10 Best Surfer SEO Alternatives (On-Page SEO Optimization)

Are you searching for the best Surfer SEO Alternative?

Surfer SEO is a great content optimization tool that was launched long before AI-powered tools became widespread and indispensable.

Thousands of bloggers, marketers, and SEO experts use it to research keywords, optimize content, evaluate content quality, and edit content. I have used it for years and love it.

However, I know it is not for everyone, and you might be looking for an SEO alternative!

In this article, I will explore Surfer SEO alternatives that you can use instantly to research keywords, improve your content strategy and write content that Google loves.

Before I delve into the best Surfer SEO alternatives, I will highlight what you need to know about Surfer SEO.

What is Surfer SEO?

Surfer SEO is the leading SEO tool many authors and bloggers use to research and write SEO-optimized content. I discovered this tool while struggling to improve my organic traffic, and it has been helpful.

It’s a great keyword research tool that predicts what will rank higher on search engines and gives you suggestions for content optimization.

Top Surfer SEO Features:

• Keyword Research – The primary feature of Surfer SEO is researching keywords to help you create a content strategy in minutes.
• SEO Auditor – This function allows you to audit and optimize your content, suggests semantically related keywords to incorporate into your content, and makes it rank higher on search engines.
• Content Editor – You don’t need to transfer your keywords to another platform because the content editor allows you to create a content brief effortlessly.
• Content Generation – I have used this feature to create SEO-optimized content in Surfer SEO severally (in collaboration with Jusper) and realized its usefulness in turning the keywords into an engaging blog article.

Pricing:

• Essential ($69/mo) – I80 content editor credit per year.
• Advanced ($149/mo) – 540 content editor credits per year.
• Max ($249/mo) – 1080 content editor credit per year.
• Enterprise (Custom Quote) -This plan offers a custom number of articles.

Why Choose Surfer SEO?

If you want to create high-quality content like blog posts that rank high on search engines, you will want to select Surfer SEO.

However, there are other reasons that I find more compelling. Surfer SEO allows me to generate a specific keyword for my niche, generate a keyword report with the SEMRUSH add-on, and create content briefs.

You’re not likely to get these functions with other content optimization tools.

Why look for Surfer SEO Alternatives?

Despite the compelling features of Surfer SEO, you might still want an alternative. I know this SEO tool is not for everyone because you have different needs and preferences.

Each time I use this tool, it generates many keyword recommendations that might confuse some of us.

You may want a great Surfer SEO alternative that produces the exact target keyword rather than multiple suggestions.

To understand an SEO tool’s features before paying, you may wish to use an alternative offering a free trial.

Some other tools can do more tasks, such as generating different types of content.

Disadvantages of Surfer SEO.

It doesn’t have a free version or trial period and might be costly if you have a limited budget.

If you wish to create long-form SEO-optimized blog posts with this tool, you will have to buy additional Surfer AI credits.

What are the Best Surfer SEO Alternatives?

1. Frase.

Frase is among the leading Surfer SEO alternatives that reduce the time of keyword research and writing the final draft.

Once you generate a target keyword and related keywords, you significantly decrease the time of creating SEO-optimized content.

It’s one of the content optimization software that makes creating optimized content quick and painless.

Key Features and Pros:

• Competitor Research – I like this feature because it shows you the keywords competitors use in their content and optimizes your content.
• Intuitive Outline Builder – You can create a content outline in minutes through the drag-and-drop feature in the outline builder.
• SEO-Optimized Copy – Frase allows you to auto-generate SERP-inspired content fast, such as high-converting copywriting formulas, blog intros, headings, FAQ’s and more.
• An Intuitive Text Editor – Offers a topic model to determine the keywords to integrate into your content.

Cons:

• I found the pricing a potential downside for Frase because you even have to pay for the 5-day trial. It has no free trial because you pay $1 for the trial period.

• It might not meet the needs of more advanced users because it doesn’t generate a comprehensive keyword report.

Pricing:

As a starter, you can try frase.io 5-day trial for $1, which you can cancel anytime.

Other Plans include:

• Solo Plan ($14.99/mo) – Write and optimize four articles/mo.
• Basic Plan ($44.99/mo) – Write and optimize 30 articles/mo.
• Team Plan ($114.99) – This plan offers unlimited articles.

Verdict:

Frase is an excellent content optimization tool to access keyword research, outline builder, and content editor in one place.

It’s also a great choice if you want to create content briefs and high-quality content at the click of a button.

