research team priced the same tracking jobs on both.

The three workloads below are each tracked daily on three AI engines: one brand with 50 prompts, one brand with 100 prompts, and an agency with five client brands of 100 prompts each. Each cost is the cheapest combination of published plans and add-ons that covers the workload.

Profound publishes no price for a brand buying on its own, so the Profound figure uses Agency Growth: $99 per month plus $399 for each client workspace, which holds 100 prompts on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. In Semrush, each Prompt Tracking campaign is set to one engine, and Semrush does not say whether a prompt tracked on three engines uses one prompt from the allowance or three, so Semrush is shown both ways.

Each column covers a different set of engines. Profound's Agency Growth workspaces track ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, while Semrush Prompt Tracking covers ChatGPT plus Google's AI features (and Gemini, per two of its help articles), with Perplexity only in the weekly Brand Performance reports. Semrush One Starter, at $199 per month for 50 prompts, costs $40 more than the toolkit-plus-pack route for the first workload but adds the SEO Toolkit.

Profound or Semrush: Which Fits Which Buyer

Price is only one part of the choice, since the two tools differ in who they are sold to, which engines they track and what else comes with the subscription.

A brand that wants a published monthly price can buy Semrush today: $99 per month for 25 prompts, with 50-prompt packs at $60. Profound's brand pricing starts at a custom Enterprise quote after the free trial, so a brand comparing list prices has no Profound figure to compare.

Teams that already pay for Semrush's SEO Toolkit can move to a Semrush One plan, which adds AI prompt tracking to the same subscription. Profound sells AI visibility, AI traffic analytics and its AI Marketer agents together, and its pricing page lists no SEO keyword or backlink tools.

Buyers who need Claude, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek or Exa Search tracked can find those only on Profound Enterprise. Semrush lists none of them for Prompt Tracking.

Agencies get a dedicated plan from Profound, with pitch workspaces, client workspaces and consolidated billing. Semrush has no agency-specific AI plan; an agency adds domains at $99 each and can white-label reports with the $20 Pro Report add-on.

Profound's brand plans include unlimited seats. The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit needs a separate $99 license for every additional user.

Recent Changes to Profound and Semrush

Over the past year, Profound replaced its Lite plan with Starter and Growth plans and has since stopped listing them on its pricing page, Adobe bought Semrush, and both companies added new features.

• October 21, 2025: Profound launched Starter and Growth plans, with pricing starting at $99 per month, replacing its Lite plan.
• October 23, 2025: Profound introduced Agency Mode for managing client brands inside one account.
• April 28, 2026: Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush.
• August 26, 2026: Semrush launched a connector that brings Semrush data into Claude conversations. The connector runs inside Claude and leaves the list of engines Semrush tracks unchanged.
• September 21, 2026: Profound released a refreshed Answer Engine Insights with per-prompt competitor breakdowns.

As of October 8, 2026, Profound's pricing page lists only Trial and Enterprise for brands, and Starter and Growth no longer appear. Profound's own posts give no date for that change.

Limits of the Profound vs Semrush Comparison

A few gaps in what the two vendors publish limit how far the cost comparison can go.

Profound Enterprise and Semrush Enterprise AIO prices are quoted privately, so neither appears in the cost table. Semrush does not state how a prompt tracked on several engines counts against its allowance, and its help pages list different engines for Prompt Tracking.