AnswerThePublic vs Exploding Topics (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, AnswerThePublic grades higher than Exploding Topics: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
AnswerThePublic grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AnswerThePublic
Question and search-suggestion research shown as keyword wheels
Exploding Topics
Database of rising topics, products and startups, by search growth
Which one is for you
Pick AnswerThePublic if
- Fits if you plan blog posts, FAQs or videos around what people ask
- Works for showing a client how people search, as the wheels read at a glance
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you research a lot, since Starter allows 100 searches a month and they don't roll over
- Skip it if you need a difficulty score, as there isn't one on record
- Not for you if you might want your money back, as subscriptions are generally non-refundable
- Watch out: the 7-day trial needs a payment method and covers monthly plans only
- Pricey if more people need access: Starter has 1 user, and 3 users means Growth at $99 a month
Pick Exploding Topics if
- Fits if you pick content topics and want ones whose searches are still climbing
- Works for sellers and investors looking for products, markets and startups that are starting to rise
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want forecasts, trending startups or CSV export, which start at $99 a month
- Skip it if you need keyword volumes and difficulty for pages you're writing now
- Not for you if you'd rather not have a Semrush account, as Pro runs through one
- Watch out: the pricing page doesn't say how prices are billed, and a vendor blog says $39 is the yearly rate
- Watch out: TikTok Insights is a separate add-on with no price shown
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAnswerThePublicFair | 2.2GPAExploding TopicsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $20 a month, or $160 a year, which works out at about $13.33 a month, and until 8 November a year of Starter is $120. That's mid-table for this category, for 100 searches a month and 1 user. | CEntrepreneur is $39 a month for 100 tracked trends, at the dearer end of this category, and the page doesn't say how it's billed. Forecasts, trending startups and CSV export need Investor at $99. Treendly's Pro is $99 a year. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free account gets 3 searches a day, with volume and CPC on just two branches of each report and exports of 30 keywords. The 7-day trial needs a payment method and only covers monthly plans. | CYou can browse trending topics, startups and websites on the public site with part of each trend's data, no account needed. Every Pro plan has a 7-day trial, and the listing doesn't say whether a card is needed. |
| Features | CQuestions, comparisons and related terms from Google, Bing, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Amazon, with volume and CPC, AI prompt ideas and alerts. It does question research fully, but that's a smaller job, and the volume is last month's Google data only. | CA database it puts at 1.1 million+ topics with growth over up to 15 years, tracking with alerts, deep-dive analyses and Meta Trends. It does trend spotting fully, but that's a smaller job than keyword research, and forecasting starts at $99. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record, but nothing to set up either. Type a word and the wheel appears, and anyone you show it to will get it straight away. | CNo rating on record. Pro runs as an app inside Semrush, so signing in and starting a trial go through a Semrush account before you see the full data. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Content Studio publishes to WordPress and Webflow, and paid plans get an API, still in alpha, that draws on the same search allowance. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. There's an API, a Zapier integration with six actions, and routes through n8n and Make. |
| Best for | seeing the questions people ask about a topic | spotting rising topics before they get crowded |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AnswerThePublic and Exploding Topics. How we grade
Price against what you get
AnswerThePublic starts at $20 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Exploding Topics starts at $39 a month and scores 2.3.
AnswerThePublic scores higher and starts $19 a month lower. Of the other keyword research tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than AnswerThePublic for less, and 10 score higher than Exploding Topics for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- AnswerThePublic also covers long-form writing.
At a glance
| AnswerThePublic | Exploding Topics | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $20 per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually) | $39 per month for 100 tracked trends (billing basis not shown) |
| Free plan | Free account: 3 searches a day, volume and CPC on two branches per report, exports of up to 30 keywords and 30 AI prompt responses a month. No Content Studio credits. | Trending topics, startups and websites can be browsed on the site without an account, with part of each trend's data; the full data needs Pro. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial on monthly plans, once per account; a payment method is needed | 7-day free trial of every Pro plan |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Answer the Public Ltd (NP Digital) | Semrush Inc. |
| Price read from | answerthepublic.com | explodingtopics.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
AnswerThePublic
- Paid plans are capped at 100 to 300 searches a month, and unused searches and credits do not roll over.
- Subscriptions are generally non-refundable once billing starts, and annual plans have no free trial.
- Search volume reflects Google data from the previous month only.
