7 Best Surfer SEO Alternatives (2024) – Save Money With These Options

With the rapidly evolving digital domain, staying ahead in the SEO game has become crucial for every online business. One of the most popular and powerful SEO tools in the market is Surfer SEO. However, its extravagant pricing makes it a less desirable option for the majority of users.

Now, finding reliable Surfer SEO alternatives that meet your requirements can be quite challenging. Therefore, I’ve tried to make the hassle easy for you by short-listing the top alternatives to Surfer SEO in this article.

Today, we’ll discover the 7 Best Surfer SEO Alternatives and also contrast their features with Surfer SEO on multiple key factors. By the end, I’ll also offer my expert recommendations of SEO tools to use for different use cases and also reveal the tools I use for my blog.

As someone who constantly works with Surfer SEO and similar tools, the list I’ve curated is based on my personal experience along with recommendations from experts. You can rest assured that you’ll only find reliable tools in this article.

So, are you ready to discover the best Surfer SEO Alternative for your business? With no more delay, let’s get started!

My Top 3 Picks for Surfer SEO Alternatives

Surfer SEO Vs Frase Vs MarketMuse Vs KWHero

Feature	Surfer SEO	Frase	MarketMuse	KWHero
Pricing	$69/month (Basic), $99/month (Scale)	$14.99/month (Solo), $44.99/month (Basic)	$149/month (Standard), $399/month (Team)	$59/month (Basic), $119/month (Marketer)
Free Trial	Yes (7 days)	5 days for $1	Yes (7 days)	No
Content Optimization	✅	✅	✅	✅
Keyword Research	✅	❌	✅	(Limited)
Competitor Analysis	✅	✅	✅	✅
Content Outlines and Briefs	✅	✅	✅	(Limited)
AI Writing Assistant	Only on Scale AI & Enterprise plans	(Limited)	High-quality AI content generation	✅
Unique Selling Point	Real-time SERP data analysis and SERP Similarity	Content research, outlines, and affordable pricing	Content optimization and heatmaps	High quality AI content generation

7 Best Alternatives For Surfer SEO (Quick Comparison)

Surfer SEO Alternatives	Best For	Price	Deal Link
Frase	Content optimization & AI Writing.	Starter: $44.99/mo Pro: $114.99/mo	Get Frase
MarketMuse	Content planning and optimization for bigger agencies.	Starts from $149/mo	Get MarketMuse
KWHero	AI content generation, keyword volume	Starts from $59/mo	Get KWHero
NeuronWriter	On-page Optimization, Internal link suggestions	Starts from $19/mo	Get NeuronWriter
Scalenut	SEO reports, content optimization, AI Writing	Starts from $19/mo	Get Scalenut
SE Ranking	Keyword research, Content outlines, Competitor analysis	Starts from $44/mo	Get SE Ranking
WriterZen	Keyword research, content outlines	Starts from $19/mo	Get WriterZen

7 Best Surfer SEO Alternatives (2024)

1) Frase – Best for Content Research and Outlines

Frase is an AI-powered SEO optimization tool that addresses all your SEO needs from keyword research, to outline generation, content optimization, competitor analysis, and AI writing. Its powerful outline and brief tools help you create a solid content structure in no time.

👉 Unlike Surfer SEO, Frase features a more comprehensive content research tool. So, you can gain in-depth information about your topic while creating your outline side-by-side. However, it has not rolled out a completely automated AI article generator at the moment.

How Is Frase Compared To SEO Sufer

Comparing Frase with Surfer SEO reveals various distinctions. in their features. Where Surfer SEO excels in keyword research with its refined keyword research tool, Frase lacks this functionality altogether.

For analyzing your competitors, Frase analyzes the top 20 SERP results and presents the content headings, questions, stats, and news in its overview tab. It sources questions from SERP results, the People Also Ask section, Quora, and Reddit. Whereas, Surfer SEO showcases the content score, authority, and word count of the competitors.

Moving on, if you want to optimize your drafted articles, you get insightful SERP mentions and related topics for each keyword. However, you may occasionally find irrelevant keyword suggestions in Frase.

Surfer SEO, on the other hand, offers basic optimization options with a list of keywords and their recommended frequency, content score, and content structure. It also features more relevant keyword suggestions.

