Screaming Frog SEO Spider

The desktop crawler every technical SEO runs: crawl any site and see exactly what search engines see.

Freemiumfrom $259/yrWindowsmacOSLinuxSince 2010

Screaming Frog is the tool technical SEO was practically standardized on. The desktop crawler fetches your site the way a search engine would and surfaces broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, missing metadata, orphan pages, hreflang problems, and structured data errors. It connects to Search Console, Analytics, and PageSpeed APIs, and can run custom extractions and JavaScript rendering.

The free version crawls up to 500 URLs, enough for small sites. The paid license is one of the best price-to-value ratios in SEO software, though the spreadsheet-like interface has a learning curve and large crawls demand serious RAM.

Best for

Technical site auditsBroken link and redirect checksStructured data validationMigration QA

Pros

+ Industry-standard depth for on-site auditing
+ One affordable license, no per-site pricing
+ Extremely configurable, with custom extraction

Cons

− Desktop app limited by your machine's memory
− Dated, dense interface
− No always-on monitoring; you run crawls manually

Screaming Frog SEO Spider pricing

Full pricing breakdown

Free up to 500 URLs per crawl. The paid license (about $259 a year) unlocks unlimited crawling, JavaScript rendering, and API integrations.

Free

500 URLs per crawl, core reports.

Licensed

$259/yr

Unlimited URLs, JS rendering, scheduling, APIs.

Our take

If you do technical SEO, you own Screaming Frog; the license pays for itself in the first audit. For scheduled cloud monitoring of large sites, pair it with or graduate to a cloud crawler.

Frequently asked questions

Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider free?

Yes. Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free tier, with paid plans starting at $259/yr for more capacity and features.

How much does Screaming Frog SEO Spider cost?

Paid plans start at $259/yr. A free tier is available. Free up to 500 URLs per crawl. The paid license (about $259 a year) unlocks unlimited crawling, JavaScript rendering, and API integrations.

What is Screaming Frog SEO Spider used for?

The desktop crawler every technical SEO runs: crawl any site and see exactly what search engines see. Common use cases include technical site audits, broken link and redirect checks, structured data validation.

What are the best Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives?

Popular Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives include Sitebulb, Lumar, Google Search Console. The right pick depends on your budget and use case.

Compare Screaming Frog SEO Spider

screaming frog vs sitebulb

Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives

See all alternatives

Sitebulb

Technical SEO

The auditor that explains: prioritized hints and visualizations that turn crawl data into recommendations.

Paidfrom $15/moFree trial

Lumar

Technical SEO

Enterprise cloud crawling (formerly Deepcrawl) for sites where a desktop crawler gives up.

Paid

Google Search Console

Technical SEO

Google's own free window into how it crawls, indexes, and ranks your site. Non-negotiable.

Free