For a business that wants the work done and wants to be named in AI answers, RunOctopus is the better choice than SEOmatic. SEOmatic has grown from a programmatic page generator into "autonomous SEO agents": software that reads your search data, scans AI answers, ranks the work and ships changes once you approve them, from free to $699 a month. It is good software. But you still connect it, supervise it and sign off on what ships. RunOctopus does the job itself, builds every page from what you actually sell, and has client results to show for it.
Why RunOctopus is the better choice
1. We do the work and publish on our own
Ollie (our AI) and our team research, write, publish and link the pages on your site. Nothing waits on you: no agents to set up, no credits to watch, no queue to approve. You can read anything that went live and ask for changes. SEOmatic's own site says "Nothing ships without your say-so", which means every change waits for a person on your side. That suits an agency. It does not suit an owner who bought help so they could stop doing SEO. Our page on what an AI SEO agent actually does covers the difference between agent software and a team that does the work.
2. We know your catalog and services
SEOmatic's agents rank work from your search data, and its programmatic pages come from a template and a dataset you supply. We start from your real products, collections or services: what buyers compare, what they ask before they buy or book, and which of your pages should catch each question. Every page links into the specific products, collections or services it covers, the pages that actually sell.
3. Fully automated, and built on real inputs
Ollie does the work automatically from start to finish, and our team keeps watch. Every page is built from real inputs, not generic AI text: your own catalog or services, your own search data, the real questions buyers ask AI assistants, and facts checked before anything publishes. SEOmatic reads your search data too, but its programmatic pages are only as good as the template and dataset you hand it.
4. Proven on real clients
We publish our client results, misses included, and every number here comes from those studies. All Angles Creatures, a reptile-feeder store, earned 5,447 Google clicks in the 28 days to October 10, 2026, up from 3,645 in the 28 days before, and on two locked sets of buyer questions it was the most-cited site in every AI answer set (61 citations in the first, 80 in the second). Sterman Multifamily, a Los Angeles apartment broker, went from 12 to 57 Google clicks a month to 283 in August 2026, and ChatGPT named the firm on four of eight questions we checked. Both studies also say what did not move. The rest are on our case studies page.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | SEOmatic | RunOctopus / Ollie |
|---|---|---|
| What you are buying | Self-serve software with SEO agents | Done-for-you service: Ollie plus our team |
| How it decides the work | Agents read your search data and AI answers, rank tasks by expected clicks, re-plan weekly | Ollie and our team plan from your catalog or services and your search data |
| Who approves changes | You. "Nothing ships without your say-so" by default, with one-click rollback | No sign-off needed. Pages go live on their own, and you can ask for changes |
| Programmatic pages from a dataset | Yes, hundreds of pages from one template and a spreadsheet | No. Each page is planned and written on its own |
| Content volume | Limited by AI credits, not a page count | 50+ pieces at launch, 175+ pieces a month, every month |
| Internal linking | Included from Launch ($99) | Every page linked into the products, collections or services it covers |
| Interactive tools | Not offered | Calculators, quizzes and finders built for the site |
| AI-answer tracking | Weekly on Launch, daily on Scale and up | Pages are written to be cited. Not sold as a tracking dashboard |
| Platforms | WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, Webflow, Framer, Ghost, HubSpot and many more | Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce and Wix |
| Agency features | Up to 20 sites, white-label portal and REST API on Infrastructure | One business, handled by our team |
| Price | Free, Launch $99, Scale $249, Infrastructure $699 a month, Enterprise custom | $497/mo |
SEOmatic prices and plan limits are from its own pricing page on October 20, 2026. They change, so confirm before you buy.
What SEOmatic is now
Our earlier version of this page described SEOmatic as a template-and-dataset tool billed by pages and words. That is out of date, and so were the prices. SEOmatic's own site now leads with "Autonomous SEO Agents for Agencies" and says its agents:
- Read your own search data and scan how ChatGPT, Claude and Google AI Overviews answer questions in your space.
- Rank the work by what it should earn you and hand back a short, prioritized list.
- Ship approved changes to titles, schema, internal links and content refreshes straight into your CMS, keep a copy of the original for one-click rollback, and re-read the live page to confirm the change landed.
- Re-plan every Monday and compare results against the rest of the site.
Programmatic pages are still on offer ("turn datasets into hundreds of live pages"), and SEOmatic now has pages aimed at ecommerce, SaaS and local service businesses as well as agencies. Billing moved to AI credits: up to 3 million a month on Launch, 8 million on Scale, 20 million on Infrastructure.
What SEOmatic does well
- A low price to start. A free plan with one AI visibility scan, and a $99 Launch plan with internal linking, weekly AI tracking and approval with rollback. RunOctopus has nothing at that price.
