Bing Webmaster Tools vs Google Search Console (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick Google Search Console: it is first in our ranking of technical SEO tools, and they share a 3.0 GPA.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Bing Webmaster Tools
Free Bing reports on search traffic, indexing and AI answer citations
Free
Google Search Console
Free Google reports on a site's search traffic, indexing and issues
Free
Which one is for you
Pick Bing Webmaster Tools if
- Fits if you want Bing search data next to Google's
- Makes sense if you publish and want to see whether Copilot and Bing AI answers cite you
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want Google, ChatGPT or other engines, as it covers Bing and Microsoft's AI answers only
- Not for you if you can't verify the site, as nothing appears until you do
- Watch out: AI Performance is a public preview, and its Topics Portfolio beta only shows once a site has enough data
- Watch out: grounding query figures are a sample of citations, and opportunity volumes come as ranges
Pick Google Search Console if
- Fits if you own a site and want to know which Google searches bring visitors
- Works for finding out why pages are missing from Google's index
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need Bing, Yandex, Baidu or Naver data, as it covers Google Search only
- Not for you if you can't prove you own or manage the site, as nothing shows until you do
- Tight if you pull a lot through the API, which stops at 50,000 rows a day per search type and 25,000 per request
- Watch out: the BigQuery export needs a Google Cloud project with billing, and use beyond the free level is charged
- Too light for big teams on one property, which allows at most 100 non-owner users
How we grade them
| 3.0GPABing Webmaster ToolsVery good | 3.0GPAGoogle Search ConsoleVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree from Microsoft, with search and AI citation reports, URL Inspection, IndexNow, Site Scan, keyword research, backlinks and the API. No paid plan. | AFree, from Google, with every report, URL Inspection, email alerts, the API and up to 100 non-owner users per property. There is no paid plan. |
| Free plan and trial | AEverything is free once you verify a site, signing in with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook account. No caps on record. | AEverything is free once you verify the site. The caps are on the API, 50,000 rows a day per search type, which most sites won't reach. |
| Features | CSearch performance, AI citation reports, URL Inspection, sitemaps and IndexNow, an on-demand Site Scan, keyword research and backlinks for your site and competitors. The gap: it's Bing's view only, and the listing shows no speed or structured data reports. | CPerformance by query and page, indexing and URL Inspection, Core Web Vitals, rich result and links reports, alerts and a BigQuery export. The gap: it's Google's view only, with no crawl you run yourself, and Bing, Yandex, Baidu and Naver need their own tools. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. You verify the site by DNS, a file, a meta tag or an import from Google Search Console before any data appears. | CNo rating on record. You prove you own or manage the site before seeing anything, and the indexing and performance reports take some learning. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with a Search Console import, IndexNow, WordPress and an API for submitting URLs. | BWeb only, with the Search Console API, a scheduled daily BigQuery export and Site Kit by Google. |
| Best for | Bing search data and Copilot citations | Google search traffic and indexing data |
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: Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console. How we grade
Price against what you get
Bing Webmaster Tools has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Google Search Console has no paid plan and scores 2.3.
On this chart the two sit in the same place: the same score for the same starting price. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Bing Webmaster Tools for less, and none scores higher than Google Search Console 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
- Bing Webmaster Tools also covers keyword research, backlink analysis and AI search visibility.
- Google Search Console also covers schema markup and page speed.
In commonFree planWebPublic APISite audit
At a glance
| Bing Webmaster Tools | Google Search Console | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free with a Microsoft, Google or Facebook sign-in for any site you verify: search performance, AI Performance, Site Scan, keyword research, backlinks and the API. | Free with a Google account for any site whose ownership you verify: every report and tool, email alerts, the API and up to 100 non-owner users per property. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Microsoft | |
| Price read from | bing.com | support.google.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Bing Webmaster Tools
- Reports cover Bing and Microsoft's own AI answers only, not Google, ChatGPT or other engines.
- You must verify the site, by DNS, a file, a meta tag or an import from Google Search Console, before data appears.
- AI Performance is a public preview, and its Topics Portfolio tab is a beta shown only when a site has enough data.
- Grounding query figures are a sample of citation activity, and opportunity queries show volumes as ranges.
Google Search Console
- Covers Google Search only; Bing, Yandex, Baidu and Naver each run their own webmaster tools.
- You must prove you own or manage the site before you see any data, and a property allows at most 100 non-owner users.
- The API exposes at most 50,000 rows a day per search type, at up to 25,000 rows per request.
- The BigQuery export needs a Google Cloud project with billing; storage and queries beyond the free usage level are charged.
Key features
Bing Webmaster Tools
- Search performance
- Impressions, clicks and average position across pages and keywords, with up to 16 months of data.
- AI Performance (preview)
- Counts citations of your pages in Microsoft Copilot and Bing's AI summaries, with the grounding queries behind them and a Topics Portfolio beta of opportunity queries.
- URL Inspection, sitemaps and IndexNow
- Check a URL's indexing and crawl status, submit sitemaps, and notify Bing of new, changed or deleted pages at once through IndexNow or the URL submission API.
- Site Scan and Site Explorer
- An on-demand crawl that flags technical problems such as broken links, duplicate tags and missing metadata, plus a view of your site's structure as Bing sees it.
- Keyword research and backlinks
- Look up what searchers type and their search volumes, and review referring domains and anchor text for your own site and for competitors.
- Copilot assistant
- A built-in AI assistant that helps troubleshoot issues and find your way around the reports.
Google Search Console
- Performance report
- Clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position, by query, page, country, device, search appearance and date, for web, image, video and news results.
- Indexing and URL Inspection
- Review which pages Google has indexed, submit sitemaps and single URLs, and inspect a URL for its crawl, index and serving details straight from the Google index.
- Issue alerts
- Email alerts when Google finds indexing, spam or other problems, with the affected URLs and a way to tell Google once they are fixed.
- Experience and enhancement reports
- Core Web Vitals on mobile and desktop, plus reports on rich results from structured data such as recipes and jobs, and on AMP pages.
- Links report
- Shows which other sites link to yours, as part of the same set of reports as search traffic and indexing.
- API and BigQuery export
- The Search Console API queries search data, lists sites and manages sitemaps; a scheduled daily export sends all performance data, except anonymized queries, to BigQuery.
Plans
Bing Webmaster Tools
Free$0
Search and AI citation reports, URL Inspection, IndexNow and sitemaps, Site Scan, keyword research, backlinks and Copilot help.
Google Search Console
Free$0
Performance, indexing, Core Web Vitals and rich result reports, URL Inspection, sitemaps, alerts and the API.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Bing Webmaster Tools or Google Search Console?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Bing Webmaster Tools or Google Search Console?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console 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.