SmartCrawl vs Squirrly SEO (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 2.4.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
SmartCrawl grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SmartCrawl
WordPress SEO plugin from WPMU DEV with audits, schema and autolinks
Squirrly SEO
WordPress SEO plugin with cloud keyword research, audits and AI tasks
Which one is for you
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
Pick Squirrly SEO if
- Fits if you'd rather follow a task list for each page than set options yourself
- Works for small businesses wanting keyword research and audits inside WordPress
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, with 1 Focus Page, 5 keyword researches and 1 audited page a month
- Watch out: Free and PRO show only Search Console averages; exact positions need Business or Web Dev Kit
- Not for you if you don't want another account, as most features run on Squirrly's cloud
- Watch out: the pricing page doesn't say whether Business and Web Dev Kit are billed monthly or yearly
- Pricey if you outgrow the caps, as higher limits mean stacking licences
How we grade them
| 3.2GPASmartCrawlVery good | 2.4GPASquirrly SEOFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CPRO is $19.99 a month billed yearly for 5 sites, right at this category's dearer quarter ($19.99). Exact rank checks need the Web Dev Kit at $51.20 or Business at $71.99, and the page doesn't say how those two are billed. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | CFree gives 1 site, 1 Focus Page, 5 keyword researches and 1 audited page a month, with a lite assistant and Search Console averages. You'll hit those caps in the first week. |
| Features | 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. | BLive checks against 18 on-page tests, Focus Pages, keyword research, audits, schema, sitemaps, redirects, a 404 monitor and instant indexing. It covers the whole job, though every plan caps research and audits. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo rating on record. Most of it runs on Squirrly's cloud, so you need a Squirrly account as well as WordPress, and Focus Pages hand you goals to work through. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, inside WordPress. It connects to Moz and IndexNow, works with WooCommerce, and ties into WPMU DEV's Hub for managing client sites. | BWeb only: a WordPress plugin, plus a Cloud App for sites on other platforms. It connects to Search Console, Google Analytics, IndexNow, Claude, OpenAI Codex and Advanced Custom Fields. |
| Best for | WordPress SEO inside WPMU DEV's plugin bundle | SEO task lists inside WordPress |
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: SmartCrawl and Squirrly SEO. How we grade
Price against what you get
SmartCrawl starts at $4.17 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Squirrly SEO starts at $19.99 a month and scores 2.7.
They score the same, and SmartCrawl starts $15.82 a month lower. Of the other SEO plugins and apps on the chart, none scores higher than SmartCrawl for less, and 1 scores higher than Squirrly SEO 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
- Squirrly SEO also covers keyword research and rank tracking.
At a glance
| SmartCrawl | Squirrly SEO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $50 per year for 1 site | $19.99 per month, billed annually |
| Free plan | 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. | 1 site, 1 Focus Page, 5 AI keyword researches and 1 audited page a month, the lite SEO Live Assistant, and rankings from Google Search Console only. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | WPMU DEV | Squirrly Limited |
| Price read from | wpmudev.com | plugin.squirrly.co |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Squirrly SEO
- Most features run on Squirrly's cloud and need a Squirrly account; sites not on WordPress use the Cloud App instead of the plugin.
- Free and PRO show only Search Console average positions; exact rank checks need Business or Web Dev Kit.
- Keyword researches, Focus Pages and audit pages are capped per month on every plan; higher limits come from stacking licences.
- The pricing page shows PRO as billed annually but does not say whether the Business and Web Dev Kit prices are monthly or annual.
Key features
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.
Squirrly SEO
- SEO Live Assistant
- Checks a post against 18 on-page tests as it is written, on unlimited pages, including in page builders. The free plan gets a lite version with fewer checks.
- Focus Pages
- Pick the pages that matter and Squirrly scores their chance to rank and lists the goals left to reach, such as building at least 5 internal links to each.
- AI keyword research
- Monthly keyword researches, from 5 to 300 by plan, with ideas organized into a Briefcase. Deep research with up to 50 keywords per search is on Business and Web Dev Kit.
- Rank tracking
- Free and PRO show Google Search Console averages. Business and Web Dev Kit check exact positions for any keyword with Squirrly's own SERP checker.
- Audit suite
- Audits the pages added to it each month, from 1 to 300 by plan, and reports traffic, social shares and duplicate metadata.
- Technical SEO
- Meta tags, XML sitemaps, a schema builder with FAQ and video schema, redirects, a 404 monitor and instant indexing through the Google Indexing API and IndexNow.
Plans
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.
Squirrly SEO
Free$0
1 site, 1 Focus Page, 5 keyword researches and 1 audit page a month, with the lite live assistant and audit.
PRO$19.99
per month for 5 sites, billed annually
25 Focus Pages, 50 keyword researches and 100 audit pages a month, the full live assistant and audit. Rankings still come from Search Console.
Web Dev Kit$51.20
per month for 10 sites, billing basis not stated
70 Focus Pages, 300 keyword researches and 2,000 SERP checks a month, deep research, per-client limits, co-branding and a hidden cloud app.
Business$71.99
per month for 7 sites, billing basis not stated
70 Focus Pages, 300 keyword researches, 300 audit pages and 3,000 SERP checks a month (1 credit = 1 ranking check), deep research and per-client limits.
Ways to pay less
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.
Squirrly SEO
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, SmartCrawl or Squirrly SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, SmartCrawl is cheaper to start with: $4.17 a month when paid by the year, against $19.99 a month for Squirrly SEO. SmartCrawl starts at $50 per year for 1 site, and Squirrly SEO starts at $19.99 per month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, SmartCrawl or Squirrly SEO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both SmartCrawl and Squirrly SEO 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.