Grammarly vs Surfer SEO
A writing assistant that corrects and improves text you have already written, rather than generating content from a brief. Content optimisation scored against what currently ranks, now extending into tracking brand visibility inside AI answers.
At a glance
| Grammarly | Surfer SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $12/mo | $49/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Plans offered | 3 | 6 |
| Team pricing | Not published | Not published |
| Vendor | Grammarly | Surfer |
| Best for | Anyone who writes a lot and wants it to come out cleaner | Content teams publishing regularly against competitive queries |
| Main trade-off | It improves writing rather than producing it -- 2,000 prompts a month is not a content pipeline | Every headline price requires annual billing |
The short answer
Choose Grammarly if anyone who writes a lot and wants it to come out cleaner. Choose Surfer SEO if content teams publishing regularly against competitive queries. The rest of this page is the detail behind that.
Pricing
Grammarly
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Spelling and grammar · Tone detection · 100 AI prompts/month |
| Pro | $12/mo | 2,000 AI prompts/member/month · Full-sentence rewrites · Tone adjustment · Plagiarism and AI detection · 1 style guide and brand tone · 7-day trial |
| Enterprise | Custom | SAML SSO, SCIM · BYOK encryption · Data loss prevention · Unlimited style guides · Audit logs |
Pricing verified
Surfer SEO
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | $49/mo | Billed yearly · 120 documents · 10 pages tracked · Surfy AI assistant |
| Standard | $99/mo | Billed yearly · 360 documents · 25 AI prompts tracked weekly · WordPress and Google Docs integration |
| AI Search Analytics | $158/mo | Billed yearly · Tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews · 100 AI prompts daily · 5 brand spaces |
| Pro | $182/mo | Billed yearly · 360 documents · 50 AI prompts daily · Internal linking · Content ideas |
| Peace of Mind | $299/mo | Billed yearly · Unlimited documents (fair use) · API access · Dedicated success manager |
| Enterprise | $999/mo | Custom limits · White-label · SSO |
Pricing verified
Grammarly
Strengths
- Genuinely useful free tier -- grammar, spelling and tone cost nothing
- Works everywhere you already write, rather than in its own editor
- Plagiarism and AI-detection included at $12, which the content generators charge far more for
- Cheapest paid tier of any tool in this category
Trade-offs
- It improves writing rather than producing it -- 2,000 prompts a month is not a content pipeline
- No brand voice depth compared with a dedicated marketing platform
- Suggestions can flatten distinctive prose toward a house style if accepted uncritically
Grammarly: who it suits
Buy it if
- Anyone who writes a lot and wants it to come out cleaner
- Teams enforcing a consistent style across many writers
- Non-native English speakers writing professionally
Skip it if
- Producing content at volume from a brief -- Jasper or Copy.ai are the tools for that
- Anyone wanting an AI that drafts for them, since this is fundamentally an editor
- Writers who value a distinctive voice and would rather not be nudged toward the average
Visit Grammarlyfrom $12/mo · free tier available
Surfer SEO
Strengths
- Optimisation scored against pages that actually rank, rather than generic advice
- WordPress and Google Docs integration puts the score where writing already happens
- One of the few tools measuring visibility inside AI answers as well as classic search
- Internal linking suggestions from the Pro tier are genuinely useful at scale
Trade-offs
- Every headline price requires annual billing
- No free plan, only a trial
- Six tiers with overlapping features make it hard to work out which you need
- Optimising to a content score encourages writing for the tool rather than the reader
Surfer SEO: who it suits
Buy it if
- Content teams publishing regularly against competitive queries
- Agencies managing optimisation across many client sites
- SEO teams adding generative engine optimisation to their remit
Skip it if
- Anyone wanting a tool that writes -- this scores and guides, it does not draft from a brief
- Occasional publishers, since 120 documents a year on the entry tier costs $588 up front
- Writers who would rather not let a content score dictate structure
Visit Surfer SEOfrom $49/mo
Common questions
- Is Grammarly or Surfer SEO cheaper?
- Grammarly starts at $12/mo and Surfer SEO at $49/mo. Grammarly is cheaper at entry level, though the allowances differ.
- Who should not use Grammarly?
- Producing content at volume from a brief -- Jasper or Copy.ai are the tools for that. Anyone wanting an AI that drafts for them, since this is fundamentally an editor. Writers who value a distinctive voice and would rather not be nudged toward the average.
- Who should not use Surfer SEO?
- Anyone wanting a tool that writes -- this scores and guides, it does not draft from a brief. Occasional publishers, since 120 documents a year on the entry tier costs $588 up front. Writers who would rather not let a content score dictate structure.
- Does Grammarly or Surfer SEO have a free tier?
- Grammarly has a free tier; Surfer SEO does not.