Google Search Console vs Yandex Webmaster (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.
Google Search Console
Free Google reports on a site's search traffic, indexing and issues
Free
Yandex Webmaster
Free Yandex reports on a site's indexing, errors and search queries
Free
Which one is for you
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
Pick Yandex Webmaster if
- Fits if your site gets traffic from Yandex search
- Works for online stores that want their products shown in Yandex results
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your visitors don't search on Yandex, as that's all it covers
- Not for you if you can't verify your rights to the site, since no report appears until you do
- Watch out: query monitoring is still a beta feature
- Watch out: the API needs an authorized Yandex account, and versions 3.2 and earlier are no longer supported
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAGoogle Search ConsoleVery good | 3.0GPAYandex WebmasterVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | AFree with no fees or surcharges: every tool opens once a site is added and verified, and one account can hold several sites and share access. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | AFree outright, with every tool included and no caps on record. |
| Features | 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. | CTechnical checks on about 40 parameters, indexing figures, sitemaps, robots.txt and IndexNow, query monitoring, recommendations, site quality, reviews and store listings. The gap: it's Yandex's view only, and query monitoring is still marked beta. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. You prove you own or manage the site before seeing anything, and the indexing and performance reports take some learning. | CNo rating on record. You add the site and verify your rights to it before any report appears. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with the Search Console API, a scheduled daily BigQuery export and Site Kit by Google. | BWeb only, with an API for hosting panels and other tools, and links to Yandex Metrica, Yandex Business, Yandex ID and IndexNow. |
| Best for | Google search traffic and indexing data | sites that get traffic from Yandex search |
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 Search Console and Yandex Webmaster. How we grade
Price against what you get
Google Search Console has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Yandex Webmaster 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 Google Search Console for less, and none scores higher than Yandex Webmaster 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
- Google Search Console also covers schema markup and page speed.
In commonFree planWebPublic APISite audit
At a glance
| Google Search Console | Yandex Webmaster | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | 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. | Every tool and feature is free once you add a site and verify your rights to it; one account can hold several sites and share access with others. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Yandex | |
| Price read from | support.google.com | webmaster.yandex.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Yandex Webmaster
- Reports cover Yandex search only; Google, Bing and other engines need their own tools.
- You must add the site and verify your rights to it before any report is available.
- Query monitoring is still marked as a beta feature.
- The API needs an authorized Yandex account; versions 3.2 and earlier are no longer supported.
Key features
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.
Yandex Webmaster
- Technical error checks
- Pages are checked automatically for about 40 parameters, such as missing meta tags and 4XX or 5XX responses, with advice on each fix.
- Indexing monitoring
- The main indexing figures in one place, a check of which version of a page is in search, and support for sitemaps, robots.txt and IndexNow.
- Query monitoring (beta)
- Shows which searches a site appears for and compares impressions with demand, to tell seasonal swings from ranking changes.
- Recommendations list
- Suggestions arrive as a to-do list, from choosing queries to improving how the site shows in results.
- Site quality and reviews
- See the site quality index, compare it with competitors, watch user ratings and reply to reviews of your site.
- Store listings and site sections
- Online stores can add products and offers to a dedicated block in Yandex search, and pages can be grouped into virtual sections.
Plans
Google Search Console
Free$0
Performance, indexing, Core Web Vitals and rich result reports, URL Inspection, sitemaps, alerts and the API.
Yandex Webmaster
Free$0
Indexing reports, technical checks, query monitoring, recommendations, site quality and reviews, store listings and the API.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Google Search Console or Yandex Webmaster?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Google Search Console and Yandex Webmaster are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Google Search Console or Yandex Webmaster?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Google Search Console and Yandex Webmaster 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.