Best Spyfu Alternatives & Competitors for 2023 [Compared]

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Spying on your competitors is a recommended part of any robust SEO strategy. Having led the competitor analytics market for a while, we’re looking at the best SpyFu alternatives so you gain the upper hand when it comes to topping search engine rankings.

While SpyFu is one of the best competitor analysis tools out there, there are other excellent SEO tools that are often more efficient and accurate, sometimes coming with lower price tags too.

Narrowing down the selection of competitor analysis tools is a pretty laborious task but luckily we’ve done the hard work for you and found the top 10 SpyFu alternatives to try out.

What Is SpyFu and Why Is It So Popular?

Before we dive into the top SpyFu alternatives, let’s first take a look at what SpyFu does well and where there’s room for improvement.

Created in 2005, SpyFu is one of the oldest competitor analysis tools around. The platform offers some of the most diverse and in-depth competitor analysis tools around.

Leveraging SpyFu will help you uncover all of your competitors’ closely guarded SEO secrets. Implement your competitors’ top-performing SEO strategies and outrank them on search engine results.

Discover the top pages, keywords, backlinks, and PPC Adwords of competing sites.

Price: Monthly plans begin at $39. A professional monthly plan is $78 and the top tier team monthly plan is $299.

Pros	Cons
Analyze an unlimited number of competing sites, and perform unlimited searches.	Competitor data and analysis are often inaccurate.
Track up to 80 million domains and 5 billion results.	SpyFu doesn’t identify new competitors - you need to know who your competitors are beforehand.
View an in-depth breakdown of your competitors’ traffic sources, backlinks, and top-ranking keywords.	The database can seem limited despite 10 years of historical data.
Clear and easy to use interface that doesn’t overwhelm with data.	Less focus on analyzing your own domain.
Resources are available to help you learn how to leverage the platform.	Ad spend is just an estimate.

Top 10 SpyFu Alternatives

1. SE Ranking

All-in-one SEO software SE Ranking is an easy tool to find your way around and boasts some top-level competitor analysis to boot. ‍

Analyzing both SEO and PPC campaigns, SE Ranking will help you understand the full extent of your competitors’ strategy for strong performance in search engine rankings.

Daily ranking updates ensure you’re always ahead of the curve and ready to make adjustments to your SEO/PPC strategy should you need to.

Price: SE Ranking uses a flexible pricing model based on how many keyword rankings you want to check, how frequently and the duration of your subscription. Plans start at $23.40/month and steadily increase.

Best for: Businesses looking for a reasonably priced SEO platform at the expense of losing out on some more specific and detailed SEO metrics.

SE Ranking vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Uncover the top keywords your competitors are ranking for.	Less platform related support available, you’ll need to figure out how to use the platform for competitor analytics on your own.
Identify new PPC and SEO competitors.	Rank tracking can be inaccurate with missing keywords.
View your competitors’ backlink building strategy with its top-level backlink analysis tool.	Local SEO can be limited - if you’re looking to beat local businesses at their SEO/PPC strategy this could be inconvenient.
Receive the full list of competitors for any given search query.	Metrics are somewhat limited - there’s no data for metrics like competitive density and SERP features.
Discover your competitors’ most effective and popular ad campaigns.	Backlink index isn’t as extensive as other tools like Ahrefs.

2. SEO PowerSuite

Desktop-based SEO PowerSuite is a favourite for its competitor analysis features. It’s got some of the best competitor analysis tools available for diving deep into their SEO strategy to help guide your future campaigns.

Providing a competitive keyword checker, rank tracker and backlink analysis, SEO PowerSuite gives the user a full 360-degree insight into competitors’ SEO strategies.

The comprehensive backlink analysis tools allow you to compare five competing domains side by side with up to 50+ link quality factors helping you uncover how to build quality links.

Price: $299/year for the Professional Plan. $699/year for the enterprise plan. There’s also a free option that includes all tools, however, copying or exporting data isn’t enabled for free users.

Best for: Businesses looking for an all-in-one SEO tool that will give them knowledge of their competitors’ SEO strategy without delving into their PPC.

SEO PowerSuite vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Track your competitors’ rankings in any geographical location.	There are no PPC or advertising competitor research tools.
Calculate your SEO score and then compare it to that of your competitors.	Desktop installation requires a huge download and frequent time-consuming app updates.
View up to a year’s worth of data for your competitors’ backlink profile.	The user interface can seem dated compared to other cloud-based software.
Identify keywords your competitors are using that should be a part of your own SEO strategy.	Each user has to purchase a full-priced license to use the platform making it less appealing for larger teams.
Compare key SEO competitor stats like domain age, social media popularity, number of pages indexed in search engines and number of backlinks.	Only allows a side-by-side comparison of up to 6 domains.

