Content optimization · 2026 head-to-head

Surfer SEO vs Frase

Both grade a draft against what ranks and add an AI-search score. Surfer goes deeper on keyword and topic research; the rebuilt Frase goes further into drafting, publishing, refreshing and AI tracking on a small budget.

Which one fits you?All 7 rounds

Updated Prices checked 30 cited sources

The short answer

Surfer SEO is built around its Content Editor: it grades drafts against the live SERP, researches keywords and topics, audits published pages, and tracks five AI engines from its Pro plan. Frase, rebuilt from scratch in February 2026, runs through to publishing: its agent drafts articles, publishes them to your CMS and republishes fixes, with AI search tracking on every plan. Choose Surfer SEO if keyword research and a deep editor matter most and you’ll pay for Pro. Choose Frase if you’re a small team that wants drafting, publishing and AI tracking for less.

Rounds won

Surfer SEO 1, Frase 3, 3 draws

  1. Round 1, Content scoring: draw
  2. Round 2, Briefs & research: draw
  3. Round 3, AI writing & publishing: Frase wins
  4. Round 4, Keyword & topic research: Surfer SEO wins
  5. Round 5, Refreshing existing content: Frase wins
  6. Round 6, AI search tracking: draw
  7. Round 7, Pricing & value for a small team: Frase wins

  • Choose Surfer SEO if…

    • Keyword research with volume and difficulty is how you plan content
    • A team of three to ten works each draft by hand in one editor
    • You want Google AI Mode and AI Overviews tracked daily, and will pay for Pro

  • Choose Frase if…

    • You want drafts published straight to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix
    • You're one to three people and want AI tracking and an API from $39 a month
    • You'd like to try it for a week without entering a card
Stage by stage

One content pipeline, two different ends

7 stages from research to tracking. Each cell is that stage's row from the feature matrix, as written; the line is solid where a tool covers the stage and dashed where it covers it in part.

Coverage by stage

  • Included
  • Partly, or as an add-on
  • Not what it's built for
  1. 01ResearchKeyword research
    Included

    Surfer SEO:

    Volume, difficulty and clusters from Standard

    Partly, or as an add-on

    Frase:

    SERP and question research; volume not documented

  2. 02PlanBriefs & outlines
    Included

    Surfer SEO:

    Outline Builder; shareable editor links from Standard

    Included

    Frase:

    Research ends in a structured brief

  3. 03WriteAI article drafting
    Included

    Surfer SEO:

    Surfer AI in 18 languages; shares the Documents limit

    Included

    Frase:

    Agent drafts with images; 10, 40 or 100 a month

  4. 04OptimizeLive content score
    Included

    Surfer SEO:

    SEO Score and AI Search Score against the SERP

    Included

    Frase:

    SEO score plus a separate GEO score

  5. 05PublishPublishes to your CMS
    Partly, or as an add-on

    Surfer SEO:

    WordPress plugin, Contentful, Zapier from Standard

    Included

    Frase:

    WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix, FraseCMS

  6. 06RefreshRefresh & republish
    Partly, or as an add-on

    Surfer SEO:

    Auto-Optimize in the editor; you republish

    Included

    Frase:

    Content Guard drafts fixes, republishes on approval

  7. 07TrackAI visibility tracking
    Included

    Surfer SEO:

    From Standard; daily on 5 engines from Pro

    Included

    Frase:

    Every plan; engines added by tier

Taken from the full feature matrix below · facts last checked September 21, 2026

Round by round

7 rounds, a call in each

Each round names a winner or calls a draw, winner first, then gives the case for both sides. The tinted cell is the side that took it.

  • 1

    Surfer SEO · round won

  • 3

    draws

  • 3

    Frase · rounds won

Round 01

Draw

Content scoring

Draw: both grade drafts live against the ranking pages, with an AI-search score beside the SEO one. Ahrefs’ 2025 study found only weak links between content-tool scores and rankings, so treat either as a checklist.

Score after this roundSurfer SEO 0, Frase 0, 1 draw

Surfer SEO

Surfer’s Content Score is split into an SEO Score and an AI Search Score, whose Intent Alignment check reads the intro and facts. Its guidelines list entities with recommended placement and frequency, and you can edit the competitor list it scores against.

Frase

Frase gives a live SEO score against the pages ranking for the query, with a ranked list of what to add, and a separate GEO score with named fixes: a direct answer up top, the entities the topic expects, a citable fact. Its guidance works in topics and entities rather than term counts.

Round 02

Draw

Briefs & research

Draw: Frase’s research ends in a structured brief, while Surfer builds the outline inside its editor and adds a Topical Map on Pro.

