Every marketing agency wants keyword data to make informed decisions for themselves and their clients. Tools are helpful! And while none are 100% accurate, they give us a sufficient idea of what users could potentially be searching for.
Utilizing a variety of keyword tools each time research is warranted is plainly inefficient, to say the least. In an attempt to increase productivity & alleviate confusion, we’ve reviewed ALL currently available keyword research tools and identified a number of metrics to compare them on, including:
- Available search engines
- Average keyword output
- Search volume
- Keyword difficulty
- Cost per click ($)
- Question-based keywords
- Pricing
In alphabetical order, our findings were (as of 2020):
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a reputable all-in-one SEO tool that is used mainly for a variety of different purposes. With regard to keywords, Ahrefs presents the largest quantity of keywords from a database of 4 billion keywords with up-to-date accurate keyword metrics. In addition, the tool is constantly being updated with new tools and features to help it stand out from the competition. It’s one of the most expensive options out there, but that’s not by accident.
Search engines: Google, Amazon, Baidu, Bing, Daum, Naver, Seznam, Yahoo, Yandex, YouTube
Keyword ideas: 306,597 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $99/month, $7 trial
2. GrepWords
While GrepWords offers basic keyword research functionality, it has the advantage of data on specific platforms. GrepWords currently boasts 11 APIs for commercial intent keywords, video intent keywords, local intent keywords and many more. This offers a unique keyword experience and level of perspective few tools can match. The varying price plans and varying APIs makes GrepWords one of the most comprehensive keyword search tools available on the market today.
Search engines: Google, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Getty Images, Play Store, Trip Advisor, Tumblr, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube
Keyword ideas: 280 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Starting at: $15/month, free trial
3. HitTail
HitTail is designed to help with long tail keywords that contain 3 or more words. These are essentially very specific phrases that have the advantage of being far less competitive and also more focused when it comes to keyword relevancy. HitTail is also unique in it’s approach to research — it collects data from your Google Search Console as opposed to the Keyword Planner, which delivers an interesting twist to how keyword research is conducted.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 50 keywords
Search volume: No
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $19.95/month, free trial
4. Hyper Suggest
HyperSuggest boasts a very simple and easy-to-understand interface and also offers a number of other benefits such as the ability to develop new content ideas and export your keyword selections in a variety of formats. HyperSuggest is also one of the few tools to draw attention to Instagram, eBay and YouTube. For one low price, it’s a great option to consider.
Search engines: Google, Amazon, eBay, Instagram, YouTube
Keyword ideas: 702 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $39/month, free trial
5. Infinite Suggest
Promoted as a “never-ending Google keyword suggestions” service, Infinite Suggest is a free keyword tool that scrapes Google suggest data. This collection of data is a fantastic way to find niche audiences and since it’s a free tool, there’s no reason not to add it to your existing repertoire of SEO tools. Infinite Suggest is a great solution which, while having limited functionality, should not be ignored as it provides great value and at no charge to the end user.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 359 keywords
Search volume: No
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: Free!
6. K-Meta
K-Meta can help you find the best key phrases and keywords for sites, store listings, and videos. Another great feature is that it creates reports for keywords used by competing sites. Unlike some other keyword research tools, it also features rank tracking, so you can see how effective your chosen keywords are at any point and how well your site ranks when using them. With its relatively friendly interface, users can find keywords simply by entering the site URL or by starting with a base keyword. K-Meta outputs a surprisingly large number of keywords per search, and should not be overlooked.
Search engines: Google, Bing, Amazon, YouTube, Instagram
Keyword ideas: 1,800 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $29/month, free trial
7. Keys4Up
A completely free keyword research tool, Keys4Up is a relatively simple tool which allows users to access a host of recommended keywords through a content based approach. Essentially Keys4Up generats words you can use to write more SEO-friendly content for your niche topic or goal keyword. This means that once you have found a seed keyword to rank for, you can use Keys4Up to find related terms to enrich your content with. It’s also worth noting that Keys4Up is currently in its beta testing phase. As such, we’re uncertain as to what functionality updates and new features might come to the website in future. For now, however, it’s an easy-to-use simplistic tool that can quickly help users optimize their on-site content.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 487 keywords
Search volume: No
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: Free!
8. Keysearch
KeySearch generates keyword suggestions based on your base keywords, topics, or URLs. KeySearch also offers bulk competition analysis, meaning you can choose a variety of recommended keywords and compare them side by side to see which offers more or less difficulty when it comes to ranking, as well as rank tracking for pages and their most effective keywords. Effective for businesses of all sizes, KeySearch also provides plenty of options for newcomers, such as video tutorials to help you understand not just the features on offer, but the best ways to use them, such as finding niches and how to use it to find easy-to-rank long-tail keywords.
