Our extensive research and testing for the top Clearscope alternatives in 2023 revealed that Surfer SEO leads the pack. Outshining other alternatives to Clearscope, it offers outstanding keyword research, AI-driven SERP analysis, and Content Editor tools, simplifying the process of crafting SEO-centric content.
Besides Surfer SEO, MarketMuse is another worthy alternative to Clearscope, ranking just slightly lower. This tool has various features, such as competitor assessment, keyword analysis, content grouping, and brief generation. Still, it fails to surpass Clearscope due to its steeper pricing, somewhat less intuitive interface, and less enjoyable overall user experience.
For those looking for a budget-friendly Clearscope alternative, PageOptimizer Pro emerges as a valuable choice. This cost-effective option delivers comprehensive content reviews based on SERP competition, insightful recommendations, and smooth integration with WordPress and Google Docs, making it a sought-after alternative to Clearscope.
- Includes keyword research & auditing functionality
- Real-time feedback to optimize content
- Plagiarism checker included
- Integrations with Google Docs & Jasper
- A 7-day free trial is available
- Built-in KW research and clustering
- Offers a content brief generator
- Linking recommendations
- Integrates with ChatGPT
- Free plan offers 10 reports a month (limited)
- Advanced content briefing functionality
- Highly customizable analysis variables
- Easy to follow optimization scoring
- Offers a convenient Chrome extension
- Unlimited reports for just $50/month
Content optimization tools are essential for successful content marketing. They help you optimize your content for search engine visibility and ensure it is relevant to the topics and keywords that matter most to your target audience.
Clearscope is a popular tool offering powerful keyword research capabilities, insights into competitive analysis and other SEO-related tasks. It helps users properly navigate through the content creation process and content marketing workflow. But what if Clearscope isn't the right fit for your business?
We've compiled this article to provide an overview of some of the best alternatives to Clearscope available in 2023. Here, we'll look at seven different solutions and discuss their features, pricing models, pros, and cons so you can decide which is the right content brief software for your needs.
Our Evaluation Criteria for Choosing A Clearscope Alternative
It is essential to understand your content marketing needs and goals so that you can choose the best tool for your business. Different tools offer different features and benefits, so finding the right one to help you achieve your specific goals is essential.
On page SEO is a huge component to ranking on Google and other search engines for your target keywords. The right content optimization tool will help you create perfectly SEO-optimized content and help nail your content strategy with the first attempt to capture the most organic traffic.
Here are some of the criteria our team used when evaluating good alternatives to Clearscope:
- Keyword research capabilities – whether the tool has rich keyword data and can provide insights into search volume, competition levels, related topics, keyword variations, etc.
- Content analysis and recommendations – whether the tool can analyze existing content and create content briefs based on a target keyword to provide recommendations for increased search engine visibility, whether it is average word count, keyword suggestions (relevant terms via natural language processing), and determining the search intent.
- Pricing and affordability – whether the tool is budget-friendly or more of an enterprise-only solution. Some tools even offer a free trial for testing purposes.
- User experience and learning curve – how organized and clean the UI is and how quickly it takes a new user to get up and running
- Integration with other standard content marketing tools – whether there are integrations with other standard tools such as Grammarly, Google Docs, etc.
- Customer support and resources – whether the tool provides helpful and reliable customer support, resources, tutorials, etc.
The Best Clearscope Alternatives
Editor's Choice: Surfer SEO
Surfer SEO is our editor's choice for Clearscope alternatives, as we find it the ideal platform to help you improve your content and boost your search engine rankings. It offers a user-friendly interface with advanced features to help you create highly optimized content.
With its intuitive interface, users of all experience levels can quickly understand and take action on the insights provided. Surfer SEO offers tiered pricing plans that cater to different user requirements, from individuals to large enterprises. Its budget-friendly options make it more cost-effective than Clearscope's more expensive and limited plans.
Surfer SEO's advanced features include keyword analysis, content editor, SERP analyzer, and backlink analysis. These tools give users a deeper understanding of their content performance and tailored recommendations to improve their search engine rankings.
Moreover, Surfer SEO's comprehensive functionality allows users to analyze various on-page SEO factors for their target keyword density usage, such as headers, title tags, and meta descriptions, and provide related keyword suggestions. This in-depth approach empowers users with data-driven decisions, giving them an edge over competitors in the same field.
Another reason we prefer Surfer SEO over Clearscope is its third-party tool integrations. It natively works with popular companion services like Jasper AI, Grammarly, and Google Docs to help you streamline your workflow.
