SEO MCP servers compared

As of October 2026, Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking, Serpstat, Mangools, Ubersuggest, Similarweb, Screaming Frog and Serpkin all ship an official MCP server you can connect to Claude Code, Cursor or Codex. Google has no official Search Console server, but open-source ones work well. The research servers give your agent data (keywords, backlinks, traffic) metered in API units or credits. The cheapest ways in are Ubersuggest (any plan), Mangools (free accounts get a starter bonus) and SE Ranking (included on Core). Serpkin is different: its server hands the agent the next change to make and records the result, on every plan including Free.

We make Serpkin, so keep that in mind. Every plan, limit and setup step below comes from the vendor's own docs, pricing page or official repository, checked on 2026-10-29 and listed under sources.

#SEO MCP servers at a glance

#Data servers vs work servers

No server on this list edits your repository. Your coding agent does that. What differs is what the server returns and whether the agent can write anything back.

#Each server in detail

Ahrefs MCP

Remote only (Ahrefs says local setup is no longer supported). Available on Lite, Standard, Advanced and Enterprise. Calls use API units shared with the Ahrefs API: 200,000 a month on Lite, 800,000 on Standard and 2,000,000 on Advanced. One call costs at least 50 units, and rows per request are capped at 100, 250 and 500 on those plans. Best when you already pay for Lite and want the agent to pull Ahrefs data mid-task. More in Serpkin vs Ahrefs.

Semrush MCP

Read-only by design: assistants can fetch Semrush data but not change or delete it. Semrush lists access on Semrush One Starter and Pro+ and SEO Classic Pro and Guru, with 50,000 MCP API units that refresh on renewal. Bigger allowances need Advanced or Business plus a package of 2 to 20 million units. Supports Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. More in Serpkin vs Semrush.

SE Ranking MCP

A hosted server at api.seranking.com/mcp, with OAuth 2.1 or an API key header. It covers the Data API (keywords, backlinks, domains, SERPs), the Project API (projects, rank tracking, audits, competitors), local marketing and AI visibility, though not every API endpoint is exposed. Core ($129/month) lists 25,000 API credits and MCP access. Its docs don't say how MCP calls are counted, and read-only keys aren't available yet. Setup guides cover Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.

Serpstat MCP

63 tools across keyword, domain, backlink, audit and project data. Run it hosted with OAuth, or locally with your API token so the token never leaves your machine. Each query uses API credits by method. The pricing page lists MCP on Team ($129/month, 200,000 API credits) and up; the Individual plan has no API.

Mangools MCP (beta)

About 35 tools across KWFinder, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher and the other Mangools apps. Every tool call goes through the Mangools API and counts against your plan's API quota. Free and Free+ accounts start with a one-time bonus of 100 keyword and 100 SERP lookups. Some tools create trackings or monitors that use paid quota, and Mangools notes your client should confirm before paid tools run.

Ubersuggest MCP

42 tools in 8 categories, connected with OAuth. Neil Patel's guide says it is available on any Ubersuggest plan and read-only, with data depth depending on your tier. Ubersuggest has no API, so MCP is the only way to reach its data from code. Metering isn't stated.

Similarweb MCP

Web traffic and engagement, traffic sources, referrals, audiences, popular pages, PPC spend and technologies, plus SERP players and clicks for keywords. It needs an API-only, Business or Enterprise plan and an API key, and it uses the same data credits as the API. Docs cover Claude Desktop and Cursor. Useful for market sizing and competitor traffic; less so for fixing your own pages.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider MCP

The crawler added MCP in version 24.1. It runs locally inside the desktop app and connects to Claude through an extension, so the agent can run crawls and work with the results. A licence is £199 (or $279) per year per person; the FAQ doesn't state whether MCP needs the paid licence. Good for technical audits of large sites.

Google Search Console (community servers)

Google doesn't publish an official Search Console MCP server. Popular open-source ones include mcp-gsc (search analytics, URL inspection, sitemaps; destructive actions off by default) and mcp-server-gsc (search analytics with a service account). They are free; Google's API quotas apply, for example 1,200 search analytics queries a minute per site and 2,000 URL inspections a day per site. Google does publish an experimental Google Analytics MCP server if you want GA4 data too.

Serpkin MCP

28 tools and 5 prompts, on every plan including Free. Instead of raw data, serpkin_next_mission returns the next ranked change: why it matters, target pages and queries, the source files, steps and acceptance checks. The agent submits the result, requests verification on preview and production, or dismisses a mission with a reason. Serpkin then measures at 14 and 28 days against similar pages you didn't change. Missions, scans, checks and results use no credits; research the agent starts does (25 credits a month on Free). It is not a research database, which is why it pairs well with one of the servers above.

#Setup in Claude Code, Cursor and Codex

Commands from each vendor's docs. Remote servers ask you to sign in on first use (run /mcp in Claude Code).

# Ahrefs (Lite and up)
claude mcp add ahrefs https://api.ahrefs.com/mcp/mcp -t http

# Semrush (plans with MCP units)
claude mcp add semrush https://mcp.semrush.com/v2/mcp -t http

# SE Ranking (Claude Code, then Codex)
claude mcp add --transport http se-ranking https://api.seranking.com/mcp
codex mcp add se-ranking --url https://api.seranking.com/mcp

# Mangools (beta)
claude mcp add --transport http mangools https://mcp.mangools.com/mcp

# Serpkin: detects Claude Code, Cursor or Codex, writes the config,
# runs the first scan and prints your first mission
npx serpkin

For Cursor, most remote servers go in .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global). npx serpkin writes that file and a project rule for you; other clients can use https://serpkin.com/api/mcp with an agent key. See the Claude Code and Cursor guides.

#How to choose

#Cost example: what a month of agent calls buys

Prices and allowances as of October 2026, monthly billing.

For one site, the low-cost stack is a Search Console server plus Serpkin Free: $0 a month. Add Serpkin Builder ($29/month, proposed) for 3 sites and 30 missions, and a research subscription only when you need market data.

#Where Serpkin fits

Research servers make your agent better informed. Serpkin makes it accountable: one mission at a time, a preview check before merge, verification after deploy and a measured result. It doesn't merge, deploy or promise rankings. If your bottleneck is knowing the market, start with a research server; if it is getting changes shipped and proven, start Serpkin free. For the full picture of tools, see Ahrefs alternatives and Semrush alternatives.