Yoast was the undisputed king of WordPress SEO plugins long after its inception in 2010. This was not because Yoast was the best SEO plugin out there but because there were no Yoast Alternatives.
When you don’t have any alternatives, you stick to whatever you have. That was the case with Yoast. Personally, I never liked Yoast, which is an overrated plugin.
I am sure many of you are still using Yoast. This article is for those who do not know much about different Yoast Alternatives and do not know which SEO plugin to use.
Some Yoast alternatives offer more features, whereas some plugins focus more on ease of use and the user interface. We will touch upon all these aspects.
In this article, we will talk about the 5 Best Yoast alternatives with a better feature list than Yoast, ultimately providing better value for your money.
Please note that each plugin has its strengths and weaknesses. No plugin can be the best, as it depends on the use cases and individual perspectives.
But I would be fair enough to give you an insight into all these Yoast alternatives in this article.
Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
Why Do We Need Yoast Alternatives?
SEO is an evolving concept. Google occasionally releases new updates and, thus, SEO plugins. The way SEO was done before does not hold true now.
Plugins that can adopt the ever-evolving SEO changes can outshine. Others just follow the conventional strategy and earn their revenue.
Yoast has always been a conservative SEO plugin that never dared innovate. Most of its free version features are basic, and the premium version’s price is out of reach for many.
Even if you pay for the Yoast premium version, you won’t get many features that a modern SEO plugin should have.
Having said that, it is always a wise decision to try some Yoast Alternatives and see if they can magnify your SEO effort.
Yoast Alternatives
Here are the 5 best Yoast alternatives that I can think of. You can try them and see if they deliver more yield.
1. Rank Math
Rank Math Pro 54% off
Feature-rich free version
Advanced Google Analytics integration
Key Features Of Rank Math
- Easy-to-use setup wizard
- Almost all key features are there in the free version itself
- Google trend integration
- Google Analytics and Google search console integration
- Website SEO analysis
- Redirect manager
- 404 manager
- Local SEO
- AMP compatibility
- Instant indexing
- Multiple schema support
- News sitemap
- WooCommerce SEO
Rank Math has revolutionized the SEO plugin monopoly market. Trust me, the free version of Rank Math offers more features than the premium version of other SEO plugins.
Rank Math is not one of the best SEO plugins for WordPress, but it is the best SEO plugin for WordPress.
Launched in the summer of 2020, Rank Math has created a storm in the SEO market. Not only newbies but even most pro bloggers have shifted to it.
Rank Math is called the “Swiss Army Knife Of WordPress SEO,” trust me, they mean it.
Unlike other SEO plugins that are tailored toward experienced users, Rank Math targets both newbies and experienced users.
Rank Math is recommended by most pro bloggers who write genuine reviews. The story might be different for sugar-coated bloggers.
One of the main issues with Yoast is that it is a very heavy plugin. If you use all the features, it may bloat your database.
You can turn off features that you don’t need in Rank Math. This modular approach helps Rank Math stay lightweight.
Rank Math’s free version is so feature-rich that it is giving Yoast Premium a run for its money. But if you want more advanced functionalities, you can always go for the Rank Math pro version, which is decently priced.
I was one of the early users of Rank Math and have never looked back. If you can name an SEO feature, Rank Math has it. It is also one of the most versatile SEO plugins for WordPress.
Here is the snippet of features that Rank Math offers.
If you use Rank Math, you can eliminate plugins for the following features, ultimately saving around $1675 per year. Rank Math already comes integrated with all those features.
When you optimize your content, you target focus keywords. Right? Do you know that you can target unlimited keywords with the Rank Math free version, whereas the Yoast free version allows you to target only one focus keyword?
Yoast does not offer Google Trend integration, but Rank Math does. You can even do keyword research for free in Rank Math, but Yoast dared to offer this.
Rank Math offers an intuitive, easy-to-use interface, whereas Yoast’s interface still looks dated. Rank Math has a nice start-up wizard that walks you through the different basic settings, while Yoast lacks in this area.
One of the best features of Rank Math is the Redirection Manager and 404 Monitor. I used a premium plugin for these two features, but now I get them for free in the free version of Rank Math.
Rank Math has content AI integration that suggests improving your SEO content using AI technology. Can Yoast dare offer this?
Rank Math supports schema markup and ships with around 17 different types of schema. You can also use multiple schema markups for a single post using Rank Math.
