If you've just launched a startup but don't know what market research tools to use, we got you.
After all, with so many options available, it's normal not to know where to start.
But there is no need to stress; we've already figured it out for you. We've selected and reviewed the best market research tools for startups to help your business shine.
In this guide, you'll find a breakdown of each tool's benefits, features, pricing, and ratings so you can compare the options and see which best fits your goals.
Think with Google is one of the most useful market research tools for startups. It provides in-depth insights into various aspects of digital marketing, all in one place. It’s best for startups who want to get the latest in digital marketing without any cost.
Understanding your audience is important to build the right marketing strategies for your business. With Insights Finder, you get to know your audience better and find the right ways to reach them.
Google Trends tracks changes in customer behavior over time. This allows you to see what's trending and know what content to produce.
Market Finder identifies potential markets and helps you expand your customer base. It also analyzes market data, provides localization insights, and tracks trends.
Free to use
G2: 4.6/5.0
Google Trends is simple, easy to use, and free. With just one click, you can see what's trending and understand public interest in certain topics.
Here's how it works:
Google Trends allows you to see what people are searching for online and find the right keyword for your business. All you have to do is search the keyword of interest, and you'll get data from past and present search histories.
It also allows you to compare trends, including keyword queries. This is how you stay updated with the audience's preferences and create content they will love.
Another super cool feature is the ability to customize data. You can select the region, time frame, categories, and search type to get a more precise insight into the trends.
Free to use
G2: 4.6/5.0
Statista is a market research tool that provides statisics across 170 industries from various reputable sources. Based on the topic you search for, it will provide you with detailed insight, including statistics, forecasts, and reports. This is very useful and effective for startups who need to conduct detailed market research for their business strategy.
With Statista, you can get the latest data on your market. This feature allows you to get up-to-date information, including ad spending, analyst opinions, and global comparisons.
Another great thing about Statista is the availability of customer and brand surveys that deliver global data segmented by filters like country, territory, or industry.
Statista offers a free basic account. To access more statistics and various download options, you can choose the starter account, which costs $149 USD. For more advanced features, like reports in PDF and PPT format, a personal account is available for $549 USD. For teams of up to 5 people, the Professional account costs $959 USD and includes market insights.
G2: 4.2/5.0
Trustpilot: 2.7/5
Feedback is one of the best tools for understanding your audience better, and surveys are an effective way to gather it. SurveyMonkey is an excellent platform that comes with over 200 customizable survey templates and pre-built questions.
What's great is that SurveyMonkey allows you to create your own surveys dedicated to different audiences. You can choose between employees, target markets, volunteers, and others.
Thanks to its additional features, SurveyMonkey allows you to run polls, create advanced surveys, and conduct detailed market research. The templates available, pre-built questions, and user-friendly design make it a preferred choice for startups.
The basic plan is free, but it has limited features. For more advanced features, SurveyMonkey offers plans for teams, individuals, and enterprises. The team plan starts at $30/month, and the Individual plan starts at $39/month. Enterprise is available with custom pricing.
G2: 4.4/5.0
If you've ever found yourself stuck with lots of data and unsure where to begin, you know how overwhelming it can feel. Luckily, tools like Tableau exist to simplify things for you.
Tableau is a popular AI-powered analytical platform that makes complex data simple.. Thanks to its direct interface, you can see all the data at a glance, create dashboards, and manage large datasets. It's the perfect tool for complex data analysis and problem-solving.
For more advanced features, the new AI assistant in Tableau+ is a game-changer. It prepares data, creates visualizations, and gives insights within seconds. All you have to do is interact by asking questions or giving commands.
Tableau comes with three subscription plans: Viewer, Explorer, and Creator, which cost $15, $42, and $75, respectively. Higher-tier options include Enterprise and Tableau+, which offer advanced features and AI-powered analytics.
G2: 4.4/5.0
If you want to check how your competitors' websites and apps are performing, SimilarWeb is the best. It analyzes billions of data to provide thorough insight, including website visits, traffic, and engagement. This information identifies where your competitors are underperforming and what you can do differently.
Some great features of SimilarWeb are geography and demographic audience filters. These filters allow you to see how traffic performs based on the country, age, and gender distributions.
SimilarWeb provides an in-depth overview of industry competitors and customer behavior. It helps businesses understand the traffic pattern and their position against competitors.