2. NeuronWriter.

NeuronWriter is an emerging solution aiming to provide similar benefits to Surfer SEO for a more budget-friendly price.

This AI tool offers topic-specific phrase suggestions, fills knowledge gaps, and provides valuable feedback to enhance the content creation process.

NeuronWriter also provides useful features like an article structure tool and SEO content idea generator to assist in planning and organizing content effectively.

This AI tool can help identify additional semantically related keywords based on your target topics to include in your content.

What I love about NeuronWriter is that it is also available on a lifetime deal, which means that you can pay once and use it for a lifetime.

Key Features and Pros:

• SEO-optimization – This amazing tool allows you to write and edit content with ease and provides suggestions for semantic keywords, optimal word count, and the ideal number of headings.
• AI writer – NeuronWriter’s AI writer can generate headers, questions, and even full paragraphs to speed up the content creation process.
• Content idea generator – It is an SEO tool that offers you ideas for creating content that is well-optimized for search engines.
• Competitor analysis – This content optimizer tool allows you to analyze your competitors’ top-rated content, YouTube content, or preferred Google SERPs to answer the problems your readers are facing.

Cons:

• Limited customer support: It may take time for you to receive a response to technical issues.
• Limited features: Although NeuronWriter offers many SEO features, this tool may not have all the features that some users need. For example, it does not have a live page audit function available in Surfer SEO.

Pricing:

NeuronWriter offers these prices:

• Bronze ($19/year) – 15.000 A.I. credits, 25 content writer analyses, and 2 projects/folders.
• Silver ($37/year) – 30.000 A.I. credits, 50 content writer analyses and 5 projects/folders.
• Gold ($57/year) – 45.000 A.I. credits, 75 content writer analyses, and 10 projects/folders.
• Platinum ($77/year)  – 60.000 A.I. credits, 100 content writer analyses, and 25 projects/folders.
• Diamond ($97/year) – 75.000 A.I. credits, 150 content writer analyses, and 50 projects/folders.

Verdict:

For bloggers and website owners looking for an affordable AI writing assistant tailored to drafting optimized content quickly, NeuronWriter is a compelling option worth considering despite some limitations compared to tools like Surfer SEO.

3. MarketMuse.

MarketMuse has advanced content optimization features to help you revamp your entire content strategy.

I like how it moves beyond on-page SEO to evaluate additional on-page factors that influence content outcomes.

It helps to improve internal and external linking, SERP factors, and content structure. With MarketMuse, you can use Keyword Difficulty to avoid underperformance.

Key Features and Pros:

• Competitive Content Analysis – You can visualize competitors’ content gaps and strengths and exploit them to stay ahead.
• High-Impact Content Planning – This feature helps you eliminate the guesswork in the content creation process by showing you the topics to prioritize to attain your goals.
• Content Brief Generator – This gives you the content structure, related topics, linking suggestions, and questions to answer to help you improve content quality in minutes.
• Optimize at-risk Content – This tool has a great content optimization feature that helps you optimize and improve performance for the pages with low authority.

Cons:

• It does not have a content writing feature to auto-generate content after keyword research.

Pricing:

­­­­Marketmuse Pricing is as follows:

• Free Plan: 10 queries per month; best for low content generation.
• Standard Plan ($149/mo) -100 monthly queries; best for regular content generation.
• Team Plan ($399/mo) – Unlimited queries and briefs; best for high-volume content generation.
• Premium (Custom Quote).

Verdict:

MarketMuse is the number one choice if you want a tool to perform keyword research, backlink analysis, and create content briefs.

I found it helpful if you have a low content volume because you can use the free plan and upgrade as your content needs change.

4. Ahrefs.

Ahrefs promises to be the top Surfer SEO alternative for your website pages to rank higher and get more organic traffic. It has a user-friendly interface and acts as an all-in-one SEO tool.

You can use it for competitor analysis, website audit, and keyword and content exploration. I like its rank tracker, a unique function that allows you to track the ranking process.

Key Features and Pros:

• Site Explorer – With this keyword research tool, you can effortlessly research competitors’ keyword rankings and backlinks to guide your content writing efforts.
• Site Audit – You can automatically audit your website to detect and fix SEO issues that may be affecting your ranking.
• Rank Tracker – I like this unique function that allows you to monitor your website ranking process on mobile and desktop.
• Content Explorer – You can research content ideas to fill the gaps on your website.
• Free SEO Tools – It gives you access to several SEO tools, including the YouTube keyword tool, Amazon keyword tool, WordPress plugin, Bing keyword tool, SERP analyzer, keyword difficulty checker, and backlink checker.

