▸ For SEO teams outgrowing a competitor spy tool

SpyFu Alternative, SpyFu Pricing Compared, and Sites Like SpyFu That Plan Your Content

SpyFu is a strong competitor research tool, especially for Google Ads. The usual reason people look for a SpyFu alternative is not bad data. It is that a 10,000 row export of a rival's keywords still has to become a list of pages somebody writes. KeywordPilot does that part, from $49 a month.

Try it with a seed keyword from your last SpyFu export. Clusters, difficulty and a publishing order in about twenty seconds, no account needed for the demo.

or try:

Free, no signup. Volumes and difficulty are AI estimates in directional bands, not live Google data.

▸ Fuel gauge empty

That is the demo limit. A plan opens the instrument panel: your own projects, every run saved and reopenable, exports, and from 40 to 800 keyword plans a month.

Founding rates from $24/mo billed yearly, and you can cancel from your account page. See the plans.

See the plans

▸ Charting the terrain · expanding seeds · clustering by intent · plotting the route

Flight plan:

AI estimate · directional bands

Live charting is busy right now, so this is a real pre-charted sample for . Try your own seed again in a minute.

Topic clusters (tap one to focus the route)

▸ Your mini content plan

Want to keep this, run it per project and hand the plan to your writers as a file?

See the plans

$39

SpyFu Basic per month, $29 billed yearly

$119

Pro + AI after a $59 first month

countries in SpyFu's own coverage list

30 days

money back guarantee, no free trial

▸ The short answer

Keep SpyFu for ads, replace the step after the export

If you buy Google Ads, keep SpyFu. Its ad history going back more than ten years is the reason people pay for it, and nothing on this page replaces that. If you bought SpyFu to find the organic keywords your competitors rank for, and the exports keep sitting in a spreadsheet, the gap is planning, not data. That is the job KeywordPilot does: it takes the list, groups keywords that one page can win, scores each group for difficulty and volume, and hands you an ordered content plan.

Many teams run both. SpyFu Basic costs $39 and KeywordPilot Starter $49 a month, so pairing them costs less than a single Semrush SEO seat at $139.

Marketing manager grouping keyword research into content clusters on a whiteboard — The part of competitor research no spy tool does for you: deciding which keywords share a page.

▸ Read off the SpyFu pricing page

SpyFu pricing and limits, plan by plan

Every number below comes from SpyFu's own plan table, not from a review. SpyFu prices in US dollars, and annual billing is sold as three months free, a 25 percent saving.

Limit	SpyFu Basic	SpyFu Pro + AI	SpyFu Team / Agency
Price, paid monthly	$39 / mo	$59 first month, then $119 / mo	$249 / mo
Price, billed annually	$29 / mo	$89 / mo	$187 / mo
Search results per query	10,000 rows	Unlimited	Unlimited
Data exports	10,000 rows	Unlimited	Unlimited
Weekly tracked keyword rankings	5,000	15,000	50,000
Site tracking projects	1	10	Unlimited
Automated reports	10	100	Unlimited
Site audit crawl pages per month	50,000	500,000	2,000,000
Users included	1 ($15 each extra)	1 ($30 each extra)	5 ($30 each extra)
Organic and ad history	10+ years	10+ years	10+ years

The $59 is a first month price

Pro + AI is advertised at $59, but that is the first month only. It renews at $119. On a year of monthly billing the plan costs $1,368, against $1,068 billed annually.

Basic caps at 10,000 rows

Basic shows and exports up to 10,000 rows per search. For a large competitor that is a sample of their keywords, not all of them. Unlimited rows start on Pro + AI.

Coverage is 32 countries

SpyFu's help center lists 32 countries and says results outside them are not full. Several roundups still quote a smaller, older count. For US research this is not a constraint.

▸ Where each one wins

SpyFu vs KeywordPilot, row by row

These tools answer different questions. SpyFu tells you what your competitors do. KeywordPilot tells you what to publish next. The table marks the rows SpyFu wins, and there are several.

Dimension	SpyFu	KeywordPilot
Google Ads competitor history	Ten plus years of ad copy and paid keywords per domain. SpyFu wins here	No paid search data
Look up any rival domain	Yes, the core of the product. SpyFu wins here	No domain lookup. Upload the CSV your competitor tool exported instead
Backlinks	Backlink searches included	No backlink index and no site crawler
Keyword clustering	Keyword groups you build and filter yourself	Automatic clusters by search intent, one page per cluster
What you get back	Lists of keywords, ads and rankings to export	An ordered content plan with a brief per cluster
Rank tracking	Weekly rankings, 5,000 keywords on Basic	Reads positions from your own connected Search Console rather than scraping the SERP
Seats	1 user on Basic and Pro, 5 on Team	1 on Starter, 3 on Growth, 10 on Agency
Entry price	$39 a month, $29 billed yearly	$49 a month, $24 a month billed yearly

The practical workflow is simple. Run the competitor in SpyFu, export the organic keywords, and upload the CSV to KeywordPilot. Starter takes 200 keywords per bulk run, Growth 500 and Agency 2,000. The competitor keyword analysis page walks through the gap method, and the keyword clustering tool page shows how the groups are formed.

