When you’re just starting with SEO (or have been at it for a while but are currently dealing with a tight budget), it can feel like every decent tool costs an arm, a leg, and your Netflix subscription.
Now I know what you’re thinking: why not just wing it and go commando on SEO without using any tools?
Sure, it’s possible—although it feels a bit like trying to find an unfamiliar place without Google Maps. You’ll get there eventually, but it’ll take longer than it should.
SEO tools expedite the process of ranking in search engines. And while quality often comes at a price, the truth is that improving your rankings doesn’t always have to drain your wallet.
There are tools out there that offer real SEO value without slapping you with a premium price tag. And that’s what we’re here to share with you!
In this guide, we’ve rounded up the top 10 cheapest SEO tools that move the needle, helping you research keywords, analyze backlinks, optimize content, and more. Keep reading.
Why are SEO Tools Important for SEO?
Story time: A while back, I had an ecommerce client in a tight niche—not too cutthroat, but not too popular either.
However, his budget could barely cover coffee, let alone an Ahrefs subscription. He had a few bright ideas, like signing up for “group buy” subscriptions, which didn’t work out since all the credits would have been depleted before I even boot my PC.
So, I got scrappy. I signed up for free plans using a handful of email addresses (don’t judge me). It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Was I irritated? You betcha. Did it take time? Whole lot of it. Did it work? Yes.
Long story short, we eventually secured the featured snippet and ranked #1 for our money page listicle, which generated significant revenue.
Moral of the story? You don’t always need the fanciest tools, but you do need tools.
Here are several reasons why:
Reason #1. They turn guesswork into strategy
Without tools, SEO becomes a game of trial and error.
You think you’re targeting the right keyword or assume your title tag is optimized, but unless you’re using a keyword research tool or a SERP previewer, you’re essentially flying blind.
SEO tools give you real data. This includes search volumes, competition levels, click-through rates, and more. With that kind of insight, your decisions are guided by strategy, not vibes.
Reason #2. They save you time (and sanity)
Trying to manually crawl a site, audit 100+ URLs, or check each page’s meta tags by hand? Been there. It’s soul-crushing.
“No worries, my outsourced SEO guy will have to deal with it, not me!”
Sure, except you pay by the hour, and every dime spent doing things manually could have been saved (or reallocated) by using an SEO tool.
Good SEO tools automate the heavy lifting. They can crawl a whole site in minutes, identify technical issues, spot broken links, and generate reports, all while you sip your coffee.
When you’re juggling multiple projects or clients, those time savings don’t just make you efficient but also profitable.
Reason #3. They reveal what you can’t see on the surface
Some SEO problems aren’t obvious.
A page might look fine visually, but a tool could tell you it’s got thin content, poor internal links, or duplicate meta descriptions.
Tools like LinkStorm, NeuronWriter, or IndexCheckr (and other tools we listed below!) shine a light on these blind spots.
They help uncover opportunities that aren’t visible unless you dig deep.
Bottom line?
You can be creative, resourceful, and persistent, but without the right tools, you’re making the SEO game harder than it has to be.
Whether free or paid, tools give you the edge to compete smarter, even on a shoestring budget.
That said, here are 10 of the cheapest SEO tools you must invest in if your budget is hanging on to dear life.
10 Most Budget-Friendly SEO Tools to Use in 2025
1. Ubersuggest for Keyword Research
Ubersuggest is Neil Patel’s answer to overpriced SEO tools, and for the most part, it delivers.
The tool excels in providing alternative keyword ideas depending on your target query. For instance, you can extract question-based or comparison key phrases based on your seed keyword, which is a goldmine for search intent.
Keyword visualization integrates another Neil Patel tool—Answer The Public—that maps out the keyword based on several categories. On the other hand, the Keywords by Traffic feature lets you sort a website’s keywords based on how much organic traffic each one brings in.
Ubersuggest covers a lot of ground for just $12/month for the individual plan (or $120 for the lifetime subscription). Of course, data isn’t on par with heavyweights like Ahrefs, but more than enough to get started and grow.
2. Screaming Frog for Technical SEO Audits
Screaming Frog is a desktop-based crawler that makes technical SEO feel less intimidating.
Sure, the tool has a bit of a learning curve, but for what it does? Totally worth it. Just plug in your URL, and it scans your entire site. Screaming Frog flags broken links, duplicate content, page titles over 60 characters, missing meta tags, and more.
This makes the tool ideal for spotting hidden SEO issues that you may have overlooked, but are pulling your site from ranking up in SERPs.
The free version lets you crawl up to 500 URLs, which is generally enough for smaller websites. But the paid version, which comes at $245/year, unlocks advanced features like identifying “near” duplicate content and integrates with tools like Gemini, OpenAI, and Search Console.
Screaming Frog is the pinnacle of a no-nonsense, cheap SEO tool.
3. Linkody for Backlink Analysis
Linkody is another no-fuss, affordable SEO tool with an easy-on-the-eyes interface. The tool tracks your new, lost, and broken backlinks in real time, and even alerts you when a link goes live (or disappears!).
Three things make Linkody an essential SEO tool for me:
First, it helps me track whether the backlinks I earned from link-building campaigns are already live or if existing backlinks get removed.
Secondly, the tool features essential backlink metrics, such as domain authority, spam score, and other data, to help you spot toxic backlinks.
Finally, you can spy on competitors’ link profiles, so you can identify where their link juice is coming from, and maybe ethically steal their backlinks.
Plans start at just $14.90/month for 2 domains and up to 500 monitored links, making it one of the most affordable backlink tools around. Plus, if you get the yearly plan, you get the first 3 months for free.
