8 Best MarketMuse Alternatives For 2024 (Top Picks)

Content optimization is key if you want your articles to perform well and rank in the SERPs. However, getting this right without the help of tools can be difficult. 

MarketMuse is a tool that can you plan and optimize your written content, from creating content briefs to optimizing existing content to increase rankings.

Although MarketMuse is a great tool, it’s not a good fit for everyone. There are tons of great alternatives available.

In this article, we’re comparing the best MarketMuse alternatives so you can find the best tool for your individual needs.

TL;DR:

Frase is the best MarketMuse alternative for most users. It includes content research, optimization, AI writing, and more.

Surfer SEO is ideal for those that are mostly focused on content optimization.


#1 – Frase

Frase is an SEO content optimization platform that includes an AI writing assistant. It’s a good choice for bloggers and content creators who want to write high-quality SEO content in less time.

frase Homepage

Frase comes with a lot of features, including content brief generation, an AI writing tool, text editor with real-time feedback & suggestions, and a content opportunities dashboard.

The content opportunities dashboard is extremely useful. It integrates with Google Search Console to analyze your website and provide you with SEO insights. 

For example, it can find new keyword opportunities and highlight pages that need to be optimized. And it can create keyword clusters to guide your content strategy.

You can also use Frase to create content briefs. Just provide a keyword, and the tool will analyze the top 20 SERP results for that keyword and use the data it gathers to generate an outline and writing guide. 

As you work on your content, you’ll benefit from real-time optimization suggestions and content scoring.

And if you’ve purchased the Pro add-on you can leverage Frase’s built-in AI writer to autocomplete sentences and paragraphs or to paraphrase/rewrite content. This can help you to reach your target word count faster, with less effort.

Key features 

  • Automated content briefs
  • Content editor
  • Content scoring
  • Team collaboration features
  • Custom templates
  • GSC integration
  • Outline builder
  • AI Writer (Pro add-on required)

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • AI writer available
  • Good for writing teams

Cons

  • Low usage limits on entry-level plan

Pricing

Plans start at $12/month if paid annually. You can also get a 5-day trial for $1.

Read our Frase review.


#2 – Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is another great MarketMuse alternative. It’s one of the best SEO-optimization platforms on the market right now.

Surfer Homepage

Like MarketMuse, Surfer SEO comes with all the features you need to plan, create, and optimize SEO content that ranks. But unlike MarketMuse, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

The core of Surfer SEO is its Content Editor. All you have to do is enter your target keyword, and Surfer will create an optimized content brief with detailed instructions that tell you exactly how to write content that stands the best chance of ranking for that target keyword.

You can open up the brief and start writing from within the Content Editor interface (or if you prefer, integrate it with Google Docs or WordPress). 

On the right of the editor, you’ll see recommendations for things like word count, headers, and images. Plus, suggestions for topics and questions you’ll want to cover, and keywords that you should try to include.

These suggestions are based on Surfer’s comprehensive SERP analysis. It takes your keyword and looks at what the articles already ranking in Google for it have in common, then uses this data to power its suggestions.

But the coolest thing about Surfer’s Content Editor is that as you write, Surfer gives you real-time feedback and grades your content with Surfer’s proprietary Content Score.

This is a really useful metric that offers a genuinely reliable indicator of how well-optimized your content is. The closer you can get to a score of 100/100, the better the chance of ranking.

Key features 

  • Content Editor
  • Google Docs integration
  • WordPress integration
  • Keyword research tool
  • Outline generation
  • Keyword Surfer (Chrome extension)

Pros

  • Powerful content optimization
  • Genuinely useful SEO suggestions
  • Easy to use
  • Great value for money

Cons

  • More expensive than some other MarketMuse alternatives

Pricing

Plans start from $89/month with annual discounts available. Try with a 7-day free trial of their features.

Read our Surfer SEO review.


#3 – Scalenut

Scalenut is an AI-powered content intelligence platform. It’s an end-to-end content research and writing tool, but its standout feature is its AI copywriting functionality. It can save you time by writing SEO-optimized content for you.

Scalenut Homepage

Scalenut can reduce the time it takes to write a blog post from hours to as little as 5 minutes with its innovative ‘Cruise Mode’ feature.

All you have to do is provide a title for your post and offer Scalenut some context to help it work out what you want it to write about, then let its sophisticated AI take the reigns.

