The Best Free Keyword Research Tools in 2026
Ten free keyword tools compared on the limit that stops your research first: lookups, reports, searches or rows before the paywall, checked in October 2026.
Semrush's free account is the best free keyword research tool in 2026 for most marketers: 10 reports a day with no credit card, plus a free Keyword Tool that shows volume, difficulty and CPC without an account. Google Keyword Planner is free once a Google Ads account has billing details, and Ahrefs Free shows up to 1,000 keywords your own site already ranks for. Every cap and paid price below was checked on vendor pages in October 2026.
Key facts10 tools compared: Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs Free, Google Search Console…
- 10 tools compared: Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs Free, Google Search Console, Keyword Surfer, Answer Socrates, KWFinder by Mangools, KeywordTool.io, AnswerThePublic, Google Trends
- Google Keyword Planner (best for: Volume and cost-per-click estimates straight from Google, for search and paid campaigns): Free inside a Google Ads account; billing details required to finish setup.
- Ahrefs Free (best for: Marketers who own a site and want to see the keywords it already ranks for): Free: Webmaster Tools for unlimited verified sites. Starter $29/mo, Lite $129/mo.
- Google Search Console (best for: Finding the real queries your site already earns impressions for): Free service; the report table shows up to 1,000 rows.
The best free keyword research tool in 2026 is the one whose cap you will not hit before the list is done, because a free tool that stops at keyword 11 is a trial in disguise.
Take a realistic job: 50 candidate keywords to vet in a day, with no card.
If each keyword takes one report or lookup, Semrush's free account finishes the list in 5 days.
Mangools' KWFinder (5 lookups per 24 hours) needs 10 days, and Answer Socrates (3 keyword searches a day) needs 17.
Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 253 SEO tools in its October 2026 SEO ranking, and 5 of that ranking's 10 top picks have a free plan.
This page is the free-cap cut for marketers; the paid side lives in our best AI SEO tools roundup and the Ahrefs vs Semrush head to head.
Top Picks
Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Semrush | Free: 10 reports a day, no card. SEO plan $117.33/mo billed annually, or $139/mo. | Marketers who want volume, difficulty and CPC in one place without a card |
| Google Keyword Planner | Free inside a Google Ads account; billing details required to finish setup. | Volume and cost-per-click estimates straight from Google, for search and paid campaigns |
| Ahrefs Free | Free: Webmaster Tools for unlimited verified sites. Starter $29/mo, Lite $129/mo. | Marketers who own a site and want to see the keywords it already ranks for |
| Google Search Console | Free service; the report table shows up to 1,000 rows. | Finding the real queries your site already earns impressions for |
| Keyword Surfer | Free Chrome extension with data for 70 countries. | Quick volume and CPC checks while you browse Google results |
| Answer Socrates | Free: 3 keyword searches a day. Lite $15.83/mo billed yearly ($190). | Content marketers collecting the questions people ask on Google and in ChatGPT |
| KWFinder by Mangools | Free: 5 lookups per 24 hours, 15 related keywords each. Paid plans on Mangools. | Spot checks on a handful of keywords when difficulty matters as much as volume |
| KeywordTool.io | Free: up to 750+ keywords, no account. Pro Starter $68/mo billed annually ($88 monthly). | Long-tail ideas from autocomplete on Google, YouTube, Amazon and 13 other platforms |
| AnswerThePublic | Free account, no free search allowance printed. Starter $13.33/mo billed yearly. | Content ideas and question phrases around one seed topic |
| Google Trends | No price listed; compares up to 8 groups of 50 terms. | Choosing between two topics and timing a content calendar |
Pricing read from each vendor's own published pricing page, checked Oct 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.
Best for: Marketers who want volume, difficulty and CPC in one place without a card
PricingFree: 10 reports a day, no card. SEO plan $117.33/mo billed annually, or $139/mo.
Best for: Volume and cost-per-click estimates straight from Google, for search and paid campaigns
PricingFree inside a Google Ads account; billing details required to finish setup.
Best for: Marketers who own a site and want to see the keywords it already ranks for
PricingFree: Webmaster Tools for unlimited verified sites. Starter $29/mo, Lite $129/mo.
Best for: Finding the real queries your site already earns impressions for
PricingFree service; the report table shows up to 1,000 rows.
Best for: Quick volume and CPC checks while you browse Google results
PricingFree Chrome extension with data for 70 countries.
