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

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

Pick SEO Tracer if

• Fits if you work on a Mac and want a native crawler with no Java runtime
• Works for quick technical checks of a site from an iPhone or iPad

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you use Windows or Linux, as it's Apple devices only
• Watch out: it needs macOS 15.6 or later, or iOS and iPadOS 18.6 or later
• Tight if you stay free, as each crawl session stops at 500 pages
• Watch out: App Store purchases are non-refundable except where the law or Apple's policies require
• Watch out: it obeys robots.txt by default, so blocked sections are skipped unless you switch the override on

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.

SEO Tracer

• The free tier stops at 500 pages per crawl session; larger crawls need a Premium plan or Lifetime Access.
• Apple devices only: it needs macOS 15.6 or later, or iOS and iPadOS 18.6 or later, with no Windows, Linux or web version.
• Purchases go through the App Store, and the terms say they are non-refundable except where the law or Apple's policies require.
• Its crawler obeys robots.txt by default, so blocked sections are skipped unless you switch on the robots override.

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.

SEO Tracer

On-page data from every crawled page

Collects titles, meta descriptions, H1 and H2 headings, canonicals, images, CSS and JavaScript, and flags missing titles and duplicate headings.

Broken links and status codes

Finds broken internal and external links, 4xx and 5xx errors and redirect chains, records server response times and filters pages by status code.

JavaScript rendering

Renders pages built with JavaScript before auditing them, and detects robots.txt files and sitemaps along the way.

Custom extraction and list mode

Pulls page data with CSS selectors, XPath or regular expressions, audits a pasted list of URLs, and reaches protected pages with HTTP Basic Auth or cookies.

Large crawls kept on the device

A database storage mode handles projects of 100,000+ pages. Crawl data stays local, and sessions move between Mac and iPhone or iPad as files.

Exports and issue help

Exports to CSV, HTML or PDF on the Mac, searches the downloaded HTML with text or regex, and explains each flagged issue with fix examples.

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.

SEO Tracer

• Free$0

  Up to 500 pages per crawl session on Mac, iPhone or iPad.

• Monthly Premium$4.99

  per month

  Unlimited crawling and the Pro features, billed monthly through the App Store.

• Yearly Premium$44.99

  per year

  The same unlimited crawling and Pro features, billed once a year through the App Store.

• Lifetime Access$129.99

  one-time

  Unlimited crawling and the Pro features for a single payment, with no renewal.

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.

SEO Tracer

• Annual discount

  About 25% less with the yearly plan

  On the US App Store, Yearly Premium costs $44.99 a year, against $59.88 for twelve months of Monthly Premium at $4.99.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime Access for a one-time $129.99

  The App Store listing sells Lifetime Access as a single in-app purchase of $129.99, and the terms describe it as a one-time lifetime purchase.