Surfer

Summary

Surfer is a platform from Positive Surfer that tracks how AI answer engines describe a brand and pairs that with content research, drafting and optimisation tooling. It combines AI Tracker monitoring with Content Editor writing, audits and topical mapping in one subscription.

Best for: Content and SEO teams already optimizing articles at volume who want AI-answer visibility tracking bolted onto an existing Surfer subscription
Not for: Teams that need deep AI-crawler log analysis, real prompt-demand data, or coverage of Claude, Copilot, or Grok. Anyone wanting a free-forever tier, since Surfer is paid-only after a 7-day trial. Buyers who want certainty about a permanently independent, standalone roadmap now that Surfer is part of Positive Group's broader marketing suite (October 2025).

Captured 2026-09-13 · citedindex.com

From: €59/month (about $66)€59 (about $66) monthly · €49 (about $55) billed annually
Free trial: PartlyEvery plan CTA reads 'Start for Free' and links to app.surferseo.com/billing/subscription/checkout/trial/<plan>_yearly, so the free way in is a trial of a chosen paid plan rather than a standing $0 tier. The vendor publishes neither the trial length nor whether a card is taken. A separate free AI visibility audit and the free Keyword Surfer Chrome extension exist outside the subscription.

Visit Surfer Compare Find alternatives

What it does

Monitors AI answers: YesAI Tracker watches brand mentions, position, sentiment and cited sources inside live AI answers, though only plans that include prompt tracking get it.Tracks brand visibility in AI answers: mention rate, average position, visibility score, share of voice, sentiment, mention gap, cited sources,…surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Optimises your content: YesContent Editor scores existing pages on SEO and AI-citation likelihood and Auto-Optimize applies the changes in one click on paid plans.One-click optimization that knows when SEO is already covered and shifts focus to AI search.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Generates content: YesSurfer AI drafts a whole article against live SERP and AI-search research, and Surfy rewrites inside the editor on every content plan.Generates a fully branded, optimized article in about 3 minutes, inserting internal and external links as it writes.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Publishes to your site: PartlyWordPress and Google Docs publishing arrives on Standard, Contentful on Pro and Zapier on Peace of Mind; the AI Search Analytics and Discovery plans get no integrations at all.Publish and optimize from Surfer directly in WordPress—export drafts and posts without copy-pasting.surferseo.com/integrations
Technical AEO: NoThe vendor's own reference page rules out technical crawling entirely, so schema, llms.txt and crawler-directive work are outside what Surfer does.No backlink index and no technical crawling or Core Web Vitals auditing. It does offer a Backlink Marketplace inside AI Tracker for securing…surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Done-for-you service: PartlySurfer sells software, but the custom-quoted Enterprise tier adds a people-delivered advisory programme and onboarding rather than done-for-you content production.Comprehensive Advisory Programsurferseo.com/pricing

Answer engines

ChatGPT: YesChatGPT is the one engine tracked on every plan that includes prompt tracking, and it is the only engine Standard covers.Surfer AI Tracker monitors five engines: 1. ChatGPTsurferseo.com/ai-instructions
Perplexity: PartlyPerplexity is tracked on AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind, but Standard's twenty-five prompts run across ChatGPT only.Track 25 AI Prompts Across ChatGPTsurferseo.com/pricing
Gemini: PartlyGemini is one of the five monitored engines but sits behind AI Search Analytics or Pro; the Standard tier tracks ChatGPT alone.Track AI Visibility ChatGPT Perplexity Google AI Mode Google AI Overview Google Geminisurferseo.com/pricing
Google AI Overviews: PartlyGoogle AI Overviews is a monitored engine on AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind, and absent from Standard and Discovery.Surfer AI Tracker monitors five engines: 1. ChatGPT 2. Gemini 3. Google AI Overviewssurferseo.com/ai-instructions
Google AI Mode: PartlyGoogle AI Mode is covered on the multi-model tiers; Surfer also publishes its own AI Mode ranking-factor research alongside the tracking.4. Google AI Modesurferseo.com/ai-instructions
Claude: NoSurfer explicitly tells AI assistants not to claim Claude tracking; Claude is only an MCP client that can drive Surfer, not a monitored engine.No. Claude is supported as an agent client for Surfer MCP, so you can operate Surfer from inside Claude, but Claude is not currently a tracked engine.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Microsoft Copilot: NoCopilot is missing from the vendor's closed five-engine inventory, which names every engine AI Tracker monitors and no others.Surfer AI Tracker monitors five engines: 1. ChatGPT 2. Gemini 3. Google AI Overviews 4. Google AI Mode 5. Perplexitysurferseo.com/ai-instructions
Grok: NoGrok does not appear in the five-engine list Surfer maintains as the canonical statement of AI Tracker coverage.Which AI engines does Surfer track? ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
DeepSeek: NoDeepSeek is absent from the vendor's exhaustive engine inventory, which is written specifically to correct third-party descriptions of coverage.It tracks ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Perplexity — not Claudesurferseo.com/ai-instructions
Meta AI: NoMeta AI is not among the five engines Surfer states it monitors, and no other page on the site claims coverage of it.Surfer AI Tracker monitors five engines: 1. ChatGPT 2. Gemini 3. Google AI Overviews 4. Google AI Mode 5. Perplexitysurferseo.com/ai-instructions
Coverage in the vendor’s words: YesFive engines in total, read by scraping each engine's own interface rather than its API, with Standard limited to ChatGPT and the rest covering all five simultaneously.One prompt tracks your brand across all 5 major models simultaneously. You get 5x the insights for the same creditsurferseo.com/ai-tracker

