AI SEO tools, compared
The best AI SEO tools
for small businesses in 2026.
The best AI SEO tool for a small business depends on the job. For a full SEO suite: Semrush or Ahrefs. To optimize drafts your team writes: Surfer or Clearscope. To track how AI apps mention you: Otterly.AI or Peec AI. To have articles written and published for you: Frase, or the SEO Machine by Ownbox, on a system you own.
Updated November 12, 2026. We make the SEO Machine by Ownbox, one of the nine tools here. Every fact about the others is from its maker's own website, checked that day, and each one links to where we read it. They're listed A to Z: we don't rank ourselves first.
The nine tools side by side
Whether each one writes articles, publishes them to your website, tracks how AI apps answer about you, how you pay, and its lowest paid price.
| Tool | Writes articles | Publishes to your site | Tracks AI answers | How you pay | Lowest paid price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | Coming soon (Content Kit add-on) | No, you publish | Brand Radar AI add-on | Monthly or yearly | $29/mo |
| Clearscope | Grades your drafts | No, grades posts in WordPress | Yes, every plan | Monthly | $129/mo |
| Frase | Yes | WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix | Yes | Monthly or yearly | $39/mo, billed yearly |
| MarketMuse | No | No | Not stated | Ask for a price | Not published |
| Otterly.AI | No | No | Yes | Monthly or yearly | $29/mo |
| Peec AI | No | No | Yes | Monthly or yearly | $95/mo |
| Semrush | Yes (Content Toolkit) | WordPress, through a plugin | Yes (SEO plan) | Monthly or yearly | $60/mo, billed yearly |
| SEO Machine by Ownbox | Yes, from facts you approve | Yes, to your CMS on your schedule | Free AI visibility report | Once, then $99/mo Managed Support after 90 days | $799 once, with Ownbox Core |
| Surfer | Optimizes your drafts | Drafts to WordPress (Standard plan) | Yes ($82/mo, billed yearly) | Yearly or monthly | $49/mo, billed yearly |
Prices are each maker's lowest paid plan as shown on its site on November 12, 2026, before tax. Some features need a higher plan or an add-on; each tool's notes below say which.
Each tool, A to Z
What it is, who it's best for, what to watch out for, and what it costs.
Ahrefs
Best for the lowest price on a full SEO toolset
An SEO toolset for research, rankings and AI answers. In its own words, it gives you "the tools and data to grow your brand's traffic, visibility, and revenue."
- Watch out for
- You publish yourself. Tracking AI answers is the Brand Radar AI add-on, from $199 a month. Its writing tools, the AI Content Helper among them, are in the Content Kit add-on, from $99 a month, which its pricing page marks as coming soon.
- Price
- Starter from $29 a month; up to 17% off billed yearly. A free plan, Ahrefs Free.
Clearscope
Best for teams that write their own content and want it graded before it goes live
A content optimization tool that grades drafts for search. It works in Google Docs, Microsoft Word and WordPress.
- Watch out for
- It grades and optimizes what your team writes; publishing happens in your own CMS. Every plan tracks chosen queries in ChatGPT and other AI apps.
- Price
- Essentials from $129 a month. A 14-day free trial.
Frase
Best for having articles written and published to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix
A content platform that, in its own words, "researches, writes, optimizes, publishes, and monitors content so it ranks on Google and gets cited by AI."
- Watch out for
- A monthly subscription on Frase's servers. It publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix, or hosts the page on its own FraseCMS.
- Price
- Starter from $39 a month billed yearly, $49 billed monthly. A 7-day free trial.
MarketMuse
Best for planning which topics to cover, and how deeply
Content planning software that, in its own words, "tells you what content to write (and how much)" to rank where competitors are weak.
- Watch out for
- In its own words, "we do not write content for our customers", and it doesn't publish. Paid plans are priced on a demo.
- Price
- A free plan. Paid plans aren't priced on its site: you book a demo.
Otterly.AI
Best low-cost way to track how AI apps mention your brand
An AI search monitoring tool: it tracks how your brand and website appear in AI answers, audits your pages and recommends fixes.
- Watch out for
- It monitors and recommends; it doesn't write or publish.
- Price
- Lite from $29 a month. A free trial.
Peec AI
Best for detailed tracking of your brand across AI search
An AI search monitoring tool. In its own words: "Track, analyze, and improve brand performance on AI search platforms."
- Watch out for
- Monitoring and analytics; its site makes no claim that it writes or publishes. No free plan.
- Price
- Starter from $95 a month, billed monthly. 15% off billed yearly. A free trial.
