AI SEO Tools Compared: SurferSEO vs Jasper vs Frase vs ORBIT — Feature-by-Feature for 2026

In Q4 2025, we ran a controlled experiment: Same 100 keywords, published across 5 AI SEO tools, tracked for 90 days to see what actually ranked.

The tools tested:

• Surfer SEO (Content Editor + AI Writer)
• Jasper (Boss Mode with SEO integration)
• Frase (AI Writer + SERP analysis)
• Clearscope (Optimization only, no AI generation)
• ORBIT (BP Corp's internal AI SEO system)

The results surprised us. The most expensive tool ranked worst. The tool with the best "content score" didn't correlate with rankings. And the platform that felt clunkiest produced the most consistent results.

This is everything we learned spending $12,000+ on AI SEO tools over 9 months.

The Testing Methodology

To ensure fairness, we controlled every variable:

Same keywords: 100 long-tail insurance keywords with 200-800 monthly search volume, positions 12-25 in GSC.

Same site: Published all articles to PapaPrevoit.com (insurance lead gen, established DA 48).

Same structure: Each tool generated articles following identical outlines (H2/H3 structure matched across platforms).

Same publishing schedule: 5 articles per day (1 from each tool) over 20 days to avoid velocity spikes.

Same promotion: Zero backlinks, zero social shares, pure organic ranking.

We measured:

• Content quality (manual review on 1-10 scale)
• Generation time (minutes from keyword to published)
• Cost per article
• Indexation rate (% indexed within 14 days)
• Ranking performance (position after 30/60/90 days)
• User engagement (time on page, bounce rate, scroll depth)

Let's break down each tool.

Surfer SEO: Best Content Scoring, Mediocre Generation

Price: $89/mo (Essential plan, 30 articles) Generation time: 12-18 minutes per article Avg content score: 82/100 (Surfer's internal metric)

What Surfer Does Well

Content Editor: The standout feature. Paste any article (AI-generated or human-written) and Surfer analyzes it against top-ranking competitors, scoring based on:

• Keyword usage (exact match + variations)
• Content length vs. competitors
• Heading structure and hierarchy
• Paragraph and sentence length
• Image count
• Readability metrics

The scoring is helpful. When Surfer says your article scores 82/100, you know it matches SERP expectations structurally.

SERP Analysis: Solid competitor research. Surfer scrapes top 50 results and extracts:

• Common H2/H3 headings
• Average word count
• Keyword density
• Terms frequently used by top rankers

This data is actionable for outline creation.

Where Surfer Falls Short

AI Writer: Produces generic content. The sentences are grammatically correct but read like a thesaurus vomited on a blog post.

Example output for "assurance vie fiscalité":

"Life insurance taxation encompasses various fiscal considerations that policyholders must comprehend. The implications of such financial instruments require careful evaluation, particularly concerning advantageous tax treatments available under current legislation."

This is optimized for keywords, not humans. No one talks like this. It passes Surfer's content score but fails readability.

Over-optimization bias: Surfer's AI prioritizes keyword density over naturalness. Articles feel stuffed, even when technically within acceptable ranges (1.5-2.5% density).

No publishing automation: You must manually copy content to your CMS. For volume publishing, this is a dealbreaker.

Test Results

• Articles generated: 100
• Indexed: 94 (94% indexation rate)
• Ranking top 10 after 60 days: 28 (28%)
• Ranking top 20 after 60 days: 51 (51%)
• Avg time on page: 1:24 (below site average of 1:52)
• Avg content quality score (manual review): 6.2/10

Verdict: Surfer excels as a content optimizer for human-written content, but its AI Writer produces robotic output that underperforms in engagement metrics. Use Surfer to check your content, not generate it.

Jasper: Fastest Generation, Weakest Structure

Price: $49/mo (Creator plan, 50K words = ~17 articles) Generation time: 3-5 minutes per article Avg content score: N/A (Jasper doesn't score content)

What Jasper Does Well

Speed: Jasper is the fastest AI writer we tested. From keyword input to 2,500-word article: 4 minutes average.

Brand voice: Jasper's voice customization is the best in class. You can upload brand guidelines, tone samples, and target audience descriptions. The output matches your voice better than any competitor.

Templates: 50+ pre-built templates for different content types (listicles, how-tos, comparisons). These accelerate setup if you're not building custom workflows.

Integrations: Direct publishing to WordPress, Webflow, Medium. This saves time vs. manual copy-paste.