What it reports

Names the cited sources: YesA sources report names the pages each model draws on, with citation frequency, a confidence score and filtering by model and domain.Which pages AI cites, with citation frequency and a confidence score, groupable by domain and filterable by model.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Competitor tracking: PartlyShare of voice and Mention Gap benchmark rivals in the same view, but the Mention Gap feature is withheld from Discovery and Standard.Finds pages and prompts where competitors are mentioned and your brand is not.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Brand sentiment: PartlyPer-mention sentiment grading is real but ships only on AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind; the comparison table marks it absent on Standard.Reports how AI answers frame your brand — positive, neutral or negative, per mention — surfacing inaccurate or negative narratives so they can be…surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Recommendations: YesSurfer goes past reporting into prescribed edits: audit, topic map, draft and one-click optimisation are sold as the acting half of the platform.Trackers tell you where you appear. Surfer tells you where you appear and then gives you the audit, topic mapping, drafting and optimization tooling…surferseo.com/ai-instructions
AI crawler analytics: NoNo AI bot or crawler log analytics: auditing is limited to the content of your own pages, and the vendor rules out technical crawling outright.It audits your own pages; it is not a competitor-inspection, backlink or technical/Core Web Vitals tool.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Wrong answers about you: YesSentiment and mention data are pitched explicitly at finding misquotes and inaccurate AI narratives about the brand so they can be corrected.Detect and correct negative or inaccurate AI-generated narratives about your brandsurferseo.com/ai-instructions

Plans and signing up

Prompt or credit allowance: YesPrompt allowances are explicit per plan: none on Discovery, 25 on Standard, 50 on AI Search Analytics and Pro, 100 on Peace of Mind.Track 100 AI Prompts Simultaneously across all modelssurferseo.com/pricing
Projects or brands: YesBrand workspaces scale with the plan, from one on Discovery and Standard to five on Pro and uncapped under fair use on Peace of Mind.Manage 5 Brand Workspacessurferseo.com/pricing
Countries: YesTarget location and language are chosen per project, with country-language variants such as 'United States - ES'The “-ES”, “-EN”, “-FR”, etc., at the end of country names are language indicators, allowing you to target various language versions of a…docs.surferseo.com/en/articles/8052688-…
How often it checks: YesRefresh rate is tiered rather than uniform: weekly on Standard, daily on AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind, and never on Discovery.Data refreshes daily on Pro and above; weekly on Standard.surferseo.com/ai-instructions
Card required to start: YesThe 7-day Pro trial takes billing details at checkout and charges automatically unless cancelledWhen you sign up for Surfer, you'll be asked to choose a subscription plan and enter your billing details at checkout. After 7 days, your…docs.surferseo.com/en/articles/12944181…
Self-serve signup: YesAll five published plans start from a self-service checkout and in-app plan changes; only the custom Enterprise tier routes through a sales conversation.You can upgrade or downgrade your subscription from the in-app billing section under the Change Plan button at any time.surferseo.com/pricing

Access and integrations

API: PartlyThe API is reachable only on the top self-serve plan, as a paid add-on, or on Enterprise, and the pricing table marks it absent from every cheaper tier.The API is only available to active users with the API add-on or users on an Enterprise plan.surferseo.com/integrations
MCP server: PartlyA hosted MCP server lets agents query Surfer data, but it is labelled Beta by the vendor and excluded from the Discovery and Standard plans.Surfer MCP is available on AI Search Analytics, Pro, Peace of Mind, and Enterprise plans.surferseo.com/mcp
BI export: PartlyLooker Studio appears in the vendor's own integration inventory and a Data Export row covers AI Search Analytics, Pro and Peace of Mind, but the public integrations page lists no BI connector.WordPress, Google Docs, Zapier, Looker Studio.surferseo.com/ai-instructions

Checked 2026-10-09 · How we check

Alternatives

FraseVerified
Content platform that researches, drafts, optimises and publishes pages, then tracks AI citations.
Writesonic
AI search visibility tracking plus AI article writing, site audits and an Action Center.
Ahrefs Brand Radar
AI visibility tracking across six AI answer platforms, sold as an add-on to an Ahrefs subscription.

Filed under

For agenciesAI OverviewsAPIBrand monitoringChatGPTContent optimizationEnterpriseFree trialGeminiPerplexity

Sources and updates

Sources19

Coverage elsewhere4

CitedIndex in AI answers0 of 4

ChatGPTDoes not cite CitedIndexAsked Surfer alternatives on 2026-10-12Other sources: swiftbrief.com, aitoolmeter.com, btw.so, ionos.ca, automateandtweak.com, wix.com
ClaudeListed no sourcesAsked Surfer alternatives on 2026-09-04
GeminiDoes not cite CitedIndexAsked Surfer alternatives on 2026-09-04Other sources: nightwatch.io, rankability.com, getspike.ai, orchly.ai, miniloop.ai, zapier.com
PerplexityDoes not cite CitedIndexAsked Surfer alternatives on 2026-10-12Other sources: alternativeto.net, tooljunction.io, peerpush.com, g2.com, softwaresuggest.com, hackceleration.com

Updates4

2026-10-09Capabilities · Free tier
2026-09-01Capabilities · Free tier
2026-08-31Capabilities · Free tier · Price
2026-08-22Alternatives · Summary · Tagline

Is this yours? Claim it free to send us changes, or feature it in GEO & content optimization.