Affordable SEO Tools | 18 Cheap Software Picks for Small Budgets (2024)

Save Money With Lower-Budget SEO Tools

For most business website owners, good SEO is an essential part of driving traffic to the site. But as we know, results from SEO can take time, and often at least some ongoing investment in one or more SEO tools.

Paid SEO software options vary widely in price, from the cheapest SEO tools on up through the premium all-in-one SEO software platforms.

For people looking for cheaper, more budget-friendly SEO software, this post introduces a wide variety ofaffordable SEO tools that can greatly help you improve website SEO and organic traffic growth while spending less money.

Let’s jump in and take a closer look below.

Tip: Use the yellow ‘Contents’ navigation box below to jump to specific sections.

An Abundance of SEO Software — and Price Points

The marketplace for SEO software tools is very crowded, that’s for sure.

There are many vendor options in areas including:

• SEO keyword research and search difficulty analysis

• Technical website audits (via SEO crawlers)

• SEO competitor analysis

• In-depth content analysis and optimization

• Building SEO topic/content clusters

• AI writing tools and platforms for faster and better SEO content production

• Backlink analyzersand tools for building internal links

• Finding and fixing problems with orphan content and what’s known as ‘SEO content decay’

Some SEO tools and techniques are completely free to all. They allow people to essentially do their SEO for free in ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) mode, incurring no external costs.

Free SEO tools and methods are also the default starting point for people taking a minimalist approach to SEO — handling just the SEO basics.

Others, especially the top-tier premium SEO software suites, are fairly expensive on a monthly basis.

You can buy SEO software delivered as all-in-one SEO toolkits, or as more specialized solutions that focus on specific aspects of SEO, such as rank tracking, website audits, or content optimization.

The best and most affordable SEO tools for some users will be the free or cheapest SEO software options that have little to no budget impact. These options are especially relevant for small business SEO needs,and solo bloggers and SEO freelancers.

Others will be able to justify spending quite a bit per month on one or more paid SEO toolkits. Enterprise SEO platforms are at the upper end of the cost spectrum here.

It’s all relative, as the ‘affordability’ answer varies widely across different companies, user scenarios, and regions of the world.

It also depends on SEO prioritization vs other marketing tactics in an organization’s marketing mix. Some companies view SEO as a secondary marketing tactic, useful in a supporting role for other primary marketing activities.

Generally speaking, affordable SEO software platforms and tools are useful for B2C (business-to-consumer) SEO, B2B (business-to-business) SEO, and search optimization for other business or organization types.

Note: For those interested, you can read more about the history of SEO tools here.

Pro Tip: If you’re reading this post in November or December, learn more here about Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Cyber Week deals on SEO tools. These annual sales offer some of the best ways to buy cheap SEO tools.

The Middle Tier — Focus on SEO Value and Affordability

There are many more affordable SEO software tools on the market today. SEO software costs range from free and very cheap, to value-priced and then premium SEO suites at the high end.

There is a ‘middle tier’ of professional SEO software tools that are neither free nor the cheapest SEO tools available, but not too expensive either. They help make low-cost SEO a practical reality for many.

These relatively inexpensive SEO tools cost under $50 – $60 (US) per monthand are therefore within reach of smaller businesses and SEO agencies, and individual digital marketing consultants with a heavy emphasis on SEO.

Some even have pricing that comes in at under $20 – $30 per month, especially for intro tiers and/or when paying for one or more years at a time.

Value-Priced SEO Tools

These vendors are focused on delivering value-priced SEO software tools for smaller budgets. They can still be a great bargain when considering their potential ROI.

Many of these are also what I’d call ‘full-featured’ SEO tools. They compete very well against the popular but more expensive all-in-one SEO suites available.

This post introduces several options that fall into this category of affordable SEO tools.

Many of the SEO software options below are good cheaper alternatives to Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, and other pricier SEO tools. The premium SEO software suites are indeed very powerful but can be more than needed for many users.

Of course, even the best SEO software platforms can’t provide absolute assurances of SEO performance gains. Learn more here about SEO success/performance guaranteesand why you should be skeptical of them.

Related:Also see this post on SEO reporting tools for companies and agencies, this post on using Google Search Console (GSC) for SEO site audits, and this one on using GSC for rank tracking and Google search performance analysis.

The next sections profile several of the leaders in this group of affordable SEO software options.

I’ve added a follow-on section with some other less expensive options as well, then a brief discussion of the more premium paid all-in-one SEO platforms.

In the end, the best SEO software is the tool (or set of tools) that provides the bundle of features and capabilities you truly need at an acceptable price point for your budget.

Let’s get started…

A Family of Four PC Applications

SEO PowerSuite is the tool I use regularly for many SEO tasks, for my own websites as well as client sites.

