SEO Cockpit

SEO Cockpit is a self-hosted SEO control panel I built on the DataForSEO API. It does the job of Ahrefs or Semrush for a couple of small Canadian sites, at a fraction of the price, because it only pays for the data those sites actually need.

The problem

Subscription SEO tools start around $129 a month and are priced for agencies tracking thousands of keywords. For running two small sites that is mostly wasted money. I wanted rank tracking, Search Console and analytics, on-page audits, and competitor visibility in one place, without an unpredictable bill.

What it does

• The data. Keyword rank tracking, Search Console (clicks, impressions, position by query and page), GA4, competitor tracking, backlinks, on-page and Core Web Vitals audits, and AI-visibility checks for whether LLMs mention a brand.
• A synthesis layer. On top of the raw data it computes the reports the paid tools charge for, with no extra API calls: an SEO health score, striking-distance and CTR opportunities, content decay, share of voice, cannibalization, anomaly detection, and a weekly summary written by Claude.
• Cost control by design. Every API call passes a budget guard before it fires, the interface never makes a paid call just from loading a page, and a per-keyword cadence keeps spend flat and predictable.

The outcome

It runs my AutoRx and Replace PrescribeIT properties for about $3 a month against the $129-plus a comparable subscription would cost. On those sites it tracks wins like getautorx at #1, autorx pharmacy at #2, and replace prescribeit at #2. The point was a pilot’s-seat view of every SEO signal in one screen, with the controls for cost and cadence right next to the data.