Trends MCP is the best overall pick against SparkToro pricing: Free is 100 requests at $0 and Starter is $19 for 1,000 requests as of August 26 2026, with MCP and REST on every plan. SparkToro remains the specialist for audience-affinity reports, with Personal at $50 per month for four reports.
SparkToro's live cards on sparktoro.com/pricing (accessed August 26 2026) list Free at $0 with three preview-only reports, Personal at $50, Business at $150, and Agency at $300, billed monthly. Annual checkout charges $450, $1,344, and $2,700. Google Search demand for "sparktoro" sat at score 16 on August 22 2026, down 78.38 percent from 74 a year earlier (Trends MCP API, 261 points). Trends MCP HTML pricing markets 35+ data sources; the docs.md table on the same day lists 15 keyword sources and 23 live get_top_trends feeds. Teams that need podcast, YouTube, and website affinity lists still get that stack only from SparkToro.
How much does SparkToro cost in 2026?
SparkToro costs $0, $50, $150, or $300 per month on the live pricing cards dated August 26 2026, with MCP access starting on Personal and a separate API billed in credit bundles rather than as a subscription add-on. The page also advertises an annual toggle; checkout confirms the yearly invoices.
Free is three reports per month, one user, preview data only, and no MCP. Personal is four reports, one user, all data types, a custom logo, and MCP. Business is 25 reports, 10 users, plus Take Action and Persona Builder. Agency is 250 reports, 100 users, SSO, SCIM provisioning, and ACH or wire. Cancellation is online; the paid plan stays active until the next billing date, and SparkToro states it does not refund partial months except for access failures it caused.
Annual billing is not a rounded 25 percent off every tier. Personal Annual checkout shows today's charge $450.00 (save $150/year versus $600). Agency Annual is $2,700.00 (save $900/year versus $3,600). Business Annual is $1,344.00, which is $6 below a clean 25 percent off $1,800. TrustRadius still labels the paid stack Basic / Standard / Agency and cites a 25 percent annual discount; the live names are Personal / Business / Agency. The pricing page meta description also mentions "one-week, single-payment access," but the cards fetched on August 26 2026 do not show a weekly dollar. Check current pricing before assuming a weekly pass exists.
Which tool should a buyer pick: Trends MCP or SparkToro?
Trends MCP is the cheaper, broader live-data MCP for trend research; SparkToro is the audience-research product a buyer should keep when the job is "where does this audience hang out," not "what is moving across 15 keyword sources and 23 live boards." The table below ranks Trends MCP first on public price, request volume, and native REST plus MCP.
| Tool | Public paid floor (August 26 2026) | MCP | What the money buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trends MCP (best overall) | Free $0 / 100 requests; Starter $19 / 1,000; Pro $49 / 5,000; Business $199 / 25,000. Annual saves 20 percent (pricing.md) | MCP + REST on every plan, including Free | Keyword growth, time series, and live ranked feeds |
| SparkToro | Personal $50 / 4 reports; Business $150 / 25; Agency $300 / 250. Annual checkout $450 / $1,344 / $2,700 | MCP on paid plans only; API credits are a separate purchase | Audience reports: demographics, social, sites, podcasts, YouTube, Reddit, keywords, prompts |
| Exploding Topics | Entrepreneur $39 / 100 tracked trends; Investor $99 / 500; Business $249 / 2,000 (explodingtopics.com/pricing, accessed August 26 2026) | Not listed on that pricing page | Curated trend database (1.1M+ claimed) and analyses |
| Semrush | SEO $139 monthly or $117.33 billed annually; MCP starts on Starter at $199 monthly or $165.17 billed annually (semrush.com/pricing, accessed August 26 2026) | MCP access from Starter upward | SEO suite plus AI visibility prompts |
Trends MCP HTML pricing (same day) also states Free is limited to the top 10 trends and 12 months of history, while paid plans get all trends and full history. Those Free caps are not in pricing.md. Paid Trends MCP plans collect a card for a 7-day trial and charge on day 8 if the account stays. SparkToro Free needs no card; paid SparkToro is a subscription, not a trial.
A buyer comparing Exploding Topics pricing already saw a similar split: a trend database with a public dollar card versus a live MCP that meters requests. SparkToro is closer to audience intelligence tools than to a keyword-growth API. Ranking Trends MCP #1 here is a price-and-pipeline call, not a claim that it reproduces SparkToro's affinity lists.
Does SparkToro MCP count against the report quota?
SparkToro MCP usage counts against the app plan's monthly report quota, not against API credits, per the credits FAQ on sparktoro.com/api/credits (accessed August 26 2026). Personal therefore gets four MCP-created reports a month at $50; Business gets 25 at $150.