I’ve used it for 4+ years now and have gotten to know it well. I use Rank Tracker and WebSite Auditor most heavily, with some SEO SpyGlass mixed in for backlink profile analysis.

Here’s a video overview that helps explain this desktop suite of low cost SEO software.

SEO PowerSuite Applications and Core Features

As noted above, this software suite is a collection of four related applications. They work on Windows PCs, Apple Macs, and Linux PCs.

Even though the SEO PowerSuite applications are separate apps, they all look similar inside in terms of the user interface and layout. The learning curve from one app to another is really minimal.

There is also a useful cloud component to SEO PowerSuite. You can save projects to the SEO PowerSuite Cloud, or to Dropbox accounts. You can also sync project and application settings via the cloud. This helps maintain consistency of settings and user preferences across the applications.

Cost Advantage vs. Cloud-Based SEO Apps

This design approach of combining local processing and storage (e.g., your PC), with a handful of smart cloud-enabled features, helps SEO PowerSuite remain one of the cheaper SEO software tools compared to some of the premium cloud-only (pure SaaS) SEO platforms.

In other words, this ‘shared processing’ approach means they simply don’t need to pay for nearly as much computing power or storage on their end, so they can pass along some of the cost savings to us as users.

This also removes many of the feature limitations and data storage caps found in other pure-SaaS SEO toolkits.

For an interesting comparison, see this vendor-supplied post on when you might want to use SEO PowerSuite vs Ahrefs and Semrush. And when you might NOT want to pick SEO PowerSuite as a primary SEO tool.

It’s a straightforward and open assessment of SEO PowerSuite vs the major cloud-based tools.

Also, learn more here about cloud-based SEO tools vs desktop SEO applications.

Now, let’s move on to some SEO PowerSuite product details.

SEO PowerSuite’s core applications and features include:

Rank Tracker

For keyword research, rank tracking, competitor analysis, and related reporting.

Features include:

• Comprehensive rank tracking for multiple projects, search engines, and regions
• Ranking progress data and graphs (up/down movements) with flexible date ranges and comparisons
• Competitor comparisons (up to 10 competitor websites)
• 300+ search engines around the world
• Server-side rank checking option (doesn’t use your PC or IP address)
• SERP feature indicators (e.g., when you earn the coveted ‘Featured Snippet’ position)
• A nicely integrated SERP analysis feature
• Keyword mapping to target landing pages
• Integration with Google Search Console data and Google Analytics
• Numerous keyword research tools
• Long-tail keyword discovery and analysis
• Organization features for building keyword groups and topic clusters
• Organic SEO and PPC data (estimates for monthly search volume, PPC cost, organic clicks, etc.)
• Keyword difficulty scores (assessment of organic ranking difficulty)
• In-depth competitor research (domain competitors, topic competition, top competitor ranking content, and keyword gap analysis vs. competition)
• Domain strength scoring
• Simple and powerful filtering tools
• Flexible and customizable reporting interface
• Automated task scheduling and alerts
• Professional and customizable reports with white-label branding options

WebSite Auditor

For performing technical website audits and getting prioritized recommendations on what needs fixing. Also includes content analysis and some competitive analysis.

Features include:

• Comprehensive website SEO health checkup
• Technical SEO audit, including desktop and mobile page speed checks
• Prioritized identification of SEO issues to fix or at least be aware of
• Site structure visualization tools and graphs
• On-page content analysis, including potential ‘keyword stuffing’ issues
• Image SEO factors (image size, alt text, etc.)
• Content optimization support and built-in content editor
• TF-IDF analysis vs top ranking competitors
• Other competitive content metrics (word counts, keyword usage, etc.)
• Tools for generating robots.txt and XML sitemap files
• Social media metrics
• Professional and customizable SEO reports with white-label branding options

WebSite Auditor also provides an element of ‘SEO coaching’ and guidance by prioritizing your specific SEO problem areas and helping you make smarter optimization decisions. This is available in other good website auditing tools as well.

SEO SpyGlass

For building a comprehensive backlink profile of any website, including your own as well as competitor sites.

Note: SEO SpyGlass recently received a major update that markedly improved the backlink index size and quality, while adding other useful new features to the application itself.

Features include:

• Backlink profile analysis for websites and specific pages
• Backlink metrics, scoring, and penalty risk assessments (backlink audits)
• 50+ link quality factors
• Integration with Google Analytics and Google Search Console data
• Detailed reports on backlinks, linking domains, anchor texts, linked pages, referral traffic, penalty risk, and referring IPs
• Historical link data (backlinks gained and lost, linking domains)
• Competitor analyses and domain comparisons, including bulk analysis
• Link intersection analysis (e.g., your site vs competition)
• Link-building opportunity identification (for external backlinks)
• Automated task scheduling and alerts
• Professional and customizable reports with white-label branding options

LinkAssistant

For performing backlink opportunity research and link-building campaigns.

