Clearscope vs Surfer
We give Clearscope and Surfer the same GPA: 2.2 out of 4.0. Clearscope grades higher on the free plan. Surfer grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Clearscope
Content optimization with term guidance and AI answer tracking
Surfer
Content editor that scores articles for search and AI citations
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAClearscopeFair | 2.2GPASurferFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DGraded against other content editors. Essentials is $129 a month with no yearly discount, against $49 for Surfer, $39 for Frase and $19 for NeuronWriter. Users are unlimited, so a team of five pays about $25.80 a head, but one marketer pays the lot. | CGraded against other content editors. Discovery is $49 a month billed yearly ($59 monthly) for 1 seat and 120 documents: more than Frase's $39 and NeuronWriter's $19, well under Clearscope's $129. Standard, with 3 seats, is $99. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan, but there's a 14-day free trial, and the listing doesn't say whether it asks for a card. | DNo free plan. The 7-day trial gives new accounts Pro, but it needs a card and turns into a paid plan unless you cancel. The free Keyword Surfer extension is a small consolation. |
| Features | BTerm and intent guidance with a live grade, AI drafts, query discovery, tracking of your brand in ChatGPT and Gemini, content monitoring with 404 and indexing alerts, and internal links while you write. The whole content job. | BA live Content Score and guidelines, an AI writer with humanizer and plagiarism checks, keyword research, topical maps, content audits with drop alerts and AI answer tracking. The whole content job, though Discovery has no AI prompt tracking. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Clearscope includes live onboarding and training, but there are tracked queries, pages and drafts to manage within each month's limits. | CNo rating on record. Writing against a score is easy to grasp, but topical maps, audits and the AI tracking spaces are more to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with add-ons for Google Docs, Microsoft Word and WordPress, and links to Google Analytics and Search Console. No API on record, and no desktop or phone app. | BWeb plus Chrome extensions, one bringing the guidelines into Google Docs. It connects to WordPress, Zapier, Contentful, Jasper, ChatGPT and Claude; the API needs Peace of Mind or an add-on. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | content teams with lots of writers | scoring articles as you write them |
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: Clearscope and Surfer. How we grade
Price against what you get
Clearscope starts at $129 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Surfer starts at $49 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and Surfer starts $80 a month lower. Of the other SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Clearscope for less, and none scores higher than Surfer 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
- Clearscope starts at $129 per month, billed monthly. Surfer starts at $49 per month, billed yearly ($59 billed monthly).
- Only Surfer lists a browser extension.
At a glance
| Clearscope | Surfer | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $129 per month, billed monthly | $49 per month, billed yearly ($59 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | 7-day free trial with Pro access for new accounts; card required, converts to the chosen plan |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Mushi Labs | Surfer Sp. z o.o. |
| Price read from | clearscope.io | surferseo.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Clearscope
- Content teams with many writers who all need access
- Editors who work in Google Docs, Word or WordPress
- Brands refreshing older articles that are losing traffic
Surfer
- Writers and content teams producing articles meant to rank
- Agencies refreshing existing client content at volume
- Brands that want to see whether AI chat tools cite their pages
Worth knowing
Clearscope
- There is no free plan, and the pricing page shows no discount for paying yearly.
- Essentials allows 50 tracked queries and 50 monitored pages; more pages and drafts are paid add-ons.
- The pricing page names ChatGPT and Gemini for query tracking, while the homepage also names Claude.
- Invoice payment is only for custom yearly plans; other plans are paid by card.
Surfer
- Discovery has no AI prompt tracking and one seat; Standard tracks 25 prompts weekly in ChatGPT only.
- On annual plans, credits reset once a year, and unlimited documents fall under a fair usage policy.
- The trial needs a card and becomes a paid plan after 7 days unless cancelled; it is for new accounts only.
- API access needs Peace of Mind, Enterprise or an API add-on.
Key features
Clearscope
- Term and intent guidance
- Get suggested terms, questions and search intent for a target query, with a content grade that updates as you edit.
- AI drafting
- Generate and edit first drafts inside Clearscope; plans include 20 drafts a month, with more sold as add-ons.
- Query Discovery
- Enter a topic or a website to surface the queries that bring traffic and attention in Google and AI chat tools.
- AI query tracking
- Track chosen queries in ChatGPT and Gemini to see when your brand is mentioned and which competitors are recommended.
- Content monitoring
- Watch published pages with Google Analytics and Search Console data, and get alerts for 404s, indexing and crawl problems.
- Internal linking
- See internal link opportunities from your connected content while you write, tied to the recommended terms.
Surfer
- Content Editor and Content Score
- Write or paste an article and get live guidelines on terms, structure and length, scored against the pages that rank for the topic.
- AI writing assistant
- Surfy drafts and edits inside the editor, with an AI detector, humanizer, plagiarism check and 1-click optimization of existing text.
- AI visibility tracking
- Track set prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, with mention gaps and brand sentiment.
- Content Audit and drop alerts
- Monitor 10 to 500 published pages, get alerts when rankings drop and suggestions for which articles to refresh.
- Keyword research and Topical Map
- Plan clusters of related articles around a topic, and check search results with the SERP Analyzer.
- Keyword Surfer extension
- A free Chrome extension shows search volume and keyword ideas on Google results; another brings Surfer's guidelines into Google Docs.
Plans
Clearscope
Essentials$129
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited users and projects, 50 tracked queries, 50 pages, 20 topic explorations and 20 AI drafts a month.
Business$399
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited users, 300 tracked queries, 300 pages, 50 topic explorations and 20 drafts a month, and a dedicated account manager.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom credits and agreements, crawler whitelisting and single sign-on, through sales.
Surfer
Discovery$49
per month, billed yearly ($59 billed monthly)
1 seat, 120 documents to create or optimize, 10 tracked pages, AI writing assistant and humanizer. No AI prompt tracking.
AI Search Analytics$82
per month, billed yearly ($95 billed monthly)
AI visibility only: 50 prompts tracked daily across all models, mention gaps and sentiment, 5 brand spaces, 5 seats and MCP.
Standard$99
per month, billed yearly ($119 billed monthly)
3 seats, 360 documents, 50 tracked pages, 1-click optimization, plagiarism checks and 25 prompts tracked weekly in ChatGPT.
Pro$182
per month, billed yearly ($219 billed monthly)
5 seats, 360 documents, 200 pages, 50 prompts daily across all models, 5 brand spaces, internal linking, cannibalization report and MCP.
Peace of Mind$299
per month, billed yearly ($359 billed monthly)
10 seats, unlimited documents under fair use, 500 pages, 100 prompts daily, API access and a dedicated success manager.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom limits, SSO, white-label, advisory program and tailored onboarding, through sales.
Ways to pay less
Clearscope
No public discounts listed.
Surfer
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% with yearly billing
Surfer's pricing FAQ gives up to 17% off for annual plans, paid upfront: Pro is $182 a month billed yearly instead of $219 billed monthly.
