3 Best Yext Alternatives for Consultants and Agencies in 2025

Managing local SEO across multiple platforms can be a time-consuming challenge for consultants and agencies.

Yext has long been a go-to solution for listing management. But its enterprise-level pricing and contract requirements have led some to seek other options.

In this article, I explore three powerful Yext alternatives for local SEO. Here’s a quick summary:

I need:	Semrush Local	BrightLocal	WhiteSpark
National/Intl SEO + local SEO tools	✔	X	X
White-label reporting	✔	✔	✔
Local SEO services	X	✔	✔
Grid Map Tracker	✔	✔	X
Local rank tracking	✔	✔	✔
GBP posting & scheduling	✔	✔	X
Listings management	✔	✔	✔
Review management	✔	✔	✔

Local SEO Tools: What to Look for in a Yext Alternative

To compare platforms with Yext, you need to know exactly where your time is going.

I've found that most agencies don't actually track how many hours they spend on updating GBP posts or responding to reviews.

• How long does it take to build citations?
• What about creating client reports?

Measuring effort will help you to determine which tool offers you the most benefits.

Depending on your work, you may need:

• Google Business Profile (GBP) optimization
• GBP post generation and scheduling
• Listings management
• Keyword research
• Backlink analysis
• Local rank tracking
• Map grid displays
• Local SEO services
• White-label reporting and services
• National and international SEO software

Semrush Local: Comprehensive Platform

Semrush Local is an add-on to the Semrush software platform.

The base Semrush plan provides over 55 SEO and digital marketing tools, including:

• Keyword research
• Backlink analysis
• Competitor analysis

Neither BrightLocal nor WhiteSpark offer the detailed analysis available in Semrush.

For example: in Semrush, you can analyze up to 44 SERP features, including:

• AI Overviews
• Reviews
• Local pack
• Hotels pack
• Popular products

Without being able to analyze and track such details, you can’t create a strategy to optimize for them.

And because all keywords are labeled by intent, you can create a content strategy focused on targeting keywords that are easy to rank for and signal buying intent.

For small businesses or agencies managing national or international SEO, along with local SEO, Semrush is an obvious choice.

Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimization

Connecting your clients’ profiles to Semrush enables you to manage reviews and update content from a single dashboard.

Changing business details, such as description and operating hours, is straightforward.

Additionally, you can draft posts and schedule them weeks in advance, maintaining a steady flow of updates. This is a priority for marketers and agencies.

The post feature includes an AI writer to generate editable text.

In my testing, I found that Semrush Local offers the most comprehensive GBP automation.

You can take advantage of AI-powered post generation, bulk scheduling, automated review responses in multiple languages, and monitoring across locations.

Review Management

Research indicates that consumers heavily rely on online reviews to determine which local businesses to patronize.

Any of the following may influence their choice:

• Overall star rating average
• Recency of reviews
• Total number of reviews
• Whether the business replies

So, how does Semrush Local help with this?

Semrush provides a single dashboard from which you can manage all online reviews from popular platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook.

Next, you can use AI automations to speed up response time.

Auto-replies for positive reviews seem like a good fit, but you can also choose auto-replies for negative reviews.

Keep in mind that you can review or edit auto-replies after they have been published.

You can also choose to use AI to generate personalized responses, which you edit on the spot.

Added plus: the response will be in the language of the location.

Negative reviews: Semrush will alert you to negative reviews by sending you a daily digest of these.

You’ll also get review analytics, which display your per-month reply rate, improvement in brand perception, and increase in total reviews and star rating averages.

This beats tracking progress manually by entering data into spreadsheets.

Additionally, you can generate reports with metrics benchmarked against competitors.

Listings Management

Listings in business directories are a known ranking factor for local SEO.

(Business listings are also called local citations.)

While Google Business Profile is itself a listing, and the most important one, Semrush Local enables you to send your business information to 150+ other directories.

You can also easily update contact information and identify new opportunities.

Remember, Google cites “prominence” as a local ranking factor. Prominence is partly “based on information Google has about a business, from across the web, like links, articles, and directories.”

Once your listings have been published, you can also easily update operating hours or other details across all your listings.

One important factor is NAP, which stands for name, address, and phone number.

Since consistent NAP can impact local SEO, being able to manage directories from a single dashboard is helpful.

Take a closer look at how to use the Semrush Listing Management tool to boost your local SEO strategy.

Analytics and Reports

I previously mentioned the review-based analytics. But Semrush Local also provides a Map Rank Tracker.

