The Best MarketMuse Alternative for Content Briefs

Content briefing tools have become a part of every content team’s toolkit. It’s easy to see why they’re popular — they make it easier for businesses to create high-quality content faster.

In 2016, MarketMuse was the first company in this space. Today they’re a robust search engine optimization (SEO) platform.

But is MarketMuse the best content brief and optimization tool? In this post, we’ll compare Marketmuse with Topic so you can make the right buying decision.

Your search for a simple, affordable Marketmuse alternative is over.

What is Topic?

Topic is an AI-powered SEO tool that helps you create A++ quality content. We do that by:

1. Automating the research required to produce high-quality content briefs.
2. Optimizing your final draft to ensure you’ve covered the topic comprehensively.

Understand search intent, conduct competitive analysis, uncover relevant topics, and questions to answer with Topic. No manual time-consuming research required.

The result: insights that help you create higher-quality blog posts in half the time. In fact, optimizing a piece of content with Topic =  more clicks from search results.

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How does Topic differ from MarketMuse?

At Topic, we focus on solving one problem. Streamline your content production workflow with content briefs and optimization. 

Platforms like Marketmuse or Brightedge tackle a broader problem. Their core focus is automating your entire content strategy with AI. This makes Marketmuse best suited for enterprises looking for help with end-to-end content strategy. 

Topic is a better Marketmuse alternative for anyone that needs a powerful content optimization tool without breaking the bank.

Why Topic is a Better MarketMuse Alternative for Agencies and Content Teams

MarketMuse is powerful, no doubt. However, it’s not the right tool for every business. Enterprises with big budgets that need help with strategy find MarketMuse a good fit. 

Topic is ideal for small businesses (or bloggers) looking to immediately streamline or scale content. If you want to create better content in less time, Topic is right for you. 

Here are a few reasons why Topic is better:  

Faster Adoption Rates

Topic tackles just one problem. This means we were able to design a simple and straightforward interface. Ease of use = faster adoption rates within your team.

Marketmuse is slow, clunky, and offers a complicated UX/UI. Which means a steep learning curve and a platform that isn’t user-friendly. The result: your team will find it hard to adopt Marketmuse (without extensive training).

Simple, Transparent, and Affordable Pricing

Topic’s pricing is based on the number of content briefs you create. It’s just that simple: 

Every content brief also comes with a content grader to help you optimize content.

MarketMuse’s pricing is unclear and expensive. What’s a query vs a credit? What’s an application? There’s only one way to find out. Dive deeper into their support docs:

At first glance, Marketmuse’s pricing seems competitive. But the devil’s in the details. 

Let’s say you want to optimize 10 articles. With Topic, you can create a content brief and get everything you need to optimize each article. No upgrade prompts. No hidden fees.  

The same process is not straightforward in Marketmuse. You need to run multiple queries to optimize a single article. Which means you end up paying more than what you signed up for.

Want to generate content briefs? That’s a separate (and expensive) workflow. Marketmuse content briefs can run as high as $100. With Topic, they’re $6-$10.

Bottom line: Want to create briefs and optimize content? Marketmuse ain’t it chief.

Seamless Collaboration 

Creating content is a collaborative process. Topic makes it easy to work with writers and offer feedback. Share your content briefs with writers without creating individual accounts (think Google Docs’ public sharing).

Topic offers both Google Docs and WordPress add-ons. Your writers can get real-time feedback (content score) on their draft right within their favorite tool:

In MarketMuse, the collaboration features are reserved for higher plans (starting at $499). And they don’t offer Docs or WordPress integrations. 

If collaboration matters to you, Topic is hands down the best Marketmuse alternative.

AI-Powered Headline & Outline Generation

Struggling to come up with a headline for your next article? Topic’s AI helps you come up with interesting titles and descriptions for your search queries.

Enter your target keyword. We’ll analyze top articles, understand different user personas, and generate different angles you can use to create content. Here’s a screenshot of an AI-generated headline:

Thanks to GPT-3, Topic can automagically create a content outline for you. Here’s one for the topic of SEO content writing. Use this as a starting point to build a more robust outline:  

Marketmuse vs. Topic: What’s Right for Me?

Both content optimization tools offer powerful features. 

The right tool, however, comes down to what’s important to you. 

If you’re an enterprise that needs help with end-to-end content strategy, Marketmuse is for you. Marketmuse is powered by advanced algorithms, natural language, and machine learning. Its First Draft feature, while not perfect, is very promising.

Marketmuse is a platform for companies with deep pockets. Small businesses, startups, and bloggers not so much.

If you need world-class content brief and optimization features in an easy-to-use and affordable package, Topic is for you. We’re a high ROI tool that scales as your needs do.

If you’re an enterprise and confused between Topic and Marketmuse, we offer custom enterprise plans. Give both platforms a try and decide for yourself!

Bottom line: when it comes to content briefs and optimization, Topic is one of the simplest and most affordable Marketmuse alternatives out there.

Rank higher on Google search with Topic today!

Comparing Features MarketMuse vs. Topic:

Feature	Topic	MarketMuse
Rank Tracking	X	✓
Content Research	✓	✓
Outline Builder	✓	✓
Keyword Research	✓	✓
Competitive Analysis	✓	✓
Topics To Cover	✓	✓
Content Grader	✓	✓
Competitor Outlines	✓	X
Questions To Answer	✓	(only on higher tiers)
Outline Idea Generation	✓	X
Google Docs Extension	✓	X
WordPress Extension	✓	X
Share Functionality	✓	X

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