Keyword Chef vs Serp Miner (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Keyword Chef grades higher than Serp Miner: 2.2 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Keyword Chef grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Keyword Chef
Credit-based long-tail keyword finder for bloggers and niche sites
Serp Miner
Bulk allintitle, KGR, keyword difficulty and index checks
Which one is for you
Pick Keyword Chef if
- Fits if you run a niche site and want topics where forums rank on page one
- Works for occasional research, as pay-as-you-go credits never expire
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you write in anything other than English, as that's all it supports
- Tight if you target a country outside its 7, which only get global volume
- Pricey if you want Niche Insights without a subscription, as that's $97 a year on its own
- Watch out: monthly credits don't roll over, and pay-as-you-go credits cost more per keyword
- Watch out: the free trial allows only 30 SERP lookups and no bulk SERP checks
Pick Serp Miner if
- Fits if you use the KGR method and want allintitle counts for long lists
- Works for a small site that wants 10 keywords tracked daily without paying
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need keyword ideas, as the listing shows checkers for lists you bring, not a finder
- Tight if you're staying free, as 50 tokens a month covers 50 keywords in the allintitle checker
- Watch out: monthly tokens expire at the end of each month, and pay-as-you-go tokens after a year
- Pricey if you'd want a yearly discount, as only monthly prices are listed
- Watch out: pay-as-you-go packs leave out the rank tracker, and there's no API or integration on record
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAKeyword ChefFair | 2.0GPASerp MinerFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $29 a month for 5,000 keywords, at the dearer end of this category. If you only dip in now and then, $20 buys 1,200 credits once and they never expire. Monthly credits don't roll over. | CBasic is $29.99 a month for 5,000 tokens, at this category's dearer quarter, with no yearly plan. Pay-as-you-go is $30 for 1,000 tokens that last a year, without the rank tracker. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but the trial needs no card and has no time limit: 1,000 credits and up to 30 SERP lookups. That's enough to see if it suits you, not to run on. | CA free account gets 50 tokens a month, 300 volume checks a day and 10 keywords tracked daily or 50 weekly. The allintitle checker, the reason to come, spends one token a keyword, so 50 goes in one short list. |
| Features | CAutomatic filtering, a SERP Score for weak results on page one, bulk SERP checks, wildcard searches and Niche Insights. It does long-tail hunting fully, but the listing names the gaps: English only, and country volume for just 7 countries. | CBulk allintitle and KGR, difficulty and weak spots from the results, volume, trends and CPC, an index checker and daily or weekly rank tracking. It checks lists fully, but the listing shows no keyword idea finder, so the keywords come from somewhere else. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record, but there's nothing to set up. Type a seed and it does the sorting for you, grouping what's left into questions, best-of and how-to. | CNo rating on record. You paste or import a list and run it, but each checker spends tokens, and the rank tracker needs your site, keywords, device, country and language set first. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only. No desktop or phone app, and no integrations or API on record. | CWeb only, with no desktop or phone app, and no integrations or API on record. Results leave as CSV or XLSX. |
| Best for | low-competition long-tail keywords for bloggers | bulk allintitle and KGR checks on lists you bring |
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: Keyword Chef and Serp Miner. How we grade
Price against what you get
Keyword Chef starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Serp Miner starts at $29.99 a month and scores 2.0.
Keyword Chef scores higher and starts $0.99 a month lower. Of the other keyword research tools on the chart, 9 score higher than Keyword Chef for less, and 26 score higher than Serp Miner 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
- Keyword Chef can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Serp Miner also covers rank tracking.
At a glance
| Keyword Chef | Serp Miner | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $29 per month for 5,000 credits, or $20 once for 1,200 credits | $29.99 per month for 5,000 tokens |
| Free plan | None | Free account: 50 tokens a month, 300 search volume checks a day, and rank tracking for 10 keywords daily or 50 weekly. |
| Free trial | Free trial: 1,000 one-time credits with no time limit and up to 30 SERP lookups; no credit card needed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Keyword Chef | Serp Miner |
| Price read from | app.keywordchef.com | serpminer.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Keyword Chef
- Only English is supported, and country-level search volume covers just 7 countries; other countries get global volume.
