In a time when SEO is rapidly changing and subscriptions to SEO software are ramping up, which SEO tool is the best option between SE Ranking and Moz?
With yet another comparison on the best SEO software available, this guide will help you narrow down to the perfect tool to enhance your search engine rankings and performance.
Read about the good, the bad, and the things that stand out for each tool to support your decision while comparing.
Key Differences To Help You Choose
Here are the main differences between SE Ranking and Moz summarized. But before you learn more about the tools, know your requirements and line up to see which one of the best SEO tools for agencies can be the perfect match for your needs.
Reasons To Choose SE Ranking
- Has a larger keyword database than Moz
- Provides Traffic estimates for domains
- Tool usage limits are more relaxed than those of Moz
Reasons To Choose Moz
- Easy to use for all
- Offers a longer free trial (30 days)
- Has a larger link database than SE Ranking
| Parameters | SE Ranking | Moz |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Starts from $65/mo | Starts from $49/mo |
| Available Discount | 20% | 20% |
| Free trial | 14-days | 30-days |
| Overall rating | 4.8 | 4.3 |
Please note that the above ratings of the platforms are a mix of our experience of using these SEO platforms and cross-references from the G2 ratings of both platforms.
SE Ranking Overview
SE Ranking is a top SEO tool that is popular amongst users for its practicality and the price that it offers for its subscription.
Differing from premium SEO software like Semrush and Ahrefs, SE Ranking can offer you equivalent benefits for just $65/mo. As a top Semrush alternative, SE Ranking can be your go-to SEO software for managing a minimum of 5 projects and 500 keyword tracking monthly.
Feature-wise, SE Ranking offers all the standard tools you need, like a rank tracker, on-page SEO checker, website audit, competitor analysis, and backlink checker. But what adds up to SE Ranking’s popularity is not just the 5.3B keyword database, but also new tools to analyze AI overviews, and local seo marketing software.
The higher customer ratings and a 14-day free trial are part of the bonus you get when signing up for SE Ranking. Read my review on SE Ranking, where I talk more about my experience in detail.
SE Ranking Pros
- Offers a 14-day free trial
- Has a 5.3B keyword database
- Affordable subscription
- Easy-to-use interface
- Great customer support
SE Ranking Cons
- The base plan can feel limited to some
- Backlink checker irregular update
- The steep learning curve for beginners
Moz Overview
Founded in 2003, Moz is one of the oldest SEO software tools to exist. It is also a trusted source to check the domain authority of a website and get information about backlinks, ranking keywords, top linking pages, and a lot more!
Moz Pro—the relevant product from Moz’s suite of 6 flagship products—offers a subscription from just $49/mo but allows only 1 site tracking. This might be the first critical differentiating factor when choosing SE Ranking over Moz.
The keyword research, reporting features, and rank tracking features also seem to be missing if the base subscription plans of SE Ranking and Moz are compared.
Moz Pros
- Allows a 30-day free trial
- Credible domain authority metrics
- Offers local SEO features
- Offers 24×7 support
- Powerful AI overview analysis
Moz Cons
- Prices and limits are restrictive for beginners
- Users suggest the interface feels a little old
- Seat limit can be an issue
SE Rankings Vs Moz Features
To further support your choice between SE Ranking and Moz, here’s a breakdown of the technical features and their availability.
| Parameters Of Comparison | SE Ranking | Moz |
|---|---|---|
| User seats | 1 to 5 | 1 to 3 |
| Competitor tracking | Up to 20 | Up to 100 |
| Keyword rank tracking | Up to 15,000 | Up to 3,000 |
| Backlink queries/month | Up to 90,000 | Up to 70,000 |
| Historical data | 3 months of available data | – |
| AI Assistance | ✅ | ✅ |
| API Access | ✅ | ✅ |
Note: Check out the limits of the tools most useful to you carefully before using an SEO platform, such as SE Ranking and Moz.
