SiteOne Crawler vs squirrelscan (2026): which should you pick?

Pick SiteOne Crawler if

• Fits if you want a whole-site audit report without paying for a licence
• Works for developers adding a site quality gate to a CI pipeline

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want crawls run in the cloud, as it runs only on your own computer or server
• Watch out: single-page apps are crawled only in the optional browser mode, which renders them in Chromium
• Not for you if you want AI help with no bill elsewhere, as the assistant uses your own API key or a local model
• Tight if you want reports emailed, which needs an SMTP server of your own
• Watch out: the desktop app comes from the project's own links, not yet the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store

Pick squirrelscan if

• Fits if you fix sites with Claude Code, Cursor or another coding agent
• Works for CI pipelines that should fail a build when the audit score drops

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't use a terminal, as it's a command-line tool first
• Watch out: the terms call it a beta product, and the CLI is still at version 0.0.x
• Tight if you lean on cloud audits, at 50 credits plus 2 a page, with credits that reset each month
• Tight if you stay free, as cloud audits stop at 500 pages and top-ups are for paid plans only
• Pricey if you want white-label reports or pooled credits, which need Team at 2 seats of $29

SiteOne Crawler

• It runs on your own computer or server; there is no hosted crawler, and emailed reports need your own SMTP server.
• The AI assistant uses your own API key or local model, so any LLM charges come from that provider.
• Pages built by JavaScript are crawled only in the optional browser mode, which renders them in Chromium.
• The desktop app is downloaded from the project's links; its page says it is not yet in the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store.

squirrelscan

• The terms call it a beta product, and the CLI is still at version 0.0.x.
• Cloud audits cost 50 credits plus 2 per page, and 1 more per external link checked; monthly credits reset and do not roll over.
• Free cloud audits stop at 500 pages with one weekly scheduled site, and only paid plans can buy top-ups ($1 per 100 credits, from $10).
• Team is sold per seat with a 2-seat minimum, and pooled credits, roles and white-label reports come only with it.

SiteOne Crawler

Audit report and quality score

Each crawl ends in a self-contained HTML report with a 0 to 10 score, weighted 25% security and 20% each for performance, SEO and accessibility.

Site-wide checks

Covers SEO and OpenGraph tags, headings, redirects and 404s, security headers, SSL/TLS certificates, caching headers, content types and DNS.

JavaScript rendering and screenshots

An optional browser mode renders each page in Chromium so single-page apps are crawled, and can capture every page as an image, GIF or MP4.

CI/CD quality gate

The --ci option fails a build when scores fall below set thresholds, with JUnit XML output and annotations for GitHub Actions.

Offline clone and Markdown export

Saves a static mirror of a whole site, assets included, or converts its pages to Markdown and an llms.txt file.

Optional AI assistant

With your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini, or a local model, adds per-page SEO rewrites, spelling checks and a site summary.

squirrelscan

300+ audit rules in 22 categories

Checks core SEO, crawlability, links, schema, hreflang, Core Web Vitals, security headers, accessibility, E-E-A-T signals and AI crawler readiness such as llms.txt.

Fixes written for coding agents

Every finding comes with its fix in output an agent can apply. Skills for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and others run an audit, fix and re-audit loop.

CLI, MCP server and CI gate

A single binary for macOS, Windows and Linux, a local MCP server that exposes the audit as agent tools, and exit codes that can fail a build on score or severity.

Incremental crawling

Re-crawls use ETag, Last-Modified and content hashing to skip unchanged pages, and an interrupted crawl resumes from a checkpoint.

Reports in seven formats

A health score and letter grade, with output as a self-contained HTML file, Markdown or console text for people, and LLM, JSON, XML or text for agents.

Cloud audits

Signed in, audits add headless-browser rendering for JavaScript sites, AI page analysis, technology detection, dead-link checks, scheduled runs and published reports.

SiteOne Crawler

• Free$0

  The desktop app and command-line crawler, run on your own computer, with free hosted links for sharing reports.

squirrelscan

• Free$0

  Unlimited local audits, 500 cloud credits a month, 500 pages per cloud audit and a weekly scheduled audit of one site. No card needed.

• Pro$19

  per month, billed monthly

  3,000 credits a month (an audit costs 50 plus 2 per page), 2,000 pages per audit, daily audits of all sites and score history. $190 a year.

• Team$29

  per seat / month, billed monthly

  Minimum 2 seats. 3,000 pooled credits per seat, 10,000 pages per audit, roles, shared projects and white-label reports. $290 per seat a year.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom contracts and invoiced billing for larger teams, with single sign-on on request.

SiteOne Crawler

No public discounts listed.

squirrelscan

• Annual discount

  Two months free with annual billing

  Annual billing is 12 months for the price of 10: Pro is $190 a year and Team $290 per seat a year, with credits still arriving monthly.