Google Keyword Planner vs KeywordTool.io (2026): which should you pick?

As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick Google Keyword Planner: it is third in our ranking of keyword research tools, and it grades higher too, 2.8 against 2.4.

Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA

Google Keyword Planner grades higher on value for money. KeywordTool.io grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and platforms.

Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.

Google Keyword Planner

Free keyword ideas, search volumes and bid estimates inside Google Ads

Free

Full details business.google.com

KeywordTool.io

Autocomplete keyword ideas from Google and 16 other search platforms

Free plan · from $68/mo

Full details keywordtool.io

Which one is for you

Pick Google Keyword Planner if

Fits if you're planning Google search ads and need a budget
Works for getting volumes for a list of keywords without paying, if you have an Ads account

Look elsewhere if

Skip it if you want SEO difficulty or a rival's rankings, as it shows neither
Not for you if you'd rather not enter billing details just to research keywords
Tight if your niche is tiny or in health or finance, as those keywords may return nothing
Watch out: volumes are rounded 12-month averages, and each keyword is capped at 80 characters and 10 words
Watch out: the Ads account must be in Expert Mode, and the screens are made for ad campaigns

Pick KeywordTool.io if

Fits if you want long-tail ideas from YouTube, Amazon or TikTok and can do without the numbers
Works for pulling keyword data into Claude or ChatGPT through the MCP server on a paid plan

Look elsewhere if

Pricey if you only want search volumes, at $68 a month on yearly billing and $88 monthly
Skip it if you need a difficulty score to judge which keywords you can win
Not for you if you want to try the paid data first, as there's no trial, only a 30-day refund
Watch out: only Google and Bing volumes come from the ad planners; the rest are modeled estimates
Tight if you run lots of lookups, as Starter allows 50 requests a day across web, API and MCP

How we grade them

	2.8GPAGoogle Keyword PlannerGood	2.4GPAKeywordTool.ioFair
Value for money	AFree, from Google itself, with keyword ideas, monthly volumes, bid ranges and forecasts, and an API for developers. Nothing in it costs money; the catch is the Ads account it needs.	DStarter is $68 a month on yearly billing, $88 monthly, which is in this category's dearest tenth. Every paid plan does include the API, an MCP server and volume for 50,000 keywords a day. There's no trial, only a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Free plan and trial	BFree with no cap, but you need a Google Ads account with billing details entered and setup finished before ideas show, and Smart Mode accounts have to switch to Expert Mode.	BThe free version needs no account and no card, and gives up to 750+ suggestions a search with no limit on record. One person could live on that for ideas. What you don't get is volume, CPC or competition: those are all paid.
Features	CIdeas from words or a site, volumes for your own list, top-of-page bid ranges and budget forecasts. It's built for ads, though: no organic difficulty, no competitor rankings, and low-volume or sensitive keywords may show nothing.	CIdeas from 17 platforms, plus volume, CPC, trend history and bulk lookups on paid plans. But there's no difficulty score or competitor lookup on record, and only Google and Bing volumes come from the ad planners.
Ease of use	CNo rating on record. The tool itself is simple, but getting to it means a Google Ads account, billing details and Expert Mode, and the screens are made for ad campaigns.	BNo rating on record, and nothing to set up: the free version runs without an account, so you type a word, pick a platform and read the list.
Platforms and integrations	BWeb only, inside Google Ads, with keyword ideas, historical volumes and forecasts also available through the Google Ads API. No desktop or phone version on record.	BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Every paid plan has a REST API and an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, all drawing on the same daily request pool.
Best for	free search volumes and ad cost estimates	long-tail ideas from Google and 16 other platforms

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: Google Keyword Planner and KeywordTool.io. How we grade

Price against what you get

Google Keyword Planner has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. KeywordTool.io starts at $68 a month and scores 2.7.

KeywordTool.io scores higher, and starts $68 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other keyword research tools on the chart, none scores higher than Google Keyword Planner for less, and 1 scores higher than KeywordTool.io 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

The full chart of keyword research tools, and the best at every price

Where they differ

KeywordTool.io also covers app store optimization and youTube SEO.

