Are Group Buy SEO Tools Safe?
Whether you are new to SEO or have been here for ages, you must have heard names like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Canva, Spyfu, and more.
And you must have thought of buying them at some point. But when you go to their pricing pages to check how much they cost, then you change your plan because they are too expensive.
But what if I told you that people are getting access to these tools for less than $10 a month? You may say that I have gone mad, but my friend, that’s true.
So let’s see what this sorcery is and whether it is legal or not.
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The websites that offer these services are violating the company’s Terms of Service. These groups buy websites also involves in credit card fraud so it’s best not to buy from them. Also, your privacy and data are at high risk there. So it’s best to buy your tools from the original websites.
What are Group Buy SEO Tools?
These are the schemes where an individual shares their SEO tool subscription with hundreds of people at once. And most of the time companies are not aware of these schemes. Also, they breach their Terms of Service.
But what exactly are we talking about?
In these group-buy schemes, there is a bunch of tools available like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Canva, Spyfu, and more. An individual buys the tool, makes a website so that he can “sell” these tools, and then give access to people who buy these group tools.
Have you ever heard of family plan subscriptions? Or better, have you heard of Spotify’s premium family plan?
In this plan, you pay $15.99/ month and 6 **family members** can get access to the same account.
Group buying tools are like that only, except that the company is not offering any company plan and you are “sharing” your “family plan” with a bunch of strangers. Sometimes, this bunch of people could be hundreds if not thousands of people.
So now we know the introduction, let’s know…
How do Group Buy SEO tools work?
Group buys websites work by purchasing tools from real websites and sharing them with end users. They offer a bunch of tools valued at more than $1000 at the cost of less than $50 a month.
Let’s understand this concept in a little bit more detail.
Suppose there are 4 people named A, B, C, and D.
Let me introduce you to each of them.
A is a SaaS Company that makes online tool, like SEMrush.
B is an individual/business who is running the group-buy SEO tools scheme.
C and D are normal people/Bloggers/Marketers like myself and yourself. Basically, the end user.
Let’s now visualize how it works.
A offers a tool name SEMrush. This tool is very pricey. The prices are $119 a month and not everyone can afford them. Ideally, A wants to sell directly to C and D.
But B comes into the scene, behaves like a single person (user), and buys the tool from A.
B made A think that they are a legit company and A don’t doubt them.
Now, B bought a bunch of other tools similar to what A offers, like Ahrefs, Canva, Spyfu, and more.
B then goes on and makes a website that says “We are a Group-Buy SEO Tool company and we will offer you 10+ tools like X, Y, Z, and more at just $30 per month”.
Here comes the C and D in the picture.
They are wanting to buy tool A because it can help them so much in their business. But they cannot, the reason being, they don’t have that budget.
So, they discover B from somewhere and goes like, “Wow, this deal is kinda fire, 10+ tools are available for just $30. I’ma go get my credit card”.
B gets their profit, C and D got their tools, and everyone is happy now.
But people who are actually paying for A are experiencing server issues. Most of the time, they cannot access the tool and A is not understanding why is this happening.
I made an infographic that will help you visualize how this works.
This is a common scenario of how these tools work.
But you may be wondering, why are people (end users) get lured into something fishy like this?
So, my friend, the answer is that we as humans are finding every opportunity to get that pricey thing for cheap.
You must have seen that Gucci, LV, Prada, and more, sell their products at hefty prices. But people are making cheap copies of them and they are selling like crazy.
Why is that so? It’s just because people are always finding cheaper alternatives.
And this is how companies like these operate.
Now lets’ find out…
What kind of Tools do you get in Group Buy?
Group-Buy SEO tools have a bunch of different tools that come with them. Some of the most common are Ahrefs, SEMrush, Canva, Spyfu, Majestic SEO, Moz, Ubersuggest, Buzzsumo, and more.
These tools can range from graphic design tools, SEO tools, content writing, AI spinning tools, and more.
Here is my attempt to list all of these tools:
- Ahrefs
- SEMrush
- WordAI
- Alexa
- Moz
- Grammarly
- Woorank
- Buzzsumo
- Keyword tool
- PicMonkey
- SkillShare
- Spyfu
- Envato Elements
- Crello
- Lynda
- Canva
- Stock Unlimited
- Majestic SEO
- Vimeo
- Ubersuggest
- Serpstat
- SEO Profiler
- Long tail Pro
- Magisto
Etc.
For getting access to these tools, first, you have to log in to the group-buy website, there, you will have the option to open any tool.
You can only open these tools from their website only. Some tools open without any problem, but some tools require you to download their extensions, like Canva.
Also, the prices of tools may change every month, as I have seen many times. And they also mention this in their terms of service.
Here comes the million-dollar question…
Are Group Buy SEO tools Safe and Legal?
These tools are not safe to use and they are illegal as they violate the real tools companies’ Terms of service.
Suppose you made a SaaS product by putting in your blood, sweat, and tears. You made your pricing $119 per month, but then, somebody comes and says, “I will give you this tool for $10 a month”, then what would you do?
Think of 200 people purchased via you, you would earn $119 X 200 = $23,800 a month.
But now, only one person is purchasing your tool at $119. This scheme made you lose $23,681 every month.
Another thing to note is that as hundreds and thousands of people use the tool at the same time, your data is exposed to every single person. Anyone who is using that tool will know what you are doing on the tool and searching for.
I personally used these tools when I was employed at a certain company. Whenever I use to access tools like SEMrush, I could see what projects other people made and what things they searched for.
Also, even though you “buy” these cheap copies, the data you get is not correct. And, you get limited functionality. This is done explicitly by the website owner so that you don’t access everything.
Now, you must be wondering…
What do Companies Think of this?
Companies say that these types of people are scammers, and these websites link to credit card fraud.
Amit Tiwari asked this question on his Twitter a while back, let’s see the whole conversation:
Here is what Moz said:
SEMrush replied this:
Spyfu warns about these fraud websites:
And here is what Grammarly said:
I also asked this question on Twitter. Here’s my question:
Buzzsumo replied, and that’s what they said:
I asked this thing on Reddit also, and received a bunch of responses:
Highlight from u/SEOPub, “I would stay away from them. They break the tools ToS and you don’t want to be sharing any of your data with random strangers.”
Highlight from u/awx10 comment, “be aware they do have limited query as well. And most groupbuy tools I know are pretty hidden.”
Highlight from u/Preseren comment, “So you get a part of the funcionalities and are going against the policies. I don’t use them and you should not either.”
Final Thoughts
Exploiting some companies’ ToS is never a good idea. Sure, you can get lured by the cheap price, but it is always a best practice to purchase from the real website itself.
These group-buy tool websites are fraud and you never know where your hard-earned money is going. These websites never tell you their address, phone number, or anything. If they are legit then why are they not telling their information?
That being said, there are many free tools available in the market. And tools like SEMrush also offer free trials, and you can get some free data. Ahrefs also has a list of free tools available. They also offer Ahrefs Webmaster tools for website owners.
So there are already many free tools available out there. I also made a list of my recommended tools. (P.S. Most of the tools mentioned in this list are free)
Do you have any questions related to the post? You can email me or post them on our discord server. Also, if you like daily content, then you may want to follow my LinkedIn.
