The €100/Month AI Content Stack That Replaced My €2,400/Month Agency

In 2024, I was paying a content agency €2,400/month for blog posts, social clips, SEO optimization, and email newsletters. The output was good. The process was slow. And I had zero control over the workflow.

In 2025, I replaced them with a 5-tool AI stack for €97/month.

This isn’t about “AI will replace all jobs” hype. It’s about ruthless efficiency for small teams. Here’s the stack, the workflows, and the honest trade-offs.

The Stack (Total: €97/Month)

Tool	Function	Cost	Why This One
Writesonic	AI writing (blogs, emails, social)	€31/mo	Unlimited words, Chatsonic for research, 30% cheaper than Jasper
Pictory	Video repurposing (blogs → clips)	€44/mo	Turns one blog into 10 LinkedIn videos in 10 minutes
Surfer SEO	Content optimization	€69/mo	Makes AI content rank. Non-negotiable for SEO.
Canva Pro	Design (thumbnails, infographics)	€11/mo	Brand templates, stock photos, Pinterest graphics
Make.com	Automation (connects everything)	€9/mo	10k operations. Glues the workflow together.
Total		€164/mo

Wait, that’s €164, not €97.

Correct. Here’s the reality: Surfer is optional if you’re not doing SEO. If you’re building for social, email, or paid ads (not organic search), drop Surfer and you’re at €95/month.

For this breakdown, I’m keeping Surfer because the ROI is absurd (more on that below).

The Workflows: What €164 Buys You

Workflow 1: Blog Post Production (2 Hours → 30 Minutes)

Old process (agency):

1. Briefing call (30 min)
2. Wait 5-7 days
3. Receive draft
4. Edits (2-3 rounds, 3-5 days)
5. Publish

Total time: 10-14 days, €300-400/post

New process (AI stack):

1. Surfer SEO: Generate content brief (5 min). Keywords, structure, competitors.
2. Writesonic: Paste brief into Article Writer 5.0. Generate 2,000-word draft (3 min).
3. Chatsonic (Writesonic): Research current stats, examples, quotes (10 min).
4. Manual editing: Add personal insights, fix AI slop, adjust tone (15 min).
5. Surfer SEO: Run Content Score optimization. Hit 75+ score (5 min).
6. Canva: Create featured image and Pinterest pin (5 min).
7. Publish.

Total time: 30-45 minutes, €0 marginal cost

Quality difference: The AI draft is 70% there. The agency draft was 85%. But I can produce 10 AI-assisted posts in the time the agency delivered one. Volume compensates for the quality gap.

SEO result: Posts optimized with Surfer rank in top 10 within 4-8 weeks. Same as agency-written content. Google doesn’t care who wrote it if the content score is high.

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Workflow 2: Social Video Clips (4 Hours → 10 Minutes)

Old process (agency or in-house):

1. Export blog post
2. Script 60-sec video
3. Record or find b-roll
4. Edit in Premiere (cuts, captions, music)
5. Export and upload

Total time: 2-4 hours per video

New process (Pictory):

1. Paste blog URL into Pictory
2. AI extracts 10 key points
3. Matches stock footage to each point
4. Adds captions, transitions, music
5. Export 10 videos (60-90 sec each)

Total time: 10 minutes, €0 marginal cost

Quality difference: Stock footage is hit-or-miss (sometimes perfect, sometimes generic). But the time savings are 20x. I can produce 50 clips/month with Pictory. The agency delivered 4.

Distribution: I use these for LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest (video pins), and email newsletters. Each blog post becomes 10 video assets. That’s 10x content leverage.

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Workflow 3: SEO Optimization (The Surfer Advantage)

Why Surfer is non-negotiable:

AI content (Writesonic, Jasper, ChatGPT) is decent. But it doesn’t inherently rank. Google doesn’t reward “AI-ness”—it rewards relevance, structure, and semantic depth.

Surfer does this:

1. Analyzes top 10 Google results for your keyword
2. Tells you exactly what to include: headings, keywords, word count, entities
3. Gives you a “Content Score” (0-100). Above 75 = strong ranking potential.

Without Surfer: You’re guessing. Your AI content might rank, might not.

