Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs XML-Sitemaps.com (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, XML-Sitemaps.com grades higher than Screaming Frog SEO Spider: 2.8 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
XML-Sitemaps.com grades higher on value for money and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Desktop website crawler for technical SEO audits
XML-Sitemaps.com
Free online XML sitemap generator for sites up to 500 pages
Which one is for you
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 XML-Sitemaps.com if
- Fits if your site is under 500 pages and you need a sitemap once
- Works for sites too big for a plugin that want sitemaps hosted and kept up to date
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, at 500 pages and no automatic updates
- Pricey if your site is huge, as Pro Sitemaps runs to $719.99 a month for 5 million URLs
- Watch out: Pro Sitemaps is a separate site, pro-sitemaps.com, run by CMJ Marketing Ltd
- Watch out: the PHP script's licence is for personal use only, and installing it is $20 extra
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAScreaming Frog SEO SpiderFair | 2.8GPAXML-Sitemaps.comGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BGraded against its alternatives. A licence is $279 a year per user, about $23.25 a month, with no crawl limit and JavaScript rendering. Only Sitebulb Lite is cheaper, and it stops at 10,000 URLs; Semrush and Ahrefs cost about five times as much. | APro Sitemaps is $2.44 a month billed yearly for 500 URLs ($3.49 monthly), and $8.39 at 10,000 URLs, both under 60% of this category's cheapest quarter. The PHP script is $49.99 once. |
| Free plan and trial | BA free version with no sign-up crawls up to 500 URLs with the core audits, for as long as you like, so small sites can live on it. It can't save crawls, change settings, render JavaScript or pull in Google data. | BThe online generator is free for up to 500 pages with no registration, which covers a small site. It won't update the sitemap for you: you download the files and upload them yourself. |
| Features | CIt does the crawling job fully: 300+ issues, JavaScript rendering, custom extraction, scheduling, crawl comparison and sitemaps. But that's one part of SEO, with no keyword research, rank tracking or backlink index. | CSitemaps in XML, HTML and text, with dates and priorities set for you, plus a validator, a bot simulator and a headers viewer. It does that job fully, but it's a smaller job than a site audit. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Enter a URL and it crawls, but reading the results takes technical SEO knowledge, and custom extraction runs on XPath, CSS Path or regex. | BNo rating on record. Enter an address, wait for the crawl and download the files, with no account. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA program for Windows, Mac and Linux, linked to Google Analytics, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, OpenAI, Gemini, Looker Studio and Sheets. Computers only, with no web or phone version. | CWeb only, with no API or integrations on record. The self-hosted script needs a PHP server of your own. |
| Best for | technical site audits on your own computer | a one-off sitemap for a small site |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Screaming Frog SEO Spider and XML-Sitemaps.com. How we grade
Where they differ
- XML-Sitemaps.com can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider also covers reports.
At a glance
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | XML-Sitemaps.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $279 per user / year | $2.44 per month for 500 URLs, billed yearly ($3.49 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Free version, no sign-up: crawls up to 500 URLs at a time with the core audits, but cannot save crawls, change the crawl configuration, render JavaScript or use integrations. | Free online generator: XML, HTML and text sitemaps for up to 500 pages, no registration. You download the files and upload them to your site yourself. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Screaming Frog Ltd | XML Sitemaps |
| Price read from | screamingfrog.co.uk | pro-sitemaps.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
XML-Sitemaps.com
- The free generator stops at 500 pages and does not update the sitemap; automatic updates need Pro Sitemaps.
- Pro Sitemaps is priced by URLs per site, from $3.49 a month for 500 URLs to $719.99 a month for 5 million, billed monthly.
- The generator script's licence is for personal use and may not be resold as a service; installation is a $20 extra.
- Pro Sitemaps runs on its own site, pro-sitemaps.com, operated by CMJ Marketing Ltd.
Key features
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.
XML-Sitemaps.com
- Online sitemap generator
- Enter a URL and it crawls up to 500 pages, then gives you XML, HTML and plain-text sitemaps to download.
- Automatic priorities and dates
- Sets each page's last-modified date from the server's response and lowers its priority the further it sits from the homepage.
- Hosted sitemaps with Pro Sitemaps
- Pro Sitemaps builds and hosts the sitemap on its own servers on a schedule, for sites from a few hundred pages to millions.
- Self-hosted generator script
- A PHP script for your own server that splits large sitemaps into files of 50,000 URLs with a sitemap index, and reports broken links.
- Free checking tools
- A sitemap validator, a search engine bot simulator and an HTTP headers viewer are free on the site.
Plans
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.
XML-Sitemaps.com
Free generator$0
Sitemaps for up to 500 pages, built on demand with no sign-up, with last-modified dates and priorities set automatically.
Pro Sitemaps$2.44
per month for 500 URLs, billed yearly ($3.49 billed monthly)
Hosted service with automatic updates, image, video and news sitemaps and SEO health reports. $8.39 a month at 10,000 URLs, billed yearly.
Sitemap Generator Script$49.99
one-time
PHP script for your own server with no page limit, broken-link reports and cron scheduling. Image, video, news and RSS add-ons cost $20 each.
Ways to pay less
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.
XML-Sitemaps.com
- Annual discount
Save 30% on Pro Sitemaps with yearly billing
Pro Sitemaps' pricing page marks yearly billing at 30% off: 500 URLs cost $29.32 a year ($2.44 a month) instead of $3.49 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or XML-Sitemaps.com?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Screaming Frog SEO Spider starts at $279 per user / year, and XML-Sitemaps.com starts at $2.44 per month for 500 URLs, billed yearly ($3.49 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or XML-Sitemaps.com?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Screaming Frog SEO Spider and XML-Sitemaps.com have a free plan.
Which platforms do Screaming Frog SEO Spider and XML-Sitemaps.com run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Screaming Frog SEO Spider lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps and only XML-Sitemaps.com lists a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Sitebulb
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Semrush
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Ahrefs
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs SEO PowerSuite
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Seobility
- XML-Sitemaps.com vs Beam Us Up
- XML-Sitemaps.com vs Integrity
- XML-Sitemaps.com vs Visual SEO Studio
- XML-Sitemaps.com vs Siteliner
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.