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Ubersuggest Review: Better Than Ahrefs at 1/3 The Price? My 6-Month Test

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Ubersuggest reviews point to one clear winner – affordability. This SEO tool costs just $29 monthly, which is $100 less than what Ahrefs and Semrush charge for their basic plans.

I spent six months putting Ubersuggest’s SEO features through their paces and found that there was a mix of impressive capabilities and clear drawbacks. Neil Patel bought the tool in 2017, four years after its 2013 launch, and has built it into a better platform while keeping prices low. The tool’s biggest limitation shows in its database size – 1.25 billion keywords doesn’t come close to Ahrefs’ 28.7 billion or Semrush’s 26.3 billion. The platform still delivers reliable data about keyword trends, search volumes and what your competition is doing.

You might ask if Ubersuggest is worth your money. The tool stands out with its lifetime deals that help you avoid monthly payments. You can track your competitors’ rankings, analyze content that performs well, and get hundreds of smart keyword ideas. My hands-on testing revealed insights that will help you decide if Ubersuggest’s lower price tag matches what you need from an SEO tool.

What Is Ubersuggest and Who Should Use It?

Neil Patel bought Ubersuggest in 2017 with a vision that went way beyond the reach and influence of its original purpose as a simple keyword scraper tool. Alessandro Martin created it in 2013, and since then, Ubersuggest has grown from a simple keyword suggestion tool into a detailed SEO platform. My hands-on experience shows how Patel’s team continuously refined and boosted its features over the years.

Overview of Ubersuggest’s progress

Ubersuggest started as a free tool that scraped Google Suggest terms. After Patel’s acquisition, the platform saw substantial development. My testing revealed Ubersuggest’s transformation from a straightforward keyword research utility into a full-featured SEO app with impressive capabilities.

The platform gives you keyword research, site audits, backlink analysis, and competitor analysis – everything marketers need without extra complexity. On top of that, Patel focused on building a platform that delivers quick results instead of overwhelming users with too many reports.

Target audience: beginners, bloggers, small businesses

Ubersuggest targets users who need analytical insights without complex enterprise-level tools. Small businesses, bloggers, and marketers looking for cost-effective SEO solutions will find this platform helpful.

The platform appeals most to:

  • Small business owners who want to boost their online presence
  • Beginner SEOs and people starting their SEO careers
  • Content creators who need keyword inspiration
  • Marketers with tight budgets

The platform’s user-friendly interface makes it stand out from the competition. You don’t need extensive training – just type a keyword or domain, pick your target country, and get immediate results.

How it compares to traditional SEO tools

The price difference between Ubersuggest and traditional SEO platforms jumps out immediately. You’ll pay $29 per month for Ubersuggest, which is 240% cheaper than Moz and $100 less than starter plans from Ahrefs and Semrush.

Ubersuggest’s lifetime access plans start at $290 – something you rarely see from competitors. This one-time payment model definitely adds value for those wondering if Ubersuggest is worth it.

The tool’s keyword database has 1.25 billion keywords. While smaller than premium competitors, it’s enough for most SEO needs. Users also get access to Moz-based metrics, including domain authority, page authority, and spam scores.

My testing shows Ubersuggest works great as a starting point for people who find complex tools intimidating. Users who focus on competitive analysis and keyword optimization but don’t have advanced technical knowledge will find it especially useful. The platform makes SEO tools available for analyzing search rankings, conducting keyword research, and improving content strategies.

Notwithstanding that, experienced SEO professionals working in highly competitive or ultra-niche markets might eventually need more advanced features. For simple to intermediate SEO needs, though, Ubersuggest strikes an impressive balance between functionality and cost.

Keyword Research Tools: Strengths and Shortcomings

Keyword research is the backbone of Ubersuggest and forms the foundation of every SEO campaign I run. I’ve spent countless hours testing this budget-friendly tool to find out what it does best and where it might not match its premium competitors.

Search volume, SEO difficulty, CPC data

Ubersuggest gives me detailed keyword metrics that help shape my content strategy. Here’s what I get for each keyword:

  • Monthly search volume with popularity trends over 12 months
  • SEO difficulty score on a 1-100 scale that shows ranking competition
  • Paid difficulty score for PPC campaigns
  • CPC data to estimate advertising costs
  • Demographic breakdown by age range
  • Device distribution between mobile and desktop searches

The SEO difficulty score has been a game-changer for my campaigns. Ubersuggest calculates this by looking at websites that rank for target keywords and checks their domain authority, backlink profiles, and content quality. My experience shows keywords below 30 are usually good targets, while those above 70 need substantial resources.

The platform’s SERP click behavior insights are truly valuable. You can see exactly how many searchers click on results versus returning to search. This matters because high search volume doesn’t always mean high traffic. This feature helped me avoid several keywords that looked promising but had poor click-through rates.

Keyword Ideas and Visualization

Ubersuggest really shines at generating keyword suggestions. Type in a seed keyword, and it organizes related terms into five useful categories: suggestions, related terms, questions, prepositions, and comparisons.

The Keyword Visualization tool sets Ubersuggest apart. This interactive feature organizes suggestions in a visual format. It’s particularly useful for question-based keywords – you can hover over question words (what, where, how) to see metrics for each phrase. Content marketers will find this perfect for creating FAQ sections.

The filtering system makes keyword discovery even better. You can exclude or include specific terms to narrow down results. I often uncheck the “Google Ads” option to find long-tail opportunities without highly competitive terms.

Comparison with Ahrefs and Semrush databases

Ubersuggest has some clear data limitations. Its database has about 1.25 billion keywords from Moz, which doesn’t come close to Ahrefs’ 28.7 billion or Semrush’s 26.3 billion keywords.

These differences show up in real-world use. I tested the same seed keywords across platforms and found big gaps in suggestion numbers:

“Amazon” got 1.2 million suggestions in Ubersuggest, while Ahrefs showed 3.3 million and Semrush had 7.7 million. “Shopify” returned 93,000 suggestions in Ubersuggest, compared to 153,000 in Ahrefs and 319,000 in Semrush.

Data freshness is another factor. Semrush updates most keyword data daily, while Ubersuggest’s Moz-sourced database typically updates monthly. This means you might not see trending topics or new search patterns right away in Ubersuggest.

Yet Ubersuggest delivers great value for its price. The keyword data is accurate enough for most SEO campaigns, especially for established topics. Unless you work in highly competitive niches or need the latest trend data, Ubersuggest is a solid choice that costs much less than premium tools.

Backlink and Domain Analysis: How Deep Does It Go?

Backlinks are one of the most vital ranking factors in Google’s algorithm. My six-month review of Ubersuggest helped me learn about its backlink analysis features. Let me share what I found – both the good and not-so-good parts of this SEO tool.

Backlink Overview and Referring Domains

Ubersuggest’s link analysis toolkit starts with the Backlink Overview feature. The tool shows you total backlinks, referring domains count, and a 3-year backlink history right after you enter a domain. Moz, a top industry provider, supplies this data. This gives Ubersuggest access to 45.8 trillion links.

My tests with different websites showed Ubersuggest’s backlink database works better than many premium tools. The tool found more referring domains than Ahrefs when looking at big sites like Amazon and Shopify. To name just one example, Ubersuggest found 5.3 million referring domains for Amazon while Ahrefs only showed 2.3k.

The tool gives you these detailed metrics for each backlink:

  • Domain Authority and Page Authority scores
  • Spam Score percentage
  • Anchor text used
  • First and last seen dates

These metrics are a great way to get information about which backlinks help your rankings most, since not all backlinks matter equally.

Backlink Opportunities Tool

The Backlink Opportunities tool stands out as the most useful backlink feature. You can compare your site with up to 15 competitors, based on your plan. The tool then shows you websites that link to your competitors but not to you.

This helps you find good link-building targets in your market. Ubersuggest points out that seeing “the exact content in your space that people are linking to” helps create a solid plan to improve your link profile.

Limitations: No broken link detection

Ubersuggest’s biggest weakness in backlink analysis comes from not having broken link detection. Unlike other tools, it can’t tell when inbound links point to error pages on your site.

Broken inbound links hurt your SEO performance and user experience. Your rankings miss out on valuable “link juice” when external sites link to pages that don’t exist anymore.

The tool can find broken internal links through its Site Audit feature. Yet it doesn’t do the same for inbound links from other sites. This gap makes it harder to maintain your backlinks compared to premium tools.

The value of Ubersuggest for backlink analysis depends on what you need. You get reliable backlink data and competitor analysis at lower prices than competitors. However, you might miss some advanced features that premium tools offer.

Rank Tracking and Site Audit Features

Tracking keyword rankings has been significant to evaluate Ubersuggest’s SEO capabilities. My testing period revealed several strengths and limitations in its performance tracking and technical analysis features.

Daily keyword tracking and location support

Ubersuggest starts tracking ranks automatically when you create a project. The platform delivers daily updates for keyword positions on both desktop and mobile devices. My six-month test showed this frequency worked well to spot ranking trends without data overload.

The tool’s location-based tracking capability stands out from the rest. Users can track rankings in any country, city, or region, which makes it valuable for businesses with multiple geographic target markets. The Individual Plan lets you track up to 20 locations, while higher-tier plans give unlimited location tracking.

A date picker shows ranking improvements over time for historical analysis. Your data stays available for up to three years before you need to recreate the project.

Site audit reports and technical SEO checks

The Site Audit tool crawls websites weekly to spot technical SEO issues. It creates a detailed report that highlights:

  • Critical errors requiring immediate attention
  • SEO warnings of moderate concern
  • Recommendations for optimization

Ubersuggest’s approach to prioritizing fixes based on SEO effect and implementation difficulty impressed me most. This practical method helped me focus on changes that would boost rankings quickly.

