Mangools vs Telescope (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Mangools grades higher than Telescope: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Mangools grades higher on the free plan. Telescope grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Mangools
Bundle of five SEO tools led by the KWFinder keyword research app
Telescope
Low-cost SEO toolkit with pay-per-request keyword and backlink data
Which one is for you
Pick Mangools if
- Fits if you're a blogger who mostly needs keyword ideas and difficulty scores
- Works for local keyword research down to city level
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need daily rankings, as they update weekly below the Agency plan at $97.70
- Not for you if you want technical site audits, which none of the five tools does
- Tight if you research in bursts, since lookups are capped per 24 hours, 100 on Basic
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $61 for Basic against $37.70 billed yearly, with refunds only within 48 hours
- Too light for teams on Basic, which has no extra seats; sub-users on higher plans share one set of limits
Pick Telescope if
- Fits if you do keyword research now and then and would rather pay per search
- Works for small teams sharing one site's tracking, since seats aren't charged for
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to try it first, as there's no trial, only a money-back guarantee
- Skip it if you need rank tracking or audits on the $0 plan, as they start with Growth at $29 a month
- Tight if you run more than one site, since Growth covers 1 website and 200 keywords and Scale is $99 for 5
- Watch out: research costs 3 to 6 credits a request, and use beyond a plan's monthly credits is paid on top
- Watch out: no integrations or API are on record, so the data stays in Telescope
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAMangoolsFair | 1.8GPATelescopeWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CBasic is $37.70 a month on yearly billing ($61 monthly), exactly this category's middle. That buys 100 keyword lookups a day, 200 tracked keywords and 500 AI prompts. Paying monthly costs a lot more, and refunds only run for 48 hours. | CGrowth is $29 a month for 1,000 research credits, 200 tracked keywords and 30 audits, between this category's cheaper quarter and its middle. Seats are unlimited. The $0 plan charges per request: about $3 for 50 keyword pages and 20 keyword overviews. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan with no card: 5 keyword lookups every 24 hours, each showing 15 related keywords. Enough to see how it works, not enough to do research. There's no trial of the paid plans. | FNothing free: the $0 plan only runs on credits you buy first, and there's no trial. The money-back guarantee and refunds on unused credits within 30 days aren't a trial. |
| Features | CKeyword research down to city level, SERP checks, rank tracking, backlinks from Majestic's index, domain metrics and AI answer tracking on every plan. The gaps: rankings update weekly except on Agency, and none of the five tools audits your site. | BKeyword research from a database it puts at over 5 billion keywords, clustering, competitor and backlink gaps, daily rank tracking, scheduled site audits and internal linking. It covers the whole job, though the $0 plan has no tracking or audits. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. The tools are pitched at bloggers, but daily lookup caps and setting up rank tracking take some getting used to. | CNo rating on record. Research costs 3 to 6 credits a request, so there's a meter to watch, and tracking and audits need a project set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb plus a browser extension, with Looker Studio the one integration on the listing. No desktop or phone app. | CWeb only, with no integrations or API on record, and no desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | keyword research for bloggers | paying per search for keyword and backlink data |
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: Mangools and Telescope. How we grade
Price against what you get
Mangools starts at $37.70 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Telescope starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3.
Telescope scores higher and starts $8.70 a month lower. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, 22 score higher than Mangools for less, and 6 score higher than Telescope 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
- Telescope also covers site audit and internal linking.
At a glance
| Mangools | Telescope | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $37.70 per month, billed annually ($61 billed monthly) | $29 per month for 1,000 research credits |
| Free plan | Free plan, no card needed: 5 KWFinder lookups per 24 hours, each showing 15 related and 5 competitor keywords, plus the free mini tools. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Mangools (CodeCat s.r.o.) | Blank Page Studio |
| Price read from | mangools.com | withtelescope.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Mangools
- Rank tracking updates weekly except on the Agency plan, which updates daily.