Finally, in terms of AI content generation, Surfer SEO is the clear winner with its automated AI article generation feature. Frase has not implemented it completely yet.

You can start by creating manual or AI-generated outlines or use brief templates. You get 26 AI templates covering categories like SEO, Marketing, Q&A, etc.You can also use the In-Editor and Chat tools to supply input prompts for generating custom content. However, its content generation is limited to 150 words in one go!

Frase Pricing

The pricing plans of Frase start at an affordable rate of $14.99/month (Solo plan). This is significantly lower priced than Surfer SEO, which starts from $69/month.

On the Solo plan of Frase, you can add 1 user along with writing and optimizing 4 Articles per month. Whereas, on the Starter plan of Surfer SEO, you get to write and optimize 360 articles/month and add 2 users.

If you have a larger team of writers, the Scale plan of Surfer SEO lets you add 5 team members and write and optimize 1200 articles a month! Similarly, the Team plan of Frase for $114/mo allows writing and optimizing unlimited articles with 3 users.

Talking about trials, Frase offers a 5-day trial of its services for $1. Whereas, Surfer SEO offers a 7-day free trial upon entering your credit card details.

Overall, the Starter plan of Frase is more affordable compared to Surfer SEO. But if you have a larger team of writers and wish to generate more content, the Scale plan of Surfer SEO would be a more cost-effective solution.

2) MarketMuse  – Best for Content Optimization

MarketMuse is an AI-powered content optimization and content planning software. It is a powerful tool for on-page optimization and offers a range of SEO features for your needs. Whether you want to find keywords, search for FAQs, or optimize your blog posts for search engines, MarketMuse can do it all for you!

Its AI briefs and heat map features make MarketMuse stand out. Unlike Surfer SEO, MarketMuse also has a forever free plan you can use to test out its features. Overall, Marketmuse is a great choice for anyone who prioritizes high-quality content optimization.

How Is MarketMuse Compared To Surfer SEO?

Talking about keyword research, both MarketMuse and Surfer SEO offer related keywords, search volume, CPC, trends, variants, suggested mentions, and questions. 

Where Marketmuse stands out with its relevant list of FAQs, Surfer SEO has a SERP Similarity feature to pick the most relevant keywords.

MarketMuse and Surfer SEO, both excel in content optimization. They offer relevant NLP terms to include in your articles, along with their usage frequency and content score.

If you wish to create well-structured article outlines, you won’t be disappointed. Where Surfer SEO focuses on AI-generated outlines, MarketMuse offers in-depth content research and competitive analysis to decide on the structure.

It also includes subheadings and question rankings on SERP, related topics, and content structure (subtopics, keywords, word count, questions, internal and external links).

Moving to AI writing assistance, I’d say both tools are effective, but Surfer SEO has a slight edge here! Marketmuse requires human assistance at every step. It allows you to select any portion of the text and use custom or predefined prompts to mold it accordingly.

Whereas, Surfer SEO Surfer stands out with its high-quality AI content generation, which is completely automated!

MarketMuse Pricing

The pricing plans of MarketMuse start from an expensive range of $149/mo (Standard plan). Here, you get 100 queries per month along with full page-level insights and the ability to add 1 user. Their team plan costs $399/mo and offers unlimited queries. It lets you work with 3 users.

Compared to MarketMuse, the plans of Surfer SEO fall on a slightly less expensive range of $69/mo. On this plan, you get to optimize 360 articles/month and add up to 2 users.

In case you wish to test out the SEO tool before investing your money, MarketMuse offers a free plan with 10 monthly queries. Whereas, with Surfer SEO, you get a 7-day free trial upon entering your card details. Overall, the Starter plan of Surfer SEO looks more affordable.

3) KWHero – Best for AI Articles

KWHero is a feature-rich platform for performing keyword research, NLP optimization, and AI article writing. It also features a super affordable lifetime deal and a swift rate of development. Compared to Surfer SEO, KWHero stands out by offering high-quality AI content generation along with powerful competitor analysis and keyword volume checker tools.

How Is KWHero Compared To Surfer SEO?

In terms of keyword research, both tools offer related keywords with search volume, difficulty, and CPC. 

But Surfer SEO has the upper hand with its advanced options like multiple keyword clusters and SERP similarity. These help you find the most appropriate keywords for your content.

