How Long Is the Semrush Free Trial, and How Do You Cancel It Before You Are Charged?
By Ashikur Rahman18 min readQuick answer: The Semrush free trial is 7 days, on the SEO, Starter and Pro+ plans, and Semrush's Knowledge Base says each toolkit trial can be used once per account. There is no standard 14-day, 30-day or 60-day trial; the 14-day pages that exist are partner offers, and Semrush says extensions are "limited" and handled by support. The trial needs a physical card, and if you forget it, it converts to a monthly plan at $139.95, $199 or $299 that is not eligible for the money-back guarantee. Cancel early: the cancellation needs a confirmation click within 24 hours, and Semrush gives unpaid trial cancellations 3 business days to take effect, so send it at least three business days before the trial ends.
Seven days, on every plan Semrush lets you try
Semrush's Subscription plans and Toolkits page in its Knowledge Base is the clearest statement of the rule: "Most Semrush toolkits include a 7-day free trial, so you can explore the tools before purchasing a subscription." The same page lists what is currently available: the SEO + AI Search plans and the Traffic & Market, Local, Content, Social, Advertising and AI PR toolkits all carry a "7-day free trial available for all plans". The one product with a longer trial is the Agency Partners Platform add-on, at 14 days, and that is a listing service for agencies rather than the SEO tools most people mean.
The pricing page says the same thing in its footer, "Try Semrush free for seven days. Cancel anytime.", and puts a "Try for free" button on three plans. On 28 October 2026 the fourth plan, Advanced, showed no price and no trial button at all, only "Custom" and "Request demo". In September the same card had a monthly price of $549. If you were planning to trial Advanced, that route has closed.
| Plan | Monthly price | Annual, per month | Free trial | What day eight costs if you forget |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | $139.95 | $117.33 | 7 days | $139.95, monthly |
| Starter (SEO + AI Search) | $199 | $165.17 | 7 days | $199, monthly |
| Pro+ (SEO + AI Search) | $299 | $248.17 | 7 days | $299, monthly |
| Advanced | Custom | Custom | None, "Request demo" | Not applicable |
| Free | $0 | $0 | Not needed, no card | Nothing |
The last column is the one to remember. The Knowledge Base says trials of standalone products "are available for monthly subscriptions", so a trial you forget converts at the monthly price, not the cheaper annual one. The SEO plan's monthly price was $139 when CriticNest read the same page on 19 September 2026; it is $139.95 now. Prices on this page are what Semrush displayed on 28 October 2026.
Disclosure: CriticNest joined Semrush's affiliate program through Impact on 25 September 2026. Semrush pays $10 per trial and $200 per subscription sale on a 120-day cookie, according to its own program page read on 3 August 2026. The Semrush trial buttons on this page are tracking links, so CriticNest earns a $10 commission if you start a trial after clicking one and a $200 commission if that trial becomes a paid subscription, at no extra cost to you. This article tells you how to cancel before you pay, which works against the larger of those two payments, and that advice stays. The Knowledge Base, refund policy and cancellation links are plain links. Every rule and price below was read from Semrush's own pages on 28 October 2026. Full policy: affiliate disclosure.
Is there a 14-day, 30-day or 60-day Semrush trial?
Not as a standard offer. Google suggests "semrush free trial 30 days", "60 days" and "14 day trial" as you type, which tells you people go looking for them, but none of those lengths appears anywhere in Semrush's own trial rules. The Knowledge Base answers the question directly in its FAQ: "Can I upgrade or extend my trial? Trial upgrade and extension options are limited. Contact Customer Support to check what may be available for your account." That is the whole official position. It does not promise an extension, and it does not rule one out.
