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

Pick CrawlRaven if

• Fits if you're a consultant turning Search Console data into a weekly fix list
• Works for teams that want Claude or ChatGPT to read their SEO data over MCP

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only the 7-day trial and some free tools
• Watch out: audits run within a monthly page allowance the pricing page doesn't state
• Pricey if you need CSV exports, which are on Agency at $199 a month
• Tight if you buy a lifetime plan, which keeps its 3 or 20 sites with no swaps or add-ons
• Not for you if you need keyword research, as it imports lists from Ahrefs or Semrush instead

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

CrawlRaven

• There is no free plan, only the 7-day trial and some free tools, including a no-account audit of up to 100 pages.
• Audits run within a monthly page allowance whose size the pricing page does not state.
• CSV exports are listed on the Agency plan, and keyword list imports start at Pro.
• Lifetime plans keep a fixed site count with no extra-site add-ons; refunds are offered within 14 days of a first purchase.

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.

CrawlRaven

Search Console and GA4 in one place

Connects Search Console by OAuth and syncs queries, pages, clicks and positions daily, then weighs each page against its GA4 traffic and engagement.

Ranked content opportunities

Maps each keyword to the page that should rank and flags content gaps, cannibalization, runner-up keywords and pages losing clicks, each with a suggested next step.

200-point technical audit

Crawls the site for indexation, canonicals, Core Web Vitals, JavaScript rendering, HTTPS, redirects and structured data, with findings sorted by severity and search clicks.

Keyword list imports

From Pro, CSV exports from Ahrefs, Semrush or any keyword tool are merged with Search Console queries into one keyword map. It does not do keyword research itself.

MCP server for AI assistants

Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor can connect over OAuth to read the plan and Search Console data; paid plans get up to 30 tools across approved scopes.

Free Chrome side panel

A free extension audits the open tab's tags, headings, schema and social cards, checks the real status code of every link and exports CSV.

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.

CrawlRaven

• Starter$29

  per month for 1 website, billed monthly

  Search Console and GA4 insights, keyword map, cannibalization and decay flags, action items, MCP access and the technical audit.

• Pro$39

  per month for 3 websites, billed monthly

  Everything in Starter, plus Ahrefs and Semrush keyword list imports and MCP write proposals. Extra sites cost $10 a month each.

• Agency$199

  per month for 20 websites, billed monthly

  Everything in Pro, plus CSV exports for your own reports. Extra sites cost $10 a month each.

• Pro lifetime$390

  one-time, for 3 websites

  A single payment for the Pro features on a fixed set of 3 websites; sites cannot be added or swapped later.

• Agency lifetime$1,990

  one-time, for 20 websites

  A single payment for the Agency features on a fixed set of 20 websites, with no extra-site add-ons.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Priced per seat on quote: dedicated workspaces, central billing and access control for in-house teams and large agencies.

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.

CrawlRaven

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime plans from $390

  CrawlRaven sells Pro for 3 websites at $390 one-time and Agency for 20 websites at $1,990 one-time, in place of the monthly plans.

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.