eRank vs Etsy Marketplace Insights: Which SEO Tool Is Best?

ByJ.B. Updated on
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If you have been sitting at your laptop, tabs open, coffee getting cold, trying to figure out whether eRank vs Etsy Marketplace Insights is the right move for your shop, you are in exactly the right place.

This is the question I get asked constantly, and honestly, it is one of the most important decisions you can make when you are trying to build a freedom-first business on Etsy.

Because here is the thing: you can have stunning designs, solid products, and a great shop aesthetic, but if nobody can find you, none of that matters. SEO is the engine. Keywords are the fuel. And the tools you use to find those keywords?

They are either going to accelerate your growth or slow you down with confusion and wasted time.

I have been running a multi-six-figure Etsy print on demand shop for a while now, and I use both of these tools. Not one or the other. Both.

And I am going to give you the full, honest breakdown so you can stop second-guessing yourself and start making moves that actually get your listings seen. Real talk from someone who lives and breathes this stuff…and LOVES it.

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First, Let’s Set the Stage: Why Keyword Research Is Non-Negotiable for Etsy POD

Before we get into the head-to-head comparison, let me give you a little context, because I know some of you are newer to this whole print on demand world and might still be figuring out what SEO even means in the Etsy universe.

When someone opens the Etsy app at 11pm because they just remembered their sister’s birthday is next week and they need a personalized mug, they type something into that search bar. Whatever words they type are what Etsy’s algorithm uses to surface listings.

If your listing uses those exact words or closely related phrases in your title, tags, and description, you have a shot at showing up. If you do not, you are basically invisible. That is it. That is the whole game in a nutshell.

So keyword research is not optional. And the tools you use to do that research are what determine how smart and efficient your process is. Now let’s talk about both of them.

What Is Etsy Marketplace Insights and Where Does It Come From?

Etsy Marketplace Insights is a feature that comes bundled with the Etsy Plus subscription, which costs $10 per month. I go into depth about the Etsy Plus subscription and whether it is worth it here.

Go check that out after this. But for the purposes of this conversation, Etsy Marketplace Insights is the keyword research tool that lives inside your Etsy account when you are an Etsy Plus subscriber. If you want to know exactly how I use it, go here after this.

Here is what makes it uniquely powerful: it is first-party data. Full stop.

That means this information is coming directly from Etsy, straight from the source. Every search that happens on Etsy, every click, every cart add, every bestseller badge earned, all of that data feeds into what Marketplace Insights shows you.

There is no algorithm interpretation or third-party tool trying to reverse-engineer what Etsy knows.

This is Etsy’s own data, and it is as accurate as it gets.

Think of it this way. Every other SEO tool out there, including eRank, is essentially working from data that was derived from, inspired by, or pulled in proximity to what Etsy already knows. Marketplace Insights is the original source.

I like this analogy a lot: it is the cow, and everyone else is just selling milk they got from the cow.

The data is updated to reflect the past 30 days, so it is also incredibly current. No lag or delay, and no wondering if the numbers you are looking at are six months old.

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What Etsy Marketplace Insights Actually Shows You

When you type a keyword into Marketplace Insights, you get a few really important things. First, you get the search data for that specific keyword, telling you how actively people are searching for it.

Second, and this is the part I genuinely love, it immediately shows you the full search results for that keyword right on the same page.

You can see exactly what listings are coming up, which ones have the bestseller badge, which ones are in people’s carts, and what is clearly in demand. You do not have to open a new tab, scroll through pages of results, or do any extra digging. It is all right there.

That kind of instant demand confirmation is powerful. When you are trying to decide whether to spend time designing something in a specific niche, being able to quickly see that yes, these types of products have bestseller badges and are in carts gives you the validation you need to move forward.

Or, if you see that the results are a mess of irrelevant listings with no clear demand signals, you know to pivot.

Fast feedback equals faster action, and in this business, speed and decisiveness are your friends.

Marketplace Insights also gives you exploratory ideas, meaning related keywords that Etsy suggests based on what you searched. And in my experience, these related keyword suggestions are genuinely relevant.

