KIME vs Semrush: LLM tracking tool comparison

Semrush has the larger dataset and now sits inside Adobe. KIME is the simpler buy if AI visibility is the job, not an add-on to SEO.

Two things changed about Semrush in 2026 that most comparison pages have not caught up with. Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush on 28 April 2026, so Semrush is no longer an independent public company and is already being integrated with Adobe LLM Optimizer. And the plan lineup was rebuilt: there is no longer a plan called Pro, Guru or Business. The current tiers are SEO, Starter, Pro+ and Advanced.

Semrush is also not one AI product but three, sold separately, and understanding which is which is most of this comparison.

What each platform is

Semrush sells AI visibility in three forms. The AI Visibility Toolkit is the self-serve product, available standalone at $99 per month. Semrush One is the bundle combining SEO and AI search. Enterprise AIO is the enterprise tier, sold on a custom quote. Its own positioning line is "Get LLMs to cite your brand."

KIME is a GEO platform built around your prompt set, running daily across up to 10 AI engines, feeding an 8-factor perception model, citation analytics and AWX, an execution layer producing finished articles, outreach and technical fixes.

The short version: Semrush measures the AI market at enormous scale and assembles the product from separately-priced parts. KIME does one job on one bill.

1. Pricing, and what "included" actually means

Semrush

The additions are where the cost lives. Extra seats start at $45 per month. An additional Brand Performance domain beyond the one included is $99 each, with a 14-day cooldown after changing a domain slot. The AI Traffic Dashboard, which is how you see AI referral traffic, lives in the Traffic & Market Toolkit and is a separate subscription at $289 per month. The Content Toolkit is another separate subscription. Log-file AI bot analytics is Enterprise only.

Semrush publishes its own table of which AI-visibility features are included and which are "Extra". Visibility Overview, Brand Performance, Competitor Research, Prompt Research and Position Tracking for AI platforms all sit in the Extra column, requiring Semrush One or the AI Visibility Toolkit.

There is no free trial of the AI Visibility Toolkit. Semrush states plainly: "The AI Visibility Toolkit does not currently offer a free trial. A paid subscription is required."

KIME

Annual billing saves 15%, quarterly 5%. Explorer and Core carry a 7-day free trial.

In short, at 200 tracked prompts the two are close on headline price, €399 against Semrush Advanced at $549 or $455.67 annually. The difference is what else you need to buy. Add AI referral traffic and a second brand to Semrush and you are past $900 a month before seats.

2. Engine coverage, and the gap most buyers miss

Semrush's coverage differs by report, which is easy to miss and matters a lot.

Semrush's Prompt Tracking covers three engines: ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Gemini. No Perplexity, no Claude, no Copilot. Those five missing engines appear only in the separately-sold AI Traffic Dashboard, and there they are referral traffic sources rather than answer engines being prompted.

Two further constraints from Semrush's own documentation: Prompt Tracking is desktop only, and its Volume and Topic data is restricted to 15 named countries.

3. Where Semrush is genuinely ahead

The prompt dataset is the real asset. Semrush sources "billions of real prompts from AI search clickstream data" and states explicitly that "prompt responses are captured from real requests and not via any APIs of LLMs." Its prompt database holds over 317 million prompts and responses. KIME tracks the prompts you define. Semrush can tell you what an entire market is asking.

Geographic and language granularity. Brand Performance supports 68,500 locations and 53 languages. That is more granular than anything KIME offers, and for a global brand it is a real advantage.

SEO and AI in one place. Domain Overview shows unified AI and SEO metrics, and Position Tracking covers Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT and AI Mode together. If your team owns both jobs, that consolidation has genuine value that a pure GEO tool cannot provide.

Scale and durability. FY2025 revenue of $443.6 million, ARR of $471.4 million, over 28 million users, 35% of the Fortune 500, and now Adobe's balance sheet behind it. KIME is a Copenhagen company with a fraction of that. If vendor risk is on your checklist, this is not close.

Published research. The 2026 AI Visibility Index analyses 126 million US AI search prompts across four platforms and 22 industries, free to download and updated monthly. It is a serious contribution and worth reading whichever tool you buy.

Their own honesty is worth crediting too. Semrush states that "no platform can provide exact numbers on visibility" and positions its metrics as "reliable directional signals". That is more candid than most of this category manages.

4. Where KIME is ahead

Engine coverage where it counts. Perplexity, Copilot, Claude, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI are not in Semrush's prompt tracking at any price. KIME reaches all of them.

Sentiment refresh. KIME runs every tracked prompt daily on every plan. Semrush's Brand Performance, which carries sentiment and share of voice, updates weekly, not daily. Its Visibility Overview and Prompt Tracking are daily, so this is specifically a lag on the perception data.

One product, one bill. Unlimited countries, unlimited languages and unlimited brand workspaces on every KIME tier. On Semrush, a second brand costs $99, AI referral traffic costs $289, content optimisation is another subscription, and bot analytics needs Enterprise.

Sentiment resolution. KIME's AI Perception scores eight named factors: Brand Focus, Language Tone, Competitive Position, Endorsements, Source Credibility, Information Recency, Confidence Level and Risk Factors. Semrush reports sentiment as "favorable vs general" mentions.

