Google Trends vs Spate (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Google Trends if

• Fits if you want to know whether a topic is growing before you write about it
• Works for timing seasonal content, like gift guides or summer gear

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you need search volumes, since it only shows a 0 to 100 score
• Not for you if you need an API, as it's an alpha for accepted developers
• Too light for tiny niches, where low-volume terms show as 0 and small ones can spike from added noise
• Watch out: reused data must be credited to Google Trends, and Google asks you not to cite it alongside Ads data

Pick Spate if

• Fits if you plan products for a beauty, wellness or food and beverage brand
• Works for an R&D or marketing team that wants to know which ingredients are rising

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want keywords for your website, as it's a consumer trend tool, not an SEO keyword tool
• Not for you if your market isn't beauty, wellness or food and beverage, as that's what its coverage is built around
• Watch out: no prices are published, and the site's pricing link goes back to the home page
• Tight if you want to try it on your own, as the free trial is arranged through a demo and its length isn't stated
• Watch out: the 72% prediction accuracy is Spate's own figure, and the API is for Enterprise customers only

Google Trends

• Shows relative interest on a 0 to 100 scale, not search volumes; Google points to Google Ads for monthly volume figures.
• Low-volume terms show as 0, and small terms can show random spikes because Google adds statistical noise for privacy.
• The API is an alpha that only accepted applicants can use; everyone else works through the website.
• Reused data must be credited to Google Trends, and Google asks that it not be cited together with Google Ads data.

Spate

• No prices are published; access is sold after a demo, and the site's pricing link leads back to the homepage.
• Its coverage is built around beauty and personal care, wellness, and food and beverage.
• It is a market research tool for consumer trends, not an SEO keyword tool for a website.

Google Trends

Explore and compare terms

Chart search interest for a term over a chosen period and compare up to 8 groups of terms, each holding up to 50 terms, across languages and places.

Interest by region

See where a term is searched most, from country level down to subregions and cities, and compare two locations or two time periods.

Related searches and categories

Find searches related to a term, and narrow results to a category of topics to cut out unrelated meanings.

Trending now

Searches rising in 100+ countries and regions over the past 4 hours to 7 days, refreshed about every ten minutes, with a volume bucket and growth figure.

Export, embed and RSS

Download charts as CSV, embed many charts on a web page, and export trending searches by clipboard, CSV or RSS feed.

Trends API alpha

An alpha API with 5 years of consistently scaled data is open to a limited set of developers who apply to test it.

Spate

Trend prediction

Forecasts where a trend is heading from current consumer data; Spate puts its prediction accuracy at 72%.

Growth drivers

Breaks a trend down into the ingredients, benefits and concerns behind it.

Competitive benchmarking

Tracks brands' performance, engagement and positioning against one another.

Top social content

Shows the most popular posts and videos for a trend across TikTok and Instagram.

Whitespace opportunities

Points to gaps in a market where demand is growing but few products exist.

AI assistant and alerts

Answers questions in plain language, builds reports and sends custom alerts. Enterprise customers can also pull the data through an API.

Google Trends

• Free$0

  Search interest charts, comparisons, interest by region, related searches, trending searches and CSV export.

Spate

Pricing could not be confirmed. See spate.nyc.