Google Keyword Planner remains the default free option because it pulls data straight from Google Ads. You get monthly search volume ranges (like 1K–10K), competition levels, and suggested bid ranges in CAD if you're targeting Canada. The catch: volume ranges are broad unless you run active ad campaigns, and it's built for advertisers, not SEO purists, so competition metrics reflect paid search, not organic difficulty. Ubersuggest's free tier gives you limited daily searches but shows volume, SEO difficulty scores, and SERP snapshots. It's useful for quick checks on 3–5 keywords per day without paying. AnswerThePublic visualizes question-based and preposition queries ("how to," "near me") scraped from autocomplete data, which is excellent for content ideation and understanding user intent. Google Search Console is technically a performance tool, not research, but it shows which keywords already drive impressions and clicks to your site—often the most actionable data you can get for free. KeywordTool.io's free version surfaces autocomplete suggestions from Google, YouTube, and Bing without volume data. Google Trends helps compare relative interest over time and by region, useful for seasonal keywords or deciding between "lawyer Ottawa" versus "attorney Ottawa." AlsoAsked maps out People Also Ask hierarchies, showing question clusters that often convert well. At Ottawa SEO, we layer multiple free tools rather than relying on one. Keyword Planner for volume baselines, Search Console for what's working now, AnswerThePublic for content angles, and Trends to spot regional or temporal shifts. Free tools lack the depth of paid platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush—no keyword difficulty scores based on backlink profiles, no bulk export, no competitor gap analysis—but they cover 70% of small-business and startup research needs. The limitation isn't data availability; it's efficiency. Checking 200 keywords across five free tools eats hours a paid tool would handle in minutes.