Surfer vs Frase: Which Should You Pick?

What each tool is

Surfer is a content and search visibility platform. Its plans are described in documents you create or optimize, pages or AI prompts you track, and brand spaces. Feature lists include AI SEO optimization guidelines, the Surfy AI assistant and humanizer, WordPress and Google Docs integrations, brand knowledge, one-click content optimization, team collaboration, one-click internal linking, content ideas and coverage gap analysis, a cannibalization report, Zapier integration, API access and a dedicated success manager on the top plan. The AI Search Analytics plan tracks brand visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews and other AI models, with mention gap and brand sentiment tracking.

Frase is a content research, writing and optimization tool with publishing built in. Its plans are described in seats, sites, articles a month, audit pages a month, AI generations, AI diagrams and pages watched by Content Guard. Feature lists include publishing to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix or FraseCMS, a content calendar, internal linking suggestions, client-ready exportable reports, and on Enterprise white-label reports, a branded portal, SSO and SAML, a dedicated account manager and an SLA. Frase also hosts sites through FraseCMS.

Pricing

Surfer's pricing page shows yearly billing. Discovery is $49 a month with 120 documents to create or optimize, 10 tracked pages, AI SEO optimization guidelines and the Surfy assistant. Standard is $99 a month with 360 documents, 25 AI prompts tracked with weekly refresh, WordPress and Google Docs integrations, brand knowledge, one-click optimization and team collaboration. Pro is $182 a month with 360 documents, 50 AI prompts tracked daily, 5 brand spaces, one-click internal linking, content ideas, coverage gap analysis and a cannibalization report. Peace of Mind is $299 a month with unlimited documents, 100 AI prompts tracked daily, unlimited brand spaces, Zapier, API access and a dedicated success manager. AI Search Analytics is a separate $82 a month plan with 50 AI prompts refreshed daily, 5 brand spaces and mention gap and brand sentiment tracking. Enterprise is custom with SSO, white-label options and an advisory program. The page lists yearly savings of $120 to $720 a year per plan, so monthly billing costs more; check the vendor's page for the monthly rates.

Frase Starter is $39 a month billed yearly or $49 monthly with 1 seat, 1 site, 10 articles and 50 audit pages a month, 25 AI generations, Content Guard on 10 pages and publishing to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix or FraseCMS. Professional is $103 a month billed yearly or $129 monthly with 3 seats, 5 sites, 40 articles and 250 audit pages a month, 100 AI generations, 20 AI diagrams, Content Guard on 75 pages, a content calendar and internal linking suggestions; extra seats are $29 a month. Scale is $239 a month billed yearly or $299 monthly with 5 seats, up to 10 domains, 100 articles and 1,000 audit pages a month, 350 AI generations, 50 AI diagrams, Content Guard on 300 pages and client-ready reports; extra seats are $29 a month. Enterprise is custom with white-label reports, a branded portal, SSO and SAML, an account manager and an SLA. Pay-as-you-go overages are optional on Professional and Scale, and FraseCMS hosting is free up to 100,000 page views with Basic at $19 and Pro at $99 a month.

Where Surfer wins

Volume. Discovery's 120 documents a month for $49 is far more optimization capacity than Frase Starter's 10 articles for $39, and Standard's 360 documents for $99 dwarfs Frase Professional's 40 articles for $103. If your team optimizes many pages each month, Surfer's document limits are the deciding number.

AI search visibility. Surfer tracks how your brand appears in ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews and other AI models, with prompt tracking on Standard and above and a dedicated AI Search Analytics plan at $82 a month. Frase's pricing page does not list an equivalent.

Site-level SEO tooling. One-click internal linking, a cannibalization report, coverage gap analysis, brand spaces, Zapier and API access on the higher plans make Surfer the fuller SEO operations tool, and the Peace of Mind plan removes document limits entirely.

Where Frase wins

Price for a small team. Starter is $39 a month billed yearly, Professional includes 3 seats and 5 sites for $103, and extra seats are $29. Surfer's Standard is $99 with team collaboration but its pricing page does not price seats separately, and Surfer's plans start higher for a single user.

A full production pipeline. Frase counts articles, AI generations and AI diagrams, includes a content calendar, and publishes directly to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix or its own FraseCMS, which is free up to 100,000 page views. A solo publisher can research, write, optimize and host without leaving the product.

Ongoing monitoring at every tier. Content Guard watches published pages on every plan (10, 75 or 300 pages), and audit page allowances run from 50 to 1,000 a month. Agencies get client-ready reports on Scale and white-label reports with a branded portal on Enterprise.

Who should pick which

Pick Surfer if you optimize dozens or hundreds of pages a month, if you need to report on AI search visibility alongside classic rankings, or if you want internal linking, cannibalization and coverage analysis across a large site.

Pick Frase if you are a solo writer, a small team or an agency producing a manageable number of articles, if you want briefs, drafting, audits and publishing in one place, or if you want hosting included. Publishers with modest volume will usually find Frase cheaper; SEO teams with high volume will usually find Surfer's document limits worth the higher price.