Frase wins for most small businesses in 2026: it starts at $49/month ($39/mo billed yearly) and bundles SERP research, briefs, AI drafting, audits, and AI-visibility monitoring in one workflow, whereas Clearscope starts at $129/month for its Essentials plan (50 tracked prompts, 50 pages). Clearscope is the stronger pick only if content scoring and topic/prompt coverage reports are your primary job.
Bottom line: Frase covers the full research-to-publish-to-audit loop from $49/month with a 7-day free trial, while Clearscope's narrower content-scoring and prompt-tracking focus starts at $129/month. Clearscope is stronger at scoring depth, but Frase delivers more workflow per dollar for small teams.
TL;DR
- Frase starts at $49/month ($39/mo billed yearly) with a 7-day free trial and no credit card; Clearscope Essentials starts at $129/month.
- Frase's 2026 repricing eliminated the old $15/mo Solo tier — it is no longer the budget option and now prices near Surfer SEO's entry plan.
- Frase bundles research, briefs, AI drafting, CMS publishing (WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix), audits, and AI visibility monitoring on ChatGPT and Google AI from the Starter plan.
- Clearscope's strength is content scoring, topic coverage reports, and prompt tracking (50–300 prompts depending on tier); its Business tier runs $399/month.
- Frase Starter caps at 10 articles and 50 audit pages per month and simply stops at limits — no surprise overage bills; Professional and Scale offer optional pay-as-you-go.
- Frase cost per article works out to roughly $3.90 on Starter (annual) and about $2.58 on Professional — hard to justify if you publish fewer than 4 articles a month.
- Neither tool is a managed service — both still require you to supply company knowledge, approve claims, and make the publish decision.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Frase | Clearscope |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $49/mo ($39/mo billed yearly)winner | $129/mo (Essentials) |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial, no credit cardwinner | Not publicly stated |
| Content scoring | SEO and GEO scores on every plan | Best-in-class content scoring and topic coverage per 2026 roundupswinner |
| AI drafting | Included — finished drafts in your voicewinner | Not included |
| CMS publishing | WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, Wix, or FraseCMS (free hosting to 100K page views/mo)winner | Not included |
| AI visibility tracking | ChatGPT + Google AI (Starter); + Perplexity (Professional); + Claude, Gemini (Scale) | 50–300 tracked prompts by tier |
| Content decay monitoring | Content Guard watches 10–300 pages and republishes approved fixeswinner | Not included |
| Team seats at entry | 1 seat, 1 site (extra seats $29/mo on Professional+)winner | Not publicly stated |
| Best-fit team size | Solos through agencies (up to 10 domains on Scale) | Editorial teams with existing writing/publishing stack |
Scores
Frase
frase.io ↗Frase is a content operating system for AI search that runs the full loop: SERP research, content briefs, AI drafting, optimization scoring, CMS publishing, and ongoing page audits. The 2026 product scores pages for SEO, GEO, and AI visibility, monitors AI answers on ChatGPT and Google AI (with Perplexity added on Professional, and Claude and Gemini on Scale), and uses Content Guard to catch and fix pages losing rank on Google. Finished posts push to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity, or Wix, or host free on FraseCMS up to 100,000 page views a month. Frase Answers, a free conversational widget, captures real visitor questions to inform what to create next. Pricing is volume-based rather than feature-gated — every plan gets the same core workflow, with tiers differing on seats, sites, articles, and audit pages. Frase rates 4.8/5 on G2 and positions itself for solos, in-house teams, and agencies.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $49/mo | 1 seat, 1 site, 10 articles and 50 audit pages/month, 10 Content Guard pages, ChatGPT + Google AI visibility. $39/mo billed yearly. |
| Professional | $129/mo | 3 seats, 5 sites, 40 articles and 250 audit pages/month, 75 Content Guard pages, Perplexity added. $103/mo billed yearly. |
| Scale | $299/mo | 5 seats, up to 10 domains, 100 articles and 1,000 audit pages/month, 300 Content Guard pages, Claude + Gemini added, exportable client reports. $239/mo billed yearly. |
| Enterprise | — | Custom seats, domains, and limits; white-label reports, branded portal, SSO/SAML, SLA. |
Pros
- Full research-to-brief-to-draft-to-publish workflow in one tool, replacing a separate SEO tool, AI writer, and editor
- Lowest entry price in this comparison at $49/mo ($39/mo yearly) with a 7-day no-credit-card trial
- Volume-based pricing — every tier gets the same core features, only capacity changes
- AI visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini on higher tiers
- Starter simply stops at limits, so there is no surprise bill; overages on higher tiers are optional and off by default
- 4.8/5 rating on G2
Cons
- 2026 repricing removed the old $15/mo Solo tier — no longer the budget option in SEO content optimization
- Starter's 10-article cap fills fast if you also use slots for refreshes and audits
