AI Search
Our Frase review examines an AI writing tool used by over 36,000 users for SEO content briefs, SERP research, content optimization, and AI writing templates. We tested its core features to see how well they fit into a practical SEO content creation process and where Frase delivers the most value.
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Frase has evolved from an SEO content optimization platform into a broader research and AI-search tool, with its latest version tracking visibility across large language models. Its 2026 platform now gives content a separate GEO score alongside its traditional SEO score, reflecting how much search has expanded beyond Google’s blue links. We put Frase through its research, optimization, and AI-writing workflows to see where it saves time and whether the platform earns its place in a modern SEO stack.
Frase is an AI-powered SEO and GEO platform that helps with research, content briefs, optimization, and AI-assisted writing. It analyzes search results, identifies topics and questions, and helps you build content around what already ranks. We found Frase strongest as a research and content optimization tool, with AI writing serving as a useful part of the workflow rather than the main reason to subscribe. Its use of natural language processing also helps it identify related topics and terms across top-ranking articles. 
The easiest way to understand Frase is to follow the workflow we used. We started with research, moved into the brief, worked inside the editor, then looked at what the platform could do after publication. This content strategy approach mirrors how many SEO professionals and marketing teams actually handle creating content.
This is where Frase earned most of its score.
We entered the target keyword “best project management software” into Frase and ran its SERP research workflow. The tool analyzed the pages already ranking and pulled their headings, topics, and questions into one view. It also surfaced People Also Ask questions, giving us more angles to consider before building the brief.
Frase turned the SERP data into a structured outline with suggested sections, questions to answer, topics to cover, and long tail keywords to consider. We could edit the recommendations before handing the brief to a writer, so the tool didn’t lock us into whatever the competitors were already doing.
The “best project management software” target search query also showed why the research needs human judgment. Frase answers identified recurring topics that appeared across the top-ranking pages, but we wouldn’t automatically include every one. Some topics were useful for search intent, while others added little value. We used the recommendations to decide what the article needed to cover, not as a checklist we had to follow word for word.
We found the time saving substantial. One recent hands-on review found that Frase reduced roughly 90 minutes of manual SERP research to about 10 minutes. Another comparison found that the tool could save 75 to 90 minutes per brief compared with manual research. For content writers, that can make the research and writing process considerably more efficient.
Still, we wouldn’t treat the generated brief as the final content strategy. During our research, some recommendations reflected common patterns across ranking pages but didn’t add much value for the reader. While the tool can create automated content briefs, the target audience still needs to guide the final decisions.
Once you’ve got a draft, Frase shifts from research assistant to editor. We tested the optimizer on our “best project management software” article to see whether its recommendations actually helped us improve the draft or simply pushed the SEO score higher.
Frase gives the article a real-time score from 0 to 100 and updates it as you add or remove content. More importantly, it shows the topics and terms it found across the pages ranking for the keyword. We could see which subjects our draft covered well, where it was thinner than the competing pages, and which related terms Frase thought were worth considering. That made the editor useful as a second pass over the article because we weren’t working from a fixed list of keywords created in isolation.
One thing we liked was the context behind the recommendations. When several ranking pages covered a topic we’d skipped, Frase gave us a reason to investigate it. Some optimized content suggestions strengthened the article, while others didn’t belong in our version of the piece.
That’s also where we think you need to handle Frase’s score carefully. Pushing an article from 80 to 95 isn’t a worthwhile exercise if the extra terms make the writing repetitive or unnatural. We used the score to find areas worth reviewing, then made the editorial decision ourselves. Frase is most useful here as a SERP-informed quality check, not a target you keep adding keywords to until the meter turns green.
This is Frase’s clearest 2026 differentiator. GEO, or generative engine optimization, focuses on getting your content cited in AI-generated answers, not just ranking in Google’s traditional results. We tested Frase’s dual scoring to see how useful that distinction was in practice.
Frase scores a page for SEO and GEO side by side, so you can see how the same content performs against traditional search signals and the factors Frase associates with AI citations. The GEO score runs from 0 to 100 and shows specific areas to improve. That made the feature more actionable than simply telling us that AI search matters.
Frase also lets us track brand visibility across eight AI platforms: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Grok, Copilot, and DeepSeek. It monitors mentions and citations, compares your share of visibility with competitors, and updates the data daily. Access to the full set of platforms depends on the plan.
It’s worth keeping expectations grounded, though. A GEO score isn’t a guarantee that ChatGPT will cite you. AI systems change their answers, retrieval methods, and sources constantly. We see Frase’s GEO features as a useful diagnostic layer, not a ranking formula for AI search.