Features include:

• Backlink opportunity discovery
• Multiple keyword-driven research sources and methods, including guest posting, forums, niche blogs, review sites, directories, existing competitor backlinks, etc.
• Target site quality metrics
• Link prospect management for link-building outreach campaigns
• Email outreach correspondence management
• Webmaster contact research
• Backlink reports
• Automated task scheduling and alerts
• Data export options
• Simple project organization tools: tags, filters, etc.
• Professional and customizable reports with white-label branding options

SEO PowerSuite Pricing

I’ve outlined the basic pricing structure for SEO PowerSuite below.

For the very latest updates, be sure to check this features and editions page.

Note: SEO PowerSuite also now offers 2-year and 3-year subscription plans at even cheaper prices. See more on that below.

Free Version

SEO PowerSuite free is a ‘free forever’ downloadable software suite that covers unlimited websites, projects, and keywords.

It’s not a free 7-day trial or a 2-week trial.

It’s a free forever SEO toolkitthat lets you test the core functions of the software suite for as long as you like. Yes, there are some limitations with the free version. But there’s plenty of functionality there to get you off to a great SEO start.

For some SEO users, this may be all you ever need.

Others (like me a few years ago) will want to move rather quickly into the Pro or Enterprise versions. I started with the free version for a few days, then bought into the Pro version, which I now have on a multi-year pricing plan.

Pro Version

The pro version of SEO PowerSuite is $299/year, or ~ $25 (US) per month.

It is full-featured, but with some limitations (vs Enterprise) in terms of competitor rank tracking, client reporting, full data exports, and cloud storage for projects and reports.

Enterprise Version

SEO PowerSuite’s Enterprise version is $499/year, or ~ $42/month.

This is still very affordable for SEO professionals with several websites to manage or clients to support.

Multi-Year Pricing

SEO PowerSuite also offers 2-year and 3-year subscription pricing that saves 20% or 34%, respectively, vs the 1-year plan.

For example, you can get SEO PowerSuite Pro for only $199/year (under $17/month) on the 3-year plan.

That’s really affordable for such a powerful set of SEO tools.

Individual Applications

It is also possible to purchase individual applications of the full SEO PowerSuite toolkit.

For example, purchasing Rank Tracker, WebSite Auditor, SEO SpyGlass, or LinkAssistant as individual programs, vs buying the entire suite.

Rank Tracker single app pricing in this case is typically around $149/year for the Pro level, or $349/year for Enterprise.

WebSite Auditor single app pricing is $125 or $299 per year for Pro and Enterprise levels, respectively.

Individual Apps vs Bundled?

Based on the above pricing structure, it makes sense to buy into the entire SEO PowerSuite bundle if you think you’ll regularly use two or three of the tools, with occasional need for the other(s).

If you’re really interested in only one of the tools, or maybe two of them, then buying them individually can save you some money.

Other SEO PowerSuite Value-Add

As a regular user of SEO PowerSuite, I’ll add a few more thoughts here that may be helpful to you.

Company Longevity

The team behind SEO PowerSuite is not a ‘new kid on the SEO block’. The company and tools have actually been around for 15+ years now, which is a huge timeframe in what I’ll call ‘SEO Years’.

Great Product Support

I’ve needed a little bit of tech support from the team over the last couple of years, and they’ve always been super responsive.

It’s easy to send an entire project file to them so they can help debug any issues.

They also have an active Facebook support group where you can get quick support from SEO PowerSuite team members as well as other power users who are active within the group. It’s a friendly and helpful bunch of folks.

License Renewals

The Pro and Enterprise editions of SEO PowerSuite do require periodic license renewals in order to keep the software updated with bug fixes, search engine algorithm updates, and new features.

So, there is an ongoing expense item here to factor into your SEO budget.

Much like a monthly or yearly cloud-based SEO tool cost.

Some people seem to be confused about this, thinking that SEO PowerSuite is somehow a one-time purchase with no ongoing costs. However, it’s completely understandable that this is not the case.

All in all, SEO PowerSuite’s license renewal fees keep it well within the ‘affordable’ cost range for most serious SEO pros.

SEO PowerSuite Conclusion

As far as inexpensive SEO tools are concerned, SEO PowerSuite is a good value-priced, lower-budget alternative to Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, and other premium or enterprise-level SEO software.

It delivers all the SEO essentials within its four tools, with far fewer feature and data limitations vs many of the pure cloud-based apps.

With a free-forever version and two paid complete bundles that are still in the $25 – $50 range per month, there’s no real downside to trying it out to see if a paid license is right for you.

Plus, the multi-year subscription pricing can bring the whole bundle to under $20/month for the Pro version.

