Short answer — the best award-search tools depend on what you need. For broad live searches and alerts use PointsYeah or Roame.travel; for fast airline‑specific monitoring use Seats.aero or SeatSpy; use airline/program sites to verify and book; and treat ExpertFlyer carefully because many carriers have blocked third‑party access. Below are recommended tools, what they do best, cost hints, and important caveats (sources after each entry).

Top award‑search tools (by use-case)

• PointsYeah — Best all‑around aggregator with strong filters and reliable alerts. Great if you want to search many programs, set availability alerts, and see transfer‑partner suggestions. Paid tier unlocks more searches/alerts (annual pricing commonly reported around $90–$100). (nerdwallet.com)

• Roame.travel — Excellent for beginners and fast, Google‑Flights‑like award searches across alliances; simple UI and useful free tier, paid Pro for unlimited searches and alerts. Good first stop for one‑way and exploratory searches. (thepointsanalyst.com)

• Seats.aero (aka Seats.Aero) — Strong for live and cached multi‑program searches and deep route coverage; Pro plan adds true live searches and unlimited alerts. Note: Seats.aero has been involved in legal pushback from some airlines (Air Canada/Aeroplan), so coverage can change and you should double‑check results on the airline site before booking. (awardwallet.com)

• SeatSpy — Lightweight, affordable option for checking award availability on specific airlines (popular for flights to/from U.K./Europe). Has free limits and inexpensive premium plans with alerts. Good when you care about a small set of carriers. (bookyourtriponline.com)

• Point.me — Large, established award search engine with a concierge option (also offers guidance on which transferable points to use). It can be slower and has limits compared with newer tools (and is a paid subscription). Useful if you want a guided/concierge path rather than only DIY. (nerdwallet.com)

• ExpertFlyer — Historically powerful for fare class, seat maps and alerts, but several airlines (many in Star Alliance and others) have restricted third‑party access; ExpertFlyer’s award/alert coverage is currently limited, so use it only after confirming which carriers it still supports. (onemileatatime.com)

• Airline / program sites (United, British Airways, ANA, Aeroplan, etc.) — Always verify availability and complete the booking on the airline or program website. Some programs (e.g., BA’s app reward‑finder or individual carrier tools) show inventory that third‑party tools can miss. Use airline sites to confirm and to avoid “phantom” results. (onemileatatime.com)

• Award‑chart / planning helpers (AwardHacker, AwardWallet, blogs) — Use these for pricing sweet spots, tracking balances, and planning — they don’t always show live inventory but help choose the best program to search and which points to transfer. (awardwallet.com)

Quick recommendations (how to combine them)

• If you want one thing to start with: use PointsYeah or Roame to run broad searches and set alerts. (nerdwallet.com)
• If you’re hunting a hard‑to‑find premium award, add Seats.aero Pro (or SeatSpy) for frequent checks and alerts, then immediately verify on the airline site and transfer points only after confirming the seat is bookable. (awardwallet.com)
• Use ExpertFlyer only for specific fare‑class/upgrade searches and with the understanding many airlines don’t expose award data to it anymore. (onemileatatime.com)

Important caveats

• Coverage and legality are fluid: airlines have blocked or limited data access to third‑party scrapers, so which tools show which programs changes frequently — always double‑check on the airline or program site before transferring points. (princeoftravel.com)
• Free tiers are fine for experimenting, but heavier users (alerts, wide date ranges, Pro features) usually need paid plans. Prices and feature sets vary across tools — check each site for current pricing. (awardwallet.com)

If you want, I can:

• recommend a single best option for your exact home airport / typical routes, or
• compare 2–3 of these tools (cost, coverage, pros/cons) side‑by‑side for the routes you care about.

Which would you prefer?