The 12 Best Surfer SEO Alternatives to Try in 2025
Surfer SEO is a content optimization tool. Professional digital marketers, bloggers, SEO writers, and small business owners all rely on Surfer while creating content.
The platform is popular for good reason. Surfer makes it easy to:
- Identify the right keywords to use
- Add internal links
- Compare your content to other webpages that rank highly on the same topic
But there are Surfer SEO alternatives that offer even more content optimization features for you to use.
Why Use a Surfer SEO Competitor?
You might want to consider using an alternative to Surfer SEO if:
You run a brick-and-mortar business
Surfer doesn’t show you any content optimization insights related to local target audiences.
This is an important part of getting foot traffic to your business; you’ll want to make sure that your SEO writing tool of choice factors in local search queries.
You have high-volume content creation needs
Surfer limits the number of articles you can analyze and generate every month. Some of its competitors have unlimited-use plans.
You want a built-in spellcheck tool
Surfer SEO feedback is solely focused on SEO. If you need feedback about spelling, grammar, passive voice, and more, you’ll want to choose an alternative tool.
You have a small content marketing budget
While Surfer SEO isn’t the most expensive content optimization tool on the market, it’s not cheap at $79+ per month.
You need detailed information about keyword difficulty
Surfer shows you some information about keyword difficulty and volume, but if you're serious about developing your SEO strategy, you might also need to use an in-depth SEO research tool like Semrush.
Get More Search Traffic
Use trending keywords to create content your audience craves.
Top 12 Surfer SEO Alternatives for Content Optimization
1. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant: Best For Complete Content Optimization
The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is an all-in-one content optimization tool that’s great for anyone who primarily writes content themselves (or works with a professional writer).
Key Features:
- Semantic keyword suggestions
- Connected to one of the best keyword research tools available today
- SEO scoring that updates in real time
- Content readability analysis
- Suggestions for removing passive voice
- Plagiarism checker
- AI tool to write or rephrase content
- Integration with Semrush rank tracking and keyword research tools
- Google Docs extension
You’ll need one or more seed keywords to create a SEO Writing Assistant report.
I like to start with an SEO Content Template overview before sending the template to the writing assistant.
Semrush uses your seed keywords to analyze the related search engine results pages (SERPs) and identify the most important semantic keywords to include in your content.
Tip: If you aren’t sure how to use a particular keyword, let the AI spin up a sentence to get you started! This can be a great way to jumpstart your creative process.
I find that the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant suggests fewer semantic keywords than some of the other competitors on this list. It is, however, quite accurate in its SERP assessment.
I find its tone of voice analysis to be particularly helpful.
How Much Does the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant Cost?
The SEO Writing Assistant is part of Semrush Guru and Business plans.
You can research an unlimited number of topics per month and create either 800 or 2,000 content templates per month, depending on your plan level.
Plans start at $208.33 per month (billed annually) and include access to other great SEO features like the Keyword Magic Tool. Don’t forget to look for a Semrush coupon before signing up.
2. ContentShake AI: Best For Writing With AI
ContentShake AI is an add-on that enhances your existing Semrush account.
Key Features:
- Automatic idea generation
- Content brief builder
- AI writer that works in seven languages
- AI image generator
- SEO content scoring
- One-click WordPress publishing
As with Surfer SEO, you can adjust the ContentShake AI’s tone of voice to match a particular brand style or customer persona.
When it comes down to deciding between ContentShake AI and Surfer SEO, one of the biggest things to consider is where your audience lives.
- If you’re trying to capture website visitors from all around the country or world, then both tools will likely serve you well
- If you need to learn what your local audience is searching for online, then ContentShake is the answer
If you’re not a professional writer, or you’re looking for an AI “collaborator,” then you’ll want to give ContentShake a try.
When you just need a little creative help here and there, the normal Semrush SEO Writing Assistant AI will do the job.
Tip: Use the Semrush Keyword Strategy Builder to develop topic clusters around relevant keywords, then use ContentShake AI as your collaborative partner to outline and generate optimized content.
How Much Does ContentShake AI Cost?
ContentShake AI costs $60 per month. You must have an active Semrush subscription too sign up.
3. AI Writing Assistant: Best For Multilingual AI Content Generation
The AI Writing Assistant is another option that works with your existing Semrush account.
Key Features:
- AI-generated content in over 25 languages
- Tools to generate long- and short-form content
- Semantic keyword analysis
- Suggested headers and titles
If you need to reach a global audience, then the AI Writing Assistant is helpful.