1. User Interface
Using both SEO tools seems like a no-brainer, but again, this truly depends on your experience with SEO software and familiarity with specific tools.
SE Ranking User Interface
SE Ranking offers a familiar interface to someone using Semrush or Ahrefs, but it is not as intuitive as either. Compared to Moz, I felt the SE Ranking dashboard interface to be more intuitive.
I like how it follows a bold yet simplistic color scheme and structure and helps with greater attention to detail in the actual data displayed.
Moz User Interface
Amidst a mix of user reviews about the Moz user interface, I feel the difference in opinions stems from familiarity with other tools. This makes the views about the user interface a bit subjective.
While the user interface seems very basic and easy to use, since I’ve been using other tools like Semrush and Ahrefs for a long time, I find the interface of Moz a little too basic. But it might just be great for you!
2. Competitor tracking
SE Ranking and Moz provide value in competitor research and tracking differently. One has a proprietary metric, while the other visualizes data and insights creatively..
SE Ranking Competitor Tracking Features
SE Ranking’s differentiation of competitor insights is quite unique, and it was really easy to get an overview of the listed competitors and understand their performance.
You can even track their ad performance with their PPC research feature. An edge that SE Ranking has over Moz is the availability of historical data up to 2020. Starting from the basic plan, you can conduct 50 URL checks per day on up to 5 projects.
Moz Competitor Tracking Features
Moz’s competitor research offers a unique insight into the competitor with the Domain Authority score, and also ranks your top competitors according to the DA.
DA essentially means how well your domain will rank in Google based on a machine learning algorithm of link metrics from Moz. You can also compare your competitors individually to find keyword gaps, overlaps, and detailed ranking distribution.
3. Keyword Rank Tracking
You will now see a clear distinction between SEO software and rank tracking. With more generous limits and an intuitive display of results, understanding the data with SE Ranking becomes much easier.
SE Ranking Rank Tracker
I like how SE Ranking’s rank-tracking features are so elaborate. Without comparing to Moz, this might just be one of the best-looking interfaces for keyword rank tracking.
In terms of limits, SE Ranking allows tracking 500 to 15,000 keywords daily, depending on the plan chosen. For every main keyword and every suggested keyword, you can see SERP features, allowing you to understand which medium this keyword’s ranking belongs to.
SE Ranking also allows you to go beyond Google and track Yahoo’s rankings. Furthermore, every tracked keyword can display detailed information, including live results, cached copy, SERP competitors, and an On-page SEO checker that allows you to analyze how well a URL is optimized.
Moz Rank Tracker
Moz also offers features to identify gaps, enabling you to build a unique strategy for both desktop and mobile search results.
While not as visually appealing as SE Ranking, Moz does well in displaying the ranking of search visibility and the recent performance of the keyword, similar to what GSC does.
It shows how the rankings have improved, with a graph comparing them to the competition, as part of the main dashboard.
Just like SE Ranking, you can also track keyword positions for both desktop and mobile devices to inform better optimization strategies.
4. Backlink Checker Tools
A great way to understand more about the backlink profile and
SE Ranking Backlink Checker Tools
As quoted, “SE Ranking allows you to check backlinks from all possible angles,” but does it stand true to the statement?
The SE Ranking Backlink checker tool lets you analyze domains with subdomains, exact URLs, and domains without subdomains. In a very detailed manner, you can view the domain trust score, page trust score, referring domains, and number of backlinks to the home page or other pages as primary details.
Furthermore, you can also determine the top anchors used, domain trust range, and countries from which most of the backlinks are coming, for that website.
A unique insight that SE Ranking offers is that it displays a toxicity score for backlinks, categorized as High, Medium, Low, and Non-Toxic. This metric indicates the bifurcation of poor-quality links that can negatively impact a website’s rankings.
Moz Backlink Checker Tools
Moz has one of the strongest Backlink checker tools that you can use as an SEO. It allows you to check the strength of the backlinks of a project, supported by its Domain Authority metric and other metrics, such as spam score, page authority, etc.
