Frase and Surfer SEO：Why Frase is the Best Affordable Alternative

Last Updated: 2025 · Disclosure: Affiliate links are used in this comparison.

In the world of SEO Content Intelligence, two giants stand tall: Surfer SEO and Frase.

Surfer SEO revolutionized the industry with its “Content Score.” But in 2025, with budgets tightening and AI writing becoming essential, is Surfer still worth the premium price tag? Or has Frase—the agile, all-in-one powerhouse—stolen the crown?

Round 1: Research Speed

Before you write a single word, you need a plan. This is where the workflow difference becomes massive.

Surfer SEO focuses on the keyword. It analyzes the SERPs and gives you a list of NLP terms to include. While effective, building the actual structure of your article (headings, questions) is still largely a manual process inside their outline builder.

Frase is built for speed. Its sidebar visualizes the top 20 Google results. You can see your competitors’ H2s and H3s and simply drag-and-drop them into your brief. It also automatically scrapes “People Also Ask” questions and Reddit topics.

Round 2: AI Writing Capabilities

In 2025, you shouldn’t be writing content from scratch. Both tools have AI, but the implementation is radically different.

Surfer AI: This is a “Click and Pray” solution. You pay a premium (often $29 per article) to generate a full post. It’s high quality, but it’s expensive and rigid. Once it’s generated, editing it can feel like fighting the machine.

Frase AI: Frase treats AI as a “Co-Pilot.” It is integrated directly into the editor. You can highlight a paragraph and ask Frase to “Rewrite,” “Expand,” or “Write the next section.” It’s flexible, interactive, and most importantly—much cheaper.

Round 3: Optimization & Scoring

This is Surfer’s home turf. Their NLP engine analyzes over 500 signals to determine why pages rank.

Surfer SEO: Their Content Score (0-100) is the industry standard. It’s strict. If it says you need the word “sustainability” 5 times, it means it. For agencies delivering work to clients, this “Green Score” is a valuable deliverable.

Frase: Frase uses a “Topic Score.” It works similarly—comparing your content coverage against the top 20 results. It might not have the granular correlation data of Surfer, but it hits the “80/20 rule” perfectly. It ensures your content is topically complete without forcing you to stuff keywords awkwardly.

💰 Pricing: The Deal Breaker

This is where the competition ends and the decision becomes easy.