What do content marketing tools really cost?
Eight tools that tell you what to write to rank and score your draft against it, priced by how many articles one person optimises a month. Each one counts an "article" differently, so pick a number and they are priced on the same footing.
Last checked: 7 Nov 2026 · every price read off the vendor's own page, monthly billing, before VAT · no affiliate links
For tools that write the draft for you, see what AI writing tools really cost.
Jump to: the short answer · what one article is, tool by tool · what each pays a referrer
The short answer
Several pages open on yearly prices. Surfer Discovery shows $49 but is $59 billed monthly; Frase Starter shows $39 against $49, and StoryChief Starter €49 against €59. Every figure here is the monthly price.
Surfer's Pro has the same 30 documents as Standard, $219 against $119 a month, and Surfer no longer sells extra documents: past 30 a month the only Surfer is Peace of Mind at $359, whose "Unlimited*" means 500 a month.
Clearscope's $399 Business plan has the same 20 Drafts as the $129 Essentials. It makes extra Drafts cheaper ($2 each against $5) and adds tracked pages and queries.
Semrush's main SEO plans include content optimisation only from Pro+, at £242.28 a month. Its separate Content Toolkit is £48.62 a month, with no published cap on its optimiser or briefs.
Cheapest at 4 and 20 articles: NeuronWriter Bronze, $23 a month (about £17.18) for up to 25 analyses. At 20 articles the next figures are Semrush's Content Toolkit (£48.62, no published cap) and StoryChief Starter (€59, about £49.21), which counts articles published rather than analysed; of the optimisers with a stated allowance, Scalenut Plus is next at $89 (about £66.49).
At 60 articles, Semrush's Content Toolkit stays at £48.62 because it publishes no cap, and meters only 5 "SEO boosts" a month. Of the tools with a stated allowance, NeuronWriter Gold is cheapest at $69 (about £51.55) for 75 analyses, then Scalenut Professional at $199 (about £148.67) and Frase at $229 (about £171.09, Professional plus 20 extra articles at $5). Clearscope's $379 (about £283.15) is an estimate.
Dashword charges per report, not per score: re-checking a draft is free, and its $99 Startup plan has 5 seats.
When the cheapest is not the answer
- Two of these aren't like-for-like. Semrush's Content Toolkit publishes no cap on optimising, so its flat price looks cheapest at high volume; StoryChief is a planning-and-publishing tool that counts articles published, and its SEO help is keyphrase checks and a keyword gap list rather than a full SERP brief.
- Seats differ more than prices. Clearscope has unlimited users on every plan and Dashword's $99 Startup has 5 seats; NeuronWriter Bronze and Silver are for one person, and Surfer Discovery has 1 seat.
- Some stop dead at the limit. Frase Starter stops at 10 articles, and Professional goes past 40 only once pay-as-you-go is switched on; Surfer sells no extra documents; Clearscope bills extra Drafts automatically when you exceed the plan.
- Allowances don't roll over. Surfer's and Clearscope's unused limits reset each month, and NeuronWriter's renews monthly.
- Prices are before VAT. Surfer says UK customers get VAT added; dollar and euro prices move with the exchange rate.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each tool's pricing page, help centre and FAQ in a real browser, switched it to monthly billing, and copied the sentence behind every figure; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used.
This page replaces an older list of content marketing software on this site. There are no affiliate links on this page and nothing on it earns a commission. Most of these companies run affiliate programmes, listed below for readers who run sites of their own; this site hasn't joined any of them.
How the numbers are worked out
monthly cost = the cheapest monthly-billed plan whose published allowance covers that many articles a month for one user, where one article is one SERP analysis for its keyword and its draft scored against it (re-scoring the same draft doesn't count again)
What one article is, tool by tool:
- NeuronWriter: one "document", which its FAQ calls a content writer analysis, one per keyword
- Semrush Content Toolkit: no published cap on the Content Optimizer or SEO briefs; only 5 "SEO boosts" a month are metered
- StoryChief: one article published, not analysed
- Scalenut: one new article or one refresh of an existing one, each a separate allowance
- Dashword: one content report; scoring drafts against it is free and unlimited
- Surfer: one "document" (a Content Editor), AI-written or manual
- Frase: one article credit; briefs have a separate allowance of about twice that
- Clearscope: one Draft, an analysis of the top 30 results for a query
| Tool | 4 articles | 20 articles | 60 articles |
|---|---|---|---|
| NeuronWriterone analysis per keyword; inviting teammates starts on Gold | £17.18Bronze, 25 content writer analyses a month · $23.00 | £17.18Bronze, 25 content writer analyses a month · $23.00 | £51.55Gold, 75 analyses a month (Silver's 50 is too few) · $69.00 |
