An honest Outranking review: Features, pricing, and alternatives

Stevia Putri
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Stevia Putri

Reviewed by

Katelin Teen

Last edited January 21, 2026

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The pressure on marketing teams to pump out high-quality, SEO-optimized content that actually ranks is intense. You're constantly juggling keyword research, SERP analysis, writing, editing, and optimizing, all while trying to keep up with Google's ever-changing algorithm. It's a handful.

This is where tools like Outranking step in. It’s a popular AI-powered platform designed to help you research, write, and fine-tune your content to climb the search rankings. Let's explore its features and effectiveness.

In this post, we’ll take a close look at Outranking's features, workflow, and pricing, using official information and user reviews. We will also explore how other tools, like the eesel AI blog writer, approach content creation by generating complete blog posts from a single topic.

What is Outranking?

A screenshot of the Outranking homepage, an AI-powered content optimization tool.
A screenshot of the Outranking homepage, an AI-powered content optimization tool.

Outranking presents itself as a data-backed AI solution for creating SEO briefs, generating factually accurate first drafts, and optimizing content. It’s more than just an AI writer; its main goal is to help you create "people-first content" that meets Google's E-E-A-T standards (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). The idea is to make ranking more predictable.

So, who is it for? It’s mainly built for SEO managers, content strategists, marketing agencies, and any business serious about scaling its content marketing with a data-driven method. It's the kind of tool you use when you want to get really detailed with your on-page SEO.

A deep dive into Outranking's key features

Outranking is packed with features meant to cover the content workflow from start to finish. Let's break down the core tools that make up the platform.

SEO content checker and automatic optimizer

One of the platform's key features is its real-time SEO content score. As you write or edit in the document editor, it grades your content based on over 10 on-page SEO metrics. It points out what you're missing, from keywords to NLP (Natural Language Processing) terms.

The automatic optimizer can be quite useful. If your score is low, you can use its one-click function to have the AI weave in missing keywords and terms to boost it. The strategy is powered by Google NLP and OpenAI GPT-4 technology, so it's using some of the most advanced models out there.

AI writing assistant for factual first drafts

Generic AI content is a real issue, and Outranking tries to fix this by generating brand-personalized drafts. You can set up customizable style guides to ensure the AI matches your company's tone and voice.

Its "Concepts" feature is designed to extract key facts, stats, and discussion points from the top-ranking pages for your keyword. This helps ground the AI-generated drafts in facts, making them more accurate. It also includes "Originality Suggestions" to help you add your own unique expertise, which is a big part of meeting those E-E-A-T guidelines.

Keyword clustering and SEO strategy

If you're trying to build topical authority, you know how vital it is to cover a subject thoroughly. Outranking’s keyword clustering tool helps you do exactly that. You can give it up to 100,000 keywords, and it will analyze the SERPs to group them.

The logic is simple but effective: it groups keywords that share at least three common ranking URLs. This helps you find topics that Google considers related, letting you build a strategic content plan that has a better shot at ranking.

SEO content briefs and planning

A solid brief is crucial before you even start writing. Outranking automates this by analyzing the top 20 ranking pages for your target keyword to generate detailed titles and outlines.

It also has some decent workflow management features, like a one-click export to Google Docs. This makes it easier for SEO strategists to create detailed briefs and pass them to writers, keeping the team aligned.

Automatic interlinking

Internal linking is one of those tedious but necessary SEO tasks. Outranking helps automate it by crawling your website's sitemap to find relevant interlinking opportunities.

It can identify the right anchor text and even help write copy around those keywords to make the links feel natural. It also has integrations with WordPress and Google Search Console to make implementation a bit easier.

Outranking pricing plans

Outranking offers a fairly standard monthly subscription model, with different plans based on the number of documents you need and the size of your team. It's important to know that some of the more advanced features, like Keyword Clustering and building a Content Inventory, aren't in the base plans. You'll need the "Strategist" add-on for those.

Here’s a quick look at their main plans based on monthly billing, which we've summarized in the infographic below:

An infographic showing the pricing and features for Outranking plans: Starter, SEO Writer, and SEO Wizard.
An infographic showing the pricing and features for Outranking plans: Starter, SEO Writer, and SEO Wizard.

FeatureStarterSEO WriterSEO Wizard
Price (Monthly)$25 /mo$79 /mo$159 /mo
SEO Documents51530
AI First DraftsYes (Limited)UnlimitedUnlimited
Automatic OptimizationNoYesYes
Automatic InterlinkingNoYesYes
Users123

The limitations of Outranking

No tool is perfect, and Outranking has some aspects to consider. Based on user feedback and its overall design, there are a few areas where it might not be the right choice for every team.

Reddit
Outrank is full of bugs. Popular is just because of famous influencer that's about it. There are few far better options in my opinion!

Steep learning curve

Outranking is a powerful tool, but that power comes with a learning curve. User reviews on sites like Capterra often mention that the platform has a "comparatively difficult learning curve" and that the user interface can feel a bit "messy" at first.

To really get the most out of it, you'll probably need to watch some tutorials. For teams that need to get going and see results quickly, this can be a consideration.

A focus on optimization over generation

An important aspect of Outranking is its focus. It's built for SEOs and editors who like to get hands-on and meticulously optimize every piece of content. The workflow is very manual and requires a lot of user input to get good results.