They are tightly connected to your original search, which makes them actually useful for brainstorming your niche deeper rather than sending you off on some random tangent.

Where Etsy Marketplace Insights Falls Short

Okay, real talk time, because nothing is perfect. Marketplace Insights has a few limitations that matter, especially if you are trying to work efficiently and at scale.

The biggest frustration is that you can only search one keyword at a time. You type it in, you get your results, and then you have to start over with the next keyword. There is no bulk search feature like there is with eRank. Which I’ll talk about more below.

For someone who is sitting down for a keyword research session and wants to evaluate 20 or 30 keywords in a niche, this gets tedious fast.

Time is one of your most valuable resources when you are trying to build passive income from Etsy while also living your life, and clicking through keywords one by one is not a great use of it.

The other thing Marketplace Insights does not do is break down the data by geography like eRank does. You cannot see how search behavior differs between countries or regions.

For most Etsy POD sellers who are primarily targeting the US market, this might not feel like a big deal, but if you are building a more international strategy or if you have a Shopify store running alongside your Etsy shop, that geographic insight can be really valuable.

You also cannot save keyword lists inside Marketplace Insights or track how a keyword’s performance changes over time. You get the snapshot, but you do not get the movie.

And the tool does not give you historical trend data, so you cannot look back and see, for example, that searches for a particular holiday-themed keyword start picking up in October and peak in early December.

That kind of trend awareness is gold for planning your content and launch calendar. You can easily do this in eRank.

Now Let’s Talk About eRank: The Non-Negotiable Second Tool

eRank has been a staple in the Etsy seller community for years, and for good reason. It is third-party data, which means it is not pulled directly from Etsy the way Marketplace Insights is, but it is widely considered the most reliable and thoughtfully designed tool for Etsy keyword research outside of Etsy itself.

I have tried several tools over the years, and eRank is the one I keep coming back to.

What I love most about eRank is the way it presents the data.

It does not give you some made-up composite score that claims to measure “competition” through a mysterious formula that nobody can fully explain. Instead, it shows you the actual Etsy competition number, meaning the real count of how many listings are competing for that keyword. That is a concrete, actionable number.

When I am looking at keywords, anything in the green range for competition is immediately interesting to me, especially if it also has active monthly searches. Those two data points together, manageable competition and real search volume, tell me everything I need to know to decide whether a keyword is worth pursuing.

This approach is especially important if you are newer to the game or even if you are mid-level and trying to break into a new niche.

Jumping into a keyword with 800,000 competing listings when you have a brand new shop with no sales history is a recipe for invisibility.

eRank helps you find the sweet spots where real people are searching but not every single seller has already saturated the market.

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The Bulk Search Feature: The Real MVP

If there is one eRank feature that has saved me the most time and made the biggest difference in my research workflow, it is bulk search. And I cannot overstate how much this matters when you are trying to work smarter, not harder.

Here is how I use it: I open up ChatGPT or Claude, and I ask for a list of 20 potential keywords in a specific niche that are trending on TikTok, phrased as keywords separated by commas.

The AI spits out the list, I copy the whole thing, paste it into eRank’s bulk search, and within seconds I have the competition and search volume data for all 20 keywords at once.

I don’t have to click through one at a time. It gives me a clean, scannable spreadsheet-style view of all the keywords and their viability.

That is a game changer for anyone who takes their Etsy SEO seriously. You can go from “I want to explore the dog mom mug niche” to a fully analyzed keyword list in under five minutes. And that efficiency compounds over time.

When you can evaluate more keywords faster, you can list more products faster, and more listings mean more chances to be found. That is how you build momentum in this business.

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Geographic Data, Historical Trends, and Google Insights

eRank also gives you geographic breakdown of search data, which Marketplace Insights does not offer. You can see how a keyword performs differently in the US versus the UK versus Australia, and that is genuinely useful information depending on your targeting strategy.

