Keyword Chef vs Ubersuggest (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Ubersuggest grades higher than Keyword Chef: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Keyword Chef grades higher on ease of use. Ubersuggest grades higher on value for money and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and features.
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
Ubersuggest
Low-cost SEO tool for keyword ideas, site audits and rank tracking
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 Ubersuggest if
- Fits if you do the SEO for your own small business site and want to spend about $16 a month
- Makes sense if you'd rather pay once than keep a subscription going
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want daily rankings, as tracking and audits run weekly on every plan
- Not for you if you need an API, since outside access is only through MCP and the chat apps
- Tight if you run more than one site on Individual, which has 1 project and 125 tracked keywords
- Watch out: lifetime purchases are final and non-refundable, and the one-time trial covers monthly plans only
- Pricey if you add users, projects, keywords, AI prompts or credits, at $5 a month each; the free plan's limits aren't published
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAKeyword ChefFair | 2.4GPAUbersuggestFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BIndividual is $192 a year, $16 a month on yearly billing ($29 monthly), inside this category's cheapest quarter, for 1 project and 125 tracked keywords. Pay once and it's $290 for life, but lifetime purchases are final and non-refundable. |
| 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. | CThere's a free account you can drop back to, but the pricing page doesn't list its limits. The 7-day trial is a one-off and covers the monthly plans only. |
| 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. | CKeyword and content ideas, competitor and backlink research with 3 years of link history, site audits, rank tracking and AI checks in ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews. The gap: rankings and audits update weekly on every plan. |
| 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. It's built for beginners, with a step-by-step SEO course and an AI Chat that answers questions about your reports, but there's still setup and a fair bit to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only. No desktop or phone app, and no integrations or API on record. | BWeb plus a browser extension, linked to Search Console and WordPress, with apps for ChatGPT and Claude and an MCP server that also reaches Cursor. There's no API plan, and no desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | low-competition long-tail keywords for bloggers | all-round SEO for one small site |
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 Ubersuggest. How we grade
Where they differ
- Keyword Chef can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Ubersuggest also covers rank tracking, site audit and backlink analysis.
At a glance
| Keyword Chef | Ubersuggest | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $29 per month for 5,000 credits, or $20 once for 1,200 credits | $29 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | Free account that paid plans can be downgraded to at any time; its limits are not stated on the pricing page. |
| Free trial | Free trial: 1,000 one-time credits with no time limit and up to 30 SERP lookups; no credit card needed | One-time 7-day free trial of the monthly plans |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Keyword Chef | NP Digital |
| Price read from | app.keywordchef.com | app.neilpatel.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 17, 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.
Ubersuggest
- Rank tracking and site audits update weekly on every plan.
- There is no API plan; outside access is through the MCP server and the ChatGPT and Claude apps.
- Lifetime purchases are final and non-refundable; the free trial covers monthly plans only.
- More users, projects, tracked keywords, AI prompts or credits cost $5 a month for each add-on.
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.
Ubersuggest
- Keyword and content ideas
- Get 20,000 to 100,000 keyword suggestions a month by plan, with search intent, AI prompt ideas and content ideas from top pages.
- Competitor and backlink research
- Track 5 to 15 competitors, see their top pages and keywords, and browse backlinks with 3 years of link history.
- Site audit
- Crawl 1,000 to 10,000 pages a week per report for SEO errors, using Google Search Console data for more detail.
- Rank tracking
- Track 125 to 300 keywords per project with weekly updates and mobile rankings, in 20 locations on Individual and unlimited above.
- AI search visibility
- Check set prompts per brand in ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, monthly on Individual up to weekly on Enterprise.
- AI chat, MCP and apps
- Ask questions of your reports in AI Chat, or bring the data into ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor through apps and an MCP server.
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.
Ubersuggest
Free$0
Free account with limited access; the pricing page does not list its limits.
Individual$29
per month, billed monthly
1 project, 150 reports a day, 250 credits a month, 125 tracked keywords, 1,000-page weekly audits and 10 AI prompts checked monthly.
Business$49
per month, billed monthly
7 projects, 300 reports a day, 500 credits, 150 keywords per project, 5,000-page audits and 15 AI prompts checked every two weeks.
Enterprise$99
per month, billed monthly
15 projects, 900 reports a day, 1,000 credits, 300 keywords per project, 10,000-page audits and 20 AI prompts checked weekly.
Ways to pay less
Keyword Chef
No public discounts listed.
Ubersuggest
- Annual discount
Yearly billing from $192 a year
The pricing page's US price list has yearly plans at $192 for Individual, $326 for Business and $657 for Enterprise, against $29, $49 and $99 a month.
- Lifetime license
Lifetime access from $290, paid once
A single payment of $290 (Individual), $490 (Business) or $990 (Enterprise) buys lifetime access. The page shows lifetime first, under a countdown banner.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Keyword Chef or Ubersuggest?
As of Oct 23, 2026, they start at the same price. Keyword Chef starts at $29 per month for 5,000 credits, or $20 once for 1,200 credits, and Ubersuggest starts at $29 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Keyword Chef or Ubersuggest?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Ubersuggest has a free plan. Keyword Chef does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Keyword Chef and Ubersuggest run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Ubersuggest lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.