11 free SEO keyword research tools you should consider
To fully take advantage of SEO (search engine optimization), you need to understand the keywords that will best connect potential customers with your business online.
Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to find what they are looking for. When you build your website content around the terms your target audience is actually searching for, you increase your chances of appearing in the results when they search. That is keyword research in a nutshell.
The challenge is knowing which keywords are worth targeting. That is where keyword research tools come in. The following are 11 free (or free-tier) SEO keyword research tools worth considering, updated for 2025 and 2026. For a broader view of how keyword research fits into your overall strategy, see our guide on how to check your Google search rank for free and our 13 on-page SEO tips you can use today.
1. Google Keyword Planner
Cost: Free (requires a Google Ads account)
Google Keyword Planner is Google's own keyword research tool, built into Google Ads. It was originally designed for paid advertising campaigns, but its value for organic SEO keyword research is equally strong, since it pulls data directly from Google Search itself.
You can use it to discover new keyword ideas by entering a word, phrase, or URL, and it will return related keywords along with search volume ranges, competition levels, and historical trend data. One practical note: unless you are running an active Google Ads campaign, search volume data is displayed as ranges (such as "1K to 10K monthly searches") rather than exact numbers. For most content planning purposes, that level of detail is sufficient.
Because the data comes directly from Google, it is the most authoritative free source of keyword volume information available. It is an essential starting point for any SEO strategy.
2. KeywordTool.io
Cost: Free for the first 750 keyword suggestions per search (paid plans start at approximately $69/month for volume data)
KeywordTool.io generates keyword suggestions based on Google's autocomplete feature, surfacing the phrases real users are actually typing into the search bar. Unlike Google Keyword Planner, it requires no login to use the free version.
The free tier generates up to 750 long-tail keyword suggestions per search and supports research across Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and the Apple App Store, making it particularly useful for businesses that want to research keywords beyond traditional web search. Search volume, CPC, and competition data are locked behind a paid subscription, but the raw keyword suggestions alone are valuable for brainstorming.
3. Moz Keyword Explorer
Cost: 3 free queries per month with a free Moz Community account (paid plans start at $39/month)
Moz Keyword Explorer is one of the more polished free-tier keyword tools available. It provides keyword suggestions, monthly search volume, keyword difficulty scores, organic CTR data, and a prioritization score that combines these metrics into a single actionable number.
One important update since this article was first written: Moz has reduced its free tier from 10 queries per month to 3 queries per month. That is enough for occasional research or spot-checking specific keywords, but not for ongoing keyword planning. If you need more regular access, a paid Moz Pro plan or one of the other free tools on this list is a better fit.
4. Soovle
Cost: Free (no account required)
Soovle is a fast, frictionless keyword brainstorming tool that simultaneously pulls autocomplete suggestions from multiple platforms including Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, and Wikipedia. You type a seed keyword and instantly see what people are beginning to type across all those platforms on a single screen.
One update since this article was first written: Soovle was acquired and the original soovle.com address now redirects to seo.com/soovle/. The tool itself is unchanged and still completely free with no account required.
Soovle does not provide search volume, keyword difficulty, or CPC data. Its value is purely in the breadth and speed of discovery, making it best used as a starting point for brainstorming, paired with a volume-data tool like Google Keyword Planner for prioritization.
5. Google Search Console
Cost: Free
Google Search Console (GSC) is the only tool on this list that tells you which keywords your website is already ranking for, based on actual Google Search data. This makes it fundamentally different from the other tools here, which all focus on discovering new keywords. GSC focuses on optimizing the ones you are already getting impressions for.
Inside the Performance report, you can see every query that triggered an appearance for your site in Google Search, your average ranking position for each, how many impressions each generated, and how many clicks you earned. Queries where your page earns many impressions but few clicks are prime candidates for title tag and meta description optimization. Queries where you rank in positions 11 to 20 are prime candidates for content improvements that could push you onto page one.
GSC was significantly updated in 2025, with Search Console Insights now fully integrated into the main dashboard. For a full walkthrough of how to use it for keyword and rank research, see our guide on how to check your Google search rank for free.
6. WordStream Free Keyword Tool
Cost: Free (limited searches per session without an account)
WordStream's Free Keyword Tool generates keyword suggestions along with search volume, competition level, and estimated CPC data. It is particularly well suited to businesses running or planning Google Ads or Bing Ads campaigns, since the CPC and competition data maps well to paid search planning.
