Rank Math vs Squirrly SEO (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Rank Math grades higher than Squirrly SEO: 3.0 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Rank Math grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Squirrly SEO grades higher on features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Rank Math
WordPress SEO plugin for meta tags, schema, sitemaps and rank tracking
Squirrly SEO
WordPress SEO plugin with cloud keyword research, audits and AI tasks
Which one is for you
Pick Rank Math if
- Fits if your site runs on WordPress and you want SEO settings in the editor
- Works for someone with several sites of their own, since PRO covers unlimited owned sites
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your site isn't on self-hosted WordPress or WordPress.com's Business plan, as it runs nowhere else
- Not for you if you need keyword, backlink or competitor research, which it doesn't do
- Tight if you build sites for clients, as PRO excludes them and Business is €27.99 a month at renewal
- Watch out: prices are in euros before VAT, billed yearly only, with a lower first year, and the 30-day refund skips renewals
- Pricey if you want AI writing, a separate Rank Math AI subscription from €6.99 a month billed yearly
Pick Squirrly SEO if
- Fits if you'd rather follow a task list for each page than set options yourself
- Works for small businesses wanting keyword research and audits inside WordPress
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 1 Focus Page, 5 keyword researches and 1 audited page a month
- Watch out: Free and PRO show only Search Console averages; exact positions need Business or Web Dev Kit
- Not for you if you don't want another account, as most features run on Squirrly's cloud
- Watch out: the pricing page doesn't say whether Business and Web Dev Kit are billed monthly or yearly
- Pricey if you outgrow the caps, as higher limits mean stacking licences
How we grade them
| 3.0GPARank MathVery good | 2.4GPASquirrly SEOFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AGraded against its alternatives. PRO is €8.99 a month at renewal (€7.99 in the first year), billed yearly before VAT, for unlimited sites you own and 500 tracked keywords. That's under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter, even after converting from euros. | CPRO is $19.99 a month billed yearly for 5 sites, right at this category's dearer quarter ($19.99). Exact rank checks need the Web Dev Kit at $51.20 or Business at $71.99, and the page doesn't say how those two are billed. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe free plugin from WordPress.org does the core job with no cap a normal site will reach: on-page checks, 16+ schema types, sitemaps, redirects, a 404 monitor and Search Console data every 7 days. | CFree gives 1 site, 1 Focus Page, 5 keyword researches and 1 audited page a month, with a lite assistant and Search Console averages. You'll hit those caps in the first week. |
| Features | COn-page scores against 30+ tests, schema, sitemaps, redirects and rank tracking fed by Search Console. It does its job fully, but that job is on-page SEO for WordPress, with no keyword research, backlinks or competitor data. | BLive checks against 18 on-page tests, Focus Pages, keyword research, audits, schema, sitemaps, redirects, a 404 monitor and instant indexing. It covers the whole job, though every plan caps research and audits. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Inside WordPress it feels familiar, but you need a self-hosted WordPress site or WordPress.com's Business plan first, then the setup and the Google connections. | CNo rating on record. Most of it runs on Squirrly's cloud, so you need a Squirrly account as well as WordPress, and Focus Pages hand you goals to work through. |
| Platforms and integrations | BRuns inside WordPress in the browser and connects to Search Console, Analytics, Google Trends, WooCommerce, Elementor, Divi, WP Rocket and WPML. Nothing for sites that aren't on WordPress. | BWeb only: a WordPress plugin, plus a Cloud App for sites on other platforms. It connects to Search Console, Google Analytics, IndexNow, Claude, OpenAI Codex and Advanced Custom Fields. |
| Best for | SEO settings inside WordPress | SEO task lists inside WordPress |
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: Rank Math and Squirrly SEO. How we grade
Where they differ
- Rank Math also covers reports.
- Squirrly SEO also covers keyword research, site audit, content optimization, schema markup and internal linking.
At a glance
| Rank Math | Squirrly SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | €8.99 per month at renewal, billed annually, after a first year at €7.99 | $19.99 per month, billed annually |
| Free plan | Free plugin from WordPress.org: content analysis, 16+ schema types, sitemaps, redirects, 404 monitor, and Search Console and Analytics data refreshed every 7 days. | 1 site, 1 Focus Page, 5 AI keyword researches and 1 audited page a month, the lite SEO Live Assistant, and rankings from Google Search Console only. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Rank Math | Squirrly Limited |
| Price read from | rankmath.com | plugin.squirrly.co |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Rank Math
- It runs only inside WordPress, on a self-hosted site or on WordPress.com's Business plan; there is no standalone app.
- The pricing page shows prices in euros before VAT, billed yearly only, with a lower first year; the 30-day refund does not cover renewals.
- PRO is for sites you own only; client sites need Business (100 sites) or Agency (500 sites).
