GrowthBar alternatives are worth a look now that GrowthBar itself is gone as a standalone tool. SEOptimer, which bought GrowthBar, rebuilt it in October 2026 as its AI Writer, moved GrowthBar accounts into SEOptimer, and bundled 20 to 80 articles a month into plans from $29. You still get researched drafts and a content score, but no daily AI search tracking, and finished articles are exported rather than published to your CMS.
These 10 GrowthBar alternatives include live content editors, AI writers that publish, an SEO agent and an agentic AI search platform. Prices checked in November 2026.
How we compared these GrowthBar alternatives
GrowthBar was an AI blog writer with keyword data on the side, so we judged every alternative on the same three things:
- How it researches, writes and scores a draft, and whether it publishes
- Which AI engines it tracks on the plan you'd actually buy
- What it costs each month, and what the trial and refund terms say
Writesonic is the only tool here we've used hands-on, and we've used Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit but not its Content Toolkit. GrowthBar, Surfer, Frase, NEURONwriter, Scalenut, Koala, SEO.ai and Jasper aren't on our tested list, so we describe them from their pricing pages, docs, archived pages and user reviews. Quotes are condensed from Trustpilot, Capterra, G2 and WordPress.org and link to the original.
Orchly is our product. We held it to the same checks and say where it falls short. Checked November 2026.
GrowthBar alternatives compared
| Tool | Starting price | AI writing | Content score | AI engines on entry plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 GrowthBar (now SEOptimer AI Writer) | $29/month | 20 articles/month | Score out of 100 | No ongoing tracking; one-off GEO audits on Pro and Max | Existing GrowthBar users |
 Orchly | $49/month | Agents write and refresh | Agents optimize for you | ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews, with Gemini, AI Mode, Claude, Grok and Copilot as add-ons; also tracks Meta AI and DeepSeek   +5 add-ons | Agents that run the work |
 Surfer | $49/month (billed yearly) | Surfy and AI articles | Content Score | None on Discovery; ChatGPT weekly on Standard; five engines daily on ProFrom Standard | Live editor |
 Frase | $39/month (billed yearly) | Agent writes and publishes | SEO and GEO scores | ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, 20 prompts | Research to publish |
 NEURONwriter | $23/month | AI credits, Content Designer from Gold | Live NLP score | AI Overviews and AI Mode, 5 questions; ChatGPT and Perplexity with a $9 add-on+2 with add-on | Cheap editor |
 Writesonic | $79/month (billed yearly) | 15 articles/month | No live editor | ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews, 50 prompts daily | Writing volume |
 Scalenut | $59/month | 5 GEO articles/month | SEO score | ChatGPT and AI Overviews, 10 prompts weekly | Budget bundle |
 Koala | $25/month | 45,000 words/month | From Professional | No AI tracking | Cheap bulk drafts |
 Semrush Content Toolkit | $60/month | Unlimited, 5 SEO-boosted | Content Optimizer | No AI tracking; separate toolkit from $99 | Semrush data |
 SEO.ai | $149/month | Agent writes and publishes | Built in | No AI tracking described | Hands-off SEO |
 Jasper | $69/seat/month | Brand voice drafts | No SEO score | None on Pro; GEO Hub on Business | Brand voice |
1. Orchly: best GrowthBar alternative for content that ranks and gets cited
Orchly is an agentic AI search optimization platform. It reads answers from the real interfaces of ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews every day, with Gemini, Google AI Mode, Claude, Grok and Microsoft Copilot as paid add-ons (it also tracks Meta AI and DeepSeek), and its agents run on their own, on a schedule.
They analyze your AI visibility, your competitors, your SEO and your Search Console and GA4 data, decide what to write and which pages to refresh, and write and refresh them in your brand voice. They keep Brand Brain up to date, find the sites, people and Reddit threads worth reaching, run the outreach and draft the replies, and audit your site for technical SEO and AI search issues with the fixes ranked. You decide whether each agent works on its own or waits for your approval.
GrowthBar, and now SEOptimer's AI Writer, gives you a researched draft and a score, and the rest is up to you. Orchly's agents run the work end to end, from $49 a month.
