Surfer SEO vs Frase: Which Should You Choose in 2026?
Surfer SEO and Frase side by side, with Timothe's Growth Calendar as a third column. Every verdict and price below is verified against each company's official pages.
The short answer
Frase is the one that writes the articles; Surfer SEO is the one that grades them. Frase's plans include finished articles written by the tool: 10 a month at $39, 40 at $103, and 100 at $239 when billed yearly. Surfer SEO's plans meter documents you create or optimize yourself, 10 a month on the $49 Discovery plan and 30 on Standard and Pro, with articles written by Surfer AI sold separately in bundles marketed as low as $9 each.
Where the work goes next differs too. Frase publishes into WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix, or its own FraseCMS, and includes MCP and API access on every plan. Surfer SEO publishes into WordPress only and covers the rest through Zapier and an API that starts on the $299 Peace of Mind plan, with its MCP server announced but not shipped. Both score drafts and track brand mentions across AI engines, so scoring and tracking is not what decides between them; producing and publishing is.
Neither one writes on a schedule by itself. Surfer SEO bulk-generates a cluster when you trigger it, and Frase's agent needs Professional or higher and earns autonomy content type by content type, with every type starting in review. That gap is where Timothe's Growth Calendar sits: it plans months of topics as clusters and writes them on schedule from the first plan.
Feature comparison
 |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Planning & research | |||
| Topic cluster planning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time SERP research | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in keyword research | Yes | PartialInside briefs only, no volume research | Yes |
| Targeting a specific country | YesCountry and city | YesTarget market switches the SERP | YesA market is a language and a country |
| Writing & drafts | |||
| Scheduled autopilot writing | NoOnly when you press it; agent announced, not shipped | PartialProfessional and up; autonomy earned per type | Yes |
| Answer-first (AEO) article structure | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Source citations in drafts | Yes | PartialNamed in the brief, not cited in the draft | Yes |
| Automatic internal linking | YesLocked to Pro and up | PartialSuggestions only, Professional and up | Yes |
| Real screenshots in articles | No | NoGenerated images only, no screenshots | Yes |
| YouTube videos embedded in articles | NoNot documented | NoNot documented | YesFound in research, then embedded |
| Brand voice settings | YesCustom voices locked to Pro | YesBrand voice on every plan | YesWriting and image style |
| Writing in languages other than English | YesAI writer 18; Humanizer English only | Yes70+, written natively | YesAny language |
| Platform & measurement | |||
| API and AI-agent (MCP) access | PartialAPI on Peace of Mind; MCP not shipped | YesMCP and API on every plan | YesMCP live |
| Auto-publishing to your CMS | YesWordPress only | YesWordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix, FraseCMS | YesWordPress, Ghost, Shopify, Notion |
| Delivery to your own endpoint (webhook) | NoNo webhook; Zapier or the API | NoNo webhook; its own CMS list only | YesMarkdown POSTed to your endpoint |
| AI mention tracking | YesChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI | YesChatGPT and Google AI; other engines by plan | No |
| Content scoring for drafts you write | YesCore feature | YesSEO and GEO scores | No |
| Free trial | Yes7 days of Pro, card required | Yes7 days, no card, 5 articles | Yes3 days |
Last verified: Surfer SEO 2026-08-05, Frase 2026-08-04
Which one to choose
Choose Surfer SEO if
You already write, or already pay writers, and want the layer that grades the work: real-time guidelines built from the pages that rank, a content score on every draft, and mention tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI. Budget for AI-written articles separately, and note that automatic internal linking and custom brand voices start on Pro.
Choose Frase if
You want the subscription to include the articles themselves: 10, 40, or 100 finished pieces a month depending on the plan, published straight into WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix, or FraseCMS, with MCP and API access on every plan. The 7-day trial takes no card, so you can read the output before paying.
Consider Growth Calendar if
You do not want to trigger the work at all. Growth Calendar plans months of topics as clusters and writes them on schedule, and every draft arrives with source citations, internal links, and real screenshots. It does not score drafts you write yourself and does not track AI mentions, which both Surfer SEO and Frase do.
Plans and prices
Surfer SEO plans
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | $49/mo billed yearly ($59/mo monthly) | Create or optimize 10 articles a month in the editor (120 a year) |
| Standard | $99/mo billed yearly ($119/mo monthly) | Create or optimize 30 articles a month (360 a year) |
| Pro | $182/mo billed yearly ($219/mo monthly) | 30 articles a month, same as Standard; the step up is tracking capacity, not articles |
| Peace of Mind | $299/mo billed yearly ($359/mo monthly) | Unlimited articles (fair use), API access |
Surfer SEO's pricing and features change; check their official site for the latest. Visit Surfer SEO
Frase plans
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $39/mo billed yearly ($49/mo monthly) | 10 articles a month, written by Frase; the plan stops at its limit |
| Professional | $103/mo billed yearly ($129/mo monthly) | 40 articles a month, written by Frase; extra articles $5 each if you switch on pay-as-you-go |
| Scale | $239/mo billed yearly ($299/mo monthly) | 100 articles a month, written by Frase; extra articles $4 each if you switch on pay-as-you-go |
Frase's pricing and features change; check their official site for the latest. Visit Frase
The same budget, in shipped articles
Growth Calendar plans are sized in finished SEO articles per month, with research, planning, writing, images, and screenshots included.
Recommended
Compare plans
The numbers behind each plan, side by side.
Free $0/mo | Starter $29/mo | Pro $59/mo | Max $99/mo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Credits | ||||
Monthly credits Reset at the start of each billing cycle | Not included | 4,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
Buy extra credits Purchased credits never expire | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Scale monthly credits | Not included | Not included | Not included | Up to 5x |
Free trial First subscription only. Card required. | Not included | Not included | 3 days | 3 days |
Growth CalendarPaid plans | ||||
AI SEO articles 600 credits each, including research and images | Not included | 1 articles/wk | 4 articles/wk | 8 articles/wk |
Topic cluster planning | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Deep research before writing An agent reads the sources before the draft starts | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Real-time SERP research Reads the pages ranking right now, not a stored index | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Authoritative source citations Claims link out to where they came from | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Automatic internal linking Articles in the same cluster link to each other | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Real screenshots in articles Screenshots of the pages and tools the article describes | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
YouTube videos in articles Found during research, embedded in the draft | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Brand voice A writing style applied to every draft | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Brand visuals Image style presets, palettes, and a tuner, with alt text | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Run it from chat with an AI agent | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
MCP connection Drive it from Claude Code, Codex, and other MCP clients | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Scheduled publishing runs | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Publishing to your CMS WordPress, Ghost, Shopify, and Notion | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Delivery to your own endpoint Finished articles POSTed to a webhook as Markdown | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Keyword ResearchPaid plans | ||||
Keyword searches 50 credits each | Not included | 80 searches/mo | 200 searches/mo | 400 searches/mo |
Related keywords Up to 700 per search | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Search volume, CPC, and competition | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
12-month search trend | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
SERP results for the seed keyword | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Country and language targeting | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Image and video generationPaid plans | ||||
Image generation From 16 credits per image | Not included | 250 images/mo | 625 images/mo | 1,250 images/mo |
Video generation From 200 credits per 5-second 720p clip | Not included | 20 videos/mo | 50 videos/mo | 100 videos/mo |
Premium image and video models | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Image editing | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
Everything else | ||||
Free tools that cost no credits No usage limits | Included | Included | Included | Included |
Team members | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Security controls and audit log Rolling out | Not included | Not included | Not included | Included |
Support | Community | Chat | Chat | Priority |