SE Ranking vs Surfer: tracked AI prompts, seats and prices by plan

By LimitFacts. Last updated: 2026-10-20. Editorial policy.

Question this page answers: Which SE Ranking or Surfer plan tracks enough AI prompts for my brand, with enough seats, and what does it cost?

SE Ranking and Surfer both sell SEO tools that also track how AI search tools answer prompts about a brand. This page puts the plans of the two vendors side by side, as shown on each official pricing page. Use it to find the plans that track enough AI prompts, with enough seats, at a price you can pay.

The lowest listed SE Ranking plan is Core. It costs USD 129 per month Monthly billing. Source, checked 2026-10-20 or USD 103.2 per month Billed yearly, paid upfront. Source, checked 2026-10-20, and it tracks 100 AI prompts Source, checked 2026-10-20 each day. The lowest listed Surfer plan with a tracked-prompt limit in our data is AI Search Analytics. It costs USD 82 per month Billed yearly. Monthly-billed price not shown in the default view. Source, checked 2026-10-20 and tracks 50 AI prompts Refreshed daily. Source, checked 2026-10-20. The note next to each value gives the billing period or the refresh rate.

The two vendors do not use the same words for their limits. Read the "Gotchas" section before you compare two numbers.

Products are listed in alphabetical order. No vendor pays for its position.

Prices by plan

Plans of each vendor run from the lowest price to the highest, then Enterprise. The yearly column is the monthly amount of a plan billed yearly. The Surfer pricing page did not show monthly-billed prices in its default view, so the Surfer monthly-billing cells show "No data yet". Both vendors list Enterprise as custom pricing: their pricing pages show no figure for it.

Seats by plan

Our data counts manager seats for SE Ranking and team seats for Surfer. The unit next to each number says which. A seat of one vendor may not give the same access as a seat of the other.

AI search tracking: SE Ranking

The number of AI prompts that the plan tracks each day, and the number of domains the plan allows in the tool that the pricing page calls GEO research.

Other limits: SE Ranking

Keywords are a daily limit. Site audit pages and API credits are monthly limits.

Free trial: SE Ranking

The pricing page states one trial for all plans. Its usage limits are not collected.

AI search tracking: Surfer

The note next to each prompt number says how often the prompts refresh: daily or weekly. A plan with no row here has no tracked-prompt or brand-space value in our data.

Other limits: Surfer

The pricing page does not state the period of the document allowance. A cell with "No data yet" means we have no checked value for that plan and limit.

Who this page is for

• Marketing and SEO teams who want to track how AI search tools answer prompts about their brand, and who look at more than one vendor.
• Agencies who need a number of seats and want to see how each vendor counts a seat.
• Buyers who want monthly and yearly prices of both vendors in one place, with the date each price was checked.

This page lists published limits and prices. It does not judge data quality, AI answer quality or search results. It does not say which vendor is better.

How to compare the two vendors

• Start from tracked AI prompts. Count the prompts you need to track. Then find the plans of each vendor that reach that count. The SE Ranking number is a daily count. The Surfer number has a refresh rate in the note next to it.
• Check the refresh rate. On Surfer, some plans refresh tracked prompts daily and the Standard plan refreshes them weekly. A weekly refresh gives fewer data points for the same prompt count.
• Check seats next. Our data gives manager seats for SE Ranking and team seats for Surfer. Ask the vendor what a seat can do if your team is large.
• Then compare prices on the same billing period. SE Ranking shows a monthly and a yearly price. For Surfer, our data has only the yearly-billing price. Compare yearly with yearly.
• Last, check the other limits you need. For SE Ranking, our data has projects, daily keywords, site audit pages and API credits. For Surfer, it has documents, brand spaces and tracked pages. These limits do not have a match on the other side.

Gotchas

• Different words for a limit. For SE Ranking, our data gives a number of AI prompts tracked each day. For Surfer, it gives a number of AI prompts and a refresh rate. The two pricing pages may not count a prompt, an AI engine or a market in the same way. Do not treat the two numbers as exact equals.
• Different seat types. Manager seats and team seats are the seat types in our data for each vendor. This page does not say that they give the same access.
• Yearly billing. The yearly column is the monthly amount of a plan billed yearly. The note next to each SE Ranking yearly price says that it is paid upfront.
• No Surfer monthly-billing prices. The Surfer pricing page did not show monthly-billed prices in its default view when we read it.
• Plans with no tracked-prompt value. Our data has no tracked-prompt value for the Surfer Discovery plan. This does not show that the plan has no such feature. Check the vendor page.
• Custom pricing. Enterprise plans of both vendors have custom pricing. The page shows no figure for them.
• Prices change. Check the checked date next to each number before you buy.

Not covered yet

• Which AI search tools each vendor tracks, and in which countries: not collected.
• Prices of extra prompts, seats and other add-ons: not collected.
• Surfer monthly-billing prices, free plan and trial terms: not collected.
• Usage limits of the SE Ranking free trial: not collected.
• Enterprise limits of both vendors: not collected.
• Feature lists and other limits on the pricing pages: not collected.

We add these only when each value is clearly tied to a plan on the vendor page. For the full plan list of one vendor, see the SE Ranking plan limits page and the Surfer plan limits page.

SE Ranking is a trademark of its owner. LimitFacts is independent and is not endorsed by SE Ranking.