OpenSEO

OpenSEO is an SEO tool for the people. If tools like Semrush or Ahrefs are too expensive or bloated, OpenSEO is a pay by usage alternative that you actually control.

Table of Contents

• Why Use This
• Main SEO Workflows
• Roadmap
• Community
• Pricing / Costs (Free + API costs)
• Self Hosting (Deploy on Cloudflare) [5-10 minutes]
• Docker Self Hosting (Standalone OpenSEO)
• Local Development
• Contributing
• SEO API Cost Reference

Why Use This

• Open source and self-hostable.
• No subscriptions.
• Focused workflows instead of a giant, complex SEO suite.
• AI Native - Use your own tools like Claude Code / Cowork for more powerful AI features than what other platforms provide.

Main SEO Workflows

• Keyword research
  • Find topics worth targeting, estimate demand, and prioritize what to write next.
• Domain insights
  • Understand where your domain is gaining or losing visibility so you can focus on the pages that move revenue.
• Site Audits
  • Catch technical issues early so your site is easier for search engines to crawl and rank.

Roadmap

Top priorities:

• Rank tracking
• AI content workflows

If something important is missing, please join the Discord or email me at ben@everyapp.dev and request it.

Community

Email me: ben@everyapp.dev Join discord to chat: Discord

Follow along for updates:

• r/everyapp
• On X: https://x.com/bensenescu

Pricing / Costs

OpenSEO is totally free to use. It works by using DataForSEO's APIs, which is a paid third-party service unaffiliated with OpenSEO.

There are two separate things:

1. OpenSEO app cost: $0, you host it yourself.
2. DataForSEO API: pay-as-you-go based on usage.

For cost estimates, see DataForSEO API Cost Reference.

Self Hosting (Deploy on Cloudflare) [5-10 minutes]

Tip

If anything in this section is confusing or unfamiliar like running terminal commands, copy this link into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it explain.

OpenSEO is built on Every App, a platform for easily self-hosting open source apps like OpenSEO in your own Cloudflare account. Cloudflare enables much more powerful functionality than is possible running on your own computer or on a VPS.

Windows Users

This has not been tested on Windows. Please let me know if you run into problems. Using WSL will likely work better. Also, try using fly.io Sprites to get a linux sandbox for free if you get totally stuck.

Video Walkthrough

This video walks through setting up the Gateway and self hosting OpenSEO. If you run into any problems, reference the Community section for how to reach out.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e40d5089-971f-43c9-85ff-1213aea35156

Prerequisites

If you don't want to make a Cloudflare account yet (its easy!) and just want to test out OpenSEO, skip to the Run Locally section.

1. Install Node.js (includes npx).
2. Create a Cloudflare account: dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up
3. Authenticate Wrangler:

npx wrangler login

4. Deploy the Every App Gateway (one-time per account):

npx everyapp gateway deploy

5. Create an Account

• Follow the link output by the last command to create an account. You will access OpenSEO through this account.

Self Host OpenSEO

Deploy the app to cloudflare.

1. Clone the repo to your machine

git clone https://github.com/every-app/open-seo.git

2. Switch to the directory

cd open-seo

3. Self host via the Every App CLI

npx everyapp app deploy

DataForSEO API Key Setup [5 minutes]

OpenSEO use DataForSEO to get the SEO info. You need an API key to connect OpenSEO to the service.

1. Go to DataForSEO API Access.
2. Request API credentials by email (API key by email or API password by email).
3. Use your DataForSEO login + API password, then base64 encode login:password:

printf '%s' 'YOUR_LOGIN:YOUR_PASSWORD' | base64

4. Set this as a secret in Cloudflare. Use the value from the previous step when prompted.

npx wrangler secret put DATAFORSEO_API_KEY

Now you're all set! Go back to the gateway, click on the OpenSEO app, and start getting better at SEO!

Docker Self Hosting (Standalone OpenSEO)

Quickstart:

1. cp .env.example .env
2. Set DATAFORSEO_API_KEY in .env
3. docker compose up
4. Open http://localhost:3001

For runtime details, caveats, and troubleshooting, see SELF_HOSTING_DOCKER.md.

Local Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm
• A DataForSEO account/API credentials

Run Locally (Quick Test)

1. Copy env template:

cp .env.example .env.local

2. Install and run:

pnpm install
# Initialize local DB schema (required on a fresh machine)
pnpm run db:migrate:local
# This runs in BYPASS_GATEWAY mode so that you don't need to set up the Every App gateway. This is fine for local use and best for local dev / quick testing since you don't need to access the app through the gatway
pnpm dev:agents

pnpm dev runs on http://localhost:3001 by default (or PORT from .env.local).

pnpm dev:agents runs through portless at http://open-seo.localhost:1355 by default.

When using a git worktree, portless prefixes the branch name, for example http://feature-name.open-seo.localhost:1355.

Running locally is the fastest way to test core flows. In the future, local mode will not include some Cloudflare-backed capabilities (for example cron-based rank tracking and infrastructure-powered performance improvements for heavier audits).

Local Development (In Gateway)

If you want auth or any other gateway only features enabled for local dev, you must access through your Gateway and set a devUrl on the app.

See the next section which is a workflow for agents which works much better with worktrees and doens't require the Gateway.

# This configures your .env.local, installs dependencies and runs migrations against your local database.
npx everyapp app setup-local

# terminal 1: start once and keep running
pnpm dev:agents

Local Development Workflow (for coding agents)

# This log file make it easier for your coding agent to debug.
mkdir .logs
touch .logs/dev-server.log
# Run once per fresh local DB
pnpm run db:migrate:local
# terminal 1: start once and keep running
pnpm dev:agents

• pnpm dev:agents mirrors output to .logs/dev-server.log (gitignored).
• The log file is overwritten on each run.

Database Commands

Generate migration:

pnpm run db:generate

Migrate local DB:

pnpm run db:migrate:local

Contributing

Contributions are very welcome.

• Open an issue for bugs, UX friction, or feature requests.
• Open a PR if you want to implement a feature directly.
• Community-driven improvements are prioritized, and high-quality PRs are encouraged.

If you want to contribute but are unsure where to start, open an issue and describe what you want to build.

SEO API Cost Reference

Use this section to estimate DataForSEO spend per request type. OpenSEO itself remains free; these are API usage costs only.

As of February 26, 2026, DataForSEO’s public docs/pricing pages say:

• New accounts include $1 free credit to test the API.
• The minimum top-up/payment is $50.

That means you can try OpenSEO for free with the starter credit, then decide if/when to top up.

Pricing sources

• DataForSEO Labs pricing: https://dataforseo.com/pricing/dataforseo-labs/dataforseo-google-api
• Google PageSpeed Insights API docs: https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/v5/get-started

1) Site audit

• No paid API calls in the current implementation.

2) Keyword research (related mode)

• Current billed cost pattern (from account usage logs):
  • 0.02 + (0.0001 x returned_keywords) USD
• Default app setting: 150 results per search ($0.035 each).
• Available result tiers:
  • 150 results = $0.035
  • 300 results = $0.05
  • 500 results = $0.07

3) Domain overview

• Standard domain overview request (with top 200 ranked keywords): $0.0401 per domain.
• General formula if needed:
  • 0.0201 + (0.0001 x ranked_keywords_returned) USD

Planning examples

• 100 keyword research requests at the default 150 results: $3.50
• 100 keyword research requests at 500 results each: $7.00
• 100 domain overviews (200 ranked keywords each): $4.01