In summary, Surfer SEO is the ideal tool for content analysis and briefing, catering to the needs of all types of users with its specialized tools and capabilities. Its comprehensive features, intuitive interface, cost-effective pricing plans, and exceptional functionality make it a top choice for anyone looking to optimize their content and improve their search engine rankings.
Runner-Up: MarketMuse
When comparing content analysis tools, MarketMuse stands out as a noteworthy alternative to Clearscope. With a user-friendly interface that is straightforward to navigate, MarketMuse offers tiered pricing plans that accommodate a variety of budgets.
MarketMuse is equipped with advanced AI-driven features that enhance SEO performance. These include content briefs, keyword analysis, gap analysis, and content optimization, providing users with valuable insights into their content's SEO and revealing opportunities for improvement.
One of the distinguishing factors of MarketMuse compared to Clearscope is its comprehensive functionality. The platform enables users to analyze various on-page elements, such as titles, headers, and meta descriptions, facilitating data-driven content creation and optimization decisions.
MarketMuse is a compelling choice for affordable and effective content analysis and briefing solutions. Its intuitive interface and sophisticated AI-driven features contribute to improved search engine rankings, positioning MarketMuse as one of the top alternatives to Clearscope in today's market.
Budget Choice: PageOptimizer Pro (aka POP)
PageOptimizer Pro (POP) is an excellent budget-friendly option for Clearscope alternatives offering extensive features, a user-friendly interface, and comprehensive functionality.
With a clean and organized layout, POP's user interface allows users to quickly identify critical areas for improvement and receive actionable insights and recommendations for better search engine rankings. It's accessible to users of all experience levels, ensuring everyone can benefit from the features offered.
Regarding cost-effectiveness, POP's tiered pricing structure offers customers a selection of plans that meet their needs and budget. It is also the only software on this list offering unlimited content research and optimization reports for one flat monthly fee. This makes it a superior choice to Clearscope's higher prices and limited selection of service plans.
POP offers many built-in features designed explicitly for optimizing content for search engine results. These include a keyword, semantic, page structure, and competitor analysis, providing users a comprehensive understanding of their content's performance.
Moreover, POP allows users to analyze various on-page factors for word count and proper keyword usage in essential areas, such as headers, title tags, and meta descriptions. This helps create highly optimized content with a competitive edge in the search engine landscape.
The ability to analyze various on-page factors effectively, with meaningful data-driven recommendations, enables users to create highly optimized content ready to perform well in search engine rankings.
PageOptimizer Pro is a solid alternative to Clearscope for content analysis and briefing. Its advanced features, intuitive user-friendliness, and competitive pricing make it a comprehensive and cost-effective choice for optimizing your content.
Frase.io
For content marketers and SEOs looking for a Clearscope alternative, Frase.io offers an incredibly robust platform at an affordable price. The optional Pro-add-on allows users to access advanced AI writing capabilities, keyword search volumes, and competitor backlink profiles. This can be especially useful for marketing teams looking to gain an edge over their competitors in areas beyond just content analysis.
In addition to these features, Frase also offers content briefs (with an outline builder), a content scoring system, and document-sharing capabilities. These features make it easy for teams to keep track of their progress and collaborate on content projects.
Furthermore, the platform integrates seamlessly with Google Search Console, making it convenient for users to evaluate their keyword performance quickly. All in all, Frase is an excellent Clearscope alternative thanks to its comprehensive feature set and low cost of entry. It's worth checking out for anyone looking for a robust competitor analysis tool.
SEMRush
While SEMRush is most known for its keyword research tool and backlink analysis tool, it also offers a suite of content marketing-related tools, which can serve as an excellent Clearscope alternative, especially if you already have an active subscription (or more reason to get one). There are a lot of built-in features to SEMRush that make it worthwhile such as their search intent tool which help you choose the right approach during the content creation process for maximum success.
The SEMRush Content Template Tool allows users to create content templates that can be used to quickly produce new pieces of content based on keyword research data and competitor analysis. Additionally, their SEO Writing Assistant provides writers with suggestions on what language to use to optimize their pieces for search engine optimization (SEO).
The platform also provides users with tone of voice detection, AI content paraphrasing, and plagiarism detection. All in all, SEMRush is an excellent Clearscope alternative for content writers and SEOs who already have an active subscription to the service or are looking for comprehensive tools to help them optimize their SEO efforts.
Content Harmony
Another popular Clearscope alternative is a service called Content Harmony. Geared for more of an enterprise solution, they offer a $10 for ten content briefs with introductory pricing, which is an excellent deal for new users. However, once you surpass these initial 10 content briefs, their plans start at $99 for only 12 content briefs a month.
