if ur only tracking a few dozen keys dont waste ur money on high-end saas subs . total overkill for a single project
i usually go with serprobot (formerly serplab) for small scale stuff . it’s the cheapest reliable cloud tracker on the market and u only pay for the specific serp bots u need . handles tier 1 geos and local tracking way better than the free tools
if u want 100% free and dont mind doing it manually , grab the fatrank chrome extension . it’s my go-to for quick spot checks . u just hit the site , type the kw , and it pulls the rank in seconds
btw since u've been out of the game for a few years keep in mind that google's proximity factor is insane now . if u r tracking local keys , ur rank in the north part of a city might be pos 3 but pos 20 in the south . standard trackers often give u an average , so take the data with a grain of salt unless u use a tool that supports uule parameters