CompareSurfer
Surfer alternative for site owners who want to outrank a competitor's page
Surfer is a content editor: you pick a keyword, it reads the top results, and it scores your draft against them while you write. Its cheapest plan is $49 a month for 120 documents, and finding the keywords to write about is a separate job, or a Pro feature at $182.
Surfer and GapDigest compared
| Surfer | GapDigest | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Discovery, $49/mo | Starter, $19/mo ($190/yr) |
| Keywords on that plan | Track 10 pages; 120 documents a month | 200 tracked keywords |
| Rank checks | Not listed | Daily |
| Keywords competitors rank for and you don't | Content Ideas and Coverage Gap, from Pro ($182/mo) | Yes, on every plan: up to 10 per competitor |
| Scheduled competitor email | Not listed | Yes, the weekly report, plus a same-day alert when a competitor passes you or a keyword drops |
| Tells you what to write | Yes, 120 documents a month, on demand | Yes, on every plan: a post plan or refresh plan for each gap worth writing, 4 to 60 a month |
| Backlink index and full site audit | No | No backlink index; a weekly health check of up to 200 of your own site's pages |
| Free plan or trial | Not listed | Free plan: 10 keywords, 1 competitor, no time limit |
Surfer figures from surferseo.com and surferseo.com, checked September 2026. "Not listed" means their pages don't say. Check their site for current prices.
Why site owners switch
Surfer waits for you to choose a keyword. GapDigest chooses for you, every week, from the keywords a competitor holds that your site can take, then writes the post plan: title, angle, outline, secondary keywords, and the questions readers ask. It also tracks 200 keywords daily and reads your Search Console, for $19.
When Surfer is the better choice
Stay with Surfer if you write inside its editor, want a term-by-term score while you draft, or publish for clients. GapDigest has no editor and never scores a draft; the post plan is a plan, and the writing happens wherever you write.
Run the check on your own site
It's the same lookup behind the weekly report, but with a higher cap: your domain against one competitor, up to 20 keywords with searches, difficulty, and intent, five checks a day (the report itself lists up to 10 per competitor).
Ready to track your own keywords? Start free with 10 keywords.