Clearscope Alternatives You Should Switch To, Now [2021]
In the past year, there has been an explosion of new AI-based tools for content marketers looking for help optimizing their content, one of them being Clearscope. Clearscope has been first one to the market of SEO analysis tools. I've been a fan of their co-founder Bernard J. Huang (bernardjhuang) who was legit SEO master.
Even now you can find some of his SEO talks on YouTube under Distro500 channel.
But the problem was - Clearscope was a very expensive tool without free trial. For someone who was just starting out the early price point $150/m was a bit too much to try out. Later on it swelled to $300 per month which was just swelling up the main objection - it's too damn expensive, yo!
Since then, new SEO analysis tools popped up. I've picked my winner among them - UseTopic which perfectly fits my content marketing needs personally at Circuit Stream and at my content marketing agency.
Now, given the plethora of tools, I’ve done the hard work to sift through all of the options to choose the best tool for the job and tested the top seven and summarized our findings below:
- Best for Agencies and Content Marketers
- Best for Freelancers and Individual Entrepreneurs
- Best for SEO Experts
What is Clearscope, and Why do People Like It?
So first, some background on Clearscope: Clearscope is an AI-based content optimization tool that helps improve individual content pieces and the overall content strategy for better rankings in search results. The tool uses the top articles in Google to make recommendations on terms to include. As mentioned, Clearscope was one of the first SEO analysis tools started in way back in 2017 (ancient history in the Internet time).
People like Clearscope because it is easy to use.
All you need to do is input a keyword, run the report, insert content, check the score, and add suggested phrases or keywords to articles until you hit the desired score. Planning and organization are easy with Clearscope because your entire content writing team can use the software directly. All fine and dandy, right?
Why Look for an Alternative?
There is a catch: cost.
Unfortunately most small businesses or freelancers cannot afford it. The cheapest package is $170 a month (which was brought down from $300), and in addition it doesn’t provide the ability to create briefs for your writers. If you want to have good content delivered, you as a content manager will have to make outlines for your website. If you think freelance writers are going to read your mind and get you exactly what you think, you, my friend are living in a dreamland.
Since Clearscope’s creation, better and newer products have emerged. These tools are cheaper, more feature-packed, and make a bigger impact.
Which Clearscope Alternative is Right for Your Business?
Top Picks for Agencies and Content Marketers
1. Topic
At the core, Topic offers better research process speeds for creating new content pieces. The product is designed with the understanding that research is the most critical step for solid content.
A well-research article involves understanding the target’s search intent, analyzing competition, and offering answers to the most commonly asked questions. However, this is time-consuming if done manually. Topic automates this process so you can dedicate more time to creating exceptional content. I've been using Topic for about two years and saw amazing results such as ranking on top #3 place on Google US for 5,000+ monthly search volume keyword.
Why choose Topic over Clearscope?
Topic finds headings, questions, and keywords to include in an article based on your focus keyword. Like Clearscope, it uses information from the top 30 search engine results to make suggestions.
However, it takes it one step further by allowing you to quickly curate that research into a comprehensive outline. This can cut research time in half while increasing content quality.
Topic is also one of the first systems to integrate with GPT-3, an advanced AI system, to assist in coming up with creative, new ideas. Once finished with the draft, the writer uses Topic’s Content Grader to find and fix topical gaps.
Secondly, and this was a huge deal for me, the UX/UI is minimalist and super simple to navigate. I don't know about you, but I hate tools that makes me think.
Lastly, customer support is something UseTopic cares about and whenever I had a question, I got the answer (& solution) back within 24 hours.
Pricing
Topic has an adjustable monthly pricing plan that lets you pay for how much you use, starting at $50/mo for 5 content briefs all the way to $300/mo for 50 briefs. This makes it easy to only pay for what you use. Also you can try it out for $7 (taking a hint from Ahrefs trial mode, wink wink) which is a suitable expense.
2. MarketMuse
MarketMuse is an enterprise content marketing suite suited best for large corporations. Their AI content planning and optimization software helps with researching, planning, and crafting content.
MarketMuse AI helps users understand buyer requirements and intentions, identify competing content, and improve content performance.
Why choose MarketMuse over Clearscope?