▸ The shortlist

Sites like SpyFu, and who each one suits

Entry prices are monthly list prices in US dollars, read off each vendor's own pricing page. Pick by the job you need done, not by the length of the feature list.

Semrush

From $139 / mo

The closest like for like SpyFu replacement: organic and paid competitor data across far more countries, plus content and local tools. Seven day trial with a card.

Semrush pricing

Ahrefs

From $129 / mo (Lite)

Organic research and the deepest backlink index in the category. No paid search history to match SpyFu's, and no free trial at any tier.

Ahrefs pricing

SE Ranking

From $129 / mo (Core)

Competitor research, daily rank tracking and audits in one login, with a 14 day trial and no card. The two-plan lineup replaced the old $65 Essential plan.

SE Ranking pricing

Moz Pro

From $99 / mo

The cheapest real working tier of the big three, with Domain Authority and strong local data. No paid search history.

Moz Pro pricing

Mangools

About €38 / mo yearly

KWFinder, SERP checks and rank tracking for small sites. Friendly and inexpensive, with a daily lookup meter.

Mangools alternative

KeywordPilot

From $49 / mo

Not a spy tool. Turns a competitor keyword export into clusters, one page per cluster, in a publishing order with briefs.

KeywordPilot pricing

A note on roundups: several of the SpyFu alternative lists on page one still quote SE Ranking's Essential plan at $52 to $65 a month. SE Ranking no longer sells that plan; its self serve lineup is Core at $129 and Growth at $279. It is a useful reminder to check any price in a comparison post against the vendor before you budget. Our cheapest SEO tools breakdown is kept against primary sources.

▸ From SpyFu export to content plan

Four steps from a rival's keywords to your publishing queue

Export the rival's organic keywords

In SpyFu, open the competitor, filter to organic keywords you do not rank for, and export the CSV.

Upload the list

Drop the CSV into a KeywordPilot project. Starter takes 200 keywords a run, Growth 500, Agency 2,000.

Get clusters by intent

Keywords one page can satisfy are grouped, each group carries volume and difficulty, and easy wins surface first.

Publish in order, track results

Work down the ordered plan with a brief per cluster, then connect Search Console to watch the positions come in.

Stay on SpyFu alone if

Most of your budget goes to Google Ads, you need competitor ad copy and bid history, or you sell PPC management to clients. SpyFu is built for that, and a content planner adds nothing to it.

Add or switch to KeywordPilot if

Your growth plan is organic content, you publish four or more articles a month, and the slow part is deciding what to write. Growth covers five projects and three seats for $99 a month. Every plan is on the KeywordPilot pricing page.

▸ People also ask

SpyFu alternatives, common questions

What is the best alternative to SpyFu?

It depends on what you used SpyFu for. For Google Ads competitor research, Semrush is the closest match with broader data. For organic research plus backlinks, Ahrefs Lite at $129 a month. For a cheaper all-in-one, SE Ranking Core at $129. If you exported SpyFu keyword lists and never turned them into pages, KeywordPilot clusters them into a content plan from $49.

How much does SpyFu cost per month?

SpyFu Basic costs $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually. Pro + AI costs $59 for the first month and $119 a month after that, or $89 a month billed annually. Team and Agency costs $249 a month, or $187 a month annually. Annual billing saves 25 percent, and every plan carries a 30 day money back guarantee.

Is SpyFu better than Semrush?

For Google Ads competitor history on a tight budget, often yes: SpyFu Pro + AI gives unlimited search results and exports for less than Semrush's entry plan. For anything outside paid and organic competitor data, no. Semrush covers far more countries, local SEO, content and agency tooling, and starts at $139 a month on its SEO plan.

Is SpyFu worth the money?

It is worth it if you run Google Ads or sell to people who do, because ten years of competitor ad history is hard to get elsewhere at this price. It is less worth it for a content team, since SpyFu stops at the keyword list. Its 30 day money back guarantee makes a one month test low risk.

Does SpyFu have a free trial?

SpyFu does not advertise a free trial on its pricing page. It offers a 30 day money back guarantee instead, with cancellation by email, live chat or phone and no forms. The Pro + AI plan also discounts the first month to $59 before it renews at $119 a month.

How many countries does SpyFu cover?

SpyFu lists 32 countries in its help center, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Japan, and says it does not have full results outside that list. Several comparison posts still quote an older, lower count, so check the help center if you research markets outside North America and Western Europe.

▸ Cross-bearings

More honest comparisons

▸ Final approach

Keep the spy tool. Automate the plan.

Start on Starter at $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly.

See the plans Try the free demo

Free demo, no account. Paid plans from $24/mo billed yearly.