# MarketMuse review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> Content planning and optimization built on a site-wide topic inventory

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

MarketMuse is a web-based content planning and optimization tool for brands, publishers and agencies. It builds an inventory of a site's pages and topics, scores how easy each topic is for that site to rank for, and turns the findings into content briefs, strategy documents and an editor that grades drafts. It has been part of Siteimprove since October 2024.

- **Category:** SEO Content Optimizers
- **Made by:** MarketMuse, Inc. (since 2013)
- **Website:** https://www.marketmuse.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want to see a price before talking to sales, as no paid plan shows one.
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 23, 2026

## Pricing

As of Oct 23, 2026, MarketMuse has a free plan.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** 1 user and 10 queries a month in Topic Navigator, Keywords, SERP X-ray and the heatmaps, with no site inventory, briefs or strategy documents.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 1 user and 10 queries a month across the research applications. No inventory, tracked topics or briefs. |
| Optimize | Custom | 1 user, 1 site inventory, 100 tracked topics, 100 queries, 5 article briefs and 1 strategy document a month. Price not published. |
| Research | Custom | 3 users, 1,000 tracked topics, unlimited queries, 10 article briefs and 3 strategy documents a month. Price not published. |
| Strategy | Custom | 5 users, 10,000 tracked topics, unlimited queries, 20 briefs a month in all 9 brief types and 5 strategy documents. Price not published. |

Read from https://www.marketmuse.com/pricing/ on Oct 23, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with MarketMuse before buying.

## Key features

- **Content inventory:** Paid plans keep an inventory of a site's published pages and topics, updated automatically, with tracked topics you want to rank for.
- **Personalized difficulty:** Scores each topic from 1 to 100 for how hard it is for your own site to rank, based on your existing coverage and performance.
- **Optimize editor:** Grades a draft against a topic model of related subtopics, compares it with any of the top 20 ranking pages and has a generative AI writing aid.
- **Content briefs:** Briefs with outlines, questions and linking suggestions in nine types, such as how-to, comparison and listicle. Lower plans get the article type only.
- **Content strategy documents:** Generated documents that suggest topic clusters and a content plan, with keyword, intent and competitor data behind each recommendation.
- **Competitor and SERP analysis:** SERP X-ray and the heatmaps show how the ranking pages cover a topic and where competitors leave gaps.

## Good for

- Content teams planning clusters across a whole site
- Editors who want a score for topical coverage before publishing
- Agencies handing detailed briefs to outside writers

## Worth knowing

- Paid plan prices are not published; the pricing page asks you to book a demo.
- The Free plan has 10 queries a month and no site inventory, tracked topics or briefs.
- Only the Strategy plan has all nine brief types; the others get the article brief.
- Extra users and extra tracked topics are bought separately from the account's subscription settings.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Oct 23, 2026. MarketMuse keeps an inventory of your site's pages and topics, scores how hard each topic is for you to rank for, and turns that into briefs and an editor that grades drafts. But no paid plan shows a price, so you book a demo to find out what it costs. The free plan is 10 queries a month with no inventory or briefs.

- **Value for money: C.** No paid price is published. Optimize, Research and Strategy all say book a demo, so the price is only given on a sales call. Extra users and extra tracked topics are bought on top of the plan.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A free plan for 1 user with 10 queries a month in Topic Navigator, Keywords, SERP X-ray and the heatmaps. There's no site inventory, no tracked topics and no briefs, and 10 queries go fast.
- **Features: B.** A site inventory with a personal difficulty score from 1 to 100, briefs, strategy documents, an editor that grades drafts against the top 20 pages and an AI writing aid. That covers the job, though only Strategy gets all nine brief types.
- **Ease of use: C.** No rating on record. There's a site inventory, tracked topics and a topic model to get your head around before the scores mean much.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with Google Docs and Microsoft Word. No API on record, and no desktop or phone app.

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

## Where it stands among SEO content tools

- MarketMuse's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 59 of the 87 other SEO content tools we grade, and level with 21.
- It stands best on features (B, above 42 of 87) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).

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

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace MarketMuse you would be making search volumes for millions of keywords, gathered and kept up to date. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.4 is higher than 59 of the 87 other SEO content tools we grade.

- You could make: Internal linking: an app builder makes this well.
- You could not: Search volumes for millions of keywords, gathered and kept up to date.
- You could not: A score built from what the top results for each keyword cover.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

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

## Works with

Google Docs, Microsoft Word

**Tags:** Content optimization, Keyword research, Internal linking, AI features

## Alternatives

- [Clearscope](https://toolgpa.com/tools/clearscope): Content optimization with term guidance and AI answer tracking. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clearscope-vs-marketmuse)
- [Surfer](https://toolgpa.com/tools/surfer): Content editor that scores articles for search and AI citations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/marketmuse-vs-surfer)
- [Frase](https://toolgpa.com/tools/frase): AI content agent that drafts, publishes and refreshes articles. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/frase-vs-marketmuse)
- [Content Harmony](https://toolgpa.com/tools/content-harmony): Keyword reports, content briefs and a grader, priced per workflow. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/content-harmony-vs-marketmuse)
- [Scalenut](https://toolgpa.com/tools/scalenut): AI article writing and optimization with AI answer tracking. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/marketmuse-vs-scalenut)

## Sources

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

- https://www.marketmuse.com/pricing/
- https://www.marketmuse.com/
- https://www.marketmuse.com/about/
- https://www.marketmuse.com/optimize/
- https://www.marketmuse.com/content-briefs/
- https://help.marketmuse.com/support/solutions/articles/80001167929-managing-your-membership-and-payment-methods
- https://help.marketmuse.com/support/solutions/articles/80001167703-how-to-add-user-seats
- https://help.marketmuse.com/support/solutions/articles/80001167705-how-to-purchase-more-topics

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/marketmuse
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).