For analyzing competition, Surfer SEO displays the top competitors’ content score, authority, and word count. KWHero goes one step further and enhances this by including domain power (authority), URL power scores, search trends, keyword difficulty, and profitability scores for a detailed analysis.

Both Surfer SEO and KWHero excel when it comes to content optimization. Both tools ensure high-quality content optimization with relevant keyword suggestions and usage frequency, content scores, etc. Similarly, both SEO tools use AI to generate outlines. But KWHero’s outline includes some irrelevant topics compared to Surfer SEO. 

Finally, in terms of generating AI content, both tools are comparable. You can generate well-formatted and highly optimized articles that can pass AI detection with both KWHero and Surfer SEO. 

However, KWHero stands out with its GPT-4 integration along with the ability to add custom instructions. This makes it the preferred choice for AI content generation.

KWHero Pricing

The pricing plans of KWHero start from an expensive price of $59/month. With this plan, you get 50 monthly content analyses and AI credits. You can create 10 content plans with 100 keywords under each.

KWHero also has an AppSumo deal. The Tier 1 plan of KWHero can be availed for a one-time pricing of $69. With this plan, you get 50 content analyses per month and 5 AI credits. Whereas, Surfer SEO’s pricing plans start from $69/mo where you can write and optimize 360 articles a month.

Overall, when it comes to pricing, the lifetime deal of KWHero is the most affordable. But if you want to go with the subscription plans, the Starter plan of Surfer SEO is more value for money.

4) NeuronWriter

NeuronWriter is an AI-powered SEO tool trusted by over 100k+ users. It helps you research, plan, create, and optimize your content with ease. Unlike Surfer SEO, NeuronWriter stands out with its powerful and highly relevant real-time SEO suggestions and internal linking suggestions.

How Is NeuronWriter Compared To Surfer SEO?

In terms of keyword research, NeuronWriter stands out by offering a comprehensive list of 500+ keyword ideas around the primary keyword. It also offers a similarity score and usage percent of the keyword in titles, descriptions, and headings. 

//NeuronWriter – keyword research

Surfer SEO, however, focuses primarily on selected but relevant keywords.

If you wish to analyze your competitors on the web, you’ll find excellent results with both NeuronWriter and Surfer SEO. They display the top-ranking competitors along with their content scores, authority, and word counts. 

However, NeuronWriter provides additional insights, such as competitors’ content structure, related keywords, and content terms and usage percentages. You’ll also find a unique on-site features comparison for images, videos, iframes, and tables on the top-ranking pages.

Talking about outlines, Surfer SEO uses AI automation, whereas NeuronWriter adopts a unique approach by offering an overview of the top 10 SERP results. The users can then craft their outlines by analyzing the headings, titles, and descriptions of the competitors. It also highlights smart headings and FAQ questions from multiple sources.

Content optimization is a strong suit for both NeuronWriter and Surfer SEO. Both platforms offer powerful and relevant suggestions. But NeuronWriter goes a step ahead and offers image ideas from YouTube and stock images.

When we talk about AI content generation, Surfer SEO undoubtedly outshines NeuronWriter. It generates full-fledged articles upon specifying your primary keywords and content tone. Whereas, NeuronWriter doesn’t have a refined and complete AI article generator on its Starter plans. You can generate different kinds of content with their AI writing templates. 

Another interesting feature of NeuronWriter is its internal link suggestions. It scans your website to recommend relevant posts along with their similarity score. You could interlink them with your current content to improve your SEO efforts. 

NeuronWriter Pricing

Talking about pricing, NeuronWriter’s regular plans start from $19/mo (Bronze plan) where you get 15k AI credits and 25 content writer analyses. If you have a team of writers, you can opt for its Gold plan for $57/month. Here, you get 75k AI credits and unlimited team members. 

It also has an AppSumo deal where you get all the same limits as the Bronze plan but for a one-time price of just $89. 

Talking about Surfer SEO, its pricing starts from an expensive range of $69/mo, where you can write and optimize 360 articles. Additionally, Surfer SEO also offers a 7-day trial by entering your card details. But NeuronWriter doesn’t offer any free trials or free plans.

Overall, Surfer SEO offers much more value for larger teams that require extended content creation limits. But if you want an affordable option, NeuronWriter’s lifetime deal would be better suited for your needs.

