Surfer, Frase and Clearscope all sit in the content optimisation category: you give them a keyword or topic, and they help you write or update a page so that it covers what search results, and increasingly AI answers, reward. Buying one is easy to get wrong because the three count usage in different units and bundle different extras.
This article is a decision framework plus researched facts about each product, with a table of documented differences. It is not a ranking and it does not pick a winner.
How we researched this: we did not run hands-on tests for this article. It is based on the vendor’s own documentation and public sources, checked on 11 November 2026. Features and prices change, so confirm details on the vendor’s site before you buy.
Key takeaways
- The three tools count different things: Surfer plans list documents, tracked pages and AI prompts, Frase lists articles and audit pages per month, and Clearscope lists tracked queries, pages, discoveries and drafts.
- All three now include AI search tracking in their plans, but the platforms covered and how often results refresh vary by plan.
- Surfer documents a Content Editor that you write in yourself, with three scores and an optional AI writing mode, and lists AI Tracker limits by plan.
- Clearscope’s pricing page lists two paid plans with a 14-day trial and unlimited users and projects, and Frase lists a 7-day trial with no card needed.
- Scores inside these tools measure closeness to competitor patterns, not quality. Test on pages you already know, and read our guide on auditing AI-written content.
Why compare these
Content optimisation tools analyse top ranking pages for a keyword and suggest topics, terms and structure. They help most when you already have a defined brief and an editor who can judge the suggestions. If you are still shaping your process, read our guides on the AI SEO content workflow and what a content brief should include first.
A practical observation from our research: Surfer’s older address surferseo.com redirected to surfer.ai when we requested its pricing page, so you may see both domains in older links and reviews. Treat older third-party articles with extra care, since names, plans and limits have moved.
Quick overview table
| Item | Surfer | Frase | Clearscope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core job | Content Editor with scores, Surfer AI writing, AI Tracker | Article creation, audits, Content Guard, AI visibility, CMS option | Discover, Track, Write and Monitor content lifecycle |
| Plan tiers (pricing pages) | AI Search Analytics, Discovery, Standard, Pro, Peace of Mind, Enterprise | Starter, Professional, Scale, Enterprise | Essentials, Business, Enterprise |
| Free trial stated | Not stated on the page we read | 7 days, no credit card | 14 days, no contract |
| Usage units | Documents, tracked pages, AI prompts, seats | Articles, audit pages, seats, sites | Tracked queries, pages, discoveries, drafts |
| Integrations stated | WordPress export; Search Console for internal links | Not confirmed from the page we read | Google Docs, Word, WordPress, Search Console |
Criteria that matter
Set your criteria before you open a demo, following the approach in how to compare AI tools side by side fairly.
- Volume: how many pieces you create or refresh each month.
- Team shape: seats, sites and whether you serve clients.
- Writing mode: do you want guidance only, or an AI draft too?
- Where you write: in the vendor’s editor, Google Docs, Word or WordPress.
- AI search tracking: platforms, prompt limits and refresh frequency.
- Editorial control: can you override the suggested terms and structure?
How each documents its workflow
Surfer
Surfer’s documentation says Content Editor helps you write and optimise articles for search rankings, using its algorithms and competitor analysis to suggest a structure and relevant keywords. It states that you write the article yourself and that its guidance is not an automated writer, although you can choose a writing mode where Surfer AI generates an outline and then content. You can enter up to 20 target keywords, choose location, language and crawler type, and add instructions, brand voice, a word count and up to 5 source URLs. Each successfully created editor counts against your plan’s usage limit.
The editor shows three real-time scores: Content Score, SEO Score and AI Search Score. A guidelines panel lists five steps: research and outline, write and optimise, internal links (needs Google Search Console), a pre-publish review covering readability, plagiarism and AI readability, and publish or export, including WordPress export. Auto-Optimize adds NLP terms with one click, and you can review each suggestion and approve or discard it. The documentation notes that customising competitors or terms may lower the maximum Content Score you can reach.
Frase
Frase’s pricing page describes plans by output: articles, audit pages and Content Guard pages per month. Starter includes 10 articles and 50 audit pages with Content Guard for 10 pages. Professional adds a content calendar, internal linking suggestions and AI crawler monitoring. Scale adds exportable client-ready reports, and Enterprise lists white-label reports, a branded client portal, SSO/SAML and an SLA. It also offers FraseCMS, a hosting option that is free with any plan up to 100,000 page views a month, with paid Basic and Pro tiers. We could not retrieve a detailed documentation page on how its editor scores content.
