Looking for an Alternative to Rankmath?

User Interface (UI) and Navigation

Because Rankmath is considered a WordPress plugin and not a standalone platform like Hike, the user interface cannot be compared like-for-like. Rankmath is nested inside the WordPress dashboard and within pages & posts, where several SEO-relevant settings can be tweaked to help improve the website’s SEO performance. It may be a bit confusing for the beginner to first understand how the plugin works and where it’s located, but overall it’s not too complicated once you’ve used it a few times to optimize a page or post.

Hike on the other hand is a standalone platform, and the user interface is streamlined from the ground up to be simple for beginners and small business owners to navigate and use, even if they have no prior experience with SEO. This makes it a perfect foundation to start from while leveraging a tool like Rankmath to make sure the on-site recommendations and actions are implemented correctly if you have a WordPress website.

"Hike SEO has helped me manage SEO for my clients and prioritize my time to rank better on Google. I highly recommend!"

Ben Todd

Source: Google Reviews

Onboarding and Tutorials

Onboarding on Rankmath is quite straightforward from installing the plugin to going through a few steps to configure it on your WordPress installation. Once it’s set up, it’s ready to go and use. Rankmath has a useful knowledge base which can be referred to if you have any questions in terms of setting it up or performing certain tasks.

With Hike, onboarding is straightforward and designed for the beginner user. Simply adding the website URL, selecting the business industry, and entering a few other pieces of information, Hike will then proceed to scan the website and come up with a list of initial actions for you to review and start actioning.

What sets Hike apart from many tools is its comprehensive set of tutorials and training videos that can be found in the Hike Academy as well as its YouTube channel. The video tutorials walk you through all the aspects of the platform and show you how to make the best use of them. Hike also has its own knowledge base as well for specific questions.

On-Page Optimization

When it comes to on-page optimization, this is what Rankmath has been designed for, albeit only for WordPress websites, whereas Hike is platform-independent with its on-site SEO recommendations and actions. Rankmath provides a useful search snippet preview to show you how the page that is being optimized will look in search results, with the title and meta description that was being changed.

Rankmath gives you the tools to make changes to on-page elements as well as redirects, but Hike actually guides the user as to what to change and where to change it. This makes both tools complementary to each other, which makes changing certain things like the page title, meta description, and other metadata simple.

Content Recommendations

When it comes to content, Rankmath has a built-in “Content AI” assistant which provides AI-generated suggestions so you know exactly what to write.

Hike takes it one step further and leverages Chat-GPT4 to actually write the page content for you using its “Content Wizard” and even includes your provided keywords sprinkled within it. This provides a great starting point, saving the beginner time in having to start from a blank page.

Ultimately, if you have WordPress, then both tools could be used together, with Hike providing the initial draft, and then tweaking and refining it in the CMS using Rankmath’s content suggestions.

"Hike has been amazing for helping me to make improvements to my website and my traffic has increased dramatically. It's really easy to use for beginners like me, but with a wealth of features for even the most experienced of website owners. I have learnt so much already. I love it!"

Jo Maghoo

Source: Google Reviews

Reporting & Analysis

Rankmath provides integration to Google Search Console, so the advanced analytics can be seen within the WordPress dashboard, easily spotting keywords which you rank for, your sitemap status, and indexing issues.

Hike also integrates with Google Search Console, but additionally adds Google Analytics integration, allowing beginners to see all their traffic stats in one place. It also has a keyword tracking tool to keep tabs on the keywords important for your business and how well they are performing in the search results.

One of the most useful tools for small businesses in Hike is the Report Builder, which conveniently allows beginners to create their own custom & branded reports using drag-and-drop widgets, and then schedule the reports to be sent out on a regular basis to watch how their search visibility improves over time.

"Such an incredibly helpful tool. I strongly believe in the 80/20 principle. And using hike removes part of that 80% to allow me to focus more deeply on the 20% where my particular skills are best served."

Mr & Mrs Smith Studios

Source: Google Reviews

Pricing

Rankmath has what is called a Freemium model, which means that it’s 100% free to install and use the basic features, but then for more added features, it costs extra. These packages start from $59 per year all the way up to $499 per year. 

Keep in mind that Rankmath is not a full suite of SEO tools like Hike is, so there is limited functionality and scope as to what it can do in terms of what full SEO suites are capable of. Therefore, it makes sense the price is on the lower end of the spectrum.

Hike is an all-in-one SEO platform, and for what it offers the price is worth the value it provides. For just £49.99 per month, small businesses can get access to all of its incredible beginner-friendly features, which not only includes on-page optimization, but also off-page, local SEO, and all of the other aspects that are important to overall SEO success.

If you want further savings, if the yearly package is purchased, then the effective monthly cost goes down 45% to only £26.99 per month.

In Summary

Because of the nature of the type of tool Rankmath is, it can be used in conjunction with a full SEO suite like Hike, making the beginner’s tasks of actioning the recommendations that Hike gives much easier (if they have a WordPress website and Rankmath installed).

Rankmath can aid every small business owner who uses WordPress to easily optimize their content using its simple interface, powered by the recommendations that Hike provides and the content that the Content Wizard can generate.

If you haven’t already, sign up to Hike today and start improving your SEO one step at a time.