Answer Socrates vs AnswerThePublic (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Answer Socrates and AnswerThePublic share a 2.4 GPA, both have a free plan, and Answer Socrates starts cheaper, at $15.83 a month against $20 a month.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Answer Socrates
Question and keyword ideas with clustering and AI brand tracking
AnswerThePublic
Question and search-suggestion research shown as keyword wheels
Which one is for you
Pick Answer Socrates if
- Fits if you want question keywords and only need a few searches a day
- Works for writers turning a topic into clusters for pillar pages
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need numbers for free, as the free plan shows no volume or CPC
- Tight if you track lots of AI answers, as each engine query uses a brand tracker credit
- Pricey if you need the API, which starts at $39 a month or $32.50 on yearly billing
- Not for you if a team needs logins, as seats start at Aurelius ($69 a month) with 2
- Watch out: there's no trial, only a 7-day money-back guarantee, and allowances reset each cycle
Pick AnswerThePublic if
- Fits if you plan blog posts, FAQs or videos around what people ask
- Works for showing a client how people search, as the wheels read at a glance
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you research a lot, since Starter allows 100 searches a month and they don't roll over
- Skip it if you need a difficulty score, as there isn't one on record
- Not for you if you might want your money back, as subscriptions are generally non-refundable
- Watch out: the 7-day trial needs a payment method and covers monthly plans only
- Pricey if more people need access: Starter has 1 user, and 3 users means Growth at $99 a month
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAnswer SocratesFair | 2.4GPAAnswerThePublicFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CLite is $15.83 a month on yearly billing, $19 monthly, which is mid-table for this category. That's 1,200 searches, 60 AI articles and 600 brand tracker credits a year. API and MCP access start at Seneca, $32.50 a month yearly. | CStarter is $20 a month, or $160 a year, which works out at about $13.33 a month, and until 8 November a year of Starter is $120. That's mid-table for this category, for 100 searches a month and 1 user. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan with 3 searches a day, 500 cluster credits a month and 1 CSV download, no card needed. You'll hit those caps, and it shows no volume or CPC at all. Paid plans have a 7-day money-back guarantee, not a trial. | CA free account gets 3 searches a day, with volume and CPC on just two branches of each report and exports of 30 keywords. The 7-day trial needs a payment method and only covers monthly plans. |
| Features | CQuestions and long-tail phrases from Google, Bing, YouTube and AI models, clustering, volume and CPC, trending topics and an LLM brand tracker. There's no difficulty score or competitor lookup on record. | CQuestions, comparisons and related terms from Google, Bing, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Amazon, with volume and CPC, AI prompt ideas and alerts. It does question research fully, but that's a smaller job, and the volume is last month's Google data only. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record, but nothing to set up: type a seed or two and the questions come back, already grouped into clusters if you want them. | BNo rating on record, but nothing to set up either. Type a word and the wheel appears, and anyone you show it to will get it straight away. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus a browser extension, with no desktop or phone app. From Seneca there's a REST API and an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and others. | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Content Studio publishes to WordPress and Webflow, and paid plans get an API, still in alpha, that draws on the same search allowance. |
| Best for | free question research with clustering on top | seeing the questions people ask about a topic |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Answer Socrates and AnswerThePublic. How we grade
Price against what you get
Answer Socrates starts at $15.83 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. AnswerThePublic starts at $20 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Answer Socrates starts $4.17 a month lower. Of the other keyword research tools on the chart, 1 scores higher than Answer Socrates for less, and 1 scores higher than AnswerThePublic for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Answer Socrates also covers AI search visibility.
At a glance
| Answer Socrates | AnswerThePublic | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15.83 per month, billed yearly ($19 billed monthly) | $20 per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually) |
| Free plan | 3 keyword searches and 1 recursive search a day, 500 cluster credits a month and 1 CSV download a month. No search metrics, brand tracking, projects or API. No card needed. | Free account: 3 searches a day, volume and CPC on two branches per report, exports of up to 30 keywords and 30 AI prompt responses a month. No Content Studio credits. |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial on monthly plans, once per account; a payment method is needed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Toast Media FZCO | Answer the Public Ltd (NP Digital) |
| Price read from | answersocrates.com | answerthepublic.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Answer Socrates
- The free plan shows no search volume, CPC or competition and has no projects, brand tracking or API.
- API and MCP access start at Seneca, $39 a month; team seats only come with Aurelius (2) and Senate (5).
- Each LLM Brand Tracker credit covers one AI engine query, so a keyword checked in three engines uses three credits.
- Plan allowances reset each billing cycle; paid plans have a 7-day money-back guarantee rather than a trial.
AnswerThePublic
- Paid plans are capped at 100 to 300 searches a month, and unused searches and credits do not roll over.
- Subscriptions are generally non-refundable once billing starts, and annual plans have no free trial.
