How to check keyword search volume

Keyword Planner, free checkers, SEO suites, Google Trends and a pay-per-use API compared on exact volume, cost and limits.

The short answer

To check keyword search volume you have five options: Google Keyword Planner (ranges unless you run ads), a free web checker (small daily limits), an SEO suite such as Ahrefs or Semrush (monthly subscription), Google Trends (relative interest, not counts) or a pay-per-use API. For exact Google numbers on more than a few keywords without a subscription, a pay-per-use tool is the cheapest: $0.65 for 100 keywords and $4.25 for 1,000.

The five ways compared

	Method	Exact volume?	Cost	Best for
Google Keyword Planner	Ranges (1K-10K) unless you run ads	Free with a Google Ads account	A quick look if you already advertise	Needs an Ads account; ranges are too wide for planning
Free web checkers (Keywords Everywhere, Serp Miner, KWS Everywhere)	Yes (Google data)	Free	A few to a few hundred keywords	Daily caps, sign-ups or donation prompts; one tool is AI-estimated
SEO suites (Ahrefs, Semrush)	Yes (their own estimates)	Monthly subscription	Daily SEO work with many reports	You pay monthly even in quiet weeks
Google Trends	No, a 0-100 relative index	Free	Comparing interest and seasonality	No monthly search counts
Pay-per-use API (Keyword Search Volume)	Yes (Google Keyword Planner data)	$0.65 per 100, $4.25 per 1,000	Lists of hundreds or thousands, scripts, AI agents	Needs an Apify account; the free plan allows 10 keywords per run

How to check volume with the Actor in 4 steps

Open Keyword Search Volume on Apify.
Paste your keywords, one per line.
Pick the country, city and language.
Click Start and download CSV, Excel or JSON. Typical runs take 20-40 seconds.

See the bulk checker page for a real run and the API page for code.

How to read search volume

It is a 12-month average. A seasonal keyword can have a peak month far above its average; look at the monthly history.
Low numbers are rounded. Treat 10 as "a little", and zero as "unknown or very small".
Volume is not traffic. Rankings, click-through rates and AI answers decide how many visits a page gets.
Volume is not difficulty. Add keyword difficulty with the Bulk Keyword Difficulty Checker before you choose a keyword.

FAQ

How do I check keyword search volume for free?

Use Google Keyword Planner with a Google Ads account (ranges only unless you run ads), or a free web checker with daily limits, such as Keywords Everywhere (up to 100 keywords per submission) or Serp Miner (10 keywords a day without an account). On Apify, a free account gets $5 of monthly credit, enough to try the Keyword Search Volume Actor on 10 keywords per run.

How do I see exact search volume on Google?

Google itself shows exact numbers only to advertisers with active campaigns. Without ads, use a tool that reads Keyword Planner data through the Google Ads API, such as the Keyword Search Volume Actor.

How do I check search volume of keywords in bulk?

Paste a keyword list into a bulk checker. The Keyword Search Volume Actor takes thousands per run: 100 keywords cost $0.65, 1,000 cost $4.25.

Does Google Trends show search volume?

No. Google Trends shows relative interest on a 0-100 scale, not the number of searches.

Why do different tools show different search volumes?

Some read Google Keyword Planner data directly; others model their own estimates from clickstream or machine learning. Volumes also depend on country, language and the time window.

Sources

Tool limits are as stated on each tool page. Competitor prices are list prices in USD read on Oct 27, 2026; vendors change prices, so check the source before you buy. Our prices are read from the Apify API when this page is built (Apify Free-plan tier). Trademarks belong to their owners; Wrenfield Data is not affiliated with any vendor named here.

Try it on your own keywords

Open the Actor, paste your list and click Start. Apify gives every account $5 of free monthly platform credit with no card; free-plan runs are limited to 10 keywords. Keywords without data are never charged.

Open Keyword Search Volume on Apify Actor details Data API