Beam Us Up vs Visual Sitemaps (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Beam Us Up grades higher than Visual Sitemaps: 3.0 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Beam Us Up grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Visual Sitemaps
Crawl a site into a visual sitemap with screenshots and AI review
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 Sitemaps if
- Fits if you plan a redesign and want the whole site laid out as boxes with screenshots
- Works for agencies that present site structure to clients
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 25 pages a month and 2 levels of crawl depth
- Skip it if you need to know the regular price, as the page shows only 6-month sale prices
- Watch out: a Cyber Sale banner shows 50% off ending Nov 30, so the prices shown are not the long-run ones
- Not for you if you want AI maps or scheduled crawls on a small budget, as they start on the paid plans
How we grade them
| 3.0GPABeam Us UpVery good | 2.0GPAVisual SitemapsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CMini is $14.50 a month for the first 6 months and the renewal price is not shown, so we can't place it against the cheaper quarter at $13. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright. The only extra is a free Google API key of your own if you want PageSpeed scores. | CA free plan with 25 pages a month, 3 users and a 2-level crawl depth, which a real site passes at once. The Pro trial is 7 days and also caps at 25 pages. |
| 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. | CCrawling, screenshots, annotation, planning boards and AI maps. Scheduled crawls, AI maps and private-site crawling are not on the free plan. |
| 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. | CNo store rating on record. You run a crawl, then edit and organise the map, which takes some setup. |
| 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. | CA web app with Google Drive, and no apps or API on record. |
| Best for | free desktop crawls with no limits | drawing a site as a visual map with screenshots |
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 Sitemaps. 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 Sitemaps starts at $14.50 a month and scores 2.0.
Beam Us Up scores higher and starts $14.50 a month lower. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, none scores higher than Beam Us Up for less, and 20 score higher than Visual Sitemaps 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 site audit and page speed.
- Visual Sitemaps also covers screenshots and diagrams.
At a glance
| Beam Us Up | Visual Sitemaps | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $14.50 per month for the first 6 months, billed monthly; renewal price not stated |
| Free plan | The whole crawler is free with no stated crawl limits; PageSpeed scores need your own free Google API key. | 25 pages per month, 3 users, 2-level crawl depth, unlimited flow boards. |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial of the Pro plan |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | BeamUsUp | VisualSitemaps Inc. |
| Price read from | beamusup.com | app.visualsitemaps.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Nov 12, 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 Sitemaps
- The pricing page shows only sale prices, and the regular monthly price that applies afterward is not displayed.
- The free plan stops at 25 pages per month and 2 crawl levels, and lacks AI maps, scheduled crawls and private-site crawling.
- A Cyber Sale banner lists 50% off, ending Nov 30, for the first 6 months on monthly plans or the first year on annual plans.
- The Pro trial allows 25 pages and 3 AI optimized maps before paid limits apply.
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 Sitemaps
- Automated crawling with screenshots
- Crawls a public site, or a password-protected one on paid plans, and builds a sitemap with HD screenshots of each page.
- AI optimized maps
- Generates a report on structure issues, topical gaps and navigation, exportable as PDF, Markdown and CSV. Paid plans include a monthly allowance, with more when you bring your own key.
- Visual QA and scheduled crawls
- Compares crawls over time to spot site changes and tracks competitors.
- Content and SEO planner
- Holds page-level SEO data and content plans in the sitemap, with a Google Drive integration.
- Editing and annotation
- Sitemaps can be edited and tagged, and screenshots annotated, with export to PDF, CSV and JSON.
- Flow boards
- A whiteboard-style canvas for user flows and journeys, listed as unlimited on every plan.
Plans
Beam Us Up
Free$0
The full desktop crawler for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no limits stated on the site.
Visual Sitemaps
Free$0
25 pages per month and a 25-page sitemap limit, 3 users, 2-level crawl depth and unlimited flow boards.
Mini$14.50
per month for 1,500 pages, first 6 months; renewal price not stated
500-page sitemap limit, 1 AI optimized map, 3 users and 4-level crawl depth. A 50% launch sale applies to the first 6 months.
Pro$49.50
per month for 4,000 pages, first 6 months; renewal price not stated
1,500-page sitemap limit, 30 AI optimized maps and 100 with your own key, 10 users and unlimited crawl depth. A 50% launch sale applies to the first 6 months.
Team$199.50
per month for 25,000 pages, first 6 months; renewal price not stated
4,000-page sitemap limit, 150 AI optimized maps and 400 with your own key, 20 users. A 50% launch sale applies to the first 6 months.
AgencyCustom
Custom pages per month, 5,000-page maximum sitemap size and all features of the other plans.
Ways to pay less
Beam Us Up
No public discounts listed.
Visual Sitemaps
- Other savings
Cyber Sale: 50% off, ends Nov 30
Monthly plans 50% off for 6 months, annual plans 50% off the first year ($10.88, $37.13 and $149.63 per month for Mini, Pro, Team). Annual renewal price is not shown.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Beam Us Up or Visual Sitemaps?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Beam Us Up is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $14.50 a month for Visual Sitemaps. Beam Us Up is free, and Visual Sitemaps starts at $14.50 per month for the first 6 months, billed monthly; renewal price not stated.
Which has a free plan, Beam Us Up or Visual Sitemaps?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Beam Us Up and Visual Sitemaps have a free plan.
Which platforms do Beam Us Up and Visual Sitemaps run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Beam Us Up lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only Visual Sitemaps lists a web 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.