August 25, 2025
When you look at some of the biggest names in business, like Ahrefs and Semrush, the monthly subscription for even the lower tiers can be quite steep. It can really scare away beginners and small businesses on a budget, but SEO doesn’t have to be too complex or expensive.
There are plenty of more affordable tools that still offer incredible value, with a few powerful features that cover all the fundamentals. I’ll go over some of the best cheap SEO tools out there that work great for startups, freelancers, and small teams that want reliable results.
Want premium keyword data without the premium price? Try Rankioz free and start optimizing today.
Ok, so you’re not just after the lowest-priced option—you actually need a good deal of functionality, and a few other things. These are the main things I’ve considered when reviewing different tools for today’s list.
The least I’d expect from an SEO tool is to be able to cover keyword research, website audits, and content scoring. That way, you can work on fixing technical issues, like page load speed and indexing, while also knowing which keywords to focus on and how to optimize your blog posts or service pages to get better visibility.
Having the lowest cost doesn’t necessarily make something a good deal—it’s about all the bells and whistles that you get for your money. You want something that punches way above its weight and brings you some of the accuracy or insights that the big names offer, only at a much more modest price tag.
Ultimately, you’ll want to try a tool out for yourself to see if you can get used to the interface and if you can get the right information. Some options will have a limited version and offer additional features for credits that you can buy, while others have a more traditional subscription but let you sample their full potential without paying for a week or two.
I’m not much of a psychic, but I’d bet that anyone searching for cheap SEO solutions is not a seasoned industry veteran who is used to complex layouts and being bombarded by technical jargon and random numbers.
As somewhat of a beginner, and especially if you have to devote most of your time to your actual business, you’ll want a clean interface where everything is easy to understand and you’re always just a click away from seeing the data you need.
Everyone talks about preparing for the worst, but are you prepared for the best-case scenario? If the tool you choose is truly effective and you put in the work, your SEO needs will grow in a few months or a year. At this point, it’s best to have the ability to scale up your usage on the platform you are already familiar with instead of having to switch to something else.
Now that you have a better idea of what to look for, you can jump straight into the various available tools and explore all their benefits and potential drawbacks.
While there are plenty of cheap SEO tools around, it’s always good to see a new name, especially when it has so much to offer. This option has everything you need to optimize your site and find plenty of engaging topics for your blog. It also features very straightforward and transparent pricing, and delivers data straight from Google to give you incredibly accurate metrics. Best of all, you get full access to all the essential features even at the entry level.
Rankioz delivers pro-level keyword research, competitor tracking, and content planning—all starting at a price solo creators can afford. Try it free.
Monthly pricing: $30
What’s included at the entry level: Research up to 1,000 keywords per month and perform competitor analysis for 100 different keywords, on-page SEO for 100 URLs, and the Link Checker tool.
Pros:
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Who it’s best for: Bloggers, beginner freelancers, and solopreneurs.
The biggest selling points of this tool are that it is associated with Neil Patel, a renowned expert in SEO and digital marketing, and that it was designed for beginners. The goal was to give freelancers or small business owners without much experience a decent toolkit at a fraction of the price of big names like Ahrefs.
It hits quite close to the mark, and there is even a fairly limited free version if you need a test run, but there are some issues with accuracy that hold this tool back.
Monthly pricing: $12/$20/$40
What’s included at the entry level: SEO training, one project and 150 reports a day, 1,000 page audits weekly, analyse five competitors and 2,000 backlinks per month, and get up to 20,000 keyword suggestions.
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Who it’s best for: Bloggers and beginner freelance SEOs.
Unlike the previous entry, which was aimed at complete beginners and people working on their own site, this is a more robust tool for those with a bit more experience and bigger needs. It’s a reasonably priced option with all the essential SEO features, and AI-powered ones in the higher tiers, that freelancers and agencies will appreciate.