Here’s where our enthusiasm drops.
Frase’s built-in AI writer can generate and rewrite content inside the editor. We entered a target keyword and used the workflow to see how close Frase could get us from keyword to finished article without leaving the platform. Rank-Ready documents are designed to produce a complete, SEO-optimized content draft automatically. They’re priced at $3.50 per document.
The workflow itself is convenient. Frase can take the research, brief, and optimization data you’ve already built and move that information into the writing process. We didn’t need to copy the SERP findings into another AI tool or start a new document. For high-volume teams, that reduction in tool switching has real value.
The writing quality was the part we liked least. We found that the draft gave us a workable starting point and generally stayed on topic, but it still needed substantial editing. Some passages felt generic, and parts of the article followed familiar patterns from the competing pages too closely. We spent more time rewriting the copy than we’d want from a tool positioned around automated content creation.
We’d use the writer to get a first draft moving, especially when the research and structure are already in place. The bigger concern is citation accuracy. External citations generated during the AI writing process need to be manually verified before publication. That’s particularly important for articles containing statistics, research findings, pricing, or other claims where an incorrect source can undermine the entire piece. The platform’s AI-powered writing features are useful, but they still require human oversight.
Frase’s site audit and Content Guard tools look at published pages and help identify which content is performing well, which existing content needs a refresh, and which web pages deserve more urgent attention based on potential impact. That makes the feature more useful as an ongoing maintenance workflow than as a simple audit report.
We tested the workflow with the same question we’d ask when managing a real content library: which pages should we work on first? Frase’s recommendations helped separate pages that were holding their performance from those showing signs of decline. We found that prioritization more useful than a long list of technical warnings since it gave us a clearer starting point for deciding where an update could have the greatest payoff.
There is a clear boundary, though. Frase’s audits are focused on content performance, not deep technical SEO. If we’re investigating crawlability, indexation, redirects, JavaScript rendering, structured data, backlinks, internal links, external links, or server issues, we’d still reach for a dedicated technical SEO platform.
For us, that’s not a dealbreaker. Frase works best as a content maintenance layer. It helps teams decide which existing pages deserve attention and what to improve, rather than trying to become the technical control center for an entire website.
How much does Frase cost? Frase’s pricing has changed enough in 2026 that older reviews can be misleading. The current paid plans are Starter at $39/month billed annually ($49 month-to-month), Professional at $103/month annually ($129 month-to-month), and Scale at $239/month annually ($299 month-to-month).
Starter, the basic plan, includes one seat and one site, while Professional expands that to three seats and five sites. Scale includes five seats and up to 10 domains. Additional seats on Professional and Scale cost $29/month. A 7-day free trial with no credit card required lets you test Frase’s Professional-level features before deciding if the platform is worth paying for.
Here’s the point we’d want you to understand before paying for Frase: its real value sits in the research-to-optimization workflow, not the AI writer. We tested the platform from keyword research through drafting and optimization, and the difference was clear. The research tools helped us make better decisions; the AI writer mostly helped us get a first draft on the page.
The SERP research and brief builder do the heavy lifting. Frase showed us what currently ranks, pulled out recurring topics and questions, and turned those findings into a usable content brief. The outline builder Frase uses is especially useful for organizing content structure before writing content begins.
GEO and AI Visibility tracking make the workflow more valuable in 2026. Frase lets us look at traditional SEO and AI search visibility together, then track how our brand appears across AI platforms. We found that more useful than another AI writing feature. If competitors are being cited for questions where we’re absent, that’s a real content opportunity.
The AI writer doesn’t offer the same advantage. It can produce a usable draft, but it isn’t strong enough to justify the subscription on its own. We still had to rewrite generic passages, improve transitions, add original insight, and verify citations before treating the content as publishable.
Frase’s strengths become clearer when you put them next to its limitations. The platform is good at reducing research friction, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for an experienced SEO or writer to make decisions about quality, intent, accuracy, and originality.
The AI writer was the biggest disappointment in our testing. It gave us a usable starting point and generally followed the brief, but the copy often felt generic and predictable. We also had to check AI-generated citations and claims ourselves, which adds another editorial step. We’d use Frase’s writer to get a draft moving, but we wouldn’t rely on it for polished, expert-level content without substantial human editing.