- Starter allows 1 user, Growth 3 and Business 10, and all users share the plan's monthly limits.
Exploding Topics
- The pricing page shows monthly figures without saying how they are billed; a vendor blog post says $39 is the annual-billing rate.
- Trend forecasting, trending startups and CSV export start at the $99 Investor plan.
- Pro runs as an app inside Semrush: signing in and starting a trial go through a Semrush account.
- TikTok Insights is a separate add-on, and its price is not shown on the pricing page.
Key features
AnswerThePublic
- Keyword wheels and search modifiers
- Groups suggestions into questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabeticals and related terms, as a visual wheel or a list, with Google volume and CPC.
- Searches across platforms
- Reports draw on Google, Bing, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Amazon, plus People Also Ask results and Google Shopping product rankings.
- AI Models report
- Shows prompts people might give ChatGPT and Gemini about a topic, sorted by intent and sentiment, and generates sample AI answers from a monthly allowance.
- Search listening alerts
- Follow a keyword and get a weekly email of new suggestions: 1 alert on Starter, 5 on Growth and 20 on Business.
- Content Studio
- Writes articles from a project's keywords and publishes them to WordPress or Webflow. Each article uses 10 credits and each Deep Search 8.
- API in alpha
- Paid plans can create searches and pull reports through an API that draws on the same monthly search allowance. Not available on the free plan or during a trial.
Exploding Topics
- Trends database
- Pro opens a database the vendor puts at 1.1 million+ markets, products and topics, each with search volume and growth over windows of 3 months to 15 years.
- Trend tracking and analyses
- Track 100, 500 or 2,000 trends by plan and get alerts, and run 10 to 500 deep-dive analyses with search metrics and channel-level data.
- Meta Trends
- Groups related topics into larger shifts in areas such as tech, DTC, marketing, SaaS, healthcare, fitness and fashion.
- Trend forecasting
- Investor and Business plans show a machine-learning forecast of where a trend's interest is likely to go over the next year.
- Trending products and startups
- Lists consumer products on the rise on every Pro plan, and fast-growing startups from Investor up. A TikTok Insights add-on tracks products gaining views on TikTok.
- API and automations
- An Exploding Topics API feeds trend data into other tools, with a Zapier integration offering six actions and an n8n workflow route.
Plans
AnswerThePublic
Free$0
3 searches a day with some suggestions and data locked, and small exports.
Starter$20
per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually)
1 user, 100 searches a month, 1,000 AI prompt suggestions, 30 AI responses, 2 projects and 60 Content Studio credits.
Growth$99
per month, billed monthly ($792 a year billed annually)
Up to 3 users, 200 searches a month, 2,000 prompt suggestions, 60 AI responses, 4 projects, 350 credits and report comparisons.
Business$199
per month, billed monthly ($1,592 a year billed annually)
Up to 10 users, 300 searches a month, 3,000 prompt suggestions, 100 AI responses, 8 projects and 800 credits.
CustomCustom
More users, domains or limits than Business, quoted on request.
Exploding Topics
Free$0
Browse trending topics, startups and top websites on the public site, plus a set of free SEO tools.
Entrepreneur$39
per month for 100 tracked trends, billing basis not shown
10 trend analyses, the trends database, trending products, Meta Trends and channel breakdowns.
Investor$99
per month for 500 tracked trends, billing basis not shown
100 trend analyses, plus trending startups, trend forecasting and CSV export.
Business$249
per month for 2,000 tracked trends, billing basis not shown
500 trend analyses, everything in Investor, and trend reports.
Ways to pay less
AnswerThePublic
- Annual discount
Annual billing at eight times the monthly price
AnswerThePublic's campaign terms put the standard annual price at 8 times the monthly price, such as $160 a year for Starter instead of $240 paid monthly.
- Annual discount
6 months free on annual plans until November 8, 2026
From October 13 to November 8, 2026, annual plans cost 6 times the monthly price ($120 a year for Starter) and renew at that price while active.
Exploding Topics
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AnswerThePublic or Exploding Topics?
As of Oct 23, 2026, AnswerThePublic is cheaper to start with: $20 a month, against $39 a month for Exploding Topics. AnswerThePublic starts at $20 per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually), and Exploding Topics starts at $39 per month for 100 tracked trends (billing basis not shown).
Which has a free plan, AnswerThePublic or Exploding Topics?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both AnswerThePublic and Exploding Topics have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.