- Best for
- Technical SEOs and consultants who need a fast, configurable one-off crawl and are comfortable in a desktop tool rather than a dashboard.
- Not for
- Teams who want continuous, scheduled monitoring with alerts rather than a crawl you run yourself.
The software desk / SEO Tools
SEO Tools.
Start with the work.
Software for finding keywords, tracking rankings, auditing sites and analysing competitors. Explore the trade-offs before you commit to a subscription.
01
Start with the job
What do you need your software to do?
Start with a task. We surface the features, limits and trade-offs that actually decide it — then show the evidence behind each call.
Choose a task
What needs to get done?
Follow the workflow to see which features and limitations matter.
01 / Keyword Research ToolsWhich tool gives me trustworthy volume and difficulty data for the countries I actually work in?Explore →02 / Rank Tracking ToolsWhat will it cost to track my keyword count daily, at the locations I care about?Explore →03 / Backlink Analysis ToolsWhose index actually finds the links pointing at my site and my competitors'?Explore →04 / Technical SEO ToolsDo I need a deep one-off crawl, or continuous monitoring with alerts?Explore →05 / Content Optimization ToolsWill this help my writers, or just push them toward the same page everyone else wrote?Explore →
The directory
Know the fit.
Know the limits.
Read the profile, examine the alternatives, and compare your shortlist.
- Best for
- Anyone whose work is link-led — outreach, digital PR, or competitive link analysis — and agencies managing many verified domains.
- Not for
- Teams who need PPC and social data in the same subscription, or who want a usable free tier for unverified sites.
03
Semrush
- Best for
- Teams who need SEO, PPC and competitor research from one subscription and will genuinely use more than the SEO toolkit.
- Not for
- Solo operators who only need keywords and rankings — you will pay for a marketing suite and use a keyword tool.
- Best for
- Established content and agency teams who need a defensible, consistent scoring methodology across many writers.
- Not for
- Solo bloggers or small budgets — it's priced well above Surfer and Frase for a comparable core job.
05
Sitebulb
- Best for
- Agencies who need to explain technical findings to non-technical clients without rewriting the crawl export themselves.
- Not for
- Anyone who just wants the fastest possible raw crawl with no interpretation layer.
- Best for
- Content teams who want a live score while writing, not just a report after the fact.
- Not for
- Anyone who wants a single stable target score — the ranking-page baseline moves as SERPs move, and chasing it precisely can flatten writing.
- Best for
- Agencies and freelancers who need credible client reporting without a four-figure monthly software bill.
- Not for
- Link-led work, or research in markets outside its stronger databases.
- Best for
- Small teams and solo operators who want briefing, drafting and optimisation in one subscription at the lowest entry price of the three.
- Not for
- Teams who need Clearscope's grading consistency across a large writer roster, or Surfer's deeper keyword and clustering tooling.
09
Moz Pro
- Best for
- Teams who report on Domain Authority to clients or stakeholders, and beginners who want a gentler on-ramp.
- Not for
- Anyone doing serious competitive link analysis, where the index gap is decisive.
- Best for
- Agencies and in-house teams whose main job is tracking a large keyword set daily and reporting on it, and who will pay for a dedicated tracker.
- Not for
- Anyone who needs backlink data, site audits or content tools in the same subscription — the pricing page lists tracking, research and reporting only.
- Best for
- Freelancers and small teams who want keyword research and rank tracking for a modest keyword set without a four-figure software budget.
- Not for
- Agencies tracking thousands of keywords, or anyone doing competitive link research where index size decides the work.
- Best for
- Freelancers and small agencies who want rank tracking plus basic research and audit tools in one low-priced subscription, with unlimited users and projects.
- Not for
- Teams tracking more than 5,000 keywords daily on a single plan, or anyone who needs API access included — it is listed as an add-on.
- Best for
- Agencies and in-house teams who need to track many thousands of keywords with local and mobile rankings and detailed reporting, and will pay for a dedicated rank tracker.
- Not for
- Anyone who needs link analysis, site audits or content tools in the same subscription, or a low-cost entry point — the pricing page lists rank-tracking and reporting features only, and the cheapest plan is $139/month.
- Best for
- Small businesses and in-house marketers who want a single, easier SEO suite with daily rank tracking and AI-search tracking, and who do not need the largest link index.
- Not for
- Teams that rely on the deepest backlink or keyword database: Morningscore itself says its database is smaller than the top tools.
- Best for
- In-house teams and agencies with large sites who want crawl data, bot logs and Search Console data in one cloud platform and are willing to pay for scale.
- Not for
- Freelancers and small sites: the cheapest published plan is $349 a month on annual billing, far above desktop crawlers, and the 7-day trial crawls only 10,000 URLs.
- Best for
- Freelance writers and small agencies who want content scoring at a lower price than Surfer, Clearscope or Frase and are happy to work document by document.
- Not for
- Teams that need an enterprise content workflow, or anyone who needs integrations and team seats on the entry plans — those start at Gold.
Already have a shortlist?