Surfer SEO vs SE Ranking
Three of twelve models named Surfer SEO first on the direct prompt; zero named SE Ranking. Surfer SEO was named by twelve of the twelve models and SE Ranking by eleven and Surfer SEO carries 56 labels and SE Ranking 24, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in three categories this edition.
United States, founded 2012. Named in three categories this edition.
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the SEO and content optimization platforms page.
By framing
Surfer SEOFirst choices, of twelve modelsSE Ranking
Across every category in the September 2026 Edition, Surfer SEO and SE Ranking were named in the same answer sixty times, of the 164 answers naming Surfer SEO and the 100 naming SE Ranking. In those answers SE Ranking took the first choice eight times and Surfer SEO fourteen.
Every model, every framing
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | ||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | | |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | |
Surfer SEO SE Ranking first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Surfer SEO on the left and SE Ranking on the right.The direct prompt
Surfer SEO first, SE Ranking an alternative
3 of 12 modelsSE Ranking was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Neither was the first choice, one was named
7 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Neither was named
2 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
Surfer SEO23%#1 of 13SE Ranking13%#4 of 13Surfer SEO25%#1 of 16SE Ranking6%#5 of 16Surfer SEO2%#7 of 13SE Ranking0%#– of 13What the models said about Surfer SEO
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Surfer SEO — entry plan is $49/mo, but AI tracking requires pricier tiers; more expensive than Frase” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Content optimization platforms like Surfer SEO, Clearscope, Frase, or Rankability... they are highly dangerous when misused” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · soft negative
“premium content editors (like Clearscope or Surfer SEO) often start around $100 to $140+ per month” Gemini 3.5 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative
“Ahrefs + Surfer SEO provides the best balance of comprehensive research capabilities and content optimization at $298/month” MiniMax M2.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“The Best All-Rounder: Surfer SEO ... Surfer is widely considered the market leader for real-time content optimization.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Choose Surfer SEO if you want the most mature real-time optimization experience and produce content at volume” Kimi K2 · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about SE Ranking
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Four of four in this category shown.
“SE Ranking is solid for agencies and cost-conscious teams, but may fall short for enterprises needing deeper backlink analysis or more advanced SEM integration” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“SE Ranking jumped significantly (now ~$103+/mo)” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative
“The best SEO and content optimization platform for a company with a limited budget is SE Ranking, which costs $55/month” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
“or SE Ranking ($44/month) if you want a complete SEO platform including content optimization features” Mistral Small · budget prompt · first choice
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.