There’s also no 7-day or 14-day trial limitation, so you can feel free to really check it out thoroughly to see if it’s a good fit.

Popular Tools for Budget-Minded SEO

Mangools, like SEO PowerSuite, is another very capable SEO toolkit with value pricing in mind. Like most SEO toolkits today, Mangools comes as a cloud-based SaaS SEO solution.

From its start in 2014, Mangools provides a suite of tools that cover all the SEO essentials in a more cost-effective bundle. For many users, Mangools is the cheaper Ahrefs alternative that suits their SEO needs and tools budget.

Mangools also aims to simplify SEO by presenting an easy-to-use interface that even SEO newbies can manage.

The video below will give you a decent intro look at KWFinder, one of the main tools from Mangools.

In this case, it’s used to help identify ‘long-tail’ keywords that have relatively low organic search difficulty but still reasonably high search volumes.

Mangools Core Tools and Features

Mangools offers the following set of tools:

KWFinder

For comprehensive keyword research across a wide range of global regions, including local.

Features include:

• Discovery of long-tail keywords
• Search volume and keyword metrics for organic and PPC
• Competitor keyword analysis
• Keyword organization, lists, and filters
• Keyword import
• Local keyword research
• Accurate keyword difficulty scoring
• SERP analysis

SERPChecker

For detailed SERP analysis that helps identify competitor weaknesses and, therefore, new SEO opportunities for you.

Features Include:

• Google SERP Analysis Tool
• Local search data for 50,000 locations
• Competitive intelligence with dozens of SEO metrics
• Competitor comparisons (e.g., your site vs. Competitor A, B, C, etc.)
• SERP feature detection tool

SERPWatcher

For comprehensive rank tracking that’s easier to use vs. competitive SEO rank trackers.

Features include:

• Tracking of desktop and mobile results
• Coverage for specific locations
• Daily keyword position updates
• Summary views with all key data on one screen
• Simplified performance metrics
• Tag-based keyword organization
• Interactive reports and email updates

LinkMiner

For checking and analyzing important backlink characteristics.

Features include:

• Backlink discovery and evaluation
• Backlink strength scoring
• Live previews of referring sites
• Advanced analysis options
• Backlinks organization

SiteProfiler

For checking SEO authority of domains, pages, and posts.

Features include:

• Incorporates SEO metrics from Moz, Majestic, and Alexa
• Includes Facebook Share metrics to help measure content popularity
• Simple dashboard with key metrics
• Analysis tools for backlinks, competitive content, and similar websites

Mangools Free Tools

Mangools also offers a number of free tools, including an SEO browser extension, a SERP volatility checker, and a Google SERP simulator.

Mangools Pricing

Mangools is very competitively priced, with fourpricing tiers (Entry, Basic, Premium, and Agency) that fit well into the ‘affordable’ cost range for most users.

Their annual plans are aggressively discounted, saving ~ 35% compared to the month-to-month subscriptions. They also offer a 48-hour money-back guarantee after purchase, plus a free (limited) version mentioned below.

All prices provided here are for the discounted annual plans.

• Mangools Entry — $19.90 (US) per month

• Mangools Basic — $29.90 per month

• Mangools Premium — $44.90 per month

• Mangools Agency — $89.90 per month

As usual with subscription-based SaaS solutions, the SEO features and limitations vary by pricing tier. Visit the Mangools plans and pricing page to get the absolute latest breakdown.

Mangools Free Version

Mangools also offers a limited free version of their main SEO toolkit with no credit card required. You may upgrade later to a paid plan as you wish.

Mangools Conclusion

The pros at Authority Hacker have referred to Mangools as basically ‘budget Ahrefs’ — and that’s a pretty good way to think about these relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use SEO software tools.

It’s a complete suite of SEO apps with three pricing plans that come in under US $45 per month on an annualized basis.

That’s less than half the cost of the more premium tools. Mangools’ pricing for SEO agencies is also very competitive.

With a free option, budget-friendly paid tiers, and a simplified learning curve, Mangools deserves a spot on my list of affordable SEO tools.

From Agency Tool to Independent SEO Solution

Serpstat dates back to 2013, when it was first developed as an in-house tool for a digital marketing agency in Eastern Europe.

Operating as an independent firm since 2015, Serpstat delivers a fully cloud-based ‘all-in-one’ SEO toolbox that handles core SEO and SEM duties with 20+ tools and features.

