SEOPress vs SmartCrawl (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick SmartCrawl: it is third in our ranking of SEO plugins and apps, and it grades higher too, 3.2 against 3.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
SmartCrawl grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SEOPress
WordPress SEO plugin with a free edition and site licences from $49
SmartCrawl
WordPress SEO plugin from WPMU DEV with audits, schema and autolinks
Which one is for you
Pick SEOPress if
- Fits if you run a WordPress site and want schema and redirects for $49 a year
- Works for agencies wanting one unlimited-site licence at $149 a year
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, as schema, redirects, local SEO and the site audit are all PRO
- Watch out: rank and backlink tracking need SEOPress Insights, a separate plugin at $99 a year per site
- Pricey if you lean on AI metadata, as credits are a separate plan from $19 a month
- Watch out: prices exclude tax, refunds last 14 days, and a cancelled PRO keeps working without updates
- Skip it if your site isn't on WordPress, as there's no standalone app
Pick SmartCrawl if
- Fits if you want a guided setup and a one-click SEO checkup in WordPress
- Works for agencies already running client sites from WPMU DEV's Hub
Look elsewhere if
- Watch out: Pro isn't sold alone, so every paid plan is WPMU DEV's whole bundle of Pro plugins
- Tight if you stay free, as scheduled audits, auto-linking, IndexNow, regex redirects and white label need Pro
- Watch out: Premium is $4.99 a month for the first 3 months, then $9.99
- Skip it if your site isn't on WordPress, as there's no standalone app
How we grade them
| 3.0GPASEOPressVery good | 3.2GPASmartCrawlVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | APRO is $49 a year for one site before tax, about $4.08 a month, and renews at the same price. That's under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter. Five sites are $59 a year and unlimited sites $149. | APro Basic is $50 a year for one site, about $4.17 a month, and brings WPMU DEV's other Pro plugins along. That's under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter. Premium is $9.99 a month for unlimited sites, after 3 months at $4.99. |
| Free plan and trial | BSEOPress Free covers titles, meta, canonicals, robots tags, XML and HTML sitemaps, social tags and content checks for any number of keywords. One site could live on it, but schema and redirects are PRO only. | AThe WordPress.org plugin has no caps: a setup wizard, SEO checkup, titles and meta, sitemaps, social tags, a schema builder, 301 redirects, breadcrumbs and post checks. Scheduled audits and auto-linking are Pro. |
| Features | BMeta and sitemaps, content analysis, schema with conditions, local and WooCommerce SEO, redirects with 404 logs, link suggestions, a site audit and AI metadata. It covers the whole job; rank and backlink tracking sit in a separate plugin. | BKeyword and readability checks, sitemaps, social tags, a schema builder the product page puts at 150+ types, redirects, scheduled audits and crawls, auto-linking and IndexNow. It covers the whole job, with the audits on Pro. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. It runs inside WordPress, but titles and meta are set site-wide or page by page, and AI metadata needs an AI provider hooked up or a separate credit plan. | CNo rating on record. A setup wizard walks you through it inside WordPress, but there are title formats, sitemap types and schema to choose before it's done. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, inside WordPress. It connects to Search Console, Google Analytics, Tag Manager and Matomo, and works with WooCommerce, Elementor, WPML and Polylang. | BWeb only, inside WordPress. It connects to Moz and IndexNow, works with WooCommerce, and ties into WPMU DEV's Hub for managing client sites. |
| Best for | WordPress SEO on a flat yearly licence | WordPress SEO inside WPMU DEV's plugin bundle |
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: SEOPress and SmartCrawl. How we grade
Price against what you get
SEOPress starts at $4.08 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SmartCrawl starts at $4.17 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and SEOPress starts $0.09 a month lower. Of the other SEO plugins and apps on the chart, none scores higher than SEOPress for less, and none scores higher than SmartCrawl for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- SEOPress also covers rank tracking and backlink analysis.
At a glance
| SEOPress | SmartCrawl | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $49 per year for 1 site, ex VAT | $50 per year for 1 site |
| Free plan | SEOPress Free on WordPress.org: titles and meta, canonicals, robots tags, XML and HTML sitemaps, social tags, content analysis with unlimited keywords and Analytics or Matomo tracking. | Free plugin on WordPress.org: setup wizard, SEO checkup, titles and meta, XML sitemaps, social tags, schema types builder, 301 redirects, breadcrumbs and content analysis. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | SEOPress | WPMU DEV |
| Price read from | seopress.org | wpmudev.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
SEOPress
- It runs only inside WordPress; there is no standalone app.
- Rank and backlink tracking need SEOPress Insights, a separate plugin at $99 a year per site.