Content, chosen and published
- Content Agent. Runs on a schedule, uses Search Console decay and AI citation gaps to decide what to write and which pages to refresh, then the AI article writer drafts each one in your brand voice.
- Brand Brain. Your products, pricing, audience and voice, kept up to date automatically and used in every draft.
- Publishing. Straight to WordPress, Webflow, Framer, Wix, Sanity or Ghost. GrowthBar and SEOptimer leave you to export and paste.
Search data, outreach and fixes
- Search Console and GA4. Clicks, conversions and revenue next to your AI visibility on every plan, from Search Console and GA4.
- Rank tracking and Page 360. A Google rank tracker by country and device, and each page's organic and AI data together.
AI visibility across more engines
- Daily AI tracking. 25 prompts every day on Essential across ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews, read from each engine's real interface, with Gemini, AI Mode, Claude, Grok and Copilot as add-ons. Orchly also tracks Meta AI and DeepSeek. SEOptimer offers one-off GEO audits instead of daily tracking.
- Mention Gap, outreach and site health. The cited sources that skip you, an Activation Agent that finds the publishers, people and Reddit threads AI cites, runs the outreach and drafts the replies, and a Site Health Agent that audits your site for technical SEO and AI search issues and ranks the fixes.
Where Orchly falls short
- No Chrome extension. GrowthBar's extension showed keyword data right in the browser.
- No standalone keyword research database. Orchly works from your Search Console data and AI prompts, while SEOptimer searches a database of over 3 billion keywords.
- Higher entry price. SEOptimer starts at $29 a month with 20 AI Writer articles. Orchly starts at $49.
Orchly pricing
- Essential: $49/month for 25 prompts, 20 articles, 1 site and 1 user
- Pro: $125/month for 100 prompts, 50 articles, 3 sites and 5 users, with AI traffic analytics, custom agents and white-label reports
- Enterprise: custom, with a customer success manager
- There's a 7-day free trial, and yearly billing saves 25%.
See Orchly pricing or start a free trial.
2. Surfer: best content editor
Surfer is a content optimization platform built around a live Content Editor and Content Score, with AI visibility tracking from its Standard plan, which suits GrowthBar users who want a stronger editor than GrowthBar's and don't mind paying more for it. We haven't used Surfer ourselves, so this section is based on its pricing page, changelog and user reviews.
GrowthBar gave you a quick outline and a draft. Surfer is built for the part after that: you work through the draft while the score climbs as you cover the terms, headings and questions the top pages share. You can do it in Surfer, Google Docs or WordPress.
It has grown well beyond the editor. Surfer now runs content audits, internal linking suggestions and rank drop alerts from Search Console, and since May 2026 its AI SEO Content Score grades drafts for AI search as well as Google.
The AI tracking depends on the plan. The $49 Discovery plan has none, Standard checks 25 ChatGPT prompts once a week, and you need Pro at $182 for daily tracking on five engines.
Key features
- Content Editor and Content Score. Live scoring against the ranking pages, with Google Docs, WordPress and Contentful integrations.
- AI SEO Content Score. Grades each draft for Google and AI search, added in May 2026.
- AI Tracker. 25 weekly ChatGPT prompts on Standard, 50 daily prompts on ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Mode, AI Overviews and Gemini on Pro.
- Content audit and internal linking. Fixes for published pages, plus rank drop detection from Search Console.
- MCP server. Generally available since October 2026 on Pro and above.
Where it falls short
- No Claude, Grok or Copilot tracking on any plan.
- The entry plan has no AI tracking, and Standard only checks ChatGPT weekly.
- Documents and content editors are capped by plan, so heavy writers pay for the bigger tiers.
User reviews
“It shows me what's ranking in the SERP and what to change so my content can rank. I just wish it ran on a flat fee instead of a credit system.” (Source)
“Great for actionable insights, and easy to use even if you're not a professional.” (Source)
“There's no way to remove my card from the site, and it charged me even after I cancelled.” (Source)
Pricing
- Discovery: $49/month billed yearly ($59 monthly) for 120 documents and 1 seat, with no AI tracking
- Standard: $99/month billed yearly ($119 monthly) for 360 documents, 3 seats and 25 weekly ChatGPT prompts
- Pro: $182/month billed yearly ($219 monthly) for 50 daily prompts on five AI engines and 5 seats
- AI Search Analytics on its own is $82 a month billed yearly, and there's a 7-day Pro trial that needs a card.
