Compare · AI SEO tools
Machined vs Byword
Both are built for SEO articles in volume. At the time of writing (September 2026), Machined is $19/mo for 30 articles, $49 for 100, $99 for 250 and $249 for 750, or $99 for 2,000 if you bring your own AI keys. Byword is $99 for 25, $299 for 80 and $999 for 300.
On price alone, Machined wins by a wide margin. Machined is organized around interlinked topic clusters with citations and unlimited sites; Byword around keyword research and brand voice at scale.
Machined vs Byword side by side
From each product’s own site or our research, at the time of writing (September 2026). Prices and terms change, so check before you decide.
| Feature | Machined | Byword |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $19/mo (30 articles) | $99/mo (25 articles) |
| Per article at entry | About $0.63 | About $3.96 |
| High volume | 750 for $249, or 2,000 with BYOK for $99 | 300 for $999 |
| Sites | Unlimited projects | Not listed on the pages we read |
| Structure | Content clusters, auto internal links, citations | Articles with keyword research and brand voice |
| Trial | 7 days, no card | 5 free articles |
Which should you pick?
Pick Machined if…
- Price per article matters most.
- You manage several sites.
- You want clusters with internal links built in.
Pick Byword if…
- You prefer Byword's workflow and output after testing both.
- You want to test with 5 free articles and no time limit.
Where LaunchRanked fits
Disclosure: LaunchRanked is our product. Where we list it, we say so, and we place it under the use case it fits rather than at the top by default. Everything else here is from the vendors’ own sites or our research, and we say where they’re better.
Neither is a direct substitute for LaunchRanked Autopilot ($49/mo, founding price, early access). Autopilot plans articles from your site and live search results, publishes 30 a month to your CMS at a safe pace, rewrites titles and snippets on pages already ranking on page 1–2, and tracks 25 prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude.
Both can publish far more than a young domain can get indexed. We learned that on our own product; Autopilot paces publishing on purpose.
Frequently asked questions
Is Machined really $19 for 30 articles?
Yes, per its pricing page at the time of writing (September 2026). Annual billing saves 25%.
What's Machined's BYOK plan?
A flat $99/mo for up to 2,000 articles; you pay the AI provider directly. Machined estimates about $0.20 per article in provider costs.
Should I publish 300+ articles a month?
Only if your site can absorb it. New domains often see pages crawled but not indexed when volume jumps.
Sources we checked
Checked on their own sites on 23 September 2026. Prices and terms change, so check before you buy. Domain ratings are approximate third-party estimates.