Table of Contents
Quick Verdict
Surfer SEO wins on content scoring accuracy and is the better tool if ranking content is your primary job. Frase wins on content brief generation and is the better budget option if you mainly need a research and outline tool. Most serious content teams end up choosing Surfer SEO — the Content Editor's NLP scoring is more refined and its results are more consistently tied to ranking improvements. Frase is a solid choice at $45/month if you are starting out or primarily use it for brief generation rather than full content optimization.
What Each Tool Does
Surfer SEO is built primarily around the Content Editor — a scoring tool that analyzes your article against the top-ranking pages and tells you exactly which terms to include, what word count to target, and how to structure your content to compete. It also includes a SERP Analyzer, Keyword Research tool, Site Audit, and Surfer AI for generating outlines and drafts.
Frase is built primarily around content briefs — it pulls SERP data and generates research-backed outlines fast. It also includes a content editor with optimization scoring, an AI writing assistant, and topic research. Frase leans harder into the research and briefing phase; Surfer leans harder into optimization and scoring.
| Feature | Surfer SEO | Frase | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $89/mo | $45/mo | Frase |
| Content Editor scoring | Excellent (NLP) | Good | Surfer SEO |
| Content brief generation | Good | Excellent | Frase |
| AI writing assistant | Surfer AI (add-on) | Included | Frase |
| Keyword Research | Full tool included | Basic | Surfer SEO |
| SERP analysis depth | Very detailed | Good | Surfer SEO |
| Site Audit | Included | Not available | Surfer SEO |
| Google Docs integration | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| WordPress integration | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Content documents/mo | 30 (Essential) | 30 (Basic) | Tie |
| Rank tracking | No | No | Neither |
| Free trial | 7-day | 5-day ($1) | Surfer SEO |
Pricing Comparison
Surfer SEO pricing
- Essential — $89/month (30 Content Editor documents, 1 user)
- Scale — $219/month (100 Content Editor documents, 3 users, white-label)
- Enterprise — custom pricing (unlimited documents, API, priority support)
Annual billing saves about 17%. Surfer AI (the draft generator) is available as an add-on or included in higher plans. The $89/month Essential plan gives you 30 full Content Editor uses per month — typically enough for a solo content operation or a small team publishing 5–10 articles per week.
Frase pricing
- Solo — $15/month (4 articles/month, 1 user) — very limited, mostly for evaluation
- Basic — $45/month (30 articles/month, 1 user)
- Team — $115/month (unlimited articles, 3 users)
The AI writing add-on costs an extra $35/month on all plans. Without it, Frase is a research and optimization tool; with it, you get a full AI writing assistant. Annual billing saves 20%.
Content Editor Comparison
This is the most important comparison — it is what both tools are used for most of the time.
Surfer SEO Content Editor
Surfer SEO's Content Editor analyzes the top 10 (or more) SERP competitors for your keyword and generates a list of NLP-based terms your article should include. You get a real-time Content Score (0–100) as you write, updating every time you add recommended terms. The target score is typically 70+.
What makes Surfer's scoring better than Frase's: the NLP term extraction is more precise, the correlation between score and ranking is stronger (based on our testing across multiple sites), and the competitor analysis pulls from more data points — word count, heading structure, image count, paragraph length, keyword density, and entity coverage.
The editor itself is clean: you write on the left, the term suggestions and score appear on the right. Terms turn green as you include them. The outline builder suggests headings based on competitor structures.
Frase Content Editor
Frase's editor shows a Topic Score based on topic coverage compared to the top competitors. It pulls competitor headings and questions from the SERP automatically — this is particularly useful for brief generation. You can see what questions competitors answer and which topics they cover, making it easy to build a comprehensive outline.
Frase's scoring is solid but slightly less precise than Surfer's in head-to-head testing. The NLP implementation feels less refined — you occasionally get term suggestions that feel generic or less relevant. That said, Frase's editor integrates its AI writing assistant more naturally, letting you highlight a heading and generate a paragraph in one click.
Content Briefs
Frase clearly wins here. Its content brief generation is the best in class for speed and structure — it pulls competitor article structures, common questions from PAA boxes, heading hierarchies, and topic coverage gaps into a usable brief in under 2 minutes.
Surfer's brief/outline feature is solid but more manual. You use the Content Editor to see competitor structures and build your own outline. It works well but requires more active effort from the user. Frase automates more of the brief creation process, which is valuable if you are briefing content for a team of writers.
If you manage a team of writers who need structured briefs, Frase's brief generation workflow is more efficient. If you are writing the content yourself and just need guidance while writing, Surfer's editor is more useful.
AI Writing Features
Both tools now include AI writing, but with different approaches.
Frase's AI writing (available as a $35/month add-on) is deeply integrated into the editor — you can generate outlines, introductions, conclusions, and full paragraphs without leaving the tool. It uses GPT-4 and Claude models. The AI writing in Frase is focused on helping you fill in an outline you have already structured, not generating a full draft from scratch.
Surfer AI generates full article drafts in one click — you input a keyword, and Surfer AI produces a full optimized draft that already incorporates the NLP terms and structure the Content Editor would recommend. The output is a complete article (typically 1,500–3,000 words) that scores 70+ in the Content Editor without manual optimization. It costs extra ($29/article on Essential or included in Scale+).
For generating complete first drafts at scale, Surfer AI is the better tool. For AI assistance while writing manually, Frase's integrated AI is more convenient.
Keyword Research
Surfer SEO has a full Keyword Research tool — you enter a seed keyword and get volume estimates, keyword difficulty, related keywords, and topic clusters. It is not as comprehensive as Semrush or Ahrefs, but it is useful for identifying content opportunities and grouping keywords before creating Content Editor documents.
Frase does not have a standalone keyword research tool. You can see search volume and difficulty within the content editor interface, but there is no dedicated keyword research workflow. For keyword research, Frase users need to use an external tool (Semrush, Ahrefs, or SE Ranking) alongside Frase.
If keyword research is part of your workflow, Surfer gives you more tools in one platform. If you already have a keyword research tool you like, Frase's gap here is less important.
Workflow & Integrations
Both tools integrate with Google Docs and WordPress. You can write in Google Docs with the Surfer extension or Frase extension active, seeing your optimization score in the sidebar without switching tabs.
Surfer SEO also has a Chrome extension that overlays ranking data on SERPs — a useful research tool. Frase's Chrome extension is more limited.
For teams, Frase's Team plan at $115/month with unlimited articles makes it more cost-effective for high-volume content operations. Surfer's Scale plan at $219/month covers 100 documents per month for teams needing the higher scoring accuracy.
Who Should Use Which Tool?
- Budget is a priority — $45/month vs $89/month is a real difference
- You primarily need fast content briefs for a team of writers
- You want AI writing integrated directly into your research workflow
- You already have a keyword research tool (Semrush, Ahrefs, SE Ranking)
- You are a solo blogger or freelancer just starting with content optimization
- Speed of brief creation matters more than scoring precision
- Content ranking is your primary business objective
- You want the most accurate NLP scoring against top SERP competitors
- You want keyword research + content optimization in one platform
- You publish in competitive niches where scoring precision matters
- You want complete AI-generated drafts (Surfer AI) rather than just assistance
- You need a site audit tool alongside content optimization
- You manage an agency and need white-label reports (Scale plan)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Surfer SEO better than Frase?
For content optimization and ranking, yes — Surfer SEO's NLP scoring is more accurate and the correlation between Surfer scores and actual ranking improvements is stronger. For content brief generation and budget-constrained workflows, Frase is better. The right answer depends on your primary use case: optimization (Surfer) vs research and briefing (Frase).
Can you use Surfer SEO and Frase together?
Yes, and some teams do — using Frase to generate research-backed briefs quickly, then using Surfer SEO's Content Editor to optimize the finished article. This is overkill for most solo operators but can work for agencies that separate the briefing and writing/optimization stages.
Does Frase have a content score like Surfer SEO?
Yes, Frase has a Topic Score that measures how well your content covers the topics in competing articles. It works similarly to Surfer's Content Score but is based on topic coverage rather than NLP term frequency. In practice, Surfer's scoring tends to be more precise and actionable — the recommended terms are more specific and the impact on ranking is more reliable.
Which tool is better for AI content generation?
Surfer AI is better for generating complete, SEO-optimized first drafts. Frase's AI writing is better for generating sections, paragraphs, and continuations while you write manually. Both use similar underlying models, but Surfer AI's output is purpose-built to score well in the Content Editor from the start.
Does Surfer SEO include a free trial?
Surfer SEO offers a 7-day free trial. Frase offers a 5-day trial for $1. Both let you fully evaluate the tool before committing. If you want to test content optimization without commitment, Surfer's free trial gives you a full week at no cost.
What about Clearscope vs Surfer SEO vs Frase?
Clearscope is a strong third option — arguably the best pure content grading tool, used by many enterprise teams. But it starts at $170/month, making it expensive for small teams. Surfer SEO sits in the middle: better scoring than Frase, lower cost than Clearscope. See our Surfer SEO vs Clearscope comparison for full details.
See also: Full Surfer SEO Review · Full Frase Review · Surfer SEO vs Clearscope · Surfer SEO vs Semrush · Surfer SEO Alternatives