Cheapest AI Article Writer 2026: The True Cost per Article
The cheapest AI article writer depends on how many articles you publish. For a handful a month, a small flat plan wins. At volume, credit and per-article plans drop to cents per article. Below is the true cost of one published article on 11 article writers, worked out from each vendor’s own pricing page.
Short answer. At volume, Autoblogging.ai is the cheapest per article in this list: $0.13 for a standard article on Enterprise billed yearly ($0.26 with SERP analysis). Machined’s BYOK plan has a low platform fee, but you also pay your own AI costs, which Machined estimates at about $0.20 per article. For about 10 posts a month, Writon Starter ($9) or the Autoblogging.ai free plan (10 credits a month) cost the least.
How this list was made. Autoblogging.ai is our product, so read our entry with that in mind. Every other price on this page was taken from the vendor’s own pricing page on 4 October 2026. Per-article figures are the plan price divided by the articles the plan includes, unless the vendor states its own number. Prices change, so check the vendor’s page before you buy.
How we worked out the cost per article
Every tool sells something different: words, credits, articles or “unlimited” characters. To compare them we used the plan price divided by what the plan buys, and converted to one finished article:
- Entry cost: the cheapest paid plan on monthly billing. This is what you pay to try a tool.
- Best cost: the plan with the lowest price per article, on yearly billing where offered. This is what a committed heavy user pays.
- Word-based tools (Koala) depend on article length, so we show the allowance instead of guessing a per-article number.
- Credit-based tools use the vendor’s stated credits per article: Autoblogging.ai charges 1 credit for a standard article, Arvow says 15 credits.
Cost per article compared
| Tool | Entry plan (monthly) | Entry cost / article | Best value plan | Best cost / article | Publishes to WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autoblogging.ai | $19 for 40 credits | $0.48 (1 credit) | Enterprise, $649/mo billed yearly, 5,000 credits | $0.13 standard, $0.26 with SERP analysis | Yes, with scheduling |
| Writon | $9 for 10 articles | $0.90 | Pro, $29 for 40 articles (monthly only) | $0.73 | Yes (monthly plans) |
| Machined | $19 for 30 articles | $0.63 | Scale, $187/mo billed yearly, 750 articles | $0.25 | Yes |
| SEOWriting.ai | $19 for up to 50 articles | from $0.38 | $230/mo billed yearly, up to 1,000 articles | from $0.23 | Yes |
| Junia AI | $34 for 10 articles | $3.40 | Scale Pro, $95/mo billed yearly, 283 articles | $0.34 | Publishes to your site |
| Arvow | $69 for 1,000 credits (15 per article) | about $1.04 | Business, $69/mo yearly offer, 3,000 credits | about $0.35 (promotional price) | Yes |
| Koala | $25 for 45,000 words | depends on length | Elite, $280/mo billed yearly, 1,000,000 words | depends on length | Yes |
| RankYak | $99 for 30 articles | $3.30 | same plan (2 months free yearly) | about $2.75 | Yes |
| Outrank | $99 for 30 articles | $3.30 | $999 a year for 30 a month | about $2.78 | Yes |
| Byword | $99 for 25 articles | $3.96 (vendor-stated) | Scale, $833/mo billed yearly, 300 articles | $2.78 (vendor-stated) | Yes |
| Rytr | $9, unlimited characters | n/a (short copy) | Unlimited, $7.50/mo yearly | n/a | Not listed |
Tool by tool
Autoblogging.ai
Best for: bloggers, niche site owners and agencies who want finished, researched articles posted to WordPress on a schedule.
You give it a title (or up to 500 titles at once) and it writes the full article: headings, an intro that answers the title, FAQs, key takeaways, four AI images, internal links and schema if you want them. Turn on SERP analysis and it reads the pages ranking for that title first and uses their entities, keywords and outlines. Finished articles can be posted straight to WordPress as drafts or live posts, spaced out with a time gap.
- Pricing: Free plan with 10 credits a month (no card). Paid plans: Starter $19 (40 credits), Regular $49 (120), Standard $99 (300), Gold $179 (600), Premium $249 (1,000), Enterprise $999 (5,000). Annual billing saves 35%, which takes Enterprise to $649 a month. Unused credits roll over while you are subscribed.
- Cost per article: A standard article costs 1 credit. In the bulk writer, adding SERP analysis costs 1 more credit, and AI images 1 more. So an article is about $0.48 on Starter and $0.13 on Enterprise billed yearly, or $0.95 and $0.26 with SERP analysis.
- Also included: competitor research and AI-visibility tracking (free monthly allowances on every paid plan, plus free topical maps from the Regular plan), a fact checker, 38 writing languages, and a one-click YouTube video from any article.
- Watch out for: extras add credits, so check the estimated charge the form shows before you start. Bulk CSV upload starts on the Regular plan.
Video: Programmatic SEO With AI: Bulk Generate Articles and Auto Post to WordPress
Writon
Best for: A small blog that wants a low monthly bill and simple autopilot.
Charges per finished article: Starter is $9 a month for 10 articles (up to 2,000 words each) and Pro is $29 for 40. A $1 pay-per-article option exists but does not publish to WordPress. Monthly plans include scheduled autopilot publishing to WordPress. 7-day free trial.
Watch out for: The listed plans stop at 40 articles a month.
Machined
Best for: Content clusters with internal linking at volume.