- AI credit plans are a separate monthly subscription, from $19 a month for 400,000 credits (about 250 meta titles, by SEOPress's estimate).
- Prices exclude tax; refunds are offered for 14 days, and a cancelled PRO keeps working without updates or support.
SmartCrawl
- It runs only inside WordPress; there is no standalone app.
- Scheduled audits and crawls, automatic linking, IndexNow, advanced redirects and white label need a Pro plan.
- SmartCrawl Pro is not sold alone: every paid plan is WPMU DEV's bundle of Pro plugins, such as Smush Pro and Forminator Pro.
- Premium is $9.99 a month after a first 3 months at $4.99; paid plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Key features
SEOPress
- Titles, meta and sitemaps
- Sets titles, meta descriptions, canonicals and robots tags globally or per page, and builds XML, HTML, image and author sitemaps on the free edition.
- Content analysis
- Checks each post against any number of target keywords in the editor, including in Elementor, Divi, Oxygen and other page builders, on the free edition.
- Schema and local SEO
- PRO adds automatic and manual schema with conditions, breadcrumbs, local business data, Google News and video sitemaps, and WooCommerce product identifiers.
- Redirects and links
- PRO manages 301, 302, 307, 410 and 451 redirects with regex, logs 404s, prompts when a URL changes, suggests internal links and finds broken links.
- AI metadata
- PRO can use OpenAI, DeepSeek, Gemini, Claude or Mistral to write SEO titles, descriptions and image alt text.
- Rankings and backlinks
- The Insights plugin checks Google rankings daily in 51 locations, shows who holds first place, tracks backlinks and exports to CSV, PDF or Excel.
SmartCrawl
- SEO checkup and content analysis
- Runs a checkup with fixes to apply, and grades each post for keyword use and readability in the editor, on the free plugin.
- Titles, sitemaps and social tags
- Sets title and description formats, builds XML sitemaps with chosen post types and taxonomies, and adds Open Graph, Twitter cards and Pinterest verification.
- Schema types builder
- Adds and customizes schema for articles, web pages, reviews, products, local businesses and more; the product page counts 150+ schema types.
- Scheduled audits and crawls
- Pro runs SEO audits and URL crawls on a schedule, finding broken URLs, 404s and redirect chains, with white-label reports for clients.
- Automatic linking
- Pro turns chosen keywords into internal or external links across the site automatically.
- Redirects and indexing
- 301 redirects are free; Pro adds regex and location-based redirects and notifies search engines of changes through IndexNow.
Plans
SEOPress
SEOPress Free$0
Core on-page settings, sitemaps, social tags, image SEO, IndexNow and content analysis with unlimited target keywords.
SEOPress PRO, 1 site$49
per year for 1 site, ex VAT, renews at the same price
Site audit, schema, local and WooCommerce SEO, redirects and 404 monitoring, Search Console data, AI metadata and white label.
SEOPress PRO, 5 sites$59
per year for 5 sites, ex VAT, renews at the same price
The same PRO features on up to 5 sites.
SEOPress PRO, unlimited$149
per year for unlimited sites, ex VAT, renews at the same price
The same PRO features on any number of sites.
SEOPress Insights$99
per year for 1 site, ex VAT
A separate plugin for daily Google rank tracking in 51 locations, competitor positions, a backlink tracker and emailed reports.
SmartCrawl
Free$0
The WordPress.org plugin with on-page settings, sitemaps, schema, 301 redirects and an SEO checkup.
Pro Basic$50
per year for 1 site
SmartCrawl Pro and the rest of WPMU DEV's Pro plugins on 1 site, with a CDN allowance, backup storage and 24/7 support.
Pro Standard$75
per year for 3 sites
The same Pro plugin suite on 3 sites.
Pro Plus$100
per year for 10 sites
The same Pro plugin suite on 10 sites.
Premium$9.99
per month for unlimited sites
All Pro plugins on unlimited sites, plus hosting discounts, a reseller platform, unlimited seats and CRM. $4.99 a month for the first 3 months.
Ways to pay less
SEOPress
No public discounts listed.
SmartCrawl
- Other savings
Premium at half price for 3 months
WPMU DEV's pricing page shows Premium at $4.99 a month for the first 3 months, then $9.99 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SEOPress or SmartCrawl?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SEOPress is cheaper to start with: $4.08 a month when paid by the year, against $4.17 a month when paid by the year for SmartCrawl. SEOPress starts at $49 per year for 1 site, ex VAT, and SmartCrawl starts at $50 per year for 1 site.
Which has a free plan, SEOPress or SmartCrawl?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both SEOPress and SmartCrawl have a free plan.
More comparisons
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.