SEO tools
Keyword Research tools
Keyword research tools find the queries people actually type, estimate how much demand sits behind each one, and group them into the pages that should exist. Every volume figure any of them reports is a model, not a count.
What Keyword Research tools do
They query a crawled keyword index and return volume, a difficulty score and related terms. What separates them is not the interface but the index behind it and what they report alongside volume — clicks, seasonality, parent topic, SERP history. That extra column is usually where the decision is: a query with 8,000 searches and 900 clicks is being answered on the results page, and belongs in your content as a citation target rather than as a page. The process of turning that data into a plan is a separate skill from choosing the tool, and it is written up in the keyword research guide below. This page is about which software to buy.
The sub-types inside this category
- Index-first platforms Sell access to a large proprietary keyword database. Bought for breadth and for the metrics layered on top of volume.
- Question and intent tools Return the questions people ask rather than head terms with volumes. Language rather than numbers.
- Clustering tools Take a large keyword set and group it into the page-level topics you would actually publish.
- First-party sources Search Console and Keyword Planner. Not estimates — real recorded demand, limited to your own site or to advertiser data.
The Keyword Research tools in this directory
Matches product names, former names, categories, use cases and the company behind the tool.
Filter 31 of 31
Entry price is the lowest published figure on a plan you could buy on its own — add-ons and extra seats are excluded, and a tool whose vendor publishes no figure sits under “price not published” rather than being guessed at.
| Tool | What it is for | From | Evidence | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AlsoAsked Keyword Research | See how Google branches questions around a topic, as a hierarchy | Free monthly credits without an account; paid from $12/month billed yearly | Free plan | 19 August 2026 |
| Answer Socrates Keyword Research | Find the questions people actually ask about a topic, in their own words | Free tier; paid from $12.50/month billed yearly | Alston testedAlston videoFree plan | 19 August 2026 |
| AnswerThePublic Keyword Research | See how people actually phrase questions about a topic, as a visual map | From $13.33/month billed yearly (Starter) | 19 August 2026 | |
| Google Keyword Planner Keyword Research | Cross-check a paid tool's volume estimate against Google's own figure | Free with a Google Ads account | Free | 19 August 2026 |
| Google Trends Keyword Research | Find whether interest in a term is rising or declining before committing to a content plan | Free | Free | 19 August 2026 |
| Keyword Insights Keyword Research | Cluster a large keyword export by search intent to work out how many pages you need | From $58/month for 10,000 credits; $1 for a 7-day trial | Free trial | 19 August 2026 |
| Keyword Tool Dominator Keyword Research | Harvest autocomplete suggestions from Amazon, Etsy, YouTube and Google | From $19 one payment for 30 days; a year from $99; lifetime from $199 | Free trial | 20 August 2026 |
| KWFinder Keyword Research | Find long-tail keywords with a difficulty score you can see the reasoning behind | Included with Mangools, from $37.70/month billed annually | 19 August 2026 | |
| Ubersuggest Keyword Research | Get search volume and CPC data on a small budget, or on a one-time payment | Free tier with a capped daily allowance; lifetime licences from $290 | Alston testedFree plan | 19 August 2026 |
| Wope Keyword Research | Find keyword opportunities and see monthly seasonality rather than a flat annual average | From $27/month (Basic); 14-day trial, no credit card | Alston testedAlston videoFree trial | 19 August 2026 |
| AccuRanker Rank Tracking | Track thousands of keywords with daily updates and refresh on demand | From $224/month for 2,000 keywords | 19 August 2026 | |
| Ahrefs All-in-One SEO Platforms | Analyse a competitor's backlink profile and referring-domain growth over time | Free plan for verified sites; paid from $29/month | Used in real workFree plan | 18 August 2026 |
| Bing Webmaster Tools Search Console & Webmaster Tools | Get first-party query and click data for Bing, and by extension for Copilot's index | Free | Used in real workFree | 19 August 2026 |
| Google Search Console Search Console & Webmaster Tools | Find queries where a page already ranks poorly but earns impressions — the cheapest available wins | Free | Used in real workAlston videoFree | 9 August 2026 |
| Keywords Everywhere SEO Browser Extensions | See search volume and CPC directly in Google, YouTube, Amazon and 15-plus other sites | Free extension; paid credits from $84/year ($7/month equivalent) | Free plan | 20 August 2026 |
| Mangools All-in-One SEO Platforms | Get keyword research, rank tracking and backlink data in one affordable bundle | From $37.70/month billed annually ($452.40/year) | 19 August 2026 | |
| MarketMuse Content Optimization | Model which topics a site already has authority on, and where the gaps are | Free tier available; paid plan prices are not published | Free plan | 19 August 2026 |
| Morningscore All-in-One SEO Platforms | Get a prioritised list of what to do next rather than a report to interpret | From $69/month (Lite); no permanent free tier | Alston testedFree trial | 19 August 2026 |
| Moz Pro All-in-One SEO Platforms | Get onto a full SEO platform at the lowest credible monthly price | From $49/month (Starter); Standard $99/month, or $79/month billed yearly | Free trial | 18 August 2026 |
| NEURONwriter Content Optimization | Score a draft against the pages currently ranking, cheaply | From $23/month (Bronze), or $19/month billed yearly | 19 August 2026 | |
| Rankability Content Optimization | Give a whole agency and all its clients access without per-seat or per-client fees | From $99/month for 10,000 credits | Free trial | 19 August 2026 |
| SE Ranking All-in-One SEO Platforms | Run daily rank tracking and AI-prompt tracking from one allowance | From $103.20/month billed annually; $129/month monthly | Free trial | 19 August 2026 |
| Semdash All-in-One SEO Platforms | Do keyword and competitor research without a suite-level subscription | From $30/month billed yearly, during a published 40% discount | Alston testedAlston video | 19 August 2026 |
| Semrush All-in-One SEO Platforms | Find the keywords a competitor already ranks for, and the gap between their coverage and yours | Free plan available; paid from $139/month | Alston testedAlston videoFree plan | 18 August 2026 |
| SEOmonitor Rank Tracking | Build a forecast and business case to win an SEO pitch | From €99/month (Starter, 1,000 keywords); Pro from €299/month | Free trial | 20 August 2026 |
| Serpstat All-in-One SEO Platforms | Get suite coverage — keywords, ranks, links, audits — below market-leader pricing | From $50/month (Individual); annual billing saves up to 27% | Free trial | 19 August 2026 |
| SpyFu Competitor Research | See every keyword a competitor has bid on, and their ad copy, going back years | From $29/month billed annually; $39/month monthly | 19 August 2026 | |
| Topvisor Rank Tracking | Pay for rank tracking by consumption rather than by a monthly keyword cap | From $0/month; plans at $29, $89, $299 and $599 credited to your balance | Free plan | 20 August 2026 |
| vidIQ YouTube SEO | Find video topics with demand and beatable competition inside YouTube search | Free tier; Boost from $16.58/month billed yearly | Free plan | 19 August 2026 |
| WebCEO All-in-One SEO Platforms | Run unlimited projects and teammates and pay for scanning by usage | From $36/month (Solo); Agency Unlimited $99/month plus scanning fees | Free trial | 20 August 2026 |
| WordRocket SEO Writing | Generate long-form SEO articles paying only your own API costs, with no per-word markup | Free tier; lifetime licences from $199 one-time, plus your own API costs | Alston testedAlston videoFree plan | 19 August 2026 |
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