SimilarWeb offers a free 7-day plan. The starter plan starts at $125/month, and the professional one at $333/month. For businesses and enterprises, team and enterprise solutions are available with custom pricing.
G2: 4.5/5
Trustpilot: 3.8/5
Social Mention is a tool that gathers all your brand mentions online and organizes them in one place. It gets information from social media platforms and websites, helping you track your online presence in real-time.
It's very simple to use; all you have to do is type your brand name into the search box and wait a few seconds for it to generate the data. And you can even do much more! Not only type in your own brand name, but your competitor’s name or product to see how it’s performing.
Knowing how your brand and your competitors perform will help you stay updated in the long run.
Social Mention offers a free basic version. Paid plans are available for more detailed analysis. They include the growing business plan for $79/month, the company plans for $249/month, and the enterprise/agency for $399/month.
G2: 4.6/5.0
Google Alerts is a simple yet useful tool that allows you to keep track of your subjects of interest for free. To create an Alert, you just have to visit the site and type the preferred subject in the search box. Then, enter your email address and click on "Create Alert." From this moment on, Google will send you an email with every new content of interest published online.
Free to use
Make My Persona from HubSpot is one of the best tools for creating your own business persona through professional templates and market research data. And it’s free.
You can create as many personas as you like. The only step to take is answering a few default questions based on existing market research, and you'll soon have your own finished template.
Free
G2: 4.6/5
Google Keyword Planner is one of the best tools for keyword research. When you search for a keyword related to your business, you'll get all the insights into your audience's demand. It provides insights into keyword performance and search trends.
With Google Keyword Planner you can also see if the keywords you’re tracking are getting more searches or higher CPC over time, and if you need to adjust your Google Ad bids because of it.
Features
Free with a Google Ads account
Coming up with fresh content ideas sometimes is a struggle of its own. But with Ubersuggest, you don't have to stress out. It generates keywords based on the audience's demands and content ideas you can use for your strategies. Its competitor analysis features help you keep an eye on other businesses in the same niche as yours.
If you need a thorough, more in-depth analysis, Ubersuggest has features like a traffic analyzer, backlink checker, and AI writer. Plus, it can be used as a Chrome extension. So, when you search the web, you'll get more in-depth information about a specific topic.
Ubersuggest has three pricing plans: Business at $20/month, Individual at $12/month, and Enterprise at $40/month.
G2: 4.2/5.0
Trustpilot: 4.6/5.0
Claude is a language model that startups can use for keyword research. It's like ChatGPT, but better.
The more detailed your AI prompt, the better answer you’ll get. That’s always the case with generative AI tools.
Claude is known to be one of the best tools for content planning. It helps you understand what people are searching for and write about those topics. And it’s very simple to use.
First, ask Claude about the topics that are most asked about online. Then, identify the main keywords related to those topics. Use these keywords to plan your content creation. If necessary, ask Claude to create an outline for you, help with writing content and optimize it for SEO.
It makes the process easier and more time-efficient for you.
The free plan has limited features. For more extensive capabilities, Claude comes with a Pro version at $20/month and Team for $25/month. To choose the Team plan you need to have a work domain.
Trustpilot: 4.7/5
G2: 4.7/5.0
Ahrefs remains a top choice for comprehensive keyword research. It provides all the insights needed for a good SEO strategy. These include keyword data, search volume, keyword difficulty, and competitive analysis.
Knowing what other brands are offering is one of the best ways to improve your own strategies and outperform competitors. And with all the powerful features Ahrefs has to offer, you’re guaranteed to drive long-term success.
Ahrefs offers four pricing plans to suit different needs. The Lite plan starts at $129/month and covers basic SEO tools. The Standard plan at $249/month includes more features like content gap analysis and extra keyword tracking. For larger teams, the Advanced plan at $449/month and Enterprise at $14,990/year provide full access to all features.
G2: 4.5/5.0
If you need a quick and cost-effective way to check keyword search volume, Search Volume.io won't disappoint you. It's a free tool that allows you to input multiple keywords and instantly view their search volume.
Practical, simple, and self-explanatory. Simply write the keyword related to your business and your location, and you'll get immediate insight into the average monthly searches. You can even generate articles with their AI "create article" feature available. Its ease of use makes it a valuable resource for quick keyword research tasks.
