Semrush Reviews 1,303

I accidentally signed up for a subscription at a super high rate 289 euros per month! I sent an email to their support immediately asking to cancel and refund, as it was a super confusing user interference and I don't even need the service, and felt tricked into signing up on the subscription. They refused to refund and referred to their refund policy, even though I explained the situations several times. Super bad customer experience and watch out so you are not paying anything accidentally.

I can see multiple people mentioned this. Do you really want to build your revenue on tricking people into subscribing...

Was way more better back in 2024, 2025

The prices are too much to bear now just for a tool.

Scam company using tricky flow for subscription trial.

Edit: I was charged and I'm unable to get a refund for a service that I didn't use. You refund policy is misleading, the infinite number of people complaining are the proof that the way you work is unethical. I requested charge back from my bank and I will file a complaint with the consumer protection association of my country.

You can check the details on ticket number #101862548

BEWARE: Semrush Auto-Charging Scam (Deceptive Billing)

I signed up for Semrush PRO 7-day FREE trial expecting

to be charged $139.95/month after the trial ends.

What actually happened:

✅ I approved mandate for: $139.95/month

❌ Semrush charged me: $575.65 ($139.95 + $435.70 in add-ons)

Unauthorized add-on charges:

- Advertising Toolkit Base: $95.86

- Traffic & Market Toolkit: $280.09

- Content Toolkit Base: $59.75

The Problem:

❌ I NEVER selected these add-ons

❌ They were auto-activated after trial ended

❌ No email warning before charges

❌ No opt-in confirmation required

❌ Support refuses refund citing "7-day policy"

Their Response:

When I requested refund, Semrush support said:

"Your case falls outside our refund policy"

"We will not reopen this case"

Why This Is Deceptive:

Free trial misleads customers

Auto-charges hidden in terms

Uses 7-day window to block refunds

Designed trap: trial ends → auto-pay for extras

Support uses policy as shield instead of helping

What I'm Doing:

✅ Filed complaint with RBI

✅ Initiated chargeback with ICICI Bank

✅ Escalating to consumer protection authorities

✅ Warning others

My Advice:

🚨 DO NOT use Semrush if you value fair billing

🚨 If you must, avoid the trial - use paid plan instead

🚨 Check your bills carefully for hidden charges

🚨 File complaints if charged without consent

Has anyone else experienced this? Please share your story

in comments. The more complaints RBI receives, the more

likely they are to take action.

#ConsumerFraud #DeceptiveBilling #Semrush

Useful tool but absolutely shady and unethical business when it comes to their customer service and trial process. Buyer beware—not to mention the trial is NOT a full trial of the product.
I signed up for the trial on my own dime on behalf of a company I was working with to investigate whether it would be a good tool for us to use ( with goal of later subscribing under the corporation). I was told that I would be getting automatically charged on May 14th - 7 days after. On May 13th I log-in to cancel the subscription only to realize that I had been charged!!! I reach out to their team to confirm this is shady business, and they say their decision is final and they cannot refund. To make matters even more comical, the charge email I receive is ON MAY 13th but on their website their reporting shows a charge on May 14th. Absolutely disgraceful business practice and I will be looking at other tools if this is how they treat their customers - I will be making sure to spread the message that SEMRush does not work in the best interest of their customers. If there are timezone specifics it should be noted clearly but that doesn't appear to be the case. I asked customer service to provide proof back and they ignored my request entirely. This is even independent of the fact that their claim of the full trial still has restrictions on many reports and is not truly a full trial

Semrush’s "subscription traps." The most common issue is their 7-Day Money-Back Guarantee, which is often restricted to annual plans only—leaving monthly subscribers stuck with no clear refund path.

Using SEMrush for more than 3 years, I think you have integrated many features into it over the years. That's great, but I would prefer it if you could produce more short guides with video tutorials with real world examples. So, we can maximally utilise those features.

I had been a paying customer of SEMrush and was unexpectedly charged for a full annual renewal after planning to discontinue part of the service. I had contacted them to cancel my subscription before the actual contract was expired. Their feedback was that my request referred only to a single part of the subscription - even though in the follow up email i explicitly mentioned i wanted to cancel all the services that referred to social media management tools. While I understand subscription policies, my main issue is what happened after the charge.
I reached out to their support team immediately and followed up more than 5 times over several weeks trying to resolve the matter. I also contacted sales representatives I had previously worked with. After one initial response, communication stopped completely.
Given i contacted them on the first day that the charge was noticed, i recommended multiple ways to resolve this.
The most disappointing part wasn’t the charge itself, nor the monetary loss, it was the lack of customer support and accountability afterward. Being ignored repeatedly as a paying customer is unacceptable.
May be a platform in many areas, but customer service during billing issues has been extremely poor and unprofessional.
I wouldnt recommend it to anyone

i signed up to do a google ads research on a specific competitor.
i think i added a few other payments without noticing, and i couldnt find any google ads keywords on that comeptitor so i left and signed up to a different tool.
i forgot to cancel the free trial and was charged 650$ !
I contacted them 2 hours after the charge and asked for a refund, the response was no.
not a partial refund, nothing i used the account once and paid 650$...
very sad.