Rank Math can easily integrate with Google Analytics and Google Search Console and provides a detailed analysis of your website. You can see your keywords’ performance and take action based on this.
If you buy the pro version of Rank Math, you no longer need to invest in other SEO tools like Ahrefs, as Rank Math has almost all the features except Backlink Analysis.
Rank Math also supports Local SEO, SEO Analysis, Customized sitemap, Instant indexing, AMP Compatibility, and many other features.
Not to forget that Rank Math also supports WooCommerce SEO, which is a plus for e-commerce owners as they can now do WooCommerce SEO for free using Rank Math.
Overall, Rank Math is a far better SEO plugin than Yoast. If you want to learn more about Rank Math, you can read this article, where I explain almost all its features.
2. All In One SEO
All In One SEO 60% off
Focus on more features than the interface
Excellent pricing
All-In-One SEO Plugin Key Features
- Intuitive setup wizard
- TruSEO on-page analysis
- Customized sitemap
- Social media tool integration
- WooCommerce SEO
- Redirect manager
- 404 manager
- Local SEO
- Schema markup
- Instant indexing
- Google AMP SEO
- News sitemap
- AI Title/Description Generator
If not Rank Math, I would happily recommend All In One SEO. The feature list is way richer than Yoast but lacks behind Rank Math. Especially if we talk about the free version, Rank Math is still the king in terms of features.
AIOSEO is one of WordPress’s oldest SEO plugins, launched in 2007. However, Awesome Motive acquired it in 2020.
Awesome Motive is the same company that owns WPBeginner, Thrive Themes, WPForms, Monesterinsights, and several other plugins.
Right after the acquisition, Awesome Motive made many changes, especially to the interface, and focused more on optimization than analytics.
The All In One SEO plugin’s interface is very intuitive compared to Yoast. However, it misses the easy-to-use approach that Rank Math offers. There is a fair amount of learning curve in the All In One SEO plugin.
Some of the key features that this plugin offers include On-page SEO Optimization, TruSEO score, Unlimited SEO Keywords, smart XML Sitemaps, News sitemaps, Video sitemaps, Local SEO, Image SEO, Advanced schema, Google search console integration, etc.
So, basically, the All-In-One SEO plugin offers all the features of Yoast (in fact, it offers more features) at half the price of Yoast. However, it could not outperform Rank Math.
Overall, All In One SEO is a great plugin, but it is neck and neck with Rank Math. Rank Math won the race just because of its feature-rich free version.
All In One SEO has a free version in the WordPress repository. However, I suggest you try the pro version, which has many more features.
3. SEOPress
SEOPress
Renew at the same price every year
OpenAI integration
SEOPress Key Features
- OpenAI integration
- Google and Bing instant integration
- Keyword rank tracker
- Content analytics
- Google Analytics
- Social media integration
- Image SEO
- Local SEO
- Woo Commerce SEO
- Schema markup
- Broken link checker
- 404 monitoring
- Meta title and description
SEOpress is another feature-rich SEO plugin for WordPress and a good alternative to Yoast. It has almost all the features that you need from an SEO plugin and more features than Yoast.
With Yoast, you can optimize your content using only one keyword, but with SEOPress, you can use unlimited keywords. That makes a lot of difference.
One of SEOPress’s main drawbacks is its interface. Learning to use this plugin effectively will take time.
Like all the other Yoast alternatives listed here, SEOPress also adopted the modular approach. This means you can turn off any unnecessary features, which is not possible if you use Yaast.
SEOPress has a free version with very limited features. To unlock this plugin’s full potential, you need to buy the premium version. The pricing is excellent, and they don’t charge a bomb during renewals.
4. The SEO Framework
The SEO Framework Key Features
- Simple and easy to use
- Complete modular design
- Global structure data
- Detailed content analysis
- Real-time caching
- SEO attack protection
- Meta title and description
The first thing you will notice about the SEO Framework plugin is that it is completely modular. This keeps the plugin’s size low and helps to improve website speed.
The core plugin is very lightweight. You can always add extensions later, depending on the functionalities you want.
The other good thing about the SEO Framework plugin is that most basic settings are already in place when you install the plugin. Newbies will be happy as setting up an SEO plugin is not everyone’s cup of tea.
The SEO Framework has almost all the features a premium SEO plugin needs. The key features are already listed above.