- Annual billing charges the full year upfront ($468 for Starter, $2,868 for Scale)
- Overage fees ($4–$5 per extra article, $0.40–$0.50 per extra audit page) can inflate bills if pay-as-you-go is enabled and content volume is volatile
- Hard to justify below roughly 4 articles per month
Clearscope
Clearscope is a content optimization platform best known for content scoring and topic coverage. Independent roundups of the best SEO tools in 2026 name it the top pick for content scoring and topic coverage (Marketer Milk) and for SEO content optimization (Zapier), which speaks to the depth of its grading rather than breadth of workflow. Clearscope's current plans center on tracked prompts and page limits: Essentials covers 50 tracked prompts and 50 pages at $129/month, with a Business tier at $399/month, and higher tiers reaching 50–300 prompts. It also produces topic reports that help teams plan coverage. Unlike Frase, Clearscope does not bundle AI drafting, CMS publishing, or a content-decay repair loop — it is a grading and reporting layer that assumes your writing and publishing happen elsewhere. That focus makes it a favorite for editorial teams that want rigorous scoring, but a costlier and narrower fit for small businesses that need end-to-end execution.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $129/mo | 50 tracked prompts and 50 pages. |
| Business | $399/mo | Higher prompt and page limits (up to 300 prompts across tiers). |
Pros
- Recognized as the best tool for content scoring and topic coverage in independent 2026 roundups
- Prompt tracking for AI search visibility (50–300 prompts by tier) is a differentiator most graders lack
- Focused scope makes it simple to adopt for editorial teams that already have writing and publishing handled
- Topic reports support content planning beyond single-document grading
Cons
- Entry price of $129/month is more than 2.5x Frase's Starter plan
- No bundled AI drafting, CMS publishing, or automated content-decay repair — you still need a separate writing and publishing stack
- Higher tiers are sales-led rather than fully self-serve
- Annual cost of $1,548 (Essentials) or $4,788 (Business) is a significant commitment for small businesses
Pricing compared: Frase vs Clearscope in 2026
Workflow depth: full loop vs grading layer
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Frase cost in 2026?
Frase starts at $49/month for the Starter plan, or $39/month billed yearly. Professional is $129/month ($103 yearly) and Scale is $299/month ($239 yearly), with a custom-quoted Enterprise tier. The old $15/month Solo plan no longer exists after the 2026 repricing. A 7-day free trial with no credit card is available on all self-serve plans.
How much does Clearscope cost in 2026?
Clearscope's Essentials plan is reported at $129/month for 50 tracked prompts and 50 pages, with a Business tier at $399/month. Higher tiers reach 50–300 tracked prompts. Clearscope's higher tiers are sales-led, so larger teams should expect a quote rather than self-serve checkout.
Is Frase still the budget option after its 2026 repricing?
No. The old $15/month Solo tier is gone, and Frase Starter at $49/month now prices in the same bracket as Surfer SEO's entry plan. However, against Clearscope specifically, Frase remains significantly cheaper at entry — $49/month versus $129/month — while bundling drafting, publishing, and auditing that Clearscope does not include.
Which tool is better for AI search visibility tracking?
Both track AI answers, but differently. Frase monitors AI visibility on ChatGPT and Google AI from its Starter plan, adding Perplexity on Professional and Claude and Gemini on Scale, and ties findings into a fix-and-republish loop via Content Guard. Clearscope offers prompt tracking of 50–300 prompts depending on tier, which is useful for seeing which queries name you, but it does not act on the findings.
Does Frase charge overage fees?
Starter does not — it simply stops at its monthly limits, so there is no surprise bill. Professional and Scale have optional pay-as-you-go overages that are off by default: $5 per extra article and $0.50 per extra audit page on Professional, and $4 and $0.40 respectively on Scale. Teams using Frase for both new content and refreshes should watch their credit burn rate before enabling overages.
Can these tools replace hiring an SEO consultant?
They can replace parts of the workflow — research, briefs, drafts, and scoring — but you still supply company knowledge, approve factual claims, and decide what publishes. Neither tool handles local SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, citations, or technical SEO for AI crawlers. Businesses that do not want to manage tools or dashboards often use a managed service like AI SEO Consultants, which covers AI SEO, local SEO, and AI visibility tracking month-to-month, starting with a free AI SEO Visibility Report.
Sources
- Frase Pricing | SEO & GEO Content Platform Plans
- Frase Pricing 2026: Plans, Features & SEO Content Value | ShelbyAI
- Frase Pricing (2026): Plans, Limits, Overages, and True Cost | RankUp
- Frase Pricing 2026: Plans, Real Costs, and Where Teams Overspend | Spike AI
- Compare 7 Frase Pricing Plans 2026 [Pricing Checked] | US Tech Automations
- 24 best SEO tools I'm using in 2026 (free + paid) | Marketer Milk
- The 11 Best SEO Tools in 2026 | Zapier