- AI writing tools are a separate Rank Math AI subscription, from €6.99 a month billed annually, with a 15-day trial included on paid plans.
Squirrly SEO
- Most features run on Squirrly's cloud and need a Squirrly account; sites not on WordPress use the Cloud App instead of the plugin.
- Free and PRO show only Search Console average positions; exact rank checks need Business or Web Dev Kit.
- Keyword researches, Focus Pages and audit pages are capped per month on every plan; higher limits come from stacking licences.
- The pricing page shows PRO as billed annually but does not say whether the Business and Web Dev Kit prices are monthly or annual.
Key features
Rank Math
- On-page content checks
- Scores each post against 30+ SEO tests in the editor, with focus keywords per post and suggestions for what to fix.
- Schema markup
- The free plugin covers 16+ schema types. Paid plans add a schema generator for building your own types and reusable templates.
- Sitemaps, redirects and 404s
- Builds XML sitemaps with custom post type support, manages redirects at scale and logs 404 errors, all from the WordPress dashboard.
- Rank tracker and analytics
- Pulls rankings and traffic from Google Search Console and Analytics into WordPress: 500 tracked keywords on PRO, 10,000 on Business.
- AI Link Genius
- Listed on the paid plans: internal link suggestions while writing, automatic keyword-to-page links and a broken link checker.
- WooCommerce and local SEO
- The free plugin adds schema and meta tags for WooCommerce products and local SEO tools; paid plans list WooCommerce SEO PRO and multiple locations.
Squirrly SEO
- SEO Live Assistant
- Checks a post against 18 on-page tests as it is written, on unlimited pages, including in page builders. The free plan gets a lite version with fewer checks.
- Focus Pages
- Pick the pages that matter and Squirrly scores their chance to rank and lists the goals left to reach, such as building at least 5 internal links to each.
- AI keyword research
- Monthly keyword researches, from 5 to 300 by plan, with ideas organized into a Briefcase. Deep research with up to 50 keywords per search is on Business and Web Dev Kit.
- Rank tracking
- Free and PRO show Google Search Console averages. Business and Web Dev Kit check exact positions for any keyword with Squirrly's own SERP checker.
- Audit suite
- Audits the pages added to it each month, from 1 to 300 by plan, and reports traffic, social shares and duplicate metadata.
- Technical SEO
- Meta tags, XML sitemaps, a schema builder with FAQ and video schema, redirects, a 404 monitor and instant indexing through the Google Indexing API and IndexNow.
Plans
Rank Math
Free€0
The WordPress.org plugin: on-page checks, schema, sitemaps, redirects and Google Search Console and Analytics integration.
PRO€8.99
per month at renewal, billed annually (first year €7.99)
Unlimited sites you own, no client sites, and 500 tracked keywords. €7.99 a month for the first year, then €107.88 a year, ex VAT.
Rank Math + WP Rocket€13.99
per month at renewal, billed annually (first year €11.99)
PRO on unlimited sites you own plus the WP Rocket caching plugin for one site. €11.99 a month for the first year, ex VAT.
Business€27.99
per month at renewal, billed annually (first year €24.99)
Up to 100 client sites and 10,000 tracked keywords, with priority support. €24.99 a month for the first year, ex VAT.
Agency€64.99
per month at renewal, billed annually (first year €54.99)
Up to 500 client sites and 50,000 tracked keywords, with priority support. €54.99 a month for the first year, ex VAT.
Squirrly SEO
Free$0
1 site, 1 Focus Page, 5 keyword researches and 1 audit page a month, with the lite live assistant and audit.
PRO$19.99
per month for 5 sites, billed annually
25 Focus Pages, 50 keyword researches and 100 audit pages a month, the full live assistant and audit. Rankings still come from Search Console.
Web Dev Kit$51.20
per month for 10 sites, billing basis not stated
70 Focus Pages, 300 keyword researches and 2,000 SERP checks a month, deep research, per-client limits, co-branding and a hidden cloud app.
Business$71.99
per month for 7 sites, billing basis not stated
70 Focus Pages, 300 keyword researches, 300 audit pages and 3,000 SERP checks a month (1 credit = 1 ranking check), deep research and per-client limits.
Ways to pay less
Rank Math
- Other savings
Lower price for the first year
Paid plans cost less in the first year, ex VAT: PRO €7.99 a month then €8.99, Business €24.99 then €27.99, Agency €54.99 then €64.99.
Squirrly SEO
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Rank Math or Squirrly SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Rank Math is cheaper to start with: about $10.07 a month, against $19.99 a month for Squirrly SEO. Rank Math starts at €8.99 per month at renewal, billed annually, after a first year at €7.99, and Squirrly SEO starts at $19.99 per month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Rank Math or Squirrly SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Rank Math and Squirrly SEO have a free plan.
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.