The setup is quick and easy, and there is a handy report generator to help you speed things up. However, you don’t have access to SERP research and on-page analysis in the cheapest, Essential plan.
Monthly pricing: $65/$119/$259
What’s included at the entry level: one manager, five projects, 500 daily keywords tracked, backlink monitoring, competitor and keyword research, and basic website audit.
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Who it’s best for: Agencies and small teams looking for effective tracking and a full-featured SEO tool.
This tool comes out swinging with excellent keyword and competitor research capabilities, but falls short when it comes to on-page SEO and site audits. You’ll have to look elsewhere for these features, but it does the rest pretty well.
The backlink analysis is another point against Mangools, as it doesn’t give you any important advanced metrics and is best used for just a general overview. All in all, it’s best to pair it with a free tool if you are interested in more than just finding the right keywords.
Monthly pricing: $24.50/$34.50/$64.50
What’s included at the entry level: single user, 100 SERP analyses and keyword searches per day with up to 200 suggestions, track up to 200 keywords, and find 100,000 backlinks per month.
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Who it’s best for: Beginner bloggers, freelancers, and small businesses that need the basics.
Another all-encompassing tool with a particular focus on competitor research, complete with handy visuals, and detailed site audits that can help you quickly identify what needs the most work.
It’s great at showing you what to prioritize and tracking your position in the SERPS, along with that of your biggest competitors. The keyword results may not be as diverse and detailed as with the top tools, though, and you can only access the API with higher tiers.
Monthly pricing: $69/$129/$499
What’s included at entry level: 100 daily keyword and link searches, site audit, and rank tracker with 10,000 monthly checks.
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Who it’s best for: Small business owners and freelancers.
Starting at a fairly low price for the basic tier and never climbing too high even for the highest levels, Screpy is definitely one of the more affordable SEO tools. You get some AI functionality, which is always good to see, along with useful PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals optimization.
The branded reports are also a nice touch, but the main issue I have with this tool is that you get very little at the basic level. There’s also no content optimization checklist and no way to monitor backlinks. You do get a fairly detailed site audit and serviceable keyword research.
Monthly pricing: $15/$45/$89
What’s included at the entry level: Rank tracker, AI article writer, competitor tracking, white label reporting, page speed monitoring, and 2,500 monthly credits.
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Who it’s best for: Beginner SEOs and small agencies.
A respectable database of 216M keywords and an impressive index of 6.5T backlinks are enough to make most people pause and give this suite a second glance. There’s a lot to love, like the ability to track several competitors even at the cheapest tier, access to historical data, and comprehensive audits.
There is also a limited but highly usable free version available, though the paid tiers are all billed annually, and you have to be comfortable with signing up for a one, two, or even three-year plan.
Monthly pricing: $29.10/$49.95/$74.95 (billed annually)
What’s included at the entry level: Unlimited projects, backlinks, and keywords, full crawling and auditing, monitoring up to 5 competitors, and historical data.
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Who it’s best for: Online businesses with small in-house teams and agencies.
With a serious and scientific name like that, it’s no wonder this WordPress plugin is still quite popular. It can help with the technical side of things by creating schema markups and sitemaps for you, and it does a good job of tracking lots of different keywords and providing historical data so you can identify trends.
Particularly useful features for online stores and small brick-and-mortar shops are its Local SEO and Search Intent Analysis, which can help identify precisely what local customers are searching for. The thing I find a bit irritating is the AI feature, which will cost a set amount of credits on top of the regular price.
Monthly pricing: $6.99/$20.99/$49.99 (annual billing) for first year, then $7.99/$24.99/$59.99
What’s included at the entry level: Unlimited personal websites, tracking up to 500 keywords, schema generator, 5,000 AI credits, SEO score, Search Intent Analysis, keyword optimization and rank tracker.
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Who it’s best for: Bloggers or entrepreneurs with a WordPress site.
If you need a quick site audit to help you identify the biggest issues and prioritize them, along with keyword research and a few tips on what the competition is doing right, then Keysearch might be right up your alley.
