SEO tools in 2025: which ones really work and which ones just eat up the budget

How do you find out the truth? That’s right, ask an expert who works with the tool every day. So, we went and asked all the questions we were interested in to Head of SEO Andriy Krasovsky. But we found out what he really uses every day, what he pays for without regret, and what has long been banned.

This article is an honest conversation about the tools that help out when you need to save time, money, and nerves. No advertising promises, only experience: what works, what gives the illusion of efficiency, and how not to drown the budget in template AI content. 

If you work in SEO or are just starting out, these answers will save you months of testing.

What SEO tools do you consider indispensable in your work in 2025 – and why exactly?

Ahrefs – for backlinks, Screaming Frog – for technical audit, Google Search Console – as the basis of analytics. Additionally: SurferSEO – for content optimization, SEOGets – it is convenient to track dozens of sites at once, n8n – task automation, Google Colab – for scripts and quick calculations.

Which tool has failed to justify itself the most over the past year? What promises but fails to deliver?

ContentShake AI. It promises to create turnkey content, but in fact, it provides template text that needs to be edited manually. It looks like time saving, but in fact, it is the opposite.

Ahrefs vs SEMrush – who do you choose in 2025 and why? In what tasks is one clearly stronger than the other?

Ahrefs is my choice: more accurate crawler, better link base, convenient reports. SEMrush is more suitable for PPC and general digital marketing. If you work with SEO only, Ahrefs is better.

Do you use AI SEO tools for content generation or planning? Which ones really save time?

Yes, claude.ai for structure and ideas, sometimes grok when you need to generate a draft quickly. But you can’t publish without editing. ChatGPT is only for extracting facts, nothing more.

In what cases does a tool give the “illusion of control” but not improve the real result?

Market trackers that update positions every day create noise instead of benefit. SEO scores like “80/100” also have no practical meaning. These are numbers for self-complacency.

Have you ever had a tool that you paid for a year and finally removed from your account with a clear conscience?

Moz Pro. I paid $99/month, rarely used it, and DA lost its meaning. I also had a lot of AI subscriptions that didn’t pay off. I do a monthly audit of tools and unsubscribe from unnecessary ones.

If you had only $100, which tool would you invest in – and why?

For $100, I would take SE Ranking (monthly plan or minimum tariff) – it gives you everything you need to get started: ranking, audit, backlinks, competitor inspection. I would invest the rest in SurferSEO or KWFinder, depending on the tasks. And the technical audit can be partially covered by the free version of Screaming Frog and Google Search Console.

What advice do you have for newbies who don’t know where to start?

Start with Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and the free Screaming Frog – this will be enough for basic auditing and analytics. It is important to learn how to understand user intentions, build page structure, and see how competitors work in the SERPs. AI is not recommended for writing texts, but as a tool for concise extraction of large amounts of content, data analytics, forecasting, or quick analysis of complex information – this is where it really saves time and gives an advantage.