Sale Samurai and AutoKeyWorder get compared because both have a Chrome extension and both end up touching your 13 Etsy tags. They are not the same kind of tool. Sale Samurai is a research platform: real Etsy search volume, competition, trends, competitor listings, with a Listing Creator on top. AutoKeyWorder is a form filler: it reads your photo and types the title, 13 tags, description, category and materials into the Etsy editor. If you do not know what to sell or which phrases to target, Sale Samurai. If you know, and the typing is the problem, AutoKeyWorder. The shops I watch grow use a research tool once per niche and a filler on every listing. Full disclosure, AutoKeyWorder is my tool.
Disclosure: AutoKeyWorder is my own product (ad, own product). No affiliate link to Sale Samurai. Prices read off salesamurai.io/pricing on 15 September 2026.
AutoKeyWorder vs Sale Samurai: the quick verdict
| AutoKeyWorder | Sale Samurai | |
|---|---|---|
| Job | Write and fill the listing from the photo | Find keywords and products with real search data |
| Search volume | No | Yes, monthly volume, competition, trends |
| Extension | Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox; fills the listing editor | Chrome, Edge, Brave; shows volume in the Etsy search bar, pulls tags from top listings |
| Listing writing | Title, 13 tags, description, category, materials, typed in | Listing Creator: title, description, fills 13 tags from high-demand keywords |
| Free | 50 credits (25 listings), 5 a day on the web tool | 20 keyword searches and 10 listings analysed a month; paid plans start with a 3-day trial |
| Paid | $3.99 for 100 credits, $9.99 for 1,000, $6.99 a month for 900 | $19.99 a month, or $199.90 a year ($16.65 a month) |
| Other platforms | Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Freepik, Redbubble, TeePublic, Zedge, Displate | Etsy |
Pick Sale Samurai when the question is “what should I make and what should I call it”. Volume and competition numbers are the whole product, and it has them.
Pick AutoKeyWorder when the question is “I have 40 mockups and I do not want to type 40 listings”. Two credits each, done inside the editor.
What Sale Samurai does well
Type a phrase in Etsy’s search bar with the Sale Samurai extension on and it shows the monthly search volume and a competition grade as you type. That is the fastest way I know to kill a bad keyword before you build a listing around it. The web app goes deeper: long-tail suggestions sorted by opportunity, click-through rates, trend lines, and a look at which tags the top listings for a phrase actually use.
The Listing Creator takes the keywords you picked and writes a title and description, and fills all 13 tags from ranking terms in one click.
Pricing on 15 September 2026: a free plan with 20 keyword searches and 10 listing analyses a month and no card, a 3-day trial of the full product, then $19.99 a month or $199.90 a year, which works out to $16.65 a month. The site claims 40,000+ active sellers.
Where Sale Samurai falls down
$19.99 a month is the price of eRank Pro and about three times eRank Basic. For a shop under 50 listings that is a real cost for a tool you open a few times a month.
The volume numbers are Sale Samurai’s estimate of Etsy search. They are useful as a ranking between phrases. They are not Etsy’s count. Marketplace Insights is, and it is free inside Shop Manager, with 15 searches a week on the free tier.
The Listing Creator writes from keywords, not from your photo. If your photo shows a ceramic mug and your keyword list says “coffee gift”, the listing says coffee gift and never mentions ceramic. You still read every line.
And it is Etsy only, no Redbubble and no stock sites.
What AutoKeyWorder does well
Open a listing in the Etsy editor, upload the photo, click the icon. It reads the photo, checks what Etsy’s search box completes for that kind of product, and types the title, all 13 tags, the description, the category and the materials. Nothing publishes until you press publish. Two credits a listing, 50 free on signup, then $3.99 for 100 credits or $6.99 a month for 900.
The same extension fills Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Freepik, Redbubble, TeePublic, Zedge and Displate upload forms. One install, one credit balance, every upload page.
Where AutoKeyWorder falls down
It has no numbers, so it cannot tell you that “personalized teacher mug” gets more searches than “custom teacher mug”. Sale Samurai can. If you have never validated a niche, AutoKeyWorder will write you a perfect listing for a product nobody searches for.
No product research, no competitor spying, no trends. It is the last step of the workflow, not the first.
One listing at a time. No bulk, no CSV. And it waits on Etsy’s editor: when Etsy redesigns the listing page, the fill breaks for a day or two until the extension updates.
Pricing side by side (as of 15 September 2026)
| Monthly | Yearly | Free | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sale Samurai | $19.99 | $199.90 ($16.65 a month) | 20 keyword searches, 10 listing analyses a month; 3-day full trial |
| AutoKeyWorder | $6.99 for 900 credits (450 listings) | none, packs never expire | 50 credits (25 listings); 5 a day on the web tool with no account |
| AutoKeyWorder packs | $3.99 for 100, $9.99 for 1,000, $39.99 for 5,000 |
They are not substitutes, so the honest comparison is Sale Samurai against eRank, and AutoKeyWorder against the time you spend typing. On research, eRank Basic does most of what Sale Samurai does for less. On filling, a $3.99 pack covers 50 listings.
What I actually do
When I test a new niche I run the phrases through Marketplace Insights, which is free, and if I need more than 15 searches that week I use eRank. Sale Samurai’s extension puts the volume in the search dropdown while you type, which is the nicer way to do that step, and if I sold print-on-demand at volume I would pay for it.
Then every listing gets filled by the extension. Photo in, form filled, I read the title and publish. The research told me the phrases; the filler puts them where they need to go. On a batch of 30 designs that is an hour instead of a weekend.
The verdict
Sale Samurai if you are choosing products and phrases and want the numbers in front of you while you search. Take the 3-day trial, validate a niche, decide if $19.99 a month earns its keep.
AutoKeyWorder if you have the phrases and the photos and want the listings written and typed. Two credits each, 25 free.
Both if you list in volume: Sale Samurai once a week, AutoKeyWorder on every listing. Our Etsy SEO tools comparison covers where eRank and Marketplace Insights fit in that stack.
Try AutoKeyWorder on Etsy, 50 free credits (ad, own product)