3. Serpstat

A complete SEO platform, Serpstat is also a highly recommended SpyFu alternative, giving the classic competitor analysis tool a run for its money.

With a simple visual user interface, Serpstat is really easy to use and provides some of the most accurate competitor data around.

Identify those pages with the best visibility in your industry’s niche, not just by their keyword but also their unique content strategy that makes them stand out. Uncover both your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses to improve your own SEO strategy.

Consistent monitoring of your competitors’ weaker areas helps you identify keywords they’re losing their hold on so you can take their spot in the SERPs.

Price: A Lite Plan starts at $69/month with plans steadily increasing until the top Enterprise Plan at $499/month.

Best for: Businesses looking for a budget-friendly SEO tool to get their SEO and PPC competitor analysis started.

Using our promo codes: "growhackscale_access_5" - you get FREE access to Serpstat for 5 days and with "growhackscale_5" - you get a 5% additional discount for buying subscriptions starting from 3 months.

Serpstat vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Identify both your organic and paid search competitors..	Doesn’t locate all Google Ads which is frustrating for PPC competitor research.
Monitor your competitors’ rankings for unlimited numbers of keywords.	Doesn’t identify all backlinks.
Using a recently launched backlink index, it provides some of the most accurate and consistent results.	No social media tracking which doesn’t help if you want to understand yours or your competitors’ social media impact.
Uncover which pages of your competitors’ site rank for certain keywords.	Backlink metrics can be sluggish and slow to load.
Compare the rankings of up to 200 domains.	Fewer keywords displayed in the rankings tool compared to platforms like SEMrush.

4. AccuRanker

AccuRanker is a superstar SEO tool for accurate rank tracking. If you’re looking to specifically focus on tracking and spying on your competitors’ keyword rankings, AccuRanker may be the best SpyFu alternative for you.

AccuRanker makes it easy to identify your top competitors as well as analyze their sites’ high performing content. Entering your competitors’ domain name, you’ll see your competitors’ rankings for target keywords and you’ll be able to compare it against your own.

Consistent software updates make it one of the most comprehensive rank tracker tools out there.

Price: Flexible plans depend on the number of keywords tracked and frequency of rank checking. Monthly plans start at $109 for tracking up to 1000 keywords.

Best for: Businesses who want to exclusively track their own and their competitors’ keyword rankings and are happy to use other SEO tools for more in-depth competitor analysis.

AccuRanker vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Track your competitors’ rankings in both mobile and desktop SERPs.	Doesn’t provide competitive insights into backlink strategy.
Identify global and local competitor rankings based on location from entering relevant keywords.	Only provides competitor analysis for rankings, you’ll need to use it in combination with other SEO tools for best results.
Automatically checks either yours or competitor rankings every 24 hours.	Data can be slow to load.
Monitor up to 10 competitors’ rankings simultaneously.	Sometimes AccuRanker pulls up incorrect pages for target keywords, providing you with an inaccurate picture of either yours or your competitors’ rankings.
Using the Aggregated SERP Analysis Tool, view how yours or competing sites’ keyword strategies are directly impacting performance in the SERPs.	No plans available for less than 1000 keywords making it expensive for smaller sites.

5. Semrush

Semrush makes it easy to identify where your competitors are going wrong so you can easily swoop in and fill in the gaps, whether that be creating more relevant content or building more links.

This platform particularly excels at covering every aspect when assessing a competitor's SEO efforts. It has a number of tools tailored to cover all bases which include; Traffic Analytics, Organic Research, Advertising Research, Social Media Tracker, Keyword Gap, Backlink Analytics as well as other Competitor PR Monitoring Tools.

You can also find out which keywords your competitors are successfully ranking for, their full keyword strategy and what content they might be missing.

Price: Pro Plans cost $119.95/month. A Guru Plan is $229.95/month while a Business Plan is $449.95/month.

Best for: Businesses or agencies looking for highly advanced competitor analytics and other SEO tools to build a robust strategy.

Semrush vs. SpyFu

See how Semrush compares with SpyFu here.

