AI SEO writers
As of October 29, 2026, Koala's cheapest paid plan is Starter at $25/month billed monthly, per its own pricing page. Both Koala and Paperboy write SEO articles, so the differences that matter are fact checking, Search Console and whether an agent can run it.
| Row | Paperboy | Koala |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | $49 a month | $25/month billed monthly |
| Fact checks claims against sources | Yes | Partly |
| Learns from Search Console | Yes | Yes |
| Publishes to your site for you | Partly | Yes |
| MCP, API or CLI for agents | Yes | Yes |
Side by side
Every cell links the page it came from, with the day we read it.
| Feature | Paperboy | Koala |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Researches, writes, fact checks and publishes SEO articles to your own site, then learns from Search Console. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | AI article writer with an SEO agent, aimed at content sites and affiliate publishers. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Cheapest paid plan | Starter is $49 a month per site for 3 articles a week. Growth is $99 and Pro is $179. Yearly billing is two months free. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Cheapest paid plan is Starter at $25 per month billed monthly (page says annual billing saves 20%; exact annual figures were not in the page source): 45,000 words and 500 credits per month, 1 brand, MCP, API and CMS publishing. Word counts assume the base model; premium models count words at 2x or 3x. Extra brand slots are $29 per month each. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Free plan or trial | Yes The first article is free, no card. Any plan then starts with a 14-day trial (card required). SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Yes Free plan: a one-time allowance of 5,000 words and 25 credits for 1 brand, no credit card. Free accounts cannot connect MCP. Paid plans have a 15-day refund window if you used under 15,000 words and 100 credits. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Publishes to your site for you | Partly Posts directly to WordPress and Ghost. Other sites use a hosted blog, a signed webhook or a prompt that builds a blog in your code. No Shopify, Webflow, Wix or Squarespace connector. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Yes Yes. One-click publishing to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Ghost and custom webhooks (Zapier, Make). Per brand you can publish as drafts or auto-publish. Content Calendar Autopilot (Boost and above) plans a batch, generates each article and auto-publishes to the linked CMS on the set date (changelog: koala.sh/changelog). SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Fact checks claims against sources | Yes Every number and cited sentence is compared with the saved text of its source. An article that fails gets one rewrite, then is held for you. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Partly Partial. The real-time data page says KoalaWriter cross-references facts and statistics from multiple sources when possible and can cite sources inline. Deep Research gathers sources for the topic and outline before drafting. No page found that describes checking each claim against saved source text. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Learns from Search Console | Yes Optional read-only Search Console connection. It picks topics from your impressions and reports clicks per article. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Yes Yes. The SEO agent plans content from your Search Console and Analytics data. Professional and above add a dashboard of trends and striking-distance keywords. The MCP can read your own GSC clicks, impressions and position at no credit cost. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| Open source or self-host | Yes The engine is open source under AGPL-3.0. Self-host it with Docker and your own keys. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Not listed No open source or self-host statement found on the pricing, home or MCP pages. Koala is hosted software with an API and MCP. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
| MCP, API or CLI for agents | Yes A remote MCP server with eight tools and a REST API with an OpenAPI file. The CLI is built in the open but not on npm yet. Agents pay with credits, $20 for 100. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 | Yes Official MCP server with 62 tools (remote HTTP with OAuth at koala.sh/api/mcp; works with Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Claude Code, Cursor), included on every paid plan. REST API listed from Starter. Custom webhook for Zapier and Make. No CLI listed. SourceRead Oct 29, 2026 |
“Not listed” means we found no statement either way on the pages linked in that cell. It does not mean the answer is no. Vendors change their pages, so confirm before you buy.
The honest verdict
Sometimes the other tool is the better fit. Here is how to tell.
Pick Koala if
What Koala does well, from its own pages
Pick Paperboy if
Judge it before you pay anyone
Your first article is free with its full fact check, so you can judge it before you pay anyone.
Write my first article freeWhat you get
The four that decide it for most people, each with the source for the other side.
Partial. The real-time data page says KoalaWriter cross-references facts and statistics from multiple sources when possible and can cite sources inline. Deep Research gathers sources for the topic and outline before drafting. No page found that describes checking each claim against saved source text (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026). Paperboy compares every number and cited sentence with the saved text of the page it links to. An article that fails gets one rewrite and is then held for you instead of published.
Yes. The SEO agent plans content from your Search Console and Analytics data. Professional and above add a dashboard of trends and striking-distance keywords. The MCP can read your own GSC clicks, impressions and position at no credit cost (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026). Paperboy reads Search Console, read-only, to choose the next topic and to report clicks and impressions per article.
