Clearscope
Grades a content draft against the terms and topics that actually correlate with ranking, rather than a generic readability or keyword-density score.
What you'd use it for
Checking whether a finished or in-progress article covers the terms and subtopics that pages already ranking for your target query cover, before you publish it.
- Grade a draft in real time inside Google Docs, WordPress, or Word against terms pulled from pages currently ranking for a target query.
- Pull a term and subtopic list for a query straight from what is currently ranking, rather than a generic keyword list.
- Surface new query opportunities by feeding in a topic or a URL instead of starting from a blank keyword list.
- Track how an already-published page is performing over time and how it is being mentioned across Google and AI answer engines like ChatGPT and Gemini.
- See a content inventory across a whole site, on the Business tier and up, to spot which pages need updating.
The verdict
Clearscope earns its price where a content team or agency runs enough pages through it that unlimited-seat, per-query pricing beats what a per-seat competitor would charge, and where a dedicated account manager matters for keeping a client account on track. The real cost is not the invoice but the pull toward writing to the score, which rewards matching what already ranks rather than saying something distinctive. A single freelancer or a small blog putting out a handful of posts a month pays the same $129 a five-person team does for capacity they cannot use, and would get the same core grading from Frase or Surfer SEO for less.
What it costs
| Tier | Price | For | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $129/month | A content team producing a steady, moderate volume of SEO articles. | 50 tracked queries, 50 pages, 20 monthly topic explorations, 20 monthly drafts. |
| Business | $399/month | A larger content operation tracking many pages across a growing site. | 300 tracked queries, 300 pages, 50 monthly topic explorations, 20 monthly drafts, a dedicated account manager. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing, arranged with sales | An organisation needing custom credit volumes and SSO. | Everything in Business, plus custom credits, custom agreements, crawler whitelisting, single sign-on. |
Read from Clearscope's own pricing page on 25 Sep 2026. Vendors change prices without notice.
What you need to start
- An email address to start the 14-day trial (no credit card is requested at signup)
A couple of minutes to a working trial account; the 14-day free trial asks for no credit card, so there is no billing step in the way of trying it.
Your first run Pick a target query and Clearscope generates a report of terms and subtopics pulled from pages currently ranking for it; open that report alongside a draft in Google Docs, WordPress, or Word and the grade updates as you write.
Where it breaks
Browser-based; integrates with Google Docs and WordPress so grading happens where the content is already being written, not in a separate upload step.
First entry in this reference. There is no previous check to compare it against.
When not to use it
Not for a solo writer or a small blog producing a handful of posts a month, where the $129 floor buys far more capacity than one person needs. Not for anyone treating a high score as proof of good writing rather than a floor of topical coverage to clear.
Clearscope is the premium end of the content-grading category — the tool large content teams and agencies reach for once keyword stuffing has stopped working and they need a defensible way to say “this draft actually covers what it needs to.” It scores a piece of writing against terms and subtopics pulled from what currently ranks for a target query, and gives that score in real time as you write inside Google Docs or WordPress rather than after the fact.
Compared with Frase or Surfer SEO, Clearscope is priced and positioned noticeably higher, and the difference shows up mainly in report polish and account support rather than a fundamentally different scoring method — the underlying idea (grade against competitive term coverage) is shared across the category. What Clearscope adds is the “dedicated account manager” layer starting at Business, which matters for an agency managing the tool across several client accounts rather than one internal team.
Pricing is per tracked query and page rather than per seat — unlimited users and projects are included at every tier, which is unusual and worth noting if the alternative you’re comparing charges per seat. That makes Clearscope comparatively better value for a larger team sharing access, and comparatively expensive for a single freelance writer who’d pay the same $129/month a five-person team would.
The honest limitation of any grading tool in this category: it optimises for topical coverage against what already ranks, which can pull a draft toward sounding like its competitors rather than distinctive — the score is a floor to clear, not a ceiling to write toward.
Alternatives
Marketing & socialAppsFrase
Builds an SEO content brief from what's already ranking for a topic, then drafts the article against that brief so you're writing to a target, not guessing.
Marketing & socialAppsSurfer SEO
Analyses what's already ranking for a keyword, tells you exactly what to include to compete, then drafts the article against that brief for you to edit.
Marketing & socialAppsScalenut
A single workflow for SEO content — keyword clustering, a content brief, and a first draft — built for a marketer who wants article production and AI-search visibility handled in one place instead of stitched together from separate tools.
Get Clearscope
Buying the tool is not the hard part.
The ebook is about what to hand over, in what order, and how you find out when it goes wrong. One payment, no subscription.