Best for: Content marketers collecting the questions people ask on Google and in ChatGPT
PricingFree: 3 keyword searches a day. Lite $15.83/mo billed yearly ($190).
Best for: Spot checks on a handful of keywords when difficulty matters as much as volume
PricingFree: 5 lookups per 24 hours, 15 related keywords each. Paid plans on Mangools.
Best for: Long-tail ideas from autocomplete on Google, YouTube, Amazon and 13 other platforms
PricingFree: up to 750+ keywords, no account. Pro Starter $68/mo billed annually ($88 monthly).
Best for: Content ideas and question phrases around one seed topic
PricingFree account, no free search allowance printed. Starter $13.33/mo billed yearly.
Best for: Choosing between two topics and timing a content calendar
PricingNo price listed; compares up to 8 groups of 50 terms.
What it is
A free keyword research tool returns search volume, difficulty or keyword ideas without a subscription, inside a limit the vendor writes down.
A paid trial does not count, because the free tier has to keep working after the trial ends.
How we compared: we read the free-plan, pricing and help pages of 12 tools in October 2026, then ranked the 10 a marketer can use without paying by how much research the free tier allows and how well it fits a marketing job.
Moz and Ubersuggest both offer a free account, but neither prints a usage number for it on its pricing page, so they sit outside the ranking.
How it works
Match the job to the free tier. Volume for a keyword you have not written about yet comes from Keyword Planner or Semrush.
What your own site already ranks for comes from Search Console or Ahrefs Free, and each shows a window of rows rather than the full list.
Choosing between two topics is a job for Google Trends, which compares several groups of terms in one search.
Questions for an FAQ block come from Answer Socrates or AnswerThePublic, and long-tail autocomplete ideas come from KeywordTool.io. Keyword Surfer covers the quick check while you read a results page.
A workable stack uses three of these: one for demand, one for your own rankings and one for questions. You can run all three on free tiers until a cap blocks real work.
Why it matters
Free tiers fail at the cap, not at the data. The same 50-keyword job stalls at keyword 11 on Semrush's daily report cap, at keyword 4 on Answer Socrates and at keyword 6 on KWFinder.
Keyword Planner swaps the cap for setup friction, since it wants a billing profile, and Keyword Surfer swaps it for a browser overlay on Google results.
MarketingShot data: of the 12 free keyword tools we read for this page, 7 print a free-tier number, 3 offer a free account without printing its limit (AnswerThePublic, Moz and Ubersuggest), and 2 print no cap at all (Keyword Planner and Keyword Surfer).
A limit you cannot read is a limit you find at the worst moment.
Once the keywords are chosen, the content optimization guide covers scoring a draft against them, and the GEO guide covers whether AI answers mention you for them.
Key features to look for
Pricing
The cheapest paid step in this list is AnswerThePublic Starter at $13.33/mo billed yearly, which is $159.96 a year (13.33 x 12) for 100 searches a month.
Answer Socrates Lite is $15.83/mo billed yearly ($190) for 1,200 keyword searches a year, the same 100 a month, with volume, CPC and competition included.
Ahrefs Starter is $29/mo with 200 credits a month and renews monthly only, so it is the lowest-cost way into Keywords Explorer, and Lite jumps to $129/mo.
KeywordTool.io Pro Starter is $68/mo on annual billing and $88/mo monthly, a $240 yearly difference (20 x 12).
Semrush's SEO plan is $117.33/mo billed annually or $139/mo monthly, and its SEO + AI Search Starter is $165.17/mo billed annually or $199/mo monthly.
Prices and caps were verified on vendor pages on 10 October 2026: Semrush pricing, Ahrefs pricing, Answer Socrates pricing, KeywordTool.io Pro, AnswerThePublic pricing, and Google's help pages for Keyword Planner, Search Console and Trends.