Serpstat Core Features

Each Serpstat subscription plan includes the following core feature set:

Rank Tracking – Desktop, mobile, and local search results; keyword groupings

Keyword Analysis – Organic search difficulty, search queries, keyword trends, and related keywords

Website Analysis – Domain and URL-level analysis, missing keywords, top pages, and a tree-view tool

Site Audit – Site and page-level audits and custom reporting

Backlink Analysis – External links, top pages, and referring domains

PPC Research – PPC ads analysis, PPC keywords, and competitor ads analysis

Special Tools – Interesting extra capabilities for keyword clustering, text analysis, and keywords quality control

SEO Browser Extensions – For Chrome, Firefox, and Opera

Other Features – Including API access options, team management, reports and infographics

Serpstat Pricing

Serpstat’s main pricing tiers include Individual, Team, and Agency plans. Each is available via monthly subscription fees, with options to save ~ 15% for full-year payments.

Each higher tier opens up more features and users, and higher limits on processing requests (queries per day, results per query, number of active projects, etc.)

For full details, see Serpstat’s pricing and feature breakdown here. Look for any special extra discounts, such as ‘summer sales’, etc., that pop up from time to time.

• Serpstat Individual —$50 (US) per month on an annual plan. Ideal for individual SEO users, freelancers, and smaller businesses. 1 user max.

• Serpstat Team — $100 per month on an annual basis. Good for in-house corporate SEO teams and marketing agencies. 3 users max.

• Serpstat Agency —$410 per month for a full-year commitment. Designed for large marketing agencies and large in-house teams with extensive data requirements. 30 users max.

Serpstat will also customize packages and services for large enterprises that may need something specific. They welcome inquiries regarding special requirements.

Serpstat Conclusion

Serpstat provides over 20 essential SEO/SEM/PPC tools and analysis capabilities for anyone from a solo SEO consultant or freelancer all the way through large enterprise SEM teams and marketing agencies.

You may sign up for an account here.

You can also request a live demo, after which you may get a free trial period to test things out.

Powerful Integrated SEO Tools from Neil Patel

Many readers of this post will be at least somewhat familiar with Neil Patel, the digital marketing guru and online entrepreneur. He’s helped train thousands of digital marketers around the world, building and monetizing his brand(s) along the way.

I’ve learned a ton from Neil’s free YouTube videos. Indeed, that’s how I first learned about Ubersuggest, his suite of SEO software tools.

Neil bought a prior version of Ubersuggest several years ago, offered it for free while promoting and further developing it, and then converted it into a lower-cost SEO platform in early 2020.

It’s now one of the more affordable SEO tools on the marketplace today.

Here’s a good overview video and guide to using Ubersuggest.

Ubersuggest Core Features

Keyword Discovery – Find profitable keyword ideas that are easier to rank for vs your topic and niche competitors.

Site Audit – Identify technical SEO issues with your site and get instructions and tips on how to fix them.

Daily Rank Tracking – View daily changes in your rankings for desktop and mobile search databases in 20+ locations.

Competitor Analysis – Reverse engineer your top competitors’ SEO strategies to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Replicate what’s working for them to help earn more organic traffic for your site.

Backlink Data – Understand your website’s backlink profile and discover new backlink opportunities from high-quality referring sites.

SEO Project Organization– Organize your SEO data for specific projects. Build project dashboards, track changes over time, and set up automated alerts.

SEO Browser Extension – Optionally add the Ubersuggest SEO extension for Chrome.

Other Features – Ubersuggest offers helpful SEO training and support as well, including course videos, worksheets and templates, Q&A coaching calls, and email support. Neil’s team also offers consulting and digital marketing agency services.

Ubersuggest Pricing

Ubersuggest is aggressively priced, certainly qualifying it as one of the more affordable paid SEO software tools available.

There’s a free 7-day trial, then three paid plans:

• Individual — US $29/month. Designed for individuals and small businesses managing SEO for one website.

• Business — $49/month. Designed for small and medium businesses managing 2-7 websites.

• Enterprise / Agency — $99/month. Designed for large businesses and marketing agencies managing 8-15 websites.

Also, look for ‘lifetime deal’ pricingthat ranges from $290 to $990 one-time fee for lifetime access with no additional monthly fees.

See the latest Ubersuggest plans and pricing details.

Ubersuggest Conclusion

With a focus on affordability and comprehensive SEO features, Ubersuggest is giving the premium tools a real battle for market share. It definitely stands as a relatively cheap alternative to Semrush, Ahrefs, and other established all-in-one SEO software suites.

This push into providing capable yet inexpensive SEO tools will be further amplified by Neil’s brand awareness and marketing machine.

For SEO users on a tighter budget, Ubersuggest is definitely worth a strong look and test drive. It certainly deserves a spot on just about any list of affordable SEO tools.

SEO, Social, and Strong Reporting Features in One Toolkit

Part of the TapClicks family of companies, Raven Tools provides a cloud-based ‘all-in-one’ toolkit for SEO professionals ranging from freelancers and SMBs to large agencies and enterprises.

It is a complete professional SEO software suite that is particularly strong in the area of marketing reporting for agency client work and in-house needs.

