# DataForSEO vs SE Ranking API + MCP (slim)

> DataForSEO scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against SE Ranking API + MCP's 50.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do seo keywords. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dataforseo-vs-se-ranking.md (~2,250 tokens) · this version ~780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dataforseo-vs-se-ranking.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dataforseo-vs-se-ranking
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

DataForSEO scores 64.9 (B) on agent readiness against SE Ranking API + MCP's 50.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do seo keywords.

- DataForSEO: B 64.9, rank #304 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dataforseo.min.md
- SE Ranking API + MCP: D 50.9, rank #681 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/se-ranking.min.md
- DataForSEO, good for Agents and products that need raw SEO data in bulk at a low unit price, across SERPs, keyword volumes, backlinks, ranked keywords and traffic estimates, and that can work with a task queue. Ahead on Reliability, 84 against 51; Schema & documentation, 86 against 58; Agent ergonomics, 84 against 58; Security & auth, 45 against 21. Also Runs on your own machine.
- SE Ranking API + MCP, good for An agent that needs keyword, backlink, domain and AI search visibility data at a published price per call, or that manages rank tracking projects for an SE Ranking customer. Also No incidents deducted, where DataForSEO loses 6 points for them.

| Category | DataForSEO | SE Ranking API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 84 | 51 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 86 | 58 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 84 | 58 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 21 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 82 | 79 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 74 | 71 |

| Fact (where they differ) | DataForSEO | SE Ranking API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | DataForSEO OÜ | SE Ranking (SER Acquisition Inc.) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/` | `https://api.seranking.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Price for seo keywords | $0.06 per call | $0.002 per record |
| Licence | Proprietary service under DataForSEO's terms of service. The MCP server is Apache-2.0 and the Python client is MIT | Proprietary service under the SE Ranking API Terms of Service. The OpenAPI file and the Claude skills on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 4 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.seranking/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-12 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-24 | 2026-06-25 |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 251 stars, 32k npm/wk, 50k PyPI/wk | 0 stars |