Best SEO Crawlers and Site Audit Tools 2027: Ten Tools I Compared and Scored
seo tools guide, 13 Nov 2026Hello my friend. A site audit tool crawls your pages the way a search engine does and tells you what is broken. A small site can do this for free, while an enterprise platform will not even show you a price. I read the official pages of ten crawlers, wrote down what each costs and how many URLs it handles, checked what customers say, and I tell you plainly which ones I would use, why, and what the catch is.
// disclosure: I run SyncCrawl, where I do cheap SEO services for small businesses. No vendor paid for a place on this list, and the tool links are plain links, not affiliate links. I did not buy plans or run benchmark crawls, so my scores are opinion from official pages and customer reviews, checked 13 Nov 2026.
- 10 crawlers, one page
- price and crawl limits
- the catch for each
- Free to 500 URLs
- £199 a year unlimited
- Free tech support
- 300+ hints on Pro
- 14-day trial, no card
- Windows and Mac
- Free for verified sites
- 5,000 crawl credits a month
- Runs in the cloud
// scores are opinion from published information, not hands-on tests. All ten are scored below.
What a Site Crawler Does: Read This First
Two facts decide which crawler fits your site.
Desktop, Cloud or Enterprise
A crawler starts at your homepage, follows every link and records what it finds: broken links, missing titles, redirect chains, slow pages, duplicate content. There are three kinds. Desktop crawlers such as Screaming Frog and Sitebulb run on your own computer for a flat fee. Cloud crawlers such as Ahrefs, Seobility and SE Ranking run on the vendor's servers on a schedule. Enterprise platforms such as JetOctopus, Lumar and Oncrawl add server log analysis and are priced for sites with millions of URLs.
The number that matters is URLs per crawl. A 300-page site fits inside the free 500 URLs of Screaming Frog. A 50,000-page shop needs a paid plan. Do not pay for millions of URLs you do not have.
Search Engines Must Reach a Page Before They Rank It
If a crawler cannot reach a page, or reaches it through three redirects, a search engine is likely to have the same trouble. An audit finds those problems in an hour instead of waiting for traffic to fall. It will not fix anything by itself, and a list of 2,000 warnings helps nobody. The useful tools sort issues by importance.
For each tool I read the pricing and product pages for the entry price, the crawl limit and the trial or refund terms, then read its Trustpilot record on 13 Nov 2026 where one exists. If you want the audit read and fixed for you, see our notes on technical SEO, and on website migration if you are moving a site.
Ten SEO Crawlers: Compared at a Glance
Five dots equal five points in each criterion. The score column is the total out of 20.
| Tool | Score | Real cost | Crawl capacity | Depth of checks | Trust and trial | Price (vendor-stated) | Crawl limit | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Screaming Frog SEO Spider | ●●●●● | ●●●● | ●●●● | ●●●● | Free to 500 URLs, then £199 a year | Your computer's memory | Desktop | |
| 2. Sitebulb | ●●● | ●●●● | ●●●●● | ●●●● | Desktop price did not load, cloud from £95/mo | 10,000 URLs on Lite, 500,000 on Pro | Windows, Mac or cloud | |
| 3. Ahrefs Site Audit | ●●●●● | ●●● | ●●● | ●●●● | Free for verified sites | 5,000 crawl credits a month per project | Cloud | |
 4. Seobility | ●●●● | ●●● | ●●● | ●●●●● | Free Basic, Premium €59.90/mo | 25,000 pages per crawl on Premium | Cloud | |
 5. SE Ranking | ●● | ●●●● | ●●●● | ●●●● | $129/mo, $103.20 on annual | Page limits conflict on its page | Cloud | |
 6. JetOctopus | ● | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●●● | From €299/mo | 500,000 URLs a month | Cloud | |
 7. Netpeak Spider | ●●●● | ●●● | ●●● | ●●● | $20/mo | Not stated | Not stated on pricing page | |
 8. Lumar | ● | ●●●●● | ●●●●● | ●● | Quote only | Millions of pages, per its site | Cloud | |
 9. Oncrawl | ● | ●●●●● | ●●●● | ●● | Quote only | Not stated | Cloud | |
 10. Semrush Site Audit | ●● | ●●● | ●●●● | ●● | $139/mo, $117.33 on annual | Not stated on the pages I read | Cloud |
// prices and limits are vendor-stated, checked 13 Nov 2026. Not stated means the page I read did not say. Scores are my opinion, not test results. Ties go to the lower real cost, then to the larger crawl capacity.
How I Scored These Tools
Four criteria, five points each, twenty in total.
Real Cost
The entry price and how clearly it is shown. A free tier scores five. A price above two hundred a month, or no public price at all, scores one.
Crawl Capacity
How many URLs you can crawl on the entry plan, and how far the tool scales when the site grows.
Depth of Checks
The number of checks, JavaScript rendering, scheduled audits, reports and extras such as log file analysis.
Trust and Trial
A free version, a free trial or a refund window, plus the Trustpilot record with its review count where one exists.
// this is my opinion based on official pages and customer reviews, checked 13 Nov 2026. I did not run benchmark crawls. Count your URLs before you choose a plan.
SEO Crawlers Reviewed One by One
Ranked by score. For each tool I tell you why I would pick it, what the proof is, and what the catch is. The official link sits inside each review.