Frase is useful for finding content gaps and deciding which existing pages need attention. Even so, it doesn’t give users the depth of a dedicated technical SEO platform when dealing with crawlability, indexation, redirects, structured data, Core Web Vitals, backlinks, or server issues. We’d still keep a broader SEO tool in our stack for those jobs. Frase works best as the content layer of an SEO workflow, not as the technical control center for an entire site.
The optimization score was useful during our testing, but it can also encourage the wrong behavior if you treat 100 as the goal. Frase identified topics and terms we’d missed, which helped us strengthen the draft. Still, some recommendations didn’t improve the article enough to justify adding them. A well-written article that scores 85 can be more valuable than a bloated article that scores 100.
Frase’s user feedback is largely positive, particularly around ease of use, content research, and SEO workflows. G2 currently lists 4.8/5 from 308 reviews, while Capterra lists 4.8/5 from 335 reviews.
The overall picture matches what we found in our own testing. Frase’s research and optimization workflow is where the platform earns the strongest praise, while the AI writing and some support experiences attract more criticism.
Frase and Surfer overlap heavily, but their workflows aren’t identical. Frase puts more emphasis on research, briefs, and AI-search visibility, while Surfer continues to lean heavily into granular content optimization, SERP analysis, and its wider SEO workflow.
Surfer’s current Discovery plan costs $49/month when billed annually and includes 120 documents, while Standard costs $99/month and adds AI visibility tracking and broader content capabilities.
Our verdict depends on where your bottleneck sits. If writers spend too much time researching SERPs and building briefs, we’d pick Frase. If your SEO team already has a strong research process and wants deeper on-page optimization controls, Surfer SEO has the edge.
Clearscope occupies a more premium part of the content optimization market. Its current Essentials plan costs $129/month, with Business at $399/month, although temporary promotional pricing can lower the entry price.
The pricing difference is significant. Frase is easier to justify for a smaller content operation that wants research, optimization, GEO, and AI visibility in one subscription. Clearscope becomes more compelling for teams that value its mature optimization workflow, support, collaboration, and other premium features.
Frase makes the most sense when content research is a recurring part of your job. The more keywords, competitors, briefs, and content updates you handle, the more its workflow starts to pay for itself.
From our perspective, this is Frase’s natural home. If you’re regularly researching keywords, building briefs for writers, reviewing content, and refreshing older pages to match your target audience, the platform can remove a lot of repetitive work. The research and briefing workflow is where we’d expect an active SEO team to see the biggest return.
Frase is harder to justify if you’re publishing five or six articles a month. A lighter SEO tool, a free research workflow, or your existing AI assistant may cover enough of the process without adding another monthly subscription. Frase becomes more attractive as the number of content projects rises and manual research starts eating into your time.
We wouldn’t buy Frase for this purpose. The AI writer can produce useful starting material. It can also help fill sections, restructure ideas, and move a writer past a blank page. But our experience was clear enough that we wouldn’t treat the output as finished editorial work. A good Frase workflow still has a human at the end.
Frase is worth it if you’re producing SEO content regularly and research is eating up too much of your time. After testing the platform, we’d recommend it most strongly to content marketers, SEO teams, and agencies that need to research SERPs, build briefs, optimize drafts, and monitor AI visibility from one workflow. GEO scoring and AI Visibility tracking also give Frase a clear 2026 advantage, while its research tools remain the strongest reason to subscribe.
We wouldn’t recommend Frase if your main goal is automated writing. The AI writer is useful for getting a draft started, but it still needs substantial editing and fact-checking before publication. The Starter plan also makes more sense for teams publishing consistently than for occasional bloggers who won’t use the research and optimization features often enough to justify the monthly cost.
Frase is used to research search results, build SEO content briefs, optimize articles, generate AI-assisted drafts, and monitor content and AI-search visibility. The platform also provides SEO and GEO scoring and AI visibility tracking.
Neither tool is universally better. Frase has the stronger case for SERP research, content briefs, and integrated AI-search visibility. Surfer SEO is stronger for teams that want deeper on-page optimization and a more data-heavy SEO workflow.
No. Frase’s AI writer can produce useful first drafts, outlines, expansions, and rewrites, but we wouldn’t publish its output without human editing and fact-checking. User reviews also flag occasional irrelevant output, hallucinations, and outdated information.
Josephine Abiodun
Josephine Abiodun is a tech writer covering crypto, AI, blockchain, and digital innovation. She writes about emerging technologies, crypto trends, digital assets, and the changing role of AI in business and everyday life.
Her work focuses on making complex topics easy to follow through clear, engaging, and well-researched content designed for modern tech audiences.
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