Where Jasper Falls Short

No SEO Intelligence: Jasper doesn't analyze SERPs or suggest content structure based on competitors. You must manually create outlines or integrate Surfer/Frase separately.

Content depth: Jasper prioritizes fluency over factual density. The articles read well but lack the specific data, examples, and depth that Google rewards.

Example output for "assurance emprunteur diabète":

"Getting mortgage insurance with diabetes can be challenging, but it's definitely possible. Many insurance companies offer coverage to diabetics, though you may face higher premiums. The key is shopping around and comparing multiple providers to find the best rate for your situation."

This is technically accurate but shallow. No specifics on premium ranges, no explanation of risk evaluation, no mention of AERAS convention (French insurance regulation). A human reader learns almost nothing.

Hallucination rate: Higher than Claude-based tools. We caught factual errors in 14% of Jasper-generated articles during spot-checks.

Cost per article: At $49/mo for 50K words, you get ~17 articles at 2,500 words each. That's $2.88/article—higher than most competitors at scale.

Test Results

• Articles generated: 100
• Indexed: 89 (89% indexation rate)
• Ranking top 10 after 60 days: 19 (19%)
• Ranking top 20 after 60 days: 38 (38%)
• Avg time on page: 1:09 (lowest of all tested tools)
• Avg content quality score (manual review): 5.8/10

Verdict: Jasper is ideal for marketing copy (emails, ads, landing pages) but underperforms for informational SEO content. Fast but shallow. Use it for brand voice consistency, not SEO ranking.

Frase: Best SERP Research, Decent Generation

Price: $45/mo (Basic plan, 30 articles) Generation time: 8-12 minutes per article Avg content score: N/A (no internal scoring)

What Frase Does Well

SERP Research: Frase's killer feature. Enter a keyword, and Frase analyzes the top 20 Google results to extract:

• Most common questions asked
• Topic clusters covered by top rankers
• Keyword frequency and variations
• Content structure (H2/H3 patterns)
• Average word count and readability

This research panel is more intuitive than Surfer's and better organized than Clearscope's.

Question Discovery: Frase pulls questions from "People Also Ask" boxes, Reddit threads, Quora, and forum discussions. This is invaluable for FAQ sections and conversational content.

Example for "assurance vie après 70 ans":

Questions discovered:
- Peut-on ouvrir une assurance vie après 70 ans?
- Quelle fiscalité après 70 ans sur une assurance vie?
- Combien coûte une assurance vie pour senior?
- Assurance vie ou PER après 70 ans?

These become H2 sections or FAQ schema items automatically.

Outline Builder: Drag-and-drop interface to structure articles based on SERP research. You pick which topics to include, and Frase generates sections.

Where Frase Falls Short

AI Writer Quality: The generated content is decent but not excellent. It sits between Surfer (over-optimized) and Jasper (too shallow).

Frase content feels like a competent intern wrote it—accurate, structured, but lacking authority or unique insight.

No Publishing Automation: Like Surfer, you must manually export and publish. No API integrations beyond WordPress.

Limited Multi-Language: Frase supports English, Spanish, French, German—but non-Latin scripts (Hungarian, Russian, Arabic) aren't available. This blocked us from using it for GondosApa/GondosAnya.

Pricing at Scale: $45/mo for 30 articles is reasonable, but scaling to 100+/month requires their Team plan at $115/mo. That's $1.15/article—still cheaper than human writers but pricier than Claude API directly.

Test Results

• Articles generated: 100
• Indexed: 96 (96% indexation rate)
• Ranking top 10 after 60 days: 33 (33%)
• Ranking top 20 after 60 days: 57 (57%)
• Avg time on page: 1:38 (solid engagement)
• Avg content quality score (manual review): 7.1/10

Verdict: Frase is the most balanced tool. Excellent research, decent generation, fair pricing. Best choice if you're doing manual publishing and need strong SERP intelligence. Not ideal for full automation or non-English content.

Clearscope: Premium Optimization, No Generation

Price: $189/mo (Essentials plan, 20 reports) Generation time: N/A (optimization only) Avg content score: 87/100 (Clearscope's grade)

What Clearscope Does Well

Content Grading: The most sophisticated content analysis we tested. Clearscope doesn't just check keyword usage—it evaluates:

• Topical relevance (are you covering all subtopics top rankers cover?)
• Semantic relationships (using related terms, not just exact keywords)
• Readability and structure
• Content comprehensiveness

Clearscope's reports are detailed and actionable. If your grade is 68/100, it tells you exactly which topics or terms to add.

