# CognitiveSEO — SEO

CognitiveSEO by CognitiveSEO holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2.5/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: CognitiveSEO (https://cognitiveseo.com)
- Category: [SEO](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/cognitiveseo
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/cognitiveseo/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/cognitiveseo/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-21 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-10-13

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: CognitiveSEO
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026

## The panel's verdict

CognitiveSEO is an SEO platform scored here across technical audit, keyword and content, rank and index data, reporting and API, data portability, sovereignty and pricing transparency. It is strongest on technical audit, the only criterion where minimum and maximum both read 6 — a crawler from 100 pages to unlimited with JavaScript crawling and scheduled recrawls — and on reporting and API at 6 to 7, built on white-label dashboards, client users and a documented command API, though the captured pages give different figures for when the API unlocks. Weakest are pricing transparency at 0 to 1, with no tier price, seat cost or overage rate on any captured page, and sovereignty at 0 to 2, with no sovereignty attributes on record. The clearest split is rank and index data at 4 to 6: the documented tracking core scored well with some judges, while others counted the backlink index against it, no public information covering its size, refresh or methodology. Data portability ran 3 to 5 for the same reason: API history export exists, documented exit terms do not.

**Speaks for it:**
- Crawler documented from 100 pages to unlimited at 10 to 30 URLs per minute, with JavaScript crawling, selectable user agents and weekly, biweekly or monthly recrawls.
- Health score on a 1-100% scale with a Top 3 recommended-fixes list and side-by-side comparison between two crawl dates.
- Rank tracking configurable daily or weekly on Google, Bing or Yahoo, desktop or mobile, universal or local, with history charts back to the first day each keyword was tracked.
- White-label dashboards with a custom logo and subdomain, client and colleague users with limited or full access, and automated personalised PDF reports.
- Documented API spanning link analysis, rank tracking, social visibility and campaign management, with credits included by default in each subscription.

**Held against it:**
- No tier price, per-seat cost, overage rate or headline monthly figure appears on the captured pages, so an annual invoice cannot be computed from public information.
- No sovereignty attributes are on record — we found no public information on hosting location, contracting entity, subprocessors or a data-processing agreement.
- We found no public information on backlink index size, refresh cadence or collection methodology.
- Export runs to per-table CSV, an.xls keyword list and API history commands, with no public information on any retention period after cancellation.
- We found no public information on log-file or Search Console comparison, structured-data validation, or prioritising issues by traffic impact.

**Best for:**
- You run an agency across many client sites and need white-label dashboards, client users with limited or full access and automated PDF reports.
- You audit large or JavaScript-heavy sites and want a crawler that scales from 100 pages to unlimited, with selectable user agents and password-protected staging crawls.
- You track a keyword set daily or weekly on Google, Bing or Yahoo and want history charts back to the first day each keyword was tracked.
- You have the discipline to mirror history out through API commands continuously, since retrieval depends on an active subscription and managed credits.

**Avoid if:**
- You must compute an annual cost from public prices before committing — the captured pages publish no tier figures, seat costs or overage rates.
- Your procurement requires a data-processing agreement, subprocessor list or stated hosting location — we found no public information covering any of these.
- Your decisions lean on backlink data quality — we found no public information on index size, refresh cadence or collection methodology.
- You need one consistent statement of when the API key unlocks — the captured pages give Premium Subscription in one place and higher-cost and custom subscriptions in another.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The In-House SEO Lead | The Agency Owner | The Technical SEO | The Content Strategist | The Data Analyst | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Crawling & technical audit | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Keyword research & content guidance | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Rank tracking & index quality | 2/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 |
| Reporting, integrations & API | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Data portability & exit | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | 0/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The In-House SEO Lead** (v1.0): Owns organic traffic for one large German site and reports on it monthly. Wants German-language keyword data that is not an afterthought, rankings she can defend when they disagree with Search Console, and audit findings specific enough to become a developer ticket.
- **The Agency Owner** (v1.0): Runs forty client sites and rebills the licence. Wants multi-client management, white-label reports a client can receive unedited, and per-seat costs that do not punish a growing team. Reads "contact us" on a pricing page as a margin problem.
- **The Technical SEO** (v1.0): Lives in crawl data and log files. Wants JavaScript rendering, crawl budget analysed, indexation diagnosed rather than listed, and regressions caught between crawls. Treats an issue list sorted by count rather than by traffic impact as busywork.
- **The Content Strategist** (v1.0): Decides what gets written and can only commission so much. Wants topic clusters, honest opportunity sizing, cannibalisation caught before it happens, and briefs scored against what actually ranks rather than against keyword density.
- **The Data Analyst** (v1.0): Wants the numbers in the warehouse, not in a PDF. Cares about a documented API with published credit costs, bulk historical export, and whether three years of ranking history leaves with the customer or dies with the subscription.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Knows every vendor claims the largest index and the most accurate rankings, and that no buyer can check either. Reads instead for what can be held to: refresh frequency, stated limits, credit costs per endpoint, and what the invoice does when the team adds a seat.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

No sovereignty finding yet.

