Checkbot vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Checkbot if

• Fits if you check a site of under 100 URLs for broken links and bad markup before launch
• Works for developers testing a staging or localhost site, on the paid plan

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if your site runs past 100 URLs, as the free plan stops there and shows ads
• Watch out: it doesn't run JavaScript, so content added by scripts isn't checked
• Watch out: CSV and PDF exports, localhost and password-protected crawls all need Professional
• Pricey if you pay month to month, at $15 against $10 billed yearly, and a plan covers one person
• Not for you if you're not on Chrome, as the FAQ says there's no other browser version

Pick Screaming Frog SEO Spider if

• Fits if you're a technical SEO who audits large sites from your own computer
• Works for sites under 500 URLs, which the free version crawls with no time limit

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want keyword research, rank tracking or backlinks, as it only crawls
• Not for you if you'd rather not learn technical SEO terms, XPath or regex
• Tight if your computer is short on memory or storage, since crawl size depends on it, and there's no web or phone version
• Pricey if a team needs it: licences are $279 per user a year, so two people need two
• Watch out: the free version can't save crawls, render JavaScript, schedule audits or connect to Google data

Checkbot

• It runs only in Google Chrome; the FAQ says there is no Firefox or other browser version.
• The free plan stops at 100 URLs per crawl and shows ads; localhost crawls and exports need Professional.
• It does not execute JavaScript while crawling, so content added by scripts is not tested.
• A subscription covers one person; new customers can get a full refund within 14 days.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

• Licences are per user and last one year; two people need two licences.
• It is a desktop app, so crawl size depends on the computer's memory and storage.
• The free version cannot save crawls, render JavaScript, schedule audits or connect to Google data.

Checkbot

Site-wide crawl

Crawls hundreds of pages at once from a start URL and scores them against 50+ rules drawn from Google, Mozilla and W3C guidance.

SEO checks

Finds broken links, missing or long titles and descriptions, duplicate content, canonical problems, missing image alt text, temporary redirects and sitemap issues.

Speed and security checks

Flags redirect chains, unminified or render-blocking CSS and JavaScript and missing caching or compression, plus HTTPS, mixed content and security header gaps.

Staging and localhost sites

Crawling runs on your own machine, so the paid plan can test localhost, private-network and HTTP Auth password-protected sites.

Crawl filters and quick rechecks

Limit a crawl by subdomain, folder, depth, pattern or file type, and recrawl a single page to confirm a fix.

PDF reports and CSV export

The Professional plan exports problem lists to CSV in bulk and produces PDF summary reports for clients or teammates.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Technical SEO audit

Find broken links, server errors, redirect chains, missing or duplicate titles and descriptions, and directives such as noindex and canonicals.

JavaScript rendering

With a licence, render pages in a built-in Chromium to crawl sites built with frameworks such as React, Angular and Vue.

Custom extraction and search

Pull any data from page HTML with XPath, CSS Path or regex, and search source code across a whole crawl (licence only).

Google and AI integrations

Pull Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights data into a crawl, or run pages through OpenAI and Gemini (licence only).

Scheduling and crawl comparison

Schedule crawls with exports to Google Sheets or run them from the command line, and compare crawls or staging against production.

Site visualisations and sitemaps

See site structure as force-directed and tree diagrams, and generate XML and image sitemaps from a crawl.

Checkbot

• Basic$0

  For small sites: 100 URLs per crawl, unlimited crawls and sites, ad supported.

• Professional$10

  per month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly)

  One user on any number of devices: 10,000 URLs per crawl, no ads, localhost and password-protected crawls, PDF reports and CSV export.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

• Free$0

  Up to 500 URLs per crawl, broken links, redirects, metadata, duplicates, XML sitemaps and site visualisations.

• Paid licence$279

  per user / year, for 1 to 4 licences

  No crawl limit beyond memory and storage, saved crawls, scheduling, JavaScript rendering, crawl comparison, integrations and support. £199 in pounds.

Checkbot

• Annual discount

  Save 33% with yearly billing

  Checkbot's pricing section lists Professional at $120 a year ($10 a month) instead of $15 billed monthly, a 33% saving.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

• Other savings

  Volume pricing from 5 licences

  Buying 5 to 9 licences at once costs $265 each a year, 10 to 19 cost $249 each, and 20 or more cost $235 each, against $279 for 1 to 4.