Unsourced vs Semrush
Updated 2026-06-26 · maintained by Unsourced
Semrush is a search platform almost everyone in SEO already knows, and its AI Visibility Toolkit brings that same instinct to AI search: run a large set of prompts, measure how often a brand is mentioned, and report a share-of-voice score. It is a natural extension of what Semrush has always done well. The question this comparison really asks is what sits underneath that score. When the number moves, can you open the answer that moved it, confirm a real AI crawler fetched your page, and prove a fix worked — or are you reading an estimate? That is where Unsourced and Semrush part company.
An estimate from sampled prompts. Cited in which answer? By whom? Did an AI actually read your page? The number can’t say — so when it moves, you’re guessing why.
The actual answer, the verified fetch behind it, and the exact topic where a competitor won instead — open it, check it, act on it.
A 239-million-prompt score, and the question it leaves open
Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit is built on scale: by its own description a database of hundreds of millions of prompts, refreshed daily, turned into a share-of-voice score with sentiment and the drivers behind how a brand is perceived. For a marketing team benchmarking a brand across a whole category, that breadth is genuinely useful. But a share-of-voice number is an aggregate sitting on top of thousands of individual answers, and an aggregate cannot tell you which single answer you lost, to whom, or whether an AI ever read your live page to begin with.
Unsourced is built one layer beneath the score. Instead of a percentage it hands you the specific answer where an assistant cited a competitor instead of you, the exact question that produced it, and the verified crawl that proves — or disproves — that the model actually fetched your page.
What evidence lets you do that a score can't
- Open the answer, not the average. See the exact AI response and question where a rival was named over you, rather than a moved share-of-voice point.
- Check the crawl is real. Bot Trust verifies each crawler against the operator's published IP ranges and forward-confirmed reverse DNS, so a “GPTBot” visit is confirmed, not assumed from the user-agent.
- Prove the fix landed. Mark a gap actioned and Unsourced re-checks that exact topic about a week later, confirming a citation only when the evidence shows up — not by re-scoring the dashboard.
A platform-scale toolkit, or a focused tool you can start today
The two are priced and shaped for different buyers. As published at the time of writing, Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit starts at $99 a month per domain and is built around the scale and dashboards that suit a marketing team benchmarking a brand. Unsourced is a standalone, self-serve tool from £39 a month with a 10-day free trial and no card, built for the independent publisher or small team who want the evidence in front of them without buying a platform to get it. If you want a visibility score beside a marketing dashboard, the Toolkit fits that workflow; if you want to open the answer, verify the crawl and prove the lift, that is the job Unsourced is built to do.
Unsourced and Semrush, point by point
| Unsourced | Semrush | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From £39/mo — Studio £89, Agency £199; all flat, self-serve, free trial | AI Visibility Toolkit from $99/mo per domain |
| Core output | The cited answer plus the verified crawl behind it | A share-of-voice score across a prompt set |
| Verified crawler identity | Yes — published IP ranges + reverse DNS (Verified / Impostor / Unverifiable) | Not stated |
| Live crawl vs training data | Yes — Origin Signal separates a live fetch from old training data | Not stated |
| Where the prompts come from | The searches you already rank for in Google and Bing | A 239M+ prompt database and tracked prompts |
| Proof a fix worked | Re-checks the exact topic, confirms a citation only on evidence | Re-scored in the dashboard |
| Exportable client reports | AI Visibility Audit + Evidence Report PDFs | Dashboard reporting and exports |
The Semrush column is drawn from Semrush’s own published information and was accurate at the time of writing; “not stated” means the company does not publish that detail. Pricing and features change — see the source link below.
The number most visibility tools never check
Semrush's score tells you how often a prompt set mentioned you. What a share-of-voice number can't tell you is whether an AI actually fetched your live page for that answer — or whether the AI-crawler activity behind your visibility was even genuine.
In a two-week study, Human Security found 5.7% of traffic claiming to be a well-known AI crawler was fake, and DataDome reports the same agents are routinely impersonated. A tool that trusts the user-agent counts those spoofs as real AI interest. Unsourced checks every crawler against the operator’s published IP ranges and forward-confirmed reverse DNS — Verified, Impostor or Unverifiable — so the crawl behind a citation is evidence, not a string anyone can type.
Common questions
Can Unsourced replace Semrush?
For most teams, no — and it isn't trying to. Semrush is a broad SEO and marketing suite; Unsourced does one job, the evidence layer for AI search. Plenty of people use a keyword and backlink suite for traditional SEO and Unsourced for proof of where they stand in AI answers. The honest comparison is the narrower one: Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit versus Unsourced for AI-search visibility specifically.
How much is the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit?
As published at the time of writing, the AI Visibility Toolkit starts at $99 a month per domain. Unsourced is a flat £39 a month, with a 10-day free trial and no card, and that already includes citation checks across seven assistants, verified crawler identity, the competitor gap report, measured lift, and two exportable reports — an AI Visibility Audit and an Evidence Report. Prices change, so check Semrush's site for current figures.
What is the real difference between a share-of-voice score and Unsourced's evidence?
A share-of-voice score estimates how prominent you are by counting mentions across a prompt set — a clean trend line, but an aggregate. Unsourced records the underlying events: the exact answer that cited a competitor instead of you, whether a verified crawler fetched your page, and whether a fix moved a real citation. A score tells you the direction; evidence tells you the cause and lets you prove the fix.
Does Unsourced use a huge prompt database like Semrush?
No, and that is deliberate. Rather than a generic database of hundreds of millions of prompts, Unsourced tests the questions you already rank for in Google and Bing, so the citations it finds map to demand you actually care about. The aim isn't the biggest prompt set; it's the most relevant ones, with the evidence attached.
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What you walk away with
Whichever tool you choose, ask what it hands you. Every Unsourced account generates two reports built from your own live data — open them, check them, hand them to a client or your boss:
Sources & disclosures
This comparison is based on Semrush's own published information, accurate as of 2026-06-26. Pricing and features change — follow the link for Semrush's current details.
All competitor names, logos and brands are the property of their respective owners and are used here solely for nominative, comparative identification; their use does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by them. Each comparison is drawn from the competitor’s own publicly available information and was accurate as of the date shown — pricing and features change, so check the linked source for current details.
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