Semrush vs Frase AI: A detailed comparison

Picking the right content tool is getting trickier. It used to be all about ranking on Google, but now we're also trying to get our content featured in AI answers. This new game is a mix of old-school SEO and what people are calling Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). So, where do you put your money?

GEO’s still new tbh. I use my usual SEO tools like Ahrefs, Surfer, SEMrush plus AI like ChatGPT to speed up drafts and testing. Combo is better than a single tool.

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This article breaks down two popular tools: Semrush, the comprehensive all-in-one marketing suite, and Frase AI, the specialist tool for content optimization. We’ll get into what they do, who should use them, and how they compare. Additionally, it's helpful to be aware of tools like the eesel AI blog writer, which automate the writing process by generating a complete post from a single keyword.

What is Semrush?

You've probably heard of Semrush. It's like the Swiss Army knife of digital marketing. It isn't just one thing; it's a huge collection of tools that gives you a full view of your online footprint. It handles SEO, content, social media, ads, and even AI visibility. Basically, if it helps you get noticed online, Semrush has a feature for it.

The secret sauce is its enormous dataset, which includes data from over 27.8 billion keywords and 43 trillion backlinks. This makes it incredibly powerful for digging into data, checking out what competitors are doing, and tracking how you're doing everywhere. It's really built for agencies and big marketing teams who need one place to manage everything.

What is Frase AI?

Frase AI is the opposite of a Swiss Army knife; it's more like a scalpel. It's a platform focused on one job: helping you create content that will rank on Google and in AI search. The whole point of Frase AI is to make the content process smoother, from research and outlining to writing and optimizing.

What makes it stand out is its blend of old-school SEO and new-school GEO. It helps you understand what Google is looking for and what AI engines like ChatGPT want to see in the content they cite. With over 50,000 content teams using it, it's clearly doing something right. If your main job is to pump out high-quality articles, Frase AI is designed for you.

Core functionality

Here's where you really see the split between these two tools. They're built on completely different ideas. Semrush aims to be your one-stop shop for everything marketing, while Frase AI is obsessed with perfecting the content creation workflow.

Semrush's platform

Semrush is broken down into different toolkits: SEO, AI Visibility, Local, Content, Social, Advertising, and AI PR. This is pretty handy because you can mix and match based on what you need. For a big team, it's a central command center where you can run site audits, check your backlinks, and see what your competitors are spending on ads.

Their "AI Visibility Toolkit" is a newer feature that's worth a look. It tracks how AI models like ChatGPT and Gemini are mentioning your brand, which gives you an idea of your "share of voice" in this new space.

The only downside is that if your team only writes blog posts, Semrush might be overkill. You could be paying for a ton of features you never touch, which isn't great for the budget.

Frase's workflow

Frase AI is all about the content creation process, which it simplifies into three main steps. It saves a ton of time by automatically scanning the top search results for your keyword and creating an AI-generated content brief.

Once you start writing, the editor gives you live scores for SEO and GEO. This two-pronged optimization is really its main selling point. It helps you create content that works for both without needing a bunch of different tools.

Of course, being a specialist has its limits. Frase AI doesn't do deep technical SEO, doesn't have a huge backlink database, and won't help you with your social media or ad campaigns. It's an amazing content tool, but it's not a full marketing suite replacement.

How each platform uses AI

Both tools use AI, but they approach it from different angles. Think of Semrush's AI as an editor that helps you polish your work, while Frase's AI is built into the very foundation of its workflow.

Semrush's SEO writing assistant

Semrush's AI feature is the SEO Writing Assistant (SWA). It's basically a live editor that checks your writing for SEO, readability, originality, and tone. You can use its AI to rephrase or compose text, but this uses "Smart Writer Words," which are limited. For instance, the Guru plan only includes 1,000 of these words per month.

The integrations are a big plus. You can use the SWA inside Google Docs, WordPress, and Word, which means you can optimize your content without leaving your document.

Ultimately, the SWA functions as an assistant. It's effective for refining existing text, but doesn't perform the initial research and outlining that Frase AI automates.