It stands out for its YouTube content analysis and AI-driven insights and suggestions on relatively high-volume long-tail keywords that the competition has neglected. Being able to find new ranking opportunities is great, but based on actual user reports, these recommendations can be a bit hit or miss.
Monthly pricing: $24/$48
What’s included at the entry level: 200 daily keyword searches, 2,000 audits, and 80 tracked keywords per month, competitor and backlink analysis, and an AI content assistant.
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Who it’s best for: Freelancers and content creators, or bloggers
Here we have a highly specialized tool that excels at keyword research and identifying good content topics. It can cluster similar keywords together to give you a great overview of all the possible blog articles, from broader pillar pieces to more specific subtopics. This leaves you plenty of opportunities for interlinking and increases your chances of getting organic backlinks.
There’s also a Plagiarism Checker and AI writing assistance, though, like most specialized tools, it falls short in several other SEO departments. You’re also reliant on credits, which can cause bottlenecks in your workflow if you run out at the wrong moment.
Monthly pricing: $75/$150/$225 one-time payment
What’s included at the entry level: 30,000 keyword credits and 10,000 clusters, 50 lists and lookups, Keyword Golden Filter, Revenue Forecast.
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Who it’s best for: Bloggers and small business owners focused on content
There’s no shortage of effective options if you want to buy cheap SEO tools, but it’s best to have a clear overview of each one side-by-side so that you can compare them quickly and make your final decision.
| Tool | Monthly Price | Keyword Research | On-Page Audit | Free Trial | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rankioz | $30 | Yes, highly accurate metrics | Yes, detailed audit feature | 7-day trial, no credit card required | Bloggers, freelance SEOs, small business owners |
| Ubersuggest | Starting at $12 | Yes, but less accurate | Yes (SEO Analyzer) | Limited free version | Beginners and bloggers looking for a simple keyword + audit tool |
| SE Ranking | Starting at $65 | Yes | Not included in the entry-level tier | 14-day trial, no credit card needed | Agencies that need robust tracking and auditing |
| Mangools | Starting at $24.50 | Yes | Basic (SERPChecker/SiteProfiler) | Limited free account | Bloggers and small agencies looking for an easy-to-use bundle of key SEO tools |
| Serpstat | Starting at $69 | Yes | Yes (site audit) | 7-day trial | Freelancers and solopreneurs who need an all-in-one SEO + PPC analytics tool |
| Screpy | Starting at $15 | Limited | Yes (crawl, on-page, speed) | Basic free plan | Small teams that want technical on-page insights |
| SEO PowerSuite | Starting at $29.10 | Yes | Yes (Website Auditor) | Limited free version | Agencies that want a full offline suite |
| Rank Math Pro | Starting at $6.99 | Only focus keyword optimization and rank tracking | Yes (on-page WordPress SEO) | No free version, just a 30-day money-back guarantee | WordPress site owners |
| KeySearch | Starting at $24 | Yes | Basic site audit | 7-day trial | Solo bloggers and entrepreneurs who want affordable keyword research |
| WriterZen | Starting at $75 | Yes, quite expensive | No | Only free templates and checklists | Content-oriented marketers and small businesses |
If you’re working with limited resources, you want to focus on a couple of key activities that provide the most bang for your buck.
Start by doing extensive keyword research to find options with a relatively high search volume but that are still not too difficult to rank for. Long tail phrases usually have a clearer intent and can drive more conversions even if there are fewer monthly searches, which is good for online shops and local businesses.
Apart from that, you can use SEO tools to get content briefs and ensure that your blog and service or product pages are properly optimized, and then check your internal links.
You can use paid tools like Rankioz with free ones to get a bit of extra utility at no added cost. For example, GSC is great for tracking your rankings, allowing you to quickly learn if what you are doing is actually helping you reach your goals.