Pros	Cons
Assess your competitors’ backlinks and figure out which high authority sites are linking to them.	User interface can be overwhelming with high volumes of data and metrics.
Unlike in SpyFu, discover your new competitors, helping you stay ahead of them before they have a chance to top the rankings.	It’s not possible to filter data by city. If local SEO is important to your business the lack of regional competitor analytics could be a problem.
Monitor your competitors’ performance in rankings on both mobile and desktop devices. See their top keywords, pages as well as their estimated organic traffic.	The Ad spend data is sometimes inaccurate making it hard to know what exactly your competitors are spending.
View your competitors’ lost links to uncover link building opportunities for your own site.	Some of the competitor data is incomplete which often means you’re left with just a general idea of how competing sites are doing.
Identify your main paid search competitors.	Highly technical metrics can be too much if you’re looking to just perform a couple of specific tasks.

6. Mangools Site Profiler

Made up of 5 different SEO tools, Mangools’ main SpyFu alternative comes packaged as the Site Profiler.

Site Profiler gives you a solid overview of both competing sites’ and your own SEO strategy. Take a look at how your competitors are doing when it comes to their backlinks and what anchor text they’re using.

Understanding the kinds of links and what anchor text is successfully working for your competitors is key to implementing a strong strategy across your own site.

Find new competitors, benchmark your site against competitors and identify new opportunities for success in search engine rankings.

Price: A Basic Plan is $29.90/month while a top tier Agency Plan is $79.90/month.

Best for: Businesses who aren’t necessarily looking for the most complex or comprehensive set of competitive analysis features but instead want a reasonably priced introduction to SEO.

Mangools Site Profiler vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Analyze your competitors’ backlinks with helpful metrics like Trust Flow and Citation Flow.	Limits of between 20 - 150 site lookups per 24 hours.
Discover the keywords your competitors are ranking for with the Keyword Research tool.	Loading data can be time-consuming.
The Google SERP analysis tool uses 45 SEO metrics to highlight the competitors’ strategy.	Competitor metrics can seem a bit basic compared to other platforms like SpyFu or SEMrush.
Create lists of your competitors’ most valuable backlinks so you can target them for your own site.	Link analysis tools aren’t always accurate and don’t always show your site’s links.
Using the Site Profiler feature, enter a domain and find out its top content to inform what would make your content strategy more relevant.	Limited help resources for understanding how to use the platform.

7. iSpionage

iSpionage is a great SpyFu alternative if you’re looking to obtain a detailed overview of the whole user journey from initial click to conversion on competing pages.

Primarily a PPC comparison tool, the algorithm looks for strong signs of campaign profitability and reports back to you which keywords and ads are fuelling your competitors’ strategy and which are hindering it.

iSpionage is also useful for SEO competitor research, uncovering the full competitive landscape for any keyword.

A clear dashboard also sets out key metrics and analytics like traffic volumes, page performance, ranking trends, and traffic value giving plenty of insight into other sites’ SEO strategies.

Price: A Starter Plan is $42/month while an Advanced Plan is $209/month. \

Best for: Businesses who want to prioritize a PPC strategy over SEO and figure out what their competitors are doing so they can get the edge.

iSpionage vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Visual graphics give you clear side-by-side comparisons of how your competitors are doing SEO-wise.	The SEO Watch feature only shows up to 24 months of historical data for page performance and keyword rankings.
Share of Voice feature shows you who’s leading the conversation in your industry niche. Uncover the exact content they’re using to dominate the landscape.	Less focus on backlink analysis.
User Journey tab allows you to see a clear picture of the key elements of ad copy, keywords, and landing page required to create a profitable campaign.	iSpionage is much more focused on PPC competitor analysis which is a downside if you’re looking to understand your competitors’ organic traffic.
Keyword Effectiveness Index measures how long competitors have been using certain keywords and when they were last live.	iSpionage sometimes misses out on some key competitors in reporting.
Ad Effectiveness Index determines the effectiveness of a competitor ad, assessing how valuable it is to the competitor.	No social competitive data.

8. Ahrefs

As one of the top - if not best SEO platforms available - Ahrefs’ competitor research tool known as Site Explorer combines three different competitor analytics tools into one.

An organic traffic research tool lets you see which keywords your competitors are ranking for and which of their pages bring in the most organic traffic.

The paid traffic research tool allows you to see whether your competitors are doing any paid search advertising and where that traffic is directed to.

Boasting one of the largest backlink databases in the industry, gain an understanding of which sites link to your competitors as well as the quality of their backlink profile.

All you have to do to get started is enter any site’s URL and you’ll receive a full overview of that site’s SEO performance.

Price: Lite Plans are $99/month for 1 user. Plans are priced based on the number of users and projects with a full-blown agency plan costing $999/month.Yearly plans come with discounts.

Best for: Businesses or agencies who are focused on uncovering their competitors’ backlink strategy to improve their own.