Execution. AWX produces the article, the outreach email and the FAQ page. Semrush's content optimisation lives in a separate Content Toolkit subscription and is not part of the AI Visibility Toolkit.

Prompt allowances. 25 prompts on the standalone toolkit and 200 even on the $549 Advanced plan, against 200 on KIME Core at €399.

Summary comparison

In short, Semrush is the better platform if AI visibility is one of several things you need. KIME is the better product if AI visibility is the thing you need.

When to choose Semrush

You need SEO and AI visibility in one tool. Keywords, backlinks, site audit, position tracking and AI visibility on one login and one invoice. KIME does none of the SEO half and is not trying to.

You operate in many specific locations. 68,500 locations and 53 languages is genuinely deep, and city-level tracking is something KIME does not offer.

You want market-level prompt data. 317 million real clickstream-sourced prompts tells you what a category asks, not just what you thought to ask.

Vendor scale matters to your procurement. Adobe ownership, 28 million users, and 4,031 G2 reviews against our handful.

You already pay for Semrush. The AI Visibility Toolkit at $99 on top of a subscription you hold is the cheapest route into AI visibility available to you.

When to choose KIME

You need Perplexity, Copilot or Claude tracked. Semrush's prompt tracking does not reach them at any price.

You want sentiment daily, not weekly. Brand Performance is Semrush's weekly report and it is the one carrying sentiment and share of voice.

You track more than one brand or more than one market. Unlimited workspaces and countries on every KIME tier, against $99 per additional Semrush domain.

If you want results. KIME’s agents carry out GEO-optimized tasks ranging from content optimization to third-party outreach emails to technical optimization of your website.

Technical Report Overview. Using an AI site audit, KIME reviews your website and checks for technical optimizations to ensure your SEO and GEO visibility are top-notch. The AI site audit runs checks across all subpages throughout the entire website, examining them for: content optimization, page identity and metadata, crawler access and permissions, and discoverability....

You want to try before you buy. Semrush offers no trial of the AI Visibility Toolkit.

The matching point of fairness: KIME has no keyword research, no backlink analysis and no technical site audit. If those are core to your role, KIME does not replace Semrush and would sit alongside it.

The complementary case

This is the pairing that makes the most sense of any in our comparison set. Semrush covers the SEO half and market-level prompt demand; KIME covers daily multi-engine brand tracking, sentiment scoring and execution. Many teams already pay for Semrush for reasons unrelated to AI, and adding a focused GEO tool costs less than adding Semrush's AI Traffic Dashboard, extra domains and Content Toolkit.

If you are choosing one, the test is whether your team's remit is search generally or AI answers specifically.

Frequently asked questions

Did Adobe buy Semrush?

Yes. Adobe completed its acquisition of Semrush on 28 April 2026. Semrush states there are no immediate changes to services, contracts or billing, and it is being integrated with Adobe LLM Optimizer. It is no longer an independently listed public company.

How much does Semrush's AI visibility product cost?

The AI Visibility Toolkit is $99 per month standalone, covering 25 tracked prompts and 1 domain. Bundled plans run $139 to $549 per month. Additional brand domains cost $99 each, extra seats start at $45, and AI referral traffic requires the separate $289 Traffic & Market Toolkit.

Which AI engines does Semrush track?

Prompt Tracking covers three: ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode and Gemini. Brand Performance adds Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. Claude, Copilot, Grok, DeepSeek and Meta AI appear only in the separate AI Traffic Dashboard as referral sources. KIME supports 10 engines as prompt-tracked platforms.

How often does Semrush update AI visibility data?

Visibility Overview, Competitor Research and Prompt Research update daily on a rolling basis, and Prompt Tracking updates daily. Brand Performance, which carries sentiment and share of voice, updates weekly. KIME runs every tracked prompt daily on every plan.

Does Semrush offer a free trial of its AI visibility toolkit?

No. Semrush states directly that the AI Visibility Toolkit does not offer a free trial and a paid subscription is required. KIME offers a 7-day trial on both Explorer and Core.

Does Semrush still have Pro, Guru and Business plans?

No. The current lineup is SEO at $139, Starter at $199, Pro+ at $299 and Advanced at $549 per month. Any page quoting Pro at $139.95, Guru at $249.95 or Business at $499.95 is describing a discontinued structure.

Can Semrush track my brand in multiple countries?

Yes, and this is a strength. Brand Performance supports 68,500 locations and 53 languages. Note that Prompt Tracking's volume and topic data is limited to 15 named countries, and tracking is desktop only.

Can I use KIME and Semrush together?

Yes, and it is a common setup. Semrush covers keywords, backlinks, site audit and market-level prompt demand. KIME covers daily multi-engine tracking, sentiment scoring and content execution. The two meter different things.

Sources. Verified 21 August 2026: semrush.com/pricing, semrush.com/kb/1493, semrush.com/kb/1503, semrush.com/kb/1595, semrush.com/kb/1607, semrush.com/kb/1626, semrush.com/kb/1121, Adobe's acquisition completion release, Semrush FY2025 results, g2.com/products/semrush/reviews, kime.ai/pricing, kime.ai/integrations, kime.ai/ai-perception.

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