Google Keyword Planner vs Ubersuggest (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Google Keyword Planner grades higher than Ubersuggest: 2.8 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Google Keyword Planner grades higher on value for money and the free plan. 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.
Google Keyword Planner
Free keyword ideas, search volumes and bid estimates inside Google Ads
Ubersuggest
Low-cost SEO tool for keyword ideas, site audits and rank tracking
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 Ubersuggest if
- Fits if you do the SEO for your own small business site and want to spend about $16 a month
- Makes sense if you'd rather pay once than keep a subscription going
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want daily rankings, as tracking and audits run weekly on every plan
- Not for you if you need an API, since outside access is only through MCP and the chat apps
- Tight if you run more than one site on Individual, which has 1 project and 125 tracked keywords
- Watch out: lifetime purchases are final and non-refundable, and the one-time trial covers monthly plans only
- Pricey if you add users, projects, keywords, AI prompts or credits, at $5 a month each; the free plan's limits aren't published
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAGoogle Keyword PlannerGood | 2.4GPAUbersuggestFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BIndividual is $192 a year, $16 a month on yearly billing ($29 monthly), inside this category's cheapest quarter, for 1 project and 125 tracked keywords. Pay once and it's $290 for life, but lifetime purchases are final and non-refundable. |
| 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. | CThere's a free account you can drop back to, but the pricing page doesn't list its limits. The 7-day trial is a one-off and covers the monthly plans only. |
| 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. | CKeyword and content ideas, competitor and backlink research with 3 years of link history, site audits, rank tracking and AI checks in ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews. The gap: rankings and audits update weekly on every plan. |
| 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. | CNo rating on record. It's built for beginners, with a step-by-step SEO course and an AI Chat that answers questions about your reports, but there's still setup and a fair bit to learn. |
| 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 plus a browser extension, linked to Search Console and WordPress, with apps for ChatGPT and Claude and an MCP server that also reaches Cursor. There's no API plan, and no desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | free search volumes and ad cost estimates | all-round SEO for one small site |
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 Ubersuggest. How we grade
Where they differ
- Ubersuggest also covers rank tracking, site audit and backlink analysis.
At a glance
| Google Keyword Planner | Ubersuggest | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $29 per month, 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 account that paid plans can be downgraded to at any time; its limits are not stated on the pricing page. |
| Free trial | None listed | One-time 7-day free trial of the monthly plans |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | NP Digital | |
| Price read from | business.google.com | app.neilpatel.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 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.
Ubersuggest
- Rank tracking and site audits update weekly on every plan.
- There is no API plan; outside access is through the MCP server and the ChatGPT and Claude apps.
- Lifetime purchases are final and non-refundable; the free trial covers monthly plans only.
- More users, projects, tracked keywords, AI prompts or credits cost $5 a month for each add-on.
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.
Ubersuggest
- Keyword and content ideas
- Get 20,000 to 100,000 keyword suggestions a month by plan, with search intent, AI prompt ideas and content ideas from top pages.
- Competitor and backlink research
- Track 5 to 15 competitors, see their top pages and keywords, and browse backlinks with 3 years of link history.
- Site audit
- Crawl 1,000 to 10,000 pages a week per report for SEO errors, using Google Search Console data for more detail.
- Rank tracking
- Track 125 to 300 keywords per project with weekly updates and mobile rankings, in 20 locations on Individual and unlimited above.
- AI search visibility
- Check set prompts per brand in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, monthly on Individual up to weekly on Enterprise.
- AI chat, MCP and apps
- Ask questions of your reports in AI Chat, or bring the data into ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor through apps and an MCP server.
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.
Ubersuggest
Free$0
Free account with limited access; the pricing page does not list its limits.
Individual$29
per month, billed monthly
1 project, 150 reports a day, 250 credits a month, 125 tracked keywords, 1,000-page weekly audits and 10 AI prompts checked monthly.
Business$49
per month, billed monthly
7 projects, 300 reports a day, 500 credits, 150 keywords per project, 5,000-page audits and 15 AI prompts checked every two weeks.
Enterprise$99
per month, billed monthly
15 projects, 900 reports a day, 1,000 credits, 300 keywords per project, 10,000-page audits and 20 AI prompts checked weekly.
Ways to pay less
Google Keyword Planner
No public discounts listed.
Ubersuggest
- Annual discount
Yearly billing from $192 a year
The pricing page's US price list has yearly plans at $192 for Individual, $326 for Business and $657 for Enterprise, against $29, $49 and $99 a month.
- Lifetime license
Lifetime access from $290, paid once
A single payment of $290 (Individual), $490 (Business) or $990 (Enterprise) buys lifetime access. The page shows lifetime first, under a countdown banner.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Google Keyword Planner is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $29 a month for Ubersuggest. Google Keyword Planner is free, and Ubersuggest starts at $29 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest have a free plan.
Which platforms do Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Ubersuggest lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.