It’ll generate H-tag headings and FAQs for you based on analysis of the SERPs and forums like Reddit and Quora, then serve them up for you to finalize the structure.

Once you have all your headings in place, you can choose your writing points and craft the content in no time. And Scalenut will provide you with real-time feedback, including a Quality Score so you know how well optimized your content is, and suggestions for how to improve the readability based on NLP analysis

Scalenut’s AI writer can create all sorts of written content for you at the click of a button, including unlimited social posts, email headers, product descriptions, and even long-form content. 

Key features

  • Planning and research
  • Cruise Mode
  • NLP analysis
  • AI copywriter 
  • Topic clusters
  • Content grading
  • SEO reports

Pros

  • Readability and SEO optimization suggestions
  • AI copywriting tool
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • UI could be better

Pricing

Plans start at $13 per month. 

Read our Scalenut review.


#4 – Outranking.io

Outranking.io is an extremely feature-rich tool that’s got everything you need to create perfectly optimized content quickly and easily. 

Outranking Homepage

Firstly, it offers tons of features that are comparable to MarketMuse, including an SEO content brief and outline creator, that uses NLP keywords to generate highly optimized briefs. 

In addition to this, Outranking.io also offers an AI writing tool that can help you create optimized content with reduced fluff, accurate information, and a structure optimized for the web. In addition to the writing tool, the tool also comes preloaded with a bunch of content templates that cover tons of different articles types from recipe posts to press releases and more

You can also use the tool to plan your keyword strategy, find new content and keyword ideas, and work out a prioritized order for your upcoming articles. 

Overall, it’s a super useful tool that can help you level up your content production and optimize your existing content too.

Key features 

  • AI writing tool 
  • Content brief creation
  • Content strategy tools 
  • Content optimization 
  • Content marketing features

Pros

  • Affordable pricing plans 
  • Full-featured tool 
  • AI writing feature included 

Cons

  • No free plan is available 
  • Plans limit the number of articles you can optimize

Pricing 

Plans start from $79/month


#5 – SE Ranking 

SE Ranking is a full-featured SEO solution, and one of the most popular on the market. Although it has a good reputation as a general SEO tool, the company recently released the ‘Content Editor’ which is a great MarketMuse alternative. 

SE Ranking Homepage

You can use this feature to generate detailed content briefs just like you can with MarketMuse or Surfer SEO. The content optimization features are AI-powered and will provide suggestions to improve your content as you write it. 

If you’re in need of an all-in-one SEO tool, rather than just a tool to help you with content, then SE Ranking is a solid option. Not only can it help you research and write content faster, but it can also help you with on-page SEO, backlink analysis, competitor analysis, and more. 

One of the other bonuses about SE Ranking is that it has much more affordable pricing plans available than MarketMuse does. 

Key features

  • Content editor tool
  • Several keyword research tools
  • Site auditor
  • On-page SEO checker
  • SERP checker
  • Backlink and competitor analysis 

Pros

  • Usage-based pricing model
  • Full-featured all-in-one solution
  • Uncover the keywords your competitors are ranking for
  • Very powerful content optimization functions

Cons

  • Quite advanced so difficult for beginners 
  • Lots of features that aren’t needed if you’re just looking for a content optimization tool

Pricing

SE Ranking offers flexible pricing with plans starting from $23.52/month.

Read our SE Ranking review.


#6 – Semrush Writing Assistant

Semrush Writing Assistant is a smart editor that scores and helps you to optimize your content as you write. It’s part of the wider Semrush SEO suite.

Semrush Writing Assistant Homepage

You can use Semrush Writing Assistant (SWA) to make your copy and content more SEO- friendly, improve readability and tone of voice, and check content for plagiarism. 

It integrates neatly with Google Docs, MS Word, and WordPress through native add-ons. Once you’ve installed it, it’ll analyze your written content as you write and scores it in four different areas: reliability, originality, tone of voice, and SEO. Below each score, you’ll see suggestions on what you need to do to improve. 

It’s worth noting that SWA is just a small part of the wider Semrush platform. You can also use Semrush to help with many other areas of your SEO campaigns, including keyword research, rank tracking, backlink monitoring, competitor analysis, and much more.

It’s a lot more expensive than some other SEO platforms, but you get what you pay for—Semrush is widely considered to be the gold standard when it comes to SEO.

