SEOPress Review 2026: Cheaper Than Yoast, but Is It Better?
The SEOPress panel in the block editor on our test site, showing a title and description imported from Yoast, version 10.3, October 2026.
Our verdict: SEOPress is a solid, low-cost SEO plugin with a calm admin area and the cheapest paid plan of the big names. The free version handles titles, meta descriptions, social tags, XML sitemaps and per-post redirects well, and its one-click import moved every Yoast field we set across in about a second. Pick it if you run several sites or want PRO features for $49 a year. The catch: the free plugin adds no schema to your posts, and the redirect manager, 404 log and robots.txt editor are PRO only. If you want those free, Rank Math gives you more.
How we reviewed it: We built a small test site (WordPress 7.1.2, Twenty Twenty-Five theme) with six posts, three pages, featured images and two categories. We installed Yoast SEO 28.6 first and gave three posts custom titles, meta descriptions and focus keyphrases. Then we installed free SEOPress 10.3, ran its setup wizard and the Yoast import, and checked the settings, the post editor, the front-end tags and the database. PRO was not installed; what PRO adds comes from the plugin’s upgrade prompts and the vendor’s website.
SEOPress Quick Facts
Facts below were checked on seopress.org, the WordPress.org listing and our test install in October 2026.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Made by | SEOPress, a small French company founded by Benjamin Denis |
| Latest version | 10.3 (released October 1, 2026) |
| Active installs | 300,000+ on WordPress.org (the vendor says 350,000+) |
| WordPress.org rating | 4.8 out of 5 from 1,262 reviews |
| Requirements | WordPress 6.5 and PHP 7.4 or newer |
| PRO price | $49/year for 1 site, $59/year for 5 sites, $149/year for unlimited sites, before VAT |
| Renewal | Same price every year, according to the pricing page |
| Insights add-on | $99/year per site for rank and backlink tracking |
| Refund window | 14 days |
| Imports from | Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, The SEO Framework, SureRank and 7 others |
| Custom database tables | 1 on our test install |
| Best suited for | Freelancers and agencies with many sites, and owners who want a cheaper alternative to Yoast |
What Is SEOPress?
SEOPress is a WordPress SEO plugin, the same kind of tool as Yoast SEO and Rank Math. It writes the title and description that show in Google, adds the tags that control how links look on Facebook or X, builds XML sitemaps, and tells search engines which pages to skip.
It comes in three parts: SEOPress Free on WordPress.org; SEOPress PRO, a paid plugin you install on top of the free one; and SEOPress Insights, a separate paid plugin for rank and backlink tracking. Each main feature has an on/off switch, so you can turn off what you do not use.
Setup Wizard
The first screen of the SEOPress setup wizard on our test install, version 10.3, October 2026.
Logging in after activation took us straight to the setup wizard: five steps over 11 short screens, which the vendor says take about three minutes. You can import data from another SEO plugin, set your title format, choose whether the site is a person or an organization, pick which content types Google should skip, and switch on a few extras such as removing /category/ from URLs.
No account is needed and nothing asks you to sign up. The last screen has an optional newsletter box for a free guide. The wizard showed three PRO promotions along the way.
Check this after the wizard. On our test install, the homepage’s Organization schema (the code Google reads to learn who runs the site) listed the admin account’s email address as a public contact point. The wizard never showed an email field; the plugin’s code fills it with the logged-in user’s email when none is set. If you do not want that address public, go to SEO, then Social Networks, then Knowledge Graph, and change or clear the Email field.
Importing From Yoast: What Came Across
The SEOPress import from Yoast SEO 28.6 on our test site, all ten items done, October 2026.
The import sits in the first wizard step and under SEO, then Tools. SEOPress spotted Yoast, warned us to deactivate it afterwards, and listed what it would bring over. On our six-post site it finished in about one second.
| Set in Yoast | In SEOPress after the import |
|---|---|
| Custom SEO titles on 3 posts | Yes, all 3 |
| Custom meta descriptions on 3 posts | Yes, all 3 |
| Focus keyphrases on 3 posts | Yes, as target keywords |
| Noindex on 1 post | Yes; the post showed “noindex” and left the XML sitemap |
| Custom canonical URL, Facebook title and description, X title | Yes |
| Primary category | Yes |
| Organization setting | Yes |
One title used Yoast’s %%sep%% and %%sitename%% variables. SEOPress printed the right separator and site name on the front end. The import screen warns that “some dynamic variables will not be interpreted”, so check titles that use Yoast’s less common variables.
