Marketing tools for solo founders
Stop buying marketing tools too early.
cost.tools tells solo founders under 1,000 visits a month what to use now, what to skip, what to replace, and the trigger that makes an expensive tool worth it.
- founders
- 10
What job are you hiring a tool for?
AI SEO autopilot
9 toolsGenerate, publish, and optimize search content with automation.
Keyword research
4 toolsFind phrases with search volume and intent.
Backlinks
1 toolCheck referring domains and link health.
Analytics & search console
2 toolsWatch impressions, clicks, and indexing.
Technical SEO
1 toolFind crawl, metadata, redirect, and indexability problems.
SEO suite
4 toolsResearch keywords, competitors, backlinks, and site health in one tool.
Content optimization
2 toolsImprove pages already being written for target searches.
AI search visibility
7 toolsTrack how brands appear in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and AI answers.
AI content generation
11 toolsDraft articles, briefs, posts, and content assets with AI.
Marketing attribution
3 toolsConnect marketing activity to traffic, mentions, leads, or revenue.
Email marketing
2 toolsSend newsletters, automations, and course/community emails.
Social scheduling
3 toolsPublish consistently across X, LinkedIn, Threads, and other channels.
Keep your first stack small
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Free plans and tools from the catalog. Check the limits before you commit.
Choose a workflow, then a tool
Head-to-head
The people behind the workflows
Founder stacks
What founders said they use. Revenue is reported; a workflow is context, not an endorsement.
The stories behind the stacks
Tool library
25 tools, ranked by job.
Curated for founders under 1,000 visits a month. Compare the job, price and reasons to skip.
Showing all 25 tools
AI SEO autopilot
AI SEO autopilot that writes and publishes articles, tracks AI search visibility, and places backlinks.
$29.99/moAI SEO autopilot for daily content and backlinks across CMS marketplaces.
EUR 129/moSkip if: You require strict publishing approvals, transparent link sourcing, or conservative offboarding controls.
AI SEO autopilot with article production and backlink exchange.
$99/moSkip if: You need deep AI-citation strategy, transparent backlink auditing, or manual review before publishing.
AI SEO autopilot for Google and ChatGPT traffic with content and backlinks.
EUR 99/moSkip if: You need modular pricing, transparent source inspection, or manual approval for every link and page.
AI SEO autopilot with content generation, CMS publishing, and backlink exchange.
$97/moSkip if: You need transparent source strategy, human review, or conservative brand-safety controls before publishing at volume.
AI marketing agent for SEO, GEO, social, and content workflows.
$129/moSkip if: You need narrow, auditable search visibility execution with human approval over each public action.
Keyword research
Simple keyword research UI for finding lower-competition search terms.
$29/moSkip if: You need deep backlink analysis, full technical audits, or a broad competitor suite.
Budget SEO suite for early keyword and competitor research.
$29/moSkip if: You need deeper enterprise-grade SEO data, backlink depth, or advanced reporting.
Analytics & search console
Free baseline diagnostics for what Google already sees on your site.
FreeSkip if: You need competitor data, keyword discovery beyond your own site, or backlink research.
Technical SEO
Desktop crawler for finding technical SEO problems on your site.
Free up to 500 URLsSkip if: You want beginner-friendly recommendations or content ideas instead of a technical crawl.
SEO suite
Premium SEO suite for backlink, keyword, and competitor research.
$129/moSkip if: You only need a cheap first keyword list or are not ready to spend over $100/month on SEO.
Broad SEO and competitive research suite for content-led growth.
$139.95/moSkip if: You only need free baseline Search data or a lightweight keyword tool.
Content optimization
Content optimization and AI visibility platform for teams publishing SEO pages.
$49/moSkip if: You need a done-for-you operator or technical/source-building work before another optimization dashboard.
AI search visibility
AI search and content engineering platform for turning insights into workflows.
Free insights planSkip if: You need a simple founder-friendly recommendation rather than a content-engineering platform to configure and operate.
AI visibility and GEO platform for tracking citations, competitors, and actions.
Free tool availableSkip if: You need a simple solo-founder fix-it workflow or transparent implementation work after the visibility score.
AI visibility analytics for tracking brands across LLM answer engines.
7-day free trialSkip if: You need the same product to generate content, fix technical blockers, or build citations after measuring.
Agency-oriented AI SEO platform for visibility, audits, and content optimization.
$99/moSkip if: You are a solo founder who wants a low-friction free trial, done-for-you execution, or simple AI visibility reporting.
Slack-native marketing agent grounded in rankings, competitors, and analytics.
$99/moSkip if: You want a traditional dashboard, lightweight free checker, or public self-serve SEO tool with fixed limits.
AI content generation
AI landing page generator that turns a prompt into a live, editable page.
$9.99/moBulk AI article generator for programmatic SEO content production.
$99/moSkip if: You need AI-search visibility scoring, backlink execution, technical fixes, or human editorial judgment built in.
AI social marketing loop for content creation, posting, and revenue analytics.
$39/moSkip if: Your immediate job is SEO/GEO citation quality, technical search readiness, or source-building for answer engines.
Marketing attribution
Founder-friendly web analytics for revenue attribution across marketing channels.
$9/moSkip if: You need an SEO content generator, AI citation tracker, or done-for-you search visibility execution.
Email marketing
Lightweight email platform for courses, communities, and simple automations.
Free up to 1,000 subscribersSkip if: Your creator business needs advanced newsletter monetization workflows and segmentation from day one.
MailerLite sends the Data Fetcher newsletter.
Creator-focused email platform for newsletters, courses, and audience monetization.
Free plan availableSkip if: You just need the cheapest basic newsletter tool for a tiny list.
Social scheduling
Simple social scheduling for solo operators publishing across channels.
Free plan availableSkip if: You need deep social listening, influencer discovery, or enterprise approval workflows.
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