# Spook vs Byword

> Spook vs Byword: $60 per site with 30 published articles versus $99 for 25 credits. Keyword research, publishing, backlinks, API access and trial compared honestly.

Verified September 2026 against https://byword.ai/pricing/.

Byword is a bulk AI article generator built for people who want to produce a lot of content quickly: paste a list of keywords or a CSV, get back finished articles with images and internal links, and push them to WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, Ghost or HubSpot. Every article costs one credit, and plans run from 25 credits at $99 a month to unlimited at $1,999.

Spook is an SEO autopilot for a single site. It reads your Search Console data, picks the queries you can realistically win, writes and scores the article, and publishes it on a schedule. There is no credit budget to manage: one site is $60 a month for 30 published articles, with research, images, backlinks and publishing included.

Byword Starter is $99/month for 25 credits. Spook is $60/month per site for 30 published articles.

## Feature by feature

| Feature | Spook | Byword |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Entry price | Yes - $60/month per site, everything included | Partly - Starter is $99/month for 25 credits; Standard is $299 for 80, Scale $999 for 300, Unlimited $1,999 |
| Content volume included | Yes - 30 articles per site per month, written and published | Partly - 25 articles/month on Starter (one credit per article), pooled across up to 5 domains |
| Full autopilot (research, write, publish) | Yes - Winnable-query research, writing, SEO scoring and publishing run on a schedule you set | Partly - Bulk generation from keyword lists and a topical-map builder, but you choose the topics and trigger the runs |
| Keyword research | Yes - Live SERP difficulty and Domain Rating checks pick queries your site can realistically rank for, included on every plan | Yes - Seed-keyword research with volume, difficulty and CPC, plus SERP and competitor gap analysis |
| Google Search Console data | Yes - One-click OAuth per site; real clicks, impressions and positions feed topic selection and refresh alerts | Yes - Connects for page-performance tracking, the Optimize feature and a Google Indexing tool |
| Auto-publishing integrations | Yes - WordPress, Shopify, Ghost, Webflow, Payload and headless CMSs, Next.js template, or any site via webhook | Yes - WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, Ghost, HubSpot CMS, Notion export, Zapier, webhooks |
| Review before it goes live | Yes - Per site: publish live, or land as drafts in your CMS for a final look | Yes - Publish as draft or live per integration |
| Backlink building | Yes - Spook Network backlink exchange included, 100 credits per site per month | No - None - no exchange, outreach or network |
| AI visibility tracking (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, AI Overviews) | Yes - Weekly checks across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews; gaps become planned articles | No - Not offered |
| AI images in articles | Yes - Included in every article, in a style you pick per site; optional inline images and YouTube video embeds per site | Yes - Built into every article with automatic placement and custom styles |
| Languages | Yes - Any language and market, chosen per site; articles follow that locale's grammar and spelling | Yes - 100+ languages |
| API, CLI and MCP for AI agents | Yes - Agent API with OpenAPI spec, spook-cli on npm, and an MCP endpoint with 59 tools | Partly - REST API on Standard ($299) and Scale only; no CLI or MCP server found |
| Multiple sites | Yes - Each site is its own $60 plan; volume pricing drops to $45/site at 4+ sites | Yes - Credits are pooled: 5 domains on Starter, unlimited domains from Standard up |
| Free trial | Yes - 7-day free trial, no credit card required | Partly - Free account with 5 signup credits; whether a card is required is not stated publicly |

## Where Byword wins

- **Pooled credits across many domains.** One Standard plan can feed 80 articles a month into any number of client sites. If you run an agency portfolio, that is cheaper than a per-site plan.
- **Programmatic SEO at scale.** CSV keyword upload, topical-map generation, YouTube-to-article, glossary and listicle generators. Byword is built for hundreds of pages at once.
- **Team seats and white-label.** Three to 25 seats, white-label options and a wide publishing stack including HubSpot and Notion make it a fit for content teams and agencies.

## Where Spook wins

- **Topics come from your own search data.** Spook cross-references your Search Console queries with live SERP difficulty and Domain Rating checks, so every article targets a query your site can actually win. Byword writes whatever keyword you paste in.
- **Truly hands-off publishing.** Set a cadence per site and Spook researches, writes, scores against a 95-point SEO floor and publishes without you queueing runs.
- **Backlinks and AI visibility are included.** The Spook Network backlink exchange and weekly ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews checks ship in the $60 plan. Byword has neither.
- **Cheaper for one site.** 30 published articles for $60 against 25 credits for $99, and the API, CLI and MCP server are included rather than gated behind a $299 tier.

## What 30 articles a month costs

- Spook: $60 (One site, $60/month; 30 articles, research, publishing, backlinks). One flat price per site. No seats, no credits, no add-ons for research or publishing.
- Byword: $99+ (Starter, $99/month; 25 credits (one article each)). Starter tops out at 25 articles. Thirty a month means buying extra credits or stepping up to Standard at $299 for 80.

## Verdict

- Pick Byword if: Pick Byword if you run content for many sites or clients, already know which keywords you want, and need to generate hundreds of pages from a spreadsheet with team seats and white-label reporting.
- Pick Spook if: Pick Spook if you own one site or a handful, do not want to manage credits or keyword lists, and want research, writing, publishing, backlinks and AI visibility running on their own for a flat $60 a month per site.

## FAQ

### Is Byword cheaper than Spook?

Not for a single site. Byword Starter is $99 a month for 25 article credits, while Spook is $60 a month for 30 published articles with research, images, backlinks and publishing included. Byword gets cheaper per article only on its $299 and $999 tiers, which pool credits across unlimited domains.

### Does Byword do keyword research?

Yes. Byword has seed-keyword research with volume, difficulty and CPC data, SERP analysis and competitor gap reports. The difference is that you pick and paste the keywords. Spook picks topics automatically from your Google Search Console data and live ranking difficulty.

### Does Byword build backlinks?

No. Byword has no backlink exchange, outreach or network feature. Spook includes the Spook Network backlink exchange in every plan.

### Can I publish Byword or Spook articles as drafts first?

Both. Byword's WordPress integration can auto-publish as draft, and Spook lets you choose per site whether articles go live or land as CMS drafts for review.

### Which has an API?

Both, with a catch. Byword's REST API is only on its Standard ($299) and Scale plans. Spook's Agent API, spook-cli and MCP server are included on every site plan.

Read on the site: https://www.tryspook.com/compare/byword