This plugin has a free version, which is good to try, but the premium version is the way to go if you want the advanced functionalities.
Overall, it’s a nice alternative to Yoast and is mainly suited for experienced users. However, the learning curve is not that sharp for newbies.
5. SEOPressor
SEOPressor Key Features
- Detailed on-page optimization
- LSI keyword suggestions
- SEOpressor site audit
- Broken link checker
- Automatic smart linking
- Social media integration
- XML sitemap generator
- Schema markups
Please don’t get confused between SEOPress and SEOPressor. These are two different SEO plugins for WordPress.
Although not as feature-rich as other Yoast alternatives listed here, it does the job fairly well. The interface is a major setback, though.
Although the name is not that popular, this plugin powers over 23 million web pages. That’s a huge number, isn’t it?
The plugin optimizes your existing content using three keywords, whereas Yoast supports only one keyword in the free version. You can also use the SemantiQ Engine to assess your website’s semantic search quality.
The core feature list is more or less similar to other Yoast Alternatives listed here. However, to outshine other plugins, SEOPressor should have more trending features like Rank Math offers.
SEOPressor does not have a free version. It costs $9 per month, and it takes you to the same zone of Yoast. So, it’s an individual choice between the two.
Yoast Vs. Other SEO Plugins
We will compare all these Yoast alternatives based on the following criteria.
- Free version features
- Pro version features
- Analytics
- Ease of use
- Price
- Technical support
- Knowledge base
Free Version Features
Newbies still prefer free SEO plugins, and a feature-rich SEO plugin is their best bet. In this aspect, Rank Math wins the race by a huge margin without any real competition.
Winner: Rank Math
Pro Version Features
The pro version changed the game for all the Yoast alternatives. Both All In One SEO and SEOPress are very close to Rank Math; however, they are miles ahead of Yoast.
Winner: Rank Math
Analytics
Integration with Google Search Console and Google Analytics and providing the analytics data on the SEO plugin dashboard is a new trend in SEO plugins. Almost all premium plugins offer these features. However, the amount of data that Rank Math displays outranks other plugins by a huge margin.
Winner: Rank Math
Ease Of Use
An easy-to-use interface makes a lot of difference when choosing a plugin. And an intuitive interface is a must when we talk about SEO plugins. Rank Math is a clear winner again, followed by All In One SEO and Yoast
Winner: Rank Math
Price
SEOPress wins the race by a small margin over the All-In-One SEO plugin. Rank Math is still in the race by a decent margin.
Don’t forget that both Rank Math and SEOPress offer a premium license for unlimited websites, whereas the pricing for All-In-One SEO is valid for one website only.
We have considered the pricing of the basic plan for this comparison.
Winner: SEOPress
Technical Support
Technical support is a must for SEO plugins. Unfortunately, except for Rank Math, none of the other SEO plugins offer good technical support for the free version.
In the pro version, the support offered by other plugins is decent, but Rank Math is still a winner here.
Winner: Rank Math
Knowledge Base
You can’t always depend on Technical Support. If the plugin has a good knowledge base, you can solve most SEO plugin-related problems.
Rank Math has an active support forum where your questions will be answered quickly. If not, you can always raise a ticket and expect a response within a day.
Winner: Rank Math
Here is a head-on feature comparison between Yoast and its alternatives. We have not considered SEOPressor and The SEO Framework, as their feature list is not impressive compared to Rank Math, All In One SEO, and SEOpress.
Image Credit: Rank Math
Verdict: Best Yoast Alternative
Yoast is not a bad tool. Otherwise, it would not have ruled the SEO plugin world for over a decade. But SEO changes daily, and no plugin can survive by offering just the core features.
SEO is a competitive world, and plugins that offer more features than core features will survive. Consumer taste also matters, as people were bored with Yoast’s dated interface and lackluster customer support.
When you buy the premium version of Yoast and other plugins, you won’t see much of a difference. But the free version of Yoast is just basic. That’s where Yoast Alternatives like Rank Math shine.
All these plugins offer core SEO features; the main differentiator is the good-to-have features and overall value proposition.
Considering all these aspects, Rank Math is the best Yoast Alternative and wins the race by a huge margin.
Did I miss any SEO plugins I should have considered for this article? If yes, please let me know in the comment section, and I will consider whether that can be added to the list.