- Basic has no extra seats; sub-users on Premium and Agency share the parent account's limits.
- Lookups reset every 24 hours, so heavy research days can hit the cap.
- Refunds are offered only within 48 hours of a payment.
Telescope
- Research costs 3 to 6 credits a request; the pricing page estimates 50 keyword pages plus 20 keyword overviews at about $3.
- Rank tracking, site audits, competitor tracking and internal linking need Growth at $29 a month or Scale at $99.
- There is no free trial; the FAQ offers a money-back guarantee, and unused credits can be refunded within 30 days of purchase.
- Growth covers one website and 200 tracked keywords; more projects need Scale, which allows 5.
Key features
Mangools
- KWFinder
- Find keyword ideas with search volume and a keyword difficulty score, by keyword or by the domain that ranks, for locations down to city level.
- SERPChecker
- Inspect localized search results with SERP features and metrics for every ranking page; each check counts as one SERP lookup.
- SERPWatcher
- Track rankings for 200 to 1,500 keywords; updates are weekly, or daily on the Agency plan. Desktop and mobile count separately.
- LinkMiner and SiteProfiler
- Browse a site's backlinks, drawn from Majestic's index, and get an overview of any domain's SEO metrics.
- AI Search Watcher PRO
- Included in every plan: monitor up to 500 prompts across several AI models, with unlimited monitors and multiple checks per prompt.
Telescope
- Keyword research and clustering
- Search a database Telescope puts at over 5 billion keywords, see difficulty, volume and the live SERP, and group saved keywords into clusters.
- Competitor and backlink research
- Overview any website's keywords and backlinks, find keyword and backlink gaps against rivals, and follow competitors over time on paid plans.
- Rank Tracker
- Daily positions for up to 500 keywords per project, organized with tags, with history charts and a breakdown by ranking bucket.
- Site Audit
- Crawls every page on a manual or scheduled basis and reports a health score, errors and warnings, each with an explanation of how to fix it.
- Internal Linking Tool
- Finds internal linking opportunities across a website; it is included on the Growth and Scale plans.
Plans
Mangools
Free$0
5 keyword lookups per 24 hours with 15 related and 5 competitor keywords per lookup.
Mangools Basic$37.70
per month, billed annually ($61 billed monthly)
1 user, 100 keyword and 100 SERP lookups per 24 hours, 200 tracked keywords updated weekly, 100,000 backlinks a month, 500 AI prompts.
Mangools Premium$52.70
per month, billed annually ($81 billed monthly)
3 extra seats, 500 keyword and SERP lookups per 24 hours, 700 tracked keywords updated weekly, 500,000 backlinks a month.
Mangools Agency$97.70
per month, billed annually ($141 billed monthly)
5 extra seats, 1,200 keyword and SERP lookups per 24 hours, 1,500 tracked keywords updated daily, 1.2 million backlinks a month.
Telescope
Pay as you go$0
per month, plus research credits bought in advance
1 project and 1 seat with every research tool, paid per request; no rank tracking, site audits or competitor tracking.
Growth$29
per month for 1,000 research credits
1 project, unlimited seats, 200 tracked keywords updated daily, 30 site audits a month, 10 competitors and the internal linking tool.
Scale$99
per month for 3,000 research credits
5 projects, 500 tracked keywords per project (2,500 in all), 150 audits a month, 15 competitors per project, Slack support and onboarding.
Ways to pay less
Mangools
- Annual discount
Save up to 35% with annual billing
Mangools' FAQ puts the saving from annual plans at up to 35%. Basic is $452.40 a year billed annually against $61 a month billed monthly.
Telescope
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Mangools or Telescope?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Telescope is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $37.70 a month for Mangools. Mangools starts at $37.70 per month, billed annually ($61 billed monthly), and Telescope starts at $29 per month for 1,000 research credits.
Which has a free plan, Mangools or Telescope?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Mangools has a free plan. Telescope does not.
Which platforms do Mangools and Telescope run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Mangools 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.