WordPress SEO plugins compared: four options
Google's SEO Starter Guide covers page titles, snippets, sitemaps and canonical URLs. This post compares four WordPress SEO plugins that add SEO settings to WordPress, using what each plugin's own listing on WordPress.org says.
Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO and SEOPress are the four WordPress SEO plugins compared here, and all four have a free version. Choose Yoast SEO for guidance in the editor, Rank Math for content and link tools, All in One SEO for AI agent access through its MCP server, and SEOPress for white-label client sites.
| Plugin | What it is | Best for | Price or free tier, as the listing states |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | Real-time SEO guidance in the editor, with schema and AI tools | Writers who want feedback before they publish | Free plugin. The listing gives no Premium price. |
| Rank Math | AI SEO plugin with Content AI, schema and internal link tools | Sites that want AI writing and link tools in one plugin | Free plugin. Pro prices sit on a linked pricing page, and the listing gives no figures. |
| All in One SEO (AIOSEO) | AI SEO plugin with sitemaps, schema and an MCP server | Sites where AI agents such as Claude or Cursor should read and update SEO data | Lite version is free. The listing gives no Pro price. |
| SEOPress | Privacy-first SEO plugin with llms.txt, sitemaps and redirects | Agencies and freelancers who deliver white-label SEO | Free plugin. PRO from $49/year for one site, $149/year for unlimited sites. |
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a free plugin that shows a red, orange or green signal for each post as you write, so you can fix problems before you publish. Its listing says it adds schema, XML sitemaps and canonical URLs, and that more than 10 million websites run it. The AI tools come with Yoast SEO Premium, and the listing says there is no separate AI subscription. This plugin suits writers who want feedback inside the editor.
The official listing is Yoast SEO on WordPress.org.
Rank Math
Rank Math is a free plugin with AI tools built in. Its listing describes Content AI, with more than 40 AI tools for SEO that can be started for free, and AI Link Genius, a newer tool for internal links. The feature list also covers Google Search Console integration, sitemaps with custom post type support, 30+ SEO tests and a redirection manager. The listing names bloggers, online stores, niche sites, agencies and local businesses as its audience.
The official listing is Rank Math on WordPress.org.
All in One SEO (AIOSEO)
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is a WordPress SEO plugin that its listing says was founded in 2007. The listing says an MCP server and the WordPress Abilities API let AI agents such as Claude and Cursor read and update SEO data, and that the plugin generates an llms.txt file. Pro features include AI content and image generation, local SEO, keyword rank tracking, internal linking and the redirection manager. The listing's audience is business owners, bloggers, WooCommerce stores, agencies, local businesses and developers.
The official listing is All in One SEO on WordPress.org.
SEOPress
SEOPress describes itself as a privacy-first WordPress SEO plugin, and its listing says more than 350,000 websites have used it since 2017. The free plugin includes XML sitemaps, redirections at the post and page level, llms.txt, and a Google preview before you publish. PRO adds AI SEO, a site audit and a JSON-LD editor. The white-label features suit agencies and freelancers, and the listing also points developers to a REST API and WP-CLI commands. PRO costs from $49/year for one site, and $149/year for unlimited sites, according to the listing.
The official listing is SEOPress on WordPress.org.
How to choose
Start with the job you do most often. If you write every post yourself, Yoast SEO's guidance in the editor targets that step. If you deliver SEO for clients, check SEOPress's white-label features first.
If data sharing matters to you, read the listings closely. Rank Math's listing names the outside services it contacts, including api.rankmath.com for keyword suggestions. SEOPress's listing says it does no tracking.
Google's SEO Starter Guide says no secret will automatically rank a site first in Google, so no plugin can promise a first-place ranking. The guide also notes that some content management systems may create a sitemap automatically, so check whether your site already has one before you turn on a sitemap feature.
SEOAgent is our tool, and it is not a WordPress plugin, so it does not appear in the table. For a whole-site check, SEOAgent's site audit crawls your own site. It checks each page for status code, title, meta description, a single H1, canonical and indexability, then looks for duplicate titles and descriptions, broken internal links, orphan pages and noindex pages.
What's new (as of 4 October 2026)
- SEOPress 10.3 adds an MCP server that connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client to your site. The free plugin gets 14 tools, and PRO adds 13 more for redirections, schemas, target keywords, AI generation and the technical audit. Connections are read-only, you control each tool, and you can revoke a connection with one click.
- Rank Math's listing marks two tools as new: AI Visibility, which tracks how ChatGPT and Gemini mention a brand, and AI Link Genius, which suggests internal links as you write.
- AIOSEO's listing says the llms.txt file it generates helps AI engines such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity discover your content.
- Yoast SEO's listing describes LLMs.txt management, a Premium bot blocker for AI crawlers such as GPTBot, CCBot and Google-Extended, and an Abilities API that lets AI tools read its SEO, readability and inclusive language scores.
- Google's SEO Starter Guide is the baseline for what any SEO plugin can and cannot do for a site.
For more of Google's own advice, read our post on 15 SEO tips from Google's own documentation.
Key takeaways
- All four plugins in this comparison have a free version listed on WordPress.org.
- Yoast SEO's AI tools come with Yoast SEO Premium, and its listing says there is no separate AI subscription.
- SEOPress lists PRO at $49/year for one site and $149/year for unlimited sites.
- The All in One SEO listing names AI content and image generation as Pro features.
- Google's SEO Starter Guide says no secret will automatically rank a site first in Google.
FAQ
Are WordPress SEO plugins free?
Yes, all four plugins in this comparison have a free version. Each also has a paid tier, but only SEOPress states its prices on the listing: PRO from $49/year for one site, and $149/year for unlimited sites.
Which WordPress SEO plugins include AI tools?
All four list AI features, but the tier that includes them differs. Yoast SEO's AI tools come with Premium, Rank Math's Content AI can be started for free, All in One SEO names AI content and image generation as Pro features, and SEOPress lists AI SEO under PRO.
Can I switch from one WordPress SEO plugin to another?
Yes. Each of the four listings describes a way to import SEO data or settings from another plugin, and Rank Math, All in One SEO and SEOPress each name Yoast SEO among the plugins they import from.
How long does a plugin change take to show in Google?
It varies. Google's SEO Starter Guide says some changes can take effect within a few hours and others can take several months, and it suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether a change helped.