3. Frase: best budget research-to-publish tool
Frase is an agentic SEO and GEO content platform that researches, writes, publishes and refreshes pages from $39 a month billed yearly, which suits bloggers and small teams that liked GrowthBar's research-first drafts and now want the publishing and tracking too. We haven't used Frase ourselves, so this section draws on its pricing page, changelog, archived pricing pages and user reviews.
Frase rebuilt its platform in early 2026. One agent now takes a request in plain language and handles the research, the draft, the optimization and the publishing to WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Sanity or its own FraseCMS.
That's the closest thing on this list to what GrowthBar promised, with more after the draft. Content Guard watches pages you've already published and drafts a fix when one slips, and every draft gets both an SEO score and a GEO score.
The entry plan also tracks AI answers. Starter covers 20 prompts on ChatGPT and Google's AI results, Perplexity arrives on Professional, and Claude and Gemini need Scale. Frase rebuilt its AI Visibility tab on October 21, 2026, with recommendations, sentiment and PDF reports.
Key features
- Frase agent. Research, writing, optimization and publishing from plain-language requests.
- SEO and GEO scores. Each draft is scored for Google and for AI citation.
- Content Guard. Watches 10 to 300 live pages and drafts fixes for you to approve.
- AI Visibility. 20, 50 or 75 tracked prompts, with recommendations, sentiment and scheduled reports.
- API, MCP server and CLI on every plan, plus an official ChatGPT app since October 2026.
Where it falls short
- 1 seat on Starter and 3 on Professional.
- Claude and Gemini tracking only on the $239 Scale plan.
- Lifetime-deal and AppSumo buyers say the 2026 rebuild left them behind.
User reviews
“We use it almost every day, and it's helped us climb Google's rankings. Picking the right plan was confusing, but their team sorted it out.” (Source)
“All 10 Frase lifetime accounts I bought on AppSumo stopped working, with no reason or warning.” (Source)
Pricing
- Starter: $39/month billed yearly ($49 monthly) for 1 seat, 10 articles and 20 tracked prompts
- Professional: $103/month billed yearly ($129 monthly) for 3 seats, 40 articles, 50 prompts and Perplexity
- Scale: $239/month billed yearly ($299 monthly) for 5 seats, 100 articles, 75 prompts, Claude and Gemini
- Every plan has a 7-day free trial with no card, and Enterprise is custom.
4. NEURONwriter: best cheap NLP editor
NEURONwriter is a low-cost NLP content editor from $23 a month that scores drafts term by term against the pages that rank, which suits freelancers and bloggers who want more optimization detail than GrowthBar gave them for less money. We haven't used NEURONwriter ourselves, so this section is based on its pricing page, help pages, updates board and Trustpilot reviews.
You enter a keyword, NEURONwriter pulls the top results, and you write against a list of terms, headings and questions with a score that moves as you go. Its Content Designer can draft the article for you on Gold and above.
It added AI tracking in 2026, but only a little. Every plan includes 5 to 20 monitored questions in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, and ChatGPT and Perplexity need the Advanced add-on from $9 a month.
For GrowthBar users, the integrations are the thing to check. Search Console, WordPress, Shopify, the API and the MCP server all start on Gold at $69 a month.
Key features
- Content Writer. Live NLP term suggestions and a content score from the top results.
- Content Designer. AI drafts from your outline, on Gold and above.
- AI Visibility. 5 to 20 monitored questions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, with ChatGPT and Perplexity as a paid add-on.
- Search Console, WordPress and Shopify from Gold, plus unlimited team members.
- API and MCP server from Gold, so Claude and other MCP clients can score drafts.
Where it falls short
- No Claude, Gemini or Copilot tracking.
- Integrations and team seats only from the $69 Gold plan.
- The interface takes some getting used to, and AI drafts still need a heavy edit.
