Most “affordable” SEO tools still cost you $50–100 per month. That’s not cheap, just cheaper than Semrush for example. If you’re a solo blogger or freelancer you need to watch every dollar.
We ranked 5 tools strictly by price, from FREE to $30 per month, and listed what you actually get per tool. SPOILER ALERT: it’s more than you’d think.
Quick picks:
- Cheapest overall (free): Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Best under $10 per month: Keywords Everywhere
- Best all-in-one under $15 per month: RnkRocket
- Best for content-heavy keyword research: Keysearch
- Best if you want an all-in-one subscription for everything: Mangools
Cheapest SEO tools at a glance
| Tool | Starting Price | Best For |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Free (500 URLs) | Technical audits on small sites |
| Keywords Everywhere | ~$7/mo (credit packs from $84/yr) | Quick keyword data while browsing |
| RnkRocket | ~$13/mo (£9.95) | All-in-one for total beginners |
| Keysearch | From $17/mo | Dedicated keyword research at scale |
| Mangools | $29.90/mo (annual) | One subscription, five tools |
Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free)
Screaming Frog isn’t a keyword tool. It’s a desktop crawler that scans your site to give you a whole bunch of useful metrics. The free version can scan up to 500 URLs, which is more than enough for most blogs and small business sites.
What it does well:
- Find broken links, missing meta descriptions, duplicate title tags and redirect chains
- Exports everything to CSV, this way you can build your own tracking sheet
- It runs locally, no subscription or login necessary
Where it falls short: it doesn’t provide keyword research, rank tracking or SERP data. It’s a purely technical tool. So you’ll still need something else for finding what to write about.
Best for: anyone who wants a free technical audit before they even think about going for a paid tool.
Keywords Everywhere: from $7 per month (Credit Packs)
This tool is also different given that it is a browser extension, not a dashboard. Once you’ve installed it, search volume, CPC and competition data shows up directly inside Google’s results page, on Youtube and on Amazon. It runs on a credit system instead of a flat subscription. The entry level which is Bronze with 100,000 credits costs $84 per year or about $7 per month. If you have a heavy or light research month it will be less or more.
What it does well:
- Zero learning curve, if you can use Google, you can use this as well
- Credits never expire, so if you’re a light user you can take all the time you want
Where it falls short: It has no real dashboard, no rank tracking and no content planning. It's a data layer tool on top of other tools you’re already using, so not a stand-alone tool.
Best for: Bloggers doing occasional keyword checks who don’t want a subscription they won’t fully utilize.
Check out our KWFinder review
RnkRocket: from £9.95 per month (~$13 USD)
RnkRocket built its basic plan around the idea that a solo business owner should be able to do real SEO without worrying about the bill. £9.95 a month gets you a site audit, keyword tracking and a list of what to fix, not just simple scores.
What it does well:
- It's very easy to use for beginners. It tells you what’s wrong and how to fix it.
- No contracts, you can cancel anytime and you can top up keyword or audit credits any time without needing to upgrade your whole plan.
Where it falls short: It’s a newer and smaller player than Mangools or Ahrefs, so the keyword database and historical data won’t be as wide or deep. It’s a great starting point for smaller users, but as your site grows, so should your tools.
Best for: total beginners, especially local or small-business sites that need simplicity and clarity more than raw data depth.
Keysearch: from $17 per month (annual)
Keysearch is a research tool built for content writers who need large volumes of keywords, their difficulty as well as the ability to analyse competitor gaps without paying Ahrefs prices.
What it does well:
- Keyword difficulty scoring specifically aimed at low-competition, winnable terms
- It has a content assistant that can help you structure articles around what is already ranking
Where it falls short: the interface is quite dated compared to Mangools’, and daily search limits on the starter plan can run out quite fast if you’re writing multiple articles per week.
Best for: bloggers publishing frequently who need a dedicated keyword engine and don’t need other tools such as finding backlinks or doing a SERP analysis.
Mangools: $29.90 per month (Annual)
Mangools is the most expensive tool on this list, but still the one we’d recommend if you only want to pay for one subscription. The reason for this is the fact that it bundles so many useful tools such as KWFinder (keyword research), SERPChecker, SERPWatcher (rank tracking), LinkMiner (backlinks), and SiteProfiler into a single login.
What it does well:
- KWFinder’s difficulty scores are very reliable for its price point
- 5 Tools instead of 5 separate subscriptions is great value for money
Where it falls short: at $29.90 per month it’s roughly 3 to 4 times what Keywords Everywhere or RnkRocket cost. So if you only need to know keyword volume, they’re a better bet.
Best for: Anyone who wants keyword research, rank tracking, and backlink checking in one tool instead of stitching together three cheaper ones.
Check out our SEMrush alternatives article
How to choose
- You want to try SEO tooling for free first → Screaming Frog gives you the basics at zero cost
- You do keyword research occasionally, not daily → Keywords Everywhere’s credit model means you’re not paying for a subscription you barely use
- You’re new to SEO → RnkRocket’s plain-English fix lists beat raw data dumps when you don’t know what those numbers mean yet
- You publish content on a weekly basis and need deep keyword data → Keysearch is tailormade for you
- You want everything in one login → Mangools costs a bit more but replaces all these tools separately
For context, independent roundups like this cheap SEO tools guide and The Rank Masters’ breakdown cover similar ground if you want a second opinion.
This is the choice: pay less and stitch tools together, or pay a bit more and get it all in one place. Neither is wrong, it all depends on your use case.
Conclusion
If your budget is $0, you should start with Screaming Frog. This will help you with the technical issues your site has and Google Search Console for everything else, then add Keywords Everywhere once you’re ready to spend a bit of money. If you want a tool that handles the full picture without jumping past $30 per month, Mangools is still the best value for money.
Try Mangools free no credit card required
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