Before achieving significant results in SEO, I had to adhere to a very strict budget. Successful SEO relies heavily on quality tools, yet the best tools in the industry can be prohibitively expensive. As a result, I had to seek out more affordable SEO tool solutions.
Fortunately, there are plenty of cost-effective alternatives available. Over the years, I’ve used many such tools, and despite now having access to high-end options like Ahrefs or SEMrush, I continue to use these affordable solutions because they completely meet my needs.
In this article, I’ll cover cheap (but good) SEO tools for keyword research, rank tracking, writing SEO-optimized content, link building, indexing links, and more.
Low Fruits: Cheap Alternative For Keyword Research & Rank Tracking
Successful SEO begins with effective keyword research, and LowFruits is an excellent choice for those seeking low-competition keywords and clusters within their niche. In my experience, LowFruits is just as capable as Ahrefs in this regard. Numerous reviews confirm the effectiveness of this tool.
The most affordable annual plan costs only $250/year, and the provided amount of credits was more than sufficient for managing my websites. This is a stark contrast to the pricing of Ahrefs and SEMrush.
| SEO Tool | Basic Plan Price | Features Included in Basic Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | $129/month | Site Audit, Rank Tracking, Backlink Analysis and A LOT OF LIMITS |
| SEMrush | $109/month | Keyword Analytics, Site Audit, Competitor Tracking |
| LowFruits | $29/month | Keyword Research, Competitive Analysis, Cluster Finding |
What I particularly appreciate about LowFruits is the flexibility it offers; there’s no need to commit to a monthly plan—you can simply purchase credits as needed. Since I continuously work on websites, a monthly plan suits me best.
Additionally, I can use the rank tracker and explore a few more features that you might find useful.
If you’re considering using LowFruits, I would appreciate it if you could sign up through my referral link. This helps support my efforts and the content I create.
Scalenut: Cheap Alternative For Writing SEO-optimized Content
Scalenut is a tool I stumbled upon during a SEO conference in Chiang Mai, and it was completely new to me.
It’s a much more affordable alternative to Surfer SEO that helps you create the best SEO content by analyzing your competitors’ content. It evaluates elements such as average word count, keyword density and frequency, number of words, number of headings, alt text and more. Based on these insights, you can brief your copywriters (or write yourself) to achieve the highest SEO score.
You can also use their AI helper and their auto-optimizer to refine your content further. This ensures that your articles match the quality of those ranking at the top of Google searches.
The tool is not only effective but also significantly cheaper than Surfer SEO. Before, I also used NeuronWriter but they significantly increased prices and they have less features compared to Scalenut.
| SEO Tool | Plan Price with Content Editor | Features Included in Basic Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Surfer SEO | $89/month | SEO Audit, Content Editor (up to 30 articles), SERP Analyzer |
| NeuronWriter | $45/month | Content Optimization (up to 50 articles), SERP Analysis, Competitor Insights |
| Scalenut | $39/month | Content Creation (up to 30 articles), Auto-optimization, AI Copywriting |
Check more details about this tool in my Scalenut review.
If you’re considering using Scalenut, I would appreciate it if you could sign up through my referral link. This helps support my efforts and the content I create.
Shared.Domains: The Most Cost-Effective Link building Solution
Affordable link building is indeed a challenging aspect of SEO. You have to be very cautious as trying to save money can lead to acquiring spammy links, which may result in Google penalizing your website.
On the other hand, a single link from a high-authority website might cost upwards of $1,000, making it crucial to find a balanced solution.
It took me several years to discover such a solution, which I finally found in 2021. This game-changer significantly improved my site positions and enabled me to sell a couple of websites for over $1 million.
Shared.Domains is a relatively unknown yet unique service that helps you obtain links from reputable domains and specifically from home pages, which carry the most link juice.
The system at Shared.Domains is truly unique; they update a list daily with domains available for backlink purchases.
You can place a bid and share the cost with other participants. For example, I once bid on a domain with a Domain Rating (DR) of 51 and only paid $320 to secure a link from the homepage. This represents an extremely cost-effective and valuable backlink.
Additionally, Shared.Domains allows you to submit a guest post every six months, which you can use for your various websites or employ for tier-2 link building.
I’ve written a detailed review on Shared.Domains. Be sure to read it to understand how they operate and the value they can offer. To date, I haven’t found any other link building solution that comes close in terms of cost-effectiveness.
If you’re considering using Scalenut, I would appreciate it if you could sign up through my referral link. This helps support my efforts and the content I create.
SpeedyIndex: Cheap Alternative for Indexing Links
Indexing links is a crucial component of SEO, as it helps ensure that your URLs and backlinks are recognized by search engines more quickly. I use SpeedyIndex, which is both highly effective and economical. For instance, indexing one link costs merely $0.005. I purchased a package for $188 that allows for indexing 100,000 links, and I have been utilizing this package for the past two years. This makes SpeedyIndex an excellent choice for those looking to enhance their SEO efforts without breaking the bank.
The only inconvenient thing about SpeedyIndex is that you have to use them through Telegram messenger, but I use Telegram on a daily basis, so it’s a non-issue for me.
AI detection: Originality.ai
Finally, an absolutely optional but somewhat controversial tool I use to check my writers’ submissions is Originality.ai.
This tool ensures that the texts provided are not purely AI-generated. Generally, I am open to high-quality AI-generated text; however, I often find that such text does not meet my quality standards due to occasional factual errors and other issues.
From my tests, Originality.ai has proven to be quite accurate in detecting AI-generated content. I ask my writers to thoroughly refine their texts, and I use Originality.ai sporadically to verify their work.
I haven’t opted for a monthly subscription; instead, I purchased 20,000 credits a long time ago, and I’ve been using these credits for over a year. Although it’s completely optional, I find Originality.ai to be a high-quality AI detection tool available at a reasonable price.
If you’re considering using Originality, I would appreciate it if you could sign up through my referral link. This helps support my efforts and the content I create.
Conclusion
I’m aware there are numerous affordable SEO tools out there, such as Ubersuggest and SEO Power Suite, but I often find that their quality doesn’t meet my expectations. It seems you truly do get what you pay for.
Please let me know what affordable SEO tools you can recommend in the comments. I’m always looking to explore new options that balance cost and effectiveness.