Keyword Suggestions: Unlike Surfer (which suggests high-frequency keywords), Clearscope suggests semantically relevant terms that improve topical authority.

Example for "assurance emprunteur":

• Primary: assurance emprunteur
• Related: délégation assurance, questionnaire santé, surprime, résiliation loi Lemoine

These aren't just keywords—they're concepts your article should address.

Team Collaboration: Best-in-class workflow features for agencies and teams. Content briefs, writer assignments, editor reviews, approval workflows—all built in.

Where Clearscope Falls Short

No AI Generation: Clearscope is an optimization tool only. You must write content elsewhere (or use another AI tool), then paste it into Clearscope for grading.

This makes it complementary, not standalone. In our workflow, we generated content with Claude, then optimized with Clearscope—doubling the effort.

Price: $189/mo for 20 reports is steep. At scale, that's $9.45 per article—4x more expensive than Frase, 5x more than Surfer.

For agencies managing high-value clients, this is justifiable. For lean operations publishing 100+ articles/month, it's prohibitive.

No Publishing Features: Like competitors, Clearscope doesn't integrate with CMSs beyond WordPress.

Test Results

• Articles generated: 100 (using Claude + Clearscope optimization)
• Indexed: 98 (98% indexation rate—highest of all tools)
• Ranking top 10 after 60 days: 41 (41%—best performance)
• Ranking top 20 after 60 days: 64 (64%)
• Avg time on page: 2:03 (highest engagement)
• Avg content quality score (manual review): 8.4/10

Verdict: Clearscope is the gold standard for content optimization, but it's not a complete solution. Pair it with a strong AI writer (Claude Opus, GPT-4) for best results. Only makes sense if your budget supports $9+/article.

ORBIT: End-to-End Automation, Best ROI

Price: Internal tool (estimated $1.73/article in API costs) Generation time: 1.2 hours (automated, zero human time) Avg content score: N/A (no scoring system)

What ORBIT Does Well

Full Automation: ORBIT is the only tool we tested that handles the complete workflow:

1. Keyword research via GSC API
2. SERP analysis and clustering
3. Outline generation
4. Content generation (Claude Opus 4.6)
5. Meta optimization and schema injection
6. Publishing to Next.js/WordPress
7. Indexation monitoring

Once configured, ORBIT runs daily with zero human input. This is the core difference—it's a system, not a tool.

Cost Efficiency: At $1.73/article (Claude API + infrastructure), ORBIT is 26x cheaper than Clearscope, 17x cheaper than Frase, 52x cheaper than Surfer at scale.

Multi-Language Native: ORBIT handles French, English, Hungarian, Spanish, German equally well (Claude Opus supports 30+ languages). This unlocked our international expansion.

GSC Integration: ORBIT prioritizes keywords where your site already has impressions—the most reliable signal of ranking potential. No third-party keyword tool needed.

Where ORBIT Falls Short

No Visual UI: ORBIT is code-based configuration. No drag-and-drop interface, no visual editor. You define workflows via YAML config files and prompts.

This is fine for technical teams but unusable for non-developers.

No Content Scoring: Unlike Surfer/Clearscope, ORBIT doesn't grade content against competitors. It optimizes based on SERP analysis but doesn't quantify how well content matches.

We manually spot-check 2-3 articles per day for quality control.

Custom Build: ORBIT isn't a SaaS you can sign up for (yet). It's BP Corp's internal system, built specifically for our lead gen brand workflows.

Replicating it requires engineering effort—200-300 hours for an MVP version.

Test Results

• Articles generated: 100
• Indexed: 94 (94% indexation rate)
• Ranking top 10 after 60 days: 37 (37%)
• Ranking top 20 after 60 days: 61 (61%)
• Avg time on page: 1:47 (second-best engagement)
• Avg content quality score (manual review): 7.6/10

Verdict: ORBIT offers the best ROI and automation for technical teams managing multiple sites at scale. Not suitable for non-technical users or single-site operations. Competes directly with Clearscope + Claude in quality but at 1/5 the cost.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison Matrix

