Beam Us Up vs LibreCrawl (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Beam Us Up grades higher than LibreCrawl: 3.0 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Beam Us Up grades higher on ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Beam Us Up if
- Fits if you want a site crawler without a subscription
- Works for developers who want to run crawls from the command line or a server
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need support you can count on, as it's one developer's project answered through site comments
- Too light for very big audits, since crawls use up to half your computer's memory and Excel exports stop at 65,536 rows
- Skip it if you want crawls run in the cloud, as it only runs on your own computer
- Watch out: its own site says paid crawlers such as Screaming Frog and Netpeak do more
Pick LibreCrawl if
- Fits if you want a crawler with no URL limit and no licence fee
- Works for agencies hosting one crawler for a whole team on their own server
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't want to install anything, as there's no hosted version and the demo is down
- Watch out: on Windows the automatic Python install is off, so you need Docker or a manual setup
- Not for you if you'll put it on a shared network as it comes, since it runs without sign-in by default
- Watch out: one developer maintains it with outside help, and support goes through GitHub
How we grade them
| 3.0GPABeam Us UpVery good | 2.6GPALibreCrawlGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree, with no paid plans and no crawl limits stated. You download it and run it on your own computer, which counts as free and substantial on our ladder. | AFree under MIT with no URL limit, and the project says it will never have paid tiers. It runs on your own computer with Docker or Python, so there's nothing to rent for a crawl. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright. The only extra is a free Google API key of your own if you want PageSpeed scores. | AEvery feature is free, including JavaScript rendering, unlimited exports and multi-user sessions. The only limit on crawl size is your hardware. |
| Features | CFinds broken links, redirects, duplicates, missing tags and canonical problems, with bulk PageSpeed, JavaScript rendering, AI bot checks, crawl comparison, a command line and MCP. Its own site says paid crawlers such as Screaming Frog are more capable, and Excel exports stop at 65,536 rows. | CBroken links, redirect chains, duplicates, titles and meta, schema, hreflang, canonicals and alt text, with Playwright rendering, PageSpeed data and plugins. The gaps: no scheduled crawls, crawl comparison or Search Console data on record. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record. You install it, type a site address and crawl, with nothing else to set up unless you want PageSpeed scores. | DNo rating on record. You install it with Docker or Python 3.8 or later, and on Windows the startup script's automatic Python install is turned off for now. Sharing it on a network means setting a secret key and turning sign-in on. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWindows, Mac and Linux, plus a command-line crawler and MCP links to Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Gemini CLI. Computers only, though: no web or phone version. | CWindows, Mac and Linux, used through a browser on the machine running it, with a REST API, PageSpeed Insights and Playwright. A program for computers only: no hosted or phone version. |
| Best for | free desktop crawls with no limits | free crawls with no URL cap on your own machine |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Beam Us Up and LibreCrawl. How we grade
Price against what you get
Beam Us Up has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. LibreCrawl has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Beam Us Up scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Beam Us Up for less, and none scores higher than LibreCrawl for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- LibreCrawl is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Beam Us Up also covers page speed.
In commonFree planWindowsmacOSLinuxSite audit
At a glance
| Beam Us Up | LibreCrawl | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The whole crawler is free with no stated crawl limits; PageSpeed scores need your own free Google API key. | Free and open source under the MIT license with no URL limit; the project says it will never have paid tiers or subscriptions. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | BeamUsUp | PhialsBasement |
| Price read from | beamusup.com | librecrawl.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Beam Us Up
- It is desktop software only: crawls run on your own computer and can use up to half of its memory.
- The Excel export stops at 65,536 rows per sheet.
- It is a personal project of its developer, and support is offered through comments on the site.
- Its own site says paid crawlers such as Screaming Frog and Netpeak are more capable.
LibreCrawl
- There is no hosted version: you install it with Docker or Python 3.8 or later, and the public demo has been taken down.
- On Windows the startup script's automatic Python install is temporarily disabled, so Docker or a manual Python setup is needed.
- It runs in local mode without sign-in by default; sharing it on a network means setting a secret key and turning authentication on.
- It is maintained by one developer, PhialsBasement, with outside contributors; bugs and feature requests go through GitHub.
Key features
Beam Us Up
- Technical crawl checks
- Finds broken links, server and client errors, redirects, duplicate content, page titles, meta descriptions, H1 to H3 headings, canonicals and blocked URLs.
- PageSpeed scores in bulk
- Pulls Google PageSpeed results, including Core Web Vitals from real visitors, for crawled pages using a free Google API key.
- JavaScript rendering
- Version 2.0 can render pages using a Chrome or Edge browser already installed on the computer, set to never, auto or always.
- AI bot access checks
- An AI Access tab shows which of 27 search and AI bots the site's robots.txt allows, checks llms.txt, and can export an llms.txt draft.
- Crawl comparison
- Compares two crawls to show fixed, new and remaining issues and changed pages, with results exported as CSV files.
- Command line and MCP
- Installs a command-line crawler for scripts and servers, and can connect to AI apps such as Claude, Cursor and VS Code over MCP.
LibreCrawl
- Technical SEO checks
- Finds broken links, redirect chains and loops, duplicate content, title and meta problems, schema errors, hreflang and canonical issues, and missing alt text.
- JavaScript rendering
- Uses Playwright and Chromium to crawl React, Vue, Angular and Next.js sites, in headless mode for speed or headed mode for debugging.
- Large crawls
- No URL cap; memory profiling and virtual scrolling are there to keep crawls of a million or more URLs stable, with the limit set by your hardware.
- Exports
- Export crawl data as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, picking the fields you want, with no limit on the number or size of exports.
- Multi-user sessions
- Several users can crawl at the same time in separate sessions; a production mode adds sign-in and user tiers, and a local mode skips them.
- Plugins and REST API
- A plugin is one JavaScript file that adds a tab with the crawl data, shared through a Plugin Workshop; a REST API starts, stops and exports crawls.
Plans
Beam Us Up
Free$0
The full desktop crawler for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no limits stated on the site.
LibreCrawl
Free$0
The full crawler, which you install and host yourself with Docker or Python. Every feature is included.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Beam Us Up or LibreCrawl?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Beam Us Up and LibreCrawl are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Beam Us Up or LibreCrawl?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Beam Us Up and LibreCrawl have a free plan.
Which platforms do Beam Us Up and LibreCrawl run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only LibreCrawl lists a web app. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.