AnswerThePublic vs KeywordsPeopleUse (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, AnswerThePublic and KeywordsPeopleUse share a 2.4 GPA, and only AnswerThePublic has a free plan.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
AnswerThePublic grades higher on the free plan. KeywordsPeopleUse grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on features, ease of use 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
KeywordsPeopleUse
Question research from People Also Ask, Autocomplete, Reddit and Quora
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 KeywordsPeopleUse if
- Fits if you plan articles around the questions people ask, Reddit and Quora included
- Works for a team sharing one account, since every plan allows unlimited users
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you won't hand over a card, as the trial needs one and there's no free plan
- Tight if you're on Lite: 150 credits, no Bulk Search, and the optimizer only for sites under 1,000 clicks
- Watch out: unused credits don't roll over, and top-ups cost $0.05 to $0.08 each with a 50-credit minimum
- Skip it if you want volume and difficulty next to every keyword, as the listing shows neither
- Pricey if you run many sites, as each extra Content Optimizer slot is $10 a month
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAnswerThePublicFair | 2.4GPAKeywordsPeopleUseFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BLite is $12 a month on yearly billing, $15 monthly, inside this category's cheapest quarter. That's 150 searches a month for unlimited users, with the API included. Bulk Search needs Standard at $32. |
| 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. | DNo free plan. The 7-day trial needs a card, though nothing is charged until day 8. Without it you get one free search a week. |
| 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. | CPeople Also Ask trees, autocomplete, Reddit and Quora questions, SERP clustering, alerts and a Search Console optimizer. It covers question research fully, but the listing shows no search volume or difficulty figures. |
| 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. | BNo rating on record, but nothing to set up. Type a topic, pick a country and read the questions, with each answer and the page it came from. |
| 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. Every plan has an API, there's an MCP server for Claude Desktop, and it connects to Google Search Console. |
| Best for | seeing the questions people ask about a topic | questions from Google, Reddit and Quora in one place |
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 KeywordsPeopleUse. 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. KeywordsPeopleUse starts at $12 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and KeywordsPeopleUse starts $8 a month lower. Of the other keyword research tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than AnswerThePublic for less, and 1 scores higher than KeywordsPeopleUse 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.
- KeywordsPeopleUse also covers content optimization.
At a glance
| AnswerThePublic | KeywordsPeopleUse | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $20 per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually) | $12 per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly) |
| 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. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial on monthly plans, once per account; a payment method is needed | 7-day free trial of any plan; a card is needed but nothing is charged until day 8 |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Answer the Public Ltd (NP Digital) | Amdai Limited |
| Price read from | answerthepublic.com | keywordspeopleuse.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.
KeywordsPeopleUse
- There is no free plan for new accounts; without the trial you get one free search a week.
- Bulk Search needs Standard or above, and on Lite the Search & Content Optimizer covers only sites under 1,000 clicks a month.
- Monthly credits do not roll over; top-up credits cost $0.05 to $0.08 each depending on the plan, with a 50-credit minimum.
- Extra Content Optimizer site slots cost $10 a month each on Standard, Pro and Unlimited.
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.
KeywordsPeopleUse
- People Also Ask mining
- Crawls Google's People Also Ask boxes live and maps the questions into a tree, with each answer and the page it came from. Deep Search goes three levels down for 4 credits.
- Autocomplete, Reddit and Quora
- Pulls Google Autocomplete suggestions with question modifiers, plus the top questions on Reddit and Quora, for a chosen country, language and city.
- SERP-based keyword clustering
- Groups keywords by the pages Google ranks for them, at 1 credit per 10 keywords, from a search, a saved list or an uploaded file of up to 50,000 keywords.
- Search Alerts
- Re-runs a saved search on a schedule and emails any new questions or keywords; plans allow from 5 alerts on Lite to 50 on Unlimited.
- Search & Content Optimizer
- Connects to Google Search Console to show queries, pages ranking just off page one and unanswered questions, and crawls enabled pages daily.
- API and MCP server
- Every plan includes API access, and an MCP server lets assistants such as Claude Desktop run searches using the account's credits.
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.
KeywordsPeopleUse
Lite$12
per month for 150 credits, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)
Every search type, unlimited users, 20 keyword lists, 5 search alerts and 1 month of history. No Bulk Search. 1 credit = 1 standard search.
Standard$32
per month for 500 credits, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
50 keyword lists, 15 search alerts, 1 year of history, Bulk Search, and the Search & Content Optimizer with 5 site slots.
Pro$65
per month for 1,500 credits, billed annually ($79 billed monthly)
30 search alerts, 2 years of history and 10 Content Optimizer site slots.
Unlimited$249
per month, unlimited credits, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
Unlimited searches and history, 50 search alerts and 20 site slots; clustering capped at 50,000 keywords a month and the API at 1,000 requests a day.
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.
KeywordsPeopleUse
- Annual discount
Two months free with yearly billing
KeywordsPeopleUse's pricing page and help center say yearly billing gives two months free: Lite is $144 a year instead of $15 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AnswerThePublic or KeywordsPeopleUse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, KeywordsPeopleUse is cheaper to start with: $12 a month, against $20 a month for AnswerThePublic. AnswerThePublic starts at $20 per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually), and KeywordsPeopleUse starts at $12 per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, AnswerThePublic or KeywordsPeopleUse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only AnswerThePublic has a free plan. KeywordsPeopleUse does not, though it has a free trial.
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.