User reviews
“I've optimized over 500 long-form articles with it in four years. It's kept up with SEO, GEO and AI.” (Source)
“It does what it promises and my articles are better organized, but Portuguese support isn't perfect and the free version is limited.” (Source)
“Very superficial posts, without references, and it doesn't follow instructions.” (Source)
Pricing
- Bronze: $23/month for 2 projects, 25 documents and 5 AI-monitored questions
- Gold: $69/month for 10 projects, 75 documents, 10 questions, unlimited team members and the integrations
- Diamond: $117/month for 50 projects, 150 documents and 20 questions
- Silver ($45) and Platinum ($93) sit in between. Yearly billing gives 2 months free, the 7-day trial runs on Gold terms, and there's a 30-day refund.
5. Writesonic: best AI writer
Writesonic is an AI writing and GEO platform that tracks your brand in AI answers every day and writes 15 to 50 articles a month for WordPress, which suits GrowthBar users who mostly want more articles out the door plus a view of how they show up in ChatGPT.
We signed up and had tracking running within a few minutes. You pick topics, trim the prompts it suggests, add a few competitors, and citation share starts filling in day by day.
The writing side felt familiar coming from GrowthBar, only bigger. Starter writes 15 articles a month and publishes them to WordPress, and topic ideas come in from Reddit and Search Console as well as the tracking.
The engine list was what held us back. Every self-serve plan tracks ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews only, so Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and AI Mode wait for Enterprise. The self-serve prices we saw were quoted for yearly billing.
Key features
- AI articles. 15, 25 or 50 a month, published to WordPress.
- Daily AI tracking. 50, 100 or 200 prompts on ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews.
- Site audits. 10 to 50 a month, depending on plan.
- Action Center. Fixes re-measured on day 14 and day 28, as a trial on Growth and in full on Enterprise.
- MCP server and Project Hub, added in June 2026.
Where it falls short
- No Perplexity, Claude, Copilot or AI Mode below Enterprise.
- No live term-by-term editor.
- 1 user on Starter and 3 on Growth.
User reviews
“It helps me spark ideas fast, though I still tweak things to fit my tone.” (Source)
“It was a really cool tool when I used it a year ago, but after the recent pricing changes I don't enjoy it as much.” (Source)
“The site promised a free trial that didn't exist, and to test it on my own brand I'd have had to pay for Enterprise.” (Source)
Pricing
- Starter: $79/month billed yearly ($99 monthly) for 50 prompts, 15 articles and 1 user
- Basic: $199/month billed yearly for 100 prompts, 25 articles and 2 users
- Growth: $399/month billed yearly for 200 prompts, 50 articles, 3 users and sentiment
- Enterprise is custom and tracks nine AI platforms. You can start free without a card.
6. Scalenut: best budget bundle
Scalenut is an AI content platform that bundles GEO article writing, content optimization, weekly AI visibility tracking and WordPress or Shopify publishing from $59 a month, which suits small teams on a GrowthBar-sized budget that want more of the process in one tool. We haven't used Scalenut ourselves, so this section is based on its pricing page, archived pricing pages, terms and Trustpilot reviews.
Starter writes 5 GEO articles, optimizes 5 existing ones and tracks 10 prompts in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. Plus at $89 adds auto-publishing, internal linking, 4 team members and Social Upreach, which watches subreddits for threads to join.
The tracking is weekly on every plan, and Perplexity only arrives on Professional at $199. An older AI visibility page on its site still shows a daily tracker with Claude, but the current plan cards don't include it.
When we checked there was a Black Friday early access deal, 65% off yearly plans with triple limits. It's annual only and non-refundable, and Scalenut's terms say there are no refunds after the 7-day trial in general, so test it properly first.
Key features
- GEO article writer. 5, 30 or 75 articles a month, and the same number of optimizations.
- AI visibility tracking. 10, 25 or 100 prompts, refreshed weekly.
- Auto-publish to WordPress and Shopify, from Plus.
- Social Upreach. Keywords, subreddits and competitors to watch on Reddit, from Plus.
- GEO content audit and cannibalization analysis. 200 to 1,000 pages a month.
