Rankli vs Surfer
The article written, published and re-asked, without opening an editor. From $99 a month.
7 days free, then your plan. Cancel before day 8 and nothing is charged.
Rankli and Surfer, side by side
Rankli writes the article and publishes it to your CMS, aimed at the questions AI answers with someone else, then re-asks each question 7 and 14 days later. Surfer sells document optimisation and AI prompt tracking to teams who write the page themselves.
| Row | Rankli | Surfer |
|---|---|---|
| AI assistants asked | ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini on every plan, with Perplexity added on Scale and Agency. | Not listed on the pages we read. |
| Questions tracked | 50 on Growth, 150 on Scale, 400 on Agency, asked every week. | Standard ($99/month billed yearly) tracks 25 AI prompts weekly; Pro ($182) 50 daily; Peace of Mind ($299) 100 daily; AI Search Analytics ($158) 100 daily. |
| Questions you are losing, and who wins them | Each round lists the questions where AI recommends someone else, and who it picks instead. | Not listed on the pages we read. |
| Writes the answer pages | About 30% of each month's articles are planned at the questions you are losing, and Rankli writes them. | Discovery lists creating or optimising 120 documents a month; the pages are written in their editor. |
| Articles a month | 30 on Growth, 60 on Scale, 120 on Agency. | Not listed on the pages we read. |
| Publishes to your CMS | 10 connections: WordPress, WordPress.com, Webflow, Shopify, Wix, Ghost, Notion, Framer, Webhook and Next.js Blog. Live or as a draft. | Not listed on the pages we read. |
| Re-asks the question after publishing | Each article's question is asked again 7 and 14 days after it goes live. | Not listed on the pages we read. |
| Before and after, per article | On every article: named in how many answers before and after, and whether AI cited the page. | Not listed on the pages we read. |
| Price | Growth $99, Scale $249, Agency $499, billed monthly. | Discovery at $49/month billed yearly, which their page describes as 120 documents and 10 tracked pages. |
| Free trial | 7 days free on every plan. A card starts it; cancel during the trial and nothing is charged. | Every plan on the page carries a "Start for Free" button. |
Every Surfer cell was read on from surferseo.com/pricing. Every Rankli figure on this page is a rule, a limit or a price in the running product; every figure about the other product was read off their own live page on the date stamped above.
- Which AI assistants are asked, and publishing to a CMS: not stated on their pricing page.
- Re-asking a prompt after a page goes live, and monthly rather than yearly prices: not stated on their pricing page.
Why teams switch
- Rankli writes and publishes the article: 30 a month on Growth, straight to any of 10 connections.
- The questions it writes for are the ones you are losing, asked of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini every week.
- Every article is tied to a question, and that question is asked again 7 and 14 days after it goes live, with before and after on the article.
Questions
Surfer optimises documents. What does Rankli do?
It writes them. Rankli picks the questions you are losing, drafts 1,500 to 3,000 words in your voice, publishes to your CMS and re-asks the question 7 and 14 days after it goes live.
Why are their prices marked "billed yearly"?
Because that is how their pricing page showed them on the date stamped above. Rankli is $99 a month billed monthly, with 7 days free and one-click cancel from the app.
How do I switch from Surfer to Rankli?
Add the questions your customers ask, connect your CMS, and start the 7-day free trial. Rankli asks ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini that week, lists the questions you are losing and plans articles at them. It publishes to any of 10 connections and re-asks each one 7 and 14 days after it goes live.
Next: Rankli pricing, a free AI visibility check on your own business, or which AI search visibility tools AI assistants recommend.
See which questions you are losing this week.
7 days free, then your plan. Cancel before day 8 and nothing is charged.