How things change. Surfer was once known as the affordable alternative to superior enterprise-level solution ClearScope. However, Surfer has been getting expensive. It still makes sense for deep-pocket clients who want maximum efficiency. I continue to recommend it as an excellent tool. However, for my own projects and for small businesses, it’s not a cost-effective recommendation so I wanted to dive into some alternatives.
Oh, and no one pays me to write these, so unlike every other article on this topic, I’m not biased. If I think a tool is garbage, I’m going to say it. As I checked out some of the others who wrote blog posts on the topic, I was shocked at some of the trash they were recommending. So let’s dive in.
| Tool Name | Starting Monthly Cost | Articles Per Month | $ Per Article | Overall Score |
| SurferSEO | $89 | 15 | $5.93 | 10/10 |
| ClearScope | $170 | 10 | $17.00 | 10/10 |
| Reword | $48 | 40 | $1.20 | 3/10 |
| Frase.io | $15 | 4 | $3.75 | 9/10 |
| SEOScout | $49 | 10 | $4.90 | 4/10 |
| NeuronWriter | $23 | 25 | $0.92 | 10/10 |
| ContentHarmony | $50 | 5 | $10.00 | 6/10 |
| SERanking | $84 | 15 | $5.60 | 5/10 |
1. Neuron Writer
Neuron Writer is probably the best alternative to SurferSEO when consider price and similarity. At less than $1 per article, it’s 6 times cheaper than Surfer and offers very similar features. My only complaint is their largest plan is 150 blog posts per month. There are no enterprise plans or anything for large content firms. This is a bottle neck for a company I work with, so that limits NeuronWriter to just smaller projects.
2. ClearScope
Anyone that doesn’t mention ClearScope when talking about Surfer alternatives doesn’t have a clue. ClearScope is the GOAT. Although it’s incredibly expensive, so I can’t say it’s an affordable alternative, it’s high quality alternative for those looking to get out of the SurferSEO ecosytsem.
3. Frase.io
Frase is a great alternative. It has many of the same features as Surfer. At the base plan, it’s only 37% cheaper per-article than Surfer, but it is only $14.99 per month as opposed to Surfer’s minimum of $89. The major callout here is the $114.99/mo has unlimited articles, which can be a great option if you’re like me and paying around $1000/mo with Surfer because you need volume.
4. Reword
Reword is the next most affordable alternative, behind NeuronWriter. Their free trial requires a credit card. Their tool is helpful for general blog writing, but when it comes to SEO optimization, it’s pretty useless. This is just an AI assistant for blog writing, nothing to do with SEO. Strange people would recommend it.
5. SEOScout
SEOScout is another popular recommendation. However, it suffers what many of these tools surfer from – too many features. It’s a very broad, general keyword tool that isn’t made for the specialist. It’s made for beginners who are kind of lost and not sure where to start. It has more SEO features than Reword in terms of SEO optimization, as in word counts, keyword density, etc, however it’s much more expensive per article. It’s only 17% cheaper than Surfer, which is absolutely not worth the change.
6. ContentHarmony
The content editor is simpler than SurferSEO and more money. Actually 69% more money. It’s just not worth it.
7. SE Ranking
SERanking is another overpriced alternative. Coming in at $5.60 per article, it’s priced similar to Surfer. The tool offers a ton of features, and the content editor is an additional feature you have to pay separately for. If that’s all you’re looking for, you have to pay $55/month for their random SEO tools like a rank tracker, even if you don’t plan to use it.
Conclusion
So if you’re not using Surfer, look at ClearScope, NeuronWriter or Frase. ClearScope is the premium option. NeuronWriter is the cheapest option. Frase is a nice balance.