While many AI-enabled content optimization tools work within a basic text editor (like Surfer SEO), the AI Writing Assistant interface has separate tools that you use based on your goals.
For example, there’s a tool to create long-form blogs and another for short-form pay-per-click (PPC) ad copy.
You will need to provide the AI with some preliminary information, including a topic, title, and ideal subheadings for long articles.
Tip: Use Exploding Topics Pro to find trending keywords, then explore the SERP for each one in Semrush to develop a blog post title and subheadings. Once you’ve done that, plug this info into the AI Writing Assistant to generate your article.
How Much Does the AI Writing Assistant Cost?
The AI Writing Assistant costs $25 per month and offers unlimited content generation. You’ll need to subscribe to a Semrush plan as well.
4. Clearscope: Best For Content Agencies
Clearscope is another content optimization tool that works in your browser or via a Google Docs extension.
Key Features:
- Easy letter-grade style content quality scoring
- Keyword density recommendations
- Competitor content quality scores
- “People Also Ask” questions
- Multiple projects and tags for organization
- Suggested word count and reading level
- External link recommendations
Clearscope has fewer features than Surfer SEO, and it doesn’t have a built-in AI writer.
But I think it’s a better choice for agency environments.
If you create and manage content for multiple clients, Clearscope lets you create multiple “content inventory” reports that track:
- Content performance
- The potential SEO value of this content, expressed in dollars
- Changes in content health
- New opportunities for improving internal linking structure
It's a useful way to quickly monitor which clients have old content in need of a refresh, which can speed up content audits.
You can also use it for your own business. It’s like having an expert on hand to help with your SEO copywriting checklist.
Plus, Clearscope has a simple and user-friendly interface.
The main downside is that Clearscope doesn’t allow you to create reports using more than one keyword. The Semrush SEO Content Template does this.
How Much Does Clearscope Cost?
Clearscope plans start at $189 per month for 20 monthly content reports and 100 tracked content inventory pages.
5. SE Ranking Content Editor: Best For Manually Creating Content Briefs
The SE Ranking Content Editor is similar to the Semrush SEO Writing Assistant.
Both of these content optimization tools are part of larger SEO platforms.
Key Features:
- Internal and external link tracking
- AI-generated topics, headings, and text on demand
- Suggested word count, number of headings, and links
- Location-specific SERP analysis (similar to ContentShake AI)
- Optional Google Docs extension
Using the SE Ranking content creation tool is a more hands-on process than when using Surfer SEO or Clearscope.
You can:
- Add and remove specific SERP competitors from the report
- Change up the semantic keyword list
- Add questions
- Specify how many paragraphs or images the content should include
I find the process of setting up briefs in SE Ranking to be time-consuming. But you may like it if you prefer having granular control over your instructions for writers.
You can also use the SE Ranking AI Writer Wizard to streamline the entire writing process. You still need to make certain decisions about the brief, but at the end, an AI will generate content for you.
How Much Does the SE Ranking Content Editor Cost?
The Content Editor is part of SE Ranking’s Pro and Business plans; use of the tool will be limited to three or seven articles per month based on plan type.
To unlock higher usage limits, you can purchase the Content Editor as an add-on to any plan. Options start at $23.20 per month (billed annually) on top of your SE Ranking plan price.
To learn more about the other tools in SE Ranking, check out our complete guide to Semrush alternatives.
6. Frase: Best For Content Project Management
Frase is an AI tool for website SEO that offers some additional team and project management features.
Key Features:
- AI writing assistant
- Content brief generator
- Project status tracking
- Suggested semantic keywords, links, and paragraph count
- Automatic SEO scoring
- Optional Google Docs and Chrome extensions
The Frase interface and scoring system is similar to the SE Ranking Content Editor. There's an AI Wizard that walks you through the process of creating a brief and article.
If you’re collaborating with a team, Frase is a particularly nice choice due to the fact you can update each article’s status. This gives you an at-a-glance overview of how work is progressing without the need for a separate project management tool.
Whenever you have an idea for your team, you can enter it in Frase as a document, then decide how to proceed later on—from team assignment to how heavily you’ll use AI.
This makes Frase a nice tool for anyone who has lots of content ideas in their head that they want to put into motion, even if they aren’t sure where to start.
How Much Does Frase Cost?
You can try Frase by creating one document for free. If you like the tool, paid plans start at $45 per month (billed annually) and offer unlimited AI content generation.
7. NeuronWriter: Best For E-Commerce Content
NeuronWriter is another tool that finds semantic keywords (the platform calls these “NLP terms”) and potential topics for your SEO content.
