Surfedo vs Cognizo

Surfedo vs Cognizo
Half the price. More engines. Fixes included.

Cognizo starts at $149/mo for 3 platforms with no fix generation or verification. Surfedo is $79/mo for 4 engines — including Claude — with exact position rankings, a 40-point audit, and a verified fix loop.

⚡ TL;DR — Cognizo is a polished AEO platform with AI traffic analytics and prompt volume research. But its Core plan starts at $149/mo for only 3 platforms — Claude isn't included until Enterprise. Surfedo starts at $79/mo, tracks all 4 major engines including Claude, and goes further with exact position rankings (#1/#2/#3), a 40-point technical audit, and a fix verification loop that proves your improvements worked.
🏆 Verdict: Surfedo wins on price, Claude coverage, position data, and verification — Cognizo wins on AI traffic analytics and prompt volumes
💰
Surfedo wins
Price
$79/mo vs Cognizo Core at $149/mo — nearly half the price with more included
🤖
Surfedo wins
Claude Tracking
Surfedo tracks Claude on all plans. Cognizo only adds Claude on Enterprise (custom pricing).
📍
Surfedo wins
Exact Positions
Real #1/#2/#3 rankings per query per engine. Cognizo tracks mentions and share of voice — not exact position numbers.
Side by side

Every difference
that matters.

Surfedo
$79
/month — self-serve
Real #1/#2/#3 position rankings
All 4 engines incl. Claude at $79/mo
Fix content generation (8 types)
Fix verification loop
40-point site audit
Self-serve signup (no sales call)
AI traffic analytics
Prompt volume research
Feature
Position rankings
Claude tracking
Fix generation
Verification loop
Site audit
Self-serve
AI traffic analytics
Prompt volumes
Cognizo
$149
/month Core (3 platforms)
Share of voice, not exact positions
Claude is Enterprise-only (custom price)
2 articles/mo (Core) — no fix types
No verification loop
Technical audit on Growth only ($499/mo)
Growth plan requires demo
AI traffic + referral attribution
Prompt volume explorer
The Claude problem

Claude is one of the top 4
AI engines. On Cognizo, it's Enterprise-only.

Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are the four platforms where your buyers are actively searching. Missing one of them means missing a real portion of your AI visibility picture.

🤖
Surfedo tracks Claude at $79/mo
All four engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude — are included on Surfedo's Pro plan. No upgrade required, no sales call needed.
All 4 engines from day one
🚫
Cognizo Core: only 3 platforms, Claude not included
Cognizo's $149/mo Core plan lets you choose 3 platforms. Claude doesn't appear until Enterprise pricing. You're effectively flying blind on one of the top four AI engines.
Claude = Enterprise only
📊
Exact positions, not just share of voice
Surfedo extracts the exact rank number — #1, #2, #3 — for every query on every engine. Cognizo shows a visibility score and share of voice chart. Scores are hard to act on. Positions aren't.
Know exactly where you rank
Fix verification — prove it worked
Generate a fix, deploy it, and Surfedo re-scans automatically with before/after position data. Cognizo has no verification loop — you publish content and hope the score moves.
Before/after position proof
🔍
40-point audit at $79/mo
Surfedo's full technical audit — bot crawlability, schema markup, entity signals, G2/Capterra presence — is included at $79/mo. Cognizo's technical audit requires their $499/mo Growth plan.
Full audit at entry price
🧰
8 fix content types vs articles only
Surfedo generates FAQ pages, JSON-LD schema, llms.txt entries, entity descriptions, comparison pages, Reddit citations, and more. Cognizo generates AI-optimized articles (2/mo on Core, 5/mo on Growth). Different tools for different needs.
Technical + content fixes
Feature deep dive

Where each tool
wins and loses.

Surfedo wins
Price — nearly half at the entry level

Cognizo's cheapest plan is $149/mo for 50 prompts across 3 platforms. Surfedo Pro is $79/mo for 50 queries across 4 engines including Claude — with fix generation, a 40-point audit, and verification included.

  • Surfedo Pro: $79/mo — all 4 engines, Fix Generator, audit
  • Cognizo Core: $149/mo — 3 platforms, 2 articles/mo, no audit
  • Cognizo Growth: $499/mo — adds 5 platforms, audit, demo required
  • Cognizo Enterprise: custom — adds Claude, 10 platforms, CSM
Cognizo advantage
AI Traffic Analytics — Cognizo's unique edge

Cognizo tracks actual AI-referred traffic to your site — how many visitors arrived from ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini recommendations. This is a genuinely valuable data layer that Surfedo doesn't currently offer.

  • Real referral traffic from AI engines
  • Google Analytics integration
  • Crawler analytics for your domain
  • Available on Growth ($499/mo) and Enterprise
Surfedo wins
Exact position rankings — not a visibility score

Surfedo extracts the numerical rank — #1, #2, #3 — for every query on every engine. This tells you which queries to fix first and lets you measure exact progress. A "visibility score" can improve or decline without telling you what actually changed.