Per-article plans: Launch is $19 a month ($14 yearly) for 30 articles, Scale is $249 ($187 yearly) for 750. A BYOK plan gives 2,000 articles for $99 if you pay your own AI costs. One-click WordPress publishing; 7-day free trial.
Watch out for: The cheapest BYOK route adds your own AI provider bill on top.
SEOWriting.ai
Best for: Bulk one-click SEO articles at a low price.
Free plan with 3 articles. Starter is $19 a month ($14 yearly) for up to 50 articles; Professional is $79 ($59 yearly) for up to 250; the top listed plan is $307 ($230 yearly) for up to 1,000. WordPress integration on all plans.
Watch out for: Plans say “up to” a number of articles; heavier options use more credits.
Junia AI
Best for: Multilingual autoblogging on Scale plans.
Growth is $34 a month ($20 yearly) for 10 SEO articles; Scale Starter is $59 ($35 yearly) for 68 articles on autopilot; Scale Pro is $159 ($95 yearly) for 283. Supports 150+ languages.
Watch out for: The entry plan does not include the autopilot volume.
Arvow (formerly Journalist AI)
Best for: Agencies that want autoblogging plus site fixes and backlinks.
Credit plans: Solo is $69 a month for 1,000 credits, and the vendor says an article costs 15 credits. Yearly prices are shown as a limited-time offer (Solo $39). Publishes to WordPress and other platforms.
Watch out for: Monthly billing is expensive per article; the cheap yearly price is a promotion.
Koala (KoalaWriter)
Best for: Affiliate and long-form writers who like a word allowance.
Sells words, not articles: Starter is $25 a month ($20 billed yearly) for 45,000 words; Elite is $350 ($280 yearly) for 1,000,000 words. Publishes to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow and Ghost. New accounts get 5,000 free words.
Watch out for: Long articles use more of the allowance, so cost per article depends on length.
RankYak
Best for: Hands-off daily posting for one site.
One plan: $99 a month per website for 30 articles (one a day, up to 5,000 words) with direct publishing to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow and Wix. 3-day free trial.
Watch out for: $3.30 per article, and the price is per site.
Outrank
Best for: Done-for-you daily articles plus backlinks.
$99 a month (or $999 a year) for 30 articles generated and published on autopilot, plus backlink building. Add-ons for 60 or 90 articles. Publishes to WordPress, Webflow, Shopify and more.
Watch out for: About $3.30 per article on monthly billing.
Byword
Best for: Programmatic SEO templates and research-backed batches.
Free to start with 5 articles. Starter is $99 a month ($83 yearly) for 25 articles; Scale is $999 ($833 yearly) for 300. Byword states $3.96 per article on Starter, falling to $2.78 on Scale yearly. WordPress and Webflow publishing.
Watch out for: The highest per-article price among the autoblogging tools here.
Rytr
Best for: Cheap short-form writing.
Free plan with 10,000 characters a month. Unlimited is $9 a month ($7.50 yearly) and Premium is $29. Built for short copy: emails, meta titles, captions.
Watch out for: You assemble long articles yourself, and WordPress publishing is not listed.
Hidden costs that change the math
- Editing time. Usually the biggest cost. An article that needs 30 minutes of fixing costs far more than its subscription share. Research-first writing (reading what ranks before writing) cuts that time.
- Images. Check whether images are included. On Autoblogging.ai, four AI images cost 1 extra credit per article.
- Publishing. Copying, formatting and filling SEO fields by hand takes 10 to 15 minutes a post. Tools that post to WordPress save that.
- Yearly lock-in and promotions. The lowest prices need a yearly commitment, and some (Arvow, Scalenut) are limited-time offers.
- Rollover. Credits that expire at month end raise your real cost. Autoblogging.ai credits roll over while you are subscribed.
Which is cheapest for you?
About 10 posts a month
Start on Autoblogging.ai’s free plan (10 credits a month, no card) or Writon Starter at $9. Both are under $1 per article.
About 30 to 100 posts a month
Autoblogging.ai Standard ($99 for 300 credits, about $0.33 per standard article) or Machined Growth ($49 for 100 articles) are the low-cost picks. Both publish to WordPress.
300 or more posts a month
Autoblogging.ai Enterprise billed yearly ($0.13 per standard article) and Machined Scale ($0.25) are the cheapest. Machined BYOK adds your own AI costs on top (Machined estimates about $0.20 per article).
Several languages
Autoblogging.ai writes in 38 languages (non-English adds 1 credit per article). Junia lists 150+ languages.
Video: Best Bulk AI Article Generators in 2026: Autoblogging.ai vs Agility Writer vs SEOWriting.ai (Top 6)
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest AI article writer in 2026?
Per article at volume, Autoblogging.ai Enterprise billed yearly works out to $0.13 per standard article. For a small monthly bill, Writon Starter ($9 for 10 articles) and Autoblogging.ai’s free plan (10 credits a month) cost the least.
Is a per-word plan cheaper than a per-article plan?
Only for short articles. Word allowances shrink fast on 2,000+ word posts, while per-article and per-credit plans charge the same for long and short articles.
Are yearly plans worth it?
If you will publish every month, yes: Autoblogging.ai annual billing saves 35%. If you are testing, start monthly or on a free plan.
Is Rytr a cheap AI article writer?
Rytr is cheap, but it is a short-form assistant. You build articles section by section and it does not list WordPress publishing.
Do unused credits expire?
It depends on the tool. Autoblogging.ai credits roll over while your subscription is active.