Key Features:
- SERP analysis
- Topical authority analysis for your domain
- Calendar view for content planning
- WordPress, Google Docs, and Shopify integrations
- Compatibility with third-party AI tools
NeuronWriter is my top recommendation for e-commerce entrepreneurs interested in AI-assisted SEO writing.
The WordPress integration makes it easy to send content right to your site, and a Chrome extension allows you to edit your Shopify content while working on your site’s back end.
As with all AI writing tools, the quality varies depending on the way you prompt. In testing, we found that articles were sometimes generic and lacking in detail. Ideally, you’ll want to use NeuronWriter’s AI to produce a first draft and get an expert writer to improve it.
Another interesting feature is NeuronWriter’s ability to export recommendations as a prompt. You can then use that prompt to continue your work in an LLM like ChatGPT or Claude.
Tip: Use Exploding Topics Pro to uncover the most popular products on Amazon and track top trends in your market. Then use this data to create content templates in NeuronWriter.
How Much Does NeuronWriter Cost?
NeuronWriter plans start at $19 per month when billed annually.
8. MarketMuse: Best For Content Strategy Planning
MarketMuse is a content optimization platform that includes a research tool, content brief generator, and content analysis.
It was founded in 2013, making it one of the most established Surfer SEO alternatives.
Key Features:
- Separate content research and writing interfaces
- One-click pre-built workflows for key SEO tasks
- Automatic content retrieval and analysis from a specified URL
- Semantic keyword and word count suggestions
- Color-coded SERP competitor analysis
The MarketMuse dashboard is particularly nice for content planning purposes. You can clearly see:
- How many articles are ready for a refresh
- Which articles on your site aren’t meeting searcher intent
- New growth opportunities
There are also buttons that you can click to launch specific workflows instantly, which is helpful when you need to repeat the same process more than once for different keywords.
Tip: After identifying which pages on your site need a content refresh, use Exploding Topics to find related trends or products. Create a MarketMuse research report for your top topics to learn more about the SERP and competitors for each, and enhance your pages accordingly.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a Google Docs extension for MarketMuse. This is a dealbreaker for me personally. I've had issues with the MarketMuse editor not saving some of my work.
How Much Does MarketMuse Cost?
A free MarketMuse account includes 10 credits per month; you can use these credits to optimize articles or create research reports.
To unlock more features and higher usage limits, you’ll need a paid plan. Options start at $99 per month or $999 per year.
9. Scalenut: Best For Automated Content Optimization
Scalenut takes AI content optimization one step further than other Surfer SEO competitors. It allows you to automate the process of improving existing blog posts and landing pages.
Key Features:
- Keyword grouping tool to create content clusters
- Topic relevancy assessment
- “Cruise Mode” AI to create full blog posts in under five minutes
- Basic keyword search volume and SERP analysis
- Internal backlink reports and suggestions
- Site audit tool to find on page SEO issues
While Scalenut includes more SEO tools than some Surfer competitors, it’s not a full SEO auditing and research platform like Semrush or SE Ranking.
Where Scalenut really shines is in its automation capabilities.
The platform’s “Fix-It” tool scans your existing content inventory and suggests improvements that you can apply to a draft in the Scalenut editor. (It doesn’t change your live site, so there’s no need to worry about Scalenut going rogue while you’re sleeping!)
While there’s still some manual work involved in the optimization process, the Scalenut AI can accelerate the process of finding and making edits.
How Much Does Scalenut Cost?
Scalenut plans start at $22 per month when billed annually.
10. WriterZen: Best For Small Budgets
WriterZen is an SEO copywriting tool that you can purchase via a one-time payment—there’s no ongoing subscription fee.
This makes it a cost-effective choice for individuals or teams with small budgets.
Key Features:
- ChatGPT-powered writing assistant
- Basic keyword analytics (including cost per click) and trend graphs
- Domain and website analysis and SEO content scoring
- Keyword clustering tool with suggested headlines
- Detailed semantic keyword lists and metrics
The WriterZen outline building tool is very comprehensive. You can use its AI-generated suggestions or view a summary.
The summary is compiled using every competing article in the SERP. If you see sections that you like, you can add them to your own outline.
In testing, I found that the AI-generated outline summaries aren’t perfect. For example, when I started to look at other content related to this very article, WriterZen suggested I might want to add information about signing up for Reddit.
If you’re not sure how to get your next article started, then this outline builder will be a very useful tool. Just be sure to consider any AI-generated suggestions carefully to make sure they make sense.
How Much Does WriterZen Cost?
Access to basic keyword analysis and clustering tools is a one-time payment of $135; access to these tools plus the content optimizer starts at $270.