  • Exact position #1 through #5+ per query
  • Per-engine breakdown: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude
  • Position trend history
  • Before/after verification per fix
Cognizo advantage
Prompt Volumes — what people are asking AI

Cognizo's Prompt Volumes feature lets you research the actual questions people are asking AI engines — a keyword research layer built specifically for AEO. This is a strong research tool that Surfedo doesn't have.

  • Volume on tracked prompts
  • Prompt exploration and discovery
  • Keyword research for AI search
  • Competitive gap analysis on queries
Full feature matrix

Every feature.
Every difference.

Feature Surfedo Pro
$79/mo
Cognizo Core
$149/mo
Tracking & Visibility
AI engines tracked4 (incl. Claude)3 of 6 (Claude is Enterprise)
Real #1/#2/#3 position rankings✗ (share of voice only)
Queries / prompts tracked5050
Daily trackingWeekly (daily on Agency)
Position history & trends
Fix & Action
Fix content generation✓ (8 types)2 articles/mo only
Fix verification loop
JSON-LD schema generation
llms.txt file generation
FAQ page generation
Entity description generation
40-point technical site audit✗ (Growth plan only)
Competitor Intelligence
Competitor detection
Competitor WHY analysis
Battle cards per competitor
Analytics Extras
AI traffic analyticsGrowth plan only ($499/mo)
Prompt volumes research
Sentiment analysis
Pricing & Access
Self-serve signupCore only (Growth requires demo)
7-day free trial
Starting price$79/mo (Pro)$149/mo (Core)
White-label reports✓ Agency plan✓ Agency plan
Honest verdict

Who should choose what.

Neither tool is right for every buyer. Here's our honest take on when to choose each.

Choose Surfedo if...
You want exact rank numbers — not visibility scores
You need Claude tracked from day one (not enterprise-only)
You want to fix gaps, not just monitor them
Budget matters — $79/mo vs $149–499/mo
You're a B2B SaaS, SMB, or growth team
You want a 7-day trial before committing
You need technical fixes: schema, llms.txt, FAQ, entity pages
🔵 Choose Cognizo if...
AI traffic analytics is a priority — seeing real referral data
You want prompt volume research built in
You need sentiment analysis across AI responses
You're an enterprise brand with budget for $499+/mo
You want a dedicated CSM and strategy partner
You need a white-glove onboarding with strategy sessions
Switching from Cognizo?

Move in 15 minutes.
Zero data lost.

01
Export your queries
Copy your tracked prompt list from Cognizo. You likely already know which queries matter most to your brand.
02
Sign up — no demo needed
Surfedo is fully self-serve. Your account is ready in under 60 seconds. No sales call, no waiting for a demo slot.
03
Run your first scan
Paste your queries and domain. Surfedo scans across all 4 engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude — and delivers exact position data within minutes.
04
See your positions and gaps
Instant action plan with exact position rankings, competitor WHY analysis, and one-click fix generation across 8 content types.
Related reading
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AI Search Ranking Factors: All 9 Signals Explained
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The B2B SaaS AI Visibility Playbook
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Common questions

Frequently asked questions.

Yes. Surfedo Pro is $79/mo. Cognizo's cheapest plan (Core) is $149/mo — nearly twice the price — and it only includes 3 platforms with Claude excluded. Surfedo tracks all 4 major engines including Claude from day one, and includes a 40-point site audit and fix verification loop that aren't available on Cognizo Core.

Claude is only available on Cognizo's Enterprise plan, which requires custom pricing and a sales call. On Cognizo's Core ($149/mo) and Growth ($499/mo) plans, you can choose from ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews, Perplexity, Copilot, and Grok — but not Claude. Surfedo includes Claude on all plans from $79/mo.

Cognizo shows visibility scores and share of voice across AI engines — but not the exact numerical rank (#1, #2, #3) for each query. Surfedo extracts the exact position number per query per engine, so you can prioritize fixes and track precise improvements over time.

Cognizo has two features Surfedo doesn't currently offer: AI Traffic Analytics (real referral traffic from AI engines to your site, with Google Analytics integration) and Prompt Volumes (research tool showing what questions people are asking AI). If those data layers are critical to your workflow, Cognizo is the stronger choice — especially at Growth or Enterprise tier.

Yes. Surfedo is fully self-serve. Sign up, add your domain and queries, and your first scan runs in minutes. No demo, no sales call, no contract. There's also a 7-day Pro trial so you can validate results before committing to a subscription.

Surfedo generates 8 types of fix content: FAQ pages, JSON-LD schema markup, llms.txt entries, entity descriptions, comparison pages, Reddit reply drafts, structured data, and off-site content briefs. Cognizo generates AI-optimized articles (2/mo on Core, 5/mo on Growth). They serve different needs — Surfedo focuses on technical and structural fixes, Cognizo on long-form content.

Start at $79/mo.
All 4 engines. Fixes included.

Exact position rankings across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude — plus a 40-point audit and one-click fix generation. No sales call required.

7-day free trial · $79/mo Pro · No contracts