The keyword volume search is free to use. However, Search Volume.io also comes with three pricing plans. The Basic plan costs $49/month and includes a free 7-day trial. The Plus plan costs $99/month and has unlimited AI keyword research and content. The Premium plan costs $199/month and offers advanced features for larger teams.
Exploding Topics finds new and trending keywords before they become mainstream. It looks at search trends to identify those that have "exploded" in the last months or a year.
Knowing keywords that are on the rise allows you to create content that captures early interest.
Exploding Topics is perfect for those who want to leverage new keyword opportunities and get ahead of media giants. Its focus on emerging keywords makes it a strategic tool for capturing early search interest and developing timely content.
$1 trial available for 14 days. Its three Pro plans include The Entrepreneur plan at $39/month, the Investor plan at $99/month, and the Business plan at $249/month.
Trustpilot: 3.7/5.0
For those seeking a more advanced version of Google Trends, look out for Glimpse. This tool tracks search trends and provides detailed insights into various categories and products. It will help you identify significant shifts and opportunities in keyword trends.
Glimpse is ideal for users looking for trend analysis beyond basic keyword tools. Its advanced features provide valuable insights into the latest trends. It's also more advanced compared to standard Google Trends.
Free to use
G2: 5.0/5.0
Surfer SEO is a powerful on-page optimization tool that goes beyond just keyword research. Once you have your target keywords, Surfer SEO suggests related keywords, analyzes content length, and compares your article to competitors.
This tool ensures that your content is well-optimized for search engines.
Surfer SEO focuses on on-page optimization and content analysis. Using this tool, you can make sure your articles are well-structured and competitive.
The Essential plan is $89/month, the Scale plan costs $129/month and the Scale AI plan, priced at $219/month. For large agencies, the Enterprise plan offers customized pricing and is billed annually.
G2: 4.8/5.0
Trustpilot: 4.2/5.0
Keyword Insights uses machine learning to classify keywords into the type of content Google wants. With five free credits available each month, this tool helps you understand what type of content will resonate with users, ensuring that your articles align with their search intent.
Remember that search intent is the keyword here. If you miss it, your content might never rank on Google, no matter how good it is.
Keyword Insights is essential for creating content that meets user intent. It classifies keywords and suggests content types, making it a useful tool for optimizing content strategy based on search behavior.
The 4-day trial costs $1. Other plans include the Basic plan which costs $58/month, the Professional plan costs $145/month and the Premium plan which costs $299/month.
G2: 4.9/5.0
Trustpilot: 4.3/5.0
AnswerThePublic is a great tool to find common questions and search queries related to your keywords. Knowing what your potential audience is looking for can guide you in generating relevant and SEO-friendly content ideas.
You get to enter a topic, brand, or product, and it will generate a list of questions the public asks about online. The only downside is that you only have three free trials per day. So, remember to use them wisely!
AnswerThePublic helps marketers find what their audience is looking for. From there, they can align their topics with user questions and interests. This results in better content and improved SEO.
With AnswerThePublic, you get three free daily searches. With the Individual plan, you get 100 searches per day, and it costs $11/month. To get unlimited searches, look out for Pro and Expert plans at $99/month and $199/month.
G2: 4.5/5.0
Trustpilot: 3.8/5.0
If you're a content creator or marketer, you'll love Answer Socrates. This tool finds the best questions people are asking online. If you have a keyword in mind and you type it, Answer Socrates will present a list of asked questions, as well as the monthly and yearly Google Trends results. Having this information, you can quickly write content or improve your current strategy with relevant questions people are asking.
Ask Socrates is ideal for content creators who want to go beyond surface-level keyword data. Its focus on understanding user intent can help create more engaging and relevant content.
Free to use.
G2: 4.3/5
Trustpilot: 3.4/5
We hope you now have a clearer idea of which market research tools for startups can best serve your business goals. The best part is that you don't have to limit yourself to just one option. Instead, feel free to try and combine the information from all the tools you think will be most valuable and cover your research needs.
Some of the best market research tools for startups include Think with Google, Statista, Google Trends, SurveyMonkey, and Ahrefs.
Market research helps startups understand their customers, competitors, and trends. This leads to smarter decision-making and more business growth.
Yes, tools like Think with Google, Google Trends, Google Alerts, Make My Persona, Google Keyword Planner, and Ask Socrates offer free versions that provide valuable insights for startups. Other tools also come with free plans available.