The historical trend data is another feature I genuinely appreciate.

eRank lets you look back at how search volume for a keyword has moved over time, and in my experience, those trends are pretty accurate.

Being able to see that a certain keyword spikes every year in late October or that a specific phrase has been growing steadily over the past year helps you make smarter decisions about what to design and when to publish.

It is like having a cheat sheet for your content calendar. Seasonal planning becomes so much less stressful when you have actual data guiding your decisions instead of just guessing.

eRank also shows you Google search volume for keywords, which, for pure Etsy strategy, is not the most critical piece of information since Etsy already shows you some of that data.

But if you are running a Shopify store in addition to your Etsy shop, those Google numbers become very relevant for your broader SEO strategy. It is a nice bonus data point to have in your back pocket.

Where eRank Has Its Limitations

The honest answer is that eRank, as great as it is, is still working with third-party data. There will always be some degree of discrepancy between what eRank shows you and what Etsy’s actual real-time data looks like.

The numbers are not always perfectly aligned with what Marketplace Insights shows for the same keyword, and that is just the nature of the beast. No third-party tool is going to be 100% in sync with Etsy’s own database.

The related keyword suggestions in eRank can also be hit or miss. Sometimes the related keywords it surfaces are genuinely useful and closely connected to your original search. Other times, they go off in directions that feel random and not particularly relevant to what you were actually researching.

It is worth reviewing them with a critical eye rather than just accepting them all as equally valuable suggestions.

And unlike Marketplace Insights, eRank does not show you the actual search results and bestseller signals right alongside the keyword data. You would have to go separately into Etsy’s search to see what is ranking and what is selling well, which adds a step to your process.

The Pricing Breakdown: What You Are Actually Paying For

Let’s get into the money talk, because this is always part of the decision. Etsy Plus, which includes Marketplace Insights, is $10 per month.

eRank has a free plan that gives you five keyword lookups per day with no related keyword suggestions, which is honestly pretty limited but totally fine if you are just testing the waters and not yet ready to invest.

The Basic plan for eRank is $5.99 per month if you go month-to-month, or it works out to about $5.50 per month if you pay annually at $65.99 per year (this is the plan that I am on as a multi six figure shop owner).

At that level, you get 100 keyword lookups per day, which is genuinely more than enough for most sellers doing focused research sessions.

I do not connect my shop, I do not use the listing audit features, and I do not need any of the competitor monitoring bells and whistles. I use eRank for one thing: keyword research. That is it. The Basic plan handles that beautifully.

If you want more lookup volume, the Pro plan is $9.99 per month or $94.99 annually, and the Expert plan jumps to $29.99 per month or $22.50 per month billed annually. Honestly, unless you are doing an extremely high volume of keyword research every single day across multiple niches and shops, the Basic plan is what you need.

Do not let the higher tiers upsell you on features you will never actually use.

When you look at the combined cost of both tools, you are looking at roughly $16 per month if you go Basic on eRank and Etsy Plus together. For the returns that smart keyword research produces in terms of traffic, sales, and passive income from Etsy, that is an extremely reasonable investment.

Etsy Plus also comes with ad credits and listing fee credits, so if you are running ads and listing consistently, those perks help offset the cost even further.

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eRank + Etsy Marketplace Insights: A Dynamic Duo

This two-tool workflow gives me the best of both worlds. The speed and bulk capability of eRank for initial research, and the accuracy and real-time demand signals of Marketplace Insights for validation.

Together, they create a research process that is both efficient and reliable.

If you want to go deeper into building your keyword strategy and overall shop foundation, I put everything I know into my community Freedom Unclocked, which walks you through the entire process of building and scaling an Etsy print on demand shop step by step.

You can check it out at Freedom Unclocked if you are ready to stop winging it and start building with intention.

Or, if you want a quick gut check on what might be holding your shop back right now, my free Self-Audit Cheat Sheet is a great starting point. It takes about ten minutes and it will show you exactly where to focus your energy first.

For the actual design creation side of things, I also love using my custom GPT Promptessa Unclocked Art Prompt Generator to come up with design and mockup prompts that are actually aligned with what is selling.