- MarketMuse’s Content Inventory feature stores content we already have on a site and provides suggestions for how to improve them for better search engine ranking, making it a suitable tool for content audits
- MarketMuse offers suggestions for internal link building opportunities not available in Clearscope
- The reporting tools are detailed
- A visual heat map feature helps in the identification of the content landscape of chosen topics
Pricing
MarketMuse Pro starts at $499/month, making it suitable for large enterprises looking for a comprehensive content suite.
Top Picks for Freelancers and Individual Entrepreneurs
1. Frase
Frase is a reasonable alternative to Clearscope for creating content briefs. And the affordable pricing makes it a great budget pick for individual bloggers and solo entrepreneurs. I checked out Frase when they had a lifetime deal (LTD) at AppSumo - a marketplace for marketing tools. (Hey some people buy clothes, and random widgets, I buy software tools!).
Frase has an AI-powered chatbot that utilizes existing website content to reply to visitor queries immediately. Frase uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to power both their content optimization and chatbot products.
Why choose Frase over Clearscope?
- Built-in chatbot feature that handles questions from website visitors
- A view of questions people are asking on popular sites such as Quora and Reddit to enhance the quality of content
- Analysis to help produce high-performing headlines
Pricing
The Frase Basic Plan begins at $44.99 a month (or less if you can get it on AppSumo deals) with bonuses included in yearly billing plans, making it ideal for bloggers, freelancers, and individual entrepreneurs looking for a tool on a budget.
2. Dashword
Dashword has similar features to Clearscope. The platform is an elementary content editor with keyword suggestions on its left panel and content grade and word count metrics at the top. A reports tab reveals the quality of competitor content and helps you discover all relevant topics to include.
Although the term quality is less-than-ideal, there is the benefit of being able to run unlimited reports.
Why choose Dashword over Clearscope?
- Unlimited reports for a single price
- The user interface is uncluttered and simple
- Allows targeting keyword choice based on geographical location, including Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand
Pricing
Dashword offers a free plan of 5 reports a month and a $99 a month flat fee for premium use. It is suitable for businesses just starting on their content strategy.
3. SEMRush
SEMRush is a popular all-in-one marketing suite fitted with various SEO-related features. The platform is powerful, but requires significant SEO knowledge to fully utilize. It's a behemoth of features and tools.
One component of their suite that is directly comparable to Clearscope is the SEMRush Content Assistant. It is usable as either a WordPress plugin or Google Docs add-on and comes with a checklist that can be used to grade a draft.
Why choose SEMRush over Clearscope?
- The WordPress plugin and text editor for Google Docs allows for seamless integration
- Real-time content analysis provides suggestions while writing
- Checks the overall readability of content using the Flesch Kincaide ease score to ensure content maintains desired formality level
- Keyword research features are included with a SEMRush subscription
Pricing
SEMRush costs $119 a month for a basic subscription and gives you access to their entire suite of tools, many of which focus on keyword research.
Top Picks for SEO Experts
1. ClickFlow
ClickFlow features a very similar editor or optimization page to that of Clearscope, but focuses more on the technical aspects of SEO. The main differentiator is their SEO A/B testing feature which allow you to experiment on pages to see how changes impact traffic.
Why choose ClickFlow over Clearscope?
- Tracking capability allows identification of strong and weak pages
- Included tools allow you to experiment with content in various ways and get actionable insights from the tests
- Automatic reports for checking achieved success
- Regular notifications whenever new opportunities to boost CTRs and improve SERP ranking are available
Pricing
ClickFlow has a starter plan for $109 a month if your website has less than 10K organic traffic volume each month. Otherwise, users need to contact the company for a customized pricing plan.
2. RankScience
RankScience Content Insights provides analysis of content to improve its competitiveness and ranking in SERPs. Like ClickFlow, they offer advanced SEO A/B testing functionality which is especially valuable for larger directory-based sites.
Their included SEO A/B split testing allows you to rapidly deploy changes to a site to test for impact on organic search traffic. The impact is analyzed and then presented in easy to understand reports.
Why choose RankScience over Clearscope?
- SEO A/B testing functionality makes it easy to test SEO elements to gauge effectiveness
- Ability to rapidly deploy site changes through their CDN integration
Pricing
RankScience Content Insights starts at $295 a month, which includes free onboarding and training.
