SpyFu
SpyFu is a competitor research tool that reveals the SEO and PPC keywords, ads and estimated spend behind rival domains. It is mainly used for competitor research, content planning and site audits.
#21 in Marketing ToolsSEO ToolsNo free plan
Who it's for
Best for
Agencies that research competitor ad spend and keywords for client onboarding
SaaS marketers building blog content from competitor keyword lists
Not for
- Media buyers who need complete ad coverage and exact spend figures
SEO analysts forecasting traffic from precise search volume data
Features
Competitor keyword and ad research
Shows the SEO and PPC keywords competitors buy and rank for, every ad they have tested, and how a site compares.
AI-powered site audit
Scans for over 100 technical and on-page issues, then generates ready-to-review fixes for titles, links and content.
SpyFu GPT in ChatGPT
Connects search data to ChatGPT so questions about traffic and pages turn into step-by-step recommendations.
Daily performance tracking
Monitors keyword rankings, ad performance and competitive positioning, with data refreshed every 15 minutes.
Keyword and ad exports
Downloads competitors' most profitable keywords and ads for SEO, PPC, content, AI, backlinks and mentions work.
What users say
Pros
- Finds related keywords competitors rank for, and blog posts built from them brought 5,500 signups without paid ads.
- New-account onboarding research gets a quick read on competitors' Google Ads terms and estimated monthly spend.
- Supplies extra keyword suggestions during research, used alongside Google Keyword Planner and ChatGPT before copywriting.
Cons
- Ad spend estimates land far from reality: $8,000 reported for a month that actually billed $50,000.
- Competitor ad coverage is incomplete, leaving out most of the ads an advertiser is actually running.
- Search volume and keyword figures are inaccurate enough that they need cross-checking in other tools.
- Reported competitor keyword usage can be wrong, flagging a trademarked name that is not in the page source.
A selection of the review sources we used:
Summarized from public user reviews and community discussions. View details
Global Traffic Rank
Top 1M
Alternatives
Rank#21 in category#1 in category#2 in category#3 in category
Free planNoYesYesYes
ProCompetitor keyword ideas, real content wins, ad spend dataFar cheaper than big SEO suites, quick keyword ideas and auditsCheap SEO suite, plain interface, fast replies, solid keywordsFinds broken links fast, reliable custom extraction, same-day replies
Better forCity-level local SERP analysis across 65,000+ locations and simple daily keyword difficulty checks.Deep technical site crawling with JavaScript rendering, custom data extraction, and XML sitemap generation.
Weaker atUncovering competitor Google Ads campaigns, historic ad copy, and paid search spend.Researching competitor keywords, Google Ads history, and ongoing rank tracking.