1. Google Search Console
Best for first-party search data on a site you own
Google Search Console is the default answer to “what is the best free SEO tool?”
You get index coverage, Performance (queries, pages, countries), sitemaps, URL Inspection, manual actions, and email alerts. Gate: a free Google account plus a verified property, with no card and no daily cap.
It cannot replace competitor research. You only see the property you verified.
Google Search Central (29 Jul 2026) made platform properties globally available.
You can track Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube posts in Search, Discover, and News. Practitioners on X still treat GSC as incomplete: no AI Overview click split, and anonymous queries stay withheld.
Treat those gaps as honesty, not as a reason to skip GSC. Pair it with GA4 as free analytics, not as another SEO tool.
For coverage and crawl context, read Marketful’s technical SEO guide.
Pros
- Exact queries Google already rewards on your URLs
- No daily meter and no paid SKU
- Platform properties now cover social and video posts in Search
Cons
- Verified properties only; no competitor Site Explorer
- No AI Overview click split
- Anonymous queries are hidden
Pricing
2. Google Keyword Planner
Best for Ads-shaped keyword ideas without running a campaign
You can use Keyword Planner without running ads. You still have to finish Google Ads account setup, including billing information, for basic “Get ideas for new keywords.”
No spend required is not the same as no billing profile.
Volume without spend often collapses into ranges. The Competition column is advertiser bidding, not organic keyword difficulty.
On r/SEO, that mix-up is the recurring confusion:
"It's a Google Ads tool. The competition has nothing to do with ranking. It's has to do with how competitive it is among advertisers."
u/SEOPub in r/SEO (Oct 2025)
Use Planner for ideas. Do not treat it as a KD database.
Pros
- Google’s own demand data, once the Ads profile exists
- Unlimited lookups after billing info is on file
- Forecasts sit next to idea lists in the same UI
Cons
- Billing-info gate even when you never run ads
- Volume often shows as ranges without spend
- Competition is ads bidding, not ranking difficulty
Pricing
- Free: Ads account with billing info, no required spend. Start from the Keyword Planner product page.
3. Google Trends
Best for relative interest, seasonality, and geo
A 100 on Google Trends is the peak in the selected window, not 100,000 searches. The tool plots relative interest on a 0-100 index, related queries, geo, and up to 8 term groups at once (classic Explore still caps at 5).
Gate: none. There is no paid tier. The head term is seasonal, not dying.
Pros
- Truly free, no billing profile
- Compare up to 8 term groups and break out geo
- Catches seasonality Keyword Planner ranges hide
Cons
- Relative index, not search volume
- Weak for head terms with stable demand
Pricing
4. PageSpeed Insights
Best for Core Web Vitals on any URL, no signup
Paste a URL. PageSpeed Insights runs Lighthouse lab data plus Chrome UX Report field data for the last 28 days. Gate: none.
Field metrics use the 75th percentile. Official thresholds: LCP 2.5s, CLS 0.1, INP 200ms.
Scores land in Good, Needs improvement, or Poor. If CrUX lacks samples, you fall back to origin-level field data or lab-only.
Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools is the same engine. PSI is the shareable URL version. It is a lab and field speed check, not a crawler and not a keyword database.
Pros
- No account and no daily cap
- Lab plus 28-day field data on one report
- Thresholds are public, not a vendor score
Cons
- Thin-traffic URLs often have no field data
- One URL at a time; not a site crawl
- Speed is not rankings by itself
Pricing
Best for a second free console you can import from GSC
Import verified GSC properties into Bing Webmaster Tools without re-validating. Gate: a Microsoft account.
You get performance, backlinks, keyword research, an on-demand Site Scan, and URL submission.
David Quaid still treats Bing as the ignored free tool:
"I think one of the most important free SEO tools out there is Bing webmaster tools. And I think a lot of people ignore it because Bing has such a small user base."
David Quaid in “Free SEO Tools That Actually Work” (Edward Sturm, 1:08)
Keyword research here is weaker than Planner. Site Scan is not Screaming Frog.
