Price terms as published
Each line is the vendor’s own wording, split from the price capture checked on 2026-09-21. Nothing here is rounded, converted or re-worded — the full sentences stay in the review below. Lines that carry only a price continue the plan named on the line above, in the vendor’s own order.
| # | Plan / term | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Self-host $0 + DataForSEO usage fees | 2026-09-21 |
| 2 | hosted $10/mo | 2026-09-21 |
One-liner: OpenSEO is an open-source SEO suite (keyword research, rank tracking, backlinks, site audits, competitor insights, AI visibility) that positions itself as the alternative when Semrush and Ahrefs get too expensive or bloated. It is also one of the few SEO tools built to be driven by an AI agent.
Verified facts (checked 2026-09-21)
| Attribute | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars / forks | 19,762 / 2,540 | every-app/open-seo via GitHub API, 2026-09-21 |
| Open issues | 182 | GitHub API |
| License | MIT | GitHub API license field |
| Language / activity | TypeScript; last push 2026-09-20 | GitHub API |
| Data backend | Bring-your-own DataForSEO API key | README + self-hosting docs |
| Hosted plan | $10/month subscription (free trial tier) | README, openseo.so |
| Hosted markup | Hosted service charges 28% extra on every DataForSEO request | README “Costs” section, read directly |
What “free” actually costs
The app is MIT-licensed and self-hosting costs $0 — but every SEO datapoint comes from DataForSEO, a paid third party you connect with your own API key. New DataForSEO accounts include $1 of test credit and the minimum top-up is $50, so the realistic floor for ongoing use is a $50 deposit you burn down per request. Self-hosting is slightly cheaper than hosted precisely because the hosted plan adds that 28% fee on top of DataForSEO’s rates. This is honest, documented economics — but “open-source Semrush alternative” should be read as “pay-as-you-go Semrush data”, not “Semrush for free”.
The security asterisk
Docker self-hosting runs with AUTH_MODE=none — no login, a built-in
admin@localhost user. The docs are upfront that you must keep it behind
your own authenticated reverse proxy, tunnel, or private network; the
Cloudflare deployment path is the recommended option for anything
internet-facing. If that sentence is required reading for your install,
that’s the flag: fine for a laptop, not for an open VPS port.
The agent angle (what makes it different)
OpenSEO ships an MCP server and pre-built Agent Skills so tools like Claude
Code or Hermes can query your SEO data directly, and an optional in-app AI
agent (“SAM”) that needs your own OpenRouter key. Anonymized telemetry runs
by default (aggregate usage heartbeats; documented as never including URLs,
keywords, prompts, or emails) and is disableable with
OPENSEO_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1.
Who should run it
Indie builders and small teams already comfortable with Docker or Cloudflare Workers who want Semrush-style workflows without a $100+/mo subscription, and who would rather pay DataForSEO per query. If you want zero-config SEO data, a hosted subscription still wins on convenience.
Verdict
Clean license, real workflows, transparent pricing math, and an unusually agent-native design. The two things trending lists skip — the DataForSEO deposit and the authless Docker default — are both in the official docs; we verified them in the repo itself. We do not score it: this is a terms-and-repo analysis, not a measured run.
Methodology & sources
Star/fork/issue counts and license from the GitHub API on 2026-09-21;
pricing, auth, and telemetry claims checked against the repo README,
docs/SELF_HOSTING_DOCKER.md, and the openseo.so self-hosting docs the same
day. No hands-on execution was performed.