5) Scalenut

Scalenut is an SEO and content marketing tool powered by artificial intelligence. Along with a powerful long-form editor, it offers efficient SEO reports helping improve your search engine rankings. It differentiates itself from Surfer SEO with its comprehensive brief generator, in-depth SEO reports, and multiple AI writing templates. 

How Is Scalenut Compared To Surfer SEO?

In terms of keyword research, both tools are comparable. Scalenut doesn’t offer keyword research on its Starter plans. But on the higher plans, you can enter your primary keyword and target country to access a long list of keywords with their search volume, relevance, and CPC, just like Surfer SEO.

When it comes to competitor analysis, both tools equip users with important insights. You get competitor ranking, SEO score, and word count on both platforms. Where Surfer SEO includes authority parameters in its analysis, Scalenut reveals the meta description used in each post.

You’ll find a bot icon beside each subheading in Scalenut that can quickly generate similar AI content for their posts with a single click!

For optimizing your content, both tools offer relevant keyword suggestions. However, Scalenut leaps ahead by enabling users to highlight used terms, analyze their SERP usage, and use AI to generate additional content around any keywords! 

Talking about content outlines, Surfer SEO offers AI-powered outlines. Whereas, Scalenut presents its in-depth brief generator. With this tool, you get H2 and H3 heading suggestions, and FAQs, along with guidelines for the number of images, words, and headings to include in your articles. 

Finally, for generating AI articles, both Surfer SEO and Scalenut exhibit quite comparable features. They can easily generate comprehensive articles based on a specific keyword and content tone. 

However, Scalenut’s Cruise Mode offers a more structured approach by first generating an SEO report. Then it offers the topic description, title, outline, and writing points, and finally, your article is generated.  

Scalenut Pricing

Talking about pricing plans, Scalenut’s pricing starts from $19/mo where you get 100k AI words and 5 SEO articles/month. The Essential plan for $39/mo extends the limit to unlimited AI words and 30 monthly articles. 

Whereas, the Surfer SEO plans start from $69/mo and let you write and optimize 360 articles a month! Both tools offer a 7-day free trial. However, Surfer SEO requires you to enter your card details to avail of the trial.

If you are a beginner to mid-level user, Scalenut’s starter plan would be a good fit. But if you’re a professional who can spend some money on a good SEO tool, Surfer SEO’s starter plan would be more valuable.

6) SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an SEO platform tailored for agencies and small to mid-sized businesses. It offers robust tools for all your SEO requirements. From researching keywords to generating optimized content, you get everything under a single dashboard!

As compared to Surfer SEO, SE Ranking is easier to use and offers better keyword research, advanced competition analysis, and insightful content outlines. If you’re a small business or an agency owner, this tool could be an all-rounder SEO tool for your workflow. 

How Is SE Ranking Compared To Surfer SEO?

The keyword research tools offered by both SE Ranking and Surfer SEO are quite comparable. SE Ranking shows you metrics like keyword difficulty score, search volume, CPC, and global volume. It also displays a list of similar and keyword keywords, and questions, like Surfer SEO. 

SE Ranking takes the lead when it comes to competitor insights. It displays the top 10 results, with their domain authority, and provides valuable insights into total traffic and cost. Whereas, Surfer SEO merely offers content and authority scores and word count.

SE Ranking simplifies the content optimization process with a list of keywords and their recommended frequencies. On the other hand, Surfer SEO comes with advanced insights, including highly relevant keywords, their usage frequencies, content scores, and structures. 

Additionally, SE Ranking also offers website auditing and backlink-checking functionality for agencies and small businesses. 

For creating article outlines, Surfer SEO primarily lets you generate AI outlines. 

However, SE Ranking marks itself differently by offering lots of sections to create a rich outline. You can get insights into the content structure, terms, links, questions, and competitors, along with FAQs and link suggestions.

For generating AI-optimized articles, Surfer SEO is the better choice. SE Ranking follows a structured step-by-step process to generate each section of your draft separately. Whereas, Surfer SEO generates a high-quality and well-formatted article by simply entering your primary keyword.

SE Ranking Pricing

The pricing plans of SE Ranking start from $44/month (Essential plan). It includes 25k AI words and 15 articles/month. The Pro plan is priced at $87.20/month and offers 50k AI words and 30 articles/month.

Whereas, the Surfer SEO plans start from $69/mo and let you write and optimize 360 articles a month! So, if you want a more value-for-money option, SE Ranking is a much better option.