Frase's foundational AI workflow

With Frase AI, artificial intelligence is part of everything. It kicks things off by using AI to analyze the search results and create detailed content briefs, which is a huge time-saver. As you write, its AI scoring for SEO and GEO keeps you on track, ensuring your article is optimized for both Google and AI answer engines.

It even has an AI article writer. The catch is that it produces a really solid draft, but it's not quite ready to publish. You'll still need to go through it, adjust the tone to match your brand, double-check the facts, and sprinkle in your own expertise. It does about 90% of the work, but that final 10% is still your job.

Data, tracking, and integrations

Every good marketing tool runs on data, and both Semrush and Frase AI have plenty of it, they just use it differently.

Semrush's data

It's tough to compete with the amount of data Semrush has. We're talking over 27.8B keywords and 43T backlinks. That gives you a massive view of what's happening online. It also has some pretty advanced tracking and reporting tools, like historical data, white-label reports for agencies, and API access if you want to build your own dashboards.

The AI Visibility Toolkit is a notable feature, as it tracks how your brand is being mentioned on AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini. Add in integrations with tools like HubSpot and Salesforce, and you've got a serious enterprise-level platform.

Frase's data

Frase AI's data is more specific and in-the-moment. It pulls real-time data from the search engine results page (SERP) for your keyword, giving you practical tips for the article you're writing right now.

Its most unique feature is called AI Search Tracking. It keeps an eye on your brand's visibility on five big AI platforms: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI. The number of platforms you can track depends on your plan; the Scale plan gets you all five. It also connects with Google Search Console to find "Content Opportunities," which is a handy way to spot content that's starting to slip in the rankings.

Pricing comparison: Semrush vs Frase AI

The price tags really tell you who these tools are built for. Semrush is a serious investment for a full marketing suite, whereas Frase AI is a much more affordable option for teams that are just focused on content.

Semrush's higher price tag makes sense when you consider you're getting an all-in-one platform. Just be aware that costs can climb with add-ons, like extra user seats which start at $45 per month.

SEMRush and Ahrefs are both solid, but pricey. Given your situation, I'd say hold off until you've maxed out what you can do with free tools. GSC and sheets can take you far, especially with a tight budget.

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Frase AI is positioned as a much more budget-friendly solution for teams that live and breathe content. It gives you exactly what you need for research, writing, and optimization without the cost of a full marketing suite.

An alternative to consider

Semrush and Frase AI are effective tools for assisting with content research, writing, and optimization. An alternative approach is to automate the entire workflow. This is the concept behind tools like the eesel AI blog writer, which is built to take a single keyword and turn it into a publish-ready blog post.

This approach offers several benefits:

• Proven Traffic Growth: At eesel AI, this tool was used to grow from 700 to 750,000 daily impressions in three months by publishing over 1,000 optimized blogs.
• Complete, Media-Rich Content: The output is not just text but a fully structured article including AI-created images, tables, and social media embeds like YouTube videos and Reddit quotes.
• Built-in SEO and AEO: Content is optimized for traditional search engines (SEO) and AI Answer Engines (AEO) to maximize visibility.
• Context-Aware Research: The AI analyzes the topic's context to pull relevant information, such as pricing data for comparison posts or technical specs for reviews, avoiding generic filler.

You can try the tool for free to evaluate its output.

To see how these tools work in practice, it can be helpful to watch a walkthrough. The video below demonstrates how SEO tools like Semrush and Frase are used to optimize content, giving you a clearer picture of their features and workflows.

The video below demonstrates how SEO tools like Semrush and Frase are used to optimize content, giving you a clearer picture of their features and workflows.

Which tool is right for you?

The right tool depends entirely on your team's goals and workflow.

Semrush is a good fit for: Agencies or large marketing teams that require a single platform to manage comprehensive marketing activities. It is well-suited for backlink analysis, technical SEO audits, and competitive research.

Frase AI is a good fit for: Teams focused on content creation. It is designed to accelerate research, streamline the writing process, and ensure articles are optimized for both Google and AI engines.

For teams looking to automate the entire content creation process, including writing and asset generation, a tool like the eesel AI blog writer can generate a complete article from a keyword. It is available to try for free.