Key features

  • SEO scoring & suggestions
  • Readability scoring & suggestions
  • Tone of voice scoring & suggestions
  • Plagiarism checker
  • 40+ complimentary SEO tools

Pros

  • All-in-one SEO toolkit
  • Comprehensive content scoring
  • Excellent integrations
  • Reliable and accurate data
  • Generous usage limits

Cons

  • Expensive entry-level plans
  • No content brief creation tool

Pricing

Semrush plans start at $129.95/month (annual discounts available).

Read our Semrush review.


#7 – PageOptimizerPro

PageOptimizerPro or POP is one of the best content optimization tools on the market and it’s created by SEO expert Kyle Roof. Roof’s approach to SEO is one of the most popular among online marketers, and POP makes it easy to follow his SEO method. 

PageOptimizerPro Homepage

To optimize your content with POP, you first need to input some basic information, like target keywords, geographical location, and more. The tool will then auto-create optimized briefs for articles. The tool can also be used to optimize your content as you create it too so that you can quickly and easily make changes as you write. 

One other useful feature of POP is the report card function. This will score your content, and give you a prediction about how likely it is to rank. Another cool feature is the POP Watchdog. This tool will monitor your competition and automatically notify you when rankings change, as well as provide content suggestions that will help you outrank them. 

If you prefer to write in Google Docs or WordPress, then you can install the POP chrome extension to optimize your content on the fly.

Key features

  • Content brief builder
  • Report cards
  • Optimization suggestions
  • Ranking predictions 
  • Watchdog tool

Pros

  • Created using Kyle Roof’s SEO method
  • Chrome extension available
  • Real-time optimization suggestions

Cons

  • UI is not the best
  • No free plan is available

Pricing

Single-user plans start from $27/month. Agency plans start from $120/month. 


#8 – Clearscope

Clearscope is a feature-rich alternative to MarketMuse that is suitable for larger-scale, or enterprise-level businesses. 

Clearscope Homepage

The tool makes use of AI to create content creation briefs that you can use yourself or share with writers via an optimized link. The briefs are automatically created based on the keywords you provide. You can discover new keywords that are good to target using the keyword discovery tool. 

One of the best features of Clearscope is the content auditing tool. You can use it to generate optimization reports for existing content, so you can find ways to improve the content and help it to rank higher in the SERPs. 

You can use the optimization features to improve existing content, or you can integrate the tool with your browser to optimize as you go on Google Docs or WordPress. 

Due to the price point, this tool is most suitable for enterprise-level business, but it’s certainly worth it if you have the budget.

Key features

  • Content brief creation tool 
  • Keyword discovery tool
  • Content optimization features 
  • Real-time content optimization and scoring

Pros

  • Very easy-to-use
  • Keyword discovery tool is helpful
  • Create content briefs quickly and easily

Cons

  • More expensive than other options 

Pricing

Plans start from $140/month. No free trial is available.


Frequently asked questions

Want to know more about MarketMuse? Here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about the tool.

What does MarketMuse do?

MarketMuse uses AI to help you plan and optimize your written content. It features tools for content planning, content brief creation, keyword research, competitive content analysis, content clusters, and optimization. 

Does MarketMuse have a free plan?

Yes. MarketMuse offers a free plan that includes up to 10 queries and projects per month for 1 user. However, it is quite limited and doesn’t include all of MarketMuse’s features. Paid plans start from $600/month. 

What is the best affordable alternative to MarketMuse?

Surfer is the best affordable alternative to MarketMuse. It shares many of the key features of MarketMuse, but its paid plans start from as little as $49/month.

Does MarketMuse have an AI writing tool? 

No. Unfortunately, MarketMuse doesn’t offer an AI writing tool. Sometime ago it did have basic AI writing capabilities but that feature was removed from the platform.

However, if you want a content optimization tool that includes AI writing functionality, checkout Frase and Scalenut.

Conclusion

So there you have it – a selection of awesome alternatives to MarketMuse that are sure to help you improve your new and existing content. If you’re not sure which MarketMuse alternative is right for your business, here’s a quick recap of our favorite tools: 

  • Frase – Best for most users. Their content editor is designed to improve your content workflow. It makes it easy to research and optimize your content. Not only that but an AI writer is built into the content editor. Also works great for creating content briefs fast.
  • Surfer SEO – Best for those focused purely on content optimization. It offers other features, but that’s where the tool excels.

If you want to learn more about SEO and content optimization, be sure to check out some of our other posts. I’d recommend starting with our posts on SEO statistics and on-page page SEO tools.


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