JSON-LD for SEO vs Smart SEO (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Smart SEO grades higher than JSON-LD for SEO: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
JSON-LD for SEO grades higher on ease of use. Smart SEO grades higher on value for money and features. They get the same grade on the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
JSON-LD for SEO
Shopify structured data app for rich results and Merchant Center
Smart SEO
Shopify SEO app for AI meta tags, image optimization and JSON-LD
Which one is for you
Pick JSON-LD for SEO if
- Fits if your Google Merchant Center listings keep failing over product data
- Works for stores selling preorders, refurbished goods or subscriptions that need the markup to say so
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your store is headless or not on Shopify, as the developer says it can't work there
- Not for you if you'd rather pay monthly, since it's one $399 yearly plan
- Watch out: refunds are only for an app that can't be installed, not for a change of mind or results that never show in Google
- Too light for getting you into AI answers on its own, which the developer says structured data won't do
Pick Smart SEO if
- Fits if you want meta tags and alt text written in bulk across a Shopify store
- Works for small stores wanting JSON-LD and IndexNow from $14.99 a month
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 20 AI generations, 50 images and 100 pages checked
- Watch out: the 7-day trial keeps the free plan's quotas, and full quotas start only once billing does
- Pricey if you go past your quota, as Pro bills 10¢ per AI generation and 1¢ per image or page
- Watch out: bulk AI tags, file names and other languages need Business; automatic broken-link fixes need Premium
- Skip it if your store isn't on Shopify, as it runs nowhere else
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAJSON-LD for SEOFair | 2.4GPASmart SEOFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D$399 a year is about $33.25 a month, exactly where this category's dearest tenth starts, for structured data alone. There's no monthly option. The price does include an audit, monitoring of how products show in Google and a video course. | CPro is $14.99 a month, above this category's $10.99 middle, or $149.90 a year. Use beyond the quota is billed on top: on Pro, 10¢ an AI generation and 1¢ an image or page. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. There's a 7-day trial of the annual plan, and the listing doesn't say it needs a card. After that, $399 is charged for the whole year. | CMeta and alt tags and sitemap and noindex controls, with 20 AI generations, 50 images, 100 link-checked pages and a 20-page audit. Caps you'll reach quickly. |
| Features | CProduct, review, Merchant Center, store, blog, page, FAQ, recipe and video markup, with settings for preorders, used goods and subscriptions, plus an audit and monitoring. It does structured data fully, but that's a smaller job than a full SEO app. | BAI meta, alt text and descriptions, image compression, JSON-LD, speed options, sitemap and noindex controls, IndexNow, broken-link checks with 404 logs, backlinks, llms.txt and MCP. It covers the whole job across four plans. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, but there's little to set up: it pulls prices, stock, reviews and policies from Shopify into the markup and keeps it current when products or the theme change. | CNo rating on record. It installs from the Shopify App Store, but every plan is a set of quotas to keep an eye on, and bulk AI writing waits on Business. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, inside the Shopify admin, with Google Merchant Center, Shopify Markets and more than 20 review apps such as Judge.me, Stamped and Klaviyo Reviews. No phone or desktop app. | BWeb only, inside Shopify. It connects to Search Console, Shopify Sidekick, ChatGPT, Claude and IndexNow, and works with Judge.me and Loox. |
| Best for | Shopify structured data for Google and Merchant Center | AI meta tags and alt text for Shopify |
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: JSON-LD for SEO and Smart SEO. How we grade
Price against what you get
JSON-LD for SEO starts at $33.25 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Smart SEO starts at $14.99 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Smart SEO starts $18.26 a month lower. Of the other SEO plugins and apps on the chart, 1 scores higher than JSON-LD for SEO for less, and 1 scores higher than Smart SEO 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
- Smart SEO also covers site audit, backlink analysis and page speed.
At a glance
| JSON-LD for SEO | Smart SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $399 per year | $14.99 per month, billed every 30 days |
| Free plan | None | Meta and alt tag optimization, sitemap and noindex controls, 20 AI generations, 50 images optimized, 100 pages link-checked and a 20-page SEO audit. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of the annual plan | 7-day free trial of paid plans, limited to the free plan's quotas until billing starts |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Ilana Davis LLC | Sherpas Design |
| Price read from | apps.shopify.com | apps.shopify.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
JSON-LD for SEO
- Works only on Shopify stores, and the developer says it cannot work with headless stores.
