Keywords Everywhere: The Lightweight Helper That Saves You From Ahrefs
Most SEO tools want to be your home page. They want you to log into their dashboard, import your site, and live inside their ecosystem. Keywords Everywhere takes the exact opposite approach. It is a browser extension that injects search volume, cost-per-click, and competition metrics directly into the platforms you are already using.
If you are tired of paying $100+ a month for enterprise suites just to check a few search volumes while brainstorming, this is the first alternative you should consider.
Data Where You Already Are
The defining feature of Keywords Everywhere is convenience. Once installed on Chrome, Firefox, or Edge, it layers data underneath the search bars of Google, YouTube, Amazon, Etsy, and Bing.
Instead of jumping to a separate tab to run a keyword through a dedicated planner, you simply type a query into Google. The extension immediately shows the global search volume, CPC, and competition level directly on the search engine results page. It also populates the sidebar with "Related Keywords" and "People Also Search For" widgets, complete with their own metrics.
Recently, they have expanded beyond the search engines. The tool now includes an MCP server, allowing you to pull live keyword data directly into AI assistants like ChatGPT and Cursor without writing any glue code.
The Pay-As-You-Go Pricing Model
Keywords Everywhere operates on a freemium model. The free tier gives you access to 18 basic features, including website traffic metrics, Moz domain authority, backlink data, and social media engagement stats for Instagram and Pinterest.
However, the real meat of the tool - search volume, CPC, and trend data - requires paid credits.
Here is the catch that the pricing page buries: the lowest entry point is the Bronze plan at $84 per year, which gives you 100,000 credits annually. They do not offer month-to-month billing. Every plan is billed annually. Furthermore, those credits expire after one year; they do not roll over.
The Credit Drain Reality
The credit system makes it incredibly affordable compared to Semrush or Ahrefs, but it comes with a known pitfall. A common Reddit complaint is that users accidentally bleed their credits dry by leaving the extension enabled while doing heavy, unrelated browsing. Because the tool pulls data for every search and every sidebar suggestion, a single Google search can consume dozens of credits.
You have to actively manage the tool. Turn it on when you are doing keyword research, and toggle it off when you are just browsing normally.
Where It Falls Short
Keywords Everywhere is brilliant for what it does, but you need to understand what it is not.
It is definitely not an all-in-one suite. You won't find deep site auditing, rank tracking, or comprehensive backlink analysis here. If you are an agency managing multiple client sites, you will still need a heavier tool.
They also use a proprietary SEO Difficulty metric that experienced users on Reddit often advise taking with a grain of salt, as it doesn't always reflect the real-world reality of outranking established domains.
Finally, recent browser-store reviews consistently highlight slow customer support as a frustration.
The Final Call
Pick this if you are a solo founder, a content creator, or a casual marketer who needs quick, directional keyword data without the overhead of an enterprise subscription. It is the ultimate tactical shortcut for validating ideas on the fly.
Skip it if you need to run deep technical site audits, map out complex backlink strategies, or prefer the predictable cost of a flat monthly rate over a usage-based credit system.