4. LinkStorm for Internal Linking
LinkStorm takes the grunt work out of internal linking by automatically finding relevant link opportunities across your entire website. The tool uses AI-aided semantic analysis to do this, which means it only suggests contextually relevant internal links.
Just enter your domain, and LinkStorm’s crawlers will do the rest. Once the tool completes its crawling process, you get access to the full suite of features, including:
- Opportunities: where you will find all sitewide contextual link suggestions
- Issues: shows all of the broken links, nofollow links, and redirects found on your site
- Links: all of the existing internal and external links on the website
- Pages: all of the pages on your website, including Google Search Console metrics
Overall, the tool is lightweight, fast, and gives surprisingly accurate contextual link suggestions, saving you hours of manual work.
Pricing starts at $30/month, making it a steal for site owners, considering what it can do!
5. NeuronWriter for Content Optimization
Content optimization is arguably one of the most important facets of SEO. While big brands, like Surfer and Frase, dominate this space, other smaller players can do the same fundamentals without breaking the bank.
Enter: NeuronWriter.
NeuronWriter helps you write smarter, more optimized content, using semantically related keywords.
After entering your primary keyword, NeuronWriter lets you select top competing pages to reference and obtain keywords from. The editor scores your content in real-time, helping you track your on-page SEO performance.
You can also take advantage of NeuronWriter’s generative AI feature to create content for you. While not as potent as Jasper or ChatGPT, it is enough to get the ball rolling.
Neuronwriter’s plans start at $23/month, or $19/month if you avail the annual plan.
6. SpyFu for Competitor Keyword Analysis
SpyFu is like having X-ray vision for your competitor’s SEO strategy. Just enter the domain and instantly uncover the keywords they rank for, their backlink profile, and even the ads they’ve run.
SpyFu makes it easier to reverse-engineer what’s working for your competitors, so you can undermine their strategy by doing better. One practical use case for SpyFu is identifying keywords your competitors rank for, but you haven’t yet, and then creating better content around them.
Plans start at $39/month for the basic plan, but you can get it for $33/month if you avail the annual plan. SpyFu also offers a limited-time-only lifetime discount where you can get the basic plan for as low as $9/month if you try their new product RiverFlowAI.
Cheap SEO tool just got even cheaper. Not too shabby, considering its actionable insights!
7. IndexCheckr for Monitoring Link Indexing Status
Just because you built a link doesn’t mean Google sees it. Some backlinks offer you zero SEO value because they aren’t indexed on Google in the first place. Paying for those links only adds insult to injury.
Thankfully, IndexCheckr saves the day. This budget-friendly SEO tool monitors the indexing status of any page on Google, whether that’s a backlink or a recently published blog post.
Here’s how it works. You create a project, add the links you want to monitor, and IndexCheckr does the rest.
You can configure the tool to check the link at your desired interval (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly). Moreover, it sends you email notifications for any changes, so you can implement appropriate actions.
This makes it perfect for SEOs running outreach or managing large content portfolios. Plus, its price tag of $15 for 2000 credits (1 credit per check, $0.0075 = 1 credit) makes it a very budget-friendly option.
8. BrightLocal for Local SEO
If you’re a local business, staying under the radar isn’t going to cut it in 2025. Ironically, even local brick-and-mortar shops need a strong online presence to succeed in today’s business landscape.
BrightLocal makes succeeding in the local SEO space easier. The tool lets you audit local citations, monitor local reviews, and track your rankings on organic search, local pack, and map pack.
Perhaps the most out-of-the-box genius feature in BrightLocal’s arsenal is their local search grid, where you can literally map out your local business’s ranking depending on the specific geolocation of the online shopper.
Plans start at $39/month, but if you pay per year, you get three months free, pulling the cost down to only $29/month.
9. PageSpeed Insights for Improving Site Speed and Performance
Cheap doesn’t always mean low cost; sometimes it means absolutely free. That’s what Google’s very own PageSpeed Insights offers!
This free tool is a technical SEO’s partner for analyzing how fast (or slow) your website loads, and what’s holding it back. Just enter the target URL, and you’ll get performance scores for both mobile and desktop.
What makes this one of the best, cheapest SEO tools is that just below the Core Web Vitals scores, you get actionable suggestions for website speed optimization, which include minifying CSS and removing unused JavaScript.
It’s 100% free and surprisingly thorough. For what it does, it must be a non-negotiable must-have for your SEO campaign!
10. Wincher for Comprehensive Keyword Tracking
Wincher does one thing and one thing only: track the rankings of keywords on search engines.
The operation is straightforward. Add your keywords, select your target location, and observe your ranking updates daily. In addition, you can also track the rankings of your competitors for the same keyword, so you can monitor which pages are advancing in search engine positions. for
You can also see SERP ranking snapshots to see whether pages go up or down in the rankings, so you can implement appropriate actions. Like IndexCheckr, Wincher sends updates for any changes or notifications for any important events.
Plans start at $49/month, but if you pay annually, you get two months for free, bringing the price to $41/month.
Ready to Improve Your SEO Without Breaking the Bank?
All the best and cheapest SEO tools listed in this article show that you don’t need a five-figure budget or a toolbox full of premium software to climb the search rankings.
With the right set of affordable tools, you can research smarter, optimize faster, and track performance like a pro, without the fear of draining your wallet.
Whether you’re a solo blogger, a scrappy startup, or even a well-established agency on a lead budget, these affordable SEO tools prove that results don’t have to be expensive.
So, if you’re ready to improve your SEO without burning through your cash reserves, invest in the tools listed here that align with your goals.
P.S. Start with Linkody.
Click here to try Linkody for 30 days FREE—no credit card required, no strings attached.