If you’re stopping by, it means we need to do some explaining here. Below, you’ll find out what all the data means and how we got to it in the first place. So let’s start with the latter.
Step 1: the complete list of rank trackers
To make the calculator thingy work – first, we needed an exhaustive list of all available rank tracking tools. Lucky us, we were already monitoring 515 keywords in this niche.

All we had to do was export the Competitors report, i.e., 1000+ websites.

Which we manually visited to decide whether or not they are in fact a Google rank monitoring service and not just some SERP intruder (90% false positives!!!). To our surprise – we found as many as 107 providers! A few websites seemed rather outdated, others had years of social media inactivity. Nonetheless – we didn’t exclude any provider.
Step 2: all rank tracking packages and pricing schemes
The next step was to collect all the available pricing packages and options (package cost, number of keywords, update frequency, payment schedule, etc.). Monkey job, yes, but someone had to do it!
And here’s where things get a bit tricky. Rank tracking tools come in different shapes and sizes. In fact, we had to drop 2 or 3 providers from the equation; there was simply no way we could objectively compare them to the others. Apples and oranges, you see? What we ended up with were 3 pricing schemes:
- Keyword Packages – these are by far the most popular, the iPhones of rank trackers. Similarly, what you get is a nice package but no control over anything else :) There are X keywords updated on a Y basis. What happens when you have less than X keywords in your account? You’ll still pay the same fee, month after month, for a service which you constantly underuse. What happens if you need less often keyword updates? Or different update schedules among projects? Nothing, you’ll still pay the full monthly fee even though you only need weekly or monthly keyword tracking.
- Monthly-Expiring Credit Packages – this pricing scheme allows for more control over how many keywords you can track and how often. Basically what you get is X keyword checks (credits = keywords x frequency) which you can spend on your projects during that month. You can either track a lot of keywords weekly, or 7 times fewer keywords daily, it’s entirely up to you. Additionally – regardless of whether or not you’re using the credits to their full capacity – they will expire at the end of the month.
- AsYouGo Credit Packages (Non-Expiring Credits) – these are the Androids of rank trackers. You have complete control over how many keywords you track, how many projects you create, and how often you set them to update. These are usage-based rank trackers. You only pay what you use.
Some providers offer various add-ons, others charge more for additional features such as the number of projects, competitors, or users, ability to export data, white-label reports, etc.
To compare them, we had to find some “common ground” first. We needed to translate packages into their canonical version. As trivial as this may sound, one thing became clear –
all providers charge by how many keyword rank checks they need to perform on your behalf! This is not the number of keywords in your projects’ settings; we’re talking about how often they need to update their rank! Aka – how many
keyword checks! So if you need to save on rank tracking services – choose a provider that allows you to control how often you set up your projects to update. Better yet, choose SEOlium; we’re the only rank tracker with On-Demand updates and non-expiring credits that you can use anytime.