With over 45.5 trillion links from 1 billion domains, Moz is undoubtedly one of the best SEO software programs for backlink analysis.
For a step-by-step guide on how to find competitor backlinks, ideally using Moz, refer to this official Moz guide.
5. Historical data
Historical data helps understand the market trends and performance, and eventually helps to know how the dynamics change for a project, competitor, or keyword.
But, in this context, since Moz is older than SE Ranking, would it mean that it has more historical data to offer?
SE Ranking Historical Data
Regarding the historical data of SE Ranking, it provides insights dating back to 2020. Given the changed dynamics of businesses since 2020, this is a good year to establish a baseline for analyzing how the project has evolved.
Accessing the historical data is simple; just visit the competitive research tab, click on overview, and select the year and month, as stated in the image above.
Moz Historical Data
The Moz historical data also dates back 5 years, but there is no clear mention of this in any pricing plan. This is in response to a community request that the Moz Q&A be part of the Moz community.
However, the Moz historical data also varies depending on the tool used. For example, the Moz campaign performance metrics display insights of up to 90 days, and archived campaigns up to 12 update cycles.
6. AI Assistance
With the introduction of AI, both these tools bring out new features that can help with detailed analysis and provide unique insights.
SE Ranking AI Features
You can track the most tricky AI overviews using SE Ranking, and analyze how AIO was for a particular day for the project you are working on.
Apart from that, you can also make use of an AI content writer, which takes into consideration the search intent, main keyword, target audience, tone of voice, and point of view, and helps generate an optimized article post in 1 click.
Moz AI Features
With Moz AI, you can gain a clear understanding of a keyword’s search intent and potential.
This Moz AI feature provides a dynamic response that helps you understand the primary purpose of a specific Google search by highlighting the search theme.
Comparing Pricing – SE Ranking vs Moz
Regarding the affordability of the tools, SE Ranking offers a better deal, even though Moz may be offering a lower price for a subscription. It’s the feature availability, project limit, and the tool limits that make the difference between the two.
SE Ranking Pricing
| Plan | Best For | Free Trial | Monthly Billing Price | Annual Billing Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | SEO Professionals | 14-days | $65/mo | $52/mo |
| Pro | For agencies or small teams | 14-days | $119/mo | $95.20/mo |
| Business | Bigger agencies/enterprises | 14-days | $259/mo | $207.20/mo |
What sets SE Ranking subscription apart is the ability to build a custom plan according to monthly needs. For example, from the PRO plan onwards, you get the ability to increase the standard plan limits for various tools.
This allows for better utilization of your subscription and prevents you from feeling stuck in a plan where you either overpay and underuse or vice versa.
When subscribing for a longer term, ensure you opt for a full year, as it offers a straight 20% discount on all plans. Please note that you are not eligible for any refund for a paid subscription that is unused.
Moz Pricing
| Plan | Best For | Free Trial | Monthly Billing Price | Annual Billing Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (1 website) | Someone with only 1 website requirement | 30 days | $49/mo | $39/mo |
| Standard | For small businesses | 30 days | $99/mo | $79/mo |
| Medium | Most popular for mid-scale businesses | 30 days | $179/mo | $143/mo |
| Large | For larger businesses | 30 days | $299/mo | $239/mo |
Moz prices its subscription plan much lower, starting at $49 per month, and offers four options to subscribe to.
Also Read:
Conclusion: Choose SE Ranking For More Usage at a Lower Price
All in all, my comparison points to a clear advantage for SE Ranking over Moz. While this might sound surprising, it’s not. SE Ranking has steadily gained popularity and is becoming increasingly popular among many.
The smart pricing, feature offering, and their limits make SE Ranking a compelling choice in comparison to Moz. It offers a few free tools as a demo, but to truly experience all the features, you should take advantage of the 14-day free trial from SE Ranking.
To do one better, sign up for a free trial of Moz too, and test out both these tools simultaneously to check the one that works best for you!
