Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Desktop website crawler for technical SEO audits
Screaming Frog SEO Spider report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 17, 2026
Best for technical site audits on your own computer
The SEO Spider crawls your site the way a search engine does and lists everything wrong with it: broken links, redirects, duplicate pages, missing titles. The free version handles 500 URLs, and a licence is $279 a year per user. It's a desktop program and it's technical, so expect to learn it.
Who Screaming Frog SEO Spider is for
- Great if you're a technical SEO who audits big sites from your own machine
- Handy when you're moving a site and need to check every redirect
- Good for small sites under 500 URLs, which the free version covers for good
Who Screaming Frog SEO Spider is not for
- Skip it if you want keyword research or rankings, as it only crawls
- Not for you if you'd rather not learn technical SEO terms
- Tight if your computer is short on memory, since crawl size depends on it
Why Screaming Frog SEO Spider gets a 2.4
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for moneyGraded against its alternatives. A licence is $279 a year per user, about $23.25 a month, with no crawl limit and JavaScript rendering. Only Sitebulb Lite is cheaper, and it stops at 10,000 URLs; Semrush and Ahrefs cost about five times as much.
- BFree plan and trialA free version with no sign-up crawls up to 500 URLs with the core audits, for as long as you like, so small sites can live on it. It can't save crawls, change settings, render JavaScript or pull in Google data.
- CFeaturesIt does the crawling job fully: 300+ issues, JavaScript rendering, custom extraction, scheduling, crawl comparison and sitemaps. But that's one part of SEO, with no keyword research, rank tracking or backlink index.
- CEase of useNo rating on record. Enter a URL and it crawls, but reading the results takes technical SEO knowledge, and custom extraction runs on XPath, CSS Path or regex.
- CPlatforms and integrationsA program for Windows, Mac and Linux, linked to Google Analytics, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, OpenAI, Gemini, Looker Studio and Sheets. Computers only, with no web or phone version.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Screaming Frog's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/screaming-frog#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/screaming-frog.svg" alt="Screaming Frog SEO Spider: 2.4 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Screaming Frog SEO Spider stands among SEO tools
Screaming Frog SEO Spider's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 12 of the 21 other SEO tools we grade, and level with 3.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 20 of 21) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $23.25 a month when paid by the year for each person, against a middle price of $34.45 for the category: 7 of the 21 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 6 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 22 SEO tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Screaming Frog SEO Spider’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 12 of 21, level with 6
- BFree plan and trialAbove 20 of 21
- CFeaturesAbove 0 of 21, level with 13
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 21, level with 18
- CPlatforms and integrationsAbove 0 of 21, level with 5
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 22 SEO tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
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
Keep Screaming Frog SEO Spider, or make your own?
Keep it
The plain part of Screaming Frog SEO Spider you could make: reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 5 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
It costs $279 a year.
What you could make
- Reports: an app builder makes this well.
What you could not
- A crawler that checks every page of a site.
- Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- It plugs into other products, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights among them.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
What this rests on. Screaming Frog SEO Spider’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Screaming Frog SEO Spider?
The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux that crawls a website the way a search engine does and reports over 300 SEO issues, from broken links and redirects to duplicate pages and missing metadata. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs; a yearly licence per user removes the limit and adds JavaScript rendering, scheduling, crawl comparison and data integrations.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free plan. Paid plans start at $279 per user / year. See every plan
Good for
- Technical SEOs auditing large sites from their own computer
- Site migrations, where redirects and staging need checking against production
- Small sites under 500 URLs, which can use the free version indefinitely
Worth knowing
- Licences are per user and last one year; two people need two licences.
- It is a desktop app, so crawl size depends on the computer's memory and storage.
- The free version cannot save crawls, render JavaScript, schedule audits or connect to Google data.
Key features
- Technical SEO audit
- Find broken links, server errors, redirect chains, missing or duplicate titles and descriptions, and directives such as noindex and canonicals.
