The closest MozBar alternative in 2026 is the Mangools SEO extension, because a free Mangools account gives you Domain Authority and Page Authority without a Moz login. If you want on-page and schema inspection rather than scores, install the Detailed SEO Extension instead. MozBar itself still works; it just isn't the only free way to read a page.
MozBar alternatives: why people switch
Nothing about MozBar is broken. Moz shipped MozBar V5, version 5.0.17, updated 20 September 2026, and it remains the quickest way to see authority data on a page you happen to be reading. What people shop around for is the trade they make to use it.
"Guest: free access to On-Page Elements, General Attributes, and Internal Link details. Community (free account): everything in Guest Mode plus DA and PA. Moz Pro subscribers: Spam Score, Page Optimization, Domain Analysis, and Keyword Ranking queries." Moz, MozBar listing, Chrome Web Store, updated 20 September 2026.
Read that ladder again, because it decides whether MozBar is free for you. Domain Authority and Page Authority need a Moz account, and Spam Score plus Page Optimization need a paid Moz Pro plan. The extension is free to install; the numbers most people want aren't free on a fresh browser.
The second cost is a lookup allowance. Version 5 added 48-hour caching, described in Moz's own release notes as a way to reduce redundant API calls and stay "within your Moz Pro query limits". Caching is good engineering. It also tells you that every pageview spends something you can run out of.
The third cost is that MozBar reports elements rather than verdicts. You can see the hreflang tags, the schema block and the link types on the page. You don't get a plain sentence telling you the title runs 12 characters long, or a preview of how the page looks when someone shares it. Those are different jobs, and the extensions below are organised around which one you actually need.
The fourth is behavioural. MozBar injects a bar into every page you open. If you keep a clean browser, a popup that opens when you ask is a different product, not a downgrade.
The five extensions worth installing instead
Each pick below was checked against the vendor's own documentation in October 2026, including what the free tier unlocks. That last part is where most of these lists get vague, so it gets its own line for each tool.
1. Mangools SEO extension: closest match for authority metrics
Mangools publishes its tier table, which is why it takes the top slot. With no account at all you get domain trends only. A free Mangools account adds DA, PA, CF and TF, instant rank tracking, keyword data and backlink data. On-page SEO checks and PageSpeed checks are unlimited on both tiers (source).
If the one thing you miss from MozBar is the DA and PA readout on a prospect's homepage, this is the same metric family from a free signup instead of a Moz login. You also get a local SERP simulator and context-menu checks on any link, which suits prospect research better than a permanent toolbar.
2. Detailed SEO Extension: the inspector
Detailed is free, has no upsells, runs no tracking, and reports 450,000 users on its own site (detailed.com). It gives you heading structure, meta tags, schema markup, hreflang status codes, a People Also Ask extractor, a Googlebot user-agent switch, and CSV export of a page's links or images.
It has no authority metrics at all, and that's deliberate. If you already trust Search Console for numbers, this becomes the extension you open ten times a day and the one you'd keep if you were only allowed one.
3. SEOquake: the SERP overlay
Semrush rebuilt and relaunched SEOquake in September 2026 (release note), and it stays free: on-page checks, internal link review, URL comparison and export. A free Semrush account layers Authority Score, visits and engagement onto what the extension shows you.
The overlay is the reason to install it. If keyword work happens in bulk, metrics under every result beat clicking through ten tabs, and SEOquake is the free option that keeps that workflow.
4. Ahrefs SEO Toolbar: best redirect tracer
Ahrefs puts the toolbar out free, with on-page reports, SERP analysis, canonical and noindex checks, hreflang and sitemap review, and full redirect-chain tracing that follows JavaScript hops (ahrefs.com). Ahrefs' own page reports over 400,000 users.
The catch has the same shape as MozBar's. DR, UR, backlink counts, referring domains, traffic estimates and keyword counts need a paid Ahrefs account. The free toolbar is a technical inspector, not a metrics window, and it earns its place on redirect work alone.
5. Keyword Surfer: volumes while you search
Keyword Surfer is free and does exactly one job: estimated search volume and CPC inside Google, plus a sidebar of related keyword ideas. It has no page metrics and no audits, so it can't replace MozBar on its own.
It makes the list because the two extensions above deliberately skip keyword data. Volume context changes how you read a results page, and it costs nothing to have it there while you browse.
Which replacement should you install?