Clearscope
Clearscope’s homepage describes four stages. Discover shows the questions people ask Google and AI with search volume and intent. Track measures how often Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude mention your brand for each query compared with chosen competitors. Write generates a draft from query intent and your tone, with term guidance and a live content grade. Monitor tracks each page’s grade, clicks and SEO value and flags content decay and striking-distance queries. It lists integrations with Google Docs, Microsoft Word and WordPress for writing, and Google Search Console for monitoring.
| Stage | Surfer | Frase | Clearscope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research and outline | Guidelines step 1; Content Editor setup | Article creation (details not confirmed) | Discover |
| Write and optimise | Editor with Auto-Optimize; optional Surfer AI | Articles per month by plan | Write with live content grade and draft generation |
| Update existing pages | Not confirmed from pages we read | Audit pages and Content Guard | Monitor, with decay and striking-distance views |
| Publish | Export, including WordPress | FraseCMS hosting option | Google Docs, Word, WordPress |
AI search tracking
Surfer’s AI Tracker documentation says it monitors how often your brand and content appear in answers from large language models, shows which sources the models rely on and which competitors get cited. It covers ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity plus other LLMs, but the Standard plan covers ChatGPT only. Results refresh daily on Pro, Peace of Mind, Enterprise and AI Search Analytics, and weekly on Standard. Prompt limits per plan are 25 on Standard, 50 on Pro and 100 on Peace of Mind, and extra prompts come in packs of 10 for $18 a month each on some plans. A branded workspace can hold only one AI Tracker project.
Frase’s pricing page says Starter includes AI Visibility for ChatGPT and Google AI. Professional adds Perplexity tracking, and Scale adds Claude and Gemini tracking.
Clearscope’s pricing page says all plans include query tracking across ChatGPT and Gemini plus brand visibility tracking across search engines and AI systems, while its homepage lists Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. The two pages differ, so confirm platform coverage for your plan.
| Question | Surfer | Frase | Clearscope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platforms (vendor pages) | ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, others; Standard is ChatGPT only | ChatGPT and Google AI at Starter; more on higher plans | ChatGPT and Gemini (pricing page); homepage adds Google and Claude |
| Refresh | Daily or weekly by plan | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Limit unit | Prompts per plan | Plan tier determines platforms | Tracked queries |
AI answers vary from run to run, so treat any tracker as a sample. Read real answers before you change a page because of a chart. Our guide on auditing AI-written content for E-E-A-T signals is a useful companion.
Pricing models
Prices below were read on each vendor’s pricing page on 11 November 2026, in US dollars. Confirm on the vendor’s page, and see how to read an AI tool’s pricing page for common traps.
Surfer (prices shown billed yearly, per month)
| Plan | Price per month | Documents | AI prompts | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | $49 | 120 | Not listed | 1 |
| Standard | $99 | 360 | 25, weekly | 3 |
| Pro | $182 | 360 | 50, daily | 5 |
| Peace of Mind | $299 | Unlimited (fair usage) | 100, daily | 10 |
| AI Search Analytics | $82 | Not listed | 50, daily | 5 |
| Enterprise | Custom | |||
The page notes some limits were mapped from a comparison table that is not fully aligned with plan cards, so verify before relying on them. It says annual billing saves $120 to $720 depending on plan, yearly credits reset yearly or when you change plans, and payment is by card or, for yearly plans only, bank transfer; PayPal is not supported.
Frase (monthly rate when billed yearly)
| Plan | Price per month | Seats and sites | Monthly output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39 | 1 seat, 1 site | 10 articles, 50 audit pages |
| Professional | $103 | 3 seats, 5 sites | 40 articles, 250 audit pages |
| Scale | $239 | 5 seats, up to 10 domains | 100 articles, 1,000 audit pages |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Frase says Starter stops at its monthly limit rather than billing extra, Professional offers pay-as-you-go overages that are off by default, extra seats on Professional and Scale cost $29 a month each, and yearly billing reduces the monthly rate by 20%.