The tool now sits under LocaliQ, the digital marketing platform that acquired WordStream. The free keyword research functionality remains available without a paid subscription, though the number of free searches per session is limited. It is most useful for quickly generating a keyword list for a specific topic, industry, or landing page without committing to a paid tool.
7. Google Trends
Cost: Free
Google Trends shows you how interest in a keyword has changed over time, across regions and across related topics. Unlike most keyword tools, it does not provide absolute search volume numbers. Instead, it indexes search interest on a scale of 0 to 100 relative to the keyword's own peak popularity.
This makes Google Trends uniquely valuable for two use cases: avoiding keywords that are in long-term decline, and identifying rising keywords before they become competitive. It is also useful for seasonal content planning, since it clearly shows recurring peaks and troughs in search interest across months and years. Google Trends works best as a complement to a volume-data tool rather than a standalone research source.
8. Ubersuggest
Cost: Freemium (3 free searches per day; paid plans start at approximately $29/month)
Ubersuggest from Neil Patel has evolved significantly since this article was first written. What was once a primarily free tool is now freemium, with the free tier limited to 3 searches per day and showing partial data. Paid plans unlock unlimited searches, full keyword data, competitor analysis, backlink tracking, site auditing, and AI-powered features including AI Search Visibility monitoring for tracking brand presence across AI platforms.
Even at the free tier, Ubersuggest provides keyword suggestions, search volume, SEO difficulty scores, paid difficulty, and CPC data for each query. Three searches per day is enough for occasional keyword research or spot-checking specific terms, and the interface remains one of the more beginner-friendly on this list. Note: the original URL (ubersuggest.org) is no longer active. The current address is neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/.
9. AnswerThePublic
Cost: Free (3 searches per day on the free plan; paid plans start at approximately $5/month)
AnswerThePublic visualizes the questions, prepositions, comparisons, and related searches that real people are typing around any keyword or topic. Rather than generating a simple list of related terms, it organizes suggestions into categories like "what," "how," "why," "when," "which," and "can," giving you an immediate picture of the questions your audience is actually asking.
This makes AnswerThePublic particularly valuable for content marketing: the question-based keywords it surfaces map directly to blog post topics, FAQ sections, and informational landing pages. If you are trying to build out a content plan around a specific topic or product category, AnswerThePublic is often the fastest way to generate a comprehensive list of angles. It is now owned by Neil Patel (the same team behind Ubersuggest), though it operates as a separate product.
10. Exploring source code
Cost: Free
This is less a tool and more a technique, but it is a genuinely useful one. By viewing the page source of a competitor's website (right-click anywhere on the page and select "View Page Source" in most browsers), you can examine the title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, and keyword signals they are using across their on-page SEO.
While Google has not used the meta keywords tag as a ranking signal for years, examining a competitor's on-page structure can reveal what keywords they are optimizing for, how they structure their content hierarchy, and what terms they consider most important to their SEO strategy. It is a quick, zero-cost complement to any keyword research process. For more on the on-page elements worth examining, see our guide on 13 on-page SEO tips you can use today.
11. Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator
Cost: Free (up to 10 keyword ideas per search, no account required)
Ahrefs' Free Keyword Generator lets you enter any keyword and instantly see up to 10 keyword ideas with keyword difficulty scores and monthly search volume estimates, with no account or credit card required.
While the free version shows only a limited slice of what Ahrefs' full paid platform offers, the data quality is high, since Ahrefs is one of the most respected keyword databases in the industry. The free generator is particularly useful for quickly checking whether a keyword is genuinely low-competition before investing time writing content around it. For businesses ready to invest in a full-featured SEO platform, Ahrefs' paid plans start at $129/month and include complete keyword research, site auditing, backlink analysis, and rank tracking.
RecommendedNo single keyword tool gives you the complete picture. The most effective keyword research process typically combines two or three tools for different purposes: a volume and difficulty tool such as Google Keyword Planner, Moz, or Ahrefs Free; a discovery and brainstorming tool such as Soovle, AnswerThePublic, or KeywordTool.io; and Google Search Console to understand what you already rank for. Used together, they give you both the keyword ideas and the data to prioritize them intelligently.
For more on how keyword research fits into your broader SEO strategy, see our guides on the difference between on-page and off-page SEO, 13 common SEO mistakes you could be making right now, and 8 steps to create an effective SEO strategy.
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