The import deletes nothing. After we deactivated Yoast, its six database tables were still there, so you can switch back. The safe order from our Rank Math vs Yoast guide applies: back up, import while Yoast is still active, check your key pages, then deactivate Yoast. Never keep two SEO plugins active. If the site earns money, try the move on a staging copy first.
Titles, Meta Descriptions and the Editor Panel
The Post Types tab of SEOPress Titles & Metas on our test install, version 10.3, October 2026.
Titles & Metas sets the default title and description for your homepage, each post type, archives and taxonomies. Templates use variables shown as removable tags, so you rarely type %%variable%% codes yourself.
Two things we noticed on the defaults:
- Default descriptions come from your content. On one post without a custom description, it ran a heading straight into the paragraph (“notes.Step 1Ethiopia”) and stopped at about 300 characters, far past what Google shows. Write your own for pages that matter.
- A small spacing glitch. The default post title left a double space before the separator. It is cosmetic.
In the editor, an SEO button in the top bar opens a panel with title settings, social, advanced (noindex, nofollow, canonical, primary category, an option to freeze the last modified date), redirection and content analysis. Title and description fields show live pixel and character counts and a Google preview.
Content analysis accepts unlimited target keywords in the free version. Yoast’s free plan allows one and Rank Math’s allows five. On our imported post it listed 17 checks, from headings and alt text to internal links.
Per-post redirects are free. You can send a single post or page to another URL with a 301, 302 or 307 redirect. A central redirect manager with regex rules, CSV import and a 404 log needs PRO.
XML Sitemaps
SEOPress XML and HTML sitemap settings on our test install, version 10.3, October 2026.
The wizard switched on XML and image sitemaps. The settings screen shows your sitemap address, a “Test my sitemap” health check, and switches for author and HTML sitemaps.
The post sitemap SEOPress generated for our test site, October 2026.
The index at /sitemaps.xml listed three sitemaps: posts, pages and categories. The post sitemap held the homepage and five posts with their featured images. The sixth post, set to noindex in Yoast, was left out automatically. Google News and video sitemaps are PRO features.
Social Tags and What SEOPress Adds to Your Pages
Free SEOPress writes Open Graph tags (used by Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and others) and X card tags, with a per-post custom title, description, image and preview. X cards default to the small “summary” card. We switched to “Large (summary_large_image)” under Social Networks, then X (Twitter), which most sites will want.
These are the SEO tags SEOPress printed in the head of one imported post:
<title>,meta name="description",meta name="robots"andlink rel="canonical"- Open Graph:
og:url,og:site_name,og:locale,og:type,og:title,og:description,og:image,og:image:width,og:image:height fb:pagesandfb:app_id, both empty because we had not filled them in- X cards:
twitter:card,twitter:title,twitter:description,twitter:image
What it did not print on posts is any schema. The homepage got WebSite and Organization schema, but posts got no Article markup in the free version, while Yoast and Rank Math both add it for free. Google does not need article schema to rank a normal post. It matters more for rich results such as product stars, recipes or events, and those need PRO in SEOPress.
Admin Notices, Upsells and Footprint
SEOPress is quieter than most freemium plugins. Across the WordPress dashboard, the Plugins screen and all eight SEOPress settings screens, we counted zero standard WordPress admin notices from SEOPress. The upsells we saw:
- Three PRO boxes in the setup wizard.
- A panel on the SEO dashboard with Get PRO, Get Insights and Get AI credits links, plus a “Recommended Partners” box for MailerPress, an email plugin the SEOPress founder co-founded.
- One dismissible PRO card at the bottom of most settings screens.
- A counter on the admin bar’s SEO menu (8 on our site). These are SEO tips, not sales prompts.
The WordPress.org listing promises “no upsells in admin”. That is not quite true, but the promotions stay inside SEOPress’s own screens.