Content Harmony goes very heavy on the briefing process and can provide helpful context for your writing team. This goes beyond your traditional related keywords and offers elements like search intent, topic outlines, commonly asked questions, competitor outlines, images, videos, and more.
Overall, Content Harmony is a decent option for larger companies looking to get the most out of their content and don't mind paying a little more for each brief. The platform provides a highly comprehensive briefing process and many helpful insights into customer intent and competitor analysis, making it an attractive option for teams that want to maximize their ROI on content creation.
WriterZen
A newcomer to the space, but one that is bringing a lot of value in terms of budget-friendly Clearscope alternatives, is WriterZen. With prices starting at just $39 per month, you'll gain access to various helpful features for keyword research and content optimization.
One of the things that I like about the keyword explorer module is that it is not based on proprietary search data like AHREFs and SEMRush, but instead on data from Google's own Keyword Planning Tool. There is also a built-in keyword clustering functionality to help you plan which pages should cover multiple related keywords and which should require multiple ranking pages.
The content brief and optimization tool offers NLP analysis, AI writing functionality, content imports by URL, and shareable reports for writers. There is also a native plagiarism checker tool for helping to ensure your submitted content is original.
This makes it an ideal Clearscope alternative for those who want to get the most out of their content without breaking the bank. Plus, with their intuitive dashboard, you can improve your rankings based on your competitor's content strengths.
NeuronWriter
Another newly launched software for the global market is NeuronWriter, and it comes as a solid budget option for people looking for a Clearscope alternative. This software has become popular due to its inclusion on AppSumo's LTD marketplace (lifetime deal), but its monthly plans are also reasonably priced.
Neuron Writer has many helpful features like multi-language support, competitor analysis, analytics data, and SEO score tracking. It also has more advanced features like a plagiarism checker, internal linking recommendations, Google Search Console and WordPress integrations, and even a Chrome extension.
Overall, Neuron Writer provides an excellent value proposition to those seeking a comprehensive Clearscope alternative. It offers competitive features and pricing, making it an ideal choice for small to medium-sized businesses looking to get the most out of their content without breaking the bank.
GrowthBar
Another budget alternative to Clearscope is a tool called GrowthBar. This is an excellent option for small businesses and bloggers looking to get the most out of their content. GrowthBar offers a keyword research tool, content optimization, competitor analysis, internal link suggestions, SEO score tracking, and more.
The pricing plans are also pretty reasonable, with a Standard plan costing just $48 per month, and they do offer a 5-day free trial plus a money-back guarantee. Many features touted on the GrowthBar homepage feature their AI-assisted technology, such as AI meta descriptions, AI blog ideas, AI content outlines, and AI paragraph generations.
Some unique value propositions for this software compared to competing Clearscope alternatives (besides SEMRush) are integrated features for keyword rank tracking and competitor backlink analysis.
Ultimately, GrowthBar has enough features and functionality to make it a viable alternative for those seeking an affordable SEO tool. The added bonus of harnessing a lot of AI-assisted technology makes this one worth considering if you want to maximize your content creation efforts without needing as much effort.
Dashword
Similar to the rest on this list, Dashword makes for consideration when it comes to Clearscope alternatives offering a lot of the same features and functionality. With only two plans that differ wildly in price ($99/mo vs. $699/mo), this likely isn't suitable for the non-enterprise crowd unless you are okay with the 20-article cap on the $99 plan. A free report is also offered to first-time users with no credit card required.
The Dashword content brief builder is an excellent tool for streamlining content planning and creation through a well-thought-out user interface. The content optimization tool offers data-backed insights into competing articles, real-time feedback, and content quality monitoring.
One unique feature that sets Dashword apart from the competition is its Content Monitoring element. It allows you to set up traffic trends and automatically identify underperforming pages to flag for re-optimization. From there, you can run weekly reports, track keywords and automate page importing through a native crawling solution.
While Dashword isn't one of our top choices, it might be the right choice for larger businesses seeking an enterprise-level SEO tool. Its content brief builder and content monitoring features put it ahead of the competition, but its pricey plan structure makes it less than ideal for small to medium-sized businesses.
Final Verdict
Discovering ideal Clearscope alternatives can be daunting, but with the help of our thorough research and an appropriate budget, you can uncover the perfect solution tailored to your needs.
In summary, we recommend Surfer SEO as the best Clearscope alternative, followed closely by MarketMuse, and PageOptimizer Pro ranking as the top budget-friendly Clearscope alternative.
These Clearscope alternatives, poised to be among the leading options in 2023, provide various features to boost your content optimization and keyword research efforts. Try them out and determine their potential to satisfy your content requirements. Enjoy the writing process, and may your search engine rankings soar!
