SEO Cartograph, an alternative to Semrush
The two tools do not cover the same ground. This page sets out the public pricing, the volumes and the features of each, including what SEO Cartograph does not do, so the decision rests on figures.
A marketing suite and a working tool
Semrush is a broad suite: search, advertising, content, social networks, visibility in AI answers, plus databases covering millions of domains. SEO Cartograph handles the search performance of the sites you manage: the crawl, Search Console, Analytics, internal links and positions. The two overlap on organic search and diverge everywhere else.
| The comparison | SEO Cartograph | Semrush |
|---|---|---|
| Public pricing | ||
| Free offer | Desktop crawler, up to 500 pages per site, no credit cardno time limit | Free account: 1 project, 10 tracked keywords |
| First paid plan | CHF 15/monthStartup, in Swiss francs | $139/monthSEO plan, in dollars |
| Largest published plan | CHF 149/monthAgence | $549/monthAdvanced plan |
| Additional user | Unlimited seats included in the Agence plan | From $45/month |
| Volumes | ||
| Sites managed | 1 to 10 | 5 to 40 |
| Keywords checked daily | 100 to 1000from the Croissance plan | 500 to 5000 |
| Where the crawl runs | On your computer, under Windows or Linuxyour pages never leave the machine | On the vendor’s servers |
| Connecting your AI assistant | ||
| MCP server | ✓ Included from the free plan | Requires an API subscription: standard through the SEO Business plan, or Trends |
| What an AI request costs | Nothing beyond the subscription | API units, sold in packs of 2 to 20 million |
| What SEO Cartograph does not do | ||
| Analysis of domains you do not ownworldwide keyword and traffic databases | – | ✓ |
| Advertising campaignspaid keywords, competitor ads | – | ✓ |
| Social networkspublishing, scheduling, reporting | – | ✓ |
| Visibility in AI answers | – | ✓from the Starter plan |
| Local business listings | – | ✓Local offer, billed separately |
| What SEO Cartograph does | ||
| Search Console and Analytics in one place | ✓ From CHF 15/month | ✓ |
| Internal links based on your own crawl | ✓ From CHF 15/month | ✓ |
| Inbound link profile | ✓ From CHF 49/month | ✓ |
| White label reports | ✓ Agence plan | ✓ |
| The tool once the subscription ends | The desktop crawler keeps working | Access ends with the subscription |
Pricing and limits recorded on 12 August 2026 from the public pages of both vendors. Amounts are shown in the currency each vendor displays, Swiss francs on one side and dollars on the other, with no conversion applied.
When Semrush remains the right choice
Four needs SEO Cartograph does not cover and does not plan to cover.
Studying a whole market
Estimating a competitor’s traffic, listing the keywords it ranks for, comparing several domains in a sector: all of that requires a worldwide database, built and maintained over years. SEO Cartograph starts from your own Google accounts and your own crawl.
Running advertising
Paid keywords, competitor ads, campaign history: paid search is a discipline of its own and is absent from SEO Cartograph. If your media budget weighs as much as your organic visibility, the suite keeps its value.
Managing content and social
Editorial calendar, publishing to social networks, assisted writing at scale: SEO Cartograph stops at the editor for titles, metas, alt text and headings, which fixes existing pages.
Tracking visibility in AI answers
Measuring how often a brand is quoted in answers from ChatGPT or Google calls for a dedicated survey. SEO Cartograph connects your assistant to your data, which is the opposite task.
What SEO Cartograph does differently
The crawl runs on your side
The crawler installs under Windows or Linux and explores your pages from your machine. The volume crawled depends on no server quota, your pages go nowhere, and the approach fits the revised Swiss data protection act. The free SEO crawler stays usable without a subscription.
MCP is included from the free plan
The MCP server connects Claude or another compatible client to your data, with the tools of your plan. There is nothing extra to buy: the assistant’s requests are paid for by your AI subscription, not by units billed per call. The details are on the SEO MCP page.
The entry price
Startup brings together the crawl, Search Console, Analytics, clusters, client reports and internal links for CHF 15/month. Daily checks of the exact position start at CHF 49/month with Croissance. The full picture is on the pricing page.
A deliberately narrow scope
Four plans, one dashboard, no modules to unlock and no options billed separately. That choice rules out the uses listed above and keeps the rest readable. The building blocks are described on the features page.
Who each one suits
You manage your own sites
One site, a handful of sites, or a client portfolio you hold the Google access for. You want to know what the pages bring in, fix the technical side, keep the internal links in shape and follow positions. SEO Cartograph covers that cycle, and the price follows the number of sites rather than the number of modules.
You study sites you do not own
Prospecting, competitor monitoring, market analysis, auditing a domain without access to its Search Console. Those uses rest on third-party databases that SEO Cartograph does not hold. A suite such as Semrush answers that need better.
Frequently asked questions
Does SEO Cartograph replace Semrush?
How wide is the price gap?
Can I connect my AI assistant to both?
Is position tracking as frequent?
What happens to my work if I stop the subscription?
Where is my data processed?
Try it before you decide
The desktop crawler is free and needs no credit card, up to 500 pages per site. Paid plans open a 14-day trial, cancellable in one click.
Semrush is a registered trademark of its owner. This page is published by Thomas Nedjar and is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by Semrush. The pricing, volumes and terms quoted come from the public pages of both vendors, recorded on 12 August 2026, and may change: the official Semrush pricing prevails for what concerns it.
Choosing between a suite and an SEO tool
Scope decides before price
Comparing two SEO programs on price alone leads to a poor decision. A suite bills access to databases built over years, which let you analyse domains you have no access to. A tool such as SEO Cartograph starts from the opposite end: your Google accounts, your crawl, your pages. If your work is to move forward sites you hold the access for, the worldwide database is of little daily use. If your work is to prospect or study a market, that database is the product.
The real cost of an AI assistant connected to your data
Connecting an AI to an SEO tool changes how you work: the assistant reads Search Console, cross-references it with the crawl and suggests fixes. The billing model matters as much as the feature. With SEO Cartograph the MCP server is included from the free plan and the assistant’s requests are paid for by your AI subscription. Elsewhere each request consumes units bought in advance, which ties the bill to usage. The SEO MCP page describes the tools exposed and how to connect.
What a locally run crawl changes
Running the crawl on your machine lifts two constraints. First the volume: no page quota per month, the limit is your computer. Then confidentiality: the pages explored pass through no external server, which simplifies compliance for a site handling personal data. The trade-off is that software has to be installed rather than everything driven from a browser. The technical detail is on the technical audit page.