The 14-day trials you see advertised do exist, but as partner pages. Semrush hosts landing pages for some of its affiliates on its own domain, such as one titled "Semrush Special Offer: 14-day PRO Trial" and another titled "Semrush PRO: 14-day FREE trial". Each is tied to a specific partner. They are why so many review sites promise you two weeks. CriticNest's affiliate account has no 14-day page, so the trial button on this page starts the standard 7-day trial, and this article will not pretend otherwise. CriticNest has not tested whether either partner page actually starts a 14-day trial at checkout for a new account, so treat the page title as the partner's claim, not a confirmed term.
The 30-day and 60-day versions are older. The sites that still rank for those searches mostly say, in their own words, that the longer trials were discontinued and replaced by 14 days. Semrush itself publishes nothing about either length today, so the honest answer is that a 30-day or 60-day Semrush trial is not something you can find on Semrush's own pages in October 2026.
Start the 7-day Semrush trialTracking link. The standard 7-day trial, once per account, physical card required.
Five ways to use Semrush for longer than seven days
If seven days is too short for what you need to test, Semrush documents a few other routes on its own pages. None of them is a longer version of the paid trial, and each has a catch, but together they cover most of the reasons people go looking for a 30-day trial.
| Route | How long | What it costs | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No end date | $0, "No credit card required" | "1 demo project and 10 reports per day" |
| Separate toolkit trials | 7 days each | $0 if cancelled | Each toolkit once per account, so the SEO trial is still 7 days |
| Ask support for an extension | Whatever support offers | $0 if granted | Semrush calls the options "limited" and publishes no length |
| Semrush for Education | 3 months | $0 | Only through "eligible accredited colleges and universities" |
| Annual plan with the refund window | 7 days to decide after paying | $1,407.96 upfront for SEO | You pay first, and only a 12-month purchase qualifies |
The free plan is the real long trial. It never expires and needs no card. Ten reports a day is enough to check a handful of keywords or one competitor at a time. If your question is whether Semrush's data looks right for your niche, the free plan answers it slowly but at no risk.
Toolkit trials run separately. The Knowledge Base says "You can activate trials for different toolkits separately and at different times." That means you could try the SEO tools this week and the Local or Content toolkit next month, each for seven days. It does not let you restart the SEO trial, because "Each toolkit trial can be activated once per account."
The annual refund route is not a free trial. Semrush's refund policy offers "a one-time, 7-day money-back guarantee" on initial subscriptions of twelve months or longer bought on Semrush.com with a card. Buying the annual SEO plan at $1,407.96 as your first purchase and asking for a refund inside seven days gives you a week to decide, but you pay first and wait for the money: Semrush says an approved refund is processed "within 30 calendar days". Some articles suggest stacking this on top of the free trial for 21 days. The Knowledge Base closes that door for a converted trial, because the trial converts to a monthly plan and monthly plans are not refundable. Whether a person who cancels the trial and then buys an annual plan as a separate first purchase qualifies is something Semrush does not spell out.
What the trial does not let you do
The trial is close to the full product, but not identical, and four limits catch people.
- No exports. The Knowledge Base says "exporting data is disabled during the trial period", and that this applies "even if exports are normally included in the paid version of the plan." If your plan was to pull a keyword list during the trial and cancel, it will not work.
- Once per account. The billing FAQ is blunt: "you can use the option to get a free trial only once. All the following attempts will lead to the purchase of a monthly plan, and you will be charged accordingly." If you tried Semrush years ago on the same account, the button you click today may start a paid plan.
- A physical card. Semrush says it does not accept virtual cards for the trial, and lists "all major physical credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and UnionPay."
- A $1 authorization. When you enter the card, Semrush asks your bank for "a $1 (or an equivalent of a $1) authorization to verify that the card exists". It says this "is not a charge" and will "eventually" disappear from your statement. The pricing page adds that the amount is "immediately refunded". If you see $1 after cancelling, that is almost always this check, not a bill.
One more detail from the Knowledge Base: if you add colleagues to an account, "Added users receive 7-day free access to all toolkits included in the main account subscription, except the Traffic & Market Toolkit." That is a second seven days for a second person, not for you.
