Today there are 575 different YouTube SEO Tools. We spent 80 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to increase your organic traffic on YouTube.
What is the Best YouTube SEO Tool?
- VidIQ — best of the best
- Taja AI — best for content creators
- TubeBuddy — best for competitive analysis
- MorningFa.Me — best for personalized insights
- YT Cockpit — best for niche analysis
- TubeRanker — best for rank tracking
- Keyword Tool — best for long-tail keywords
1. VidIQ
Our Verdict — Best Of The Best
Price: Starts at $19/month
VidIQ is an incredible toolbox that enables creators to get daily, relevant video ideas for their YouTube channel using AI. We think it’s the best of the best because of the insights you can get from AI, the ability to discover what content is working for your most successful competitors’ channels, and the SEO keyword, title and description recommendations designed to get you more views and subscribers.
The Best Part:
- Tasty competitor insights. Analyze competitor channels to find new video ideas, learn from their SEO strategies, and refine your content.
The Worst Part:
- Not for beginners. The more advanced features like advanced analytics and competitive insights come at a hefty price tag, which can be a bit challenging for small channels.
Get it if you want to learn what makes other channels grow.
I recommend you get started with the free plan.
(free plan)
Best For
VidIQ is best for content creators that want to learn what makes great channels great.
Top Features
An idea a day keeps the debt away. Get automated fresh video ideas based on trending topics, delivered on a daily basis.
Full-blown audits. Get the full picture of your channel's performance, find strengths and weaknesses, and optimize for quicker, easier growth.
What works and what doesn’t. Analyze your channel growth over time, find trends, and figure out which types of videos have the best historical success.
Keywords for years. Figure out the best keywords to target, to boost your video's visibility and climb up the search rankings.
Checklist. Ensure all your videos are optimized for search, with a step-by-step checklist that will keep you always on top.
Pricing
VidIQ offers three pricing plans:
- Free: $0 for 150 AI credits a month.
- Boost: $19/month, or $16.58/month on annual billing, for 2,000 AI credits a month.
- Max: $49/month, or $39/month on annual billing, for 6,000 AI credits a month and Max Mode.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 20% discount.
Try VidIQ today with the free plan.
2. Taja AI
Our Verdict — Best For Content Creators
Price: Starts at $19.99/month
Taja AI is a content creator’s wet dream, generating tons of ranking opportunities with the power of repurposing. We think it’s the best for content creators because it helps you optimize your videos with a single click.
The Best Part:
Instant optimization. One click is all it takes to generate impactful titles, video descriptions, hashtags, tags, and video chapters — all for your SEO.
The Worst Part:
Limited branding. I myself find the done-for-you templates beautiful, but if you’re a control freak when it comes to every little detail of your design, Taja AI might drive you a bit crazy.
Get it if you want to drive more organic traffic with your videos, without spending hours studying SEO.
I recommend you get started with the 7-day free trial.
(7-day free trial)
Best For
Taja AI is best for content creators who want to get more results while investing less time in their YouTube channel.
Top Features
Opportunity seeker. Find gaps and opportunities for videos on undiscovered keyword topics that have high demand and low competition.
Automatic keyword research. Taja AI will give you keyword suggestions so you can optimize all of your written assets, and improve your visibility.
Captions, DFY. Get your videos transcribed and captioned, without lifting a finger, and rank for more keywords.
Take a peek. You can monitor and benchmark yourself against your competitors, to see what you could improve.
Trends. Taja AI is able to find trending topics that have the potential to generate viral opportunities for you, in real-time.
Pricing
Taja AI offers three pricing plans:
- Starter: $19.99/month, or $15.99/month on annual billing, for 1 user, 1 social set, and 4 long-form videos a month.
- Professional: $49.99/month, or $39.99/month on annual billing, for 1 user, 5 social sets, and 10 long-form videos a month.
- Teams/Agency: $99.99/month, or $79.99/month on annual billing, for 5 users, 10 social sets, and unlimited videos.
Annual subscriptions provide a 20% discount.
