Sales Loves Marketing
Siteimprove announced it would acquire MarketMuse in October 2024. MarketMuse is still sold under its own name, and its terms of service now name Siteimprove as the provider.
- Best for
- SEO and content teams that publish a lot and want topic-level plans, briefs and content scores based on their own site's authority
- Starting price
- –
- Free plan
- ✓ Yes
- Free trial
- ✓ Yes
MarketMuse is AI content planning and optimization software. It analyses your site and the pages that rank for a topic, then tells you what to write, what to update and how thoroughly to cover each subject. Siteimprove announced the acquisition of MarketMuse in October 2024, and the product is still sold under the MarketMuse name.
What is MarketMuse?
MarketMuse builds a topic model for each subject: the subtopics and related terms that a complete page covers. It compares your content and your competitors' content against that model. The result is a plan of what to create and optimize, with scores that show how much work each page needs.
Who is MarketMuse for?
It suits SEO and content teams that publish often and manage many topics, such as company blogs, publishers and agencies. The vendor positions the Strategy plan for agencies and mid-market or enterprise teams. Writers who publish now and then can start on the Free plan.
Key features
Content strategy and site inventory
Paid plans keep an inventory of your published pages and topics, updated automatically. MarketMuse scores each page and topic with its own metrics. Topic Authority estimates how strong your site is on a subject. Personalized Difficulty, on a scale from 1 to 100, shows how hard a topic is for your site in particular, not for an average site. The gap between general difficulty and your personal difficulty is called Competitive Advantage.
Research and content briefs
Topic Navigator and the keyword and SERP tools show related topics and what ranking pages cover. Content briefs turn that research into an outline with structure, subtopics and questions to answer, ready for a writer. The Strategy plan includes nine brief types, such as how-to, comparison, listicle, local and product review.
Optimize
The Optimize tool scores a draft or a live page. It lists related topics to mention and sets a Target Content Score based on competing pages. MarketMuse says Optimize has a generative AI component but that it does not write content for customers.
How much does MarketMuse cost?
MarketMuse does not publish prices. On 1 November 2026 its pricing page showed these plans, each with a demo request:
| Plan | Users | Queries per month | Tracked topics | Briefs per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 | 10 | None | None |
| Optimize | 1 | 100 | 100 | 5 |
| Research | 3 | Unlimited | 1,000 | 10 |
| Strategy | 5 | Unlimited | 10,000 | 20 |
The site also offers a free trial, but it does not state its length.
What do users say about MarketMuse?
G2 reviewers most often praise how actionable its content guidance is, its topic research and the help it gives when refreshing older content. Content briefs and the Optimize tool are mentioned as strengths.
The most common complaint on G2 is price, which reviewers call steep for solo marketers and small businesses. Others mention a learning curve, briefs that are hard to customise and estimates that did not match their results.
When should you choose an alternative?
- You mainly optimize single pages. Compare Surfer SEO, a content editor built around page optimization.
- You need a full SEO suite. Semrush or Ahrefs add backlinks, rank tracking and site audits.
- You mainly need keyword ideas. Our list of keyword research tools covers lighter options.
For the basics, read how to improve content marketing or browse more SEO tools.
Key features
- Site inventory and topic authority. An automatically updated list of your pages and topics, scored for quality, authority and how hard each topic is for your site to rank for.
- Personalized Difficulty. A 1 to 100 score of how hard a topic is for your site specifically, based on your coverage and past performance.
- Content briefs. Briefs with structure, subtopics and questions to answer; Strategy plans get nine brief types, from how-to and listicle to product review.
- Optimize and Content Score. Scores a draft or live page against a topic model built from competing pages and sets a target score.
- Competitive content analysis. Compares your coverage of a topic with the pages that rank, to find gaps and quick wins.
- Content plans and clusters. Strategy documents and content cluster analysis that group topics into a publishing plan.
MarketMuse pricing
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 user, 10 queries per month, Topic Navigator, keyword and SERP tools; no briefs or site inventory |
| Optimize | Not published; book a demo | 1 user, 100 queries per month, 100 tracked topics, 5 content briefs and 1 strategy document per month |
| Research | Not published; book a demo | 3 users, unlimited queries, 1,000 tracked topics, 10 content briefs and 3 strategy documents per month |
| Strategy | Not published; book a demo | 5 users, unlimited queries, 10,000 tracked topics, 20 content briefs per month and all nine brief types |
MarketMuse FAQ
How much does MarketMuse cost?
MarketMuse does not publish prices. On 1 November 2026 its pricing page listed a Free plan and three paid plans (Optimize, Research and Strategy), each with a "Book a demo" button.
Does MarketMuse have a free plan?
Yes. The Free plan gives one user 10 queries per month with access to Topic Navigator and the keyword and SERP tools. Briefs, site inventory and tracked topics need a paid plan.
Who owns MarketMuse?
Siteimprove, a website quality and SEO software company, announced the acquisition of MarketMuse in October 2024. MarketMuse's current terms of service say the services are now provided by Siteimprove.
Does MarketMuse write content for you?
MarketMuse says its Optimize tool has a generative AI component, but it presents itself as planning and optimization software and says it does not write content for customers.