In commonFree planWebPublic APIKeyword research

At a glance

	Google Keyword Planner	KeywordTool.io
Pricing	Free	Free plan
Starts at	Free	$68 per month, billed annually ($88 billed monthly)
Free plan	Free with a Google Ads account. Billing details must be entered and account setup finished before keyword ideas can be used.	Free version, no account needed: up to 750+ autocomplete suggestions per search term. Search volume, cost per click and competition data come with Keyword Tool Pro.
Free trial	None listed	None listed
Web
Made by	Google	Essential Apps LLC and Key Tools Limited
Price read from	business.google.com	keywordtool.io
Checked	Oct 23, 2026	Oct 23, 2026

Worth knowing

Google Keyword Planner

Needs a Google Ads account with billing details entered and setup complete, and accounts in Smart Mode must switch to Expert Mode.
Built for ad planning: it shows bid estimates and ad forecasts, not organic difficulty scores or competitor rankings.
Keywords with very low volume or in sensitive areas such as health or finance may return no results.
Each keyword is limited to 80 characters and 10 words.

KeywordTool.io

The free version shows suggestions only; volume, CPC and competition need a paid plan starting at $68 a month billed annually.
There is no free trial; paid plans instead carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Only Google and Bing volumes come from the ad planners; other platforms' volumes are modeled estimates.
Paid plans are capped by daily requests, from 50 on Starter to 400 on Agency, shared across the web app, API and MCP.

Key features

Google Keyword Planner

Keyword ideas from words or a site: Enter phrases about a product or service, or any website, and get a list of related keyword ideas to filter, group by theme and save to a plan.
Average monthly searches: Shows how often a keyword and its close variants are searched, averaged over 12 months by default, by location and network. Volumes are rounded and exact-match only.
Top-of-page bid ranges: Low and high bid estimates, roughly the 20th and 80th percentile of what advertisers paid for a top-of-page ad over the last 30 days.
Forecasts by budget: A saved plan forecasts clicks, impressions, cost and conversions for a chosen budget and bid strategy, refreshed daily from the last 7 to 10 days of data.
Volumes for your own list: Paste or upload a CSV of keywords to get search volumes and forecasts for them, then turn the plan into a Search campaign.
Google Ads API access: Developers can request keyword ideas, historical metrics and forecasts through KeywordPlanIdeaService in the Google Ads API.

KeywordTool.io

Autocomplete keyword ideas: Adds letters and numbers around a seed term to pull hundreds of long-tail suggestions, across 190+ Google domains and many languages.
17 search platforms: Research Google, YouTube, Bing, Copilot, Perplexity, Amazon, eBay, the App Store, Google Play, Instagram, X, Reddit, Pinterest, Etsy, TikTok and Naver.
Search volume and cost per click: Pro plans show volume, CPC and competition. Google and Bing figures come from their keyword planners; the other platforms are estimates.
Trend history: Monthly search volume history covers 12 months on Starter, 24 on Growth and up to 48 on Scale and Agency.
Bulk search volume: Upload an existing keyword list and get volume, CPC and trend data for it, up to 1,000 keywords per request.
API and MCP server: Every paid plan includes a REST API and an MCP server for assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor, drawing on the same daily request pool.

Plans

Google Keyword Planner

Free$0
Keyword ideas, monthly search volumes, top-of-page bid ranges and forecasts, for anyone with a Google Ads account.

KeywordTool.io

Free$0
Autocomplete keyword suggestions for any term, up to 750+ per search, without signing up.
Starter$68
per month for 50 requests a day, billed annually ($88 monthly)
Search volume for 50,000 keywords a day, 12 months of trend history, all 17 platforms, web app, API and MCP.
Growth$148
per month for 100 requests a day, billed annually ($188 monthly)
Search volume for 100,000 keywords a day and 24 months of trend history.
Scale$308
per month for 200 requests a day, billed annually ($388 monthly)
Search volume for 200,000 keywords a day and 48 months of trend history, for in-house teams.
Agency$628
per month for 400 requests a day, billed annually ($788 monthly)
Search volume for 400,000 keywords a day and 48 months of trend history.
Enterprise & CustomCustom
Higher daily limits, custom API and MCP usage, procurement paperwork and bank-transfer payment. Quoted after a demo.

Ways to pay less

Google Keyword Planner

No public discounts listed.

KeywordTool.io

Annual discount
Save over 20% with annual billing
Keyword Tool's pricing lists annual billing at over 20% less: Starter is $68 a month billed annually instead of $88 billed monthly.

Common questions

Which is cheaper, Google Keyword Planner or KeywordTool.io?

As of Oct 23, 2026, Google Keyword Planner is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $68 a month for KeywordTool.io. Google Keyword Planner is free, and KeywordTool.io starts at $68 per month, billed annually ($88 billed monthly).

Which has a free plan, Google Keyword Planner or KeywordTool.io?

As of Oct 23, 2026, both Google Keyword Planner and KeywordTool.io 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.

How we review and grade