This video illustrates some of the reporting flexibility that many Raven customers value for simplifying their digital marketing reporting tasks.

Raven Tools Core Features

Raven’s features fall into the following areas:

Marketing Reports

Comprehensive and highly-customizable reporting for SEO, PPC, social, email, and even call tracking. Includes data integration options for 30+ data sources. White label and branded reports for marketing agencies serving multiple clients.

Interestingly, Raven also offers a range of data connectors for Google Data Studio reporting. These are priced separately from their main SEO software platform.

Competitor Domain Research

Tools to analyze competitive domains and pages. Includes 20+ domain insights from industry-leading sources such as Moz (e.g., Domain Authority and backlinks) and Majestic (e.g., Trust Flow, Citation Flow, and comprehensive external backlink data).

Site Auditor

For performing complete technical SEO audits on websites. Get prioritized recommendations of items needing corrective action, broken down into logical issue categories.

SERP Rank Tracker

Track your organic search rankings across the keywords that are relevant to your website and business. Customize the schedule for rank checking and control your use of Rank Position Checks (RPCs) each month.

Search engine options include Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, and Yandex.

Keyword Rank Checker

Identify top-ranking keywords for any URL or domain. Great for competitive research and finding new keyword options for your own site and content.

Keyword data includes target URL and ranking position, estimated organic traffic, CPC estimates for PPC campaigns, global search volume, traffic cost, and SERP features found.

Keyword Research

Discover keyword suggestions and relevant organic and PPC keyword data based on a starter keyword or key phrase. Filter and organize results, and export data as needed. Includes API option to gather data from Google’s Keyword Planner.

Backlink Checker and Link Spy

For backlink profile development and analysis of your own and/or competitor websites. Identify new backlink opportunities and assess quality of specific backlinks and referring domains. Utilizes metrics from Moz and Majestic to help build a comprehensive backlink profile.

Link Spy helps you identify potential backlink opportunities based on the websites that already rank for your target keywords.

Social Media

Simplifies and integrates social media campaign and reporting activities for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn, all from the Raven Tools dashboard.

Since many teams handle both SEO/SEM and social marketing activities, this is a powerful capability that differentiates Raven from most of the other ‘pure play SEO’ toolkits.

It’s also great for agencies who need simplified social media reporting for multiple clients.

Raven Tools Pricing

Raven’s pricing starts at a competitive US $39/month when prepaid for a year.

They have five pricing tiers total, with up to 30% discounts for yearly pre-paid plans, as shown below.

• Small Biz — $39/month ($468 yearly prepaid)
• Start — $79/month ($948/year)
• Grow —$139/month ($1688/year)
• Thrive — $249/month ($2988/year)
• Lead — $399/month ($4788/year)

Plans vary in terms of number of users allowed, domains and campaigns, monthly ranking positions checks (RPCs), and a variety of other feature permissions and data limits.

See this link for the latest breakdown of Raven Tools pricing and feature comparisons.

Raven Tools Conclusion

With an entry point of under $40 per month on an annualized and pre-paid basis, Raven is a good option to consider for professional all-in-one SEO software.

The feature list is long and includes good client reporting capabilities and social media tools at all plan levels. Their Google Data Studio (now called Looker Studio) connector options will also be interesting to those with flexible SEO reporting needs.

Raven Tools offers a free 7-day trial here.

Simple and Low Cost Keyword Research Tool

Keywords Everywhere is one of those very helpful keyword research tools that used to be free, but became a paid tool in early October 2019.

It’s a browser extension that displays keyword data in a wide variety of places and sites, such as Google Search results, Amazon search boxes, etc. Itis useful for both PPC and organic SEO.

Keywords Everywhere is focused solely on keyword research, in contrast to the all-in-one SEO software suites profiled elsewhere in this post.

While it is no longer free, Keywords Everywhere is still a super value for those in need of cheap keyword research tools.

They now use the concept of ‘paid credits’ to provide important keyword metrics alongside the keywords they display.

Keywords Everywhere Core Features

This tool’s features fall into the following areas:

Browser Extension

Keywords Everywhere is a simple browser extension or add-on for Chrome and Firefox. It requires you to sign up for your own unique API key, but that’s about it. No other software to install and no cloud apps to log into.

Here’s the main part of what you’ll see after clicking the red ‘K’ icon in your browser extensions bar.

Keyword Data for Multiple Websites

The browser extension provides handy keyword data as you browse and use different target websites, including:

• Google Search
• Google Search Console
• Google Analytics
• Google Trends
• Google Keyword Planner
• Bing
• ‘People Also Search For’ and ‘Related Keywords’ (for Google and Bing)
• YouTube
• Amazon, eBay, and Etsy
• Plus other popular SEO tools

Keyword data provided includes:

• Monthly Search Volume – average search volume over last 12 months

• Cost Per Click (CPC) – amount that PPC advertisers are paying for this keyword in Google Ads

• Google Ads Competition – a metric based on the number of advertisers running ads for the keyword

Note: The competition (‘Comp’) score is NOT the same as organic SEO keyword difficulty. The metric from Keywords Everywhere is strictly a measure of paid ad competition for PPC.