Search engines: Google, Bing, Amazon, YouTube
Keyword ideas: 500 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $17/month, free trial
9. Keyword.io
Keyword.io takes all the functionality of tools like the Google keyword research planner and makes it much simpler to use, boiling it down to only a few steps that can save you a lot of time and help you find valuable keywords in seconds. What makes Keyword.io stand out is the vast array of available search engines to generate keywords from. Generating keywords for search engines like Fiverr, Alibaba and Yandex present opportunities that almost no other keyword tool can provide. For the price and features taken into account, Keyword.io is certainly a viable option.
Search engines: Google, YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yandex, Wikipedia, eBay, Alibaba, Play Store, Fiverr, Fotolia
Keyword ideas: 692 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $29/month, free trial
10. Keyword Discovery
With a simple, web-based interface, Keyword Discovery allows you search by returning related keywords, common spelling mistakes, industry specific keywords, and even recommendations on keyword density for your web pages. Keyword Discovery is built for both growing businesses and enterprise level businesses, and with the sheer volume of keywords generated per search, it’s a serious player in the game.
Search engines: Google, Bing
Keyword ideas: 191,831 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $49.95/month, free trial
11. Keyworddit
A free keyword research tool with one purpose only, Keyworddit is an app designed to find the most popular keywords being utilized by users on Reddit. Keyworddit works a little differently from other keyword research tools. Rather than searching by topic or by keyword, it analyzes subreddits and finds keywords which may not necessarily show up o a traditional keyword research tool, but is in fact, a term that is used frequently by potential customers in that category and therefore should be employed in any SEO strategy. Understanding industry-specific phrases can and should be applied to further enhance the user experience and lead to better outcomes.
Search engines: Reddit
Keyword ideas: 81 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: Free!
12. Keyword Eye
A visual keyword research tool and competitive research tool, Keyword Eye is designed to make search results as easy to read as possible through interactive, visual formats. This tool not only lists the most relevant and popular keywords for Google, Amazon and YouTube, but does so in a graphical interface that can be simpler for some who don’t want to get bogged down in lots of numbers and data. If you are on a budget, you may want to take a look at Keyword Eye.
Search engines: Google, Amazon, YouTube
Keyword ideas: 268 keywords
Search volume: No
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $17/month, free trial
13. Keyword Revealer
Keyword Revealer boasts three primary functions. The first is keyword brainstorming, which helps you discover long-tail keywords from a base keyword. Next is the keyword data tool which allows you to import existing keywords which you can discover additional data for. Lastly, the rank checker allows you to see changes in searches and trends on the specific keywords that you want to track. Truth be told — we think Keyword Revealer is awesome. With a decent keyword output and with an extremely low monthly fee, it’s one of our favorite apps to access whenever we need to conduct searches.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 701 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $9.97/month, free trial
14. Keyword Shitter
Despite the amusing name, Keyword Shitter is one of the simplest keyword research tools on the market. It’s designed primarily for bulk keyword research, offering thousands upon thousands of results for completely free at the click of a single button. All you have to do is input the base keyword, press the “Shit Keywords” buttons and you will get plenty of results. The design of the website is incredibly minimalist, with no visual or formatting style to speak of, only a few dialog boxes that let you input your options and one button that generates all the results that you need. Thanks to the positive/negative filters, you can filter the unwanted keywords and focus on the most relevant ones while not being overwhelmed at the same time. As feature lacking as it is, it is a fantastic tool with an outstanding output of keywords, with the best value for money!
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 10,000+ keywords
Search volume: No
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: Free!
15. Keyword Tool
KeywordTool.io is one of the most polished keyword research apps out there. A great, basic tool for beginners, Keyword Tool primarily helps with researching long-tail keywords, able to return hundreds of unique results based on a single keyword. It also allows you to filter results and to include negative keywords you want to keep out of your results. Furthermore, besides providing suggested keywords, it shows with long-tail results are trending, how much of a search volume they have, cost-per-click on ads, and how much competition you can expect on each keyword. KeywordTool is also unique in the fact it can display data for Twitter and other rare options such as Instagram and the Google Play Store. With the availability to access question data as well, KeywordTool has established itself as one of the most respected tools out there.
