RankDots vs Scalenut (2026): which should you pick?

Pick RankDots if

• Fits if you plan content for a blog or affiliate site around topic clusters
• Works for a new or small site hunting for low-competition keywords

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you need competitor keyword research, which is still marked coming soon
• Tight if you're on Starter, at 4 projects, 10 AI articles a month and no keyword export
• Not for you if you want posts published for you, as no CMS link is listed
• Watch out: the free trial is mentioned with no length or limits given
• Pricey if you pay monthly, at $49 against $29 on yearly billing

Pick Scalenut if

• Fits if you publish a steady stream of blog articles with AI help
• Makes sense if you want article writing and AI answer tracking in one account

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you're on Starter, at 5 new articles, 5 optimizations and 5 clusters a month
• Watch out: there are no refunds once the 7-day trial is over
• Skip it if you need daily AI answer checks, as prompts are checked weekly and Perplexity needs Professional at $199
• Pricey if you want internal links, audits or auto-publishing, which start at Plus for $89 a month
• Watch out: yearly prices only show as a time-limited Black Friday deal, with no regular yearly price

RankDots

• Plans cap projects and AI articles each month, from 4 projects and 10 articles on Starter.
• Keyword export starts at the Business plan.
• Competitor keyword research is marked as coming soon.
• The site mentions a free trial but gives no length or limits for it.

Scalenut

• Annual plans are sold only at a time-limited Black Friday price at present; the regular annual price is not shown.
• There is no free plan, and the refund policy rules out refunds once the 7-day trial is over.
• AI answers are checked weekly, not daily; Starter and Plus cover only ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews.
• Internal linking, content audits, auto-publishing, Social UpReach and the backlinks marketplace start at Plus.

RankDots

Keyword discovery

Finds keywords for a domain or seed topic from search data and AI suggestions, with language and location settings.

Topic clustering

Groups keywords into topic clusters and scores each on search demand, competition, intent and topical depth.

Growth potential

Estimates which keywords and topics are likely to gain or lose search interest before you write for them.

Opportunities from Search Console

Matches Search Console data to the topic plan and lists pages to create, expand, merge, split or fix for cannibalization, ranked by traffic potential.

AI content drafts

Writes SEO drafts for a topic cluster and suggests changes to improve existing pages.

Scalenut

AI Visibility

Tracks a set of prompts weekly in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, plus Perplexity on Professional, with insights on AI bot traffic.

GEO article writer

Cruise Mode drafts articles from keyword and SERP research, with tone of voice settings and AI images included in each plan's monthly allowance.

Content optimizer

Scores existing articles against the ranking pages with NLP terms and a content score, and suggests the changes to make.

Keyword planner

Groups keywords into topic clusters; Professional adds an advanced planner and cannibalization analysis.

Content audit and internal linking

From Plus, audits a set number of pages a month for topic gaps and suggests internal links between them.

Social UpReach and backlinks

From Plus, Social UpReach follows Reddit threads by keyword and subreddit, and a marketplace sells backlinks.

RankDots

• Starter$29

  per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)

  4 projects and 10 AI articles a month, with up to 7,000 keywords found per project.

• Business$58

  per month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)

  8 projects and 20 AI articles a month, 12,000 keywords per project and keyword export.

• Agency$99

  per month, billed annually ($169 billed monthly)

  15 projects and 40 AI articles a month, 20,000 keywords per project and keyword export.

• Enterprise$169

  per month, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)

  20 projects and 60 AI articles a month, 35,000 keywords per project and keyword export.

Scalenut

• Starter$59

  per month, billed monthly

  1 domain, 10 prompts checked weekly in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, and 5 new articles, 5 optimizations and 5 keyword clusters a month.

• Plus$89

  per month, billed monthly

  2 domains, 4 team members, 25 prompts, 30 articles and 30 optimizations a month, a 200-page audit, internal linking and auto-publishing.

• Professional$199

  per month, billed monthly

  Unlimited domains and members, 100 prompts with Perplexity added, 75 articles a month, 1,000-page audits, cannibalization checks and a CSM.

• VIP ServiceCustom

  Done-for-you work by a dedicated strategist, writers, editors and AI agents, with backlinks and weekly reports. Sold after a strategy call.

RankDots

• Annual discount

  Save 40% with annual billing

  RankDots' pricing page lists annual billing at about 40% off: Starter is $29 a month billed annually against $49 billed monthly.

Scalenut

• Other savings

  Black Friday early access: 65% off annual plans

  For a limited time, annual Starter is $21, Plus $31 and Professional $70 a month, with 3x usage limits. No end date is given and the deal is non-refundable.