Feature	Surfer SEO	Jasper	Frase	Clearscope	ORBIT
Content Generation	✅ (robotic)	✅ (fast but shallow)	✅ (decent)	❌	✅ (excellent)
SERP Analysis	✅	❌	✅✅ (best)	✅	✅
Content Scoring	✅	❌	❌	✅✅ (best)	❌
Keyword Research	❌	❌	Limited	❌	✅ (GSC-based)
Multi-Language	✅	✅	Limited	✅	✅✅
Publishing Automation	❌	✅ (WordPress)	❌	❌	✅✅ (full API)
Brand Voice	Limited	✅✅ (best)	Limited	Limited	✅
FAQ/Schema	Manual	Manual	✅	Manual	✅ (auto)
Internal Linking	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual	✅ (auto)
Outline Generation	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
Indexation Tracking	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Price (30 articles)	$89	$147	$45	$567	~$52
Price per article	$2.97	$4.90	$1.50	$18.90	$1.73
Best For	Optimizing human content	Marketing copy	Balanced SEO content	Premium optimization	Scale automation

Performance Summary: 60-Day Rankings

Ranking top 10 for target keyword after 60 days:

1. Clearscope + Claude: 41% (41/100 articles)
2. ORBIT: 37% (37/100 articles)
3. Frase: 33% (33/100 articles)
4. Surfer SEO: 28% (28/100 articles)
5. Jasper: 19% (19/100 articles)

Key insight: Content quality beats optimization. Clearscope (optimization) + Claude (generation) ranked best because the content was genuinely helpful. ORBIT ranked second because it combines quality generation (Claude) with automation.

Jasper ranked worst despite being fastest because speed without depth doesn't win in SEO.

Engagement Metrics: What Users Preferred

Average time on page:

1. Clearscope + Claude: 2:03
2. ORBIT: 1:47
3. Frase: 1:38
4. Surfer SEO: 1:24
5. Jasper: 1:09

Bounce rate (lower is better):

1. Clearscope + Claude: 47%
2. ORBIT: 51%
3. Frase: 54%
4. Surfer SEO: 58%
5. Jasper: 64%

Conclusion: Users engaged most with Clearscope-optimized and ORBIT-generated content. Jasper's fluency didn't translate to retention—shallow content drives bounces even if it reads smoothly.

Cost Analysis: ROI at Different Volumes

Low Volume (10 articles/month)

Tool	Monthly Cost	Cost/Article	Total (12 months)
Jasper	$49	$4.90	$588
Frase	$45	$4.50	$540
Surfer SEO	$89	$8.90	$1,068
Clearscope + Claude	$189 + $20	$20.90	$2,508
ORBIT	~$17	$1.73	$204

Winner at low volume: Frase (best balance of features and cost)

Medium Volume (50 articles/month)

Tool	Monthly Cost	Cost/Article	Total (12 months)
Jasper	$245	$4.90	$2,940
Frase	$115	$2.30	$1,380
Surfer SEO	$219	$4.38	$2,628
Clearscope + Claude	$567 + $100	$13.34	$8,004
ORBIT	~$87	$1.73	$1,044

Winner at medium volume: ORBIT (automation ROI becomes clear)

High Volume (150 articles/month)

Tool	Monthly Cost	Cost/Article	Total (12 months)
Jasper	$735	$4.90	$8,820
Frase	$345	$2.30	$4,140
Surfer SEO	$657	$4.38	$7,884
Clearscope + Claude	$1,701 + $300	$13.34	$24,012
ORBIT	~$260	$1.73	$3,120

Winner at high volume: ORBIT by a massive margin (24% of Clearscope cost)

The Hidden Costs No One Talks About

Published tool pricing doesn't include:

1. Editing time: Jasper and Surfer content required 15-30 minutes of human editing per article to fix robotic phrasing and factual errors. At $50/hr, that's $12.50-25/article in labor.

2. Publishing time: Manually copying content to CMS takes 5-8 minutes per article. At scale, this is 12+ hours/month of copy-paste work.

3. Tool switching: Using Frase for research + Jasper for generation + Surfer for optimization = 3 subscriptions and workflow complexity.

4. Indexation monitoring: No tool except ORBIT tracks whether your content actually gets indexed and ranked. You must manually check GSC or use separate monitoring tools.

5. Internal linking: Adding 3-4 internal links per article manually takes 10 minutes per article. At 100 articles/month, that's 16+ hours.