Try Taja AI today with a free 7-day trial.
3. TubeBuddy
Our Verdict — Best For Competitive Analysis
Price: Starts at $15/month
TubeBuddy is an all-in-one app for YouTube growth. We think it’s the best for competitive analysis because of how efficient it is, saving you time, and getting you ranked over competitors.
The Best Part:
- Productivity overload. Manage channel defaults, get recommended tags, and navigate essential links with many shortcuts, saving you time and clicks.
The Worst Part:
- Slow start. There’s a maze of features for you to navigate through, which can be frustrating for new users looking to get started right away.
Get it if you want to tap into YouTube’s blackbox.
I recommend you get started with the free plan, then upgrade to the Legend plan.
(free plan)
Best For
TubeBuddy is best for anyone who wants to better their rankings on YouTube.
Top Features
Data-driven intelligence. Videolytics is a tool that enables you to track viewer behavior, analyze key metrics, and uncover actionable insights.
Thumbnail magic. Create scroll-stopping thumbnails that drive clicks. Test with templates and many options to design the perfect thumbnails.
Keyword meister. Learn from your competitors’ strategies, find untapped long-tail keywords, and crawl up the search results.
Time it up. Get more reach by scheduling uploads at the optimal times, based on how your audience behaves. Your own perfect upload window.
Gold nugget finder. Uncover hidden traffic growth opportunities where your channel can capitalize on trending topics within your niche.
Pricing
TubeBuddy offers four pricing plans:
- Free: Free forever, with no credit card required.
- Pro: $15/month for basic video, thumbnail, title, and tag optimization tools.
- Legend: $32.99/month for every TubeBuddy tool, including full SEO access and bulk processing.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing, for brands and teams managing several channels.
Annual subscriptions provide a 20% discount.
Try TubeBuddy today with the Legend plan.
4. MorningFa.Me
Our Verdict — Best For Personalized Insights
Price: Starts at $4.90/month
MorningFa.Me is a YouTube analytics and SEO tool that compares your channel with channels of a similar size. We think it’s the best for personalized insights because it shows you where your weak spots are and gives you specific recommendations to fix them.
The Best Part:
- Advice made for your channel. Instead of generic tips, you see how your stats stack up against similar channels and where your time is best spent.
The Worst Part:
- Invite only. You need an invite code to sign up, so you can’t just create an account and start.
Get it if you want to know exactly what’s holding your channel back.
I recommend you get an invite, use the free first month, then move to the Plus plan.
(first month free)
Best For
MorningFa.Me is best for small and mid-sized channels that want clear, data-backed advice on how to grow.
Top Features
Guided video SEO. MorningFa.Me walks you through optimizing each video, using best practices from experts like Brian G. Johnson.
Keyword research. Find the search terms worth targeting so your videos can rank in YouTube Search.
Niche Spy. Research your niche before you plan the next two weeks of videos.
Spot your winners. At a glance, you see which videos worked and which flopped, so you can repeat what works.
Track record. MorningFa.Me users have gained more than 343 million subscribers and 75 billion views.
Pricing
MorningFa.Me offers two pricing plans:
- Basic: $4.90/month, for rich channel analytics, plus 24 hours of full keyword research and Niche Spy access up to every 12 days.
- Plus: $12.90/month, for rich channel analytics and full access to the keyword research tool and Niche Spy.
Try MorningFa.Me today with the first month free.
5. YT Cockpit
Our Verdict — Best For Niche Analysis
Price: Starts at $19/month
YT Cockpit is a cloud-based YouTube keyword research tool from SwissMadeMarketing. We think it’s the best for niche analysis because it shows how hard each keyword is to rank for and pulls competitor data on the top 20 videos for every keyword idea.
The Best Part:
- Competition at a glance. For every keyword idea, you see the minimum and maximum views on the first results page, so you know if a niche is worth entering.
The Worst Part:
- No free plan. You pay from day one, although a 30-day money-back guarantee covers you if it’s not a fit.