Cons:

• You cannot use this tool to write full-length articles or blog posts because it’s majorly a keyword research tool.
• Starters might have challenges navigating the site and interpreting content audit reports.
• Pricing plans are expensive to many.

Pricing:

• Lite Plan ($99/mo) – Main features include Site Explorer and Audit, Keywords Explorer, and comparing SERPs for different keywords.
• Standard Plan ($199/mo) – All Lite Plan features plus 6 months of history and Competitive Analysis.
• Advanced Plan ($399/mo) – All Standard Plan features plus 2 years of history and Web Explorer.
• Enterprise Plan ($999/mo) – Includes all Advanced Plan features, Unlimited history, and many more.

Verdict:

Ahrefs is a good choice if you want instant change in critical SEO metrics, including health score, traffic and keywords, domain rating, and backlink analysis.

5. SE Ranking.

SE Ranking is a content optimization tool meant for businesses to help them improve their SEO.

This tool allows you to access a 4.2B keyword database, 2B domain profiles, and AI-powered algorithms to generate unique, actionable insights.

It’s an all-in-one SEO software for SEO professionals to support their content marketing efforts and analysis.

Key Features and Pros:

• Rank Tracking: You can monitor keyword performance across different search platforms, including Google Search and Bing.
• Extensive Database: I like its 4.2B keyword database, making it a powerful keyword research tool for your niche. You can access thousands of keywords to determine which target keyword will fit into your content strategy.
• Backlink Checker: It stands out as an excellent backlink analysis tool with an extensive backlinks database to help you beat the competition.
• On-page SEO checker: You will access this feature to optimize content focusing on on-page ranking factors.

Cons:

• I found it’s somehow cluttered with navigation options and data insights that can overwhelm starters.
• SE Ranking doesn’t offer access to specific backlink metrics like Spam Score. You will also find that an additional fee is needed to access specific advanced backlink analysis metrics.

Pricing:

You save 20% if you go for the annual plan compared to the monthly plan. You can also contact sales for a custom plan based on your requirements. Other plans include:

• Essential Plan: $44/mo.
• Pro Plan: $ 87.20/mo.
• Business Plan: 191.20/mo.

Verdict:

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO tool for entrepreneurs, enterprises, agencies, and SMBs to help them conduct competitor research, optimize website content, and track rankings.

Although a few people say it has a cluttered interface, SE Ranking is the best alternative to Surfer SEO for SEO professionals seeking to improve their online presence.

6. GrowthBar.

GrowthBar is an excellent AI SEO software and content writer designed for content marketers, content teams, and bloggers.

I like how it empowers you to improve SEO optimization for blog posts, marketing content, and any other type of content.

Above all, GrowthBar AI helps you to generate SEO-friendly content 10X faster than other tools.

Key Features and Pros:

• Keyword Research – It offers you critical insights into keyword difficulty and search volume, making it an excellent solution for researching relevant keywords.
• AI Writing Tool – This feature offers consistent and reliable content generation, allowing you to write articles and blog posts with your desired word count.
• Content Optimization – I like how this tool suggests a target keyword, word count, external links, optimal headings, and other factors to elevate ranking on search results.
• Blog Topic Generator – If you’re a blogger seeking inspiration, this content optimization tool can help you generate engaging and catchy topics for your blog posts based on your niche.
• Chrome Extension – Chrome extension improves the user experience because you can work outside GrowthBar to optimize content and improve ranking.

Cons:

• I found that its content generation feature doesn’t produce content of AI writing tools such as Jasper AI or Copy AI.
• It doesn’t offer in-depth keyword research insights like Surfer SEO.

Pricing:

To understand the various features that GrowthBar offers, you can start with a 14-day free trial.

Other plans include:

• Standard ($28/mo) – 25 AI blog articles and 500 AI paragraph generations.
• Pro ($75/mo) – 100 AI blog articles and 2,000 AI paragraph generations.
• Agency ($129/mo) – 300 AI blog articles and 5,000 AI paragraph generations.

Verdict:

GrowthBar helps you to perform competitor research to gain insights into domain authority, ranking keywords, and estimated traffic. It allows marketers to understand market trends and write content that outperforms competition.

7. Clearscope.

Clearscope is a Surfer SEO alternative that helps you to write content that is relevant to what your audience is searching for.

