AlsoAsked vs Google Keyword Planner in 2026: Paid question data vs free volume ranges from Google
AlsoAsked charges $12 to $47 a month for live People Also Asked question trees. Google Keyword Planner is free but built for advertisers, and shows volume as broad ranges unless you are actively spending on ads.
AlsoAsked
Google Keyword Planner- AlsoAsked returns live question trees from Google's People Also Asked feature. Google Keyword Planner returns search volume ranges and CPC data built for advertisers.
- Google Keyword Planner is free with any Google account. AlsoAsked's lowest tier is $12/month.
- Keyword Planner only shows precise search volume numbers to accounts with active Google Ads spend; otherwise volumes appear as broad ranges like 1K to 10K.
- AlsoAsked has zero search volume data by design; Keyword Planner has zero question-level intent data by design.
- Both tools offer API access: AlsoAsked's sits on the $47/month Pro plan, and Keyword Planner's free Google Ads API requires a developer token.
- AlsoAsked updates within hours of breaking news because it pulls live PAA data; Keyword Planner's volume estimates are historical averages, not real-time signals.
AlsoAsked and Google Keyword Planner sit at opposite ends of keyword research: one is a paid, single-purpose intent tool, the other is a free tool built for ad campaign planning that SEOs have repurposed for two decades. AlsoAsked returns the branching tree of questions Google clusters around a topic, live from PAA boxes, and charges $12 to $47 a month for it. Google Keyword Planner is free with any Google account, sourced directly from Google's own search data, but requires a Google Ads account to access and shows search volumes as wide ranges rather than precise numbers unless the account has active ad spend. Neither tool gives you both pieces of the puzzle: AlsoAsked has no volume data at all, and Keyword Planner has no question-level intent mapping. The useful comparison is not which tool wins, but which gap in your research process each one fills.
The tools at a glance
AlsoAsked
Live People Also Asked data with intent clustering, bulk exports, and city-level international targeting for content strategy
AlsoAsked is built entirely around one feature: Google's People Also Asked box. Query a topic and it returns the full branching tree of related questions Google surfaces underneath it, pulled live rather than modeled from historical data. The tree exports as a PNG or, on paid tiers, a CSV, structured in a way that maps directly to FAQ schema or a content outline.
Pricing runs $12 to $47 a month with unlimited seats on every tier, which is a real cost against Keyword Planner's free access. What that cost buys is speed and specificity: new PAA questions can surface within hours of a news event, and city-level international targeting is included at every price point rather than reserved for an enterprise tier.
AlsoAsked has no interest in search volume, keyword difficulty, or CPC. It assumes you are validating commercial value somewhere else and only needs to answer one question: what does a page need to cover to satisfy this search intent.
| Feature | Basic $12/month | Lite $23/month | Pro $47/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credits per month | 100 | 300 | 1,000 |
| CSV data export | No | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk searches | No | No | Yes |
| API access | No | No | Yes |
Google Keyword Planner
Free keyword research and forecasting tool from Google, built into Google Ads with search volume data direct from the source
Google Keyword Planner is the free keyword tool built into Google Ads. Enter a seed keyword, phrase, or URL and it returns related keyword suggestions with search volume, competition level, and CPC, all sourced directly from Google rather than modeled by a third party. That data provenance is the main reason SEOs have kept using it alongside paid tools for years.
The real cost is friction, not money: you need a Google Ads account and billing profile to access it, even if you never spend a cent on ads. And unless that account has active ad spend, search volumes show as wide ranges like 1K to 10K rather than a specific number, which limits how precisely you can prioritize a keyword list.