With Surfer: You’re engineering the ranking. You hit the score, you rank. It’s mechanical.

ROI calc:

• Surfer: €69/mo
• If one blog post ranks and drives 1,000 visitors/month, and 2% convert to email subscribers (20 subscribers), and email list LTV is €5/subscriber = €100/mo value from one post.
• Break-even: 1 ranking post. Everything after that is profit.

Real numbers (my site):

• 12 posts optimized with Surfer in Q4 2025
• 8 now rank in top 10 (67% success rate)
• Driving ~4,500 organic visitors/month
• Email conversion: 2.8% (126 subscribers from organic)
• Affiliate revenue from organic traffic: ~€340/month

Surfer paid for itself 5x over.

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Workflow 4: Automation (Make.com as the Glue)

Make.com connects everything. Here’s what runs automatically:

Scenario 1: Blog → Social Distribution

1. New blog post published (WordPress/Astro webhook)
2. Make.com triggers:
   • Send blog URL to Pictory API → Generate 5 video clips
   • Post clips to LinkedIn (Buffer API)
   • Create Pinterest pins (Canva + Pinterest API)
   • Add blog link to email newsletter draft (MailerLite)

Time saved: 2-3 hours of manual posting per blog

Scenario 2: Chatsonic Research → Content Brief

1. Trigger: New keyword added to Google Sheet
2. Make.com:
   • Queries Chatsonic API: “What are the top 5 questions people ask about [keyword]?”
   • Sends response to Surfer SEO → Generate content brief
   • Saves brief to Notion

Time saved: 30 min of manual research per brief

Cost: €9/mo (10k operations). I’m using ~3k/month. Plenty of headroom.

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The Honest Trade-Offs

This isn’t “AI is perfect.” There are trade-offs.

What You Lose:

1. Strategic thinking. AI doesn’t know your business. The agency (if they were good) asked questions like:

• “Why are we targeting this keyword?”
• “Does this align with your product roadmap?”
• “Should we angle this for top-of-funnel or bottom-of-funnel?”

AI just executes. You need to be the strategist now.

2. Originality. AI content is derivative. It synthesizes existing content. It doesn’t create new frameworks, coin new terms, or have contrarian opinions.

You have to inject the insights manually. The AI draft is the scaffold. You add the unique perspective.

3. Quality ceiling. Agency content (when good) is 85-90% polished. AI content maxes out at 75-80%, even after editing.

But: For most use cases (SEO blogs, social captions, email newsletters), 75% is enough. You’re not writing for The Economist. You’re writing to rank and convert.

What You Gain:

1. Speed. 10x faster production. This compounds. More content = more ranking opportunities = more traffic.

2. Control. No waiting on revisions. No “the writer is out sick.” You control the entire workflow.

3. Cost. €2,400/mo → €164/mo = €2,236/mo savings. That’s €26,832/year. For a small business, that’s a salary.

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The Numbers: What This Stack Produced (3 Months)

Here’s the real output from Oct-Dec 2025:

Metric	Old (Agency)	New (AI Stack)	Change
Blog posts	4/month	12/month	+200%
Social videos	4/month	50/month	+1,150%
SEO traffic	2,100/mo	4,500/mo	+114%
Email subscribers	+60/mo	+126/mo	+110%
Content cost	€2,400/mo	€164/mo	-93%

Affiliate revenue (from organic traffic):

• Q3 2025 (agency): €180/month avg
• Q4 2025 (AI stack): €340/month avg
• +89% revenue increase while cutting costs 93%

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The Stack Breakdown: Why Each Tool

1. Writesonic (€31/Mo) — The Writing Engine

Alternatives: Jasper (€125/mo), Copy.ai (€79/mo), ChatGPT Plus (€20/mo)

Why Writesonic:

• €31 for unlimited words. Jasper charges 4x for the same.
• Chatsonic = ChatGPT + real-time Google Search. This is critical for researching current stats, trends, news.
• Audiosonic (TTS) is a bonus. I use it for podcast drafts.
• Lifetime recurring commissions (30%) signal they’re confident in retention. That’s a proxy for product-market fit.

