Google Keyword Planner vs Yandex Wordstat (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, though Yandex Wordstat grades higher (3.0 against 2.8) on the free plan.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on value for money, 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
Free
Yandex Wordstat
Free search query statistics for the Yandex search engine
Free
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 Yandex Wordstat if
- Fits if your site or ads are aimed at searchers in Russia and nearby countries
- Works for checking demand on Yandex before you buy Yandex Direct ads
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your readers search on Google, as it counts Yandex searches only
- Not for you if you'd rather not make a Yandex account, as you must be signed in to use it
- Watch out: a CAPTCHA may appear if you query often or are outside the CIS
- Tight if you want daily figures, which cover only the last 60 days; weekly and monthly views reach back to January 2018, five years at a time
- Too light for judging how hard a keyword is to rank for, as there's no difficulty score on record
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAGoogle Keyword PlannerGood | 3.0GPAYandex WordstatVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | AFree, from Yandex itself, with no paid plan: Dynamics, Regions, Top queries, device filters, CSV export and an API all cost $0. What it asks for is a Yandex account. |
| 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. | AEverything is free with a Yandex account, and there's no cap on record a normal person would reach. The API has daily and per-second quotas on each token, and querying too often can bring up a CAPTCHA. |
| 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. | CVolume by month, week or day back to January 2018, regions and cities, top and similar queries, and operators that fix word forms and order. It does Yandex demand fully, but it's Yandex only, daily figures cover just 60 days, and there's no difficulty score or CPC on record. |
| 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. You type a phrase and get a chart, but you sign in with a Yandex account first, a CAPTCHA may appear outside the CIS, and exact counts mean learning operators like !, + and square brackets. |
| 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. The same data comes out as JSON through the Wordstat API, with quotas tied to each OAuth token. |
| Best for | free search volumes and ad cost estimates | search demand on Yandex |
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 Yandex Wordstat. 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. Yandex Wordstat 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 keyword research tools on the chart, none scores higher than Google Keyword Planner for less, and none scores higher than Yandex Wordstat 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
In commonFree planWebPublic APIKeyword research
At a glance
| Google Keyword Planner | Yandex Wordstat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free with a Google Ads account. Billing details must be entered and account setup finished before keyword ideas can be used. | Free with a Yandex account: query counts by month, week or day, breakdowns by region and device, top related queries and CSV downloads. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Yandex LLC | |
| Price read from | business.google.com | wordstat.yandex.com |
| 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.
Yandex Wordstat
- Counts only searches made on Yandex, so it says nothing about Google or other engines.
- You must be signed in with a Yandex account to use it.
- Yandex's FAQ says a CAPTCHA may appear if you query too often or are outside the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- Daily figures cover only the last 60 days; weekly and monthly views reach back to January 2018, five years at a time.
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.
Yandex Wordstat
- Dynamics
- Charts the number of searches containing a phrase and its share of all Yandex searches, by month, week or day, back to January 2018.
- Regions
- Splits the last 30 days of searches by region or city, with each place's share of queries and an interest index against the national average.
- Top queries
- Lists last month's most frequent searches that contain the phrase, plus queries Yandex treats as similar to it.
- Search operators
- Operators such as -, !, +, quotes, square brackets and grouping fix word forms, word order or word count, or exclude words from the count.
- Device filters and CSV export
- Every report can be narrowed to desktops, smartphones or tablets, and each one downloads as a CSV file.
- Wordstat API
- Wordstat data can also be pulled as JSON through an API, with daily and per-second request quotas tied to each OAuth token.
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.
Yandex Wordstat
Free$0
The Dynamics, Regions and Top queries reports, filters by region and device, search operators and CSV export.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Google Keyword Planner or Yandex Wordstat?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Google Keyword Planner and Yandex Wordstat are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Google Keyword Planner or Yandex Wordstat?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Google Keyword Planner and Yandex Wordstat 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.