How to cancel a Semrush free trial, step by step
Semrush cancels trials through the same form it uses for paid plans. Its Canceling Your Semrush Account page sets out the process, and every step below comes from that page.
- Log in to the account that holds the trial. Semrush says "You must be logged in to the Semrush account associated with the subscription or trial when submitting the request." A form sent while logged out, or from another account, may be denied.
- Open the Cancellation Form. Go to Subscription Info, find "Recurring: Active", and follow the "Contact us" link. You can also open the form directly while logged in.
- Choose what to cancel. The form lists your toolkits. To end everything, select "All Semrush subscriptions". For a Pro, Guru or Business plan, the names Semrush now calls legacy, it says to select "SEO Toolkit".
- Answer every question. Semrush's policy warns that "failure to answer all questions in the cancellation request form, may result in the denial of your cancellation request".
- Click the link in the confirmation email. This is the step people miss. The link "is valid for 24 hours", and "If you do not confirm your cancellation within 24 hours, it will not be processed, and billing will continue." Check spam if it does not arrive.
- Check the status. Back on Subscription Info, "Recurring: Inactive" means it worked. "If the status still shows Recurring: Active, your subscription is still set to renew."
If you started a trial of an App Center app rather than a toolkit, the route is different: Semrush says to go to the My Apps page, open the app's settings and click "Cancel trial". If you cannot log in at all, Semrush asks you to contact support from the email address on the account.
Cancelling does not lock you out. Semrush says that after cancelling a subscription or trial "you will still be able to access Semrush on a free-level account", so the free plan's ten reports a day carry on.
Try Semrush free for 7 daysTracking link. Set a reminder for three business days before it ends.
Why day seven is too late to cancel
Most guides say "cancel before the trial ends". Semrush's own documents describe a process that takes longer than one click, and three timings stack up.
| Step | Semrush's wording | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm the request | Link "valid for 24 hours"; without it "billing will continue" | Knowledge Base, canceling page |
| Cancellation takes effect | "for unpaid trial or free subscriptions, within 3 business days of receipt of your request" | Cancellation and Refund Policy |
| Confirmation from Semrush | "within 3 business days after receipt of your properly submitted cancellation request" | Cancellation and Refund Policy |
| Trial ends | "your first payment will be charged automatically at the end of the trial period unless you cancel beforehand" | Cancellation and Refund Policy |
Read together, those lines leave a gap. A cancellation sent on day six, confirmed on day seven, still has up to three business days to take effect, and the charge falls due when the trial ends. Semrush's Cancellation and Refund Policy does not say what happens to a trial that ends while a properly submitted cancellation is still being processed. It may well be honoured. The policy simply does not promise it, and a trial converted to a monthly plan cannot be refunded under the standard terms.
The safe reading, and it is an inference from Semrush's wording rather than a rule Semrush publishes, is to count back three business days from the day your trial ends and submit the form no later than that, clicking the confirmation link the same day. Weekends do not count as business days, so the start day matters. A trial started on a Monday ends the following Monday, which means submitting by the Wednesday of the first week. A trial started on a Thursday ends the following Thursday, which leaves until the Monday in between. Then check that Subscription Info says "Recurring: Inactive" before the trial ends, and keep the confirmation email.
Cancelling early has a possible cost. Semrush says that "After canceling your subscription or trial, you will still be able to access Semrush on a free-level account", and it does not say whether the remaining trial days stay open once a cancellation goes through. Assume they may not, and plan to finish the work you came for before you send the form.
What happens if you forget to cancel
The trial becomes a monthly subscription, and the first payment goes through at the standard monthly rate for the plan you picked. The Knowledge Base says so directly: "If you do not cancel your trial before it ends, the trial will automatically convert to a paid subscription, and you will be charged according to the subscription and billing terms you agreed to when starting the trial."
