SpyFu vs Yoast SEO

What SpyFu is

SpyFu shows which keywords competitors bid on and rank for, with historical data going back years. That archive is the reason to use it: rather than a snapshot of today's rankings, you can see how long a competitor has defended a term, which ad copy they kept running, and which campaigns they abandoned. Coverage is strongest for the US market and thinner elsewhere, and the data is modelled rather than taken from ad accounts, so treat the figures as direction rather than measurement.

What Yoast SEO is

Yoast SEO manages the technical SEO of a WordPress site: meta tags, sitemaps, schema and content checks.

What SpyFu is built to do

Competitor keyword history

Years of ranking and bidding history for a domain, not just the current position.

Ad copy archive

Every paid advert a competitor has run, which shows the messages they kept and dropped.

Keyword gap analysis

Terms competitors rank for and you do not, ranked by opportunity.

Unlimited searches

Plans are not metered per lookup, which suits exploratory research.

Choose SpyFu if

• Competitor keyword and ad research where the Pro tier's uncapped search results and exports matter
• Trying a paid SEO tool with a 30-day money-back guarantee instead of a free trial
• Agencies tracking many domains — the top tier allows unlimited projects and 50k tracked keywords

Skip SpyFu if

• You want a free tier — SpyFu has none; the entry plan is $39/month, or $29/month billed annually
• The Basic caps are too tight for you: 10k search results, 10k export rows, 1 tracking project and 5k tracked keywords
• Your market is outside the US, where data accuracy varies and coverage is weaker

Choose Yoast SEO if

• Anyone running SEO on a WordPress site.

SpyFu: pros & cons

• Deep historical ad and keyword data
• Inexpensive relative to rivals
• Useful competitor ad history
• Data accuracy varies by market
• Interface feels dated
• Weaker outside the US

Yoast SEO: pros & cons

• Handles WordPress SEO plumbing correctly
• Content analysis guides non-specialists
• Free version covers the essentials
• Readability advice is formulaic
• Premium upsells are persistent
• Adds weight to the admin interface