SEO Minion vs View Rendered Source (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, View Rendered Source grades higher than SEO Minion: 2.8 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
SEO Minion grades higher on features. View Rendered Source grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SEO Minion
On-page, link and SERP checks sold with Keywords Everywhere plans
View Rendered Source
Free Chrome extension comparing raw HTML with the rendered page
Which one is for you
Pick SEO Minion if
- Fits if you already pay for Keywords Everywhere Silver or higher and want page checks in the same plan
- Works for checking hreflang and redirect chains on international sites, one page at a time
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you only want page checks, as it means $168 a year up front where most of this category is free
- Not for you if you want to try it first, as there's no free version and no trial
- Watch out: Keywords Everywhere bills yearly only, with no monthly option, and Bronze doesn't include it
- Too light for whole-site audits, since it checks one page or one search at a time
- Skip it if you browse in Safari, as only Chrome, Firefox and Edge are listed
Pick View Rendered Source if
- Fits if you check what a JavaScript-heavy page looks like before and after rendering
- Works for developers testing prerendering or dynamic rendering for Googlebot
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: the last release, version 4.0, is from June 2023
- Skip it if you're not on Chrome, as there's no other version
- Too light for audits, since it compares one page's source and checks nothing else
- Not for you if you want a help page, as support is by X message to the developer
How we grade them
| 2.0GPASEO MinionFair | 2.8GPAView Rendered SourceGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BSilver, the cheapest Keywords Everywhere plan that includes it, is $14 a month billed yearly ($168) for up to 3 users, right on this category's cheaper-quarter line. One person pays the same $14, and it brings 400,000 keyword credits a year. | AFree from the Chrome Web Store, with no paid version, account or sign-up mentioned anywhere in its listing. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing is free. The cheaper Bronze plan leaves SEO Minion out, and there's no separate free version and no trial, so the way in is $168 for a year of Silver. | AFree outright: raw, rendered and diff views and the Googlebot and mobile options, with nothing to upgrade to. |
| Features | BMeta, Open Graph, canonical and robots tags, broken links by status, server, meta and JavaScript redirects, hreflang return tags, JSON-LD, RDFa and microdata, HTML against the rendered DOM and SERP previews from any location. Volumes come with the plan it needs. | DOne narrow function: raw against rendered source with the differences highlighted, as Googlebot or a mobile browser if you like. No tags, links, schema or search data, and no audit. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Before it works you buy a Keywords Everywhere plan and set it up with that plan's API key, from your subscription page. | BNo rating on record, but nothing to set up: open a page, click the icon and the three views are there. |
| Platforms and integrations | CAn extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge, so computers only, with no Safari version. It connects to Keywords Everywhere and works on Google Search, and nothing else is listed. | CChrome only, so computers only, in English, with no website of its own and no integrations. Support is by X message to the developer. |
| Best for | page checks for Keywords Everywhere subscribers | comparing raw HTML with the rendered page |
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: SEO Minion and View Rendered Source. How we grade
Price against what you get
SEO Minion starts at $14 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. View Rendered Source has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
SEO Minion scores higher, and starts $14 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other SEO browser extensions on the chart, 2 score higher than SEO Minion for less, and none scores higher than View Rendered Source 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
- SEO Minion also covers schema markup.
At a glance
| SEO Minion | View Rendered Source | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Starts at | $14 per month, billed annually ($168), as part of Keywords Everywhere Silver | Free |
| Free plan | None | Free to install from the Chrome Web Store; the listing mentions no paid version, account or sign-up. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Keywords Everywhere | Peg Leg Ltd |
| Price read from | keywordseverywhere.com | chromewebstore.google.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
SEO Minion
- It needs a Keywords Everywhere Silver, Gold or Platinum plan and its API key; there is no separate free version.
- Keywords Everywhere plans are billed annually only, with no monthly option.
- It checks one page or one search at a time and does not crawl whole sites.
- It is listed for Chrome, Firefox and Edge, with no Safari version.
View Rendered Source
- The last release, version 4.0, dates from June 2023.
- It is listed for Chrome only, with an English interface and no website of its own; support is by X message to the developer.
- It compares sources for one page at a time and does not crawl or audit a site.
- The listing says the developer will not collect or use your data.
Key features
SEO Minion
- On-page analysis
- Shows a page's meta tags, headings, Open Graph tags, canonical and robots settings in one panel.
- Broken links and redirects
- Checks every link on the page and groups them by status code, and traces a URL's server, meta refresh and JavaScript redirects.
- Hreflang checker
- Validates a page's hreflang tags and every page they point to, including return tags, x-default and language and region codes.
- Multi-location SERP
- Runs a Google search as if from any location, or compares the same search from two locations side by side, without personalization.
- HTML vs DOM and structured data
- Compares the source HTML with the rendered DOM to show what JavaScript changes, and validates JSON-LD, RDFa and microdata.
- SERP tools
- Previews a title and description against Google's pixel limits, counts SERP elements, scrapes People Also Ask and downloads listings.
View Rendered Source
- Raw source
- The HTML sent from the server before the DOM is built, as the browser's own View Source shows it, lightly formatted.
- Rendered source
- The page after it has been turned into a DOM, including every change JavaScript has made to it.
- Line-by-line difference
- Highlights each line that differs between the raw and rendered versions, showing what JavaScript added or changed.
- Googlebot and mobile requests
- Request the raw source as Googlebot to check dynamic rendering setups, or tick a box to emulate a mobile user agent for adaptive sites.
Plans
SEO Minion
Silver$14
per month for 400,000 credits a year, billed annually ($168)
Keywords Everywhere plan with 3 user seats and SEO Minion included; the cheaper Bronze plan does not include it.
Gold$40
per month for 2 million credits a year, billed annually ($480)
10 user seats, top 5,000 keywords and backlinks per website, SEO Minion and premium ChatGPT prompts.
Platinum$120
per month for 8 million credits a year, billed annually ($1,440)
20 user seats, top 10,000 keywords and backlinks per website, SEO Minion and priority email support.
View Rendered Source
Free$0
Raw, rendered and difference views with Googlebot and mobile user-agent options, free from the Chrome Web Store.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SEO Minion or View Rendered Source?
As of Oct 23, 2026, View Rendered Source is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $14 a month for SEO Minion. SEO Minion starts at $14 per month, billed annually ($168), as part of Keywords Everywhere Silver, and View Rendered Source is free.
Which has a free plan, SEO Minion or View Rendered Source?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only View Rendered Source has a free plan. SEO Minion does not.
More comparisons
- SEO Minion vs Detailed SEO Extension
- SEO Minion vs SEOquake
- SEO Minion vs Redirect Path
- SEO Minion vs Check My Links
- SEO Minion vs Keywords Everywhere
- View Rendered Source vs Web Developer
- View Rendered Source vs Detailed SEO Extension
- View Rendered Source vs META SEO inspector
- View Rendered Source vs Redirect Path
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.