We checked the database with WP-CLI before and after activation. SEOPress added one custom table (wp_seopress_content_analysis) and seven settings entries; per-post data is stored as normal post meta. Yoast 28.6 created six custom tables on the same site. The SEOPress plugin folder was 13 MB on disk against 21 MB for Yoast, but we did not measure page speed. As our Rank Math vs Yoast comparison notes, hosting, caching and images matter far more for speed than your SEO plugin. For images, see our image optimizer plugin guide.
Other free features include Google Analytics 4, Matomo and Microsoft Clarity tracking with a cookie consent bar, IndexNow and Google Indexing API support, automatic image alt text, role controls, and an MCP server that lets AI tools read your SEO data (off until you switch it on). The vendor says its SEO panel works in Elementor, Divi 4 and 5, Bricks, Oxygen, Breakdance and WPBakery.
What SEOPress PRO Adds
The SEOPress dashboard on our free install, with PRO, Insights and AI Credits shown as inactive, version 10.3, October 2026.
According to the vendor’s pricing and feature pages, PRO adds:
- Schema for Article, Local Business, Product, FAQ, How-to, Recipe, Event, Course, Job Posting, Video, Review and more, set automatically or by hand.
- Redirect manager with 301, 302, 307, 410 and 451 rules, regex and CSV import, plus 404 monitoring with email alerts.
- Broken link checker that scans your content in the background.
- WooCommerce SEO (product schema with GTIN, MPN and brand) and Local SEO with opening hours.
- Google Analytics and Search Console data inside WordPress, a site audit, SEO alerts and AI tools (with your own OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, Mistral or DeepSeek key, or paid SEOPress AI Credits).
- Google News and video sitemaps, breadcrumbs, and a robots.txt and .htaccess editor.
- White label to replace the SEOPress name and logo on client sites.
SEOPress Pricing
Prices from seopress.org as of October 2026, billed yearly, before VAT:
| Plan | Price | Sites |
|---|---|---|
| SEOPress Free | $0 | Any |
| SEOPress PRO | $49/year | 1 |
| SEOPress PRO | $59/year | 5 |
| SEOPress PRO | $149/year | Unlimited |
| SEOPress Insights | $99/year | Per site |
| AI Credits (optional) | $19, $29 or $49/month | Unlimited |
Every PRO plan has the same features. The pricing page says plans renew at the same price, the terms say they renew automatically until you cancel from your account, and there is a 14-day refund window.
SEOPress changed its plans on August 1, 2025. Before that, $49 a year covered up to five sites, so reviews that still say so are out of date. Existing customers on auto-renewal kept their old plan and price, according to the vendor.
| Your sites | SEOPress PRO | Rank Math PRO | Yoast Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $49 | $107.88 | $118.80 |
| 5 | $59 | $107.88 | $594 |
| 10 | $149 | $107.88 | $1,188 |
Rank Math PRO covers unlimited sites you own but not client sites. Yoast Premium is priced per site, with bulk discounts. Rank Math and Yoast prices are from our Rank Math vs Yoast comparison, checked October 3, 2026.
Who Owns SEOPress?
SEOPress is made by a company of the same name registered in France and run by its founder, Benjamin Denis. The legal notice names him as legal representative and the terms name him as President. The about page says he had the idea in 2017 and founded the company in October 2018.
We found no sign of a sale. In its 2025 review, published in January 2026, the company calls itself “100% independent”, reports $3 million in total sales and more than 23,000 premium customers, and names a team of four, including CTO Rémi Corson, formerly of WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads. That stands out in this market: Yoast has been owned by Newfold Digital since August 2021, according to both companies.
SEOPress Security History
As of October 2026, the Wordfence vulnerability database lists 17 issues in free SEOPress from 2021 to October 2026, all marked as patched; eleven were published in 2024. Patchstack lists 16, also all patched. Wordfence lists one issue for SEOPress PRO.
| Published | Issue | Rating | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 16, 2021 | Stored cross-site scripting in versions 5.0.0 to 5.0.3 | 6.4 (medium) | 5.0.4 |
| June 18, 2024 | Unauthenticated PHP object injection | 9.0 (critical) | 7.9 |
| October 24, 2024 | Three missing authorization flaws | Up to 5.3 (medium) | 8.2 |
| June 25, 2026 | SEOPress PRO: missing authorization, contributor login needed | 4.3 (medium) | PRO 9.2 |
| September 3, 2026 | Server-side request forgery, contributor login needed | 6.4 (medium) | 10.2 |
| October 2, 2026 | Unauthenticated stored cross-site scripting via author display name | 7.2 (high) | 10.3 |
“Cross-site scripting” means an attacker could plant code that runs in someone else’s browser, and “unauthenticated” means no login was needed. Wordfence notes the 2024 object injection flaw could only do harm together with another vulnerable plugin or theme. The October 2026 flaw only applied if “Track Authors” was set up in the Google Analytics or Matomo settings. Version 10.3 fixes both October 2026 issues.