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Integrations**
- API: API key can be enabled for higher-cost and custom subscriptions [S8]
- API available premium plus: API available starting with Premium Subscription [S10]
- API commands: postCampaign · postCompetitor · beginPostLinksImport · postLinksImport · commitPostLinksImport · getCampaignStatus · getCampaignInfo · editCampaign · getCampaignLinks · getCampaignNewLostLinks · getCampaignHistory · deleteCampaign · postKe… [S7]
- API credits per subscription: yes [S10]
- API data scope: links analysis · rank tracking · social visibility [S10]
- API default modules: Link Analysis · Rank Tracking · Social Visibility · Manage Campaigns [S10]
- API documentation URL: http://support.cognitiveseo.com/ [S10]
- API error tracking: Error tracking shows last 300 errors with command, API call, error and date [S10]
- API external attribution required: yes [S10]
- API key generation: API key must be generated to use the API; regenerable via Settings [S10]
- API more credits contact: support@cognitiveseo.com [S10]
- API usage history: API usage visible for last 30 days [S10]
- CSV export: csv · yes [S5]
- Ga widgets: Google Analytics widgets (timeline, metric, table, pie, bar chart) require account authorization [S8]
- Google analytics: Google Analytics account authorization displays traffic data in the dashboard [S8]
- Keyword export: xls · yes [S3]
- Page speed insights: Page Speed Insight API key supported, used by the Site Audit tool [S8]

**Legal**
- Copyright: © cognitiveSEO 2011-2015. All rights reserved. [S7]

**Pricing**
- Credit rate: 1 credit = 1 keyword/topic search or 1 Check Score click [S3]
- Credit refresh: monthly for Premium & Elite plans [S6]
- Credits: credits, subscription-dependent [S3]
- Extra credits 10: one-time · 10 · 75 [S6]
- Extra credits 25: one-time · 25 · 175 [S6]
- Extra credits 50: one-time · 50 · 300 [S6]
- Free account: yes [S1]
- Free trial: 7 · yes [S1]
- Keyword credits: subscription plan · per keyword per device+engine+country+city combination [S5]
- Shared credits: yes [S3]