Once you know your keywords, having a fast way to generate design concepts that match that demand is a serious time-saver.

Final Thoughts: Stop Overthinking and Start Researching

Look, I know the “which tool is better” debate can feel like a rabbit hole. There are a lot of opinions out there, and not all of them come from people who are actually in the trenches running real shops with real results.

So let me just say this clearly: in the eRank vs Etsy Marketplace Insights conversation, there is no loser. Both tools are doing different things well, and the smartest move is to use them together.

Etsy Marketplace Insights wins on accuracy, real-time data, and instant demand validation. It is first-party, it is current, and it shows you exactly what is working in the search results right now. eRank wins on efficiency, bulk research, historical trends, and geographic data. It is the tool that lets you do in five minutes what would take you an hour in Marketplace Insights alone.

Combined, they cost you less than $16 a month. And if that investment helps you find even one keyword that drives consistent traffic to a well-designed listing, it pays for itself many times over. Passive income from Etsy is not built on luck. It is built on showing up in the right search results for the right people at the right time. These tools help you do exactly that.

You are building something real here. A shop that can work while you sleep, while you travel, while you are doing literally anything other than staring at a laptop. That is the whole point of a freedom-first business. And you deserve to have the best possible tools supporting that vision.

Now close the research spiral, pick your plan, and go find your next winning keyword. You got this.

And if you are ready to go all in, check out Freedom Unclocked for the full roadmap. Your future self will thank you.

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The Best SEO and Design Tools for Your Print on Demand Shop:

These are the only tools I use for my shop!

Canva: Canva is the most amazing tool. It is user friendly, and always improving! The tools that Canva has have evolved so much since I first started using it in 2022 for the better. I use it almost everyday. I use it to create designs, to edit AI designs, and to create product mockups.

Ideogram: Ideogram is an AI design tool that generates high-quality graphics with exceptionally accurate text rendering, making it ideal for creating quote-based and typography-focused designs. I also use the prompt based editing for mockups, making it a wonderful alternative to Photoshop, which is expensive.

E-Hunt: E-Hunt is fantastic for competitor research and some light keyword research. My favorite aspect of E-Hunt is the Chrome extension that allows you to see the sales amount for an individual item on Etsy. Check out this article to see an example.

eRank: eRank is an SEO data tool that also allows you to search the competition and will also give you key words for your Etsy listing. It is also a low cost tool that will help you find low competition and highly searched niches.

Printify: Printify is a print-on-demand (POD) service that allows individuals and businesses to create and sell custom-designed products without needing to manage inventory or handle fulfillment. I put my designs on products offered by Printify. When an item sells, Printify prints and ships to my customer.

Vela: Vela is the bulk editing tool I use to manage hundreds of Etsy and Shopify listings without losing my mind. You can update videos, photos, titles, tags, descriptions, and prices across your entire shop in minutes, and your VA can build listings inside Vela without needing your Etsy login. Read more about Vela here.

Shopify: Shopify is what I recommend when you are ready to scale beyond Etsy and diversify where your products sell. The fees are lower, you own your customer data (emails), and it integrates directly with Printify and Vela. It is the easiest way to build a standalone storefront that you control. Read more about Etsy v Shopify here.

FAIRE: FAIRE is the wholesale marketplace I use to sell my products to retail, brick and mortar stores. If you want to scale your shop and add a wholesale revenue stream to your POD business, FAIRE is a great option. Read more about FAIRE here.

Looking for more information on print on demand? Check out these articles:

The information shared on my blog is for educational and informational purposes only. They reflect my personal experience building an online business and are not guarantees of earnings or financial results. They also reflect revenue and not profit. Your results may vary and will depend on factors such as your effort, niche, product quality, strategy, and market demand.

Janeen is a former attorney and Etsy print on demand coach who started her shop at 40, retired early from corporate life at 42, and moved her family to Portugal. She now teaches others the strategic path to building portable income, while exploring and documenting the most beautiful country she gets to call home.