Keep SEOPress on automatic updates, or update within a few days of each release. Outdated plugins are a common way sites end up with problems like a spam link injection.
SEOPress vs Yoast vs Rank Math
| SEOPress | Yoast SEO | Rank Math | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active installs | 300,000+ | 10+ million | 4+ million |
| Cheapest paid plan | $49/year, 1 site | $118.80/year, 1 site | $107.88/year, your own sites |
| Target keywords, free | Unlimited | 1 | 5 |
| Post schema, free | No | Yes | Yes |
| Redirects, free | Per post only | No | Full manager and 404 log |
| Account needed | No | No | Optional, but some features need it |
SEOPress vs Yoast: SEOPress is cheaper past one site, quieter, and gives you unlimited keywords and per-post redirects for free. Yoast is easier for beginners, gives better writing feedback, adds article schema for free, and has far more tutorials. If Yoast Free works for you, there is no urgent reason to switch. If you are about to pay for Yoast Premium on several sites, SEOPress PRO costs much less.
SEOPress vs Rank Math: Rank Math’s free plan does more, including schema types, a redirect manager and a 404 monitor. SEOPress is simpler, needs no account, and every PRO plan includes white label for client sites. For a wider look, see our list of best SEO plugins for WordPress.
SEOPress Pros and Cons
Pros
- Cheapest paid plan of the major SEO plugins, same price on renewal
- Quiet admin area with no dashboard-wide banners
- One-click import that moved every Yoast field we set
- Unlimited target keywords and per-post redirects for free
- No account needed, and one custom database table
Cons
- No Article schema on posts in the free version
- Redirect manager, 404 log and robots.txt editor need PRO
- The wizard quietly publishes the admin email in Organization schema
- Smaller community than Yoast or Rank Math, so fewer tutorials
- 17 patched security issues on record, so updates matter
Verdict: Is SEOPress Worth It in 2026?
Yes, for the right site. If you manage several WordPress sites, build sites for clients, or want PRO features without paying Yoast prices, SEOPress PRO at $49 to $149 a year is the best value of the big SEO plugins. The free version is a capable, quiet replacement for Yoast Free, and moving over is quick. If you want the most features for $0, Rank Math gives you more. If you are new to SEO and want the most guidance, Yoast is the easier start.
FAQ
Is SEOPress free?
Yes. SEOPress Free on WordPress.org has no time limit and covers titles, meta descriptions, social tags, XML sitemaps, content analysis and per-post redirects. SEOPress PRO costs from $49/year for one site as of October 2026.
Is SEOPress better than Yoast?
It is cheaper, quieter and gives you unlimited target keywords and per-post redirects for free. Yoast is easier for beginners and adds article schema for free. For several sites, SEOPress PRO costs far less than Yoast Premium.
Can I switch from Yoast to SEOPress without losing my SEO data?
Yes. On our test site, the import brought over every Yoast title, meta description, focus keyphrase, noindex setting, canonical URL, social title and primary category we had set. Back up first, import with Yoast still active, check key pages, then deactivate Yoast.
How much does SEOPress PRO cost?
As of October 2026, $49/year for one site, $59/year for five and $149/year for unlimited sites, before VAT, renewing at the same price with a 14-day refund window. SEOPress Insights is a separate $99/year per site.
Who owns SEOPress?
The French company SEOPress, led by its founder Benjamin Denis. As of October 2026 it has not been sold and describes itself as fully independent.
Is SEOPress safe to use?
Wordfence lists 17 past issues in the free plugin, all patched, including a critical one fixed in version 7.9 in 2024. That is common for a popular plugin, but keep SEOPress updated. Version 10.3 fixes the two issues published in October 2026.