What I use it for:

• Blog post first drafts (Article Writer 5.0)
• Email newsletter copy
• Social captions (LinkedIn, Twitter)
• Research (Chatsonic)

Could I use ChatGPT Plus instead? Yes, for €20/mo. But Writesonic’s templates (email, blog, social) are faster than prompting ChatGPT from scratch. The €11 premium is worth the time savings.

Try Writesonic free (10k words/mo)

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2. Pictory (€44/Mo) — The Video Multiplier

Alternatives: Descript (€24/mo), OpusClip (€29/mo), manual editing in Premiere (free, but 10x slower)

Why Pictory:

• Blog → Video is a one-click workflow. Paste URL, get 10 clips. No other tool does this as cleanly.
• Auto-captions are accurate (95%+). This matters for social—80% of video views are muted.
• Stock footage library (Storyblocks integration) is included. No extra cost.

What I use it for:

• Turn blog posts into LinkedIn videos
• Repurpose webinars into 10-15 highlight clips
• Create Pinterest video pins (vertical format)

ROI: Each blog → 10 videos. If one video gets 5k impressions, that’s 50k impressions from one blog. The distribution leverage is absurd.

Try Pictory free (3 videos)

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3. Surfer SEO (€69/Mo) — The Ranking Guarantee

Alternatives: Clearscope (€170/mo), Frase (€45/mo), manual SEO (free, inconsistent)

Why Surfer:

• Content Score is the most accurate predictor of ranking I’ve tested. Hit 75+, you rank. It’s mechanical.
• SERP Analyzer reverse-engineers the top 10. You see exactly what Google wants.
• Integrates with Jasper, Writesonic, Google Docs. Write and optimize in one workflow.

What I use it for:

• Keyword research (find low-competition, high-volume keywords)
• Content briefs (feed these into Writesonic)
• Optimization (run Content Score before publishing)

Is it worth €69/mo? If you’re doing SEO, yes. If you’re not trying to rank organically, no. Drop it and save the cost.

Try Surfer SEO (7-day money-back)

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4. Canva Pro (€11/Mo) — The Design Layer

Alternatives: Figma (free for solo), Adobe Creative Cloud (€60/mo), Photopea (free)

Why Canva:

• Brand Kit: Upload your logo, colors, fonts once. Every design is on-brand automatically.
• Templates for everything: Blog headers, Pinterest pins, LinkedIn carousels, email banners.
• Stock photos included. I use this instead of paying for Unsplash Pro or Shutterstock.

What I use it for:

• Blog featured images
• Pinterest graphics (this drives 30% of my traffic)
• Social media templates (LinkedIn carousels, Twitter headers)

ROI: Pinterest pins alone drive ~1,200 visitors/month. If I paid a designer €50/pin, that’s €200/mo. Canva saves me €189/mo.

Try Canva Pro free for 30 days

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5. Make.com (€9/Mo) — The Automation Backbone

Alternatives: Zapier (€20/mo for same features), n8n (free, self-hosted, technical)

Why Make.com:

• 10k operations for €9. Zapier charges €30 for 750 tasks. Make is 10x cheaper.
• Visual workflow builder. I’m not a dev, but I can build complex automations with drag-and-drop.
• API integrations with everything: Writesonic, Pictory, WordPress, MailerLite, Buffer, Notion.

What I automate:

• Blog publish → trigger Pictory video creation
• New video → post to LinkedIn
• Keyword research → Chatsonic query → Surfer brief
• Email sign-up → tag in MailerLite → add to Notion CRM

Time saved: 10-15 hours/month of manual busywork.