That payment is not refundable under the standard terms. The canceling page says "Payments resulting from a trial of a standalone product that converts to a paid subscription are not eligible for the standard 7-day money-back guarantee", and explains why: trials are monthly, while the money-back guarantee "applies only to subscriptions with a commitment of 12 months or longer." A forgotten SEO trial costs $139.95, Starter $199 and Pro+ $299, and the most you can do afterwards is cancel so that the second month does not follow.
If it has already happened, cancel at once through the same form, so the plan does not renew again. You can ask support about the charge, but Semrush's standard terms exclude it, and Semrush publishes nothing about exceptions, so do not count on getting it back.
For the monthly plan the trial converts into, that is the end of the cost: Semrush lets you "cancel your subscription at any time", and a monthly plan stops at the end of the month you have paid for. The full Semrush plan comparison sets out what each tier includes if you decide to keep one.
Can you get a refund from Semrush after the trial?
Only in one situation: an initial purchase of twelve months or longer, bought on Semrush.com with a credit card, refunded on request within seven days. Monthly subscriptions, renewals and converted trials are outside the money-back guarantee. Semrush's refund policy calls it "a one-time, 7-day money-back guarantee", and adds two conditions that trip people.
First, cancelling is not the same as asking for a refund. "Canceling your subscription does not automatically result in a refund." If you want both, Semrush says you "must explicitly state that you are requesting a refund in the additional comments field of the Cancellation Form." Leave that field empty and the cancellation goes through without the refund.
Second, the money takes time. An approved refund is processed "within 30 calendar days after receiving your written request", to the original payment method. Support may ask for "transaction details, the billing date, or the last four digits of the card used."
| Situation | Refund under Semrush's standard terms? |
|---|---|
| Trial cancelled and confirmed in time | Nothing to refund, no charge |
| Forgotten trial, converted to monthly | No |
| Monthly plan bought directly | No |
| Annual plan, first purchase, asked within 7 days in the comment field | Yes, processed within 30 calendar days |
| Annual renewal | No |
| Bought through a reseller or with a signed agreement | Standard policy does not apply; your agreement governs |
Should you start the trial or stay on the free plan?
Start the trial when you already know what you will check in four days. Seven days is enough to run a site audit, compare your domain against two or three competitors and see whether the keyword data for your market matches what you know about it. It is not enough to learn the tool from scratch, and with exports switched off, it is not a way to collect data for later.
Stay on the free plan when the question is "do I need Semrush at all". For a one-person site the answer is often no, and CriticNest's case for that is in whether Semrush is overkill for a one-person website. If the issue is price rather than features, Semrush alternatives under $50 a month covers the cheaper tools, and Semrush against Ahrefs for freelancers covers the obvious rival.
If you are deciding between the SEO plan and the AI tiers, trial the tier you would actually buy. The trial converts to the plan you chose, so starting on Pro+ to see everything and forgetting costs $299 rather than $139.95. What the Starter and Pro+ AI layer adds is set out in what Semrush One costs.
And if you would buy annually anyway, the annual SEO plan at $1,407.96 is $271.44 less than twelve months at $139.95, which comes to $1,679.40. The trial cannot give you that price, since it converts to monthly, so a buyer who is already sure may do better to use the trial to decide, cancel it, and then buy the annual plan. Whether that annual purchase still counts as an "initial" purchase for the seven-day refund window after a trial on the same account is something Semrush does not spell out, so treat the refund as uncertain on that route.
Compare Semrush plans and start a trialTracking link. Trials convert to the monthly price of the plan you choose.
The short version
The Semrush free trial is 7 days on the SEO, Starter and Pro+ plans, once per account, with exports switched off and a physical card required. The 14-day offers are partner pages, the 30-day and 60-day ones are not on Semrush's own pages, and Semrush says any extension is "limited" and goes through support. To leave without paying, submit the Cancellation Form while logged in, click the 24-hour confirmation link, and check for "Recurring: Inactive", at least three business days before the trial ends, because Semrush gives unpaid trial cancellations 3 business days to take effect. Forget, and you pay a monthly price of $139.95, $199 or $299 that the standard refund policy does not cover.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Semrush free trial?