Talking about trials, Surfer SEO offers a 7-day free trial by providing card details. Whereas, SE Ranking offers a 14-day free trial without requiring your card details.

7) WriterZen

WriterZen is another popular SEO tool that helps you improve your search rankings by fetching relevant data and keywords from Google. It differs from Surfer SEO for its advanced keyword research, relevant FAQ suggestions, and decent content optimization options. 

How Is WriterZen Compared To Surfer SEO?

In terms of keyword research, WriterZen performs much better than Surfer SEO. Where Surfer SEO offers search volume and difficulty score of keywords and clusters, WriterZen also displays the CPC, total search volume, and keyword data phrase match keywords, same-term keywords, and ‘Also search for’ keywords along with their trends. 

Surfer SEO does a better job of analyzing your competitors on the web. Where WriterZen fetches the top 20 results and offers a basic summary along with FAQs, Surfer SEO offers a more in-depth analysis. It features content scores, word counts, and authority scores of competitors.

Talking about article outlines, WriterZen provides you with greater control to create your outline manually or use AI. You can enter your keyword and find relevant questions sourced from Reddit and the ‘People also ask’ sections. Whereas, Surfer SEO offers focused and AI-generated outlines.

For content optimization, WriterZen offers limited suggestions but it differentiates itself with the ability to highlight the keywords incorporated into your content. Additionally, if you click on any keyword, it’ll display how the term has been used in headings and paragraphs from top SERPs. 

Whereas, Surfer SEO provides advanced optimization with relevant suggestions, content score, and content structure. 

Finally, for generating AI articles, Surfer SEO is a much better choice. Where WriterZen can generate your article’s description, outline, and the entire content, the length of content generated is pretty short. The highlighted keywords are not visible on the editor either. I liked how the Analysis tab shows the problems, good results, and improvements in the content. 

On the other hand, Surfer SEO offers an automated AI writing tool with high-quality and relevant content generation. 

WriterZen Pricing

The pricing plans of WriterZen start from $19/mo where you get 30k keyword credits. It also has a lifetime plan for a one-time price of $205, which offers 30k keyword credits as well. Whereas, the Surfer SEO plans start from $69/mo and let you write and optimize 360 articles a month!

Talking about trials, you get a 7-day free trial on both platforms. However, WriterZen doesn’t require your credit card details, unlike Surfer SEO.

How Did We Test Surfer SEO Alternatives?

To test Surfer SEO alternatives, we browsed through the web to find the most capable SEO tools. Then, we signed up on those platforms and tested their performance for keyword research, outline creation, competitor analysis SEO optimization, AI content writing, etc.

We also thoroughly tested these tools to find any additional or unique features they offered. Then, based on their performance, we ranked them from 1 to 7 on our list.

Which SEO Tools Do I Use?

I have personally been using multiple SEO tools on my blog for the last 4 years. I use Frase, Marketmuse, and NeuronWriter to optimize my blog posts regularly. However, I use them for different purposes.

I use Frase to conduct thorough competitor and topic research and generate comprehensive outlines. I also use Marketmuse to find relevant FAQs to include in my posts. Finally, I use a combination of Frase, Marketmuse, and NeuronWriter to get keyword suggestions for my posts.

You’ll be shocked to know that using these tools has been a key factor in dozens of my blog posts ranking in the top Google search results.

Why Should You Trust Me?

I’ve been working full time in the digital industry since 2015. In all these years, I’ve used and tested a range of SEO tools. Some notable names are Frase, MarketMuse, NeuronWriter, KWHero, WriterZen, and more. Their reviews are available on my blog and YouTube.

Testing out so many AI tools regularly has given me the knowledge and experience to suggest to you the right one for your needs.

Conclusion

In this article, we saw 7 potential alternatives to Surfer SEO. These tools can help you with different aspects of SEO, like keyword research, competition analysis, outline generation, generating SEO-optimized articles, and content optimization.

We hope the tools discussed in this article will help you accomplish your SEO needs, boost your organic traffic and engagement, and rank higher on search engines.

Anyway, which was your favorite tool from the above list? Have you used any of them or a different one for your work? Which SEO tool would you recommend to our readers? Let me know your views in the comments.

This is Kripesh signing off. Cheers, and keep learning. 🙂