# Essential AI SEO: AI Blog Post review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> Shopify app that writes SEO blog posts with AI in 13 languages

Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA.

Essential AI SEO: AI Blog Post is a Shopify app from Essential Apps that writes blog posts from a topic, keywords, tone, length and outline, with an optional AI featured image. Posts go to the Shopify blog as hidden drafts for you to review and publish, whichever blog builder the store uses. Plans differ only in how many posts can be generated each month, from 3 on the free plan to 300.

- **Category:** SEO Plugins & Apps
- **Made by:** Essential Apps (since 2024)
- **Website:** https://apps.shopify.com/essential-seo-ai-blog-writer
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Who should skip it:** Skip it if your store isn't on Shopify, as it installs only from the Shopify App Store.
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 23, 2026

## Pricing

As of Oct 23, 2026, Essential AI SEO: AI Blog Post has a free plan, and paid plans start at $9.99 per month for 30 posts, billed every 30 days.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** 3 blog post generations a month, SEO-optimized articles and, as the listing puts it, all premium features.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 3 blog post generations a month, SEO-optimized articles and all premium features. |
| Starter | $9.99 per month for 30 posts, billed every 30 days | 30 blog post generations a month, all AI writing features, bulk article creation and AI images. $95.88 a year. |
| Essential | $29.99 per month for 100 posts, billed every 30 days | 100 blog post generations a month with the same features as Starter. $287.88 a year. |
| Professional | $99.99 per month for 300 posts, billed every 30 days | 300 blog post generations a month with the same features as Starter. $959.88 a year. |

Read from https://apps.shopify.com/essential-seo-ai-blog-writer on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Essential AI SEO: AI Blog Post before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save 20% with yearly billing** (Annual discount): The listing offers each paid plan yearly at 20% less, for example Starter at $95.88 a year instead of $9.99 a month. Source: https://apps.shopify.com/essential-seo-ai-blog-writer

## Key features

- **AI blog post generator:** Writes a post from a topic, keywords, tone and length setting, following an outline you write or one the AI suggests first.
- **13 languages:** Writes the title and body in any of 13 languages, set per post.
- **Bulk generation:** Creates several articles in one run, listed as a feature from the Starter plan.
- **AI featured images:** A toggle generates a featured image for the top of the post from an image description you write.
- **Works with other blog apps:** Posts are sent to the Shopify blog as hidden drafts, and the listing names Bloggle, DropInBlog, Avada and SEOAnt as compatible apps.

## Good for

- Shopify stores starting a blog with a few posts a month
- Merchants who write for shoppers in several languages
- Stores that already use another blog builder

## Worth knowing

- Works only on Shopify stores; it is installed from the Shopify App Store.
- The free plan generates 3 posts a month; more needs a paid plan, from 30 posts for $9.99 a month, and the listing shows no free trial.
- Posts arrive as hidden drafts; the help center says the app does not control layout or publishing, which is left to Shopify and the theme.
- Essential's own site calls the app completely free, while the listing caps the free plan at 3 posts a month.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Oct 23, 2026. Essential AI SEO writes Shopify blog posts from a topic, keywords, tone and outline in 13 languages, with an optional AI featured image. Posts land as hidden drafts and the app leaves layout and publishing to you. The free plan stops at 3 posts a month, and the maker's own site calls the app completely free, which the listing doesn't bear out.

- **Value for money: C.** Starter is $9.99 every 30 days for 30 posts, just under this category's $10.99 middle, or $95.88 a year. 100 posts a month is $29.99 and 300 is $99.99, with the same features on each.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** Free for 3 posts a month with every feature, which is enough to try it but not to run a blog on. The listing shows no free trial of the paid plans.
- **Features: D.** Writes posts from a topic, keywords, tone, length and outline in 13 languages, in bulk from Starter, with AI featured images. That's one narrow function: drafts only, with layout and publishing left to Shopify and your theme.
- **Ease of use: B.** No rating on record, but there's nothing to set up: type a topic and keywords, and the post arrives as a hidden draft in your Shopify blog.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, inside the Shopify admin, using ChatGPT and listed as working with Bloggle, DropInBlog, Avada and SEOAnt. No phone or desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Essential Apps' own pages and its Shopify App Store listing on 23 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among SEO plugins and apps

- Essential AI SEO: AI Blog Post's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 18 of the 78 other SEO plugins and apps we grade, and level with 14.
- It stands best on ease of use (B, above 60 of 78) and worst on features (D, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $9.99 a month, against a middle price of $9.99 for the category: 24 of the 58 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 11 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/seo-plugins

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Essential AI SEO: AI Blog Post you would be making an image model, which you can rent by the picture but not make. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 46 of the 78 other SEO plugins and apps grade higher. It costs $119.88 a year.

- You could make: Long-form writing: an app builder makes this well.
- You could not: An image model, which you can rent by the picture but not make.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Shopify Admin, ChatGPT and Bloggle among them.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Shopify Admin, ChatGPT, Bloggle, DropInBlog, Avada SEO & Image Optimizer, SEOAnt

**Tags:** Long-form writing, AI features, Image generation

## Alternatives

- [Avada Blog SEO AEO Content](https://toolgpa.com/tools/avada-blog-seo-aeo-content): Shopify blog builder with an AI writer, SEO score and keyword research. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/avada-blog-seo-aeo-content-vs-essential-ai-seo-ai-blog-post)
- [Tapita GEO Studio & AI Blog](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tapita-geo-studio-and-ai-blog): Free Shopify app for AI blog posts, FAQs and buyer's guides. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/essential-ai-seo-ai-blog-post-vs-tapita-geo-studio-and-ai-blog)
- [AI Blog Agent | SEO Auto Blog](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ai-blog-agent-seo-auto-blog): Shopify app that writes and publishes SEO blog posts on a schedule. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ai-blog-agent-seo-auto-blog-vs-essential-ai-seo-ai-blog-post)
- [SEO Suite: AI SEO & Blogs](https://toolgpa.com/tools/seo-suite-ai-seo-and-blogs): Shopify app that audits store SEO and writes fixes and blogs with AI. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/essential-ai-seo-ai-blog-post-vs-seo-suite-ai-seo-and-blogs)
- [SEOWILL](https://toolgpa.com/tools/seowill): Shopify SEO app with audits, speed fixes, AI blog posts and llms.txt. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/essential-ai-seo-ai-blog-post-vs-seowill)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026:

- https://apps.shopify.com/essential-seo-ai-blog-writer
- https://essential-apps.com/ai-blog-writer
- https://essentials-docs.helpscoutdocs.com/article/122-how-to-generate-the-ai-blog-post
- https://essentials-docs.helpscoutdocs.com/article/134-how-to-publish-the-article-on-the-website

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/essential-ai-seo-ai-blog-post
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).