Looking for a solid alternative to Google Keyword Planner? Here are 24 tools you can use to find keyword variations and estimate search demand.
Keywords have been running search marketing for years — from the old days of keyword stuffing to modern keyword research and PPC campaigns.
Keywords are a core element of search marketing: terms and phrases that connect your content to what people actually type into search engines.
Google doesn’t provide access to Keyword Planner unless you have an active Google Ads account. In real life, access often depends on account setup, billing, and the interface mode you’re using. The good news is that for SEO and PPC tasks, a few alternative sources are usually enough.
Below are 24 tools to discover new keywords, assess keyword difficulty, and estimate search volume.
How to choose a tool
- For SEO content — use sources that reflect SERPs and suggestions, and always validate real queries in Google Search Console .
- For PPC — focus on CPC/competition and build your keyword list around campaign structure in advance. If you want to strengthen the ads workflow, connect keyword research with contextual advertising .
- When launching a project — it’s not only about “collecting keywords”, but also about building a site structure around them. This is where SEO during development helps.
A note about numbers
A small practical takeaway: it’s best to cross-check the same keyword in at least 2–3 sources and always review the SERP manually. “Perfect” volumes on paper often differ across tools, while the topic, intent, and wording match — and for content planning that’s usually more valuable than an ideal number.
1. Ahrefs
Alongside backlink reporting and organic traffic dashboards, Ahrefs has a genuinely strong keyword research tool.
The paid version provides keyword variations and search volume across different match types.
It also includes a keyword difficulty metric that, in hands-on testing, is often more accurate than some tools with a similar feature.
2. SEMrush
SEMrush offers a keyword suggestion tool based on a large dataset across multiple countries.
Results include keyword variations, estimated search volume, estimated CPC, keyword difficulty, and current ranking domains.
3. Moz
Moz launched its own keyword explorer as part of its SEO toolset.
Filtering options let you exclude certain query conditions to generate more ideas, or focus only on question-based phrases that include your keyword.
Keyword results include related query variations, estimated volume, and difficulty.
Moz also shows domains currently ranking for the keyword and recent mentions of that keyword.
4. Keywordtool.io
This tool collects keyword suggestions from Google, YouTube, Bing, and even Amazon.
You can choose Google’s TLD, language, and location, and use similar settings for other supported sources.
Hundreds of suggestions are available for free, but search volume estimates are typically behind a paid plan.
5. Scrapebox
Scrapebox is known for its “grey” background, but it also has legitimate uses, including generating keyword variations.
With Scrapebox, a small handful of keywords can quickly expand into hundreds or even thousands of variations.
The limitation is that it’s desktop software for Windows. The upside is a one-time purchase instead of a subscription.
6. WordStream
Primarily a paid PPC tool, but WordStream also offers a free keyword tool with limits on the number of searches.
The free results usually include related keywords, while search volume is more often available in paid plans.
7. Bing
Even for campaigns focused on Google, Bing’s keyword research can still provide useful insights into related queries.
Because Bing is a search engine, its data sits closer to the “source” than many aggregators.
The tool is free once you verify your site in Bing Webmaster Tools.
8. Keyword Discover
This is one of the oldest keyword tools. It pulls search data from a wide set of search resources .
It’s a paid tool, but you can run a limited number of searches for free.
Its projected volumes may differ from Google’s, but it can surface ideas you might not find otherwise.
9. KWFinder
You can focus keyword research by country and language.
Results include difficulty and keyword variations, which you can filter using different metrics.
It’s a paid tool, so free searches are usually limited.
10. Google Search Console
One of the most useful keyword research sources because it’s unique to your site and based on Google data.
Filter out branded queries in Search Console reports and look for ideas you can expand.
If there’s too much data, use regex filters to find queries by parameters like impressions, clicks, or word count.
11. SEOClarity
A content marketing tool that provides a lot of keyword intelligence.
It helps you understand search goals, content types, topic demand, and top-ranking URLs.
It’s a paid tool and also includes content gaps and keyword strategy insights.
12. Keyword Surfer
Keyword Surfer shows search volumes for keywords. It’s handy paired with question-based tools like AnswerThePublic .
And it’s free.
13. Keyworddit
This tool extracts keywords from Reddit and matches them with volume data.
It’s useful when you want “real audience language” — the phrasing people actually use.
14. Majestic
Majestic includes a keyword generator and keyword checking in some plans.
It shows how often a query appears in its index, along with a search volume estimate.
15. Google Trends
Google Trends is great for seasonality and tracking rising topics.
It’s convenient for comparing phrasing and checking what’s growing versus fading.
16. Sistrix
Sistrix is a paid tool with a strong keyword module.
You can pull keywords for many different countries, cities, and languages.
17. Conductor
Conductor often publishes “winners and losers” reports and continues to develop its keyword tools.
It provides search volume, CPC, and volume ranges.
18. Infinite Suggest
Infinite Suggest is a free tool that generates endless lists of Google keyword suggestions.
You can then research those keywords in paid tools to get more details.
19. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is useful for content ideas and topic monitoring.
Even if you have data from Google tools like Keyword Planner, using a few different tools helps you get a second perspective.
20–24. Global markets
If you’re promoting websites in regions where Google competes with strong local search engines, it’s often better to use tools built for that market.
Baidu
China’s largest search engine. It offers a Trends-like product — Baidu Index — that shows trending topics and related queries.
Another option is DragonMetrics for keyword research.
Naver
South Korea’s dominant search engine. For popular queries and trends, there’s Naver DataLab .
Yahoo Japan and Yahoo Taiwan
These are important search channels in their markets. They have their own keyword tools (usually behind a login).
Yandex
Yandex tools may provide query data for some regions. However, for Ukrainian businesses there are often ethical and security reasons to avoid products tied to the aggressor state. If you need Russian-language keyword insights, you can typically collect them via international tools and your own site data without relying on the Yandex ecosystem.
Conclusion
The best outcome comes from combining tools: one for idea generation, another for SERP/competitor analysis, and a mandatory validation step using your own site data (Search Console, analytics). This way you get not just a keyword list, but a clearer picture of real search intent.