Match the extension to the job you were using MozBar for, not to the longest feature list.
- You want DA and PA on any page, free: the Mangools SEO extension.
- You want on-page and schema verdicts before you publish: Detailed.
- You want metrics under every Google result: SEOquake, or MozBar kept for that one job.
- You want to chase redirects and indexation bugs: Ahrefs SEO Toolbar.
- You want volumes while you research: Keyword Surfer.
Most people end up running two. Detailed plus Keyword Surfer covers inspection and research for nothing, and both survive a browser reset because neither needs a login. If you already pay for Mangools or Ahrefs, that vendor's extension should be your first pick, because the metrics are already inside the subscription.
Where the original still wins
Two jobs are genuinely better in MozBar, and naming them saves you a pointless migration.
The first is the SERP overlay with CSV export of link metrics across a whole results page. None of the free alternatives above does that in one click, and if you eyeball a results page before every brief, that's a real loss.
The second is the inside-Moz-Pro workflow. If you pay for Moz Pro, Spam Score, Page Optimization scores and keyword rankings appear without leaving the page, and no third-party extension reproduces that. Keep MozBar installed alongside Detailed and use each for its own job; overlapping extensions are only a problem when they duplicate work.
Why is your toolbar showing nothing?
Most searches for a MozBar alternative start with an extension that went quiet. Before you switch, check the three causes, because two of them follow you to any replacement.
- You aren't signed in. DA and PA stay blank in guest mode and appear after a Moz login.
- The lookups are spent. Free Moz accounts carry a query allowance, which is why V5 caches results for 48 hours. The bar stays quiet until the allowance resets.
- The page blocks injection. Chrome's own pages, the Web Store and some sites refuse content scripts, so no toolbar can render there.
If the login or the allowance is what brought you here, that's the argument for one of the five above. They either need no account at all, or the account is free and not tied to a paid Moz plan.
What none of these extensions can do
A browser extension is a per-page, per-human check. That's the right tool for a spot audit and the wrong tool for a system.
None of the five exposes a usable API for your own automation, and none stores history. You can see what a competitor's page looks like right now. You can't ask what 40 of their pages looked like last month without clicking through 40 tabs, and you can't ask the question on a schedule.
That gap is where agent-run marketing separates from manual SEO. Anyone running ads, email and content with an agent needs checks that run on a cadence and land in a file, not in a toolbar tab. Our roundup of AI SEO tools for solo founders covers which of them expose real data access and which are a dashboard with a login.
If you want the platform-level comparison instead, meaning Moz Pro itself against Ahrefs, Semrush, SE Ranking and Mangools, that's a separate list: Moz alternatives for solo founders. If the job is watching positions rather than inspecting pages, start with SEO rank tracking software, and if one tracker in particular has you shopping around, our SERPWatcher alternatives breakdown does the Mangools bundle maths.
For site-wide crawling rather than one page at a time, a desktop crawler is still the right tool, and Screaming Frog alternatives covers the affordable ones.
ad-vertly sits on the other side of that split: an agent that runs the campaign and checks its own work, rather than a browser bar that reports on whichever page you happened to open. Keep the extension for the judgment call you want to make with your own eyes.
How to switch without losing your workflow
- Write down the three things you actually opened MozBar for last week. Most people use it for one and installed it for four.
- Install the extension that covers those three. Detailed plus Keyword Surfer is the free default; Mangools if authority metrics are the point.
- Pin both, then uninstall anything you haven't clicked in a month. Extension count is a real performance cost on a laptop you work in all day.
- Sign in wherever a free account unlocks the metrics you want, and check the allowance before you rely on it in a client call.
- Move anything you used to export by hand onto a schedule. If a check needs to happen weekly, a manual click stops happening by week three.
The one thing not to do is keep MozBar plus three replacements plus two SERP overlays installed at once. Overlapping content scripts is how people end up with a blank toolbar and a bug report.
The short version
MozBar is still a good extension with a login wall in front of the numbers that matter most. If you want DA and PA back, the Mangools SEO extension gets you there with a free account. If you want to inspect pages properly, Detailed is better than what you're leaving behind. SEOquake covers the SERP overlay, the Ahrefs toolbar covers redirects, and Keyword Surfer covers volume.
Install the two that match your week, keep the original for the overlay if you use it, and stop paying attention to any list that recommends a $100 platform as a replacement for a browser extension. That's a different purchase and a different problem.