AI writing
Grammarly vs Surfer compared on 14 fields
- Grammarly score
- 69/100 (5 of 7 criteria)
- Surfer score
- 47/100 (5 of 7 criteria)
- Fields won by Grammarly
- 4 of 8
- Fields won by Surfer
- 0 of 8
Grammarly
Surfer
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Grammarly and Surfer are both AI writing tools. We compared them on 14 fields read from each vendor's own pages.
On the AI writing tools scorecard Grammarly scores 69/100 (5 of 7 criteria) and Surfer 47/100 (5 of 7 criteria) (ranks 31 and 53 in the category).
Of the 8 fields with a clear rule (lower price, higher count, yes over no), Grammarly wins 4, Surfer wins 0 and 4 are ties.
Grammarly scores clearly higher on free plan or trial and entry price.
Surfer scores clearly higher on pricing transparency.
Side by side
| Field | Grammarly | Surfer | Winner and basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (billed monthly) | ✓ $30/month | $49/month | Grammarly |
| Same plan, per month billed annually | ✓ $12/month | $49/month | Grammarly |
| Free plan | ✓ Yes | No | Grammarly |
| Free trial | ✓ Yes | No | Grammarly |
| Trial length (days) | 7 | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Public API | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Analytics | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Team access | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Templates | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| AI assistant | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Brand voice | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| SEO optimisation | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Plagiarism checker | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | Tie |
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Sources: Grammarly pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026; Surfer pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026. Each feature value links its own source on the tool's page.
Scorecard, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Weight | Grammarly | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | 43$30/month per seat billed monthly on Pro; $12/month billed annually on Pro (scored on the monthly price) | 0$49/month billed annually on Discovery; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices) |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | 100Free plan (Free) | 0No free plan or free trial shown on the pricing page |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | 672 of 3 plans have a public price (1 "contact sales") | 1004 of 4 plans have a public price |
| Verified features | 15% | 1006 of 8 tracked features verified: analytics, team access, ai assistant, brand voice, plagiarism checker, browser extension | 1006 of 8 tracked features verified: team access, templates, ai assistant, seo optimisation, plagiarism checker, browser extension |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | – | 100public API |
| Cost per user (team of 3) | 15% | 50$30 per user per month on Pro (team of 3, billed monthly) | – |
| Total score | 100% | 69/100 (5 of 7 criteria) | 47/100 (5 of 7 criteria) |
Grammarly plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | per user | None stated |
| Pro | $30 | $12 | per user | None stated |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Not stated | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
Surfer plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Search Analytics | Not offered | $82 | Not stated | None stated |
| Standard | Not offered | $99 | Not stated | None stated |
| Pro | Not offered | $182 | Not stated | None stated |
| Discovery | Not offered | $49 | Not stated | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
How we picked
Every one of these AI writing tools is scored by the same 7 criteria (scorecard v1). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to AI writing tools. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other AI writing tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $9.99/month or less = 100, $69 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $4.92/month or less = 100, $49 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 8 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (analytics, team access, templates, ai assistant, brand voice, seo optimisation, plagiarism checker, browser extension). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 4 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Cost per user (team of 3) | 15% | Category | Monthly price per user for a team of 3, on the cheapest paid plan that is priced per seat or states room for at least 3 users.Log scale: $13 per user or less = 100, $69 or more = 0. Plans that do not state a user limit are not used. No such plan = not scored. |
| Languages | 10% | Category | Number of languages the vendor says it offers.Linear scale: 100 or more = 100. No stated count = not scored. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
Is Grammarly cheaper than Surfer?
Grammarly starts lower: $30 per user per month billed monthly ($12 billed yearly) on the Pro plan, against $49 per month billed yearly on the Discovery plan for Surfer. Check the unit: per-user and per-account prices scale differently.
Do Grammarly and Surfer have free plans?
Grammarly has a free plan; Surfer does not.
Which is better, Grammarly or Surfer?
On our scorecard Grammarly scores higher (69/100 (5 of 7 criteria) vs 47/100 (5 of 7 criteria)). The score weighs every criterion the same way for every tool; check the rows above for the ones that matter to you.