the catalog · 📈 SEO & marketing
OpenSEO
★ 15kAll-in-one SEO tool you actually control — keyword research, rank tracking, competitor insights, backlinks, site audits and AI visibility. No subscription: bring your own DataForSEO key and pay only for what you use. Ships an MCP server and agent skills so Claude Code and other agents can work your SEO data directly.
OpenSEO does the job of Semrush and Ahrefs, self-hosted. It is MIT-licensed, so you can do essentially what you like with it, and setting it up is an afternoon, not a weekend. Semrush bills $99+ for it. 15k stars on GitHub.
Open-source replacement for Semrush, Ahrefs.
- Licence
- MIT
- Self-hosting
- Medium
- The paid one costs
- $99+
- GitHub stars
- 15k
Is it actually a replacement?
We have written a verdict on what it replaces — what you lose, and why people still pay:
How OpenSEO runs
Where it runs
OpenSEO runs on your server.
Installing it
Clone the repository, supply environment variables, and run the documented Docker-based web/database deployment.
Where your data lives
Projects, audits, issue results, tracked keywords, and historical observations live in the operator-controlled application database; keyword and SERP requests sent through DataForSEO leave the server and are retained/billed under that provider's account terms.
What setup takes
A non-expert needs Docker, a database, authentication and email configuration, plus a funded DataForSEO account and API credentials, the rank tracker is not actually zero-cost to operate.
The catch compared with Mangools
OpenSEO still depends on metered DataForSEO data and lacks Mangools' polished proprietary keyword database, difficulty scoring, backlink index experience, and effortless hosted workflow.
OpenSEO questions
Is OpenSEO open source?
Yes — it is released under MIT.
Can OpenSEO replace Semrush?
Our verdict on Semrush is YES. Plausible (23k stars), Matomo (20k stars), Claude SEO (14k stars) are mature open-source replacements for Semrush — self-host in one command and stop paying $139/mo.
Can I self-host OpenSEO?
Yes — we rate it medium to self-host, and it runs on your server. Clone the repository, supply environment variables, and run the documented Docker-based web/database deployment.