It is among the leading content optimization tools that optimize your content for SEO success. This AI tool has features to conduct keyword research and guide the content generation process.

I like how Clearscope team provides dedicated training to users to guide them in using the tool and content writing journey.

You will find that it thrives in guiding you to generate readable, clickable, and shareable content.

Key Features and Pros:

• Grade Summary – It generates a report of your chosen keyword, including the content score, readability, and word count of top-ranking websites.
• Keyword Research and Related Keywords – You can generate insights into keyword suggestions, search volumes, and relevant terms that you can use as subtopics in your articles and blog posts.
• Content Outline – This function helps you generate a detailed outline for your content depending on what is ranking.
• Google Docs and WordPress Integration – It has a Google Docs add-on and WordPress plugin to help you write content using tools you like without the inconvenience of back-and-forths.

Cons:

• This content optimizer is somehow complicated to use, especially if you want a Surfer SEO alternative that is easy to use. However, Clearscope team offers training to ensure you don’t experience significant challenges.

Pricing:

• Essentials ($170/mo)- 1 user seat, 20 Content Inventory Pages, and 10 Content Reports.
• Business (Custom Quote) – 5 user seats, SAML single sign-on (SSO), Custom Content Reports and Content Inventory Pages, and more.
• Enterprise (Custom Quote) – Unlimited Monitored Domains, Crawler whitelisting, Custom data pipeline, and more.

Verdict:

Clearscope is a good choice if you want a tool that generates detailed competitor research for specific keywords, suggests a clear outline for your content, and optimizes content for better performance on search results.

8. Outranking.

Outranking is an excellent AI-powered tool that brings all aspects of content creation in one place!

It allows you to research top-ranking keywords, plan outlines, and write SEO-optimized text.

In addition, its content monitoring feature enables you to track the performance of your website pages.

Key Features and Pros:

• On-Page SEO Insights – You can get insights about content performance quickly and determine potential areas for improvement. You can improve content quality and readability and optimize it.
• A user-friendly content editor – to help you write engaging content at scale.
• Easy Integration with Top Content Creation Software – You can integrate with essential content generation tools like Google Docs, WordPress, Semrush, Plagiarism Checker, Grammarly, and ChatGPT.
• Time Saving – Outranking saves you time researching relevant keywords for your topic and writing content optimized for your unique niche.

Cons:

• Even though Outranking is one of the best Surfer SEO alternatives, it doesn’t produce a more comprehensive report than Surfer SEO.

Pricing:

The pricing plans are outlined below, where you save 25% for annual billing compared to monthly plans.

• SEO Writer: $ 9 First Month ($69 Starting next Month).
• SEO Wizard: $159/mo.
• SEO Ace: $229/mo.
• Custom Plan: Communicate with sales for a personalized package.

Verdict:

It is a good alternative if you want a tool that integrates essential content generation tools to support your writing process. Outranking performs effectively as a keyword researcher and AI writer.

9. Scalenut.

Scalenut is an AI-powered SEO platform with multiple functionalities, including identifying keywords and optimizing content for high search ranking. This tool thrives in helping you scale what is important for your website or blog. It can help you scale conversations, traffic, demand, and conversions.

Scalenut is unique because it uses excellent automated optimization technology, robust keyword planning, and AI that reads the latest information.

Key Features and Pros:

• 1-Click Content Plan – With a click, you can generate an entire keyword plan for a unique niche. AI-powered recommendations help you establish authority with keyword clusters and content strategies.
• Competition Research – It offers semantic key terms and insights that you can use to outpace competitors.
• SEO Optimized – An SEO tool that supports your content research and writes factual content that ranks high.
• Real-Time SEO Scoring – I like this feature because it guides you to refresh existing content using the auto-optimization function.

Cons:

It focuses more on helping you to create content that will go viral, which might not suit the needs of those who want to create content that will remain ever-green.

Pricing:

• Essential Plan ($19/mo): 100,000 AI Words, 5 articles, 40+ AI Templates, and more features.
• Growth Plan ($39/mo): Unlimited AI Words, 30 articles, 30 keyword clusters/mo, and more advanced features.
• Pro Plan ($74/mo): Unlimited AI Words, 75 articles, 75 keyword clusters per month, and many more advanced features.
• Enterprise (Custom Quote) – Custom user seats, Custom usage, and Advanced AI models.

Scalenut also offers a 7-day free trial for each of the above plans to allow you to test the platform before deciding on the one to settle with.

