OpenSEO vs SerpBear vs Unlighthouse

Side by side, as alternatives to Semrush. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

OpenSEOevery-app/open-seo

SerpBeartowfiqi/serpbear

Unlighthouseharlan-zw/unlighthouse

Semrushpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

Free plan (10 reports per day); SEO plan £113/month, or £95.07/month billed annually (UK prices as served) source ↗

Keyword research

Partly

Yes

Rank tracking

Partly

Yes

Backlink analysis

Partly

Yes

Site audit

Partly

Yes

Competitor analysis

Partly

Yes

Jobs covered

5 of 5 jobs

2 of 5 jobs

1 of 5 jobs

All 5

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

24,328Top

2,114

4,902

—

Gain this week

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

170Top

—

Latest release

v0.1.14 · 2026-10-19Top

v3.1.0 · 2026-03-27

v0.19.1 · 2026-10-03

—

Commits / 12 wk

356

—

People committing / 12 mo

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

37 / 57

0 / 0

8 / 5

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted with Docker or on your own Cloudflare account; hosted version also offered

Self-hosted web app (Docker or Node.js)

Yes, CLI runs on your own machine

Hosted by the vendor

Code licence

MIT

—

Model weights licence

No model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes, MIT code (SEO data is bought separately from DataForSEO)

Yes, MIT code

—

Paid services needed?Differs

A paid DataForSEO API key is required for all SEO data; OpenRouter key optional for AI prompt suggestions

Needs a SERP scraping API (the working ones listed are paid) or your own proxy IPs; Google Ads and Search Console optional

None required

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Not documented

Not documented; needs Chrome or a downloaded Chromium

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Docker (Docker Desktop or Engine) or Cloudflare; host operating systems not listed

Docker image or Node.js; host operating systems not listed

Node.js 22.18+ CLI; operating systems not listed

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium, Docker Compose plus a DataForSEO key; Docker mode has no auth, so keep it private

Medium, Docker image plus scraper API or proxy setup in Settings

Easy, one npx command

—

Stars over time

Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.

OpenSEO
SerpBear
Unlighthouse

Focus a point, use arrow keys, or tap for its value.

Tracked daily since 15 Oct 2026. Dashed history: estimated from public records of when people starred the repo. Lines connect observations only; gaps contain no measured points.

Growth % starts at each project's first observed point in the shown range. Zero-star starts are unavailable.

Notes for a video or post

A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.

OpenSEO vs SerpBear vs Unlighthouse (as alternatives to Semrush)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 21 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=openseo,serpbear,unlighthouse&product=semrush

Semrush: Free plan (10 reports per day); SEO plan £113/month, or £95.07/month billed annually (UK prices as served)
OpenSEO: free software; does 5 of 5 Semrush jobs
SerpBear: free software; does 2 of 5 Semrush jobs
Unlighthouse: free software; does 1 of 5 Semrush jobs

- OpenSEO: 24,328 GitHub stars, 356 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- SerpBear: 2,114 GitHub stars, 0 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT
- Unlighthouse: 4,902 GitHub stars, 25 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: OpenSEO Self-hosted with Docker or on your own Cloudflare account; hosted version also offered; SerpBear Self-hosted web app (Docker or Node.js); Unlighthouse Yes, CLI runs on your own machine
- Commercial use: OpenSEO Yes, MIT code (SEO data is bought separately from DataForSEO); SerpBear Yes, MIT code; Unlighthouse Yes, MIT code
- Paid services needed?: OpenSEO A paid DataForSEO API key is required for all SEO data; OpenRouter key optional for AI prompt suggestions; SerpBear Needs a SERP scraping API (the working ones listed are paid) or your own proxy IPs; Google Ads and Search Console optional; Unlighthouse None required
- Hardware: OpenSEO Not documented; SerpBear Not documented; Unlighthouse Not documented; needs Chrome or a downloaded Chromium
- Operating systems: OpenSEO Docker (Docker Desktop or Engine) or Cloudflare; host operating systems not listed; SerpBear Docker image or Node.js; host operating systems not listed; Unlighthouse Node.js 22.18+ CLI; operating systems not listed
- Setup effort: OpenSEO Medium, Docker Compose plus a DataForSEO key; Docker mode has no auth, so keep it private; SerpBear Medium, Docker image plus scraper API or proxy setup in Settings; Unlighthouse Easy, one npx command

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.

Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. every-app/open-seo ↗towfiqi/serpbear ↗harlan-zw/unlighthouse ↗

OpenSEO vs SerpBear vs Unlighthouse

Stars over time

Notes for a video or post

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