squirrelscan vs Unlighthouse (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, squirrelscan grades higher than Unlighthouse: 2.8 against 2.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
squirrelscan grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
squirrelscan
Open-source site audit CLI whose fixes are written for coding agents
Unlighthouse
Free open-source tool that runs Lighthouse on every page of a site
Which one is for you
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
Pick Unlighthouse if
- Fits if you want Lighthouse scores for a whole site rather than one page
- Works for adding a Lighthouse score budget to a CI pipeline
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you don't use a terminal, as it needs Node.js and Chrome and has no hosted version
- Not for you if you need real-user data, as results are Lighthouse lab scores only
- Watch out: version 1 is still in beta, and Docker support is community-maintained and experimental
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAsquirrelscanGood | 2.6GPAUnlighthouseGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ALocal audits from the MIT-licensed CLI are free and unlimited on your own computer. Cloud audits go further on Pro at $19 a month ($190 a year), between this category's cheaper quarter and its middle. | AFree and MIT licensed, funded by community sponsors. It runs on your own computer or CI, so there's no server to rent for a scan. |
| Free plan and trial | ALocal CLI audits cost nothing and have no cap. A free account adds 500 cloud credits a month, about 5 cloud audits of up to 500 pages, and a weekly audit of one site, with no card. | AEverything is free: the CLI, the CI runner and the dashboard, with no account and no limits on record. |
| Features | C300+ rules across SEO, crawlability, links, schema, hreflang, Core Web Vitals, security headers, accessibility and AI crawler readiness, with CI exit codes and an MCP server. The gaps: the terms call it beta, and browser rendering for JavaScript sites is cloud only. | CSite-wide Lighthouse scans with URL discovery, mobile and desktop results, saved scans, CI budgets with JSON, CSV or HTML reports, and MCP in the v1 beta. It does that job fully, but it's Lighthouse lab scores only, with no real-user data. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. It's a command-line binary, so you work in a terminal or through a coding agent, and cloud audits mean watching a credit balance. | DA command-line tool that needs Node.js and Chrome installed. One command starts a scan and the dashboard opens in your browser, but there's no way to use it without a terminal. |
| Platforms and integrations | BMac, Windows and Linux, with cloud audits and published reports on the web, and skills for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI and Windsurf. No phone app. | CRuns on Mac, Windows and Linux, with Nuxt, Vite, webpack, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, CircleCI and Puppeteer. A program for computers only, with no hosted version. |
| Best for | site audits whose fixes a coding agent can apply | Lighthouse scores for every page of a 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: squirrelscan and Unlighthouse. How we grade
Price against what you get
squirrelscan starts at $19 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Unlighthouse has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
squirrelscan scores higher, and starts $19 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, 25 score higher than squirrelscan for less, and none scores higher than Unlighthouse 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
- Unlighthouse also covers page speed.
At a glance
| squirrelscan | Unlighthouse | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $19 per month, billed monthly | Free |
| Free plan | Local CLI audits are free and unlimited. A free account adds 500 cloud credits a month (about 5 cloud audits of up to 500 pages) and a weekly audit of one site. | Free and open source under the MIT license, funded by community sponsors. Runs on your own machine or CI with Node.js and Chrome. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Nineprimes Pty Ltd | Harlan Wilton |
| Price read from | squirrelscan.com | unlighthouse.dev |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Unlighthouse
- It runs on your own computer or CI and needs Node.js and Chrome; there is no hosted version.
- Results are Lighthouse lab scores only, with no real-user monitoring.
- Docker support is described as community-maintained and experimental.
- Version 1 is still in beta.
Key features
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.
Unlighthouse
- Site-wide Lighthouse scans
- Runs Lighthouse on every discovered page using a pool of Chrome instances in parallel, with mobile and desktop results kept separately.
- URL discovery
- Finds pages through robots.txt and sitemap.xml, your framework's route files, or by crawling links from the homepage; URLs can also be listed by hand.
- Dashboard and scan history
- Results appear in a real-time dashboard in your browser, and saved scans can be reopened without scanning again.
- CI budgets and reports
- The unlighthouse-ci command fails a build when any page scores below a budget and exports JSON, CSV or a static HTML report.
- MCP for AI agents
- In the v1 beta, an AI agent can connect over MCP to run scans and read the results.
Plans
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.
Unlighthouse
Open source$0
The full CLI, CI runner and dashboard, MIT licensed and run on your own machine.
Ways to pay less
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.
Unlighthouse
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, squirrelscan or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Unlighthouse is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $19 a month for squirrelscan. squirrelscan starts at $19 per month, billed monthly, and Unlighthouse is free.
Which has a free plan, squirrelscan or Unlighthouse?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both squirrelscan and Unlighthouse have a free plan.
Which platforms do squirrelscan and Unlighthouse run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only squirrelscan lists a web app. Both list macOS, Windows and Linux apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
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.