What it is
OpenSEO is an open-source SEO tool from every-app, built by Ben Senescu, that covers keyword research, backlinks, rank tracking, site audits and AI-visibility checks. Its main selling point is that your AI agent can use it directly over MCP, so Claude, Codex or ChatGPT can pull real search data while it works. It relaunched on Product Hunt on 8 October 2026 as "The open source Semrush alternative", after a first launch in July billed as the open-source Ahrefs alternative.
The code is on GitHub under the MIT licence, with copyright held by Ben Senescu. You can use the hosted version at openseo.so or run it yourself.
Who it's for
Solo builders and small teams who already work through an agent and need SEO data a few times a week, not every hour. If you write content with Claude, run audits from your terminal or want an agent to spot keyword gaps, OpenSEO gives it the data at a low monthly price. Agencies running dozens of client sites, or anyone who wants a polished all-in-one dashboard, will find it thin.
What it actually does
Keyword research: ideas, search demand, difficulty, intent and live SERPs.
Backlinks: backlinks, referring domains and link quality for any domain.
Rank tracking: keyword positions over time.
Site audits: crawls pages and surfaces technical issues.
AI visibility: AI mentions, citations and a Prompt Explorer that compares prompts across supported AI models.
Integrations: Google Search Console and Google Analytics, plus project context the agent keeps between sessions.
All the third-party data comes from DataForSEO. OpenSEO says plainly that "OpenSEO is built on DataForSEO's data", and that it trims and formats responses so agents can use them. In practice it is a well-packaged reseller of DataForSEO, with an agent-friendly layer and a UI on top. That is a fair trade if you would rather not wire up DataForSEO's API yourself.
If AI-search visibility is your main worry, OpenSEO pairs well with a traffic-side tool such as Bear, which tracks visitors arriving from AI chat.
Pricing (as of 18 October 2026)
There is one hosted plan: $10 a month, including $10 of usage. The pricing page's estimator gives these approximate costs:
Action | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
Keyword search | about $0.05 |
Backlink domain overview (one year of history) | about $0.08 |
AI prompt check (one prompt, one platform) | about $0.002 |
Rank tracking | 217 checks for $0.54 in the estimator |
Search Console data doesn't use credits. The included $10 resets each billing cycle. Top-ups can be bought at any time and don't expire, but you still need an active subscription to use them. The free trial comes with $0.50 of credit.
Self-hosting is free under MIT, but you pay DataForSEO directly. OpenSEO says self-hosters pay DataForSEO's prices with no OpenSEO fee, and notes that DataForSEO's minimum top-up is $50.
For comparison, Ahrefs starts at $29 a month for Starter and $129 a month for Lite, its cheapest full plan.
Worked example: a solo blogger's month
Take a one-person blog publishing a few posts a month. The owner researches keywords for each post, checks a handful of competitors, tracks rankings and runs one audit. Using the per-call prices above:
Task | Volume | Approximate cost |
|---|---|---|
Keyword searches | 40 | $2.00 |
Backlink domain overviews | 10 | $0.80 |
Rank tracking checks (the estimator's example) | 217 | $0.54 |
AI prompt checks | 250 | $0.50 |
Standard site audit | 1 | included |
Total | about $3.84 |
OpenSEO says standard site audits are included and don't draw on credits, and Search Console data doesn't use credits either. That month fits inside the $10 of included usage with about $6 to spare. Triple the keyword research to 120 searches and the total rises to about $7.84, still covered. You only need a top-up if keyword research runs into the hundreds of searches in a month.
Getting started
Sign up at app.openseo.so. No credit card is needed for the trial.
Connect your agent using the agent setup guide. In Claude Code, run the two commands below, approve the browser sign-in, then try /openseo:seo-coach.
For ChatGPT, turn on Developer mode, create an MCP app pointing at https://app.openseo.so/mcp and keep OAuth selected. Cursor and other clients use the same URL through the manual MCP guide.
Connect Search Console first. That data doesn't use credits and gives the agent your real queries before you spend any.
/plugin marketplace add every-app/open-seo
/plugin install openseo@openseoPrompts to try in Claude
The plugin ships skills including /seo-coach, /seo-audit, /keyword-research and /competitor-analysis. You can also ask in plain language. Three prompts worth running in your first week:
"Use OpenSEO to pull my Search Console queries from the last 28 days. List pages ranking in positions 8 to 20 and suggest one update for each."
"Research keywords for a post on [topic]. Give me ten options with search demand, difficulty and intent, and pick the best three for a new site."
"Compare backlinks for my domain and [competitor]. List referring domains they have that I don't, ranked by link quality."
Before a large run, ask the agent to estimate how many calls a prompt will make. Each keyword search costs credits, so a loose prompt that loops over dozens of terms can spend more than you expect.
If you are already wiring several services into an agent, the same MCP pattern applies to tools like Composio, the integration layer for AI agents.
Alternatives
Ahrefs: pick it if SEO is your main channel and you work in the dashboard every day. You get Ahrefs' own index and a mature product. The tiers matter. Ahrefs Free gives site owners limited access to Site Explorer and Site Audit for their own site. Starter, at $29 a month, covers basic keyword and competitor research. Lite, at $129 a month, is the first full plan and costs more than twelve times OpenSEO's base price. Choose Lite if you need a deep index every day and a team-ready interface; choose OpenSEO if an agent does most of the work.
DataForSEO direct (or self-hosted OpenSEO): pick it if you are technical and your volume is high enough that the hosted fee matters. You fund DataForSEO's $50 minimum top-up, then run hosting, updates and your own Google OAuth client yourself. Below roughly $10 a month of usage, the hosted plan is simpler and the savings are small.
Google Search Console on its own: pick it if you only care about your own site's queries and clicks. OpenSEO reads it at no credit cost anyway, so start there and add paid data when you need competitor, backlink or keyword research.
Limitations
Early software. The latest GitHub release is v0.1.5. Expect gaps and changes.
It resells DataForSEO data. The keyword, backlink and ranking data is DataForSEO's, with an OpenSEO fee on top in the hosted version. You are paying for convenience and the agent layer; there is no proprietary index behind it.
The hosted version needs the subscription. Top-up credits don't work without an active plan.
Included credit resets monthly. Unused plan credit doesn't roll over. Only top-ups do.
Cursor setup is manual. The setup guide has step-by-step instructions for Claude, ChatGPT and Codex, while Cursor users follow the generic MCP guide.
Verdict
OpenSEO is the best-value SEO stack for an agent-first solo builder, but it's early software. At $10 a month with $10 of usage included, a few dozen keyword and backlink lookups a month cost you nothing extra, and your agent works with real data instead of guessing. Use it now if you build through Claude or ChatGPT and SEO is one channel among several. Stay with Ahrefs if SEO is the core of the business and you need a mature product you can rely on every day.
Sources
From today's Daily Briefing → DeepSeek's $0.75 Search API, 71.5% of AI Tokens Go Open-Weight, and How Reddit Lost Its Grip on ChatGPT's Answers