11. Content Harmony: Best For Beginner SEO Writers
ContentHarmony is an AI-driven optimization and keyword research tool that uses a proprietary search intent scoring system.
Key Features:
- Content scoring that assesses readability, difficulty, and SEO potential
- Basic keyword analytics
- Semantic keyword and link suggestions
- Customizable content brief generator
- Optional desktop app
The ContentHarmony brief and editor interface is very similar to Surfer SEO.
Its search intent assessment, however, is where things begin to look different.
ContentHarmony uses eight different search intent categories that are different from what you’ll see when using a tool like Semrush or Surfer.
Traditional Search Intent Categories | ContentHarmony Search Intent Categories |
Informational | Research |
Navigational | Answers |
Transactional | Local |
Commercial | Transactional |
Video | |
Visual | |
Fresh / News | |
Brand / Entity |
The platform’s search intent labels are a mix of true intent and common SERP results.
I’d argue that you can have a SERP that has an informational/ research intent and focuses on video results, but ContentHarmony tends to narrow it down to one or the other.
You can find all of this information by analyzing a SERP and its features in a traditional SEO tool. We have our own free SERP checker that can do this.
But if you're an SEO beginner, then the Content Harmony approach will likely be helpful and informative.
How Much Does ContentHarmony Cost?
ContentHarmony has a sliding price scale based on usage; plans start at $42 per month when billed annually.
12. GrowthBar: Best For Working With ChatGPT
GrowthBar is an SEO content platform that puts its ChatGPT functionality front and center.
Key Features:
- One-click AI article generation
- Drag-and-drop outline builder
- Basic keyword analytics
- Custom AI model training
- Multiple AI tools to create different content formats
While other SEO writing tools offer AI content generation, GrowthBar uses ChatGPT’s memory feature.
When you upload your existing content to GrowthBar, it will create a custom AI model trained on your brand voice.
You can do that yourself in ChatGPT, but by using GrowthBar you can keep your trained AI writing agent, keyword research, and content optimization suggestions all in one place.
Tip: If you’re interested in using AI to write content, start by using Exploding Topics to find trending keywords in your industry. Next, plug these terms into the GrowthBar blog post idea generator. The AI will return a list of possible blog topics that you can turn into fully generated posts with just a few clicks.
Interestingly, GrowthBar also offers a human SEO writing service. If the AI-generated content doesn’t meet your needs, you can reach out to the GrowthBar team to learn more about getting support from their writers.
How Much Does GrowthBar Cost?
GrowthBar pricing starts at $48 per month, though the company offers periodic discounts that can bring the price down.
Compare the Top Surfer SEO Alternatives
Tool | Best For | Unlimited Articles? | AI Writing Capability? | Starting Cost |
Semrush SEO Writing Assistant | Complete content optimization | No | Yes | $208.33 per month (billed annually) |
ContentShake AI | Writing with AI | Yes | Yes | $60 per month plus Semrush plan cost |
AI Writing Assistant | Multilingual AI content generation | Yes | Yes | $25 per month plus Semrush plan cost |
Clearscope | Content agencies | No | No | $189 per month |
SE Ranking Content Editor | Manually creating content briefs | No | Yes | $23.20 per month (billed annually) plus SE Ranking plan cost |
Frase | Content project management | Yes | Yes | $45 per month (billed annually) |
NeuronWriter | E-Commerce content | No | Yes | $19 per month (billed annually) |
MarketMuse | Content planning | Yes | Yes | $99 per month or $999 per year |
Scalenut | Automated content optimization | No | Yes | $22 per month (billed annually) |
WriterZen | Small budgets | No | Yes | One-time payment of $135+ |
ContentHarmony | Writers without deep SEO experience | No | No | $42 per month (billed annually) |
GrowthBar | Working with ChatGPT | No | Yes | $48 per month |
Craft SEO-Friendly Content That Converts
Whether you decide to stick with Surfer SEO or want to give one of these alternatives a try, remember that you need a reliable way to discover new keywords.
I regularly use Semrush SEO Writing Assistant, Clearscope, and Exploding Topics together.
If your budget doesn’t allow for that, keep Exploding Topics Pro in your tech stack. Its ability to help you spot emerging trends (and meta trends) is unparalleled… and I felt that way before I started working with the team here!
Starting your content research process with a look at top trends is the ideal way to figure out what to write about, which audiences to target, how to optimize content for the best possible rankings. With the right topics and a great SEO writing tool, you’ll be able to improve your search engine rankings organically—and bring in new customers as a result.