Beam Us Up vs Visual SEO Studio (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Beam Us Up grades higher than Visual SEO Studio: 3.0 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Beam Us Up grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Visual SEO Studio
Desktop SEO crawler for Windows and Mac with XML sitemap tools
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 Visual SEO Studio if
- Fits if your site is under 500 pages and you want a free desktop crawler
- Works for SEOs who manage XML sitemaps and hreflang on international sites
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: the newest version on its download page is from February 2023
- Too light for big sites on the free edition, which stops at 500 pages a crawl with no support
- Skip it if you use Linux or want a web app, as it's Windows and Mac only
- Tight if you work on several computers, as Professional is licensed per PC, per year, in euros
How we grade them
| 3.0GPABeam Us UpVery good | 2.4GPAVisual SEO StudioFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CProfessional is €149 a year per PC, about €12.42 or $14.40 a month, for crawls of up to 150,000 pages. That's just above this category's cheapest quarter of $13 and under its $29 middle. EU consumers pay VAT on top. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright. The only extra is a free Google API key of your own if you want PageSpeed scores. | BThe Community Edition is free and crawls up to 500 pages with most of the inspection reports, so a blogger could live on it. It has no URL-list crawls, sitemap audits, outside data or support. |
| 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. | CA spider-style crawler with ready-made reports, custom filters, a sitemap editor and validator, bulk hreflang checks and a robots.txt editor. It sits at C because the newest version on the download page, 2.5.3, is dated February 2023. |
| 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. You download it without registering, give it a site and crawl. |
| 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 and Mac, with Search Console, Bing and Moz data in Professional. A program for computers only: no web, phone or Linux version. |
| Best for | free desktop crawls with no limits | free desktop crawls of sites under 500 pages |
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 Visual SEO Studio. 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. Visual SEO Studio starts at about $13.91 a month and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Beam Us Up starts $13.91 a month lower. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Beam Us Up for less, and 5 score higher than Visual SEO Studio 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
- Beam Us Up also covers page speed.
- Visual SEO Studio also covers reports.
At a glance
| Beam Us Up | Visual SEO Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | €149 per year, per PC, plus VAT for EU consumers |
| Free plan | The whole crawler is free with no stated crawl limits; PageSpeed scores need your own free Google API key. | Community Edition: free, crawls up to 500 pages with 2 connections, with most inspection reports. No URL-list crawls, sitemap audits, API data or support. |
| Free trial | None listed | 15-day trial of the Professional Edition; no registration needed to download |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | BeamUsUp | aStonish Studio Srl |
| Price read from | beamusup.com | visual-seo.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.
Visual SEO Studio
- The Community Edition stops at 500 pages per crawl and includes no technical support.
- Professional is priced in euros only and is licensed per year for one PC.
- The latest version on the download page, 2.5.3, is dated February 2023.
- There is no Linux or web version.
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.
Visual SEO Studio
- Site crawler
- Follows internal links like a search spider, and in the Professional Edition can also crawl a list of URLs or the pages in an XML sitemap.
- Reports and custom filters
- Ready-made reports cover common SEO issues, and a query engine lets you filter crawl data your own way.
- XML sitemap tools
- A visual editor to pick which pages go in a sitemap, plus sitemap validation and, in Professional, sitemap audits.
- hreflang and international checks
- Checks hreflang annotations in bulk, supports Unicode URLs and IDN domains, and runs readability analysis in 4 languages.
- robots.txt editor
- A robots.txt viewer and editor with syntax highlighting and a syntax checker for several search engines.
- Search engine data
- The Professional Edition pulls in Google Search Console and Bing search traffic data and Moz link metrics.
Plans
Beam Us Up
Free$0
The full desktop crawler for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no limits stated on the site.
Visual SEO Studio
Community€0
For small sites and bloggers: up to 500 pages per crawl, 2 connections, broken links, meta data, hreflang and XML sitemap generation.
Professional€149
per year, per PC, plus VAT for EU consumers
Up to 150,000 pages and 32 connections, URL-list crawls, sitemap audits, Search Console, Bing and Moz data, HTTP login and support.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Beam Us Up or Visual SEO Studio?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Beam Us Up is cheaper to start with: it is free, against about $13.91 a month for Visual SEO Studio. Beam Us Up is free, and Visual SEO Studio starts at €149 per year, per PC, plus VAT for EU consumers.
Which has a free plan, Beam Us Up or Visual SEO Studio?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Beam Us Up and Visual SEO Studio have a free plan.
Which platforms do Beam Us Up and Visual SEO Studio run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Beam Us Up lists a Linux app. Both list macOS and Windows 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.