Y 
Yoast SEO
The default WordPress SEO plugin, on millions of sites.
KINDA
why this verdict
Downgrade — pay for the workflow, not the AI
Rank Math and ChatGPT cover the headline feature free, so the $8/mo is now paying for the workflow around it.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- AI Overviews and answer engines reduced the value of on-page tweaks. Google, May 20, 2025 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers headline only editorial call
- The headline feature, but not the workflow, data or integrations around it.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 2 of 2 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Rank Math and ChatGPT.
- What the call is worth $96/yr
- $8/mo at the entry paid tier — $96 a year per seat.
Reason composed from the fields above missing: announcement linked recorded: free replacement listed recorded: two or more escape hatches
- Threatened by
- Since
- May 20, 2025
- List price
- $8/mo
- Per year
- $96
The backstory
Yoast's green-light checklist trained a generation of bloggers. It still handles sitemaps, schema and metadata correctly, but the readability and keyword advice is exactly what a model gives away, and the search results that advice was aimed at are being replaced by generated answers.
Escape hatches
switching could free up $96/yr R 
Rank Math More features on the free tier.
rankmath.com open_in_new C 
ChatGPT Free for the writing guidance.
chatgpt.com open_in_new2 of 2 replacements have a usable free tier.