Legacy SOAP/POX APIs retired on 31 Aug 2026. REST remains.
Pros
- Import GSC properties without a second verification wait
- Free backlink list and audit emails on your site
- No paid SKU
Cons
- Keyword research is thin versus Planner
- Site Scan is not a 500-URL desktop crawler
- Bing’s user base is the reason people skip it
Pricing
6. Ahrefs Free
Best for real index depth on sites you verify
Ahrefs Free (the rename of Ahrefs Webmaster Tools) is not a trial. Gate: Ahrefs account plus a verified site. No card, no expiry.
Site Audit gets 5,000 crawl credits per month per project (HTML 200s only).
Site Explorer shows 1,000 backlinks and keywords at once. Web Analytics: 1M events per project. AI Content Helper: 1 doc/month.
You cannot run Site Explorer on a competitor. That is paid.
Public checkers on Ahrefs’ free SEO tools hub are a different product: Keyword Generator, a Backlink Checker glimpse, and Rank Checker. Most of those need no account. Do not conflate them with Free Site Explorer.
Paid Starter starts at $29/mo.
Pros
- Real Ahrefs index on properties you own, not a 7-day demo
- 5,000 crawl credits/month beats a 500-URL desktop cap for many sites
- Public checkers still give a competitor glimpse without the Free login
Cons
- No competitor Site Explorer
- 1,000-row visibility ceiling
- “Ahrefs Free” is not the public Backlink Checker
Pricing
- Free: No card, verified sites only. Limits on the Ahrefs Free help page.
- Starter: From $29/mo when you need competitor Site Explorer.
7. Screaming Frog
Best for a technical crawl under 500 URLs, no email capture
Download Screaming Frog SEO Spider and crawl 500 URLs for free. Gate: a download, with no signup and no email capture.
Win/Mac/Linux. The paid licence is $279/year per user (£199 / €245).
That lifts the cap and unlocks JS rendering, save/open, scheduling, and GSC/GA/PSI connectors.
Reddit still treats the free crawl as the technical half of a zero-budget stack:
"Screaming Frog for crawling and quick audits, still one of the best free tools out there if you stay under 500 URLs. (And for bigger sites still well worth the money)"
u/hansvangent in r/bigseo (Nov 2025)
Sitebulb is a 14-day trial, not a free-forever crawler. Do not list it here.
Pros
- Best free technical crawler under 500 URLs
- No signup wall
- Paid yearly tax is cheaper than a suite if you only need crawl
Cons
- Hard 500-URL cap on free
- Desktop only; not “online”
- No keyword or competitor database
Pricing
8. Semrush
Best for any-domain competitor checks until the daily meter dies
Semrush is three doors, not a free tool. Semrush is an Adobe company as of 28 Apr 2026. Product access did not flip overnight.
The free account is an any-domain daily meter.
Ahrefs Free is verified-site depth. Use both if you need both jobs.
Site Audit is listed as “100 pages” on the official free-account table. Later copy on the same blog says “up to 100 URLs per month.” Treat 100 pages as the official table value.
Pros
- Any-domain lookups without verifying the target
- No card on the permanent free account
- 10 tracked keywords is enough to feel rank tracking
Cons
- 10 reports/day dies on a research sprint
- Widgets, free account, and 7-day trial get sold as one thing
- Not a replacement for GSC
Pricing
- Free account: 10 reports/day, no card. Limits in the free account post (10 Dec 2025) and KB 1011.
- SEO plan: $117.33/mo billed annually ($139 monthly list), extracted 2026-09-08.
For paid-suite shopping past this meter, use Ahrefs vs Semrush.
9. Ubersuggest
Best for a cheap keyword next step after Planner, with a hard 3/day cap
Zendesk says 3 searches/reports per day. Ubersuggest marketing pages say FREE. Never write “Ubersuggest is free” without that cap.
Ubersuggest (NP Digital / Neil Patel) is a freemium keyword and audit tool. Gate: email signup, no advertised time limit.
