Best Free Competitor Analysis Tools [2025]

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Competitive analysis tools help you understand market trends, identify gaps, and improve strategic decisions. Listed below are the top 10 free competitor analysis tools for 2024, along with their key features, benefits, pros, and cons. The entries are organized under their respective headings.

Keeping up with the competition is easier with any of these tools. However, it’s important to pick one that’s right for your business’s needs and goals. When choosing a tool, you should also consider how easy it is to use, how much it costs, and how scalable it is. You should also read reviews and feedback from other users to make sure the tool is reliable.

1. SEMrush (Free Version)

SEMrush’s free version offers keyword tracking, backlink monitoring, and domain comparisons, but it’s limited. The free version also shows you your competitors’ best-performing pages, ads, and traffic sources.

Besides that, users can see how their competitors are doing with organic and paid search. Although the free version doesn’t include all the features in the paid versions, it’s still pretty good.

Positives:

Keyword research that’s comprehensive.

We’ll analyze your backlinks for up to 10 queries a day.

Analyze your competitors’ traffic.

The interface is intuitive and user-friendly.

Negatives:

The free version only has limited data.

Access to advanced features is restricted.

Results skewed towards big markets.

You have to create an account to access it.

2. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Backlink audits and keyword performance for your domain are included, along with insights into your competitors’ link strategies. In addition, it provides valuable information on organic search traffic, including clicks, impressions, and position.

In addition, it gives you info on your site’s technical SEO, like site speed and broken links. You can also use it to identify new link building opportunities, optimize your site for search engines, and measure your results. Additionally, it provides detailed reports and analytics to help you make smart decisions.

Positives:

Analysis of backlinks that’s accurate.

An SEO diagnostic that’s comprehensive.

The performance of your links every day.

Easily integrates with your website.

Negatives:

With the free version, you don’t have to pay for keyword research.

Tracking is limited to one domain and one competitor.

The learning curve is a little steeper.

Website ownership needs to be verified.

3. Google Trends

Analyze search interest and compare trending topics across various regions and timeframes with this free tool. Using it, you can see how a topic is doing over time, and how it compares to others. A Google Trends search can also help you find out if there are any opportunities or threats in an industry.

Strategic planning and decision-making can be aided by Google Trends. You can use it to find out about new markets and trends, as well as understand customer behavior. Google Trends can also be used to measure marketing campaigns. This can give you valuable feedback and metrics that you can use to refine future campaigns.

Positives:

It’s easy to use and doesn’t require registration.

Seasonal trends can be identified with this.

Gives you insights into what consumers are doing.

A real-time data analysis system.

Negatives:

Data on competitors isn’t specific.

Data isn’t as granular as it should be.

It doesn’t support advanced filtering.

Options for exporting are limited.

4. Moz Link Explorer

The tool analyzes backlinks and domain authority to give you insight into your competitors. Mz Link Explorer also provides a list of broken backlinks, which you can use to reach out to them.

Users can also compare their backlinks with their competitors. In addition to identifying potential link opportunities, Mz Link Explorer can keep an eye on your backlinks for freshness and relevance. SEO professionals and business owners who want to improve their backlink profile can’t live without Mz Link Explorer.

Positives:

Hundreds of backlinks at your fingertips.

We’ve got domain authority and spam score metrics.

Visualizations you can understand.

It’s easy to compare multiple domains.

Negatives:

There’s a limit of 10 free queries a month.

There aren’t many export options in the free version.

Backlinks can take a while to update.

The interface is basic compared to paid tools.

5. SpyFu (Free Plan)

With SpyFu’s free plan, you can see what keywords, ads, and organic traffic your competitors are using. Using this information, you can target similar keywords and ads to gain a competitive edge. You’ll also get a better idea of which organic channels are driving the most traffic to your competitors’ sites.

You can also spy on your competitors’ backlink profiles to find potential new opportunities. Your website can be optimized and your search engine rankings can improve with this data. With SpyFu, you can also watch your competitors’ ads to give yourself an edge.

Positives:

Data-driven approach to PPC.

Data availability for historical periods.

Beginners will have no problem using it.

Clearly explained and actionable.

Negatives:

There are some restrictions in the free version.

There’s a difference in data accuracy by region.

There aren’t many organic traffic metrics.

You don’t want ads cluttering up your interface.

6. Ubersuggest

You can analyze keywords and domains for free with Ubersuggest, which focuses on actionable SEO metrics. There are lots of features in Ubersuggest, including keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink tracking. You’ll also get a comprehensive SEO dashboard with insights into your site’s performance.

