Debating if big brand SEO tools are worth the money anymore

I was at a coffee shop last week in Austin and this guy next to me was running Ahrefs on his laptop. I asked him what he thought and he said he paid $179 a month and barely uses half the features. On the flip side I know a guy who swears by free tools like Google Search Console and Ubersuggest and ranks just fine. So which side is right? Are we all just paying for fancy dashboards when the free stuff does the job? I'm leaning toward dropping my paid subscription but I'm scared I'll miss something important. Has anyone here switched from paid to free and actually seen no drop in rankings?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan1517d ago

I'm scared I'll miss something important" is the real question and honestly most people probably would because they never learned how to actually use the free tools right...

leo_campbell7d ago

yeah but i feel like "most people probably would" is a little harsh. i think a lot of folks are actually pretty good at finding info online, they just get overwhelmed by the volume. like, free tools work fine for basic searches, but nobody teaches you how to check if a source is legit or how to filter out the junk. that's the real missing skill, not the tool itself.