Score after this roundSurfer SEO 0, Frase 0, 2 draws

Surfer SEO

Surfer’s Outline Builder sits inside the Content Editor, which analyzes the top-ranking competitors for the query. From Standard up, a shareable link lets writers without a Surfer seat edit the draft against live guidelines.

Frase

Frase reads the ranking pages for structure and word count, surfaces the gaps, and ends in a brief listing the headings, sections, keywords and sources to cover. Its free SERP analyzer runs the same kind of read without an account.

Round 03

Frase wins

AI writing & publishing

Frase, on volume and reach: 40 articles a month on Professional against 30 Surfer documents on Standard or Pro, published straight to your CMS.

Score after this roundSurfer SEO 0, Frase 1, 2 draws

Surfer SEO

Surfer AI writes a full article of 2,000 words or more in about 20 minutes, in 18 languages, and has added internal and external links since June 2026. Each one uses a Document, the same limit as a manual editor, and it reaches your site through the WordPress plugin, Contentful or Google Docs, from Standard up.

Frase

Took this round

Frase’s agent drafts full articles with images in your brand voice, 10, 40 or 100 a month by plan, in 70+ languages. It publishes to WordPress (filling Yoast and Rank Math fields), Webflow, Sanity, Wix or its hosted FraseCMS, and publishes on its own only if you switch that on.

Round 04

Surfer SEO wins

Keyword & topic research

Surfer, clearly: keyword research with volume, difficulty and clusters from Standard, a Topical Map from Pro, and the free Keyword Surfer extension.

Score after this roundSurfer SEO 1, Frase 1, 2 draws

Surfer SEO

Took this round

Surfer’s Keyword Research shows volume, difficulty and clusters from the Standard plan. Its Topical Map finds competitive gaps and semantic clusters from Pro, and the free Keyword Surfer Chrome extension covers 70 countries.

Frase

Frase’s Topic Clusters map pillar and supporting pages, detect gaps and suggest new clusters, alongside SERP and question research. Its current feature pages don’t show search volume or difficulty, so plan to bring demand data from another tool.

Round 05

Frase wins

Refreshing existing content

Frase, narrowly: Content Guard reads Search Console, drafts the fix and republishes it on your approval, and a site audit comes with every plan.

Score after this roundSurfer SEO 1, Frase 2, 2 draws

Surfer SEO

Surfer’s Content Audit reads Search Console for 10 to 500 tracked pages by plan and sends weekly opportunity emails, with rank-drop alerts from Standard. Auto-Optimize reworks a page in the editor; the site Audit and cannibalization report start at Pro, and republishing is yours to do.

Frase

Took this round

Content Guard reads Search Console, drafts a fix and republishes on approval, or automatically if you opt in, on 10, 75 or 300 pages by plan. Site Audit checks technical, content and AI-readiness issues, cannibalization included, metered at 50 to 1,000 pages a month.

Round 07

Frase wins

Pricing & value for a small team

Frase, for a small team: it starts lower, includes AI tracking, site audits and the API on every plan, and its trial needs no card.

Score after this roundSurfer SEO 1, Frase 3, 3 draws

Surfer SEO

Surfer’s Discovery plan is $49 a month billed yearly and doesn’t include AI tracking, keyword research or integrations, so Standard, at $99 with three seats, is the realistic entry. Its 7-day Pro trial takes a card and converts to a paid plan unless you cancel.

Frase

Took this round

Frase Starter is $39 a month billed yearly with one seat, AI tracking and 5,000 API requests; Professional is $103 with three seats, close to Surfer Standard. Its 7-day trial needs no card, and overage stays off unless you turn it on.

Pricing

Every plan, on one ladder

Published list prices from both pricing pages, read on September 21, 2026, on one scale and cheapest first.