- Monthly credits do not roll over, while pay-as-you-go credits never expire but cost more per keyword.
- The free trial allows only 30 SERP lookups and no bulk SERP checks.
- Niche Insights is not included with pay-as-you-go credits; on its own it costs $97 a year.
Serp Miner
- Monthly tokens expire at the end of each month; pay-as-you-go tokens expire after a year.
- Pay-as-you-go packs do not include the rank tracker.
- Only monthly prices are listed; the site shows no annual plans.
Key features
Keyword Chef
- Automatic keyword filtering
- Removes broad, competitive and junk keywords and groups the rest into categories such as questions, best-of and how-to.
- SERP Score
- Counts the easy-to-outrank results, such as forums and user-generated content, on page one for each keyword, and can be customized.
- Bulk SERP checks
- Paid users can pull the search results for every keyword in a report at once with Get All SERPs, at no extra credit cost.
- Wildcard search
- Search patterns like 'best * for chefs' or 'can you cook * in the oven' to find best-of topics and clusters, with minus signs to exclude words.
- Keyword import
- Upload keywords from other tools to check their volume and SERP Score.
- Niche Insights
- Ten years of trend data, keywords by intent, topic lists, products and affiliate brands for a niche. Included in monthly plans or $97 a year on its own.
Serp Miner
- Bulk allintitle and KGR checker
- Gets Google's allintitle count and the Keyword Golden Ratio for thousands of keywords in one run, at one token per keyword.
- Keyword difficulty and weak spots
- Analyzes the search results for each keyword to rate how hard it is to rank and to point out low-authority sites that could be outranked.
- Bulk search volume
- Returns search volume, trend data and CPC for many keywords at once, with up to 10,000 daily checks on paid plans.
- Rank Tracker
- Tracks a site's Google positions for chosen keywords daily or weekly, by device, country and language.
- Bulk Google index checker
- Checks which URLs in a list Google has indexed, at one token per URL.
- History and exports
- Keeps a history of results, filters them, imports keywords from TXT or CSV and exports to CSV or XLSX.
Plans
Keyword Chef
Starter$29
per month for 5,000 credits
1 credit is 1 keyword in a report. Monthly credits expire each cycle; includes Niche Insights, Domain Age and queue priority.
Plus$69
per month for 20,000 credits
The same features as Starter, at about $0.0034 a credit.
Pro$119
per month for 50,000 credits
The same features as Starter, at about $0.0024 a credit.
Pay As You Go Starter$20
one-time, for 1,200 credits that never expire
Lifetime credits for occasional use. Pay-as-you-go packs do not include Niche Insights.
Pay As You Go Plus$100
one-time, for 10,000 credits that never expire
Lifetime credits at $0.01 each, without Niche Insights.
Pay As You Go Pro$250
one-time, for 50,000 credits that never expire
Lifetime credits at $0.005 each, without Niche Insights.
Serp Miner
Free$0
50 monthly tokens, 300 daily search volume checks and 10 keywords tracked daily or 50 weekly.
Basic$29.99
per month for 5,000 tokens
10,000 daily search volume checks and 100 keywords tracked daily or 500 weekly. Unused tokens expire at month's end.
Small$30
one-time, for 1,000 tokens that expire after a year
Pay-as-you-go tokens with no rank tracker. Medium is $60 for 2,100 tokens and Large $99 for 4,200.
Standard$59.99
per month for 12,000 tokens
10,000 daily search volume checks and 250 keywords tracked daily or 1,200 weekly.
Premium$99.99
per month for 25,000 tokens
10,000 daily search volume checks and 500 keywords tracked daily or 2,500 weekly. Pitched at teams.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Keyword Chef or Serp Miner?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Keyword Chef is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $29.99 a month for Serp Miner. Keyword Chef starts at $29 per month for 5,000 credits, or $20 once for 1,200 credits, and Serp Miner starts at $29.99 per month for 5,000 tokens.
Which has a free plan, Keyword Chef or Serp Miner?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Serp Miner has a free plan. Keyword Chef 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.