Where it falls short
- Weekly AI tracking on every plan.
- Perplexity only on Professional, and no Claude or Gemini.
- No new Trustpilot reviews in the past 12 months, and the older ones include billing complaints.
User reviews
“This tool is going to be a game changer for us. Of the AI writers we've used, it's been the best so far.” (Source)
“Easy to use, and the AI writes a lot better than most.” (Source)
“I got billed for a full year without a single day's notice, and I couldn't find a way to manage my subscription.” (Source)
Pricing
- Starter: $59/month for 10 prompts, 5 articles and 1 workspace
- Plus: $89/month for 25 prompts, 30 articles, 2 workspaces and 4 team members
- Professional: $199/month for 100 prompts, Perplexity, 75 articles and unlimited workspaces
- There's a 7-day free trial with no card.
7. Koala: best cheap bulk articles
Koala is an AI article writer that turns a keyword into a long, formatted blog post with internal links and images and publishes it to your CMS, from $25 a month, which suits niche-site owners and bloggers who used GrowthBar mainly for fast drafts. We haven't used Koala ourselves, so this section is based on its pricing page and Trustpilot reviews.
KoalaWriter is the core. It looks at the pages ranking for your keyword, covers the terms they share, places internal links from your own site and adds AI images, then sends the article to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow or Ghost.
Koala has added more around the writer in 2026. Brand DNA reads your site once and feeds your services and voice into every article, an agent plans content from your Search Console and Analytics data from Professional, and the Koala AI MCP is now out of beta on every paid plan.
What it doesn't do is track AI answers. Plans are measured in words and credits, and premium models like Claude Sonnet 5 burn words at twice the normal rate.
Key features
- KoalaWriter. One-click long-form articles with SERP-based optimization and bulk mode.
- Brand DNA. Your brand, services and voice, with an agent that suggests what to write.
- Search Console and Analytics dashboard with an Article Editor and SEO score, from Professional.
- KoalaLinks. Automatic internal linking for up to 50 sites, from Professional.
- One-click publishing to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow and Ghost, plus API and MCP access.
Where it falls short
- No AI visibility tracking.
- The live editor and SEO score only start on the $49 Professional plan.
- Several Trustpilot reviewers describe billing and refund disputes.
User reviews
“It's the Swiss army knife of AI writers, from images to interlinks to outlines.” (Source)
“I cancelled my membership and they still charged me. I did get the refund after talking to my bank.” (Source)
“I paid for a year and asked for a refund on the unused months. They rejected it with one email, and then I couldn't even keep talking to the live agent.” (Source)
Pricing
- Starter: $25/month for 45,000 words and 500 credits
- Professional: $49/month for 100,000 words, 1,000 credits, the Search Console dashboard and Article Editor
- Boost: $99/month for 250,000 words, 2,500 credits and Content Calendar Autopilot
- Annual billing saves 20%. A free account gets 5,000 words with no card, and there's a 15-day refund window if you've used little.
8. Semrush Content Toolkit: best inside Semrush
Semrush's Content Toolkit is a standalone AI writing and optimization app, formerly ContentShake AI, that finds topics, writes briefs and articles and exports them to WordPress for $60 a month, which suits GrowthBar users who want Semrush's keyword data behind every draft. We've used Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit, but not the Content Toolkit, so this section is based on Semrush's pricing page, knowledge base and WordPress.org reviews.
The flow is close to GrowthBar's. Topic Finder suggests ideas for your region, the SEO Brief Generator turns one into an outline, and the AI Article Generator writes the draft in one of up to 50 brand voices.
You get unlimited standard articles, but only 5 SEO-boosted articles a month, the ones built on deeper SERP analysis. Ten more cost $30 a month.
It's sold separately from the rest of Semrush. The Content Toolkit doesn't include the SEO Toolkit or AI visibility tracking, which is a separate toolkit from $99 a month.
Key features
- Topic Finder and SEO Brief Generator. Ideas and outlines from Semrush data.
- AI Article Generator. Unlimited standard articles and 5 SEO-boosted ones a month.
- Content Optimizer. Scores and rewrites drafts, plus a Chrome extension.