Verdict:

Scalenut has an AI-powered writing tool and SEO research, and it’s a good choice if you want a tool that combines these functions. You can use it for SEO score, social listening, and generating marketing copy that will convert.

10. Moz Pro.

This Surfer SEO alternative is created to guide your keyword plan using data science in easy steps.

I like it because it eliminates SEO complexity, especially for bloggers searching for first content optimization tools. It delivers excellent results in helping you to target the right keywords.

Key Features and Pros:

• Understand your Website Visitors – You can save keyword lists and track them to identify how visitors search for your services/products. These insights can guide you to update relevant keywords.
• Crawl and Audit Sites – Moz Pro has a crawler that digs through your websites to identify issues that affect search rankings and alerts you to fix them.
• Find Link Opportunities – It’s a helpful tool to find new links and maximize the existing ones because they’re effective for SEO.
• Generate Custom Reports – You can save time by creating custom SEO reports through the drag-and-drop function.

Cons:

• Moz Pro does not have a content editor and does not generate content ideas. However, it is effective in creating reports for target keywords.

Pricing:

• Standard ($99/mo) – 1,200 total keyword search results and 400,000 total pages crawled per month.
• Medium($ 179/mo) – 6,000 total keyword search results and 2 million total pages crawled per month.
• Large ($ 299/mo) – 12,000 total keyword search results and 5 million total pages crawled per month.
• Premium ($ 599/mo) – 18,000 total keyword search results and 8 million total pages crawled per month.

Verdict:

Moz Pro is meant for those who want to improve their content through relevant keywords and rank higher by leveraging backlinks.

Best Surfer SEO Alternatives: Final Thoughts

Surfer SEO remains one of the leading tools for content optimization among bloggers, SEO professionals, and marketers.

But what if you want to test similar tools? I have discussed several powerful Surfer SEO alternatives that you can use to research keywords, optimize your content, and create content briefs.

You can select one of these alternatives based on your content optimization needs and preferences.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Surfer SEO better than Semrush?

While Semrush has a larger keyword database, Surfer SEO excels at generating custom reports and competitor insights that you can use to tailor your optimization strategy.

With Surfer SEO’s user-friendly interface guiding you, you’ll find it easier to identify the right keywords and make data-driven decisions to improve rankings.

Ultimately, Surfer SEO does more than just provide data – it gives you the key insights you need to outrank your competitors.

If you’re looking for an SEO tool that provides specific, actionable steps to boost your site’s search rankings, Surfer SEO is a better choice than Semrush.

Is Surfer good for SEO?

Absolutely. Surfer SEO provides invaluable data to boost your website’s search rankings.

Its custom reports offer actionable insights you can’t find in other tools.

Competitor analysis lets you see what’s working for others so you can tailor your strategy accordingly.

Surfer SEO makes identifying valuable keywords easy, thanks to its user-friendly interface.

Is Surfer SEO better than Clearscope?

Surfer SEO delivers more robust data for more informed SEO.

While Clearscope checks basic metrics, Surfer’s custom reports provide actionable insights based on your goals.

With competitor analysis and an intuitive interface, Surfer gives you specific guidance to outperform rivals.

So, if you want deep SEO insights to increase visibility, Surfer SEO is the superior choice over Clearscope.

Is there a free version of Surfer?

No, currently, Surfer SEO does not offer any free version or free trial.

It is a paid subscription service only.

But one thing I love about Surfer is the Keyword Surfer Chrome extension, which displays search volume, cost per click, and estimated traffic right in your Google results.

This extension lets you easily access vital data to inform your SEO efforts.

Additionally, Surfer has a free WordPress plugin that seamlessly integrates Surfer content into your WordPress site, eliminating the need to copy and paste articles between platforms manually.

Is MarketMuse better than Surfer SEO?

While MarketMuse offers robust keyword research, Surfer SEO provides more well-rounded SEO capabilities.

With custom reporting, rank tracking, competitor insights, and actionable recommendations, Surfer gives you the edge for overall search optimization.

So, if you want an all-in-one SEO toolset to boost visibility, Surfer is the superior choice over MarketMuse.

What is the difference between Surfer SEO and Frase io?

The main difference is that Frase only provides keyword research, which helps you identify high-value keywords to target.

Surfer SEO, on the other hand, does keyword research but also lets you track ranks, study competitors, create custom reports, and find ways to optimize pages.

So, while Frase just helps with keyword discovery, Surfer gives you a complete toolkit to take those keywords and actively improve your site’s search visibility.