Scalenut vs SurferSEO: Which Tool Is Better?

With Scalenut recently announcing some new features and Surfer recently launching their AI writing feature, this seems like the perfect time to compare these two tools.

In case you don’t know, Scalenut and Surfer SEO are tools that can help you scale content research and planning, research, writing, and content optimization needs.

While the two are similar tools overall, there are some distinct differences that I’ve noticed in my testing – though I primarily use them just to optimize content.

**And as always, I’m an affiliate marketer and this post contains affiliate links, meaning I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.

Scalenut vs SurferSEO at a Glance

At first glance, I think you’ll easily be able to see that both tools are designed to help you improve your website’s rankings in the Google search results.

Both offer content optimization and both offer AI writing that lets you analyze what’s currently ranking to create your articles and optimization edits.

The user interface is a bit different between the two, as is the pricing.

Plus, Surfer has been around a lot longer than Scalenut.

Scalenut vs SurferSEO: Key Features

Scalenut boasts an AI-powered writing assistant that is designed to help you generate quality content.

It also packs NLP terms for efficient keyword research plus competitor analysis.

I like that you can create your own custom tone of voice for the writing by simply putting in the URL of a piece of your existing content.

I think SurferSEO is best known as all-in-one optimization tool for your content.

With its Content Editor you can create optimized articles based on what’s currently ranking on page one of Google.

It also offers keyword research with clustering, as well as some add-on options like AI content writing and auditing.

I’ve used both, so these are my opinions after using both tools.

Scalenut: Cruise Mode

Scalenut’s Cruise Mode is a really cool new feature that I like.

It is AI-powered optimization for creating first drafts of your new content that score 70 on their SEO score minimum.

I think this is a cool feature because it means you save a bit of time trying to get the score up to something reasonable because you’re already starting out most of the way there.

Scalenut article writer cruise mode — *click to enlarge*

Surfer SEO: Content Editor and Optimization

SurferSEO’s Content Editor is a writing assistant that most people either have already used in the past or at least know about.

But, if neither of those are you this feature helps you create quality content by providing real-time feedback on readability, structure, and keyword usage based on the articles that are currently on page one in Google.

You see, it analyzes top-ranking pages for targeted keywords in real-time and then gives you optimization suggestions for headlines, meta descriptions, keywords, and overall quality of the article that you’re creating.

Scalenut: AI-Powered Editing Tools

Much like Surfer’s Content Editor, Scalenut also helps you enhance the readability, grammar, and structure of your content while improving its optimization for Google rankings.

If you’ve ever used Surfer, then you’ll find the user interface here familiar enough that you can dive right in and get to work on content for your niche site.

SurferSEO: Real-time Content Feedback

As mentioned above, SurferSEO’s Content Editor tool hits you up with that real-time feedback on keyword usage, readability, structure, and more as you’re creating content.

The interface for this one is very user-friendly and seems to have inspired most of the similar tools on the market.

What I’ve always liked about this one is how you can analyze your competitors’ content right there in the sidebar thanks to SERP Analyzer feature.

I think Frase also offers this, but not Jarvis.

Scalenut: Content Briefs & Research

When you’re ready to create a new piece of content with Scalenut, you can use the Keyword Planner feature to get the relevant topic clusters.

Once you’re satisfied with that, it’s just one-click to send it over to the Article Writer to get started on creating the article outline.

I do like how you can have it look at the current SERPs to pull in your headings from currently ranking articles to make sure that you’re covering everything that your competition has on their pages.

SurferSEO: SERP Analyzer

SurferSEO’s SERP Analyzer tool also lets you analyze top-ranking pages for your target keyword.

With this one, I do like how you can select which rankings pages you want it to analyze.

I find this valuable when things like Pinterest are ranking for queries that I don’t really want analyzed as I’m trying to plan and create a new blog post.

I also like how you can select either mobile or desktop results because what’s ranking can vary on each.

What I don’t like about this feature is that it’s an extra cost of $29/month for any plan under the Max plan.

Scalenut vs SurferSEO: Pricing Comparison

If you’re looking for the best bank for your buck, then it’s gotta be Scalenut over Surfer.

