Beam Us Up vs SEO Tracer (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Beam Us Up grades higher than SEO Tracer: 3.0 against 2.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Beam Us Up grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SEO Tracer
Native Mac and iOS SEO crawler that keeps crawl data on your device
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 SEO Tracer if
- Fits if you work on a Mac and want a native crawler with no Java runtime
- Works for quick technical checks of a site from an iPhone or iPad
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you use Windows or Linux, as it's Apple devices only
- Watch out: it needs macOS 15.6 or later, or iOS and iPadOS 18.6 or later
- Tight if you stay free, as each crawl session stops at 500 pages
- Watch out: App Store purchases are non-refundable except where the law or Apple's policies require
- Watch out: it obeys robots.txt by default, so blocked sections are skipped unless you switch the override on
How we grade them
| 3.0GPABeam Us UpVery good | 2.8GPASEO TracerGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | AMonthly Premium is $4.99 on the US App Store, under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter of $13, and Yearly is $44.99. Lifetime Access at $129.99 once is under a year of the category's middle subscription. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright. The only extra is a free Google API key of your own if you want PageSpeed scores. | BFree to download with no account or card, and every crawl session covers up to 500 pages. A small site can live on that; a bigger one needs Premium. |
| 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. | CTitles, descriptions, headings, canonicals, broken links, status codes and redirect chains, with JavaScript rendering, custom extraction, list mode and 100,000+ page projects. The gaps: no Search Console data or scheduled crawls 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. | BNo rating on record. It's an app you install and point at a site, with no account or Java runtime to set up. |
| 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. | CMac, iPhone and iPad, with crawl sessions moved between them as files. One family of devices: no Windows, Linux or web version, and no integrations on record. |
| Best for | free desktop crawls with no limits | crawling a site from a Mac, iPhone or iPad |
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 SEO Tracer. 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. SEO Tracer starts at $4.99 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Beam Us Up starts $4.99 a month lower. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Beam Us Up for less, and 3 score higher than SEO Tracer 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
- SEO Tracer can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Beam Us Up also covers page speed.
- SEO Tracer also covers reports.
At a glance
| Beam Us Up | SEO Tracer | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $4.99 per month |
| Free plan | The whole crawler is free with no stated crawl limits; PageSpeed scores need your own free Google API key. | Free download that crawls up to 500 pages per session, with no account or credit card needed. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | BeamUsUp | Perpetual Media Ltd. |
| Price read from | beamusup.com | apps.apple.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.
SEO Tracer
- The free tier stops at 500 pages per crawl session; larger crawls need a Premium plan or Lifetime Access.
- Apple devices only: it needs macOS 15.6 or later, or iOS and iPadOS 18.6 or later, with no Windows, Linux or web version.
- Purchases go through the App Store, and the terms say they are non-refundable except where the law or Apple's policies require.
- Its crawler obeys robots.txt by default, so blocked sections are skipped unless you switch on the robots override.
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.
SEO Tracer
- On-page data from every crawled page
- Collects titles, meta descriptions, H1 and H2 headings, canonicals, images, CSS and JavaScript, and flags missing titles and duplicate headings.
- Broken links and status codes
- Finds broken internal and external links, 4xx and 5xx errors and redirect chains, records server response times and filters pages by status code.
- JavaScript rendering
- Renders pages built with JavaScript before auditing them, and detects robots.txt files and sitemaps along the way.
- Custom extraction and list mode
- Pulls page data with CSS selectors, XPath or regular expressions, audits a pasted list of URLs, and reaches protected pages with HTTP Basic Auth or cookies.
- Large crawls kept on the device
- A database storage mode handles projects of 100,000+ pages. Crawl data stays local, and sessions move between Mac and iPhone or iPad as files.
- Exports and issue help
- Exports to CSV, HTML or PDF on the Mac, searches the downloaded HTML with text or regex, and explains each flagged issue with fix examples.
Plans
Beam Us Up
Free$0
The full desktop crawler for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no limits stated on the site.
SEO Tracer
Free$0
Up to 500 pages per crawl session on Mac, iPhone or iPad.
Monthly Premium$4.99
per month
Unlimited crawling and the Pro features, billed monthly through the App Store.
Yearly Premium$44.99
per year
The same unlimited crawling and Pro features, billed once a year through the App Store.
Lifetime Access$129.99
one-time
Unlimited crawling and the Pro features for a single payment, with no renewal.
Ways to pay less
Beam Us Up
No public discounts listed.
SEO Tracer
- Annual discount
About 25% less with the yearly plan
On the US App Store, Yearly Premium costs $44.99 a year, against $59.88 for twelve months of Monthly Premium at $4.99.
- Lifetime license
Lifetime Access for a one-time $129.99
The App Store listing sells Lifetime Access as a single in-app purchase of $129.99, and the terms describe it as a one-time lifetime purchase.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Beam Us Up or SEO Tracer?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Beam Us Up is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $4.99 a month for SEO Tracer. Beam Us Up is free, and SEO Tracer starts at $4.99 per month.
Which has a free plan, Beam Us Up or SEO Tracer?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Beam Us Up and SEO Tracer have a free plan.
Which platforms do Beam Us Up and SEO Tracer run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Beam Us Up lists Windows and Linux apps and only SEO Tracer lists an iOS app. Both list a macOS app. 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.