This grid displays how a local business ranks, for particular keywords, from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Showing clients a series of before-and-after grids is a powerful way to prove progress.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a marketer who didn’t agree that clients perceive progress much quicker via a visual grid like this vs. a data table.

Below is a grid for King Key Locksmith in San Francisco. It shows rankings for the keyword “locksmith.”

The circled numbers indicate the ranking position of King Key in the corresponding neighborhoods.

You can see that King Key is ranking 1-3 in most of their coverage area.

The yellow circles highlight areas in the northeast for which rankings of “locksmith” could be improved.

You can zoom in for greater detail.

You can also click on the list of competitors at the left to see their heatmaps.

Next, the Competitors tab shows your share of voice compared to nearby competitors.

Share of voice is a measure of the percentage of local search visibility that your business gets.

(I used the same keyword, “locksmith.”)

You can use this competitors tab to get ideas for new keywords to target.

Plus, you’ll get analytics and custom recommendations for improvement.

Semrush Local Pricing

The Semrush local add-on starts at $50/month for Local Essentials or $60/month for Local Advanced.

Note that these prices are per location.

You’ll need either the Semrush Pro plan (for $139.95/month) or the Semrush Guru plan (at $249.95/month) to start. By paying annually, you can save up to 17%.

Realize that the grid maps work on a credit system. First, you can choose how many pins you want displayed on a map – up to 49. Each pin costs 1 credit. A 49-pin map is equivalent to 49 credits. The lowest-cost plan gives you 625 credits per month.

Semrush offers a 14-day free trial.

Compared with Yext: Semrush Local costs approximately $500-600/month for 10 locations, plus the base plan cost of $139.95-249.95/month.

For this kind of model, Semrush is significantly more cost-effective than Yext's enterprise pricing.

BrightLocal: Local SEO Software and Services

BrightLocal and WhiteSpark differ from Semrush in that they:

• Offer local SEO services in addition to software
• Don’t offer national or international SEO software.

Let’s start with BrightLocal’s services.

Local SEO Services

First, keep in mind that BrightLocal’s services can be white labeled by agencies or independent consultants.

Both groups get a 25% discount.

You can choose from these services:

• Local SEO
• Citation building
• Yext replacement
• Reporting

Note that the local SEO services include website optimization and link building.

Services start at $799/month per location.

Google Business Profile (GBP) Optimization

Like Semrush Local, BrightLocal has a GBP post creator (with AI available) and scheduler.

The Post Scheduler is included in the Manage plan ($49/month) and Grow plan ($59/month).

You can also choose from several free BrightLocal courses on optimizing Google Business Profiles.

Reviews Management

BrightLocal’s Reputation Manager is their tool for streamlining review management.

You can use Reputation Manager to:

• Get more reviews
• Monitor results
• Reply quickly

They also offer a customizable widget for adding select reviews (rather than an automated feed) to your website.

While there are dedicated plugins like this for WordPress, there’s a convenience factor in having one bundled with BrightLocal.

The price for Reputation Manager starts at $6.72/month per location.

The platform tracks over 80 review sites.

Listings Management

To use BrightLocal’s listing tool (called Citation Builder), you’ll first create an account and provide basic information about a business.

Then, click the green "Start Campaign" button.

Using the drop-down menu, you can select the number of directories you want to be listed in, from 10 to 50.

Before you check out, you’ll be able to select, by tick box, which directories you want to be listed in.

Here, sorting by Citation Value and focusing on those with “Very High” or “High” value is key.

Citation Value is an indication of the authority a directory has.

I wouldn’t bother with anything less than “Medium” value; we know that it’s the quality of the directory, rather than the quantity of listings, that matters most.

You can also choose to have duplicate listings removed. The charge for this will be based on the number of listings you ordered in the first step.

I’ve used this duplicate removal service before for an auto repair shop that was recently purchased from the original owner.

With the purchase, the name of the business changed, but there were still directory listings under the old name.

Data aggregators: Lastly, you can get listed on data aggregators.

Data aggregators are specialized companies that collect, verify, and distribute business information to directories and search engines.

After being listed with data aggregators, you’ll get directory listings above and beyond what you paid for. That’s because many directories get their information from the aggregators.

BrightLocal offers 5 data aggregators.

Curious where your data goes once sent to the GPS Network aggregator?

See the results below.

Campaign progress: The BrightLocal dashboard is clean and easy to understand. The status of each item is made clear.

Otherwise, BrightLocal will contact you and wait for clarification before proceeding.

Analytics and Reports

BrightLocal offers a Local Rank Tracker and Local Search Grid (grid map).

For both Google and Bing, you can track your local pack, organic, and map results.