  • Surfer SEO

    Tiered by seats, metered in Documents

    Starts at

    $59/month· $49/mo billed yearly

    7-day Pro trial; card required, auto-converts

    Surfer SEO pricing page

  • Frase

    Tiered by articles, audit pages and prompts

    Starts at

    $49/month· $39/mo billed yearly

    7-day free trial, no card

    Frase pricing page

10 plans, cheapest first

  1. StarterEntry plan

    Frase

    1 seat, 10 articles, 50 audit pages, 50 prompts on 2 engines

    $39/mobilled yearly · $49 monthly

  2. DiscoveryEntry plan

    Surfer SEO

    1 seat, 120 documents a year, 10 tracked pages; no AI tracking

    $49/mobilled yearly · $59 monthly

  3. AI Search Analytics

    Surfer SEO

    Tracking only: 50 prompts on 5 engines, 5 seats; no Content Editor

    $82/mobilled yearly · $95 monthly

  4. Standard

    Surfer SEO

    3 seats, 30 documents a month, 25 ChatGPT prompts weekly, keyword research

    $99/mobilled yearly · $119 monthly

  5. Professional

    Frase

    3 seats, 40 articles, 250 audit pages, 200 prompts on 3 engines

    $103/mobilled yearly · $129 monthly

  6. Pro

    Surfer SEO

    5 seats, 30 documents, 50 prompts daily on 5 engines, Topical Map, Audit

    $182/mobilled yearly · $219 monthly

  7. Scale

    Frase

    5 seats, 100 articles, 1,000 audit pages, 500 prompts on 5 engines

    $239/mobilled yearly · $299 monthly

  8. Peace of Mind

    Surfer SEO

    10 seats, unlimited* documents (fair use), 100 prompts, API

    $299/mobilled yearly · $359 monthly

  9. Enterprise

    Surfer SEO

    Tailored packages: SSO, white-label, custom limits

    Custom quote

  10. Enterprise

    Frase

    White-label, client portal, SSO/SAML, SLA, custom limits

    Custom quote

Surfer’s trial needs a card and converts to a paid plan unless you cancel; yearly plans are charged upfront, and unused limits don’t roll over. Extra prompts and tracked pages cost more (Pro from 50 to 100 prompts shows +$51), Rank Tracker is still a separate add-on, and AI Search Analytics is tracking only, with no Content Editor. Frase’s Starter stops at its limits; on Professional and Scale, overage is off by default and costs $5 an article on Professional if you turn it on. Extra Frase seats are $29 a month, and FraseCMS hosting is free with a badge or $19 to $99 a month. Prices quoted for either tool before 2026 describe retired plans.

Your situation

Which one fits you?

3 questions. The pick updates as you answer, and shows the reason behind each answer.

  • 01What should the tool do best?
  • 02How many people will use it?
  • 03Who will run it day to day?

Your pick

Answer the questions above. The better fit shows here, with the reasons behind it.

Why

Each answer you pick adds its reason here.

Spec sheet

The facts, then every feature

8 facts at a glance, then 18 capabilities. Where a product isn't built for something, the cell says what it does instead.

Surfer SEO and Frase at a glance
Surfer SEOFactFrase
Content editor and AI visibility platformWhat it isContent operating system for AI search
Positive (France), since October 2025Owned byCopysmith AI, since October 2022
$49/mo yearly · $59 monthlyStarts at$39/mo yearly · $49 monthly
7 days of Pro, card requiredFree trial7 days, no card needed
From Standard · 5 engines daily on ProAI search trackingEvery plan · 5 engines on Scale
30 documents on Standard and ProAI articles a month10, 40 or 100 by plan
Volume, difficulty, clusters from StandardKeyword researchTopic clusters and SERP research
Peace of Mind and EnterpriseAPIEvery plan, with MCP and a CLI
IncludedPartly, or as an add-onNot what it's built for
Surfer SEO and Frase, feature by feature
CapabilitySurfer SEOFrase
Optimize & write
Live content scoreIncludedSEO Score and AI Search Score against the SERPIncludedSEO score plus a separate GEO score
Term & entity guidanceIncludedEntities with placement and frequency targetsPartly, or as an add-onTopics, questions and expected entities; no term counts
Briefs & outlinesIncludedOutline Builder; shareable editor links from StandardIncludedResearch ends in a structured brief
AI article draftingIncludedSurfer AI in 18 languages; shares the Documents limitIncludedAgent drafts with images; 10, 40 or 100 a month
LanguagesIncludedEditor: all languages · AI writing: 18Included70+ languages, per Frase
Research & refresh
Keyword researchIncludedVolume, difficulty and clusters from StandardPartly, or as an add-onSERP and question research; volume not documented
Topic mappingPartly, or as an add-onTopical Map, from ProIncludedTopic Clusters: pillars, gaps, suggestions
Content audit & decayIncludedSearch Console audit of 10–500 pages; rank-drop alertsIncludedSite Audit on every plan, metered by pages
Refresh & republishPartly, or as an add-onAuto-Optimize in the editor; you republishIncludedContent Guard drafts fixes, republishes on approval
Internal linkingPartly, or as an add-onInserts up to 10 links in one click, from ProPartly, or as an add-onSuggestions from Professional
AI search
AI visibility trackingIncludedFrom Standard; daily on 5 engines from ProIncludedEvery plan; engines added by tier
Engines coveredIncludedChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Mode, AI OverviewsIncludedChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity; Claude, Gemini on Scale
Sentiment & competitor gapsIncludedMention gap and sentimentIncludedSentiment and competitor benchmarks
Publishing & plan
Publishes to your CMSPartly, or as an add-onWordPress plugin, Contentful, Zapier from StandardIncludedWordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix, FraseCMS
Auto-publishingNot what it's built forNot its focus: optimize, export, monitorIncludedAgent publishes on its own if you switch it on
API & MCPPartly, or as an add-onAPI from Peace of Mind; MCP in beta from ProIncludedREST API, MCP server and CLI on every plan
SeatsIncluded1, 3, 5 or 10 by planPartly, or as an add-on1, 3 or 5; extra seats $29 a month
Free trialPartly, or as an add-on7 days of Pro; card required, auto-convertsIncluded7 days, no card; Professional features, capped
A third option · from the publisher of this page

