On October 1, keyword research browser add-on Keywords Everywhere will move from a free to a pay-as-you-go model, the developer announced on September 25.

Keywords Everywhere provides volume, CPC and competition estimates on your search query as well as “related” and “people also search for” keywords. Under the new pricing model, the query above would cost 18 credits.

The new (low-cost) model. The payment plan will cost $1 for 10,000 credits of keyword data. “Basically, every time you see the volume for one keyword, one credit is used up,” Kevin, the mononymous operator of Keywords Everywhere, told Search Engine Land.

“So, for a Google search where you see 20 related keywords and 50 people also ask for keywords, 1 (main query) + 20 + 50 = 71 credits will be used up.”

This should end up costing most users less than $2 per month, according to the announcement.

Why start charging now? The move to a paid model was necessitated by an increase in bot activity. Kevin said the deluge of bots forced him to disable the Import Keywords and Analyze Page features as well as “constantly upgrade hardware in order to keep the software functional for our real users.”

Keywords Everywhere said it will use the funds to add support for other countries, build additional features and reintroduce features blocked due to bot-related activity.

What about existing users? On October 1, the browser add-on will stop retrieving volume, CPC and competition data for all keywords; however, “related” keywords and “people also ask for” keywords will still be shown. Users will have to purchase account credit to gain access to volume, CPC and competition data.

Why we should care. You or your team members may be using Keywords Everywhere to evaluate the competition, CPC, search volume and alternative keywords. If you’re a user, be prepared to dedicate a thin slice of your tools budget to the browser add-on starting next month.