Semrush
Best all-in-one suite, with AI search tracking in its SEO plan
An all-in-one SEO and marketing suite. In its own words, it "helps you build and measure brand visibility, everywhere search happens."
- Watch out for
- The SEO plan and the Content Toolkit are priced separately. The Content Toolkit publishes through a WordPress plugin.
- Price
- Content Toolkit from $60 a month, billed yearly. The SEO plan, which tracks performance in AI search, is $139 a month, or $117.33 billed yearly. A free plan.
SEO Machine by Ownbox
Best for a small business that wants articles written and published for it, from facts it approves, on a system it owns
Our own, from Ownbox: a machine for an Ownbox, which runs on a server of its own that you can take home to your own account any time from 30 days after you buy. It plans the questions your buyers ask, writes an answer-first article for each from the facts you approve, checks every one, and publishes it to your website's CMS on the schedule you set.
- Watch out for
- It publishes through a CMS: on WordPress, Wix or Squarespace, your web person connects it first. It writes only from the facts you add, and the AI runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan. It doesn't track AI answers yet; our free AI visibility report does.
- Price
- Free for a limited time as Ownbox Core's one free machine: Core picks one of the two. Ownbox Core is $799 once. Managed Support, which includes the hosting, is included for 90 days, then renews at $99 a month unless canceled, or you move your Ownbox to your own DigitalOcean account. Plus your own AI plan. No per-seat fees.
Surfer
Best for optimizing drafts your team writes, at a low price
In its own words, "the most complete platform for AI Search Optimization and visibility": it optimizes content for search and tracks AI search.
- Watch out for
- It sends drafts to WordPress, and the WordPress integration starts on the Standard plan, at $99 a month billed yearly. AI Search Analytics is $82 a month, billed yearly.
- Price
- Discovery from $49 a month, billed yearly.
How we compared them
- Writes articlesWhether it writes the article, helps you write it, or grades a draft your team wrote.
- Publishes to your siteWhether it puts the article on your website itself, sends a draft, or leaves publishing to you.
- Tracks AI answersWhether it shows how ChatGPT and other AI apps answer about your business, and on which plan.
- How you payMonthly, yearly, or once.
- Who it's built forA small business, a content team, or an agency running many sites.
- Only the maker's own wordsEvery fact is from the maker's own site. Where a site didn't say, the table says so.
Questions about AI SEO tools
What is the best AI SEO tool for a small business?
It depends on the job. For a full SEO suite: Semrush or Ahrefs. To optimize drafts your team writes: Surfer or Clearscope. To track how AI apps mention you: Otterly.AI or Peec AI. To have articles written and published for you: Frase, or the SEO Machine by Ownbox, on a system you own.
Which AI SEO tools publish to your website?
Of the nine here: Frase publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix. Semrush's Content Toolkit publishes to WordPress through a plugin. Surfer sends drafts to WordPress. The SEO Machine by Ownbox publishes to your website's CMS on the schedule you set. Clearscope grades your drafts, and you publish; Ahrefs' writing tools are in its Content Kit add-on, which its pricing page marks as coming soon.
Which tools track how ChatGPT and other AI apps mention your business?
Otterly.AI and Peec AI are built for it. Semrush tracks AI search in its SEO plan, Clearscope tracks chosen queries in ChatGPT and other AI apps on every plan, Surfer sells AI Search Analytics, Ahrefs has the Brand Radar AI add-on, and Frase monitors whether content gets cited by AI. Our free AI visibility report checks it once, for free.
Is there a free AI SEO tool?
Yes, with limits. Semrush, Ahrefs and MarketMuse each have a free plan. Frase has a 7-day free trial, Clearscope a 14-day free trial, and Otterly.AI and Peec AI a free trial.
What is answer engine optimization?
Answer engine optimization means writing your website so AI apps like ChatGPT can find your answers and name your business. Each page opens with a short, direct answer to a question your customers ask, marked up so search engines and AI apps can read it.
Do AI SEO tools need a monthly subscription?
Most do. Every other tool here is billed monthly or yearly. The SEO Machine by Ownbox comes with Ownbox Core, which is bought once. Managed Support, which includes the hosting, is included for 90 days, then renews at $99 a month unless canceled, or you move your Ownbox to your own DigitalOcean account and pay that host. The AI runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan.
Changes
- First published: nine tools, every fact checked on its maker's site that day.
Articles written and published for you, on a system you own.
Writes and publishes articles to your site. A hard check before anything goes live. Google Search Console, connected with one button.