Official free cap (Zendesk, 26 Jul 2025): 1 project, 25 keywords weekly desktop, site audit 150 pages/week with no recrawl, 100 backlinks/site.
Independent write-ups that say 1 search/day conflict with Zendesk. Prefer Zendesk.
ChatGPT will invent search volume with total confidence. That number is guesswork unless a tool supplies it.
KWFinder free is 5 lookups per 24 hours. It sits next to Ubersuggest as a small keyword meter, not as a thirteenth pick.
Pros
- Cheapest named next step after Keyword Planner
- Weekly 150-page audit without a suite login
- No countdown trial on the free account
Cons
- 3/day is a demo, not a workflow
- Homepage “FREE” undersells the meter
- Backlink slice is 100 rows
Pricing
10. AnswerThePublic
Best for question mining at 3 searches per day
AnswerThePublic turns a seed into a visual map of questions and prepositions. Gate: account.
Official free cap is 3 searches/day, reset daily.
Volume and CPC show on two branches. XLSX export covers 30 keywords. You also get 30 AI prompt responses per month.
Paid dollar figures conflict across Zendesk and the live pricing page. Do not budget a paid SKU from this article. The free meter is the part that is solid.
Use it to see how people ask. Then verify volume in Planner or a Semrush free-account report, not in ChatGPT.
Pros
- Fast question map from one seed
- Official 3/day cap is documented, not rumored
- Small XLSX export without a suite
Cons
- 3/day is gone after a short brainstorm
- Paid prices are too messy to quote here
- Not a rank tracker or crawler
Pricing
11. Seobility
Best for a paste-a-URL on-page check without becoming an on-page tools list
Anonymous Seobility checkers can show “0 of max checks left today.” Use Basic. Gate: signup for Basic.
Official pricing: 5 standalone tool requests per day, 10 tracked keywords, rank snapshot once per month.
Premium is 49.90 €/mo after a 14-day trial. That trial is not the free plan.
This is one checker, not a second on-page roundup. For a full bake-off of scorers and auditors, use Marketful’s on-page SEO tools list. For paid rank tracking tools, leave this page.
Pros
- Forever-free Basic with a named 5/day cap
- Light rank snapshot without a suite
- On-page check that does not require a desktop crawl
Cons
- Anonymous meter burns fast
- 10 keywords is a glimpse, not a tracker
- Premium trial is easy to confuse with Basic
Pricing
12. Yoast SEO
Best for on-site WordPress SEO, not a crawler or keyword database
If you already run WordPress, Yoast SEO free lives in the CMS. Gate: you already run WordPress.
10+ million active installs (wordpress.org, v28.4). It scores content, handles basic schema, and writes XML sitemaps.
It does not crawl 500 URLs. It does not give competitor keywords.
Premium is $118.80/year ex VAT for one site (~$9.90/mo billed yearly). Rank Math and AIOSEO ship their own URL analyzers.
Pick one plugin. Do not install three.
Someone searching “best SEO plugin” wants a comparison, not a history lesson. Yoast belongs in that row. It does not belong in a crawl or keyword slot.
Pros
- Lives in the CMS you already publish in
- Free install with a huge active base
- Sitemap and snippet preview without a suite
Cons
- WordPress only
- Green lights are not rankings
- Not a substitute for GSC or Screaming Frog
Pricing
- Google is still shipping free surface area: platform properties for Search Console went globally available on 29 Jul 2026, while GSC still hides AI Overview clicks.
- Suite M&A does not make the free tier a suite. Adobe closed Semrush on 28 Apr 2026; the 10-report meter is still the free product.
- Open source is not a free index. Ben Sinasohn in “The $10 SEO Tool”: “Open source doesn't mean free.” You still need a data API key or a hosted fee.
When the Free Stack Breaks
Pay when the site is over 500 URLs, or when you crawl many client sites. Pay when competitor research exceeds ~10 reports a day.
Pay when you need rank tracking past 10 keywords, or Site Explorer on a domain you cannot verify. That shopping trip is Ahrefs vs Semrush, not this page.
