Squirrly SEO vs Yoast SEO (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Yoast SEO grades higher than Squirrly SEO: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Yoast SEO grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Squirrly SEO
WordPress SEO plugin with cloud keyword research, audits and AI tasks
Yoast SEO
WordPress SEO plugin with content analysis, schema and sitemaps
Which one is for you
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
Pick Yoast SEO if
- Fits if your site runs on WordPress and you want SEO checks shown while you write
- Works for writers who want readability notes next to the SEO ones
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your site isn't on WordPress, as Yoast for Shopify and the Google Docs add-on are separate products
- Tight if you stay free, since redirects, link suggestions and AI drafts all need Premium
- Pricey if you run several sites, as each needs its own $118.80 a year and bulk discounts start at 5
- Watch out: AI Brand Insights on AI+ checks 5 questions once a week, and another brand means another $358.80
How we grade them
| 2.4GPASquirrly SEOFair | 2.6GPAYoast SEOGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CPremium is $118.80 a year for one site before VAT, about $9.90 a month, a bit above this category's cheaper quarter ($8.25). WooCommerce SEO is $178.80 and AI+ is $358.80, each for one site or brand. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | BThe free plugin writes meta tags, canonicals, sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs and llms.txt, and checks one keyphrase per post. One site could run on it, but redirects, link suggestions and AI drafts aren't in it at all. |
| Features | 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. | BContent and readability checks, meta tags, schema, sitemaps, redirects, internal link suggestions, Local, Video and News SEO, and an AI crawler blocker. It covers the whole job, with redirects and links on Premium only. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo rating on record. It sits in the WordPress admin, but each post needs a keyphrase set before the checks tell you much, and there are site-wide settings to go through first. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb only, inside WordPress, with no app of its own. It works with Semrush, Wincher, Elementor, Site Kit, WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, Algolia and Jetpack. The Shopify version is a separate product. |
| Best for | SEO task lists inside WordPress | SEO checks inside the WordPress editor |
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: Squirrly SEO and Yoast SEO. How we grade
Price against what you get
Squirrly SEO starts at $19.99 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Yoast SEO starts at $9.90 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Yoast SEO starts $10.09 a month lower. Of the other SEO plugins and apps on the chart, 1 scores higher than Squirrly SEO for less, and 1 scores higher than Yoast SEO 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
- Squirrly SEO also covers keyword research, rank tracking and site audit.
- Yoast SEO also covers AI search visibility.
At a glance
| Squirrly SEO | Yoast SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $19.99 per month, billed annually | $118.80 per year for 1 site, ex VAT |
| Free plan | 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 plugin from WordPress.org: SEO and readability analysis for one keyphrase, meta tags, canonicals, XML sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs, llms.txt and a bulk metadata editor. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Squirrly Limited | Yoast BV |
| Price read from | plugin.squirrly.co | yoast.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Yoast SEO
- It runs only inside WordPress; Yoast SEO for Shopify and the Google Docs add-on are separate products.
- Each paid subscription covers one site, billed yearly before VAT; bulk discounts start at 5 subscriptions bought together.
- Redirects, internal linking suggestions and AI drafting need Premium; the free plugin has none of them.
- AI Brand Insights runs one weekly analysis of 5 questions per brand, with no extra runs; another brand needs another subscription.
Key features
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.
Yoast SEO
- Content and readability analysis
- Red, orange and green ratings in the editor for SEO and readability. The free plugin checks one keyphrase; Premium checks up to five, with word forms in 20+ languages.
- Technical SEO and schema
- Writes meta tags, canonical URLs, XML sitemaps, breadcrumbs and Schema.org data automatically. Premium outputs more schema types and joins them into one graph.
- AI metadata drafts
- Premium drafts SEO titles and meta descriptions page by page or in bulk, and nothing saves until it is approved. There is no separate AI subscription or credit pack.
- Redirects and internal links
- Premium prompts for a redirect when a page is moved or deleted, imports redirects by CSV, suggests internal links while writing and finds orphaned posts.
- AI crawler controls
- Manages an llms.txt file on every plan; Premium adds a bot blocker for AI training crawlers such as GPTBot, CCBot and Google-Extended.
- AI Brand Insights
- On the AI+ plan, a weekly report on whether 5 set questions in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity mention the brand, with sentiment, citations and competitor ranking.
Plans
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.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO$0
The free WordPress.org plugin: content and readability analysis, meta tags, sitemaps, schema, breadcrumbs and llms.txt.
Yoast SEO Premium$118.80
per year for 1 site, ex VAT
AI titles and descriptions, 5 keyphrases per page, redirect manager, internal linking, Local, Video and News SEO plugins and 24/7 support.
Yoast WooCommerce SEO$178.80
per year for 1 site, ex VAT
Everything in Premium plus product schema, product content checks, store sitemaps, canonicals and AI metadata for products.
Yoast SEO AI+$358.80
per year for 1 brand, ex VAT
WooCommerce SEO plus AI Brand Insights: a weekly check of 5 brand questions in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, with sentiment and citations.
Ways to pay less
Squirrly SEO
No public discounts listed.
Yoast SEO
- Other savings
Bulk discount from 5 subscriptions
Yoast takes 5% off 5 or more subscriptions of the same product bought in one order, rising to 40% off 75 or more; 100 or more is quoted.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Squirrly SEO or Yoast SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Yoast SEO is cheaper to start with: $9.90 a month when paid by the year, against $19.99 a month for Squirrly SEO. Squirrly SEO starts at $19.99 per month, billed annually, and Yoast SEO starts at $118.80 per year for 1 site, ex VAT.
Which has a free plan, Squirrly SEO or Yoast SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Squirrly SEO and Yoast 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.