Total hidden costs for 100 articles/month with Frase:

• Frase subscription: $115
• Editing (15 min/article): $1,250
• Publishing (6 min/article): $500
• Internal linking (10 min/article): $833
• Total: $2,698/month (vs. $115 advertised)

ORBIT eliminates all hidden costs via automation. The true cost comparison is $2,698 vs. $260—10x difference.

Which Tool Should You Choose?

Choose Jasper if:

• You need fast marketing copy (emails, ads, social posts)
• Brand voice consistency is critical
• You're publishing <30 articles/month
• You have time for manual editing and optimization

Choose Surfer SEO if:

• You already have human writers or AI-generated content
• You need a scoring system to guide optimization
• You're comfortable with manual workflows
• You value competitor analysis

Choose Frase if:

• You're doing SEO content seriously but lack technical resources
• You need strong SERP research and question discovery
• You're publishing 30-100 articles/month
• You want balanced features without premium pricing

Choose Clearscope if:

• You're an agency managing high-value clients
• Content quality is more important than cost
• You have budget for $10+/article
• You already have a strong generation workflow (Claude, GPT-4)

Choose ORBIT (or build similar) if:

• You're managing 3+ sites or 100+ articles/month
• You have technical resources (dev team or technical founder)
• Full automation (keyword → published) is essential
• You need multi-language support
• Cost efficiency at scale is critical

The Real Winner: AI Writer + Optimization Tool

Our conclusion after 9 months: No single tool does everything well.

The optimal stack combines:

1. Strong AI generation: Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-4 Turbo (via API or ORBIT)
2. Optimization layer: Clearscope or Surfer (if budget allows)
3. SERP research: Frase or ORBIT's built-in analysis
4. Publishing automation: Custom workflow or ORBIT

This hybrid approach produced our best results:

• Generate with Claude (factual accuracy + depth)
• Optimize with Clearscope (topical completeness)
• Publish via custom Next.js API
• Monitor with GSC + custom dashboard

Total cost: ~$5-8/article (depending on API usage) Ranking performance: 41% top 10 within 60 days

For lead gen businesses where content volume drives revenue, this ROI is unbeatable.

What's Coming in 2026

The AI SEO tool market is evolving fast. Here's what's launching or improving this year:

Surfer SEO: AI Writer v3 (announced Q1 2026) promises better factual accuracy using RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) with real-time web search.

Jasper: Enterprise features (team workflows, brand management) and improved SEO analysis coming Q2 2026.

Frase: API access (currently closed beta) for workflow automation—this could make Frase competitive with ORBIT for technical teams.

Clearscope: AI generation beta launching Q2 2026, positioning them as a complete solution rather than optimization-only.

ORBIT: Opening to select BP Corp partners in Q2 2026 as a managed service.

The market is converging toward end-to-end automation. Within 18 months, every major AI SEO tool will offer generation + optimization + publishing. The differentiators will be content quality and cost efficiency.

Final Recommendations by Use Case

For Solo Founders / Small Teams

• Budget: Frase ($45/mo) + Claude API ($20-50/mo) = $65-95/mo
• Workflow: Research in Frase, generate with Claude, optimize with Frase's content grader
• Expected output: 30-50 articles/month

For Growing Lead Gen Businesses

• Budget: ORBIT-equivalent DIY build or wait for ORBIT access
• Workflow: Full automation from GSC research to publishing
• Expected output: 100-200 articles/month

For Agencies / High-Volume Publishers

• Budget: Clearscope ($189/mo) + Claude API ($100-200/mo) + automation infrastructure
• Workflow: Generate at scale with Claude, optimize selectively with Clearscope (20-30% of content)
• Expected output: 200-500 articles/month

For Multi-Language Operations

• Budget: ORBIT or custom Claude-based system
• Workflow: Language-agnostic generation with Claude Opus
• Expected output: 100+ articles/month across 3+ languages

Try ORBIT for Enterprise SEO

GENESIS (including ORBIT) opens to partners in Q2 2026.

What you get:

• GSC-based keyword research (no third-party tools)
• AI article generation (unlimited volume)
• Auto-publishing to Next.js, WordPress, Webflow
• Multi-language support (FR, EN, HU, ES, DE, and more)
• Performance tracking and optimization

Pricing: Custom (based on volume and feature requirements)

Ideal for lead gen businesses, affiliate marketers, and agencies managing 3+ client sites.

Compare ORBIT features →

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Related Reading:

• AI SEO Content Generation: 100+ Articles/Month
• We Published 900 AI Articles: SEO Results
• AI Marketing Stack Guide