Moz vs Yoast SEO Comparison 2026
Moz bundles rank tracking, a link explorer and keyword research into one platform-agnostic subscription, at $49 a month for a single site. Yoast SEO is a free WordPress plugin that checks a single draft as you write it, catching a missing meta description or a broken heading structure, with Premium at $9.90 a month billed annually for redirects and multiple keyphrases. Moz answers what to target and how you rank for it, on any platform. Yoast makes sure one WordPress post is technically sound before it goes out, for a fraction of Moz's price.
At a glance
- Yoast SEO starts cheaper, at $9.90.
- Only Yoast SEO has a free tier.
Side by side
Moz | Yoast SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $49 | From $9.90 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free trial, then paid | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Moz
Rank tracking and link data from Moz Pro
Moz has been measuring domain authority since the metric was invented, and its rank tracking, link explorer and keyword research still cover what a content site needs to watch. Its free browser extension is what most people meet first. The index is smaller than Ahrefs', and the entry plan is priced for one site rather than for an agency.
Our note
The entry price is the argument, at $49 a month for a single site against what Ahrefs and Semrush charge. The link index behind it is smaller. Buy it for rank tracking and check backlinks somewhere else.
Only on this side
- Covers research & trends
Yoast SEO
Checks a WordPress post before you publish it
Yoast SEO reads a draft in the WordPress editor and tells you what a search engine will struggle with: a missing meta description, a heading structure that does not nest, an internal link that should exist. The free plugin covers the basics and is what most sites run. Premium adds redirect management, which is the part that saves you when a URL changes, plus multiple keyphrases per post and internal linking suggestions. It is a subscription per site with the seat count stated separately.
Why people weigh these two
- Yoast SEO instead of Moz
- Yoast SEO checks one WordPress post before it publishes rather than tracking rank and links across a whole site, a narrower kind of check with a free tier attached.
- Moz instead of Yoast SEO
- Moz Pro brings rank tracking and link data at $49, so you can see whether the checklist worked.
Which one should you pick
Pick Moz if you need rank tracking, backlink data and keyword research across any site, not only WordPress. Forty nine dollars a month for a single site is pricier than Ahrefs' or Semrush's entry tiers claim to beat, and the free MozBar extension is useful on its own even without paying anything.
Pick Yoast SEO if the site runs on WordPress and the job is checking each post before it publishes: meta descriptions, heading structure, internal links, schema markup. The plugin itself is free, and Premium is $9.90 a month billed annually for redirects and multiple keyphrases, a small fraction of what Moz charges for a broader, platform-agnostic toolset.
Common questions
- Would I need both Moz and Yoast SEO?
- Plausibly, if the site runs on WordPress. Moz finds keywords and tracks rank across the whole site over time. Yoast then checks that each individual post is technically sound, with meta descriptions, headings and schema markup, before it publishes.
- Which is cheaper, Moz or Yoast SEO?
- Yoast SEO, by a wide margin. Its plugin is free for the core checks, and Premium is $9.90 a month billed annually. Moz starts at $49 a month for a single site and does a broader job across rank tracking, backlinks and keyword research.
- Does Yoast SEO work outside WordPress?
- No, it is a WordPress plugin only, with no equivalent for other platforms. Moz makes no such requirement and works with any site, which matters if the site in question is not built on WordPress.
- Does Moz check one specific post before I publish it?
- Not in the way Yoast does. Yoast runs live checks inside the WordPress editor as a post is written. Moz is built around research and rank tracking across a site rather than checking one draft's readability and structure before it goes live.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.