Open-source rank trackers
We track 3 open-source rank trackers, each checked for licence, commercial use, hardware, paid services and setup. SerpBear runs on your own machine, allows commercial use and needs no paid service.
Facts checked 22 Oct 2026. Each project’s page shows the source and date for every answer.
A rank tracker checks where your pages appear on Google for the keywords you care about, every day. The projects below do that on your own server. SerpBear is a dedicated tracker; RankMe and OpenSEO bundle rank tracking with audits, keyword research and backlinks.
Google doesn't offer a free results feed, so most trackers fetch rankings through a scraping API that charges per search. Check the paid-services column before you add hundreds of keywords.
Compared
| Compare | Project | Runs on my machine | Allowed at work | Paid services | Setup | Runs on | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSEOSelf-hostable SEO app for keyword research, rank tracking, backlinks, site audits and AI visibility, with an MCP server for AI agents. | Yes | YesMIT | Required | Medium | Not confirmed | 28k | |
| SerpBearSelf-hosted Google rank tracker with unlimited keywords, email alerts, Search Console data and keyword ideas via Google Ads. | Yes | YesMIT | Optional only | Medium | Not confirmed | 2.2k | |
| RankMeFastSelf-hosted SEO platform for site audits, rank tracking, keyword research, backlinks and AI visibility, using your own data-vendor keys. | Yes | ConditionsAGPL-3.0 | Required | Medium | Not confirmed | 938 |
Tick up to three to compare them side by side. Ordered by our ranking (stars 40%, recent activity 30%, how many facts we could source 30%), so a well-documented, active project can sit above a bigger one. Unknown means we found no source, never a yes. Stars show attention, not quality. How we check and rank.
Where to start, by what matters to you
Each one comes from a sourced fact on the project’s page, not from a sponsor or a test score.
Common questions
Is there a free, self-hosted rank tracker?
SerpBear is free to run, with paid services optional or depending on your setup. The software is free; what you may pay for is the server it runs on and any outside service it relies on, which the paid-services column lists.
Do self-hosted rank trackers need a paid SEO data API?
OpenSEO does. It is free, MIT-licensed software, but it gets its SEO data from the DataForSEO API, so you need a DataForSEO key and pay DataForSEO directly when you self-host it. Check each project's paid-services row before you choose. Source: github.com.
Can I run one in Docker?
All 3 can run on your own server: OpenSEO, SerpBear and RankMeFast. All of them document a Docker setup.
Which can I use commercially?
Confirmed: OpenSEO (MIT) and SerpBear (MIT). With conditions: RankMeFast. This is not legal advice; read each licence.
Which is easiest to set up?
None of the 3 we track is rated easy to set up yet, based on their own docs.
By paid tool
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