- Brand voices. Up to 50.
- WordPress export to up to 100 sites.
Where it falls short
- No AI visibility tracking in the toolkit.
- Only 5 SEO-boosted articles a month before you pay for more.
- Semrush's keyword research, audits and rank tracking need a separate subscription.
User reviews
Reviews of the Content Toolkit on its own are thin. These two are from its WordPress plugin page and are a couple of years old.
“It works exactly the way it's designed to, and I don't dread cranking out content any more.” (Source)
“It doesn't connect. It keeps saying they're aware of the issue and to try later.” (Source)
Pricing
- Content Toolkit: $60/month for unlimited standard articles, 5 SEO-boosted articles, briefs and optimization
- Extra SEO-boosted articles: $30/month for 10 more
- There's a 7-day free trial.
9. SEO.ai: best autonomous writer
SEO.ai is an AI SEO agent from a Copenhagen team that plans, writes and publishes pages to your site, swaps backlinks through its own network and builds Google Ads, for $149 a month per site, which suits small business owners who want SEO done for them instead of tools to run. We haven't used SEO.ai ourselves, so this section is based on its pricing page, homepage and Trustpilot reviews.
GrowthBar left you with a draft to finish. SEO.ai runs the other way: the agent picks the keywords, writes the pages, and publishes them automatically, as drafts, or after you review them in the platform. It also emails you each piece before it goes live.
Backlinks come from an automatic link exchange with other SEO.ai members. That's quick to set up, but it's worth thinking about what a link swap network means for your site before you turn it on.
It says it targets ChatGPT visibility as well as Google, but its pricing page doesn't describe any AI answer tracking. Reviews are mixed, with several Trustpilot reviewers describing trouble cancelling after the trial.
Key features
- AI SEO agent. Plans topics, writes pages and articles and publishes them on its own or after approval.
- Link exchange network. Automatic backlinks from relevant member sites, with Domain Rating tracking.
- Google Ads. Builds and optimizes campaigns.
- CMS connections for WordPress, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Magento and more.
- 50+ languages, with human SEO specialists spot-checking content.
Where it falls short
- No AI visibility tracking described on the pricing page.
- Pricing is per site and per language, so multilingual sites cost more.
- Several Trustpilot reviews describe a trial that asked for a card and was hard to cancel.
User reviews
“We've gone from relying on paid ads to a steady stream of unpaid visits. I can train it to write in our style at several levels.” (Source)
“The ideas were generic and the article was low quality. They tried to charge me $149 three times after I'd cancelled.” (Source)
“It says free trial, then asks for a credit card.” (Source)
Pricing
- Single Site: $149/month for one website in one language
- Multi Site: $299/month for up to 3 websites or languages, with larger bundles
- Annual payment saves 25%. Monthly plans have no binding period.
10. Jasper: best for brand voice
Jasper is an AI marketing platform with brand voice controls, purpose-built marketing agents and, on its Business plan, a GEO Agent, which suits brand and content teams that care more about sounding consistent across lots of content than about SEO scoring. We haven't used Jasper ourselves, so this section is based on its pricing page, product announcements and G2 reviews.
Brand Voice is the reason most teams pick Jasper. You set up your voice, style guide, audiences and product facts once, and every draft in Canvas or Chat uses them.
In June 2026 Jasper launched a GEO Agent and GEO Hub, which score brand presence, citation rate, sentiment and share of voice on engines like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. Since August the agent can draw on Search Console and Semrush data.
Those GEO tools are only on the custom Business plan. Pro, at $69 a seat a month, gets you the editor, core agents and brand voice, but no GEO Agent and no SEO content score like GrowthBar's.
Key features
- Brand Voice and Jasper IQ. Voice, style guide, audiences and product facts applied to every draft.
- Marketing agents and Canvas. Purpose-built agents for research, translation and campaign content.
- GEO Agent and GEO Hub. Visibility, citation and sentiment scores with content workflows, on Business.
- Jasper Studio and Grid for custom no-code agents and content at scale, on Business.
- API and MCP for connecting Jasper to other tools.
Where it falls short
- No live SEO content score.