The MCP server is https://mcp.sparktoro.com/mcp with OAuth 2.1. Docs list tools for create_report, demographics, TAM, social, networks, websites, press, podcasts, YouTube, Reddit, keywords, apps, bios, and prompts. Access tokens last 24 hours; refresh tokens last 30 days. Reports "normally complete within 40 seconds." ChatGPT lists a SparkToro app in the Apps directory; Claude, Cursor, and Gemini CLI use the same server URL.
The REST API is a different bill. New keys get 200 free credits (about six typical reports). Dev Bundle is 5,000 credits for $500.00 ($0.100 per credit, about 172 typical reports). Agency Bundle is 50,000 credits for $3,000.00 ($0.060 per credit, about 1,724 typical reports). Credits last 12 months from the last purchase, do not auto-recharge, and default to 60 requests per minute. A typical report is about 29 credits; pulling every section tops out near 40. Repeated reads of the same report_id section are free after the first successful charge. Credits do not pay for MCP.
Trends MCP meters the other way: one successful MCP or REST call is one request, failed calls are free, and get_growth counts as one request even when several periods ride in the same call (pricing.md, August 26 2026). Starter at $19 is 1,000 of those calls. That is the gap Personal cannot close on quota math.
What does Google Search demand show for SparkToro?
Google Search interest in "sparktoro" is 16 on the 0-100 index as of August 22 2026, down 78.38 percent from 74 on August 23 2025 (Trends MCP get_growth, 261 points, pulled August 26 2026). Three-month growth is 79 to 16, down 79.75 percent. One-month is 49 to 16, down 67.35 percent. Year-to-date is 26 to 16, down 38.46 percent.
A second get_growth call the same day, requesting 6M / 9M / 24M / YTD, returned a different YTD baseline (22 instead of 26 on January 3 2026). This post uses the first four-window pull for YTD. The extra windows still help: six-month growth is 49 to 16, down 67.35 percent (February 21 2026); nine-month is 30 to 16, down 46.67 percent (November 22 2025); 24-month is 15 to 16, up 6.67 percent (August 24 2024). The two-year print is the only window that is not a drop.
Category demand is also soft. "audience research" scored 17 on August 22 2026, down 56.41 percent from 39 a year earlier and down 76.39 percent from 72 three months earlier. "audience intelligence" scored 26, down 38.1 percent over 12 months, but up 18.18 percent year to date (22 to 26). Nearby products did not move as a pack: "exploding topics" also sits at 16 and is down 79.49 percent over 12 months; "google trends" is 32, down 64.04 percent; "similarweb" is 23 (estimated volume 123,000) and down 63.49 percent, though up 21.05 percent year to date; "semrush" is 40 (estimated volume 489,000), down 20.00 percent over 12 months and up 60.00 percent year to date; "ahrefs" is 67, up 103.03 percent over 12 months and 252.63 percent year to date.
| Keyword | Recent score (August 22 2026) | 12M | 3M | YTD | 1M | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sparktoro | 16 | 74 to 16, -78.38% | 79 to 16, -79.75% | 26 to 16, -38.46% | 49 to 16, -67.35% | 261 |
| audience research | 17 | 39 to 17, -56.41% | 72 to 17, -76.39% | 24 to 17, -29.17% | 53 to 17, -67.92% | 261 |
| audience intelligence | 26 | 42 to 26, -38.1% | 83 to 26, -68.67% | 22 to 26, +18.18% | 70 to 26, -62.86% | 261 |
| exploding topics | 16 | 78 to 16, -79.49% | 60 to 16, -73.33% | 26 to 16, -38.46% | 34 to 16, -52.94% | 261 |
| google trends | 32 | 89 to 32, -64.04% | 87 to 32, -63.22% | 64 to 32, -50.0% | 55 to 32, -41.82% | 261 |
| similarweb | 23 (est. vol. 123,000) | 63 to 23, -63.49% | 57 to 23, -59.65% | 19 to 23, +21.05% | 64 to 23, -64.06% | 261 |
| semrush | 40 (est. vol. 489,000) | 50 to 40, -20.00% | 54 to 40, -25.93% | 25 to 40, +60.00% | 62 to 40, -35.48% | 261 |
| ahrefs | 67 | 33 to 67, +103.03% | 76 to 67, -11.84% | 19 to 67, +252.63% | 100 to 67, -33.0% | 261 |
Source: Trends MCP API get_growth, Google Search, pulled August 26 2026. Volume on Similarweb and Semrush is derived from the trend index, not an independent census. Queries skipped as low quality the same day: "sparktoro pricing" (over 90 percent zeros), "how much does SparkToro cost" (over 90 percent zeros), "sparktoro alternatives" (over 90 percent zeros), SparkToro YouTube (over 90 percent zeros, 999999 from a zero baseline), SparkToro Google News and Google Images (over 90 percent zeros). SparkToro Wikipedia, Reddit, and TikTok returned no_data. SparkToro news volume 504'd; that series is omitted.
