A Surfer SEO alternative for people who publish a few pages a month
Surfer is an editor you write inside, with a live score against the pages already ranking, and if your team publishes every week that score is the reason to pay. Loadout has no editor and no score, so it is the wrong answer for anyone whose day is spent optimising drafts.
Prices checked on 1 Nov 2026 from each company's own pages
In Surfer SEO
Step 1 of 8Which keywords a new site should target, as their pages describe it
- Log in to the platform
- 2Run keyword research
- 3Build the topical map
- 4Analyse the results page
- 5Open the content editor
- 6Write toward the Content Score
- 7Run the AI detector
- 8Track the page
In your AI, with Loadout
1 requestKeyword Map, about 110 credits
- Keyword Mapworking
- Research keywords
- Check competitor SEO
- Check keywords
- Check AI visibility
- Research YouTube
Starting price
Surfer SEO
$49 a month on Discovery, billed yearly. Every figure on the page is a monthly price billed yearly. Discovery carries 120 documents to create or optimise, 10 tracked pages and 1 seat. AI Search Analytics is $82 and tracks 50 AI prompts daily on 5 seats with no document allowance. Standard is $99 for 360 documents, 25 AI prompts refreshed weekly and 50 tracked pages. Pro is $182 for 200 tracked pages and 5 seats, Peace of Mind is $299 with API access and 500 tracked pages, and Enterprise is custom. The plan cards list MCP on AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind. The FAQ says a year is charged upfront and credits reset yearly.
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Best for
Surfer SEO
Content teams and agencies writing and refreshing pages every week, who want a live score in the editor and writers working to it.
Loadout
Agencies, freelancers and consultants who hand pages to a writer or an AI, and who sell content as one service among several.
Price model
Surfer SEO
$49 a month on Discovery billed yearly, rising to $299 on Peace of Mind, priced by documents, tracked pages and seats
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Writing the page
Surfer SEO
A content editor with a live Content Score, the Surfy assistant, an AI detector and a humanizer
Loadout
No editor and no score. Loadout writes the brief and the facts to collect, and the draft happens in your AI app or with your own writer.
Before the draft
Surfer SEO
Keyword research, a topical map and SERP analysis inside the platform
Loadout
The keyword map power turns 100 keyword ideas and 10 results pages into a page plan for about 110 credits, and the page briefs power writes one brief from the page winning today for about 25
AI search visibility
Surfer SEO
From 25 prompts refreshed weekly on Standard to 100 refreshed daily on Peace of Mind, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini
Loadout
The AI search visibility audit asks twelve questions built from search data across four AI assistants, measures the spread and scores the 25 most quoted pages, about 320 credits a run
Tracking over time
Surfer SEO
Tracked pages from 10 on Discovery to 500 on Peace of Mind, with a content audit and ranking drop alerts
Loadout
No tracked pages and no alerts. You rerun the audit when you want to compare.
Seats
Surfer SEO
1 seat on Discovery, 3 on Standard, 5 on Pro and 10 on Peace of Mind
Loadout
No team seats. One account, used inside your own AI app.
Where it runs
Surfer SEO
A web platform with WordPress, Google Docs, Contentful and Zapier integrations, and MCP listed on AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind
Loadout
Inside ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Muse, Claude Code or Codex, as a connector
How you pay
Surfer SEO
The page shows yearly prices, charged for the whole year upfront, with credits resetting yearly
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Outside content
Surfer SEO
Everything is content and AI search
Loadout
Announced on 12 November
Choosing
Surfer SEO or Loadout.
Stay with Surfer SEO if
- You write in the editor. The Content Score, Surfy and the one click optimisation are what the subscription buys, and there is no editor and no score here.
- You look after a library of pages. Surfer tracks from 10 pages on Discovery up to 500 and raises a ranking drop alert, and nothing in Loadout watches a page for you.
- You want to try something for nothing first. Surfer lists free tools on its pricing page, including an AI visibility audit, an AI detector and a humanizer, while Loadout has one paid plan and sign up is invite only at the moment.
Look at Loadout if
- You brief other people. A page brief is about 25 credits and names the page winning today, what it has that yours lacks, the outline and the questions to ask the client.
- A yearly plan is a year paid upfront.
- Content is one of the things you sell.
Other options
Other Surfer SEO alternatives people look at.
Starting prices from each company's own page, checked on 1 Nov 2026.
$139 a month for the SEO plan, or $117.33 a month billed annually
Keyword, competitor and position data in one large platform, with content tools inside it.
The strongest backlink index of the group, with API and MCP access on every paid plan.
$129 a month on Essentials, with 20 Discoveries and 20 Drafts a month
Content reports and drafts for teams who want one clean score and unlimited users.
$39 a month on Starter, shown as $468 billed yearly, with 10 articles a month
Briefs, drafts and content audits on a cheaper per article allowance.
In Loadout
The powers that do this work.
Each one is a proven method your AI follows step by step, with the live data each step needs, and a price shown before it runs.
Opening 12 November
Join the waitlist.
Loadout opens to everyone on 12 November. Leave your email and we'll tell you the moment it does.
Questions
Before you run it.
What does Surfer cost right now+
Read from their pricing page on 1 Nov 2026, which now sits at surfer.ai. Discovery is $49 a month, AI Search Analytics $82, Standard $99, Pro $182 and Peace of Mind $299, every one shown as a monthly price billed yearly, with Enterprise custom. The FAQ says the year is charged upfront and that credits reset yearly.
Does Loadout score my draft the way Surfer does+
No. There is no content editor and no score. The page briefs power writes the brief the draft is built from, for about 25 credits, and the writing happens in ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Muse, Claude Code or Codex, or with your own writer.
Can Loadout tell me whether ChatGPT recommends a business+
Yes. The AI search visibility audit asks twelve questions built from real search data across four AI assistants, measures how much the answers vary, scores the 25 most quoted pages as outreach targets and drafts the pitches, for about 320 credits. It cannot promise a place in an AI answer, and nobody can.
+
It depends on the depth. A page brief is about 25 credits, so ten briefs in a month is 250. A keyword map is about 110, an AI search visibility audit about 320 and a full SEO audit against three rivals about 400. Every job shows its cost before it runs, and unused credits roll over for two months.