- The GEO Agent needs a Business contract, which has no listed price and starts with a 12-month commitment.
- Pro is billed per seat, and more than one user means talking to sales.
User reviews
“Blog posts are quicker to create, even if they need more editing, and Brand Voice keeps the tone close to how I write.” (Source)
“It's intuitive to prompt. The interface changes can be disruptive, though.” (Source)
“It takes a lot of tweaking. Sometimes we fix one thing and it changes another, until we just start over.” (Source)
Pricing
- Pro: $69/seat/month, or $59 billed yearly, with a 7-day free trial
- Business: custom, with the GEO Agent, Studio, Grid, SSO and API access
What happened to GrowthBar
GrowthBar's founders, Hailey Friedman and Mark Spera, sold the company through Acquire.com in 2023. By August 2025 it belonged to SEOptimer, an SEO audit and white-label reporting tool, and growthbarseo.com redirected to a GrowthBar page on seoptimer.com.
For most of the next year GrowthBar kept running on its own. SEOptimer's page said it was being merged into the platform but still worked standalone with its own plans, and as late as September 18, 2026 it said the same thing.
That's over now. GrowthBar has been rebuilt as SEOptimer's AI Writer, GrowthBar accounts have been migrated, and the old domain lands on the AI Writer page.
What changed with GrowthBar in 2026
GrowthBar went from a standalone app to a feature inside SEOptimer this year. Here's the timeline, from SEOptimer's pages and archived copies of them.
- January 2026: GrowthBar still sold its own plans on seoptimer.com/growthbar: Standard at $48 a month, Pro at $99 and Agency at $199, with a 7-day trial, Search Console integration and the Chrome extension.
- By August 2026: SEOptimer added a GEO add-on, $29 to $79 a month for 50 to 250 GEO audits, which check how your site shows up in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
- September 18, 2026: the GrowthBar page still said it worked standalone with its own subscriptions.
- By September 29, 2026: every SEOptimer plan listed AI Writer articles, 20, 40 or 80 a month.
- October 2026: SEOptimer published the AI Writer page as GrowthBar's successor, "rebuilt from the ground up". GrowthBar customers log in to SEOptimer with the same email, and their articles, version history and tracked keywords have been moved across. The plans were renamed Starter, Pro and Max.
The AI Writer page doesn't mention the Chrome extension or direct publishing to a CMS. Finished articles export as PDF, Word, HTML or Markdown.
When to stay with SEOptimer's AI Writer
- You were a GrowthBar customer and your articles and keywords are already in SEOptimer.
- You want an AI writer, site audits, rank tracking and backlink research for $29 a month.
- You're an agency and white-label PDF audits and an embeddable audit widget matter as much as the writing.
- A live content score out of 100 and a full version history are enough, and you're happy to publish by hand.
- One-off GEO audits for clients are enough, without daily AI tracking.
Which GrowthBar alternative should you choose?
- You want agents that track AI answers across engines and run the content, outreach and site fixes end to end: Orchly.
- You want a stronger live editor, with daily AI tracking on Pro: Surfer.
- You want GrowthBar's research-first drafts plus publishing and refreshes for under $50: Frase.
- You want the cheapest live NLP editor: NEURONwriter.
- You want more writing volume and daily ChatGPT tracking: Writesonic.
- You want writing, publishing and weekly tracking on a small budget: Scalenut.
- You want cheap one-click drafts: Koala.
- You want Semrush keyword data behind every draft: Semrush Content Toolkit.
- You want SEO done for you, backlinks included: SEO.ai.
- You care most about brand voice across a team: Jasper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shivam Kumar is the founder of Orchly.ai, a platform that helps brands understand and improve their visibility across search engines and AI-powered discovery platforms. He has over a decade of experience in SEO, product marketing, and growth, and writes about AI search, generative engine optimization (GEO), and organic growth strategies.
Growth and marketing professional with experience in SEO, content strategy, and organic growth. Started my career as a freelance marketer helping businesses improve their online presence through SEO and content marketing. Currently Head of Growth at Orchly.ai, focusing on helping brands improve their visibility across search engines and AI-driven discovery platforms.
