Switching from Semrush to Brass-SEO

If you're considering leaving Semrush for Brass-SEO, the first thing to know is they're not the same kind of tool.

Semrush is a competitor research database. Brass-SEO is a conversational interpreter for your own Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 data. Switching from one to the other is less of a migration and more of a workflow shift. This post covers what changes in practice, what you give up, what you gain, and how to decide whether the switch fits your situation.

No data migration is involved. Brass-SEO connects directly to your Google accounts. Semrush keeps your account active as long as you let it. You can run both side by side for a billing cycle to compare.

What Each Tool Actually Does
What You Give Up by Leaving Semrush
What You Gain by Adding Brass-SEO
Who Should Switch
Who Should Not Switch
The Side-by-Side Test
The Switch Itself: 30 Minutes
Frequently Asked Questions

What Each Tool Actually Does

Semrush is built around a proprietary database of keyword, backlink, and competitor data. When you search for a competitor domain in Semrush, it shows you the keywords that domain ranks for, the backlinks pointing to it, and trends over time. The data isn't your data — it's Semrush's estimate of what's true across the web.

Brass-SEO is built around your own data. When you ask Brass-SEO about your site, it queries your Google Search Console data (actual impressions, clicks, queries) and your Google Analytics 4 data (actual sessions, engagement, conversions) and answers conversationally. The data is yours, current within Google's reporting window.

The two tools answer different questions:

Semrush answers: "What are competitors doing? What keywords does the broader market care about? Who links to whom?"
Brass-SEO answers: "What's happening on my site? Which queries are sending me impressions? Which pages are converting? What should I work on next?"

For most small businesses, the second set of questions matters more day to day. Semrush is built for agencies and enterprise teams managing many domains and tracking the broader market. Brass-SEO is built for owners and small teams managing one site.

What You Give Up by Leaving Semrush

Three real capabilities don't carry over:

Competitor keyword research. Brass-SEO doesn't tell you what keywords competitors rank for. If competitor research is a regular workflow for you (analyzing 5+ competitor domains monthly), Semrush remains the better tool.
Backlink database. Brass-SEO doesn't surface your backlinks (or competitor backlinks). Google Search Console shows your top linking sites for free. Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz have richer backlink data. If active backlink monitoring is part of your work, you'll want a dedicated backlink tool.
Keyword research at the database level. Brass-SEO shows you queries you're already getting impressions for (from GSC). It doesn't show you keywords you haven't yet earned impressions on. For greenfield keyword research, Semrush or Ahrefs is the right tool.

If you depend on any of these three capabilities, switching means losing them. The decision is whether what you gain from Brass-SEO is worth what you give up.

For the broader pricing context, see The Real Cost of SEO Tools in 2026.

What You Gain by Adding Brass-SEO

Three capabilities come into play:

Conversational access to your own data. Instead of building reports and reading dashboards, you ask questions and get answers. "Which pages lost traffic this month?" "What queries am I close to ranking for?" "Why did sessions drop on /pricing last week?"
Cross-referenced GSC and GA4 analysis. Most tools surface GSC and GA4 separately. Brass-SEO cross-references them: pages with high impressions but low conversion, queries driving traffic to high-bounce pages, AI Citability scoring against your existing content.
Page audits that compare your site against AI citation patterns. This is increasingly important as AI surfaces (AI Mode, AI Overviews, ChatGPT) take a larger share of search traffic. Semrush's content scoring is generic. Brass-SEO's AI Citability audit is specific to the patterns research shows AI surfaces favor.

For the broader Brass-SEO functionality, see How Brass-SEO Works and What Brass-SEO Is (and What It Is Not).

Who Should Switch

The switch makes sense for:

Small business owners and solo founders running their own SEO without an agency
Marketing managers at small teams who are paying for Semrush features they don't use weekly
Content creators focused on AI citability and on-page optimization for their own content
Anyone whose primary SEO question is about their own site's performance, not the broader market

Brass-SEO at $25/month replaces the parts of Semrush most small businesses actually use, plus adds capabilities Semrush doesn't have (AI citability auditing, conversational data access).

Who Should Not Switch

The switch is wrong for:

SEO agencies managing 10+ client sites. Semrush's multi-domain workflows and white-label reporting matter at that scale.
In-house teams whose work is dominated by competitor monitoring. Brass-SEO doesn't replace competitor database tooling.
Anyone whose backlink workflow is active and regular. Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz remain better for backlinks.
Enterprise teams with complex permission structures, integration requirements, and stakeholder reporting needs.

If you're in one of these groups, Brass-SEO can supplement Semrush but won't replace it. Many of Brass-SEO's customers run both tools side by side.

For the head-to-head positioning, see Brass-SEO vs Semrush: What a Small Business Actually Needs.

The Side-by-Side Test

Before canceling Semrush, run both tools in parallel for one billing cycle. Two practical tests:

Track every SEO question you have during the month. Note which tool you reached for. At the end of the month, count how many questions Brass-SEO answered alone, how many Semrush answered alone, and how many needed both. The ratio tells you whether Semrush is paying its keep.
Pick a real SEO project and complete it using only Brass-SEO. Optimize five blog posts, audit a pillar page, plan next quarter's content. If you complete the project without missing Semrush, you have your answer.

The test costs one billing cycle of Brass-SEO ($25) on top of your existing Semrush subscription. The decision it produces is durable.

The Switch Itself: 30 Minutes

If you decide to switch, the operational work takes about 30 minutes:

Sign up for Brass-SEO. Free trial, no credit card.
Connect Google Search Console. OAuth flow, read-only access. See Set Up Brass-SEO in 2 Minutes.
Connect Google Analytics 4. Same OAuth flow.
Verify the data shows correctly. Brass-SEO's dashboard reflects your actual GSC and GA4 properties.
Run a few test questions to confirm the conversational interface works for the questions you actually ask.
Cancel Semrush at the end of your billing cycle (don't cancel immediately — let the parallel period run).

No data migration. No export/import. Brass-SEO reads from Google directly and doesn't depend on Semrush.

For the head-to-head against Semrush in more detail, see Brass-SEO as a Semrush alternative. To start the parallel test described above, sign up for a Brass-SEO trial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I lose my Semrush data when I cancel?

Semrush's data isn't your data to begin with. It's their proprietary database with your queries and notes on top. When you cancel, you lose access to the queries and notes. The underlying data continues to exist in Semrush. Export any custom reports or notes before cancellation.

Does Brass-SEO have keyword research?

Partial. Brass-SEO surfaces the queries you're already getting impressions on (from GSC) and helps you optimize for them. It doesn't surface keywords you haven't yet earned impressions on. For greenfield keyword research, you'll want Google Keyword Planner (free) or a dedicated keyword tool.

Can I use Brass-SEO for multiple sites?

Brass-SEO supports one primary site per subscription as of 2026. Multi-site support is on the roadmap. For now, agencies managing multiple client sites need a Brass-SEO subscription per client or should stay on Semrush.

What about the AI features in Semrush?

Semrush has added AI-assisted features (content scoring, automated reports) over 2024–2026. They're useful but generic, designed to fit a broad customer base. Brass-SEO's AI is specific to your site's data — the conversational interface is the product, not an add-on. Different design philosophies, both legitimate.

Is there a free trial for Brass-SEO?

Yes. 3-day free trial. Cancel anytime during the trial without being charged. After the trial, $25/month. See Set Up Brass-SEO in 2 Minutes for the signup flow.