It was designed for paid campaign planning, not organic SEO. There is no keyword difficulty score, no SERP analysis, and no organic competition data. CPC works as a rough proxy for commercial intent, but Keyword Planner functions best as a free cross-reference against a dedicated organic tool rather than a standalone research platform.
| Feature | Free Free |
|---|---|
| Search volume data | Yes (ranges unless active ad spend) |
| CPC and competition data | Yes |
| Precise volume figures | Only with active Google Ads spend |
| API access | Yes (Google Ads API, developer token required) |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | AlsoAsked | Google Keyword Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Core data source | Live Google People Also Asked boxes | Google Ads search data, direct from Google |
| Search volume data | No | Yes (ranges by default, precise with active spend) |
| Question-level intent output | Yes (branching question tree) | No |
| CPC / commercial intent signal | No | Yes (CPC by keyword) |
| Cost to access | $12-47/mo, unlimited seats | Free, requires a Google Ads account |
| Precise volume without ad spend | N/A (no volume data at all) | No, volumes shown as broad ranges without active spend |
| API access | Yes (Pro plan, $47/mo) | Yes (Google Ads API, developer token required) |
| Free tier | No formal free tier (3 free searches/day, non-registered) | Yes, fully free with any Google account |
| Starting price | $12/mo | Free |
Which should you choose?
Google Keyword PlannerAlsoAskedGoogle Keyword PlannerAlsoAskedGoogle Keyword PlannerAlsoAskedThis comparison is less about which tool is better and more about which half of keyword research you are missing. Google Keyword Planner is the only free source of Google's own search volume and CPC data, but it is built for advertisers and hides precise numbers from accounts with no ad spend. AlsoAsked has no volume data whatsoever but shows, with more granularity than Keyword Planner ever will, exactly what questions a topic raises. Most SEO workflows end up needing both: Keyword Planner to validate commercial value, AlsoAsked to build the content that actually answers the query.
Bottom line
Use Google Keyword Planner first because it costs nothing and gives you Google's own volume and CPC data to prioritize which topics are worth pursuing. Add AlsoAsked once you have a shortlist of topics and need to know what questions a page actually has to answer to satisfy the searcher; $12/month for the Basic plan is a low bar for that. Running Keyword Planner alone leaves you with volume but no intent structure. Running AlsoAsked alone leaves you with intent but no way to size the opportunity. The two are additive, not competitive.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Keyword Planner or AlsoAsked better for free keyword research?
Google Keyword Planner is the better free option since it costs nothing beyond setting up a Google Ads account, while AlsoAsked has no free plan and starts at $12/month. The trade-off is that Keyword Planner shows search volume as broad ranges unless your account has active ad spend, whereas AlsoAsked's paid access gives you full question-level data regardless of spend.
Why does Google Keyword Planner show volume ranges instead of exact numbers?
Google restricts precise search volume figures to accounts that are actively running and paying for Google Ads campaigns. Accounts without ad spend see broad buckets such as 1K to 10K or 10K to 100K monthly searches instead of an exact figure, which makes fine-grained keyword prioritization harder for organic-only teams.
Can AlsoAsked replace Google Keyword Planner for SEO research?
No, they cover different halves of the research process and neither replaces the other. AlsoAsked has no search volume, competition, or CPC data at all, while Keyword Planner has no question-level intent mapping. A full workflow typically uses Keyword Planner to validate demand and AlsoAsked to build the content brief.
How does AlsoAsked's question tree data compare to Google Keyword Planner's keyword suggestions?
AlsoAsked returns a branching tree of actual questions Google clusters around a topic, sourced from live PAA boxes, while Google Keyword Planner returns a flat list of related keyword phrases with volume and CPC attached. AlsoAsked is structured around intent and conversation flow; Keyword Planner is structured around discrete terms an advertiser could bid on.
Do I need a Google Ads account to use Google Keyword Planner?
Yes, a Google Ads account is required to access Keyword Planner, though you do not need to spend any money on actual ad campaigns. You will need to set up a billing profile during account creation even if you never activate a campaign, which is the main friction point for organic-only SEOs.
Which tool updates faster when a topic is trending, AlsoAsked or Google Keyword Planner?
AlsoAsked updates faster because it pulls live data directly from Google's PAA boxes, with new questions often appearing within hours of a breaking news event. Google Keyword Planner's volume estimates are based on historical search data and do not reflect real-time spikes with the same immediacy.