Ahrefs vs. SpyFu

See how Ahrefs compares with SpyFu here.

Pros	Cons
Track your competitors’ rankings in different countries and regions.	Heavy limitations on the most basic plan limit the platform to one user and just five projects unless you pay extra.
Use the SEO add-on for Chrome and Firefox web browsers. This tool shows metrics such as; backlinks profile, PPC cost and search volume for all search engine results.	User interface can be overwhelming if you’re new to SEO and the platform.
Access a database of 22 trillion backlinks for research into your competitors’ backlinks.	Metrics for keywords are sometimes surprisingly limited. There’s no data for competitive density and SERP features.
Spying on your competitors’ backlink, filtering them by link type as well as narrowing down the domains.	Tools are sometimes impossible to use simultaneously. Eg. you can’t always create a report for a site while performing competitor keyword analysis for the same site.
Identify all the keywords your competitors are ranking for and view their top-performing web pages.	Rank Tracking reports are only updated every 7 days for the Lite Plan or every 5 days for the Standard Plan. Other rank tracking tools like Accu Ranker update theirs every day.

9. Moz Pro

Moz Pro has some of the best competitor analysis tools for SEO in the industry making them an excellent SpyFu alternative.

Moz are actually the ones who created the Domain Authority and Page Authority metrics, two key measurements for successfully analyzing competing sites.

With a backlink database of 35.5 trillion links, it’s easy to analyze your competitors’ backlink strategy and how you can beat them.

While not as extensive as say Ahrefs or SEMrush, the backlink analysis tool provides substantial grounds for beginning an in-depth review of your competitors’ backlink strategy.

Price: A standard plan is $99/month with other plans ranging in price up until premium costing $599/month.

Best for: Businesses looking for in-depth SEO analysis of their own site along with some insight into competitors but without PPC metrics.

Moz Pro vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Install their free toolbar for web browsers Chrome and Firefox which shows both DA and PA in Google searches, giving you a quick overview of competing web pages.	Only allows you to compare up to 2 different domains side by side.
Enter a domain name into their Keyword Explorer tool and Moz pulls up the ranking position, estimated search volume and difficulty score for each keyword.	Competitor analysis metrics are not as in-depth as other tools.
Insert the specific page URL to find out how many keywords that page is ranking for.	More focus on analyzing your own site’s SEO strategy as opposed to the competitors.
The Link Intersect tool tracks down the sites linking to your competitors so that you can approach those sites for a backlink too.	No PPC analysis meaning MOZ is only useful if you’re looking to analyze organic search results.
Enable email reports so that you receive alerts related to any new rank changes.	No direct competitor email alerts like other platforms like Ahrefs.

10. KeywordSpy

KeywordSpy Sample Dashboard - SpyFu Alternatives

If you’re looking to specifically outrank your competitors’ keyword strategy KeywordSpy could be a great SpyFu alternative for you.

Providing both PPC and organic research tools, KeywordSpy explores your competitors’ top ranking keywords so you can streamline your own keyword strategy.

Their unique affiliates feature helps you uncover which products others in your industry are promoting so you can uncover other affiliate opportunities.

Price: A Basic Plan starts at $99/month.

Best for: Businesses who are looking to only perform PPC and organic research in multiple countries that are outside the US and UK.

KeywordSpy vs. SpyFu

Pros	Cons
Uncover the estimated spending on ads, PPC overview, organic overview and ad copies.	No competitor backlink analysis.
View data for 30+ countries, SpyFu only covers the UK and US.	SEO features are limited to keyword research for both PPC and organic search campaigns.
View lists of keywords your competitors are using in their ad campaigns and export them as CSV or Excel files.	No geographical tracking based on location which is bad news for local businesses.
Discover the profitability of each campaign with the ROI metric.	Metrics can seem limited compared to other tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs.
A browser plugin helps you analyze different SEO elements like Google Page Rank, domain age, Alexa Rank and Links while you’re searching for different queries.	Price is high for a platform that effectively only offers PPC and organic keyword research.

Which SpyFu Alternative is Best For You?

Understanding your competitors’ SEO strategy is key to outsmarting them and topping search engine rankings.

While SpyFu is often the go-to competitor analysis tool for SEO specialists, there are so many SpyFu alternatives that are often more suited to the kind of competitor analysis you’d like to perform.

Before deciding on one of these SpyFu alternatives, consider whether PPC or organic traffic research tools are more important to your strategy. Once you know which tool is best for your SEO strategy you can begin to leverage it to outsmart the competitors.

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