Keywords Everywhere also includes access to keyword historical trends data via Google Trends, as well as competitive keyword and traffic research at the page and website level.

Easy File Exports and Keyword Imports

When you have a list of keywords and data that you want to save, it’s easy to download the list in Excel, CSV, or PDF file formats.

They also have a keyword import tool available, which supplies the keyword data for keywords you add.

Tip: You could use Keywords Everywhere as part of your keyword research workflow, then export a CSV file for further work in another tool.

Keywords Everywhere Pricing

Pricing is based on keyword data credits, with three main plan levels.

1 credit = data for 1 keyword. Easy peasy, right?

(Note that credits expire after 1 year.)

• Bronze — $1.75 per month ($21/year) for 100,000 keyword credits.
• Silver — $6 per month ($72/year) for 400,000 credits.
• Gold — $25 per month ($300/year) for 2 million credits.

Each keyword credit delivers the volume, CPC, and ad competition data for one keyword on one of the target websites where such data is displayed.

To control your spend on this tool, you can also disable it for different websites where you don’t need the keyword metrics to appear. You can also simply disable the extension completely for times when you’re not doing keyword research at all.

Learn more about Keywords Everywhere pricing.

Conclusion

If you want a simple and inexpensive keyword research tool that works essentially everywhere you might want it, then Keywords Everywhere is worth checking out.

It’s useful all by itself and also in conjunction with other SEO tools, if you choose to use it as part of an overall SEO workflow.

With budget-minded pricing and an on-demand cost structure, Keywords Everywhere is certainly one of the most affordable SEO tools available today for keyword research.

Other SEO Software Tools to Consider

These tools also fall into my ‘range of affordability’, at least at the entry-level price points.

This means SEO software that definitely starts under ~ $50 per month on an annualized plan, and sometimes even less than half of that cost.

Note: You may also want to check out these posts on building keyword clusters and content groups, improving internal linking structures, and using AI writing tools to create SEO content.

There are also now many AI-enabled SEO tools focused on writing and optimizing long-form content like blog posts and articles.

Listed in alphabetical order, here are several more of the lower-budget SEO software tools available today.

Keyword.com

Keyword.com is a rank-tracking tool that starts at ~ $20 per month on an annualized plan.

They have a companion site auditing tool over at SiteAuditor.com. This has separate features and pricing.

Keyword Insights

Keyword Insights is an advanced keyword research tool that builds related keyword clusters and also uncovers ‘search intent’ for better SEO topic coverage and content planning.

They also offer AI-based content brief creation.

This tool has monthly, annual, and pay-as-you-go pricing plans that start at just under $50/month.

LowFruits

LowFruits is a keyword research tool based on SERP competitor analysis. It helps identify keywords with weaker competition in the SERP (e.g., Google Page 1), which means you have better potential to create content that will rank higher, faster.

LowFruits also has keyword clustering features, which groups keywords that have similar ‘search intent’.

Pricing is based on keyword credits. You can buy bundles of credits for as low as $25.

LowFruits also offers subscription plans starting at just over $20/month on an annual plan.

Rank Math

Rank Math is a ‘freemium’ SEO plugin for WordPress websites. It competes with Yoast and others in this area. There is a limited free version.

Rank Math paid plans start at about $59 per year, which is certainly very cheap on a monthly basis.

RankWatch

RankWatch is a comprehensive SEO platform that includes rank tracking, keyword research, backlink analysis, technical site audits, SEO competitor analysis, and reporting.

RankWatch pricing starts at under $30 per month, so it’s definitely worth a look for smaller-budget SEO needs.

Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is a very popular and well-regarded SEO site audit tool (also called an SEO spider).

It has a free version, and a paid version that runs £149 (GBP) per year. or just over US $200 annually.

Screaming Frog also offers a website log file analyzer. This also has a free version, and a paid version at £99 (GBP) per year.

SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an affordable all-in-one SEO platform that provides everything from keyword rank tracking and site audits to backlink analysis and more.

SE Ranking pricing starts at under $45/month for a base annual plan.

SEO Site Checkup

SEO Site Checkup is a platform for website SEO analysis and monitoring, including competitive analysis, backlink profile analysis, and flexible reporting features. Some keyword monitoring is provided as well.

A major focus here is website SEO audits, with automation features that help put website health checks on autopilot.

SEO Site Checkup has two pricing tiers under $50/month, so this is another good option to consider for people with smaller SEO software budgets.

