LibreCrawl vs SEOnaut (2026): which should you pick?

Pick LibreCrawl if

• Fits if you want a crawler with no URL limit and no licence fee
• Works for agencies hosting one crawler for a whole team on their own server

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't want to install anything, as there's no hosted version and the demo is down
• Watch out: on Windows the automatic Python install is off, so you need Docker or a manual setup
• Not for you if you'll put it on a shared network as it comes, since it runs without sign-in by default
• Watch out: one developer maintains it with outside help, and support goes through GitHub

Pick SEOnaut if

• Fits if your site fits in 500 URLs and you want a free hosted crawler
• Works for teams that want to run their SEO crawler on their own server

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you outgrow Growth's 5 projects of 10,000 URLs, as more means emailing the developer
• Watch out: self-hosting needs Docker or Go plus MySQL, and HTTPS through a reverse proxy
• Not for you if you want support beyond email, as self-hosted copies go through GitHub Issues
• Skip it if you want free audits on a schedule, as only the paid Growth plan lists recurring audits

LibreCrawl

• There is no hosted version: you install it with Docker or Python 3.8 or later, and the public demo has been taken down.
• On Windows the startup script's automatic Python install is temporarily disabled, so Docker or a manual Python setup is needed.
• It runs in local mode without sign-in by default; sharing it on a network means setting a secret key and turning authentication on.
• It is maintained by one developer, PhialsBasement, with outside contributors; bugs and feature requests go through GitHub.

SEOnaut

• The hosted Growth plan stops at 5 projects and 10,000 URLs each; larger needs are handled by emailing the developer.
• Self-hosting needs Docker or Go plus a MySQL database, and the project recommends adding HTTPS through a reverse proxy.
• Support is by email for the hosted service and through GitHub Issues for self-hosted copies; there is no forum.
• Of the hosted plans, only the paid Growth plan lists recurring audits; Lite crawls run on demand.

LibreCrawl

Technical SEO checks

Finds broken links, redirect chains and loops, duplicate content, title and meta problems, schema errors, hreflang and canonical issues, and missing alt text.

JavaScript rendering

Uses Playwright and Chromium to crawl React, Vue, Angular and Next.js sites, in headless mode for speed or headed mode for debugging.

Large crawls

No URL cap; memory profiling and virtual scrolling are there to keep crawls of a million or more URLs stable, with the limit set by your hardware.

Exports

Export crawl data as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML, picking the fields you want, with no limit on the number or size of exports.

Multi-user sessions

Several users can crawl at the same time in separate sessions; a production mode adds sign-in and user tiers, and a local mode skips them.

Plugins and REST API

A plugin is one JavaScript file that adds a tab with the crawl data, shared through a Plugin Workshop; a REST API starts, stops and exports crawls.

SEOnaut

Issues ranked by severity

Each crawl produces a report that groups problems as critical, high or low, from broken links and redirect loops to duplicate titles and descriptions.

On-page and content checks

Audits titles, descriptions, heading order, hreflang tags, image alt text and file size, thin or duplicated content, canonicals and HTTP pages.

Crawl settings

The crawler can ignore robots.txt, follow nofollow links, include sitemaps and subdomains, check external links and log in to staging sites with HTTP Basic Auth.

Site structure and dashboard

Spots orphan and dead-end pages, checks response time and timeouts, and charts site health over time on a visual dashboard.

WACZ archives

Saves a crawled site as a WACZ web archive, keeping pages and assets for offline review or record-keeping.

Self-hosting with Docker

Written in Go with a MySQL database; the project publishes a Docker image and a Docker Compose file, and the interface can be translated.

LibreCrawl

• Free$0

  The full crawler, which you install and host yourself with Docker or Python. Every feature is included.

SEOnaut

• Community$0

  The open-source edition under the MIT license, which you host and manage yourself on your own infrastructure.

• Lite$0

  Cloud hosted: 1 project with up to 500 URLs per project. No credit card required.

• Growth$9

  per month for 5 projects of up to 10,000 URLs each

  Cloud hosted: 5 projects, 10,000 URLs per project and recurring audits. An annual plan gives one month free.

LibreCrawl

No public discounts listed.

SEOnaut

• Annual discount

  One month free with annual billing

  SEOnaut's pricing FAQ says the annual plan gives one month free compared with paying monthly.