HubSpot vs Surfer

Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?

The short answer

Surfer is the stronger AI pick in SEO Tools: it has a visibility score of 12 versus 10.5 for HubSpot, and ranks ahead in 100% of the answers that name both.

Choose HubSpot if…

You want a free plan to start
You need SOC 2 Type II or SOC 3 coverage
You prefer a larger, established vendor (5,000+ employees)
Per seat pricing suits your budget better than flat tiers

Choose Surfer if…

You want the brand AI engines rank higher (12 vs 10.5)
AI answers describe it more positively (43% vs 35% positive)
Flat tiers pricing suits your budget better than per seat
Content optimization focus

AI visibility side by side

Latest weekly run · Nov 2

Metric	HubSpot	Surfer
Visibility score	10.5%	12%
Change vs last week	New	New
Rank in SEO Tools	#9	#8
Share of voice	3.9%	4.4%
Mentions this run	21	23
Positive in AI answers	35%	43%

The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.

Visibility score trend

Weekly runs over the last 60 days

HubSpot 0pp · Surfer 0pp over 0 weekly runs.

Engine by engine

Surfer leads on 2 of 3 engines

ChatGPT

9.6%

11.1%

AI Mode

4.1%

9.4%

Perplexity

17.8%

15.6%

HubSpotSurfer

Head to head in AI answers

8 engine answers name both brands

0HubSpot ranked higher

8Surfer ranked higher

Prompt	Engine	HubSpot	Surfer
How do I choose an SEO tool for a mid-market team?	Perplexity	#9	#8
What should an SEO tool integrate with?	ChatGPT	#12	#10
What are the best SEO Tools tools in 2026?	Perplexity	#16	#6
Top SEO tool options for B2B SaaS companies	ChatGPT	#10	#3
Top SEO tool options for B2B SaaS companies	Perplexity	#9	#7
Compare the leading SEO Tools platforms	Perplexity	#12	#7
Which SEO Tools vendors do analysts recommend?	Perplexity	#15	#6
Official website of the top SEO tool vendors	Perplexity	#21	#11

Features, pricing & fit

Dimension	HubSpot	Surfer
Pricing model	Per seat	Flat tiers
Entry price	Free; paid from $7 per seat / mo	$49 / mo
Free plan	Yes	No
Onboarding fee	$3,000	—
Deployment	Cloud	—
Integrations	2000+	—
Compliance	SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3	—
Support	Phone	Customer Support (24h, Mon–Fri), Knowledge Base, Surfer Academy, Personalized Onboarding
Founded	2006	—
Headquarters	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States	Wrocław, Poland
Employees	5,000+	51–200
Funding	Corporate round	—
Best for	Startups, small and mid-sized businesses and enterprises wanting marketing, sales and service on one CRM.	Marketing and SEO teams, agencies, in-house content teams and individual content creators who want to grow organic traffic from Google and AI search.