Search engines: Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, eBay, Play Store, Instagram, Twitter
Keyword ideas: 703 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $89/month, free trial
16. KW Finder
KWFinder contains all the data you could want about a certain keyword, not to mention question phrases and an impressive database of over 1 billion keywords. Another benefit of KWFinder is the ease with which it displays a whole host of relevant information. The other great aspect of KWFinder is the trending feature which almost no other app seems to have, along with estimated visits and social media statistics. KWFinder has everything you could expect from a professional keyword tool, and then some.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 700 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $49/month
17. Long Tail Pro
As the name suggests, Long Tail Pro is a tool which specializes in generating long-tail keywords for users who see long tail as a superior strategy than trying to rank for head terms which are the short popular keywords with high search volume & fierce competition. As a premium keyword research tool, Long Tail Pro is featured loaded. Not only can you generate keywords, search volume and the like, you can also create and save different keyword lists. You can also import or export keywords freely. For those who are building a niche website, Long Tail Pro even helps you find available domain names using the most relevant keywords available. While not the most keyword rich experience, it does exactly what it sets out to do: generate long-tail keywords.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 73 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $37/month, free trial
18. LSI Graph
A comprehensive keyword planning tool, LSI Graph helps users find supporting keywords from their main keywords, enabling you to create content relevant to user searches that can help you both climb the rankings while getting more clicks and views on your webpages. As the name suggests, LSI Graph is designed to help find keywords topically related to your seed keyword, perfect for supporting main keywords and helping you find niche topics under the umbrella of a wider subject. With a database containing tens of millions of keywords, it’s sure to bring some form of value to your research efforts.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 65 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $24/month, free trial
19. LSI Keywords
LSI Keywords is a wonderful way to find niche topics and terms that garner a lot of specific searches related to your seed keyword. LSI keywords are an essential part of a content marketing strategy that you can use to create specific content or enhance existing content. LSI Keywords is another one of our favorite tools when it comes to keyword research. It can generate an impressive number of keywords per query and is entirely free to use. A no-brainer in our books.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 10,000 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: Free!
20. Moz Keyword Explorer
Moz is one of the brand names synonymous with SEO expertise on the internet, and they’ve developed an interesting set of SEO tools to serve the community, one being the Moz Keyword Explorer. The Moz Keyword Explorer offers keyword suggestion tools to help you find popular terms related to a seed keyword or a topic of your choosing. However, the bulk of its features are found in its individual keyword analysis. This includes the unique monthly search volume numbers, the difficulty you face in ranking with certain keywords, and the opportunity, which is the estimated click-through rate based on the assumption your page makes it to the top of Google. All of these are summarized as a keyword potential, which helps you see a quickly understandable score on the overall effectiveness of certain keywords. This is what makes the Moz Keyword Explorer different to the others. While it’s not cheap, if you find this kind of data valuable, look no further than the Moz Keyword Explorer.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 1,000 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $99/month, free trial
21. Rank Sonic
Compared to other keyword research tools, Rank Sonic is relatively simple, providing little more than an immediate list of the most popular keywords based on a seed keyword. The simple interface certainly enhances the overall experience also. From a standard inquiry, users can choose to export the results and later import them into a tool that provides more detailed keyword analysis, such as the level of competition around the keyword and the average cost-per-click. It is worth noting that many other keyword research tools will make you pay for search volume stats, however. Rank Sonic’s keyword research tool is available entirely for free from their website, with their other SEO tools and products also made available at a premium. Overall, a basic but useful keyword tool.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 701 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: No
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $29.95/month, free trial
22. RankWatch
The RankWatch keyword research tool is a great app which allows for both unlimited suggestions and unlimited tracking. Amongst the different features included is the ability to generate keywords on a local level. There’s also not just country-specific results, but city-specific results also, helping you optimize your local SEO strategies among other things. One of the unique aspects of the RankWatch keyword tool is its ability to generate keywords for international search engines such as Naver, Seznam, Baidu and Yandex, along with Google and Bing. If this is an important factor, RankWatch may just be the solution for you.
Search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Naver, Seznam, Baidu, Yandex
Keyword ideas: 682 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $29/month, free trial
23. Raven Tools
Raven Tools is a complete SEO suite with a variety of different tools including a keyword tool, including local and global average search volume. You also look at whether keywords are trending, whether there’s any competition over ranking for specific keywords, and how many URLs and domain names the specific keyword features in. These features can be applied locally or globally, so you can see how you can compete in both markets. Raven Tools is one of the priciest keyword tools out there, due to the suite of other SEO tools included.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 300 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: No
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $109/month, free trial
24. SE Ranking
SE Ranking brings with it a host of features such as deep website audits, backlink monitoring and more. Amongst those tools are keyword position tracking and competitor research tools. The first of the keyword research tools available is the keyword suggestion tool, which can be used for free directly from the site. Simply input a seed keyword, domain or URL, choose the search engine you’re interested in, your country, and press search get immediate results, looking at average CPC, competition level, search volume, and more. The keyword grouper is worth taking a closer look at, too. Not available on many other keyword research platforms, this tool helps segment keywords into different groups to be used to create new niche content and to distribute keyword usage throughout the website. The keyword and competition research tools available from SE Ranking are of great value and considering the price and keyword output, makes it a good contender for your keyword tool of choice.