- JavaScript rendering
- With a licence, render pages in a built-in Chromium to crawl sites built with frameworks such as React, Angular and Vue.
- Custom extraction and search
- Pull any data from page HTML with XPath, CSS Path or regex, and search source code across a whole crawl (licence only).
- Google and AI integrations
- Pull Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights data into a crawl, or run pages through OpenAI and Gemini (licence only).
- Scheduling and crawl comparison
- Schedule crawls with exports to Google Sheets or run them from the command line, and compare crawls or staging against production.
- Site visualisations and sitemaps
- See site structure as force-directed and tree diagrams, and generate XML and image sitemaps from a crawl.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider pricing
- Starts at
- $279 per user / year
- Free plan
- Free version, no sign-up: crawls up to 500 URLs at a time with the core audits, but cannot save crawls, change the crawl configuration, render JavaScript or use integrations.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 500 URLs per crawl, broken links, redirects, metadata, duplicates, XML sitemaps and site visualisations. |
| Paid licence | $279per user / year, for 1 to 4 licences | No crawl limit beyond memory and storage, saved crawls, scheduling, JavaScript rendering, crawl comparison, integrations and support. £199 in pounds. |
Read from screamingfrog.co.uk on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Screaming Frog SEO Spider before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Other savingsVolume pricing from 5 licences
Buying 5 to 9 licences at once costs $265 each a year, 10 to 19 cost $249 each, and 20 or more cost $235 each, against $279 for 1 to 4.
Stated on screamingfrog.co.uk
Works with
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- PageSpeed Insights
- OpenAI
- Gemini
- Looker Studio
- Google Sheets
Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Sitebulb
Free trial · from $18/mo
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Semrush
Free plan · from $117.33/mo
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Ahrefs
Free plan · from $29/mo
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs SEO PowerSuite
Free plan · from $19.95/mo
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Seobility
Free plan · from $69.90/mo
Common questions
Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider free?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free plan. Free version, no sign-up: crawls up to 500 URLs at a time with the core audits, but cannot save crawls, change the crawl configuration, render JavaScript or use integrations. Paid plans start at $279 per user / year.
How much does Screaming Frog SEO Spider cost?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider lists 2 plans. Free: $0. Paid licence: $279 per user / year, for 1 to 4 licences. Prices were read from screamingfrog.co.uk on Oct 17, 2026.
What platforms does Screaming Frog SEO Spider work on?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Does Screaming Frog SEO Spider offer any discounts?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider publicly lists the following: Volume pricing from 5 licences.
Does Screaming Frog SEO Spider have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 17, 2026. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is listed for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Does Screaming Frog SEO Spider have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 17, 2026. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is listed for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider open source?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 17, 2026.
What does Screaming Frog SEO Spider integrate with?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider's listing names Google Analytics, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, OpenAI, Gemini, Looker Studio and Google Sheets. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.
Who makes Screaming Frog SEO Spider?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is made by Screaming Frog Ltd.
What are the alternatives to Screaming Frog SEO Spider?
The closest alternatives to Screaming Frog SEO Spider in our directory are Sitebulb, Semrush, Ahrefs, SEO PowerSuite and Seobility. Each one has a side-by-side comparison with Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
How does Screaming Frog SEO Spider compare with other SEO tools?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 12 of the 21 other SEO tools we grade, and level with 3. It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 20 of 21) and worst on features (C, above 0).
Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Screaming Frog SEO Spider B for value for money. Its paid plans start at $23.25 a month when paid by the year for each person, against a middle price of $34.45 for the category: 7 of the 21 others that charge start lower. On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 6 tools score higher and cost less.
Could I make my own version of Screaming Frog SEO Spider?
The plain part of Screaming Frog SEO Spider you could make: reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 5 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. It costs $279 a year. What you could not make: A crawler that checks every page of a site. Apps for macOS, Windows and Linux that stay in step with each other. It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team. It plugs into other products, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights among them. This is a judgement from its listing. We have not built one.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026.