Google Keyword Planner is the only keyword tool whose numbers come straight from Google, and it is free. It is also built for ad buyers, which is the root of every complaint SEOs have about it.
The honest way to use it: keep it for what it does well, and pair it with free alternatives for the three gaps it will never fix.
What Keyword Planner does well
Keyword Planner is unbeatable at volume truth on a list you already have. Paste 200 keywords and get Google's own demand data, competition and bid estimates.
It also forecasts seasonality per keyword, which most free tools skip entirely. For commercial keywords where advertisers compete, its data depth is the reference.
The three gaps
Gap one: without active ad spend, volumes come as ranges (1K to 10K). Fine for sorting, useless for close calls.
Gap two: it hides most long-tails and groups variants, because advertisers do not buy them individually. Your best low-competition targets simply do not appear.
Gap three: it knows nothing about your site. It cannot tell you what you already rank for or almost rank for.
The 7 free alternatives, by the gap they fill
| # | Alternative | Fills | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KE Google Keyword Tool | Exact volumes, no account | 500 lookups/day |
| 2 | Keyword Tool (this site) | Long-tail discovery in bulk | Volumes need an API key |
| 3 | Google Search Console | Your own real queries | Own site only |
| 4 | AnswerThePublic | Question long-tails | Few searches/day |
| 5 | AlsoAsked | How questions relate | Few searches/day |
| 6 | Keyword Surfer | Volumes while browsing | Chrome only |
| 7 | Bing Webmaster Tools | The other index's data | Bing-sized numbers |
1. Google Keyword Tool (Keywords Everywhere)
The straightest replacement for the planner's biggest annoyance. The free Google Keyword Tool returns real phrases with exact monthly volume, CPC and competition, no account, 500 lookups a day.
2. The keyword tool on this site
Where the planner hides long-tails, autocomplete exposes them. Our tool streams up to 10,000 real suggestions per run from a handful of seeds, free with no signup.
3. Google Search Console
Search Console covers the planner's blind spot: your own site. Real queries, real clicks, real positions, free and unlimited.
4. AnswerThePublic
The planner rarely surfaces questions, and AnswerThePublic surfaces nothing else. Its who-what-why wheel is content planning fuel.
5. AlsoAsked
AlsoAsked maps how People Also Ask questions branch, which doubles as a topic-structure map for deciding one page or two.
6. Keyword Surfer
Keyword Surfer puts volumes inside the search results you already look at. Zero workflow, constant ambient data.
7. Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing's keyword research section gives exact Bing volumes free, and its numbers are increasingly worth knowing since AI assistants read both indexes.
The sane free setup
Keep Keyword Planner for validating lists and seasonality. Discover with autocomplete (tool 2), pull exact volumes with tool 1, and read your own reality in tool 3.
That covers everything the paid suites do for keyword data, minus the invoice. Our full free-tools ranking goes deeper on the whole stack.
How we compared
Every tool was run against the same seed list in July 2026, and the limits above are what we hit. One entry, the Google Keyword Tool at number 1, comes from the Keywords Everywhere team, and we say so openly.
The one-line takeaway: Keyword Planner is real Google data wearing advertiser glasses. Keep it, then patch its ranges, its hidden long-tails and its blindness to your site with seven free tools.