KWFinder's paid prices are on Mangools' plans page.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Semrush Free | Free, no credit card | 10 reports a day, 1 demo project |
| Semrush SEO | $117.33/mo billed annually, or $139/mo monthly | 5 websites, 500 tracked keywords, basic keyword research |
| Semrush SEO + AI Search Starter | $165.17/mo billed annually, or $199/mo monthly | Keyword research and optimization tools, 50 AI prompts tracked daily |
| Google Keyword Planner | Free with a Google Ads account | Billing details required before Get ideas for new keywords opens |
| Ahrefs Free | Free | Unlimited verified sites, 1,000 keywords at once, 5K crawl credits a month per project |
| Ahrefs Starter | $29/mo, renews monthly | 200 credits a month, Keywords Explorer and Rank Tracker included |
| Ahrefs Lite | $129/mo | 750 tracked keywords, 5 projects, 100,000 crawl credits |
| Google Search Console | Free | Own sites only, table shows up to 1,000 rows |
| Keyword Surfer | Free | Chrome extension, data for 70 countries |
| Answer Socrates Free | Free, no credit card | 3 keyword searches a day, 500 cluster credits a month, no SEO metrics |
| Answer Socrates Lite | $15.83/mo billed yearly ($190) | 1,200 keyword searches a year with volume, CPC and competition, 2 projects |
| Answer Socrates Seneca | $32.50/mo billed yearly ($390) | 6,000 keyword searches a year, 5 projects, API and MCP access |
| KWFinder Free | Free | 5 lookups per 24 hours, 15 related and 5 competitor keywords each |
| KeywordTool.io Free | Free, no account | Up to 750+ autocomplete keywords, volume for some terms |
| KeywordTool.io Pro Starter | $68/mo billed annually, or $88/mo monthly | 50 requests a day, volume for 50,000 keywords a day, 12 months of history |
| AnswerThePublic Starter | $13.33/mo billed yearly | 1 user, 100 searches a month, CPC and search volume data |
| Google Trends | No price listed | Relative interest from 0 to 100, up to 8 groups of 50 terms per comparison |
The bottom line
Start with Semrush's free account for volume and difficulty, add Google Keyword Planner when you need Google's own numbers and can accept the billing setup, and connect your site to Search Console and Ahrefs Free so you can see what you already rank for.
See our Semrush review and Ahrefs pricing breakdown before paying for either, and the Toolradar profiles for Semrush, Ahrefs and Mangools for the directory view.
Add Answer Socrates (profile) or AnswerThePublic (profile) for questions, KeywordTool.io (profile) for long-tail ideas and Keyword Surfer (Surfer SEO profile) for quick checks on results pages.
Pay only when a cap stops real work; the cheapest step is AnswerThePublic's Starter.
For turning the keywords into drafts, see the content marketing AI guide, and for tracking mentions once the content ships, the brand monitoring guide.
We re-read these free-plan and pricing pages for this shortlist in October 2026, separate from the 253-tool Toolradar ranking. Cite this: MarketingShot, "Best Free Keyword Research Tools in 2026", October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Semrush's free account, for most marketers: 10 reports a day with no credit card, plus a free Keyword Tool that returns volume, difficulty, CPC and intent without an account. Google Keyword Planner is the pick for Google's own volume, and Ahrefs Free is the pick for the keywords your own site already ranks for, up to 1,000 at once. Caps were verified on vendor pages in October 2026.
Yes, it is free inside a Google Ads account, but Google says you must enter billing information to finish account setup before 'Get ideas for new keywords' opens. Forecasts refresh daily from the last 7 to 10 days. Sensitive keywords return no results, and very low-volume keywords are not discoverable.
Partly. The free Keyword Tool returns volume, difficulty, CPC and intent with no account needed, and a free Semrush account adds 10 reports a day and 1 demo project. The paid plans add tracking: the SEO plan is $117.33/mo billed annually, or $139/mo billed monthly, with 500 keywords to track.
Two in this list say so on their own pages: Semrush's free Keyword Tool needs no account, and KeywordTool.io is free to use without one, with up to 750+ Google Autocomplete keywords and volume for only some terms. Keyword Planner needs a Google Ads account, and Search Console needs a site you verify.
Yes, the Keyword Generator page is free to use and advertises 100+ keyword ideas per search on Google, Bing, YouTube and Amazon from up to ten words or phrases. The page prints no daily cap. Keywords Explorer is not included in Ahrefs Free, and the cheapest paid step is Starter at $29/mo with 200 credits a month.
Of the tools priced here, AnswerThePublic Starter is cheapest at $13.33/mo billed yearly for 100 searches a month, then Answer Socrates Lite at $15.83/mo billed yearly for 1,200 keyword searches a year. Ahrefs Starter renews monthly only. Semrush's SEO plan has the highest printed first-step price in this list. Prices were checked in October 2026.
Yes, for your own site. The Performance report groups clicks, impressions and position by query, page, country and device, covers the past three months by default, and shows up to 1,000 table rows. Rare queries are anonymized and left out of the table, so it shows what you already earn impressions for, not the size of a topic you have not covered.
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