VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Head-to-head

Semrush vs Unusual Whales comparison

Compare pricing, supported platforms, categories, and standout capabilities to decide which tool fits your workflow.

Quick takeaways

Semrush adds App & Website Traffic, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, and Blogs coverage that Unusual Whales skips.

Unusual Whales includes Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Portfolio, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, Alerts, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Education, Calendar, and Dividends categories that Semrush omits.

Semrush highlights: Traffic Analytics tools to examine any website’s visitors, sources, engagement metrics, and competitive benchmarks., Rich API suite: Analytics and Projects APIs (Business plan), Trends API, Listing Management, and Map Rank Tracker. Current versions support API key (v3) and OAuth 2.0 with JSON (v4)., and API consumption billed in ‘units’ per request or per line of data. Historical queries cost more; some APIs like Listing Management and Map Rank Tracker are excluded from unit billing..

Unusual Whales is known for: Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

Semrush logo

Semrush

semrush.com

Comprehensive SEO, marketing, and web traffic analytics platform. API access for core Analytics and Projects requires a Business plan, with usage billed in API units. Some APIs—like Listing Management and Map Rank Tracker—don’t consume units. Enterprise security options include SAML SSO on Guru and Business tiers. A 7-day free trial is available for all paid plans.

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Free
Subscription

Quick highlights

  • Traffic Analytics tools to examine any website’s visitors, sources, engagement metrics, and competitive benchmarks.
  • Rich API suite: Analytics and Projects APIs (Business plan), Trends API, Listing Management, and Map Rank Tracker. Current versions support API key (v3) and OAuth 2.0 with JSON (v4).
  • API consumption billed in ‘units’ per request or per line of data. Historical queries cost more; some APIs like Listing Management and Map Rank Tracker are excluded from unit billing.
  • Flexible exports in CSV, Excel, and PDF across tools. Position Tracking and Site Audit modules generate PDF reports; Position Tracking also supports direct Google Sheets export.
  • Google Sheets integration through the App Center ‘AI Automated Data Connector’ for automated reporting pipelines.

Community votes (overall)

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Unusual Whales logo

Unusual Whales

unusualwhales.com

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

Real-time options flow and dark-pool analytics built for active traders. Free plans view delayed data; paid tiers stream live flow, with annual plans unlocking data downloads. The public API is sold separately, and “Periscope” (market-wide SPX exposure) is available as an add-on.

Platforms

Web
Mobile
API

Pricing

Free
Subscription

Quick highlights

  • Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
  • Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
  • Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
  • Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.
  • Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk.

Community votes (overall)

0% upvotes 0% downvotes
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Overlap

Shared focus areas

2 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Data APIs, and APIs & SDKs.

Where they differ

Semrush

Distinct strengths include:

  • Traffic Analytics tools to examine any website’s visitors, sources, engagement metrics, and competitive benchmarks.
  • Rich API suite: Analytics and Projects APIs (Business plan), Trends API, Listing Management, and Map Rank Tracker. Current versions support API key (v3) and OAuth 2.0 with JSON (v4).
  • API consumption billed in ‘units’ per request or per line of data. Historical queries cost more; some APIs like Listing Management and Map Rank Tracker are excluded from unit billing.
  • Flexible exports in CSV, Excel, and PDF across tools. Position Tracking and Site Audit modules generate PDF reports; Position Tracking also supports direct Google Sheets export.

Unusual Whales

Distinct strengths include:

  • Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
  • Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
  • Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
  • Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

AttributeSemrushUnusual Whales
Categories

Which research workflows each platform targets

Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs

Unique: App & Website Traffic, Sheets / Excel Add-ins, Blogs

Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs

Unique: Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Portfolio, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, Alerts, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Education, Calendar, Dividends

Asset types

Supported asset classes and universes

Other

Stocks, ETFs, Options

Experience levels

Who each product is built for

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced

Platforms

Where you can access the product

Web, Mobile, API

Web, Mobile, API

Pricing

High-level pricing models

Free, Subscription

Free, Subscription

Key features

Core capabilities called out by each vendor

Unique

  • Traffic Analytics tools to examine any website’s visitors, sources, engagement metrics, and competitive benchmarks.
  • Rich API suite: Analytics and Projects APIs (Business plan), Trends API, Listing Management, and Map Rank Tracker. Current versions support API key (v3) and OAuth 2.0 with JSON (v4).
  • API consumption billed in ‘units’ per request or per line of data. Historical queries cost more; some APIs like Listing Management and Map Rank Tracker are excluded from unit billing.
  • Flexible exports in CSV, Excel, and PDF across tools. Position Tracking and Site Audit modules generate PDF reports; Position Tracking also supports direct Google Sheets export.
  • Google Sheets integration through the App Center ‘AI Automated Data Connector’ for automated reporting pipelines.
  • Native integrations with Google Analytics and Google Search Console to combine marketing and search performance data.

Unique

  • Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
  • Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
  • Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
  • Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.
  • Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk.
  • Portfolio Manager with broker linking for IBKR, tastytrade, Fidelity, and Robinhood.
Tested

Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat

Not yet

Yes

Editor pick

Featured inside curated shortlists

Standard listing

Highlighted

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do Semrush and Unusual Whales both support?

Both platforms cover Data APIs, and APIs & SDKs workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Do Semrush and Unusual Whales require subscriptions?

Both Semrush and Unusual Whales keep freemium access with optional paid upgrades, so you can trial each platform before committing.

How can you access Semrush and Unusual Whales?

Both Semrush and Unusual Whales support web and mobile access, making it easy to keep tabs on research away from the desk.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

Semrush differentiates itself with Traffic Analytics tools to examine any website’s visitors, sources, engagement metrics, and competitive benchmarks., Rich API suite: Analytics and Projects APIs (Business plan), Trends API, Listing Management, and Map Rank Tracker. Current versions support API key (v3) and OAuth 2.0 with JSON (v4)., and API consumption billed in ‘units’ per request or per line of data. Historical queries cost more; some APIs like Listing Management and Map Rank Tracker are excluded from unit billing., whereas Unusual Whales stands out for Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

Curation & Accuracy

This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).

Details change. Pricing, features, and availability may be incomplete or out of date. Treat listings as a starting point and verify on the provider’s site before making decisions. If you spot an error or a gap, send a quick note and I’ll adjust.