- Control. Approval is the default, and the rollback copy means a bad change is easy to undo. If you want to see every change before it ships, SEOmatic is built for you.
- Scale from data. If you have a clean dataset (cities, services, product attributes), SEOmatic can turn it into hundreds of pages quickly.
- Almost any CMS. Its integration list runs from WordPress and Shopify to Webflow, Framer, Ghost, HubSpot, Sanity and Next.js.
- Built for agencies. Multiple sites per plan, team seats, a white-label client portal and a REST API on the higher tiers.
Other differences worth knowing
Here is the work step by step, and where SEOmatic genuinely does more.
Connect the site and set up the agents: SEOmatic, You or your agency. RunOctopus, Our team. Find what to fix or build: SEOmatic, Agents read your data. RunOctopus, Ollie and our team. Write refreshes and new pages: SEOmatic, Agents, from AI credits. RunOctopus, Ollie and our team. Decide what goes live: SEOmatic, You approve by default. RunOctopus, Goes live on its own. Link new pages to products or services: SEOmatic, Internal linking from $99. RunOctopus, Built into every page. Interactive tools (calculators, quizzes): SEOmatic, Not offered. RunOctopus, Built for the site. Track AI answers: SEOmatic, Weekly or daily scans. RunOctopus, Not a dashboard product.
Interactive tools
SEOmatic writes and edits pages. RunOctopus also builds working tools for the site, like a calculator, a quiz or a product finder. A tool answers a question text can't, and it tends to earn links and repeat visits.
Depth per page versus volume
If the job is "a page for every city we serve" from a spreadsheet, SEOmatic is built for that and does it faster and cheaper. If the job is a smaller set of pages that each answer a buyer's question in full, so that Google and AI assistants have a reason to pick you, a planned library tends to do better than template pages. Our guide to programmatic SEO for ecommerce covers when template pages work and when they turn thin.
Who should pick SEOmatic instead
SEOmatic is the better fit if you are an agency with several client sites and want white-label reports and an API, if you want to approve every change and roll it back, if you have a dataset and want hundreds of programmatic pages from it, if your site runs on a CMS we do not cover (Webflow, Framer, Ghost, HubSpot), or if your budget is free to $249 a month.
Can you use both?
Mostly, no. Both plan and publish content and both add internal links, so on one site they would be choosing topics for the same pages. The one split that can work: SEOmatic for a large programmatic project from a dataset you maintain (location or attribute pages, say), and RunOctopus for the in-depth pages and tools around your products or services. For most single businesses, pick one.
SEOmatic is a capable set of SEO agents for people who want to supervise them. RunOctopus is the better choice for a business that wants the work done and wants to be named in AI answers: we write, publish and link the pages ourselves, we build them from your own products and services, and our client results are public.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SEOmatic and RunOctopus?
SEOmatic is self-serve software with SEO agents that read your search data, rank the work, and ship approved changes and new pages to your CMS. RunOctopus is a done-for-you service: Ollie, our AI, and our team plan pages around your products or services, write them, link them into those pages, build interactive tools, and publish on Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce or Wix without you approving each page.
How much does SEOmatic cost compared to RunOctopus?
On October 20, 2026, SEOmatic listed a Free plan, Launch at $99, Scale at $249 and Infrastructure at $699 a month, plus custom Enterprise pricing. Plans are billed in AI credits, sites and seats rather than pages. RunOctopus is $497 a month, one plan.
Does SEOmatic publish changes automatically?
Its agents write changes into your live CMS, but approval is the default. SEOmatic says nothing ships without your say-so, and edits to existing pages keep a copy of the original for one-click rollback. RunOctopus works the other way: pages go live on their own, and you can read anything that went live and ask for changes.
Does SEOmatic track AI search visibility?
Yes. The free plan includes one AI visibility scan, Launch tracks weekly, and Scale and Infrastructure track daily. RunOctopus writes pages to be cited by AI assistants. RunOctopus is not a tracker you run: your account shows the pages that went live and where AI assistants name your business, and changing that is our job.
Is SEOmatic still good for programmatic SEO?
Yes. Turning a dataset into hundreds of pages is still one of its product lines, and it is well suited to location or attribute pages from a clean spreadsheet. RunOctopus does not do template-and-dataset generation. Each page is planned and written on its own.
Who should choose SEOmatic over RunOctopus?
Agencies with several client sites, owners who want to approve every change, teams with a dataset for programmatic pages, sites on CMSs RunOctopus does not cover such as Webflow or Ghost, and anyone whose budget is under $250 a month.