If you’re looking for a free, comprehensive SEO tool, Ubersuggest is what you need. You can use it for free and get valuable insights that will help you drive traffic to your site.

Positives:

Users with free accounts get generous query limits.

This is great for researching long-tail keywords.

Reports that are easy to understand.

Details about domains and backlinks.

Negatives:

Options for exporting data are limited.

There can be some inconsistencies in metrics.

There aren’t many competitor comparison features.

There are a lot of ads for premium upgrades.

7. SimilarWeb (Free Edition)

SimilarWeb’s free version lets you see website traffic, audience demographics, and engagement metrics. Check out your competitors’ websites and find out what they’re doing. Keep an eye on your website’s performance, analyze trends, and optimize it. Reports can be exported in CSV format. Over 150 million websites to choose from. You’ll get daily updates on the performance of your website.

Make it easy to integrate with popular marketing tools. Make your reports your own with filters and graphs. You can access historical data and trends. Whenever your website’s traffic changes, you’ll get an alert. Make sure your keywords are performing well. Get detailed info on your website’s visitors.

Positives:

A detailed breakdown of traffic and engagement.

Benchmarking your competitors is easy.

User-friendly design for non-techies.

You don’t need an account to use the basic features.

Negatives:

Smaller sites don’t have much data.

In the free version, there’s no historical data.

There are some features that you have to pay for.

Data updates are slow compared to other tools.

8. AnswerThePublic

With this tool, you can find out what people are searching for, reveal trends and find popular queries related to your competitors. Your website can be optimized for search engines, and you can target potential customers with this data. Additionally, it lets you know what people want and how to reach them.

The data is invaluable for positioning and marketing your products or services better. Identifying growth and expansion opportunities is another benefit. With this info, you can refine marketing strategies and target the right people. Profitable businesses make informed decisions based on the right data. For any business to succeed, having access to the right data is crucial.

Positives:

The query data is visual and easy to understand.

It’s great for coming up with content ideas.

You don’t have to log in to use it.

Finds out what customers are struggling with.

Negatives:

You can only search once a day.

Comparative analysis wasn’t done.

There aren’t any filtering options.

Technical SEO tasks aren’t recommended.

9. Facebook Ad Library

Facebook Ad Library lets you see what your competitors are running, making it essential for social media strategists. All ads running on the platform, including those that have been deactivated, can be viewed there. Moreover, the library lets you compare the performance of different ads, so you can make informed choices.

Ads can also be targeted for specific demographics and locations through the library. It’s a great way to figure out how your competitors’ campaigns are doing. As well as saving and sharing ads, the library lets you keep them for later. When users are making ad campaign decisions, they can quickly access data.

Positives:

You can see what’s going on with your ads.

Multiple filters like region and platform are supported.

With unlimited access, it’s free.

It’s great for analyzing creative strategies.

Negatives:

Only works on Facebook and Instagram.

Metrics for engagement and performance aren’t there.

Data on historical ads isn’t available.

For insights, you have to track manually.

10. BuiltWith

Business can learn what tools top players in their industry use through BuiltWith’s technology stacks. With this data, they can make decisions about their own technology stack, helping them stay ahead of the competition.

Besides tracking website changes, BuiltWith lets users keep up with their competition. BuiltWith also lets you see estimated costs for your competitors’ tech stacks, so you can budget your own.

Positives:

A look at what’s going on with websites.

Finds out what’s hot in software.

The export feature is supported.

For basic searches, you don’t have to sign up.

Negatives:

This is limited to technology insights.

There’s no guarantee of data accuracy.

We don’t benchmark against each other.

There’s a limit on how much you can search for free.

Comparison Table

Conclusion

The choice of a competitor analysis tool depends on specific business needs. It is important to consider the cost, features, scalability, and ease of use when selecting a competitor analysis tool. Additionally, it is important to consider the team’s level of expertise and the complexity of the analysis.

Small businesses: Ubersuggest and Google Trends for affordability and simplicity.

Enterprises: SEMrush and Ahrefs for comprehensive insights.

Social media-centric brands: Facebook Ad Library for creative benchmarking.

Tech-focused industries: BuiltWith to analyze technological strategies.

B2B businesses, G2Crowd to compare product features and reviews. B2C businesses SurveyMonkey to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Choose a combination of tools to maximize your competitive edge in 2024!