Dr. Link Check vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Dr. Link Check if

• Fits if you want broken links found and emailed to you on a schedule
• Works for checking outbound links against malware and phishing lists

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if your site builds links with JavaScript, which the crawler doesn't run
• Tight if you stay free, at 1,500 links on 2 sites, run by hand with no export
• Watch out: CSV or PDF export and soft-error checks start on Professional at $49, as do login checks, set up on request
• Pricey if your site has lots of resources, as prices rise per 10,000 links and every unique file counts
• Tight if you check several sites, as only one check runs at a time per account

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

Dr. Link Check

• The crawler does not run JavaScript, so links created by scripts are missed unless you start from the XML sitemap.
• Prices rise with the link limit, billed per 10,000 links; each website counts unique resources, not just pages.
• Export to CSV or PDF and soft error checks start at Professional; checking behind a login is set up by request on Professional and up.
• Only one check runs at a time per account, and payment is by card or PayPal only.

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.

Dr. Link Check

Whole-site link crawl

Starts from one URL and checks internal links, outbound links, images, style sheets and other resources found in the HTML and CSS.

Several checks per link

Looks at URL format, server response time, error codes such as 404 and 500, and, on paid plans, SSL certificate validity.

Malware and phishing blacklists

Paid plans check outbound links against Google Safe Browsing, Professional adds PhishTank, and Premium two more lists.

Soft error detection

From Professional, flags pages that answer 200 OK but whose content shows an error or placeholder message.

Scheduled checks and reports

Runs checks monthly, biweekly, weekly or daily depending on plan, and emails a status report to chosen recipients.

URL lists and rules

Accepts up to 10,000 URLs to check in bulk, and lets you include or exclude URLs and limit crawl speed.

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.

Dr. Link Check

• Lite$0

  2 websites and 1,500 links each, broken link checks only, run one at a time by hand.

• Standard$13

  per month for 10,000 links, billed monthly

  5 websites, Google Safe Browsing blacklist checks, SSL checks, include and exclude rules, and monthly or biweekly scheduled checks.

• Professional$49

  per month for 50,000 links, billed monthly

  10 websites, soft error checks, PhishTank, weekly checks and CSV or PDF export. Can be set from 20,000 links; the price follows the limit.

• Premium$159

  per month for 200,000 links, billed monthly

  15 websites, two more blacklists and daily checks. Can be set from 30,000 links; the price follows the limit.

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.

Dr. Link Check

• Annual discount

  One month free with yearly billing

  Dr. Link Check's pricing page offers yearly billing with one month free compared with paying monthly.

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.