SEO tools, from free to paid
You don't need to spend a cent to start doing SEO well. This is the honest overview of the tools worth knowing, sorted by what they cost, from the free ones that do most of the job to the paid ones that save time once you're serious. What each is for, the catch, and which to reach for first.
How to think about SEO tools
Most SEO tools do one of a few jobs. Knowing which job you actually need stops you paying for a suite when a free tab would do.
What they're for
- Keyword research. Finding the searches real people make, so you write to demand instead of guessing.
- Rank tracking. Watching where your pages sit in search over time, so you know whether it's working.
- Site audits. Catching the technical issues, slow pages, broken links, missing tags, that quietly hold you back.
- Competitor and backlink checks. Seeing what's working for the pages already ranking, and who links to them.
Start free: you can get remarkably far without paying. Google Search Console shows what you already rank for, Google's own autocomplete and “people also ask” hand you real keywords, and most paid tools have a free tier that's plenty at the start. Paid tools save time and add depth, so treat them as a later purchase, not a requirement.
The tools
Every tool I've written up, with an honest take on what it's for and what it costs. Filter by price: