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What can you use instead of Clearscope, and what does each cost per writer and per draft?

Published October 29, 2026

What entry plans cost and meter

Surfer's pricing page says annual plans charge the whole year upfront, and credits reset yearly or when you change plan. We have not confirmed whether Surfer's document counts are per month or per year, so don't read 120 as a monthly figure. Frase Starter stops at its monthly limits instead of billing extra. A Frase article, a NEURONwriter document and a Clearscope draft aren't defined as the same unit, so treat any comparison between them as rough.

What four writers pay for twenty drafts a month

Clearscope Essentials covers this team as listed, at $129 a month. Twelve months cost $1,548.

Frase Starter has one seat, so the first plan that fits is Professional, with three seats, 40 articles and $29 a month for each extra seat. Billed yearly, that's $103 plus $29, or $132 a month, and $1,584 a year. Month to month it's $129 plus $29, or $158 a month and $1,896 a year.

NEURONwriter Gold, the first tier with unlimited team members, includes 75 documents for $690 billed yearly, or $69 a month. NEURONwriter's Content Writer help explains that each new query uses a credit and the allowance renews monthly without rollover. Twenty drafts fit if each needs one new analysis; running more analyses consumes more of the 75-document allowance.

Surfer sells seats in tiers, so ask which plan includes four seats and what it costs for a year. The Surfer vs Clearscope guide and the Surfer alternatives guide go further into that choice.

If a month runs long, Clearscope bills add-ons automatically, with Drafts packs listed at $50 on Essentials; ask which pack size that covers. Frase's pay-as-you-go on Professional is off by default and charges $5 per extra article at the end of the cycle when you turn it on.

For four writers using no more than 75 new analyses a month, NEURONwriter Gold costs $690 billed yearly. Among the plans with full team prices calculated here, it has the lowest annual charge; that does not compare research quality or include a MarketMuse quote. Frase Professional with a fourth seat costs $1,584 on the stated annual-billing calculation, with 40 articles a month. Extra articles cost $5 each when pay-as-you-go is enabled.

Where quote-only pricing leaves you

Ask MarketMuse for a quote for Optimize, Research or Strategy. Optimize covers one user and 100 queries a month. Research covers three users with unlimited queries. Strategy covers five users and 20 Content Briefs a month.

Strategy includes five users. Ask MarketMuse for a quote covering your four writers and any briefs beyond 20 a month.

What Clearscope still does differently

Clearscope doesn't charge per person on any plan. Hiring a fifth or tenth writer leaves the Essentials bill at $129, while Frase adds $29 a month per seat past its included count.

Clearscope bills monthly with no contract and offers a 14-day free trial. Frase and NEURONwriter both offer seven-day trials, and NEURONwriter refunds the first plan bought on an account within 30 days.

Clearscope's plans also track queries in ChatGPT and Gemini, with 50 tracked queries on Essentials. The content optimization tools guide covers the broader field. Compare the full team budget in /seo-tools-cost-calculator/ before choosing annual billing.

Work out your own number: the SEO Tools Cost Calculator finds the cheapest published plan for your sites, tracked keywords and users.

Figures come from each vendor's own pricing pages and documentation. We have not tested these tools hands-on, and no ranking here is paid for.