Clearscope vs Surfer SEO (Positive Surfer) vs MarketMuse vs Frase
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
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Surfer SEO (Positive Surfer)
Content scoring for Google, plus tracking of brand mentions in AI answ...
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MarketMuse
AI content intelligence platform that maps your site's topical authori...
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Frase
SEO + GEO content platform: SERP briefs to AI-visibility tracking.
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| RECATOOLS Score | 7.8 / 10 | 8.2 / 10 | 7.2 / 10 | 7.8 / 10 |
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| ASEAN readiness | ||||
| API quality | ||||
| Pricing | Subscription | Subscription | Freemium | Paid |
| Free tier | 14-day free trial; no lasting free plan | 7-day trial advertised by Positive; no free plan. Free Keyword Surfer extension and AI detector tools | 10 queries/month, 1 user, no content briefs, no tracked topics | Free 7-day trial, no credit card required |
| Paid from | $129/month (Essentials, billed monthly, no contract) | $49/month (Discovery, billed yearly; $59 billed monthly) | Paid plans are quote-only ("Book a demo"); Free plan: 1 user, 10 queries a month | $49/month (Starter) — $39/month billed yearly |
| Has API | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Users | Used by major brands including IBM, Adobe, Shopify, and Condé Nast | Surfer reports 45,000+ customers and 800,000+ registered users | ~150 enterprise/agency customers at acquisition (2024); ACV ~$59K | Trusted by thousands of content & marketing teams |
| Founded | 2016 | 2017 | 2013 | 2016 |
| Maker | Mushi Labs LLC | Positive Group | Siteimprove | Copyrytr (formerly Copysmith) |
| Verdict | Clearscope remains one of the clearest on-page content graders: a single letter grade against the pages that actually rank, delivered where writers already work, with unlimited users on every plan. The newer AI-visibilit... |
Surfer remains one of the most usable on-page optimisation tools: the Content Editor turns SERP research into concrete guidance a non-specialist writer can follow, and the AI Tracker extends the same idea to how AI assis... |
MarketMuse is the benchmark for enterprise-grade topic modeling: its content inventory analysis, competitive heatmaps, and structured content briefs are genuinely differentiated tools for teams managing large-scale conte... |
Frase earns its reputation as the best-value research-to-brief workflow tool on the market. Its SERP analysis is genuinely best-in-class at this price point — generating a competitive brief in under 30 seconds from live... |
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Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.