Best SEO Tools Under $50/Month in 2026
Here’s every sub-$50 SEO tool worth using, ranked by overall value:
| Rank | Tool | Price (annual) | Strengths | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mangools | $29/mo | 5-tool bundle, easiest to use | Keyword research & rank tracking |
| 2 | SE Ranking | $44/mo | Full platform, site audits included | All-in-one SEO on a budget |
| 3 | Frase | $49/mo | AI content optimization, GEO score | Content-first SEO |
| Stretch | Semrush Pro | $117/mo | Deepest data, full competitive intel | If budget allows |
Now let’s dig into what each tool actually gives you, where it falls short, and who should pick which.
1. Mangools, $29/month (best value)
Annual price: $29/mo | Monthly price: $49/mo
Mangools bundles five SEO tools into every plan: KWFinder (keyword research), SERPChecker (SERP analysis), SERPWatcher (rank tracking), LinkMiner (backlink analysis), and SiteProfiler (domain overview). No feature-gating; the only difference between tiers is daily lookup limits and user seats.
What $29/month gets you:
- 100 keyword lookups per day
- 200 tracked keywords
- 100 SERP lookups per day
- 100,000 backlink rows per month
- 1 user seat
Where it excels: KWFinder is one of the most intuitive keyword research tools available. The keyword difficulty metric is well-calibrated for smaller sites, and the SERP analysis overlay shows you exactly what you’re competing against. For bloggers and niche site owners, the research workflow is faster than Semrush.
Where it falls short: No site audit tool, so you can’t crawl your site for technical SEO issues. No content optimization features. The backlink database is smaller than Semrush or Ahrefs. And the 100-lookup daily limit on the Entry plan can feel tight during intensive research sessions.
Who should pick Mangools: Bloggers, freelance writers, and small site owners who primarily need keyword research and rank tracking. If you’re not doing technical audits or managing client sites, Mangools covers your workflow at $29/month.
Full breakdown: Mangools pricing
2. SE Ranking, $44/month (most complete)
Annual price: $44/mo | Monthly price: $65/mo
SE Ranking is the closest thing to Semrush you can get under $50. It includes keyword research, rank tracking, a comprehensive site audit tool, competitive analysis, backlink monitoring, and an on-page SEO checker, all on the entry plan.
What $44/month gets you:
- 500 tracked keywords
- Unlimited keyword research lookups
- Site audit (up to 100,000 pages)
- Competitive analysis with traffic estimation
- Backlink monitoring and checker
- On-page SEO checker
- 1 user seat
Where it excels: The site audit alone sets SE Ranking apart from Mangools. It crawls your site for broken links, redirect chains, thin content, missing tags, and Core Web Vitals issues. This is the kind of technical SEO work that Mangools can’t do. The competitive analysis tool also provides traffic estimation for competitor domains, which is useful for identifying opportunities.
Where it falls short: The interface is denser than Mangools, and there’s a learning curve. Content marketing features exist but aren’t as polished as Semrush Guru’s toolkit. The backlink database, while solid, still trails Semrush and Ahrefs for depth.
Who should pick SE Ranking: Small teams and freelancers who need an all-in-one SEO platform: keyword research plus site audits plus competitive analysis. If you’d buy Semrush but can’t justify $117+/month, SE Ranking is the most direct alternative.
Full breakdown: SE Ranking pricing | SE Ranking vs Semrush comparison
3. Frase, $49/month (best for content)
Annual price: Not discounted | Monthly price: $49/mo (Starter)
Frase takes a different approach. Instead of traditional SEO tools (rank tracking, site audits), it focuses on content optimization, helping you write articles that rank. It analyzes the top SERP results for any keyword, generates content briefs, scores your content against competitors, and includes an AI writing assistant.
What $49/month gets you:
- 10 article optimizations per month
- SERP research and content briefs
- Content scoring against top-ranking pages
- AI writing assistant
- GEO score (Generative Engine Optimization, which measures how well your content performs in AI search results)
- 1 user seat
Where it excels: The content brief generator is genuinely useful. It pulls the topics, questions, and headers from the top 20 results for your target keyword and builds a structured outline. The GEO score is a forward-looking feature. As AI-powered search (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity) grows, optimizing for AI citation becomes increasingly important.
