It depends which half of Writesonic you need. For writing and optimising blog posts, Surfer is the best alternative, Koala the cheapest way to publish articles, and ChatGPT the best-value drafting tool. For AI visibility tracking, Semrush suits teams that also need classic SEO, Otterly.AI is the cheapest dedicated tracker, and Profound is the enterprise option. Frase covers both halves at a lower price, and Jasper suits teams that care most about brand voice.
Why people look for Writesonic alternatives
You only want blog posts
Writesonic's plans now bundle tracking with a small article allowance: $99 a month buys 15 articles on Starter. Dedicated writers such as Koala, or a general assistant, cost a fraction of that.
Missing AI platforms
Self-serve plans track only ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Perplexity, Claude and Microsoft Copilot need Enterprise, while Otterly.AI covers Perplexity and Copilot from $29 a month.
Billing and support complaints
Trustpilot reviewers report being charged after cancelling and slow replies to billing emails. Some teams prefer vendors with monthly plans and self-serve cancellation.
You already pay for an SEO suite
Semrush and Surfer now include AI visibility tracking. Adding it to a tool you already use can be cheaper than a second platform.
The product you signed up for changed
Long-time users bought Writesonic as a writing and chat tool. Its move to AI search visibility left some unhappy with changes to Chatsonic and the loss of cheaper writing plans.
Writesonic alternatives at a glance
Tool
Best for
Price from
Free plan
Our score
Writesonic for comparison
Teams combining AI articles with AI-search visibility tracking
by Surfer · from $49/month billed yearly (Discovery)
8.2/10
Surfer ranks #1 in our best AI blog writers. Its Content Editor scores your draft against the pages that already rank and tells you which topics, terms and headings are missing, and it can write or rewrite articles to match. Discovery covers 120 documents a month for $49 billed yearly. From Standard ($99 a month yearly) it also tracks 25 AI prompts, rising to 100 with daily refresh on Peace of Mind, and a standalone AI Search Analytics plan costs $82 a month. It has no free plan.
Versus Writesonic:Stronger for Google-focused content at a lower entry price, with lighter AI-visibility tools.
by Semrush · from $99/month per domain (AI Visibility Toolkit) · free plan
8.4/10
Semrush is the biggest SEO suite and ranks #1 in our best AI for SEO. Its AI Visibility Toolkit tracks how AI assistants mention your brand for $99 a month per domain, and the Semrush One bundles combine that with keyword research, backlinks, site audits and rank tracking from $199 a month. If your team already lives in Semrush, adding AI tracking there avoids a second login and a second bill. It does not write finished articles the way Writesonic does, and its prices climb quickly with more domains and users.
Versus Writesonic:Far deeper SEO data, less built-in content creation.
#3 · Best for cheap, publish-ready blog and affiliate posts
Koala
by Koala AI · from $25/month, or $20/month billed yearly (Starter)
8.0/10
Koala is the closest thing to Writesonic's old writing product. KoalaWriter produces long, SEO-structured articles with real-time search data, AI images and live Amazon data for affiliate posts, and publishes straight to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow or Ghost. Starter includes 45,000 words a month for $25, or $20 billed yearly, and new accounts get 5,000 free words with no card. It is not an AI visibility tracker. Publishing many unedited AI posts can also break Google's spam policies, so edit before you publish.
Versus Writesonic:Around a quarter of the price for articles, with no AI-answer tracking.
#4 · Best for small teams that want SEO content and AI visibility for less
Frase
by Frase · from $39/month billed yearly, or $49 monthly (Starter)
8.1/10
Frase covers both halves of Writesonic at a lower price. Starter includes research briefs, an AI writing agent, SEO and GEO scores and AI visibility monitoring on ChatGPT and Google AI, with 10 articles and 50 audit pages a month for one site. Professional adds 3 seats, 5 sites, 40 articles and Perplexity tracking. It publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Sanity or Wix, and every plan has a 7-day free trial with no card. Its visibility tracking is lighter than a dedicated tracker's.
Versus Writesonic:Cheaper all-in-one for content plus basic AI visibility.