The Koala pages we read do not say (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026). The Paperboy engine is open source under AGPL-3.0 and runs with Docker and your own keys.
Official MCP server with 62 tools (remote HTTP with OAuth at koala.sh/api/mcp; works with Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Claude Code, Cursor), included on every paid plan. REST API listed from Starter. Custom webhook for Zapier and Make. No CLI listed (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026). Paperboy ships a remote MCP server with eight tools and a REST API with an OpenAPI file (the CLI is not on npm yet), so Claude Code, Cursor or n8n can run it.
Try it
You do not have to switch. Run Paperboy on one site, read the fact check, and compare it with what you get from Koala.
Keep Koala running. Nothing to cancel to try Paperboy.
Paste your site address. The first article is free, no card.
Read the fact check. Every number and cited sentence is compared with the saved text of its source.
Pick a plan only if you want more. Cancel with one button on the Billing page.
https://paperboyseo.com/start?url=yoursite.comThe engine is open source under AGPL-3.0. Self-hosting for your own sites is free; you pay your own model bill. Self-host docs.
About Koala
Koala is AI SEO software with an agent that plans from Search Console data, a writer for on-brand articles and one-click CMS publishing. (its own description, read Oct 29, 2026)
The pricing page shows monthly prices by default. Annual figures are not listed here because they were not in the page source. Word allowances assume the base model (GPT-6 Luna); other models count at 2x or 3x. A site banner says the MCP is out of beta. Credits cover chat, images, links, Brand DNA agent, API and MCP research; article generation uses a separate word allowance.
| Plan | Price | What the page says it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, one-time allowance, no credit card | 5,000 words, 25 credits, 1 brand, 5 Brand DNA agent messages. Cannot connect MCP. |
| Starter | $25/month billed monthly (page says annual billing saves 20%) | 45,000 words and 500 credits per month, 1 brand, MCP server, API access, WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Ghost and webhook publishing, bulk writing. |
| Professional | $49/month billed monthly | Everything in Starter, plus 100,000 words and 1,000 credits per month, Search Console and Analytics dashboard, article editor with SEO score, KoalaLinks for up to 50 sites, Deep Research. |
| Boost | $99/month billed monthly | Everything in Professional, plus 250,000 words and 2,500 credits per month, uncapped Brand DNA agent, Content Calendar Autopilot, 2x faster bulk creation. |
| Growth | $179/month billed monthly | 500,000 words and 5,000 credits per month, 3 brands. |
| Elite | $350/month billed monthly | 1,000,000 words and 10,000 credits per month, 7 brands. |
| Advanced | $500/month billed monthly | 1,500,000 words and 12,500 credits per month, 12 brands. |
| Scale I | $750/month billed monthly | 2,500,000 words and 15,000 credits per month, 20 brands, 3x faster bulk creation. |
| Scale II | $1,250/month billed monthly | 5,000,000 words and 20,000 credits per month, 40 brands. |
| Scale III | $2,000/month billed monthly | 10,000,000 words and 25,000 credits per month, 75 brands. |
From Koala's pricing page, read October 29, 2026. Paperboy's own prices are on our pricing page.
FAQ
As of Oct 29, 2026, Koala lists Free $0, one-time allowance, no credit card; Starter $25/month billed monthly; Professional $49/month billed monthly; Boost $99/month billed monthly. koala.sh is the source, so confirm there before you buy.
Partial. The real-time data page says KoalaWriter cross-references facts and statistics from multiple sources when possible and can cite sources inline. Deep Research gathers sources for the topic and outline before drafting. No page found that describes checking each claim against saved source text (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026).
Yes. One-click publishing to WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Ghost and custom webhooks (Zapier, Make). Per brand you can publish as drafts or auto-publish. Content Calendar Autopilot (Boost and above) plans a batch, generates each article and auto-publishes to the linked CMS on the set date (changelog: koala.sh/changelog) (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026).
The Koala pages we read do not say (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026).
Official MCP server with 62 tools (remote HTTP with OAuth at koala.sh/api/mcp; works with Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Claude Code, Cursor), included on every paid plan. REST API listed from Starter. Custom webhook for Zapier and Make. No CLI listed (koala.sh, read Oct 29, 2026).
Sources
Every cell above links the page we read, and every date is the day we read it. Facts about Koala come from Koala's own pages only. Facts about Paperboy come from pages on this site. If something is wrong or out of date, write to hello@paperboyseo.com and we will fix it and change the date.
Keep going
Paste your address. In under ten minutes you read a finished, fact-checked article written for your site. Free, no card.
Prefer to run it yourself? Self-host it (repo coming soon). Using an agent? Add the MCP server.