- Sold only as one annual plan at $399, charged once a year; there is no monthly option or free plan.
- The refund policy gives refunds only when the app cannot be installed, not for a change of mind or for rich results that do not appear.
- The developer notes that structured data does not by itself get a store into AI search results; it helps AI tools describe products accurately.
Smart SEO
- Works only on Shopify stores; it is installed from the Shopify App Store.
- The 7-day trial keeps the free plan's quotas (20 AI generations, 50 images, 100 pages); full quotas start once billing begins.
- Use beyond a plan's quota is billed: on Pro, 10¢ per AI generation, 1¢ per page checked and 1¢ per image, with lower rates on higher plans.
- Bulk AI tags, image file names, backlinks and multi-language need Business; automatic broken-link fixes and your own AI key need Premium.
Key features
JSON-LD for SEO
- Product structured data
- Pulls price, availability, delivery rates, return policy, brand and images from Shopify into JSON-LD, and keeps it current when the theme or products change.
- Review stars
- Adds ratings to product markup from more than 20 supported review apps, including Judge.me, Stamped and Klaviyo Reviews.
- Merchant Center fields
- Supplies the unique product identifiers and variant prices Merchant Center checks, with settings for preorders, backorders, used or refurbished goods and minimum quantities.
- Store, blog and page markup
- Covers the homepage, pages, blog posts and breadcrumbs, plus organization details such as location, phone and social profiles for the Knowledge Graph.
- FAQ, recipe and video schema
- Optional markup for FAQs, recipes and videos on the store, and subscription prices from subscription apps that use Shopify Checkout.
- Audit, monitoring and training
- Includes a structured data audit at install, up to 6 months of initial rich result monitoring and then ongoing checks, and a 7-hour Shopify SEO video course.
Smart SEO
- AI meta tags, alt text and descriptions
- Writes titles, meta descriptions, alt text and product descriptions with AI: 20 generations free, then 200, 500 or 1,200 by plan. Bulk AI writing starts at Business.
- Image optimization
- Compresses images, 50 on the free plan and 1,000 to 5,000 on paid plans, with bulk optimization from Pro and SEO-friendly file names from Business.
- JSON-LD and page speed
- From Pro, adds JSON-LD structured data for Google and AI tools and page speed options; it can also strip a theme's old microdata.
- Indexing controls
- Sitemap and noindex tag controls on every plan, with IndexNow submissions from Pro to tell search engines about new and changed pages.
- Broken links and backlinks
- Checks pages for broken links, logs 404 hits from Pro, adds a backlinks report from Business and fixes broken links automatically on Premium.
- LLM catalog and MCP
- Pro publishes llms.txt and Agents.md catalogs of a store's products, and connects Google Search Console data to AI agents over MCP and Shopify Sidekick.
Plans
JSON-LD for SEO
Annual Pro$399
per year
Expanded Schema.org markup, Merchant Center fields, a structured data audit, rich result monitoring, owner support and the SEO Simplified course.
Smart SEO
Free$0
Meta and alt tags, sitemap, noindex tags, 20 AI generations, 50 images, 100 pages link-checked and a 20-page automatic audit.
Pro$14.99
per month, billed every 30 days
200 AI generations, 1,000 images and 1,000 link-check pages, JSON-LD, IndexNow, page speed, llms.txt, bulk editing and Search Console with MCP.
Business$24.99
per month, billed every 30 days
500 AI generations, 3,000 images, 2,500 pages, AI bulk meta and alt tags, image file names, backlinks, multiple languages and 500-page audits.
Premium$49.99
per month, billed every 30 days
1,200 AI generations, 5,000 images, 6,000 pages, unlimited audits, automatic broken-link fixes, a choice of AI model or your own key, premium support.
Ways to pay less
JSON-LD for SEO
No public discounts listed.
Smart SEO
- Annual discount
Save 17% with yearly billing
The listing offers Pro at $149.90 a year, Business at $249.90 and Premium at $499.90, which it says saves 17% against monthly billing.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, JSON-LD for SEO or Smart SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Smart SEO is cheaper to start with: $14.99 a month, against $33.25 a month when paid by the year for JSON-LD for SEO. JSON-LD for SEO starts at $399 per year, and Smart SEO starts at $14.99 per month, billed every 30 days.
Which has a free plan, JSON-LD for SEO or Smart SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Smart SEO has a free plan. JSON-LD for SEO does not, though it has a free trial.
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.