Well, I am so dissapointed in this company, I trailed it, cancelled the subscription to ensure I did not forget, as I wanted to first try it...

They charged me, I immedately contacted them to cancel and refund, I was sure I had cancelled?

While my previous representations have been met with the assertion that a lack of internal records precludes any possibility of a refund, I find such a position legally and commercially untenable. It is a matter of profound disappointment that Semrush appears to prioritise immediate pecuniary gain over the long-term lifetime value of a client relationship.

Your current stance demonstrates a regrettable lack of commercial foresight and a complete absence of professional empathy. Please be advised of the following:

Permanent Cessation of Business: Due to this breakdown in trust, I shall no longer be procuring your services.

Public Record of Grievance: I am in the process of publishing a formal review detailing these events. This serves to alert potential future subscribers to your internal administrative failures and your apparent prioritisation of short-term revenue over equitable dispute resolution.

It is my assessment that this "greedy" approach to client retention is fundamentally misguided and likely to cause significant reputational damage far exceeding the value of the sum in dispute.

Stay away from this company at all costs - if you ask to cancel your subscription right after it activates, they won’t give you your money back which is extremely slimy. Will be warning my friends who also do ecom about this

Dark pattern practice at its finest. I cancelled on time ON THE PLATTFORM and had to click through multiple steps. I did that. They then send an email where you need to confirm your cancellation again?! The worst: You need to scroll down in the email to find that button. They can see that I cancelled on time and did not use Semrush after that. Support does not reply anymore. Their reviews are horrible on all plattforms and they do not give a shIt about image and customers. STAY AWAY!!! There is various reddit groups where people are planning to start lawsuits against these practices. How is that even legal?

This is a terrible software, way too overpriced for what they offer, this is just a scam waiting for you to forget about the week-free trial

I signed up for Semrush expecting a reliable SEO tool, but got blindsided by an auto-renewal charge. I thought I had cancelled in time, but the system didn't log it properly. I emailed support immediately upon billing and pointed out my account history showed zero usage—still, they denied the refund citing policy.

The auto-renewal details were buried in fine print during signup, with no clear warnings or reminders. Support was polite but rigid, refusing exceptions despite the glitch and lack of use.

This transparency gap and inflexibility mean we'll pass on Semrush for future projects and share this experience in our marketing network. Choose tools that respect user intent and make cancellation foolproof.

stay away. here it's impossible to cancel any subscription! customer service DOES NOT EXIST!!!

Edit: not to mention that refunds are not even considered even if they say within 7 days and the service in my case was never used they just ignored me for days and in the end denied mu refund request for my PR Pro…

It's quite a good tool but the issues are as follows:

1. It's really expensive, especially per seat. It really restricts you with strong security on per user.

2. The data isn't super accurate. TBH cross checking against Google Trends is worth it.

I signed up to what I thought was a 7 day trial. I stupidly added my cc details before confirming. Once confirmed I was charged a full month’s subscription worked out at £177. I explained this to the customer support who simply refused to do anything about it. At no point in the sign up process did it mention that I wasn’t eligible for the trial, it just charged me. I highly recommend avoiding Semrush.

p.s. This review was originally removed because it mentioned a competitor of Semrush. That has now been removed. I wanted to repost the review because Semrush could easily rectify this but they chose not to. Instead they take a month's subscription knowing that anyone who they have done this to will never sign up with them ever again.

I signed up as a new customer expecting transparency and fair treatment. Instead, I was met with unexpected charges, including a $60 USD “Local Pro” fee that was never clearly explained, along with additional taxes that significantly increased the final amount beyond what I initially understood.

I raised the issue immediately after being charged and requested a refund right away. Despite this, my request was denied, with the response simply pointing to their policies. No flexibility, no consideration, and no attempt to resolve the situation fairly.

What’s most disappointing is not just the billing itself, but the complete lack of customer care afterwards. There was no effort to properly explain the charges, no meaningful response to my concerns, and no willingness to engage in a constructive conversation.

It feels less like a transparent service and more like a system designed to attract customers with one price, then add unexpected costs, and hide behind policies when questioned.

As a new customer, this experience leaves a very poor impression. Transparency, fairness, and basic decency should be standard. Unfortunately, that was not my experience here.

I can see why Semrush have such bad reviews. My recent experience with them confirms this.