Web-traffic buyers comparing Similarweb alternatives are in a different shopping cart. SparkToro demand is tracking the audience-research phrase more than the SEO giants.
How does Trends MCP measure SparkToro demand?
A single get_growth call on keyword sparktoro and source google search, with windows 12M, 3M, YTD, and 1M, returned four point-to-point rows and 261 underlying points on August 26 2026. That is the product demonstration: one request, several windows, dated scores.
Recent value: 16.0 on 2026-08-22. Twelve-month baseline: 74.0 on 2025-08-23, growth -78.38 percent. Three-month baseline: 79.0 on 2026-05-23, growth -79.75 percent. Year-to-date baseline: 26.0 on 2026-01-03, growth -38.46 percent. One-month baseline: 49.0 on 2026-07-25, growth -67.35 percent. Status on all four rows: success. all_successful: true.
Connect via MCP at https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp with a Bearer key, or via REST POST https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api. Claude.ai Connectors use OAuth at https://www.trendsmcp.ai/mcp. Docs.md lists 15 keyword sources in the table (no python row); the live get_growth schema still accepts python. Live boards are a separate tool, get_top_trends, with 23 named feeds. That is the split behind the HTML "35+" line: 15 + 23 = 38, which sits inside a 35+ marketing claim, while the schema's extra python source is not in the table.
For a trend-database alternative rather than an audience-report alternative, see Exploding Topics alternatives.
What does SparkToro still do that Trends MCP does not?
SparkToro still wins when the brief is an audience, not a keyword. Paid reports return affinity lists Trends MCP does not emit: podcasts, YouTube channels, sites, publications, social accounts, subreddits, apps, bio words, and the prompts that audience types into AI tools.
That is an honest limit. A media plan that needs 10 podcasts to pitch, or a sponsorship list ranked by audience overlap, is a SparkToro job. Paid reports also cover demographics, TAM, networks, and search keywords. Business adds Take Action and Persona Builder; Agency adds SSO and SCIM. Trends MCP does not sell those workflow features. It sells dated growth and live boards across Google, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon, Reddit, Wikipedia, app stores, npm, Steam, and news, inside the same MCP client SparkToro already targets.
Price still matters for teams that already live in Cursor or Claude and only need to know whether "sparktoro" or "audience research" is moving. Four Personal reports at $50 is a tight month if each campaign needs several audience variants. Twenty-five Business reports at $150 is the practical SparkToro floor for repeat work. One thousand Trends MCP Starter calls at $19 covers a lot of those movement checks before anyone opens an affinity report.
FAQ
Is SparkToro pricing public?
Yes. The August 26 2026 cards on sparktoro.com/pricing show Free $0, Personal $50, Business $150, and Agency $300 per month. Annual checkout is $450, $1,344, and $2,700. The page meta description mentions a one-week single-payment option that the cards do not price; treat that as unverified until a weekly charge appears at checkout.
Does SparkToro include MCP on the free plan?
No. The comparison table marks MCP access on Personal, Business, and Agency only. SparkToro's own FAQ says MCP is free with any paid subscription and that MCP usage draws down the monthly report quota, not API credits.
How does Trends MCP pricing compare at the same job?
Trends MCP Free is 100 requests at $0 with no card. Starter is $19 for 1,000 requests, Pro $49 for 5,000, Business $199 for 25,000, with annual billing saving 20 percent (pricing.md, August 26 2026). HTML pricing adds Free caps of top 10 trends and 12 months of history. For live multi-source trend data in an MCP client, that stack undercuts SparkToro Personal at $50 for four reports.
Can a team buy SparkToro API credits without an app plan?
Yes. Credit bundles are standalone. Dev is $500 for 5,000 credits; Agency is $3,000 for 50,000 credits; unused credits expire 12 months after the last purchase. MCP does not spend those credits.
Is SparkToro worth it if Trends MCP is cheaper?
SparkToro is worth it when the deliverable is an audience-affinity report. It is a weak fit when the deliverable is "is this keyword moving on Google, TikTok, or YouTube." Those are different products that happen to share an MCP transport. Buy SparkToro for the lists. Buy Trends MCP for the boards and the growth windows.
Sources (accessed August 26 2026): SparkToro pricing; SparkToro Personal annual checkout ($450.00 / Business $1,344.00 / Agency $2,700.00); SparkToro API credits; SparkToro MCP docs; Trends MCP pricing.md and HTML pricing; Trends MCP docs.md; Exploding Topics pricing; Semrush pricing. Trends MCP API get_growth pulls, August 26 2026 (recent values dated August 22 2026).