Otterly.AI does one job: tracking how AI search engines mention your brand and which links they cite. Even the $29 Lite plan tracks ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot daily, with Claude, Gemini and Google AI Mode as add-ons, unlimited team members and a GEO audit tool. Standard ($189 a month) raises tracking to 100 prompts and adds API and MCP access. It does not write articles, so pair it with a writer if you need content.
Versus Writesonic:Wider engine coverage for a fraction of the price, but no content creation.
Profound ranks #1 in our best AI visibility tools. Its Enterprise plan tracks up to 9 answer engines with custom prompt volumes, adds agent analytics for AI-driven traffic across your domains, and includes an AI Marketer that researches, writes and reports using credits. It has SSO/SAML and SOC 2. The free trial runs 50 prompts a day for 7 days on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews. Pricing is custom, so it is out of reach for most small teams.
Versus Writesonic:More engines and deeper enterprise analytics, at an enterprise price.
by Jasper AI · from $59/month billed yearly, or $69 monthly (Pro)
7.5/10
Jasper is a marketing writing platform built around brand control. Pro includes one user, 2 brand voices, knowledge assets and audiences, so blog posts, ads and emails follow your style guide. Teams, Jasper Grid, the API and GEO agents are on the custom Business plan, which has a 12-month minimum. It is a better fit than Writesonic when consistent brand voice across many channels matters more than tracking AI answers. There is a 7-day free trial.
Versus Writesonic:Stronger brand-voice controls for marketing copy, with no self-serve AI tracking.
ChatGPT ranks #2 in our best AI blog writers. It writes strong first drafts, and on Plus ($20 a month) deep research gathers and cites sources before you write. It gives no SEO score and no AI-visibility tracking, so many teams pair it with Surfer or Frase for optimisation. For a solo blogger, ChatGPT plus careful editing covers most of what Writesonic's article writer does for a fraction of the price.
Versus Writesonic:The cheapest capable writer, but no SEO scoring, audits or tracking.
If you need tracking and content together and have the budget, Writesonic's Growth plan remains a reasonable all-in-one. Run the same 20 buyer questions through the trials of your top two trackers and compare which brands and sources each reports. See our best AI blog writers and best AI visibility tools rankings for scores.
Switching tips from our editors
Before cancelling, export or screenshot your prompt list, visibility history and competitor reports so you can compare results in the new tool.
Make sure every article you want to keep is published or downloaded from the editor.
Cancel before your renewal date. Writesonic applies downgrades and cancellations at the next billing cycle, and its 7-day refund only covers the start of a plan.
Keep your cancellation confirmation and check your next card statement, given reviewer reports of charges after cancelling.
Track the same prompts in the new tool for two weeks before relying on its numbers; AI answers vary from day to day.
Work that makes AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini more likely to mention and cite your brand in their answers. Also called AEO.
Google AI Overviews
The AI-written summaries that appear above normal results in Google Search.
Prompt tracking
Asking AI assistants the same set of questions on a schedule and recording whether your brand appears in the answers.
Citation
A link or source that an AI answer shows as the basis for what it says.
AI crawler
A bot, such as GPTBot or PerplexityBot, that reads web pages so an AI company can use or cite them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Writesonic?
For writing, ChatGPT Go at $8 a month or Koala Starter at $25 ($20 billed yearly). For AI visibility tracking, Otterly.AI Lite at $29 a month. Both are far below Writesonic's $99 Starter plan.
Is Surfer better than Writesonic?
For Google-focused content, yes: Surfer ranks #1 in our best AI blog writers and starts at $49 a month billed yearly. Writesonic offers more AI-search tracking and agent features on its higher plans.
Which tool tracks brand mentions in ChatGPT like Writesonic?
Semrush's AI Visibility Toolkit, Otterly.AI, Profound, Peec AI and Surfer's AI Search Analytics all track how AI assistants mention your brand. Our best AI visibility tools ranking compares them.
Can I use ChatGPT instead of Writesonic?
For drafting articles, yes, and for much less money. ChatGPT will not track your brand's visibility in AI answers, audit your site or score your SEO, so add a tracker or an optimiser if you need those.
Is there a Writesonic alternative with a free plan?
ChatGPT has a free plan for drafting, and Semrush has a limited free account. Koala gives 5,000 free words, and Frase, Otterly.AI and Profound offer free trials rather than free plans.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from public information. Vendor figures are labelled as vendor claims.