Clearscope
| Plan | Price per month | Tracked queries | Pages | Monthly discoveries | Monthly drafts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $129 | 50 | 50 | 20 | 20 |
| Business | $399 | 300 | 300 | 50 | 20 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Users and projects are unlimited on all plans, all plans have a 14-day free trial and no contract, and Business adds a dedicated account manager. Add-ons are sold in tiers, for example extra tracked queries at $6.50 (Essentials) or $5.50 (Business) per tier, extra pages from $25 or $15, and extra drafts at $50 or $20. The FAQ says plans include varying report credits but gives no numbers.
To compare, convert each plan to cost per finished, edited article for your own volume, then add seats and add-ons.
Privacy and data
We did not read the privacy policies or security pages for any of the three, so we cannot summarise how drafts, prompts or connected Search Console data are stored or used. These tools may touch unpublished content, client strategy and Search Console access, so ask each vendor about data retention, whether your content is used for model training, and who in your team can see shared projects. Clearscope’s Enterprise tier lists single sign-on, and Frase’s Enterprise lists SSO/SAML, which matter if you have a security review. For a checklist, see how to protect company data when using AI tools.
Who each suits
| If you need | Documented fit |
|---|---|
| A scored editor where you write yourself, with optional AI drafting and AI tracking in one place | Surfer documents Content Editor, Surfer AI and AI Tracker |
| Output-based tiers and a calendar, with an optional hosting product | Frase lists articles, audit pages, a content calendar and FraseCMS |
| Unlimited users and projects with query-based limits | Clearscope lists unlimited users and projects on all plans |
| Client reporting at agency scale | Frase Scale lists client-ready reports; Enterprise lists a client portal |
| A discover, write, monitor loop tied to Search Console | Clearscope lists all four stages and a Search Console integration |
This is a “best for X if Y” reading of documentation, not a score. A solo writer producing a few pieces a month may care most about the entry plans, while a team with many collaborators may care more about seats and projects.
How to run your own test
- Choose three pages: one you want to rank, one that has slipped, and one that already performs well.
- Use each tool’s trial or lowest plan to analyse the same keyword for each page.
- Record the suggested terms and structure, then judge them as an editor: which are useful, which are filler, which are wrong for your audience?
- Update one page using the suggestions and keep one as a control. Check results after several weeks in Search Console, not in the tool’s own score.
- Set up the same ten AI prompts in each tracker where available and compare the answers.
- Calculate cost per edited article including add-ons.
See how to test an AI tool before you pay for it for the general method.
Decision checklist
- Does the plan’s unit (documents, articles or queries) match how you work?
- Do the seats and sites match your team and clients?
- Do you want guidance only, or AI drafts as well?
- Do you know which AI platforms your plan tracks and how often?
- Is there a trial long enough to test three real pages?
- Do you know what happens when you hit a limit: stop, overage or upgrade?
- Have you checked data and training terms for your content?
Frequently asked questions
Which tool is best for SEO content?
We do not rank them. The right choice depends on your volume, team, writing workflow and how you want to track AI search.
Do these tools write articles for me?
Surfer says its Content Editor guidance is not an automated writer but offers a Surfer AI writing mode. Clearscope lists draft generation, and Frase lists articles per month. Editing and fact-checking remain your job.
Do the scores prove my page will rank?
No. A score shows how closely a draft matches patterns from competitor pages. Surfer’s own documentation notes that customising terms may lower the maximum score. Check rankings in Search Console.
Can I try them free?
Frase lists a 7-day trial without a card, and Clearscope lists a 14-day free trial. We did not see a trial statement on Surfer’s pricing page.
Are the AI trackers accurate?
They sample prompts across models, and AI answers vary. Treat results as directional and read actual answers.
What happens if I exceed plan limits?
Frase says Starter stops at the limit and Professional can use opt-in overages. Clearscope sells add-on tiers. For Surfer, check how your plan handles extra documents or prompts.
Conclusion
Surfer, Frase and Clearscope overlap on content guidance and AI tracking but count usage differently, so the cleanest comparison is cost per edited article for your volume, tested on pages you know. Run the short test above, check data terms, and re-read pricing pages on the day you buy. Start with how to compare AI tools side by side fairly and how to read an AI tool’s pricing page.
Sources
- Surfer: pricing, accessed 11 November 2026
- Surfer docs: Content Editor overview, accessed 11 November 2026
- Surfer docs: AI Tracker, accessed 11 November 2026
- Frase: pricing, accessed 11 November 2026
- Clearscope: plans and pricing, accessed 11 November 2026
- Clearscope: homepage, accessed 11 November 2026