| Semrush Content Toolkita separate subscription from Semrush's SEO plans, where content optimisation starts on Pro+ | £48.62Content Toolkit, one plan: no published cap on the Content Optimizer or SEO briefs, only 5 'SEO boosts' a month, so not a like-for-like allowance | £48.62Content Toolkit, one plan: no published cap on the Content Optimizer or SEO briefs, only 5 'SEO boosts' a month, so not a like-for-like allowance | £48.62Content Toolkit, one plan: no published cap on the Content Optimizer or SEO briefs, only 5 'SEO boosts' a month, so not a like-for-like allowance |
| StoryChiefcontent calendar, approvals and publishing, with keyphrase SEO checks; priced in euros | £49.21Starter, 25 published articles a month, 1 user: a planning-and-publishing tool that counts articles published, not analysed · €59.00 | £49.21Starter, 25 published articles a month: it counts articles published, not analysed · €59.00 | £249.41Growth, 100 published articles a month, 5 users: it counts articles published, not analysed · €299.00 |
| Scalenutnew and refreshed articles are separate allowances | £44.08Starter, 5 new + 5 refreshed articles a month · $59.00 | £66.49Plus, 30 new + 30 refreshed articles a month · $89.00 | £148.67Professional, 75 new + 75 refreshed articles a month · $199.00 |
| Dashwordcharges per report; scoring drafts is free and unlimited | £73.96Startup, 30 content reports a month, 5 seats · $99.00 | £73.96Startup, 30 content reports a month, 5 seats · $99.00 | £260.74Business, from $349 a month, 100 content reports · $349.00 |
| Surfera document is a Content Editor; AI-written and manual ones share one limit | £44.08Discovery, 10 documents a month (the page opens on yearly prices: $49) · $59.00 | £88.91Standard, 30 documents a month (yearly view: $99) · $119.00 | £268.21Peace of Mind, 'Unlimited*' documents, 500 a month under fair use; Pro ($219) has the same 30 as Standard, and extra documents aren't sold · $359.00 |
| Frasearticles are Article Credits; Starter stops at its limit | £36.61Starter, 10 articles a month (the page opens on yearly prices: $39) · $49.00 | £96.38Professional, 40 articles a month (briefs have a separate allowance of about twice that) · $129.00 | £171.09Professional + 20 extra articles at $5 pay-as-you-go (off by default) = $229; Scale, 100 articles, is $299 · $229.00 |
| ClearscopeBusiness ($399) has the same 20 Drafts as Essentials; unused Drafts don't roll over | £96.38Essentials, 20 Drafts a month, unlimited users · $129.00 | £96.38Essentials, 20 Drafts a month (right at the cap) · $129.00 | £283.15Estimate: Essentials $129 + 50 extra Drafts $250 (sold in steps of 10 / 20 / 30 / 50); the page doesn't say whether extra Drafts repeat monthly · $379.00 |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 6 November 2026 (the latest published: 7 November 2026 is a Saturday and the ECB publishes on working days only): 1 EUR = 0.83415 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1165 USD, so 1 USD = 0.74711 GBP.
Left out: MarketMuse — no published prices: every plan's button is 'Book a demo'.
If you'll recommend one: what each pays you
Many readers of this page run sites of their own. This is what each tool pays someone who refers a paying customer, from its own affiliate page; "one-off" means it pays once per customer, "recurring" that it pays on later payments too. This site hasn't joined any of them, and it plays no part in the order above.
| Tool | Commission | Cookie |
|---|---|---|
| Frase | Recurring: 30% of every payment for 12 months, renewals and upgrades included | 60 days |
| NeuronWriter | Recurring: 30% of every payment the referred customer makes | 60 days |
| Dashword | Recurring: 30% for as long as the referred customer stays | 60 days |
| Scalenut | Recurring: 30% of every renewal for life (40% at its Premium tier, considered after 50 referrals) | 60 days |
| StoryChief | Recurring: 50% of the first invoice, then 20% of renewals while the customer pays | 365 days |
| Surfer | One-off: 75% of a referral's first monthly payment (100% from 11 referrals, 125% from 51), or 15-25% of a first yearly payment | 90 days |
| Semrush | One-off: $100 per Content Toolkit sale ($110 / $130 / $150 at higher quarterly volumes), plus $10 per free trial | 120 days |
There are no affiliate links on this page. The research is done by AI agents reading each vendor's own pricing pages and help centres. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest content optimisation tool?
On this page's figures, NeuronWriter: Bronze is $23 a month (about £17.18) for up to 25 content writer analyses, and Gold $69 (about £51.55) for 75. Semrush's Content Toolkit is £48.62 a month with no published cap on its optimiser or briefs, but it meters only 5 'SEO boosts' a month.
How much does Surfer cost per month?
Billed monthly, Discovery is $59 (10 documents), Standard $119 (30), Pro $219 (also 30) and Peace of Mind $359 ('Unlimited*', 500 a month under fair use). The pricing page opens on yearly prices, such as $49 for Discovery, and Surfer no longer sells extra documents.
What is the difference between Clearscope Essentials and Business?
Business, at $399 a month, includes the same 20 Drafts a month as the $129 Essentials plan. It makes extra Drafts cheaper ($2 each against $5) and adds tracked pages and queries.
Does Semrush include content optimisation?
In its main SEO plans, content optimisation is listed only from Pro+, at £242.28 a month. Its separate Content Toolkit is £48.62 a month and includes the Content Optimizer and SEO briefs, with no published cap.
Answers use the figures on this page, last checked 7 Nov 2026.