Missing features like site health score

Despite its strong points, Ubersuggest lacks some capabilities you’ll find in premium alternatives. The most notable missing feature is a site health score – a unified metric that measures overall technical SEO condition. Without this standard, tracking improvement trends becomes less user-friendly.

The tool doesn’t detect broken inbound links (though it checks internal links). It also can’t monitor SERP features like featured snippets or knowledge panels, unlike some competitors.

These limitations seem like reasonable trade-offs for small businesses and bloggers who need basic SEO monitoring without advanced technical analysis, especially given the tool’s price point.

Ubersuggest Pricing: Is It Really 1/3 the Cost?

Price plays a crucial role when SEO professionals choose their tools. My extensive time learning Ubersuggest shows it costs much less than the major players in the market.

Monthly vs Lifetime pricing breakdown

Ubersuggest stands out with a pricing structure that no competitor can match. The monthly plans come with a 7-day free trial starting at $29 for Individual$49 for Business, and $99 for Enterprise/Agency plans.

The lifetime access option makes Ubersuggest truly special. Users get 50 years of service for a one-time payment. These lifetime plans cost $290 (Individual)$490 (Business), and $990 (Enterprise). This equals about 10 months of regular monthly subscription costs.

Feature limits by plan

Each tier has similar features but varies in usage limits:

  • Individual: 1 user, 3 projects, 100-125 tracked keywords per domain, 150 daily searches
  • Business: 3 users, 7 projects, 150 tracked keywords per domain, 300 daily searches[232]
  • Enterprise: 5 users, 15 projects, 300 tracked keywords per domain, 900 daily searches[232]

Cost comparison with Ahrefs and Semrush

The price gap is significant. Ubersuggest’s starter plan ($29/month) costs 70-90% less than its competitors:

  • Ahrefs starts at $99-$129/month
  • Semrush begins at $139.95/month

Semrush’s basic plan costs $41 more than Ubersuggest’s highest tier. Adding users to Semrush costs $45-$100 per extra seat, while Ubersuggest charges just $5.

These numbers show that calling Ubersuggest “1/3 the cost” understates the savings. The tool often costs just 1/4 or 1/5 of what premium alternatives charge.

Conclusion

My six-month comparison between Ubersuggest and premium alternatives shows a clear winner. The tool excels at being affordable – you’ll pay just $29 monthly and save up to 70-90% compared to Ahrefs or Semrush. The lifetime access makes it an even better deal since you get 50 years of service by paying for just 10 months.

Ubersuggest’s keyword database might be smaller than its competitors, but my tests showed it works well for most SEO campaigns. The platform’s accessible interface and practical features make it perfect for small businesses, bloggers, and SEO beginners. The keyword visualization tool became my favorite feature as it offers unique insights you won’t find anywhere else.

Of course, the tool has its limits. Advanced users in competitive niches might find the smaller keyword database, less frequent updates, and missing broken link detection for inbound links frustrating. But these trade-offs make sense given the huge price difference.

The platform balances features and affordability really well. My experience shows that Ubersuggest delivers about 80% of premium tools’ features at just 25% of their cost. Neil Patel created an SEO platform that makes optimization tools accessible to more people.

Your specific needs will determine if Ubersuggest is right for you. Users who want affordable and practical SEO insights without complexity will find great value here. Enterprise-level campaign managers might outgrow its features eventually. In spite of that, Ubersuggest deserves a look as your main SEO tool or an affordable addition to your existing resources.

FAQs

Q1. Is Ubersuggest a viable alternative to more expensive SEO tools? Ubersuggest offers about 80% of the functionality of premium tools at roughly 25% of the cost. It’s an excellent option for small businesses, bloggers, and SEO beginners who need essential optimization tools without breaking the bank.

Q2. How accurate is Ubersuggest’s keyword data? While Ubersuggest’s keyword database is smaller than some competitors, it provides sufficient and generally accurate data for most standard SEO campaigns. However, its SEO difficulty scores may require manual updates for the most current information.

Q3. What unique features does Ubersuggest offer? Ubersuggest stands out with its keyword visualization tool, which provides unique insights not available in other platforms. It also offers lifetime access plans, a rarity in the SEO tool market.

Q4. How does Ubersuggest’s pricing compare to other SEO tools? Ubersuggest is significantly more affordable than competitors like Ahrefs and Semrush. Its entry-level plan starts at $29/month, which is about 70-90% less expensive than similar plans from premium alternatives.

Q5. What are the main limitations of Ubersuggest? Ubersuggest lacks some advanced features found in premium tools, such as broken link detection for inbound links and less frequent data updates. It may not be suitable for enterprise-level campaigns or highly competitive niches requiring in-depth analysis.

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