Hex vs Semrush
Semrush is a broad marketing platform with SEO, advertising, social and market research toolkits. Hex focuses on SEO for agencies and adds a desktop crawler, a WordPress plugin and a Claude connector.
| Feature | Semrush | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| Domain overview and Authority Score | Yes | Yes |
| Keyword research with intent and clusters | Yes | Yes |
| Keyword gap and backlink gap | Yes | Yes |
| Backlinks with new and lost history | Yes | Yes |
| Toxic link review and disavow file | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk domain analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Site audit | Yes | Yes |
| Position tracking | Yes | Google and Bing |
| SERP volatility | Yes | Yes |
| Topic research | Yes | Yes |
| Log file analysis | Yes | In Hex Desktop |
| AI visibility in AI assistants | Yes | ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity |
| Map rank heatmaps | Yes | Yes |
| Push listings to directories | Yes | Not yet (audit and tracking only) |
| Competitor traffic | Clickstream-based | Estimates and trend |
| AI writing assistant | Yes | Not included (use Claude through the connector) |
| Advertising and social toolkits | Yes | No |
| White-label reports and client portal | Yes | Yes |
| Embeddable lead-gen audit widget | Yes | Yes |
Semrush details are from its public website and independent reviews, checked October 2026. Features change; check Semrush’s site for the current list. Semrush is a trademark of its owner, and Hex is not affiliated with it.
Also in Hex
- A desktop crawler for Mac and Windows with a link flow map
- The Hex SEO WordPress plugin, which applies crawler fixes after a dry run
- Change tracking and uptime monitoring
- Hex as an MCP connector for Claude
- Paid lookups priced before they run, with stored results reused
Which should you choose?
Semrush may suit you better if you also need advertising, social media or clickstream market research in the same tool.
Hex fits if you want SEO tools built around client sites, with a crawler, a WordPress plugin and reports in one workspace.
Request accessOne workspace for every client site.
Tell us about your agency and the sites you look after, and we will send you an invitation.
Hex is in private beta: access is by invitation.