The THREE most modern alternatives to Surfer SEO are:

  • Semrush
  • Phrase
  • MarketMuse

Before we get into the details of why these are the best alternatives, let's briefly talk about Surfer SEO.

Contents :

What is Surfer SEO?

Surfer is an SEO toolkit that offers multiple features to provide you with real-time feedback on the overall optimization of your website.

You can use Surfer SEO to conduct keyword research, audit your content, and get better SEO recommendations to increase your search traffic.

This is what its content editor looks like;

As you can see, the tool will give you real-time suggestions to make your content compatible with the standards of SEO.

The most interesting ? Surfer also offers some free tools such as Keyword Surfer, AI outline generator, etc…

What are the essential features to consider when looking for a SurferSEO alternative?

Here are some key features offered by Surfer SEO. So you should consider the tools that offer all these features.

  • Keyword research tool
  • SEO audit tool
  • Content optimization tool
  • Growth management tool SEO which offers personalized recommendations regarding SEO

The three tools that we are going to present to you offer you all the aforementioned functionalities (and much more). So let's get into the details without further ado.

Top 3 Surfer SEO Alternatives with Pros and Cons

Semrush

Over 55 marketing tools, over 23 billion keywords from over 140 geographic databases, data from over 800 million domains and over 40 trillion backlinks.

These are some amazing statistics from Semrush.

Semrush is hands down the most powerful SEO toolkit on the planet. If we had to choose one SEO tool for all our SEO needs Content marketing, it would be Semrush.

Why should you choose Semrush over Surfer SEO?

Here are some of the biggest benefits of using Semrush SEO Toolkit.

Massive keyword database : The #1 reason most people use Semrush is its keyword tool because it offers a huge database of over 23 billion keywords.

To get started, enter any keyword and the tool will instantly generate hundreds (or even thousands) of keywords.

Here is an example ;

alternatives to Surfer SEO

As you can see, it gives you all the important metrics including Monthly Search Volume, 12 Month Search Trend, Keyword Difficulty, Keyword Intent, Average CPC, competition density, SERP features, and much more.

Valid for every penny: Most people think that Semrush is expensive because its price starts at $119,95 per month. But it's worth every penny you pay. For what ? The reason is that it offers 55+ SEO tools under one roof.

No other SEO tool gives you so many tools for the same price. This is why more than 10 million users use Semrush for SEO purposes.

Loads of data on backlinks: Did you know that Semrush has a database of 43 trillion quality backlinks? Using their Backlink Analytics tool, you can spy on any website to find out its backlinks along with their sources.

It also gives you an authority score which helps you analyze the backlink quality of all links. If you are looking for a powerful link building tool, you should definitely check out Semrush.

Semrush For:
  • It has the largest backlinks database with 43 trillion quality backlinks.
  • It offers the largest keyword database with over 23 billion keywords.
  • It offers the largest number of SEO tools (over 55 tools) under a single platform at a single price.
  • You can use it for all SEO tasks including keyword research, site auditing, competitor analysis, and more.
  • It also offers a social media toolkit to post, schedule and analyze your posts on social media platforms.
Semrush Cons:
  • Compared to Surfer SEO, Semrush is more expensive as its pricing starts at $99,95/month (if billed annually).
Semrush prices:

Semrush offers the following three packages.

Pro : If you are just starting out, opt for this plan, which costs you $99,95 per month (if paid annually), where you will get the following features.

  • Results compared: 10,000
  • Reports per day: 3000
  • Projects: 5
  • Keywords to follow: 500
  • Pages to crawl: 100
  • 50 profiles to watch
  • Scheduled PDF reports: 5

Guru : This plan is suitable for agencies and small businesses. It costs $191,62 per month (when paying annually) and lets you enjoy the following features.

  • Results compared: 30,000
  • Reports per day: 5000
  • Projects: 15
  • Keywords to follow: 1500
  • Pages to crawl: 300
  • Social Media Profiles: 100 (for tracking)
  • Scheduled PDF reports: 20
  • Custom PDF reports
  • Access to historical data

Enterprise: If you are looking for an exclusive Semrush plan for large agencies and businesses, then go for this plan. This plan costs you $374.95 per month (paid annually), where you will get the following key features.

  • Results compared: 50,000
  • Reports per day: 10,000
  • Projects: 40
  • Keywords to follow: 5000
  • Pages to crawl: 1
  • Social media profiles: 300 for following
  • Scheduled PDF reports: 50
  • White label PDF reports
  • Historical data
  • Multi-user management and more

It also offers a 30-day free trial period which can be requested using the following link.

Phrase

Frase is one of the best tools for Content marketing who uses theartificial intelligence to research topics, write and optimize high-quality SEO content for you.

It is also one of the highest-rated AI software tools on Capterra, used by thousands of SEOs and marketers. Content marketing in the whole world. It gives you all the tools you need, from keyword research to content writing to optimization.

Why choose Frase over Surfer SEO?

Here are some advantages of using Frase rather than Surfer.

Automatic generation of optimized content: The first reason to use Frase over Surfer is that it automatically creates SEO-optimized content. It offers a writing tool called “Frase's AI Writer” that helps you come up with ideas and create content on any topic.

This is what it looks like;

alternatives to Surfer SEO

As you can see, you have a content editor where you can use the content editor tool.artificial intelligence to create SEO-friendly articles.

Quick Note: be sure to check content written by ANY AI tool as it can sometimes be inaccurate.

Identify content gaps: Most people struggle to get higher rankings from their content. Do you know why ? They forget A LOT of things in their content.

That's why it's essential to find the missing opportunities in your content. Frase helps you easily find gaps in your content so you can create great content.

Watch the following quick video tutorial from the Frase team to see how it works.

A large number of models: Frase offers a wide range of AI templates that help you create almost any type of content you want.

If you are curious, here is a list of some of the models offered by Frase AI;

  • AI content generator
  • Intro Builder
  • Plan generator
  • paraphrase tool
  • Rewrite paragraphs
  • blog post title generator
  • Description generator
  • Product Description
  • Slogan generator
  • Summary generator
  • Value proposition
  • rewriting sentences

As you can see above, from introductions, to people who also ask questions, to titles and summaries, you can create all the content you want.

Frase Pros:

  • It offers extremely affordable pricing plans starting around $15/month.
  • Offers an AI writing tool that automatically creates SEO-friendly blog content for you.
  • You can use it to rewrite existing content or expand on any topic.
  • It gives you unlimited access to its AI Writer, allowing you to generate unlimited content every month.
  • Create content notes
  • It offers a few powerful AI models that you can use to generate various elements like blog intros, FAQs, titles, and more.
  • Research your competitors' content to compare your content to that of your top competitors.
  • Automatic grouping of your keywords and much more
Sentence Cons:
  • Limited tools compared to other competitors such as Semrush, Ahrefs, etc…
Frase price:

Frase offers a 5-day trial period for just $1. If you are unsure about the tool, you can try it for $1.

If you're convinced that Frase is for you, here are the three pricing options that Frase IO offers.

Solo : opt for this formula if you are a beginner. It only costs $14,99/month ($12,66/month if you pay annually). This plan offers the following features.

  • Access to 1 user
  • Write and optimize up to 4 articles per month
  • Generate 20 AI characters per month

Basic : This plan allows you to write 30 articles per month, costs you $44,99/month ($38,25/month if you pay annually), and gives you the following features.

  • Access to 1 user
  • Write and optimize up to 30 articles per month
  • Generate 20 AI characters per month

Team : This plan allows you to create an unlimited number of articles. It costs you $114,99/month ($97,75/month if you pay annually) and gives you the following features.

  • Access to 3 users
  • Writing and optimizing an unlimited number of articles per month
  • Generate 20 AI characters per month

MarketMuse

MarketMuse is a great free alternative to Surfer SEO. It is a widely used AI tool that can help you plan and optimize your content.

If you are looking for a tool that offers personalized SEO recommendations to improve the ranking of your content, MarketMuse is a great choice for you.

Why should you try MarketMuse over Surfer SEO?

Here are some reasons to try MarketMuse in 2024.

Content Audit : The BIGGEST advantage of MarketMuse is that it offers powerful AI to conduct a thorough content audit.

It can analyze your entire website and tell you which of your existing articles need proper updating, while also giving you suggestions.

This is what it looks like;

Helps you write briefing notes: MarketMuse offers content marketing tools that help you generate content ratings for pages that need to be built or optimized.

The most interesting ? It uses AI (artificial intelligence) to provide you with data-driven recommendations. This is how you can improve the overall ranking of your website.

Keyword research: MarketMuse offers an amazing keyword research tool that helps you find profitable keywords for your website. You can use it to see keyword coverage based on topic relevance.

You can also use MarketMuse to perform in-depth analysis on a specific topic, including research intent breakdown and competitive analysis.

This is what it looks like;

alternatives to Surfer SEO

As you can see above, you can easily audit your existing pages to see relevant keywords along with their difficulty and authority. Thus, you can easily decide to optimize your existing pages around a theme or to create a new article.

MarketMuse Pros:

  • Offers a free plan (albeit with limited features)
  • Provides excellent suggestions for internal and external links
  • Schema for content structure
  • Advanced SERP Features
  • Get personalized suggestions including how many images, H2s, links, and keywords to include to rank higher on Google.
  • Conducting a topic audit for any website to determine how well it covers a topic beyond the top 20 SERPs.
  • Offers all the content marketing tools you need, including content analysis, content planning, content creation, and content optimization.
  • It uses AI to identify gaps and opportunities and provides high-quality SEO recommendations to improve your rankings.

Disadvantages of MarketMuse:

  • It is expensive even compared to Semrush as MarketMuse pricing starts at $149/month while Semrush costs $99,95/month.

MarketMuse Pricing:

MarketMuse offers the following four packages.

Free : As the name suggests, this is a free plan from MarketMuse that offers the following features.

  • No time limit
  • 1 user
  • 5 queries per month

Standard : This plan costs $149 per month ($1500 if paid annually) and offers the following features.

  • 1 user
  • 100 queries per month
  • Full results in SERP X-ray including averages
  • Full results in Heatmap including site-level analysis
  • Full results in Topic Navigator
  • Connect for link recommendations
  • Data export

Team : This plan costs $399 per month ($3900 per year) and offers the following features.

  • 3 users
  • Unlimited number of queries
  • Full results in SERP X-ray including averages
  • Full results in Heatmap including site-level analysis
  • Full results in the topic browser
  • Login for link recommendations
  • Data export

Premium : This plan offers advanced features, personalized data and content intelligence. It offers personalized pricing based on your usage and offers the following features.

  • Access for the team
  • Unlimited number of queries
  • Full results in SERP X-ray
  • Full results in Heatmap including site-level analysis
  • Full results in Topic Navigator
  • Data export
  • Domain analysis for an unlimited number of pages
  • Managed theme tracking and more

FAQs about SurferSEO alternatives and competitors

Here are some frequently asked questions about alternatives to SurferSEO and some of its alternative SEO tools.

What is the free alternative to Surfer?

MarketMuse is a free alternative to the Surfer tool, as it offers a free plan which can be used by one user and allows for 5 queries per month.

Is surfing SEO worth it?

Pricing for Surfer SEO starts at $49 per month, which is comparatively cheaper than most of its competitors. If you are looking for an economical tool to write and optimize articles, Surfer SEO is worth it.

What is SurferSEO?

SurferSEO is a content optimization toolkit that offers several tools including content audits, optimization, keyword research, and more.

Which is better: Frase IO or Surfer SEO?

Frase has a comprehensive list of tools that help you quickly research, write, and optimize SEO-friendly content, while Surfer has a limited set of tools. Frase is therefore much better than Surfer SEO.

Is there a free version of Surfer SEO?

No, Surfer SEO does not offer a free version. However, you can try any of its paid plans FREE for seven days. You can use the following link to try Surfer SEO for free.

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Final Thoughts on Alternatives to Surfer SEO

Yes, there are a ton of alternatives available for Surfer SEO. But we only mentioned a handpicked list of THREE of the best tools. We've tried all of these tools, and they get what they pay for.

Whether you're a blogger, small business owner, or agency, you can find a suitable plan at Frase, Semrush, or MarketMuse.

What do you think of the alternatives to SurferSEO mentioned here? Which are you going to try? You have questions ? Please let us know in the comments.