If you want articles delivered, not a platform to operate

Surfer and Frase both assume someone at the controls: Surfer’s editor grades the drafts writers work on, and Frase’s agent drafts and publishes inside a workspace you configure. Rankbox, which publishes this comparison, is for teams that want a fixed set of finished articles. It maps the questions your buyers ask, writes long-form articles from live web research with the sources cited, scores every draft for SEO and AI-answer readiness, and delivers them on a schedule through its publishing API, at $49.50 a month for 30 articles. For research depth your writers use, Surfer is still the better buy; for an agent and site audits you steer, Frase is.

See how Rankbox works

7-day free trial · Card required · Cancel anytime

What Rankbox does today

$49.50/month for 30 articles

  • Maps the questions your buyers ask, starting from your site and category
  • Writes long-form articles from live web research, with the sources cited
  • Scores every draft for SEO and AI-answer readiness before it goes out
  • Delivers finished articles on a schedule through its publishing API
FAQ

Surfer SEO vs Frase, answered

The questions people ask about this pair, each answered in its first sentence.

Yes, at the entry level. Frase Starter is $39 a month billed yearly or $49 monthly and includes AI tracking and the API; Surfer Discovery is $49 or $59 and includes neither. With three seats they’re close: Surfer Standard is $99 or $119, Frase Professional $103 or $129. Both pricing pages were checked on 21 September 2026.

It’s worth judging as a new product, because it is one. “The New Frase”, announced on 2 February 2026, was a ground-up rebuild that added an agent that can auto-publish, hosted FraseCMS, Content Guard, AI Visibility, an MCP server and a CLI. Most public reviews describe the old app, so independent evidence on the current one is thin; its 7-day trial needs no card, which makes it cheap to check.

Yes, on every plan from Standard up; since 18 May 2026 its AI Tracker is part of the plans, not an add-on. Standard tracks 25 prompts on ChatGPT weekly, and Pro tracks 50 prompts daily across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews. Discovery has no AI tracking, and the separate AI Search Analytics plan sells tracking alone from $82 a month billed yearly.

Both do, on different plans. Frase includes its REST API, MCP server and CLI on every plan, with 5,000 to 50,000 API requests a month by tier. Surfer’s API is on Peace of Mind and Enterprise, and Surfer MCP, in beta since 11 August 2026, is rolling out to Pro, Peace of Mind and Enterprise.

Frase. Its 7-day trial needs no card and gives Professional’s features, capped at 5 articles, 50 audit pages and 25 AI prompts. Surfer’s 7-day trial gives Pro access but asks for card details at checkout and converts to a paid plan unless you cancel. Neither offers a free plan.

Surfer. From Standard up it includes keyword research with search volume, difficulty and clusters, adds a Topical Map on Pro, and offers the free Keyword Surfer Chrome extension. Frase’s current pages document topic clusters and SERP and question research, without search-volume or difficulty figures.

Frase claims more: 70+ languages, written natively rather than translated. Surfer’s Content Editor works with any language, and Surfer AI writes full articles in 18.

Neither is independent. Positive, a French group, acquired Surfer in October 2025, and the product is now branded Positive Surfer. Frase is operated by Copysmith AI, Inc., which announced its acquisition of Frase in October 2022.
Sources

30 sources, all linked

Pricing pages read on

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Score every draft for search and AI

Key terms

Rather have the articles than another tool to run?

Paste your URL. Rankbox reads your site and shows the content gaps, the competitors you’re up against, and the topics it would write first.

7-day free trial · Card required · Cancel anytime · $49.50/month for 30 articles