- Search volume reflects Google data from the previous month only.
- Starter allows 1 user, Growth 3 and Business 10, and all users share the plan's monthly limits.
Key features
Answer Socrates
- Question and long-tail ideas
- Turns one or two seed keywords into hundreds of questions, comparisons and long-tail phrases gathered from Google, Bing, YouTube and AI models, in any country and language.
- Keyword clustering
- Groups a keyword list by meaning and intent into topic clusters, each with its total search volume and average CPC and competition. Uses cluster credits.
- Search volume, CPC and competition
- Paid plans show volume, cost per click and competition for every keyword and sort question keywords by volume. The free plan has no metrics.
- LLM Brand Tracker
- Runs keywords through ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Grok and DeepSeek, and scores your brand's mentions and share of voice over time. One credit covers one engine query.
- Trending Topics and AI articles
- Shows topics spiking in any country and language, and paid plans include AI-written SEO articles of up to 2,500 words each.
- MCP server and REST API
- From the Seneca plan, a hosted MCP server lets assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor pull keywords, trends and clusters into your projects.
AnswerThePublic
- Keyword wheels and search modifiers
- Groups suggestions into questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabeticals and related terms, as a visual wheel or a list, with Google volume and CPC.
- Searches across platforms
- Reports draw on Google, Bing, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Amazon, plus People Also Ask results and Google Shopping product rankings.
- AI Models report
- Shows prompts people might give ChatGPT and Gemini about a topic, sorted by intent and sentiment, and generates sample AI answers from a monthly allowance.
- Search listening alerts
- Follow a keyword and get a weekly email of new suggestions: 1 alert on Starter, 5 on Growth and 20 on Business.
- Content Studio
- Writes articles from a project's keywords and publishes them to WordPress or Webflow. Each article uses 10 credits and each Deep Search 8.
- API in alpha
- Paid plans can create searches and pull reports through an API that draws on the same monthly search allowance. Not available on the free plan or during a trial.
Plans
Answer Socrates
Free$0
3 searches a day, 500 cluster credits a month and 1 CSV download a month, without search volume or CPC data.
Socrates Lite$15.83
per month, billed yearly at $190 ($19 billed monthly)
1,200 searches, 60 AI articles and 600 LLM Brand Tracker credits a year, search metrics, unlimited CSVs and 2 projects. No API.
Seneca$32.50
per month, billed yearly at $390 ($39 billed monthly)
6,000 searches, 300 AI articles and 2,400 brand tracker credits a year, API and MCP access with 6,000 API credits, and 5 projects.
Aurelius$57.50
per month, billed yearly at $690 ($69 billed monthly)
Unlimited searches, 720 AI articles and 6,000 brand tracker credits a year, 30,000 API credits, 10 projects and 2 team seats.
Senate$249.17
per month, billed yearly at $2,990 ($299 billed monthly)
For agencies: 1,800 AI articles and 36,000 brand tracker credits a year, 300,000 API credits, 100 projects and 5 team seats.
AnswerThePublic
Free$0
3 searches a day with some suggestions and data locked, and small exports.
Starter$20
per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually)
1 user, 100 searches a month, 1,000 AI prompt suggestions, 30 AI responses, 2 projects and 60 Content Studio credits.
Growth$99
per month, billed monthly ($792 a year billed annually)
Up to 3 users, 200 searches a month, 2,000 prompt suggestions, 60 AI responses, 4 projects, 350 credits and report comparisons.
Business$199
per month, billed monthly ($1,592 a year billed annually)
Up to 10 users, 300 searches a month, 3,000 prompt suggestions, 100 AI responses, 8 projects and 800 credits.
CustomCustom
More users, domains or limits than Business, quoted on request.
Ways to pay less
Answer Socrates
- Annual discount
Save 17% with yearly billing
Answer Socrates's pricing page says yearly plans are billed once at a 17% discount, two months free: Lite is $190 a year against $19 a month.
AnswerThePublic
- Annual discount
Annual billing at eight times the monthly price
AnswerThePublic's campaign terms put the standard annual price at 8 times the monthly price, such as $160 a year for Starter instead of $240 paid monthly.
- Annual discount
6 months free on annual plans until November 8, 2026
From October 13 to November 8, 2026, annual plans cost 6 times the monthly price ($120 a year for Starter) and renew at that price while active.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Answer Socrates or AnswerThePublic?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Answer Socrates is cheaper to start with: $15.83 a month, against $20 a month for AnswerThePublic. Answer Socrates starts at $15.83 per month, billed yearly ($19 billed monthly), and AnswerThePublic starts at $20 per month, billed monthly ($160 a year billed annually).
Which has a free plan, Answer Socrates or AnswerThePublic?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Answer Socrates and AnswerThePublic have a free plan.
Which platforms do Answer Socrates and AnswerThePublic run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Answer Socrates lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.