httpstatus.io vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider (2026): which should you pick?

Pick httpstatus.io if

• Fits if you're checking redirects in bulk after a site migration
• Works for developers adding status and redirect checks to scripts or no-code flows

Look elsewhere if

• Too light for a site audit, as it takes 100 URLs a batch and doesn't crawl
• Watch out: API prices are in euros before VAT, and the free 500 calls are one-time and non-commercial
• Tight if you're on Starter, which stops at 20,000 calls a month; higher plans bill each call over
• Not for you if your staging site lets visitors in by IP, as it has no fixed address

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

httpstatus.io

• The web checker takes 100 URLs per batch and does not crawl a site; the help page points to crawlers for larger jobs.
• API prices are in euros and exclude VAT, and the API's free 500 calls are one-time and not for commercial use.
• Starter stops at 20,000 calls a month; higher plans bill overage per call instead of stopping.
• It has no fixed IP address, so a staging site cannot allow it by IP; the help page suggests a secret request header.

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.

httpstatus.io

Bulk status checks

Paste up to 100 URLs to see each status code and redirect count, then filter by status code, redirect type or request URL.

Redirect chains and latency

Follows up to 10 redirects and shows every hop's headers, response body and round-trip time.

Custom request settings

Send requests as Googlebot, Bingbot, Applebot or a chosen browser, with basic authentication or headers such as cookies and Accept-Language.

Canonical domain check

Tests whether the http, https, www and non-www versions of a domain all redirect to one canonical version.

Exports

Sends URLs, status codes, redirect targets and errors to Google Sheets or to CSV and XLS files.

URL checking API

Returns redirect chains, IP addresses, latency, TLS certificate checks and page metadata such as title, robots and canonical tags as JSON.

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.

httpstatus.io

• Web checker€0

  Status codes, headers and redirect chains for up to 100 URLs per batch in the browser. The help page says it will stay free.

• Basic Plan€10

  one-time for 10,000 API calls, used as you go

  API credits that never expire and can be topped up, at 2 requests per second.

• Starter Plan€15

  per month for 20,000 API calls, billed monthly

  A hard limit of 20,000 calls a month at 2 requests per second.

• Standard Plan€35

  per month for 50,000 API calls, billed monthly

  3 requests per second; calls above 50,000 cost €0.00070 each.

• Pro Plan€65

  per month for 100,000 API calls, billed monthly

  5 requests per second; calls above 100,000 cost €0.00065 each.

• Premium Plan€150

  per month for 250,000 API calls, billed monthly

  10 requests per second; calls above 250,000 cost €0.00060 each. Larger needs get a quote.

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.

httpstatus.io

No public discounts listed.

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.