Scalenut has a free trial! (use code FOREVER20 to save 20% after the free trial!)

With Surfer SEO, you have to pay extra for things like the SERP Analyzer and the AI-article writer.

The cheapest plan that Surfer offers is the Lite plan with a cost of $29/month.

That gets you 3 content editor credits and 10 monthly (not daily!) keyword research credits – that’s it.

With Scalenut, the cheapest plan that they offer (that’s not the free trial) is the Essential Plan with a cost of $39/month.

That gets you:

100,000 AI words – Generate up to 100,000 AI Words monthly using our tools.
Up to 5 SEO documents – Create up to 10 SEO documents monthly.
Access to 40+ AI templates – Get unlimited access to our AI templates for 40+ use cases, including Ad Copies, Social Media Copies, Emails, and more.
Write with AI – Get access to the ‘Write’ option in the ‘Editor’ mode that enables AI to generate content on your behalf.
Get 24×7 live chat and email customer support – We are available via live chat to solve your queries throughout the day. If you need more assistance, our team is one email away from providing impeccable support.

As you can see, that’s quite a bit more for your money.

I think with Surfer, that Lite plan isn’t really enough for anyone.

I would guess that most people would need the Advanced plan to get anything reasonable done for the month, and that one has a cost of $179/month.

And it only gets you 25 content editor credits 100 daily keyword research credits.

And I think with Scalenut, the Growth plan is good enough for most people. That one has a cost of $79/month and here’s what you get:

Unlimited AI Words – Get rid of the limits and use the tool to generate as many AI words as you need for your diverse and complex needs.
Up to 30 SEO documents – Create as many as 30 SEO documents every month for all your long-form needs.
30 Keyword Clusters – Generate up to 30 Cluster content reports per month to take your SEO a few notches higher.
Audit & Optimize 30 Pages – It helps in providing relevant feedback and suggestions for better ranking and content quality. Improves SEO optimization.
Write with AI – Get access to the ‘Write + Instruct AI’ option in the ‘Editor’ mode, enabling AI to generate content on your behalf.
AI Settings – You can use ‘AI Settings’ in the ‘Editor’ section to improve output quality and give it the necessary tweaking to suit your specific needs.
In addition, you get other features with the ‘Growth’ plan, such as 24*7 chat support + email support, the option to buy additional Saas credits, and more.

Just for reference, I have the Pro plan on Scalenut.

Scalenut vs SurferSEO: Strengths and Weaknesses

I think that each of these tools have good things about them, which means that they also both have some downsides. So let’s have a quick look at some pros and cons.

For me, the cost and what you for the money is what I’m most concerned about here.

Ease of use is also important, but I don’t really see enough difference between these two for it to matter.

With Scalenut, you get a LOT more features for the money.

And the cost is just cheaper overall.

So, it’s kind of hard to complain about any of the features you get with Scalenut that you don’t get included with Surfer.

That being said, I do wish their AI Article Writer was a bit better because I often get better content from chatGPT Plus – but it’s much faster to create content with Scalenut than chatGPT.

And don’t forget that Scalenut has a free trial! (use code FOREVER20 to save 20% after the free trial!)

With Surfer, you are really limited in terms of what you can do for the money because they have all the extra features as paid add-ons.

For most bloggers and site builders, that high cost and low amount of features (even for just a basic plan) means that it’s not worth it.

Of course, if you have a site that is already ranking and banking, then this might not be as much of a concern for you.

Both can be used for long-form content and short-form content, and both can be used for keyword clustering (without any additional fees for your Surfer account).

And both have a user-friendly interface.

What’s The Final Verdict?

In the end, I think it really matters what you want to do with a tool like this and what your budget looks like for it.

If you’re a content writer who us not using AI for content creation, then I think most people in the industry can agree that Surfer is great for creating an optimized article from scratch – assuming that you’re okay with the high subscription price of the Surfer pricing plans.

And if getting SEO content for your site from AI content generation is what you’re all about, then Scalenut is the better option because the price is so much cheaper than Surfer.

I’ve used both for content optimization purposes and find that since they work so similar that Scalenut is the better option since I can optimize more article per month with my subscription.

I’ve already published a Scalenut review that you can check out for more of my thoughts on it.