Outranking is pretty open about this, stating, "If you are looking for one click 100% ready to publish drafts, Outranking isn’t going to be the right choice for you." It’s a tool for refining and perfecting content, not just producing it.

Lack of automatic asset generation

While Outranking is effective for generating and optimizing text, its functionality is centered on written content. The first drafts it creates don't automatically include visual assets like AI-generated images, infographics, charts, or tables.

It also doesn't integrate social proof, like pulling in relevant Reddit discussions or embedding YouTube videos. These are all things you have to find and add yourself, which adds extra steps to your workflow and slows down your publishing time.

eesel AI blog writer: An alternative for complete blog posts

For teams seeking a more automated workflow, the eesel AI blog writer offers a different approach. Its core promise is to turn a single keyword into a complete, publish-ready blog post in minutes. We use this tool at eesel AI, and it helped us grow from 700 to 750,000 impressions per day in just three months by publishing over 1,000 optimized blogs.

The eesel AI blog writer dashboard, an alternative to Outranking for automated content creation.
The eesel AI blog writer dashboard, an alternative to Outranking for automated content creation.

How eesel AI is different

So what makes it a different alternative? It comes down to automating the entire content creation process, not just the writing part.

  • Complete posts with assets: A key difference is that eesel AI doesn't just give you a block of text. It generates a fully structured post that includes AI-generated images, infographics, tables, and charts automatically.
  • Built-in social and video integration: To make content more engaging and trustworthy, it automatically finds and embeds relevant Reddit quotes and YouTube videos directly into the article. This can add a layer of authenticity that pure AI text might lack.
  • Context-aware research: The AI is designed to know what kind of content it's creating. If you're writing a comparison post, it will automatically pull pricing data. For a product review, it finds technical specs. This leads to richer, more accurate, and genuinely helpful content.
  • Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): Beyond traditional SEO, it also focuses on optimizing content for AI answer engines like Google AI Overviews and Perplexity, getting you ready for the future of search.

Simple, transparent pricing

Instead of complicated tiers, the eesel AI blog writer keeps it simple. You can get started with the Early Bird plan, which is just $99 for 50 blog posts.

Best of all, it's completely free to try. You can generate your first post without a credit card, so you can see the quality for yourself.

Outranking vs. eesel AI blog writer: Which is right for you?

So, which tool is right for you? It really depends on your team's main goal and how you like to work.

Choose Outranking if: You're an SEO specialist who wants detailed control over every on-page optimization factor. You enjoy a hands-on editing process and need a tool to create incredibly thorough content briefs for your writers. It's for the strategist who loves digging into the data.

Choose eesel AI blog writer if: Your main goal is scaling your content production quickly. You need to publish multiple high-quality, fully formatted blog posts every week and want to spend less time on manual research, writing, formatting, and finding assets. It's for the content team that needs to move fast.

Here's a quick side-by-side comparison:

A side-by-side comparison infographic of Outranking and eesel AI blog writer features.
A side-by-side comparison infographic of Outranking and eesel AI blog writer features.

FeatureOutrankingeesel AI blog writer
Best ForSEO specialists & in-depth optimizationContent teams & rapid scaling
Core WorkflowManual, multi-step optimizationAutomated, single-input generation
Asset GenerationText and outlines onlyText, AI images, charts, videos, quotes
Pricing ModelTiered subscription by documents/usersFlat rate for a large volume of posts

For a more visual walkthrough of Outranking's features and a hands-on review, check out this video from Nex Gen AI. It provides a great overview of the user interface and workflow.

A video review of Outranking, explaining its features for SEO content creation.

Final thoughts

The best AI writing and SEO tool is the one that fits your workflow. Outranking is a powerful platform for deep optimization, strategic planning, and crafting the perfect content brief. It gives you the control to tweak every last detail.

On the other hand, the eesel AI blog writer is built for speed, automating the entire journey from a keyword to a complete, media-rich, publish-ready article. It’s all about getting high-quality content published, fast.

If scaling your content output without losing quality is your top priority, you might want to explore a fully automated process. Generate your first blog post for free with the eesel AI blog writer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Outranking is an AI-powered platform designed for SEO specialists and content teams. It's primarily used for creating data-driven content briefs, generating factual first drafts, and meticulously optimizing on-page SEO factors to improve search engine rankings.
While powerful, Outranking has a notable learning curve. User feedback suggests the interface can be complex for new users. It's better suited for experienced SEOs who are comfortable with a hands-on, detailed optimization process rather than beginners looking for a simple, one-click solution.
Outranking uses a tiered subscription model based on the number of documents and users, which is common in the industry. The plans start at $25/month but require a more expensive plan or add-on for advanced features like keyword clustering, making it a considerable investment for teams needing its full capabilities.
No, Outranking itself states that it is not a one-click solution for publish-ready drafts. Its strength lies in assisting with research and optimization. Users still need to manually add visual assets like images, charts, and videos, and perform significant editing to finalize the content.
The main limitations of Outranking are its steep learning curve, its hands-on workflow that requires significant user input, and its lack of automatic asset generation. It only produces text and outlines, meaning you have to source all images, videos, and other media manually.
Yes, one of the features of Outranking is its ability to automate internal linking. It can crawl your website's sitemap to suggest relevant internal links and appropriate anchor text, helping you build a stronger site structure for SEO.

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Stevia Putri

Stevia Putri is a marketing generalist at eesel AI, where she helps turn powerful AI tools into stories that resonate. She’s driven by curiosity, clarity, and the human side of technology.