Get it if you want to find niches with real search volume and competition you can beat.
I recommend you start with the Pro plan, since it adds the YTCockpitTracker rank tracker.
(30-day money-back guarantee)
Best For
YT Cockpit is best for creators and marketers who research a niche before they make a single video.
Top Features
YouTube keyword ideas. Find keywords with a respectable search volume, pulled from YouTube Suggest and Google’s keyword data.
Difficulty check. See how easy or hard each keyword is to rank for, based on the existing competition.
Fast analysis. YT Cockpit analyzes hundreds of videos per minute, so you’re not left waiting.
Rank tracking bonus. Pro and Agency include YTCockpitTracker, to follow 50 or 100 keywords.
Nothing to install. It runs in the cloud, so you can use it from any browser.
Pricing
YT Cockpit offers three pricing plans:
- Personal: $19/month, or $199/year, for 10 searches per day and up to 100 results per search.
- Pro: $39/month, or $299/year, for 50 searches per day, up to 1,000 results per search, and YTCockpitTracker for 50 keywords.
- Agency: $99/month, or $799/year, for unlimited searches, up to 10,000 results per search, and YTCockpitTracker for 100 keywords.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 36% discount.
Try YT Cockpit today with the Pro plan.
6. TubeRanker
Our Verdict — Best For Rank Tracking
Price: Starts at $9.90/month
TubeRanker is a YouTube SEO toolkit that bundles keyword research, rank tracking, and channel audits. We think it’s the best for rank tracking because rank tracking is built into every plan.
The Best Part:
- Unlimited quick tools. Channel audits, the tag extractor, and the hashtag, title, and description generators have no limits on either plan.
The Worst Part:
- Capped keyword searches. Basic gives you 50 keyword searches a month, which can run out fast if you publish often.
Get it if you want to see where your videos rank and fix your metadata in one place.
I recommend you pay yearly, since it cuts the price in half.
(50% off yearly)
Best For
TubeRanker is best for creators who want to track their keyword rankings without paying for a big all-in-one suite.
Top Features
Rank tracker. Track 20 keywords on Basic or 100 on Advanced and watch how your videos move.
Keyword research. Run 50 or 250 keyword searches a month to find terms worth targeting.
Channel audits. Audit your channel as often as you like to find what’s holding it back.
Tag extractor. See the tags behind other videos and learn from what your competitors use.
Metadata generators. Generate hashtags, titles, and descriptions for your videos without limits.
Pricing
TubeRanker offers two pricing plans:
- Basic: $9.90/month, or $59.40/year, for 50 keyword searches per month and 20 tracked keywords.
- Advanced: $19.90/month, or $119.40/year, for 250 keyword searches per month and 100 tracked keywords.
Annual subscriptions provide a 50% discount.
Try TubeRanker today with the Basic plan.
7. Keyword Tool
Our Verdict — Best For Long-Tail Keywords
Price: Starts at $88/month
Keyword Tool is a research tool that pulls its suggestions straight from YouTube autocomplete. We think it’s the best for long-tail keywords because a single search term gives you more than 750 long-tail ideas.
The Best Part:
- Keywords other tools miss. Autocomplete surfaces the questions and specific searches that ad-based keyword planners tend to hide.
The Worst Part:
- Search volume costs extra. The free version gives you keyword ideas, but search volume, cost per click, and competition data are only in the paid plans.
Get it if you want hundreds of long-tail keyword and tag ideas for every video.
I recommend you test the free version first, then upgrade to Starter when you need search volume.
(free version)
Best For
Keyword Tool is best for YouTubers who want to rank for specific, lower-competition searches.
Top Features
YouTube autocomplete. Keyword Tool adds letters and numbers before and after your term to pull more than 750 suggestions.
Tags and hashtags. Generate video tags and find popular hashtags for regular videos and Shorts.
Search data on paid plans. Every result gets search volume, cost per click, competition, and trend data.
17 platforms. The same research works for Google, Amazon, TikTok, Instagram, and more.