SerpWatch

The focus of SerpWatch is keyword rank tracking and monitoring. It includes options for automated alerts for important ranking changes, local rank tracking, SERP analysis, and white label client portals and reports.

SerpWatch starts at under $30/month on an annual plan. As usual with SaaS-based SEO software, more features kick in at higher pricing tiers.

SheerSEO

SheerSEO is a comprehensive SEO software platform with 20+ features that cover nearly all essential SEO tasks.

SheerSEO has very aggressive pricing that starts at under $10 per month on an annual plan. Upgrade options include more keywords tracked and greater rank-checking frequency (default is weekly).

SpyFu

SpyFu has an interesting SEM toolkit that includes an SEO marketing suite as well as PPC tools for paid ad support.

The platform supports many SEO essentials (rank tracking, keyword research, etc.), plus extensive competitive analysis.

Their wide array of competitor analysis features for both SEO and PPC is impressive.

SpyFu entry pricing is $16/month for a basic plan, billed annually. Even their Pro plan is under $40/month on an annual plan.

Wincher

Wincher is primarily an SEO rank-tracking tool. It also provides organic SEO competitor tracking, new keyword discovery, alerts, and flexible reporting tools.

Wincher pricing starts at € 24/month on an annual plan.

Wincher provides a basic free option via a WordPress plugin. They have also partnered with Yoast to enable keyphrase tracking within the popular Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress.

Good to Know: You can also find very interesting ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Week’ holiday deals on SEO tools at AppSumo, starting in mid-late November each year.

This is a great way to purchase affordable SEO tools at rather cheap prices.

Learn more about the wide range ofAppSumo software dealsavailable.

The Heavyweights of SEO Software

As I mentioned earlier in this post, there are also several well known SEO tools that fall into what I call the ‘Premium SEO Tools’ category.

These typically cost around US $80-$100 and higher per month on an annual plan, and have earned justifiable reputations as heavyweights in the SEO software category.

Examples of premium SEO tools include:

Ahrefs

One of the top all-in-one SEO toolkits, Ahrefs is an advanced and highly-regarded SEO platform for those with greater budget flexibility.

Moz

Moz is one of the original vendors in the category of complete SEO tools suites. They cover all the bases, including tools for true enterprise-class SEO.

Ryte

Focused on improving the ‘website user experience’, Ryte includes SEO tools as well as features for performance, quality assurance, and other factors that impact overall website UX.

Semrush

Semrush (formerly spelled ‘SEMrush’), like Ahrefs and Moz, is a highly-regarded and complete SEO toolkit.

Unlike many very SEO-centric platforms, Semrush also includes tools for PPC, social media marketing, competitor research, and content marketing. Their content optimization tools now also include some AI writing and text rephrasing capabilities.

Semrush really looks more like an all-in-one digital marketing platform now, and carries a more premium price as a result.

Related: Also see this post covering these and other all-in-one SEO software suites.

Worth the Extra Cost for Some Users

Depending on your budget and SEO requirements, these more expensive tools may be well worth your investment. They are all highly capable SEO platforms with many thousands of satisfied users. They also have mature and field-proven feature sets.

In addition, they have great SEO tutorials and learning resources on their websites, blogs, and YouTube channels.

For many SEO software users, though, the higher-priced suites will be overkill. They often have too many features that don’t get used regularly, so the higher monthly cost is not well justified.

In these cases, the less expensive SEO software tools described above will be attractive cheaper alternatives to Ahrefs, Moz, and other premium suites, with lower cost impact and better overall ROI.

Once again, it’s clear that deciding on the best SEO tools for your specific needs is a highly variable and subjective exercise. There is no simple or single answer.

Software Tools for All Needs and Budgets

The universe of available SEO tools is very large, indeed!

It covers virtually all user needs across a wide range of price points, from absolutely free to fairly expensive on a monthly or annual basis.

This post covered six of the more moderately-priced SEO tools available today:

• SEO PowerSuite
• Mangools
• Serpstat
• Ubersuggest
• Raven Tools
• Keywords Everywhere

And 12 other cost-effective SEO software tools also summarized above.

For many users, these lower-budget SEO tools compete well against the more premium options in key feature areas, while still managing to keep costs relatively low.

Some of them are even quite cheap now, especially relative to their potential value for website owners seeking more organic site traffic.

The good news for us as SEO tool customers is that vendor price pressure and feature competition will continue to keep software costs in check, while delivering better SEO capabilities in each new release.

What’s your favorite SEO toolkit?

Is it an all-in-one SEO software suite like several of the ones I covered above?

Or is it a collection of more focused tools that fit with your personal SEO workflow?

Or do you avoid the paid SEO tools altogether, using only 100% free tools and services?

Feel free to add your thoughts below.

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