As with the Semrush grid map, you can customize the number of pins and the territory covered.

Pricing

Like most software products, you’ll save the most by paying annually; however, you can choose a monthly subscription.

BrightLocal offers 3 plans:

• Track at $39/month
• Manage at $49/month
• Grow at $59/month

Realize that Citation Builder campaigns are paid à la carte. And all plans include white-label reporting.

Of all the tools I tried, BrightLocal’s white-label features were the best.

WhiteSpark: Services and Local SEO Software

Canada-based WhiteSpark stands out with its user-friendly interface and local SEO services.

It’s not uncommon for local SEO services, often hawked via cold email, to be pricey yet unimpressive in results.

This is also why it’s valuable to have access to a vetted firm like WhiteSpark to handle your local SEO for you.

Local SEO Services

WhiteSpark offers these SEO services:

• Google Business Profile optimization
• Review strategy and management
• Website management
• Link building

Like BrightLocal, WhiteSpark’s been doing this since 2010 and has genuinely impressive testimonials and case studies.

They also have a convenient Yext Replacement Service. For a one-time fee, WhiteSpark will handle the switch and ensure you get more listings than you had with Yext.

A key difference between these platforms is that Yext charges an ongoing annual fee for business listings, whereas WhiteSpark doesn’t.

If you need to update or change information in your listings, you’ll pay WhiteSpark a one-time fee. (This works the same way in BrightLocal.)

Local Platform

This feature, created for Google Business Profile management, tracks any changes to your profile, including those done automatically by Google. (Yes, these changes are not always correct.)

You’ll see exactly what the proposed change is, so you can accept or reject it. (BrightLocal also offers this, as part of their Manage plan.)

Another unique feature is you can auto-generate a website, with a domain of your choice, based solely on information in your Google Business Profile.

In addition, you can edit locations in bulk. This is standard for GBP management software.

Local Platform promises that more features are coming.

Unlike Semrush Local or BrightLocal, WhiteSpark currently doesn’t offer AI-based post suggestions or bulk publishing and scheduling.

It seems to me they are working toward that goal by developing discrete elements of Google Business Profile management.

Reviews Management

WhiteSpark’s Reputation Builder is an automated review management tool that makes it easy to:

• Get more reviews
• Improve your star rating average
• Reply quickly

It supports 100+ platforms.

You can use this tool to generate branded email and SMS messages requesting reviews.

You’ll also get a customizable Net Promoter Score widget to capture reviews from website visitors, plus a widget to display reviews on your site.

(Net Promoter Score measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend your business.)

WhiteSpark displays a widget of its own reviews, so you can see exactly how it works.

WhiteSpark gets you started with a free scorecard, which you can use to set goals for reviews.

Listings Management

Listings are managed through WhiteSpark’s Local Citation Finder.

After adding basic business information, you will receive a list of your existing citations, as well as those that are available and recommended.

The Summary provides welcome context: You’ll see what percentage of your competitors’ citations you have.

In the example below, it’s 21%.

Analytics and Reports

With WhiteSpark’s Local Rank Tracker, you can track keyword rankings across neighborhoods and filter by keyword or location.

The UI is smooth, colorful, and easy to use.

From the drop-down at top left, choose which rankings you want to display, e.g., Google local pack, Google Maps, and so on.

Data is displayed as line charts, area charts, or bar charts.

You can also track performance against competitors.

WhiteSpark doesn’t currently offer grid maps, but they’ve announced they’re “coming soon.”

Pricing

While WhiteSpark pricing is à la carte, you’ll need to review the cost of each product. Determine what you need, then calculate the total.

To give you an idea:

• Local Citation Finder begins at $33/month
• Reputation Builder starts at $79/month per location
• Local Platform is $1/month per location
• Local Rank Tracker starts at $14/month
• Services start at $499/month

If you choose WhiteSpark's Yext Replacement Service, the transition typically takes 2–4 weeks.

Which Yext Alternative is Right for You?

BrightLocal and WhiteSpark are solid alternatives to Yext.

But I believe Semrush Local stands out as the most comprehensive solution for agencies and consultants.

It has local SEO tools, and it's also the only platform that gives you access to powerful national and international SEO features as well.

With Semrush Local, you'll get:

• Industry-leading keyword research and competitor analysis
• AI-powered GBP post creation and scheduling
• Visual grid maps
• Advanced review management
• Access to 150+ high-authority business directories

If you need local SEO services (not just software) choose BrightLocal or WhiteSpark. (Remember, these can be white-labeled.)

Take the first step: Sign up for a free Semrush account now and transform how you handle local SEO for your clients.