Guide · Content automation
How to automate blog posts with AI: DIY workflow vs engine
Short answer
There are three ways to automate a blog with AI. A no-code workflow (Zapier, n8n or Make with a model API) automates writing and publishing for a few dollars a month in tools, but you build the research, fact-checking, link checks and tracking yourself. A plugin or app automates drafting inside your CMS. An autonomous engine such as GrowGanic ($99 a month for up to 30 articles) bundles research, scoring, publishing and tracking. The model is the cheap part: under our assumptions, 30 drafts cost about a dollar. The review is not.
This is a documented comparison, not a build log. Prices come from each vendor's own pricing pages, read in October 2026. CheaperStack has not built this workflow for this page, and the model costs are arithmetic on published rates under stated assumptions, not a measurement.
The three routes, side by side
| Route | What it automates | What you still do | Tool cost, monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| No-code workflow + model APIZapier, n8n, Make | Prompt, draft, push to your CMS as a draft | Topic research, fact-check, link check, metadata, tracking, review, maintenance | Zapier Pro from $19.99 (750 tasks, billed annually); n8n Starter EUR 20 (billed annually); Make free with 1,000 credits; plus about $1 of model usage for 30 drafts |
| Plugin or app in your CMSWordPress, Shopify | Drafting and sometimes scheduling inside the CMS | Research, fact-check, review, tracking | Varies; see AI SEO tools for WordPress and Shopify blog SEO tools |
| Autonomous engineGrowGanic, Outrank and others | Research, writing, scoring, publishing, rank tracking | Review the output, connect your site, set drafts | $99 for up to 30 articles; first article free; compared in autonomous AI SEO tools compared |
Zapier: from its pricing page, US dollars, Free plan 100 tasks a month with two-step Zaps only, Professional from $19.99 a month billed annually for 750 tasks ($29.99 monthly). n8n: its pricing page shows euros, Starter EUR 20 a month billed annually for 2,500 workflow executions; a self-hosted Community Edition also exists. Make: its Free plan lists 1,000 credits a month; we could not read its paid price table, so no paid price is quoted. Check how each platform counts tasks, credits and executions, because a multi-step workflow uses several per article.
What a blog automation actually has to do
- Choose topics. From a keyword list, Search Console queries or a research tool. A model cannot see real search demand by itself.
- Write a brief and a draft. The part everyone builds first, and the cheapest.
- Check the facts. Every figure traced to a source. Google says it is critical to manually factcheck and review AI-generated content before publishing.
- Check the links and the claims about your business.
- Add metadata and structured data, and image alt text.
- Publish as a draft, then approve.
- Track results and refresh. Rankings, indexing, and posts that decay.
A workflow tool does stages 2 and 6 well. Stages 1, 3, 4 and 7 are the ones you build, buy or do by hand. That is where the time goes, and where an unreviewed pipeline produces the many pages without value that Google's scaled content policy targets. The review routine is in how to review an AI-written article.
What the model costs
On Anthropic's published rates, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens; Claude Haiku 5.5 is $0.10 and $0.50 (up to 100,000-token prompts). Assume a 1,800-word draft is about 2,400 output tokens and the prompt with context is about 6,000 input tokens: that is roughly $0.036 a draft on Sonnet 5.5 and about $0.002 on Haiku 5.5, or about $1.08 and $0.05 for 30. These are our assumptions; web search tools, retries and extra research calls cost more. The point stands: the model is not what makes automation expensive.
When the DIY workflow is the right call
- You are comfortable building and maintaining automations, and want a specific model, prompt or brand voice.
- You need custom steps, such as pulling data from your own database or product catalog.
- You have a research source and a reviewer. Without both, you are automating the cheap half.
When an engine is the better call
If you do not want to build research, scoring and tracking, an autonomous engine bundles them. GrowGanic is one: add a domain and it researches the keywords, writes and scores the articles, publishes them to your site or a hosted blog, and tracks the rankings. It has no backlink index and publishes live by default, with draft mode on WordPress, Shopify and HubSpot. By its own account, the hosted copy of the free article stays out of Google until the plan is paid; connecting your site first avoids that.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one and later make an eligible purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The first article is free with no card, which makes it the quickest way to compare a bundled engine with your own pipeline. Read your first article free (affiliate link).
Who should not automate yet
- Anyone who cannot review what is published. Unreviewed volume is the risk.
- Sites in medical, legal or financial topics, where first-hand expertise is the point.
- Sites with fewer than a handful of posts planned. Writing them by hand costs less than building a pipeline.
The verdict, by situation
| If you… | Choose |
|---|---|
| Like to build and want full control | A workflow with a model API, publishing as drafts |
| Want drafting inside WordPress or Shopify | A plugin or app, with review |
| Want research, scoring and tracking without building them | An autonomous engine, first article free |
| Publish a few posts a month | Write by hand, or use AI as an assistant |
| Cover regulated topics | Write it yourself |
Frequently asked questions
Can I automate blog posts with ChatGPT or Claude and Zapier?
Yes, for the writing and publishing steps. A workflow can pick a topic from a list, send a prompt to a model, and push the result to WordPress as a draft. What it does not do on its own is research real search demand, check facts against sources, validate links or measure rankings; you build or do those yourself.
How much does the AI model cost for 30 posts a month?
Very little. Under our assumption of about 6,000 input tokens and 2,400 output tokens per 1,800-word draft, Anthropic's published rates put 30 drafts at roughly a dollar on Claude Sonnet 5.5. Research, retries and review are where the cost is.
Is automated blogging against Google's rules?
Google does not ban AI-generated content. It says that using generative AI to create many pages without adding value may violate its spam policy on scaled content abuse, and that AI-generated content should be manually fact-checked and reviewed before publishing. Automation is allowed; unreviewed volume is the risk.
Should an automated workflow publish live?
Not at first. Send posts to WordPress or Shopify as drafts, review them, and publish by hand until you trust the output. Some tools publish live by default.
When is an autonomous engine better than a DIY workflow?
When you want research, scoring, publishing and ranking tracking handled without building and maintaining the pipeline. It is worse when you need custom steps, a particular model or full control over every prompt.
Sources
Read in October 2026: Zapier pricing, n8n pricing, Make pricing, Anthropic's model pricing, and Google's generative AI content guidance. Plans and rates change, so confirm them before you build.
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Last reviewed . Plans and rates change often, so this page is re-checked monthly. Spotted one out of date? Tell me.