# Doing it yourself vs RankSpot

Every SEO and AI search task, the tools people pay for, what they cost and who does the work.

- 21 tools, 11 subscriptions
- About $560 a month
- Task by task

Start free: https://app.rankspot.ai/onboarding

## What SEO and AI search take. And what RankSpot does instead.

A dozen subscriptions hand you data, and someone on your team does the work. RankSpot does the work, from the AI you use today: one connection, it does the work, you approve.

Example request: "Get us more traffic for 'best screen recorder for mac'."

| Task | Doing it yourself | With RankSpot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Traditional SEO** | | |
| Keyword research | Semrush, Ahrefs, DataForSEO (data only) | Researched for you |
| Rank tracking | Semrush, Ahrefs (data only) | Tracked every week |
| Technical site audit (coming soon) | Screaming Frog (data only) | Every page audited |
| Search performance | Search Console, Google Analytics (data only) | Synced automatically |
| On-page fixes | Yoast, WordPress (your time) | Fixed in your CMS |
| **AI search** | | |
| Track the prompts buyers ask AI | Semrush, Ahrefs (data only) | Checked in every engine |
| See who's named and which pages get cited | Semrush, Google Sheets (data only) | Rivals and sources mapped |
| **Content others cite** | | |
| Research what ranks and what AI quotes | Surfer, Frase (data only) | Top 5 results benchmarked |
| Write well-researched articles | ChatGPT (your time) | Written and scored |
| Publish to your CMS and request indexing | WordPress, Shopify, Search Console (your time) | Published and indexed |
| **Backlinks** | | |
| Pick the best links for your prompts and keywords | Ahrefs, Semrush (data only) | Picked from your prompts |
| Scrape contacts | Apify (data only) | Editors found |
| Find and verify emails | Hunter, Apollo (data only) | Emails verified |
| Set up and warm up mailboxes | Google Workspace (your time) | Your mailboxes connected |
| Pitch and follow up | Instantly, Lemlist (your time) | Sent once you approve |
| Track every conversation | Google Sheets (your time) | Replies tracked |
| **Site structure for search and AI answers** | | |
| What Google needs | Screaming Frog, Search Console (data only) | Scored for Google |
| What AI answers need: llms.txt, schema, crawler access | A developer | Scored for LLMs |
| Make the fixes in your CMS | WordPress, Shopify (your developer) | Fixed directly |
| **Threads AI quotes** | | |
| Find Reddit and Quora threads AI cites | Reddit, Quora (your time) | Threads found |
| Write replies that help | You (your time) | Reply drafted for you |

### Who does the work

Every subscription above gives you data. None of them makes the change, writes the article or sends the pitch. That's on you, or a team you pay for:

- An SEO reads the data and decides what to fix
- A writer researches and writes the articles
- A developer changes the site, schema and llms.txt
- An outreach assistant finds editors, sends pitches and chases replies
- You join it all up, every week

With RankSpot, RankSpot does it: it finds what to fix and makes the fix. You approve anything that publishes or sends.

### What you pay

The cheapest monthly plan of each tool in a typical stack, before anyone does any work.

| Tool | Plan | Per month |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Semrush | SEO plan | $139.00 |
| Ahrefs | Lite | $129.00 |
| DataForSEO | Minimum top-up | $50.00 |
| Screaming Frog | License, per year ÷ 12 | $23.25 |
| Surfer | Discovery, billed yearly | $49.00 |
| ChatGPT | Plus | $20.00 |
| Apify | Starter | $19.00 |
| Hunter | Starter | $49.00 |
| Google Workspace | 3 mailboxes | $25.20 |
| Instantly | Growth | $47.00 |
| Yoast | Premium, per year ÷ 12 | $9.90 |
| **Total** | | **About $560 a month in subscriptions, plus the team** |

**With RankSpot: start free.** Free to start. Then you pay for each action RankSpot takes. Most sites spend $30 to $90 a month.

- Free to start, with $1 of credit
- All in one place, no subscriptions
- Pay per action, price shown first

Prices: each vendor's cheapest plan from its pricing page, October 2026. Annual-only plans shown per month. Logos are trademarks of their owners.

Every RankSpot price: [/pricing](/pricing.md)

## Pages

- [Home](/index.md) (/)
- [Pricing](/pricing.md) (/pricing)
- [Connect your agent](/connect.md) (/connect)
- [Rank tracking](/rank.md) (/rank)
- [Content](/content.md) (/content)
- [Backlinks](/backlinks.md) (/backlinks)
- [AI citations](/forum-replies.md) (/forum-replies)
- [Site fixes (coming soon)](/site-fixes.md) (/site-fixes)
- [Automations](/automations.md) (/automations)
- [Memory](/memory.md) (/memory)
- [Agencies](/agencies.md) (/agencies)
- [Compare](/compare.md) (/compare)
- [Questions to ask RankSpot](/questions-to-ask-rankspot.md) (/questions-to-ask-rankspot)