**Product**
- Account dashboard: Account Dashboard shows all SEO data for all campaigns in a single window, including remaining credits [S8]
- Alerts: Alerts widgets for new links, lost links and rank tracking, with numbers and lists [S8]
- Amp check: yes [S2]
- Anchor text: Anchor text cloud, distribution (brand/commercial/misc) and history charts for live and broken links [S8]
- Annotations: yes [S5]
- API: yes [S1]
- API available: yes [S9]
- API documentation: API commands documented [S9]
- API sections: Getting Started · Commands · Errors [S7]
- Audit history chart: 5 [S2]
- Auto save: yes [S3]
- Brandmentions: yes [S1]
- Broken resources: images · css · javascript · other [S2]
- Chart time shortcuts: 1w · 1m · 3m · 6m · 1yr · all [S5]
- Click path: yes [S2]
- Compare crawls: yes [S2]
- Competitor analysis: yes [S1]
- Content assistant: yes [S3]
- Content assistant purpose: Content Assistant identifies keywords content is missing to rank higher [S4]
- Content checks: content checks cover titles, duplicates, length, headings, thin content, duplicate pages/descriptions, canonicals, unsecure content, malware [S2]
- Content score: yes [S1]
- Content score rankings: Improving content performance score improves rankings [S4]
- Cpr metric: CPR · referring domains · referring URLs [S2]
- Crawl page limit: unlimited · 100 [S2]
- Crawl sources: website · XML sitemap URLs · URL list [S2]
- Crawl speed options: 30 · 10 [S2]
- Crawlable elements: crawlable elements include subdomains, non-HTML files, CSS, external links, images, nofollow links, noindex pages, JavaScript files [S2]
- Credit scaling: credits scale with referring domains/subdomains · 5000 referring domains require 5 credits [S6]
- Credit website limit: 1000 [S6]
- Credits: Credits tracked: analyzed websites, research credits (Site Explorer, Keyword Tool, Content Assistant), rank tracking keywords, alerts, users [S8]
- Dashboard sharing: Dashboards can be shared via unique URL with non-cognitiveSEO users; URL can be locked or regenerated [S8]
- Device tracking: desktop · mobile [S5]
- Emulate human browsing: yes [S2]
- Extra credit validity: one-time · no [S6]
- Filters: 6 [S3]
- Free tools: Site Explorer · Keyword Tool · Google Algorithm Changes [S1]
- Google updates overlay: yes [S5]
- Health score: 1-100% · errors and warnings [S2]
- Hreflang checks: yes [S2]
- Html widget: 1 [S8]
- Http status codes: categorized reporting for 301, 302, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx, unidentified errors and 2xx pages [S2]
- Image checks: image checks include broken internal/external images, disallowed images, missing alt/title/width/height attributes, images over 500kb [S2]
- Indexation credit definition: Google Indexation & Malware Check runs via Google Indexation Credits [S6]
- Internal link checks: internal link analysis includes orphan pages and link count buckets; 100+ internal links flagged as issue [S2]
- Javascript crawling: yes [S2]
- Keyword difficulty: 0-100 · Keyword Difficulty [S3]
- Keyword explorer purpose: Keyword Explorer reveals thousands of topic and keyword opportunities [S4]
- Keyword markup: green = already used, orange = use more often, red = stuffing [S3]
- Keyword suggestion groups: 4 [S3]
- Keyword suggestions: yes [S5]
- Keyword tags: yes [S5]
- Link analysis: Inbound link analysis widgets: referring domains, new/lost links, live/lost, nofollow/dofollow, unnatural links; charts and lists [S8]
- Local tracking: universal · local [S5]
- Localized search: yes [S3]
- Malware checks: malware · social engineering · unwanted software · harmful application · URLs not checked [S2]
- Modules: content_optimization · site_audit · backlinks · rankings · penalties · dashboard · reports [S1]
- Monthly volume: Monthly Volume [S3]
- Other modules: site_audit · link_analysis · rank_tracking · social_media · google_analytics [S2]
- Overview: Keyword Tool and Content Assistant with three features: Keyword Explorer, Ranking Analysis, Content Assistant [S3]
- Page domain performance: 0-100 · Domain performance · Page performance [S3]
- Pagespeed check: very slow · slow · fair [S2]
- Password protected dirs: yes [S2]
- Pdf reports: yes · yes [S5]
- Penalty recovery: yes [S1]
- Preferred domain check: yes [S2]
- Query types: brand · informational · commercial [S3]
- Rank desktop mobile: yes · yes [S1]
- Rank tracking: country · language · city [S1]
- Rank tracking: desktop · mobile · Google · Bing · Yahoo [S8]
- Ranking analysis depth: 20 · 50 · 100 · yes [S3]
- Ranking analysis purpose: Ranking Analysis shows how content impacts SERP [S4]
- Readability: 0-100 · Readability score [S3]
- Recrawl schedule: monthly · biweekly · weekly · yes [S2]
- Robots txt option: yes [S2]
- Search engines: Google · Yahoo · Bing [S5]
- SEO visibility update: weekly [S8]
- Site audit: full-site crawl with recommendations [S1]
- Site audit widgets: Site Audit widgets cover indexability, content, architecture, mobile and website performance [S8]
- Sitemap audit: sitemap audit covers crawled sitemaps, included URLs and HTTP status codes [S2]
- Sitemap discovery: auto-discovery · URL entry · upload [S2]
- Social checks: facebook_open_graph · twitter_cards [S2]
- Social visibility: Twitter · Facebook · Google Plus [S8]
- Suggestion types: all terms, phrase match, search suggestions, related keywords, focus keywords, questions [S3]
- Top 3 fixes: yes [S2]
- Top positions filter: 1-10 · 1-50 · 1-100 [S5]
- Topic clustering: yes [S3]
- Tracking frequency: daily · weekly · yes [S5]
- URL import: yes [S3]
- User agents: Applebot · Bingbot · Chrome · Googlebot · cognitiveSEO Bot · iPhone · yes [S2]
- User management: Multiple users per account with limited or full access; user count limited by subscription [S8]
- Whitelabel: Whitelabel with custom logo, custom subdomain URL; default is cognitiveSEO logo [S8]
- Widget reload time: Widget data refresh interval configurable in minutes [S8]

**Support**
- API email: support@cognitiveseo.com [S9]
- Resources: Help Center · Changelog · SEO API [S1]
- Twitter available: twitter · email · yes [S4]
- Twitter channel: yes [S7]

## Questions

### Is CognitiveSEO European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where CognitiveSEO is based.

### Where does CognitiveSEO store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### Does CognitiveSEO have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to CognitiveSEO?

As of 21 Oct 2026, the panel rates [SE Ranking (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/se-ranking), [Semrush (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/semrush) and [SISTRIX (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/sistrix) highest among the other 32 SEO products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [SISTRIX](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/sistrix) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [CognitiveSEO alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/cognitiveseo/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We found no public information on compliance on the pages we read (cognitiveseo.com, support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/site-audit, support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/keyword-tool-documentation, support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/how-can-i-improve-my-content-performance-score, support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/rank-tracking, support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/how-do-google-indexation-credits-work and 4 more). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.
- 4 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 integrations fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://cognitiveseo.com (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S2] Crawling & technical audit — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/site-audit/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S3] Keyword research & content guidance — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/keyword-tool-documentation/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S4] Keyword research & content guidance — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/how-can-i-improve-my-content-performance-score/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S5] Rank tracking & index quality — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/rank-tracking/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S6] Rank tracking & index quality — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/how-do-google-indexation-credits-work/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S7] Reporting, integrations & API — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/section/developer-api/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S8] Reporting, integrations & API — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/seo-dashboard-documentation/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S9] Data portability & exit — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/do-you-have-an-api/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S10] Data portability & exit — found from sitemap: https://support.cognitiveseo.com/knowledgebase/api-getting-started/ (checked 2026-10-13)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "CognitiveSEO — SEO", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-21. https://whats-best.ai/software/seo/cognitiveseo

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/827?target=page