API and MCP. Export to CSV or Excel, or connect your research to AI tools through the API and MCP server.
Pricing
Keyword Tool offers four pricing plans:
- Starter: $88/month, or $68/month billed annually, for 50 requests per day.
- Growth: $188/month, or $148/month billed annually, for 100 requests per day.
- Scale: $388/month, or $308/month billed annually, for 200 requests per day.
- Agency: $788/month, or $628/month billed annually, for 400 requests per day.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 23% discount.
Try Keyword Tool today for free.
Our Top Three Picks
Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:
Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
VidIQ | Free plan | Starts at $19/mo |
Taja AI | 7-day free trial | Starts at $19.99/mo |
TubeBuddy | Free plan | Starts at $15/mo |
MorningFa.Me | First month free | Starts at $4.90/mo |
YT Cockpit | None | Starts at $19/mo |
TubeRanker | None | Starts at $9.90/mo |
Keyword Tool | Free version | Starts at $88/mo |
Here are the top 50 YouTube SEO tools we considered in this review:
- VidIQ
- Taja AI
- TubeBuddy
- MorningFa.me
- YT Cockpit
- TubeRanker
- Keyword Tool
- Rival IQ
- 1of10
- Submagic
- HootSuite
- Opus Clip
- Sprout Social
- Repurpose IO
- Zubtitle
- Designs AI
- Ahrefs
- Thumbnail Test
- Social Blade
- Moz Pro
- Rapidtags
- ViewStats
- BrandWell
- AnswerThePublic
- SpeechGen.io
- Subscribr
- AISEO
- SpyFu
- Ubersuggest
- Exploding Topics
- Semrush One
- TubeLab
- WooRank
- OutlierKit
- Keywords Everywhere
- HyperSuggest
- Screaming Frog
- Similarweb
- Google Trends
- Soovle
- VidTechy
- Gling AI
- Serpstat
- MyLast.Video
- YouTube Studio
- Keyword Tool Dominator
- Later
- Sitechecker
- Tubular Labs
- BuzzSumo
Frequently Asked Questions About YouTube SEO Tools
What are YouTube SEO tools?
YouTube SEO tools help you get more organic views by finding the right keywords, optimizing titles and descriptions, analyzing competitors, and tracking how your videos rank. They turn YouTube's data into clear recommendations so your videos show up in more searches and suggested feeds.
What is the best YouTube SEO tool?
VidIQ is our pick for the best overall because of its AI-driven video ideas, competitor insights, and keyword, title, and description recommendations. For specific needs, Taja AI is best for content creators, TubeBuddy is best for competitive analysis, YT Cockpit is best for niche analysis, TubeRanker is best for rank tracking, and Keyword Tool is best for long-tail keywords. The right choice depends on whether you focus on ideas, competitors, or rankings.
How much does VidIQ cost?
VidIQ has a free plan so you can test its features before paying, and Boost starts at $19/month. Its more advanced tools, like deeper analytics and competitive insights, sit on higher-priced tiers that can be a stretch for small channels, so it is best suited to creators ready to invest in growth.
Is there a free YouTube SEO tool?
Yes. VidIQ has a free plan with 150 AI credits a month, and Keyword Tool lets you research long-tail keywords for free. The most advanced analytics and competitor features are paid, so smaller channels often start free or on a basic plan before upgrading.
How does VidIQ help grow a channel?
VidIQ delivers fresh, AI-generated video ideas daily based on trending topics, runs full channel audits to find strengths and weaknesses, and analyzes competitor channels to reveal their SEO strategies. It also recommends the best keywords to target and gives a checklist to make sure every video is optimized for search.
What is the best YouTube tool for competitor analysis?
TubeBuddy is best for competitive analysis because it focuses on benchmarking your channel against others. VidIQ also offers strong competitor insights as part of its all-in-one toolkit, so if competitor research is your main goal, TubeBuddy specializes in it while VidIQ covers it alongside ideas and optimization.
The Bottom Line
To recap, here are the best YouTube SEO software to try this year: