comparison
Keysearch vs Mangools 2026: Which Budget Keyword Tool Gives You More for the Money?
Keysearch and Mangools both cost about $20 a month. One gives you twice the daily keyword lookups at that price; the other is far cheaper once you need 500 a day. We priced both plan by plan.
By Manu A. · · 8 min read 
Keysearch vs Mangools comes down to one number: how many keyword lookups you run in a day.
If you’re a solo blogger running fewer than 200 lookups a day, Keysearch Starter gives you twice the daily lookups of Mangools Basic for about the same money, and it costs less if you pay month to month. Once you need 500 lookups a day, or a teammate, Mangools Premium is the cheaper plan by $163.80 a year and tracks more than three times as many keywords.
Quick verdict. Keysearch for a solo blogger on a budget: $20 a month billed annually ($24 monthly) for 200 keyword searches a day, plus a site auditor and an AI writing assistant. Mangools for anyone past that: Premium is $26.35 a month billed annually for 500 lookups a day, 700 tracked keywords and 3 extra seats, where Keysearch Pro is $40. Prices were read from both vendors’ pricing pages on 15 October 2026.
At a glance
| Keysearch | Mangools | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Starter: $24/mo, or $20/mo billed annually | Basic: $30.50/mo, or $18.85/mo billed annually |
| Keyword lookups, entry plan | 200 a day | 100 a day |
| Second plan | Pro: $48/mo, or $40/mo billed annually | Premium: $40.50/mo, or $26.35/mo billed annually |
| Keyword lookups, second plan | 500 a day | 500 a day |
| Top plan | Pro is the top plan | Agency: $70.50/mo, or $48.85/mo billed annually, 1,200 a day |
| Rank tracking | 80 keywords (Starter), 200 (Pro) | 200 (Basic), 700 (Premium), 1,500 (Agency) |
| Extra seats | Team features on Pro; seat count not stated | None on Basic, 3 on Premium, 5 on Agency |
| Also included | Site auditor, AI content assistant, YouTube research; Foresight on Pro | Backlink, SERP and site tools; AI Search Watcher PRO; API and MCP access |
| Try before you pay | 7-day free trial | Free account with limited lookups; 48-hour money-back guarantee |
The price that matters: what each lookup costs you
Both vendors put their entry price around $20, so the sticker doesn’t separate them. The daily lookup allowance does, because that’s the limit you actually hit. A blogger expanding one topic into a 30-keyword shortlist can burn 40 to 60 lookups in a sitting.
Here is every plan, priced for a year:
| Plan | Keyword lookups a day | Year, billed annually | Year, billed monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mangools Basic | 100 | $226.20 | $366.00 |
| Keysearch Starter | 200 | $240.00 | $288.00 |
| Mangools Premium | 500 | $316.20 | $486.00 |
| Keysearch Pro | 500 | $480.00 | $576.00 |
| Mangools Agency | 1,200 | $586.20 | $846.00 |
Yearly cost on annual billing, from both vendors’ pricing pages, 15 October 2026.
Two things jump out.
At the bottom, Keysearch gives you twice the lookups for $13.80 more a year. On annual billing Mangools Basic is the cheapest plan here, but it allows 100 lookups a day against Keysearch Starter’s 200. On monthly billing Keysearch is simply cheaper, $24 against $30.50, and still gives you double.
One step up, Mangools wins by a wide margin. Keysearch Pro and Mangools Premium both allow 500 lookups a day. Premium costs $316.20 a year billed annually; Pro costs $480. That’s $163.80 a year less for Mangools, which also tracks 700 keywords against Pro’s 200 and adds 3 extra seats.
So the answer depends on which side of 200 lookups a day you sit.
Keysearch: the most lookups for the least money
Keysearch’s pricing page with annual billing switched on, 15 October 2026.
Keysearch has two plans. Starter is $24 a month, or $20 a month billed annually (“2 months free”). It allows 200 keyword searches a day, tracks 80 keywords, audits 2,000 pages a month and includes 5,000 AI credits a month for its content assistant. Pro is $48 a month, or $40 billed annually, for 500 searches a day, 200 tracked keywords, 5,000 audited pages, 15,000 AI credits and Foresight, which Keysearch describes as an AI recommendation engine that suggests keywords and content based on your site’s niche, authority and current rankings.
Every plan includes keyword research, live SERP analysis, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, YouTube research, the SEO auditor, the AI content assistant and rank tracking. There’s a 7-day free trial, and monthly plans can be cancelled at any time.
In our keyword research tools test, Keysearch finished a 30-keyword topic expansion in under two minutes, level with Mangools, and it was the cheapest paid tool we’d recommend on monthly billing.
Where Keysearch wins:
- Lookups per dollar at the entry level. 200 a day for $20 to $24 is the best allowance under $25.
- Monthly billing. If you don’t want a year’s commitment, Starter at $24 is $6.50 a month cheaper than Mangools Basic and gives you double the lookups.
- Extras on the cheap plan. A site auditor and an AI writing assistant are included from Starter. Mangools’ pricing page lists neither on any plan.
Skip Keysearch if you need more than 200 lookups a day or a second person in the account. Pro at $40 to $48 costs more than Mangools Premium for the same 500 lookups, and its pricing page doesn’t say how many seats Pro includes. Rank tracking is also thin: 80 keywords on Starter won’t cover a site with more than a handful of articles.
Mangools: the better deal once you outgrow 200 lookups
Mangools’ pricing page on annual billing, 15 October 2026. Top: prices. Bottom: the limits on each plan.
Mangools is a bundle of five tools: KWFinder for keyword research, SERPChecker, SERPWatcher for rank tracking, LinkMiner for backlinks and SiteProfiler. Current plans also include AI Search Watcher PRO, which monitors up to 500 prompts to see how AI assistants mention a brand, plus API and MCP access.
Basic is $30.50 a month, or $18.85 billed annually ($226.20 a year), for 100 keyword lookups a day, 100 SERP analyses, 200 tracked keywords, 100,000 backlink rows a month and no extra seats. Premium is $40.50 a month, or $26.35 billed annually ($316.20 a year), for 500 lookups, 700 tracked keywords, 500,000 backlink rows and 3 extra seats. Agency is $70.50 a month, or $48.85 billed annually, for 1,200 lookups a day, 1,500 tracked keywords updated daily rather than weekly, and 5 extra seats.
There’s no time-limited trial. You can open a free account with limited daily lookups, and paid plans come with a 48-hour money-back guarantee, which doesn’t apply to two consecutive subscriptions.
Where Mangools wins:
- The second tier. Premium gives you Keysearch Pro’s 500 lookups a day for $163.80 less a year on annual billing ($90 less on monthly billing).
- Rank tracking. 200 keywords on the cheapest plan and 700 on Premium, against 80 and 200 at Keysearch.
- Teams. 3 extra seats on Premium, 5 on Agency, stated on the pricing page.
- AI search visibility. If you want to know whether ChatGPT and similar assistants mention your site, it’s included rather than sold separately.
Skip Mangools if you’re a solo blogger paying month to month. Basic at $30.50 a month gives you half Keysearch Starter’s daily lookups for $6.50 more, and its 48-hour refund window is a much shorter way to test it than a 7-day trial.
The limits that bite first
Neither vendor hides its limits, but they bite in different places.
- Mangools Basic: 100 lookups a day, one user. Fine for one or two articles a day. Topic clusters will hit the cap by lunch.
- Keysearch Starter: 80 tracked keywords. The keyword research allowance is generous, but you’ll outgrow rank tracking long before you outgrow lookups.
- Keysearch Foresight is Pro-only. If the AI recommendations are why you’re buying Keysearch, the real price is $40 to $48, not $20 to $24.
- Mangools ranks update weekly on Basic and Premium. Daily updates start at Agency.
Which one should you pick?
Answer in order and stop at the first yes.
- Do you need more than one person in the account? Mangools Premium.
- Do you need more than 200 keyword lookups a day, or more than 200 tracked keywords? Mangools Premium. It matches Keysearch Pro’s lookups for less.
- Do you want to pay month to month? Keysearch Starter at $24.
- Are you a solo blogger with one site? Keysearch Starter. Use the 7-day trial before you commit to a year.
- Do you want to track how AI assistants mention your site? Mangools, any plan.
If you’re still unsure, start the Keysearch trial. If you hit the 200-a-day ceiling in the first week, that’s your answer, and Mangools Premium is the plan to move to.
Bottom line
Keysearch is the better deal for a solo blogger; Mangools is the better deal for everyone else. At the entry level Keysearch gives you twice the daily lookups for about the same money and costs less on monthly billing. At 500 lookups a day Mangools Premium costs $163.80 a year less than Keysearch Pro and adds more rank tracking and three seats.
Price the plan by the lookups you’ll actually run, not by the sticker. Both stickers say about $20.
All pricing and limits were read from the vendors’ own pricing pages on 15 October 2026: Keysearch and Mangools. Vendors change prices without notice, and we re-check every price on this site at least every 60 days. If you’re reading this later, check before you buy.
Read next: the best keyword research tools for bloggers for the six other tools we tested, cheaper Ahrefs alternatives if you need deeper backlink data, and the best free SEO tools if your budget is $0.
Frequently asked questions
Is Keysearch cheaper than Mangools?
At the entry level, it depends on billing. On monthly billing Keysearch Starter is $24 against Mangools Basic at $30.50. On annual billing Mangools Basic is slightly cheaper ($226.20 a year against $240), but it allows 100 keyword lookups a day against Keysearch's 200. At 500 lookups a day the order flips: Mangools Premium is $316.20 a year against $480 for Keysearch Pro. Prices read from both vendors' pricing pages on 15 October 2026.
Which has more keyword lookups, Keysearch or Mangools?
At the entry tier, Keysearch: 200 keyword searches a day on Starter against 100 keyword lookups a day on Mangools Basic. At the second tier they are level at 500 a day (Keysearch Pro and Mangools Premium). Mangools Agency goes to 1,200 a day; Keysearch has no plan above Pro.
Does Keysearch or Mangools have a free trial?
Keysearch offers a 7-day free trial. Mangools has a free account with limited daily lookups and a 48-hour money-back guarantee on paid plans, which does not apply to two consecutive subscriptions.
Is Mangools the same as KWFinder?
KWFinder is Mangools' keyword research tool. A Mangools subscription includes KWFinder plus SERPChecker, SERPWatcher (rank tracking), LinkMiner (backlinks) and SiteProfiler, and on current plans the AI Search Watcher PRO add-on for tracking how AI assistants mention a brand.
Which is better for a team?
Mangools. Premium includes 3 extra seats and Agency 5. Keysearch says its Pro plan includes team collaboration features, but its pricing page doesn't state a seat count.
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