Try Make.com free (1k operations/mo)

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The Full Workflow (End-to-End)

Here’s how it all connects:

Step 1: Keyword Research (Surfer)

• Input: Seed keyword (e.g., “AI writing tools”)
• Output: 20 long-tail keywords with volume/difficulty
• Time: 10 min

Step 2: Content Brief (Surfer + Chatsonic)

• Surfer generates structure (headings, word count, entities)
• Chatsonic researches current examples, stats, quotes
• Output: Complete content brief
• Time: 15 min

Step 3: Draft (Writesonic)

• Paste brief into Article Writer 5.0
• Output: 2,000-word draft
• Time: 3 min

Step 4: Edit & Optimize (Manual + Surfer)

• Read draft, add insights, fix tone
• Run Surfer Content Score, hit 75+
• Time: 20 min

Step 5: Design (Canva)

• Create featured image, Pinterest pin
• Time: 5 min

Step 6: Publish (WordPress/Astro)

• Upload, schedule
• Time: 5 min

Step 7: Automate Distribution (Make.com)

• Webhook triggers:
  • Pictory: Generate 5 video clips
  • Buffer: Schedule LinkedIn posts
  • Pinterest: Upload pins
  • MailerLite: Add to newsletter draft
• Time: 0 min (automated)

Total time per blog post: 60 minutes (vs. 10-14 days with agency)

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Who This Stack Is For

✅ This works if:

• You’re a solopreneur, small team (1-5 people), or agency owner managing your own content
• You produce 5-15 pieces of content/month (blogs, videos, social)
• You’re comfortable with “good enough” quality (75-80% vs. 90%)
• You’re willing to be the strategist (AI executes, you direct)
• SEO or social distribution is your primary channel (not paid ads)

❌ This doesn’t work if:

• You’re a large brand where content quality is mission-critical (stick with agencies)
• You produce <3 pieces/month (the tooling overhead isn’t worth it)
• You need investigative journalism, original research, or thought leadership (AI can’t do this)
• You hate editing AI output (you’ll spend more time frustrated than the agency cost is worth)

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The Honest ROI Calculation

Old cost (agency): €2,400/month = €28,800/year

New cost (AI stack): €164/month = €1,968/year

Savings: €26,832/year

But what about your time?

Time investment:

• Learning the stack: 20 hours (Month 1)
• Ongoing: 10-15 hours/month producing content

Opportunity cost: If your hourly rate is €100, that’s €1,500/month in time.

Adjusted cost: €164 + €1,500 = €1,664/month

vs. Agency at €2,400/month

Net savings: €736/month = €8,832/year

But the output is 3x higher (12 posts vs. 4, 50 videos vs. 4). So you’re saving money and increasing volume.

Revenue impact: My affiliate revenue grew from €180/mo to €340/mo (+€160/mo = €1,920/year) just from increased organic traffic.

Total annual value:

• Cost savings: €8,832
• Revenue increase: €1,920
• Total: €10,752/year benefit

That’s the ROI of replacing an agency with AI.

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What I’d Change (After 6 Months)

What’s working:

• Writesonic + Surfer combo is the core. Can’t imagine going back.
• Pictory’s blog→video workflow is a cheat code for social distribution.
• Make.com saves my sanity. Automation compounds.

What I’d optimize:

• Add Grammarly Business (€30/mo) for team editing. AI content needs tight grammar checks.
• Upgrade Make.com to €29/mo (40k operations) as automation scales.
• Test Frase instead of Surfer (€45/mo vs. €69) to see if the content score is comparable.

What I wouldn’t change: The core stack. It’s dialed in.

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The Bottom Line

This isn’t about “replacing humans with AI.” It’s about ruthless efficiency for small teams.

If you’re spending €2k+/month on content agencies and you’re okay being the strategist, you can replicate 80% of the output for €164/month.

The 20% quality gap is real. But the 10x speed gain and 93% cost reduction more than compensate.

Start here:

1. Month 1: Try Writesonic free tier (10k words). See if AI writing fits your workflow.
2. Month 2: Add Pictory (€44). Test the blog→video workflow.
3. Month 3: If you’re doing SEO, add Surfer (€69). If not, skip it.
4. Month 4: Add Make.com (€9) to automate distribution.

By Month 4, you’ll know if this stack works for you. If it does, cancel the agency. If it doesn’t, you’re out €164. Low risk, high upside.

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The stack:

• Writesonic (Free: 10k words/mo)
• Pictory (Free: 3 videos)
• Surfer SEO (7-day money-back)
• Canva Pro (30-day free trial)
• Make.com (Free: 1k operations/mo)

Disclosure: Affiliate links. I earn commissions. I use this exact stack in production and only recommend what saves me money and time.