A basic website audit will give you an idea of what you should focus on first, and you should never try to multitask and do everything at once. Pick one or two metrics that are a clear indicator of success for you and focus on improving those. It can be increased site traffic, more inquiries through your contact form, better local visibility, or the number of monthly sales from organic traffic.
Rankioz gives you data-driven SEO suggestions without the steep learning curve. Get started here.
There are bargains, and then there’s the allure of free stuff. Don’t get me wrong, some of the free tools on this list, particularly GSC, can be incredibly useful, but they have their limitations.
While you can get some basic insights about your on-page and technical SEO, a few content or keyword ideas, and the ability to track your rankings, you won’t have access to the most accurate data. For example, you will usually only find a rough estimate of search volume for keywords and only 10 or so suggestions, out of potentially hundreds that the expensive tools offer.
However, if you end up paying $130 or $250 a month to get a few extra sales or secure one or two smaller projects, you’re not really getting a lot out of the whole process. On the other hand, a cheap tool that costs $30 or $40 per month, but gets you 80–90% of the results, offers a much better ROI.
That’s how Rankioz can help you bridge the gap between the convenience of free tools and the deep insights of expensive platforms, and you can also easily combine it with some of the former to get access to even more features.
Alright, so I’ve gone over all the theoretical details on why and when to use these tools, but let’s look at how they actually work in real-life scenarios. Here are a few common examples of everyday success stories.
The first thing you’d need in this scenario is to track the rankings and traffic for multiple sites, either using SE Ranking or GSC. The former can even help with competitor analysis, but it’s also a good idea to find a more accurate tool for keyword research and backlink analysis, which Rankioz does quite well.
The freelancer could then optimize the content for the right keywords, fix any issues that come up during an SEO audit, and keep tracking the progress.
RankMath Pro can work quite well for a WordPress blog, providing advice on how to optimize content and even providing a bit of AI writing assistance, while you can use WriterZen to find good topics to cover in your articles. For an all-in-one tool that covers on-page SEO and offers keyword clusters to quickly find topic ideas for your small business, as well as the ability to analyse backlinks, look no further than Rankioz.
You could look at a free + paid combo, with Ubersuggest helping you find adequate content ideas and Rankioz giving you more precise metrics on keyword volume and ranking difficulty. You can also use the latter to get some competitor insights and see what’s been working well for others, and perform a site audit to optimize various pages and help your store thrive.
If you are looking for a well-rounded option with highly accurate keyword metrics, backlink data, streamlined on-page SEO suggestions, and basic site analytics, you can’t go wrong with Rankioz. It hits that sweet spot between affordability and performance, and there’s a 7-day free trial so you can test it out before committing.
They can be, but it depends on the database they use, and they will certainly have their limits. For instance, Rankioz draws information straight from Google’s database, so it’s fairly accurate for such an inexpensive tool. As long as you need these tools to give you a slight edge and don’t have unrealistic expectations, they can serve you quite well.
Even the greenest of newbies out there can get a lot done if they focus on a few key basics and actually put in the work. As long as you devote the time to learn a bit about how this all works and keep fine-tuning your site and putting out optimized content, you can get quite far. Technical SEO and link building can prove to be a bit of a challenge if you’re going at it solo, but the rest is manageable.
When you’re starting out and don’t have a lot of money to spend, it’s best to go with one tool that can do it all and supplement it with one or two free options. You won’t need to get super technical in the beginning, and focusing on multiple tools will burn a big hole in your wallet.
If you have a new site and you want to get some visibility and attract more visitors, you need to focus on SEO, but that doesn’t mean you have to set aside a few hundred dollars each month. You can get things right and see tons of improvement within 6–12 months with a much more reasonably-priced tool, just as long as you choose it wisely.
You’ll need to find something that covers all the core features that make the biggest difference and fits your workflow. Luckily, there are some fairly capable yet cheap SEO solutions out there. Ready to save money without sacrificing results? Try Rankioz and optimize smarter—for less.
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