GRC vs Serposcope (2026): which should you pick?

Pick GRC if

• Fits if you work in Japan and Yahoo rankings are the ones you report on
• Works for keeping ranking data on your own Windows PC rather than in a web service

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you need Google rankings, as GRC no longer checks them, and Bing was removed
• Not for you if you're on a Mac or want it in a browser, as it's Windows only
• Tight if your needs might grow, since a plan can't be changed once its key is issued, and upgrading by paying the difference isn't offered
• Watch out: each PC or Windows user account needs its own licence, and the site is in Japanese only
• Watch out: the free edition's item limit isn't stated, and yearly licences are paid by bank transfer

Pick Serposcope if

• Fits if you want ranking data kept on your own machine rather than in a vendor's cloud
• Works for technical users who already pay for proxies or a SERP API

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want software that's kept up: it's marked unsupported, may not work, and 3.5 from January 2025 is the last release
• Watch out: Google checks need paid add-ons, since Scraping Ant's free plan doesn't work with Google and captcha solvers cost money
• Not for you if setting login protection by hand in a config file sounds like hard work
• Tight if you have Serposcope 2 data, since it can't be moved into version 3
• Watch out: the Windows and Mac installers aren't signed, so both systems warn before installing

GRC

• It now checks Yahoo only: its changelog says Google checks were stopped and Bing checks removed because those engines changed.
• It runs on Windows only, and each PC or Windows user account needs its own license.
• The site is in Japanese and prices are in yen; monthly licenses are paid by PayPal, yearly ones by bank transfer.
• A license plan cannot be changed after the key is issued, and upgrades by paying the difference are not offered.

Serposcope

• The download section says Serposcope is no longer supported and may not work; the last release, 3.5, is dated January 2025.
• Reliable scraping needs paid add-ons: Scraping Ant's free plan does not work with Google, and captcha solvers are paid services.
• Login protection must be set by hand in a config file, and Serposcope 2 data cannot be moved into version 3.
• The Windows and Mac installers are not signed with paid certificates, so both systems warn before installing.

GRC

One-click and scheduled checks

Check every registered keyword for several sites in one run, or start checks automatically when GRC opens or at a set time.

Full ranking history

Every past position is kept, with a graph per keyword, colored arrows for recent changes and filters for keywords that moved.

Notes on the graph

Record the changes you make to a page, and see the notes on the ranking graph next to the movements that followed.

Competitor and top-site tracking

Follow rival sites, record the daily positions of all the top results for a keyword, and count the ads shown and their order.

Alerts and reports

Ranking alerts and alert emails for important changes, printable ranking reports, and manual CSV export on every plan.

Serposcope

Rank tracker

Add keywords and websites, then follow each site's positions over time, with a view of the full result page for every check.

Backlink watch

A second module for adding backlinks and following their status, with an overview and a details page per link.

Choice of scraping method

Fetch result pages from your own IP, through your proxies, or through the paid Scraping Ant or Space Serp APIs.

Captcha solver support

When scraping through proxies, plug in capmonster.cloud, anticaptcha, 2captcha or imagetyperz; several can be set at once.

Raw SERP storage

Since version 3.3 it can keep the HTML or API response of each check for 1 to 7 days, purged after each run.

Local database

Data sits in a SQLite file in the data folder, which you can query directly; an API exists but is not documented.

GRC

• Free¥0

  The same program with a lower item limit, which a paid license key raises or removes.

• Basic¥495

  per month for 5 URLs and 500 keywords, tax included

  500 items checked a day and 5 top-site tracking items, without remote viewing. ¥4,950 a year paid by bank transfer.

• Standard¥990

  per month for 50 URLs and 5,000 keywords, tax included

  50 top-site tracking items and remote viewing of another PC's GRC data. ¥9,900 a year.

• Expert¥1,485

  per month for 500 URLs and 50,000 keywords, tax included

  500 top-site tracking items and remote viewing. ¥14,850 a year.

• Pro¥1,980

  per month for 5,000 URLs and 500,000 keywords, tax included

  5,000 top-site tracking items and remote viewing. ¥19,800 a year.

• Ultimate¥2,475

  per month for unlimited URLs and keywords, tax included

  No limits, plus automatic CSV saving after each check. Memory caps practical use at about 500,000 items. ¥24,750 a year.

Serposcope

• Self-hosted$0

  Free download that you install and run yourself; rank tracking and backlink watch, with data kept in a local SQLite file.

GRC

• Annual discount

  Two months free with a yearly license

  GRC's license page prices each yearly license at ten months of the monthly fee, for example ¥4,950 a year for Basic instead of ¥495 a month.

Serposcope

No public discounts listed.