Visual Sitemaps vs XML-Sitemaps.com (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, XML-Sitemaps.com grades higher than Visual Sitemaps: 2.8 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
XML-Sitemaps.com grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Visual Sitemaps
Crawl a site into a visual sitemap with screenshots and AI review
XML-Sitemaps.com
Free online XML sitemap generator for sites up to 500 pages
Which one is for you
Pick Visual Sitemaps if
- Fits if you plan a redesign and want the whole site laid out as boxes with screenshots
- Works for agencies that present site structure to clients
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 25 pages a month and 2 levels of crawl depth
- Skip it if you need to know the regular price, as the page shows only 6-month sale prices
- Watch out: a Cyber Sale banner shows 50% off ending Nov 30, so the prices shown are not the long-run ones
- Not for you if you want AI maps or scheduled crawls on a small budget, as they start on the paid plans
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
| 2.0GPAVisual SitemapsFair | 2.8GPAXML-Sitemaps.comGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CMini is $14.50 a month for the first 6 months and the renewal price is not shown, so we can't place it against the cheaper quarter at $13. | 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 | CA free plan with 25 pages a month, 3 users and a 2-level crawl depth, which a real site passes at once. The Pro trial is 7 days and also caps at 25 pages. | 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 | CCrawling, screenshots, annotation, planning boards and AI maps. Scheduled crawls, AI maps and private-site crawling are not on the free plan. | 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 store rating on record. You run a crawl, then edit and organise the map, which takes some setup. | BNo rating on record. Enter an address, wait for the crawl and download the files, with no account. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web app with Google Drive, and no apps or API on record. | CWeb only, with no API or integrations on record. The self-hosted script needs a PHP server of your own. |
| Best for | drawing a site as a visual map with screenshots | 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: Visual Sitemaps and XML-Sitemaps.com. How we grade
Price against what you get
Visual Sitemaps starts at $14.50 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. XML-Sitemaps.com starts at $2.44 a month and scores 2.3.
XML-Sitemaps.com scores higher and starts $12.06 a month lower. Of the other technical SEO tools on the chart, 20 score higher than Visual Sitemaps for less, and 3 score higher than XML-Sitemaps.com 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
- XML-Sitemaps.com can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Visual Sitemaps also covers screenshots and diagrams.
- XML-Sitemaps.com also covers site audit.
At a glance
| Visual Sitemaps | XML-Sitemaps.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $14.50 per month for the first 6 months, billed monthly; renewal price not stated | $2.44 per month for 500 URLs, billed yearly ($3.49 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 25 pages per month, 3 users, 2-level crawl depth, unlimited flow boards. | 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 | 7-day free trial of the Pro plan | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | VisualSitemaps Inc. | XML Sitemaps |
| Price read from | app.visualsitemaps.com | pro-sitemaps.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Visual Sitemaps
- The pricing page shows only sale prices, and the regular monthly price that applies afterward is not displayed.
- The free plan stops at 25 pages per month and 2 crawl levels, and lacks AI maps, scheduled crawls and private-site crawling.
- A Cyber Sale banner lists 50% off, ending Nov 30, for the first 6 months on monthly plans or the first year on annual plans.
- The Pro trial allows 25 pages and 3 AI optimized maps before paid limits apply.
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
Visual Sitemaps
- Automated crawling with screenshots
- Crawls a public site, or a password-protected one on paid plans, and builds a sitemap with HD screenshots of each page.
- AI optimized maps
- Generates a report on structure issues, topical gaps and navigation, exportable as PDF, Markdown and CSV. Paid plans include a monthly allowance, with more when you bring your own key.
- Visual QA and scheduled crawls
- Compares crawls over time to spot site changes and tracks competitors.
- Content and SEO planner
- Holds page-level SEO data and content plans in the sitemap, with a Google Drive integration.
- Editing and annotation
- Sitemaps can be edited and tagged, and screenshots annotated, with export to PDF, CSV and JSON.
- Flow boards
- A whiteboard-style canvas for user flows and journeys, listed as unlimited on every plan.
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
Visual Sitemaps
Free$0
25 pages per month and a 25-page sitemap limit, 3 users, 2-level crawl depth and unlimited flow boards.
Mini$14.50
per month for 1,500 pages, first 6 months; renewal price not stated
500-page sitemap limit, 1 AI optimized map, 3 users and 4-level crawl depth. A 50% launch sale applies to the first 6 months.
Pro$49.50
per month for 4,000 pages, first 6 months; renewal price not stated
1,500-page sitemap limit, 30 AI optimized maps and 100 with your own key, 10 users and unlimited crawl depth. A 50% launch sale applies to the first 6 months.
Team$199.50
per month for 25,000 pages, first 6 months; renewal price not stated
4,000-page sitemap limit, 150 AI optimized maps and 400 with your own key, 20 users. A 50% launch sale applies to the first 6 months.
AgencyCustom
Custom pages per month, 5,000-page maximum sitemap size and all features of the other plans.
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
Visual Sitemaps
- Other savings
Cyber Sale: 50% off, ends Nov 30
Monthly plans 50% off for 6 months, annual plans 50% off the first year ($10.88, $37.13 and $149.63 per month for Mini, Pro, Team). Annual renewal price is not shown.
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, Visual Sitemaps or XML-Sitemaps.com?
As of Nov 12, 2026, XML-Sitemaps.com is cheaper to start with: $2.44 a month, against $14.50 a month for Visual Sitemaps. Visual Sitemaps starts at $14.50 per month for the first 6 months, billed monthly; renewal price not stated, and XML-Sitemaps.com starts at $2.44 per month for 500 URLs, billed yearly ($3.49 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Visual Sitemaps or XML-Sitemaps.com?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Visual Sitemaps and XML-Sitemaps.com 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.