Seven days. Semrush's Knowledge Base says "Most Semrush toolkits include a 7-day free trial", and on 28 October 2026 the pricing page offered it on the SEO, Starter and Pro+ plans. Advanced showed no trial, only "Request demo". The only 14-day trial Semrush lists itself is for the Agency Partners Platform add-on, a listing service for agencies.
Is there a 30-day Semrush free trial?
Not on Semrush's own pages. Its Knowledge Base lists 7-day trials for every SEO plan and says extension options are "limited" and handled by Customer Support. Some affiliate partners have Semrush-hosted pages advertising 14 days. The 30-day and 60-day trials that older articles mention are not offered anywhere Semrush publishes its trial rules.
Can I extend my Semrush trial?
Possibly, but only by asking. The Knowledge Base says "Trial upgrade and extension options are limited. Contact Customer Support to check what may be available for your account." Semrush publishes no extension length. You can also trial other toolkits separately at different times, but each toolkit trial works once per account.
Does the Semrush free trial need a credit card?
Yes. Semrush asks for a physical credit card and does not accept virtual cards. It places a $1 authorization to check the card, which it says "is not a charge" and will disappear from your statement. The free plan is the only way to use Semrush with no card; it gives 1 project and 10 reports a day.
How do I cancel my Semrush free trial?
Log in, open Subscription Info, click "Contact us" next to "Recurring: Active" and complete every question on the Cancellation Form, choosing "All Semrush subscriptions" to end everything. Then click the link in the confirmation email within 24 hours, or the cancellation is not processed. Check that Subscription Info now shows "Recurring: Inactive".
When should I cancel the Semrush trial to avoid being charged?
At least three business days before it ends. Semrush's refund policy says unpaid trial cancellations take effect "within 3 business days of receipt of your request", and the trial charges automatically when it ends. Semrush does not say what happens if processing runs past that point, so count back three working days from the end date and confirm the same day.
What happens if I forget to cancel the Semrush trial?
It converts to a monthly subscription for the plan you chose: $139.95 for SEO, $199 for Starter or $299 for Pro+ on 28 October 2026. Semrush says payments from a converted trial "are not eligible for the standard 7-day money-back guarantee". Cancel straight away so it does not renew a second month.
Why did Semrush charge me $1?
It is almost always the card check. Semrush's billing FAQ says it requests "a $1 (or an equivalent of a $1) authorization to verify that the card exists" and that the transaction "is not a charge" and will "eventually" disappear from your statement. If a $1 line stays for weeks, contact your bank or Semrush support with the last four card digits.
Can I get a refund from Semrush?
Only on a first purchase of twelve months or longer, made on Semrush.com by card and requested within seven days. Monthly plans, renewals and converted trials are excluded. You must write that you want a refund in the comments field of the Cancellation Form, and an approved refund is processed within 30 calendar days.
Can I use the Semrush trial twice?
No. Semrush says "you can use the option to get a free trial only once", and that later attempts "will lead to the purchase of a monthly plan, and you will be charged accordingly." Each toolkit has its own one-time trial, so a Local or Content trial later is possible, but not a second SEO trial on the same account.
Transparency: every rule, price and quotation in this article was read on 28 October 2026 from Semrush's pricing page, its Knowledge Base pages on subscriptions, cancellation and billing, its Cancellation and Refund Policy and its trial landing page. The two 14-day partner pages were read by title and text only; CriticNest did not start a trial on them. Search demand was read from Google's autocomplete suggestions, with no search-volume figures, because none were available for this article. Where Semrush publishes nothing, such as what happens to a trial that ends during cancellation processing, this article says so rather than guessing. CriticNest earns $10 per trial and $200 per subscription through the Semrush tracking links, as set out in the disclosure above.