Where it falls short: Frase doesn’t do keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, or backlink analysis. It’s a content tool, not an SEO platform. You’ll need to pair it with Mangools or Google Search Console for the rest of your workflow. The 10-article limit on Starter can also feel restrictive for content-heavy sites.
Who should pick Frase: Content marketers and bloggers who already have keyword research covered (via Mangools, a free tool, or manual SERP analysis) and want to produce better-ranking content. It’s a complement to traditional SEO tools, not a replacement.
Feature comparison at the sub-$50 price point
| Feature | Mangools ($29) | SE Ranking ($44) | Frase ($49) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keyword research | Yes | Yes | No |
| Rank tracking | Yes (200 keywords) | Yes (500 keywords) | No |
| Site audit | No | Yes | No |
| Backlink analysis | Yes (basic) | Yes (full) | No |
| Competitive analysis | Basic | Full with traffic data | SERP-level only |
| Content optimization | No | Basic | Full (AI-powered) |
| GEO / AI search score | No | No | Yes |
| On-page SEO checker | No | Yes | Yes (content focus) |
| Users included | 1 | 1 | 1 |
The stretch option: Semrush Pro at $117/month
If your budget can flex above $50, Semrush Pro at $117/month (annual) is the industry standard for a reason. You get everything SE Ranking offers plus a larger backlink database, advertising research, more mature competitive intelligence, and the Semrush brand credibility that matters for client reporting.
The honest assessment: Semrush Pro gives you roughly 20% more capability than SE Ranking for roughly 170% more cost. Whether that 20% matters depends on your workflow. For agencies presenting reports to clients, the Semrush brand carries weight. For in-house teams doing their own SEO, the data difference rarely justifies the price gap.
Full breakdown: Semrush pricing
Building a complete SEO stack under $50
You don’t need one tool to do everything. Here are two practical stacks:
Budget stack ($29/month):
- Mangools Entry ($29/mo): keyword research + rank tracking
- Google Search Console (free): site performance, indexing, technical issues
- Google Analytics (free): traffic data
- Total: $29/month
Full-featured stack ($44/month):
- SE Ranking Essential ($44/mo): keyword research + rank tracking + site audits + competitive analysis
- Google Search Console (free): additional indexing data
- Google Analytics (free): traffic data
- Total: $44/month
Content-focused stack ($78/month):
- Mangools Entry ($29/mo): keyword research + rank tracking
- Frase Starter ($49/mo): content optimization + AI writing
- Google Search Console (free): technical data
- Total: $78/month
The bottom line
Best overall value: Mangools at $29/month. If keyword research and rank tracking are your primary needs, nothing under $50 beats it on price-to-feature ratio.
Best all-in-one: SE Ranking at $44/month. The only sub-$50 tool that includes site audits, competitive analysis, and keyword research. Closest to the Semrush experience at a third of the price.
Best for content teams: Frase at $49/month. If your SEO strategy is content-driven and you need to write articles that outrank competitors, the content optimization and GEO scoring are worth the investment. Just pair it with a keyword tool.
You don’t need $140/month to do real SEO. Pick the tool that matches what you actually do, not the one with the longest feature list.
Pricing sourced from Mangools, SE Ranking, Frase, and Semrush official pricing pages. Last checked February 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the cheapest SEO tool?
Mangools at $29/month (annual) is the cheapest full SEO toolkit. You get keyword research (KWFinder), rank tracking, SERP analysis, backlink analysis, and site profiling, with all five tools included on every plan.
Is Mangools good enough for SEO?
For keyword research, rank tracking, and basic competitor analysis, yes. Mangools covers the core 80% of what most small teams need. You'll miss site audits, content optimization, and deep competitive intelligence, which are features that Semrush and SE Ranking include.
Can you do SEO for under $50/month?
Absolutely. Mangools ($29/mo) handles keyword research and rank tracking. SE Ranking ($44/mo) adds site audits and competitive analysis. Pair either with Google Search Console (free) and you have a complete SEO workflow for under $50.
How do budget SEO tools compare to Semrush?
Mangools and SE Ranking cover 70-80% of Semrush's core SEO features at 25-40% of the price. What you lose: Semrush's larger backlink database, content marketing toolkit, advertising research, and historical data. For most small businesses, those gaps don't justify the 3-4x price difference.