Search engines: Google, Yahoo, Bing
Keyword ideas: 2,167 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $39/month, free trial
25. SEM Rush
SEMRush is one of the most authoritative sources of SEO tools on the internet, with a host of different features available on their premium software suite. Their keyword tool is no exception. A simple query boasts every possible metric you could imagine, including question phrases. The average keyword output is simply amazing and SEMRush goes above and beyond in providing results for keywords in a host of different languages and different countries, including regional databases so users across the world can find the keywords most relevant to whichever search engines are most popular in their specific area. While it may be a little expensive, we highly recommend SEMRush as a viable keyword research tool.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 150,499 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: Yes
Pricing: $99/month, free trial
26. SEOprofiler
SEOprofiler offers a whole host of different SEO tools, including ranking trackers, page analysis, website optimization tools, and more. Many of them are available only to premium users, including access to their keyword research tool. Like many other tools, it contains all the data you would expect from a legitimate keyword app. But unlike many other tools, its generates more keywords than the average tool. Much more. Not only that, it’s also reasonably priced considering the vast amount of value it provides. We really like SEOprofiler and consider it one of the best keyword tools available today.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 217,305 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $69.95/month, free trial
27. Serpstat
Serpstat is a keyword tool that allows you to immediately see the top keywords related to a seed keyword, URL, domain and so on. You can also filter results based on a variety of factors, including search engine and location. Some interesting features of Serpstat includes interest trends, examples of top ranking ads for individual keywords. It also boasts staggeringly high keyword output levels. Considering Serpstat is a full-SEO suite with such a rich feature set while still being so reasonably priced, it would have to be one of our top picks for best keyword tool right now.
Search engines: Google, Yandex
Keyword ideas: 156,165 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $19/month, free trial
28. SpyFu
SpyFu is a keyword research tool with one purpose in mind: researching your competitors to see what they’re doing well. The SpyFu keyword search tool contains much the same range of features you can find on free keyword research apps, but with a lot more detail. Not only do you see the most popular long-tail and related keywords and phrases related to a seed keyword. Compared to most tools which offer only search volume and PPC cost, this is a lot more insight you can use to your advantage. The other features of SpyFu go even deeper into keyword analysis. Advertiser and ranking history lets you see how your competitors have used certain keywords in the past to attain rankings. Meanwhile, keyword grouping helps you create a better site architecture and more relevant categories by generating lists of related keywords centered around one seed by importing a list of various different, related keywords. Considering the amount of competitor data available, it’s a great tool with exceptional value.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 115 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $39/month, free trial
29. Term Explorer
Term Explorer operates like most other keyword research tools. However, its common keyword features are enhanced with SERP data that allows you to track details such as how competitors are using keywords, their trust scores, which keywords are trending, and data on word counts, links, and headers of ranking pages currently using those keywords. By learning how competitors are effectively using keywords to rank, you can both learn from what they’re doing right and find less difficult keywords with just as much search volume to help your own site rank. Term explorer also has an impressive keyword output that only a few other tools can match. Term Explorer is amazing value for money and highly recommended.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 199,818 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $34/month, free trial
30. Ubersuggest
One of the most well-known tools out there, Ubersuggest has some features that make it different from other keyword tools. Ubersuggest allows you to look at the country-specific search volume data for your particular chosen keywords, helping improve local and international SEO. It also has a favorites option which allow you to both save and export keywords in bulk. Ubersuggest, as the name implies, is a keyword suggestion tool which provides keyword ideas based on a seed keyword. It’s free to use and a commendable addition to your list of keyword research tools. They’ve also just launched their backlinks analysis tool inside their SEO suite, which makes it all the more worthwhile!
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 172 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: Free!
31. Wordtracker
Wordtracker is a keyword research tool that offers a range of features such as allowing users to view search trends, while also introducing features such as related terms to generate an impressive list of keyword ideas to implement at any stage of your SEO strategy. The SERP preview features also displays search results and the intensity of the competition, providing you with a way of strategically targeting particular keywords based on difficulty. Wordtracker is definitely a decent tool considering its feature capabilities, value and keyword output.
Search engines: Google
Keyword ideas: 531 keywords
Search volume: Yes
Keyword difficulty: Yes
CPC: Yes
Question keywords: No
Pricing: $27/month, free trial
And The Winner Is…
Well, it’s kind of hard to crown a winner when you have to consider budgets, relevance and features which may or may not be of use to anyone using these tools.
We’d rather just mention our favorite tools, from both the paid and free categories.
Our favorite FREE keyword research tools
Our favorite PAID keyword research tools
Thank you for reading our comparison list of keyword tools! We hope you enjoyed it, but please let us know what you think — your feedback is extremely important and we will be updating the guide as suggestions come in!