01Screaming Frog SEO Spider
best crawler for most sitesScreaming Frog SEO Spider is the crawler I would start with on almost any site. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs, and a licence at £199 a year removes the limit, per its pricing page. For a flat yearly fee you can crawl as many URLs as your computer can handle, as often as you like.
The proof is in the terms. The pricing page lists the same features for the free and paid versions, so nothing is locked away while you learn. There are no monthly credits, so a second crawl after you fix something costs nothing. Free technical support is listed for both versions. And discounts start at five licences, at £189 each, which keeps a small team cheap.
The catch is that the work happens on your machine and in your head. Unlimited crawling is subject to your computer's memory and storage, so a very large site needs a strong computer. The tool gives you tables, not a ranked to-do list, so a beginner needs a guide. I saw no refund policy on the pricing page, and its Trustpilot profile has only 15 reviews at 3.6 out of 5 (checked 13 Nov 2026).
Free to 500 URLs, then £199 a year for unlimited crawling. No monthly credits to run out.
I saw no refund policy on the pricing page, and the price is per licence.
It reads your pages directly, so every broken link or missing title it reports is an observed fact.
Findings arrive as raw tables. Deciding which issues matter is left to you.
Free technical support is listed for the free and the paid version alike.
Trustpilot shows 3.6 out of 5 from only 15 reviews (checked 13 Nov 2026), too small a sample to judge by.
The free version has the same feature list as the paid one, apart from crawl size.
No hosted dashboard, so sharing results with a client means exporting files.
Volume discounts from 5 licences at £189 each keep costs low for a small team.
Crawl size depends on your computer's memory and storage, so huge sites can stall a laptop.
// score
Almost everyone: free for small sites, cheap for large ones.
You want a hosted dashboard or a guided checklist.
Free version stops at 500 URLs.
02Sitebulb
best guided auditsSitebulb is the crawler I would give to someone who wants the audit explained, not just listed. It is desktop software for Windows and Mac, with a separate cloud version. The Lite plan covers 1 user and 10,000 URLs per audit, and Pro covers 500,000 URLs per audit by default, per its pricing page.
What sets it apart is the guidance. Every plan includes what Sitebulb calls Hints, more than 100 on Lite and more than 300 on Pro, along with JavaScript crawling, crawl maps, duplicate content checks and integrations with Google Analytics, Search Console and Sheets. Pro adds scheduled audits, audit comparisons and customised PDF reports. You can try the Pro desktop version free for 14 days with no credit card.
The catch is that I cannot tell you the desktop price. The plan cards showed a loading placeholder where the monthly figure should be when I read the page. What I could read: extra Pro users start at £7 a month, yearly plans save 15%, and the cloud version starts at £95 a month according to the FAQ. I saw no refund policy, and I found no Trustpilot profile (checked 13 Nov 2026).
A 14-day free trial of the Pro desktop version, with no credit card. Yearly plans save 15%.
The desktop price did not load when I read the page. Cloud starts at £95/mo, per the FAQ.
10,000 URLs per audit on Lite and 500,000 on Pro, with JavaScript crawling on every plan.
Lite is limited to 1 user, and big audits on desktop still lean on your own computer.
Hints explain each issue in plain terms, which shortens the learning curve for a new auditor.
I found no Trustpilot profile (checked 13 Nov 2026) and saw no support hours on the pricing page.
300+ Hints, scheduled audits, audit comparisons and customised PDF reports on Pro.
Scheduled audits and PDF reports are Pro only. Lite has 100+ Hints and the basics.
Runs on Windows and Mac, with a browser-based cloud version for teams of two or more.
I saw no refund policy on the pricing page, so rely on the trial before you pay.
// score
Consultants and in-house marketers who want issues explained and prioritised.
You need to know the price before starting a trial.
Desktop price did not load on the page.
03Ahrefs Site Audit
best free cloud auditAhrefs Site Audit is the free cloud crawler I would set up alongside a desktop tool. It comes with Ahrefs Free, formerly Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, for any website you verify. Each project gets 5,000 crawl credits a month, and only HTML pages that return status 200 use credits, per the product page.
Running in the cloud is the point. You do not leave a laptop crawling overnight, and the audit can run again without you. For a site of a few thousand pages, 5,000 credits covers a full crawl each month. The same free account shows up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords in Site Explorer, so you see technical issues and links in one place. You can verify an unlimited number of sites.
The catch is the ceiling and the upsell. A larger site runs out of credits, and the paid plans that lift the limit start at $129 a month with no free trial listed. It works only on sites you verify, so you cannot audit a prospect's site before a pitch. And Ahrefs holds 2.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 322 reviews, with 50% one-star (checked 13 Nov 2026), though that record covers the paid product too.
Free for verified sites, with an unlimited number of sites allowed.
More credits mean a paid plan from $129/mo, and no free trial is listed.
5,000 crawl credits per project each month. Only HTML pages returning status 200 use credits.
A site with more than about 5,000 pages cannot be fully crawled within the free allowance.
Results appear in a hosted dashboard, with nothing to install or update.
Ahrefs holds 2.1 out of 5 from 322 Trustpilot reviews (checked 13 Nov 2026), and I saw no support promise for free users.
Site Explorer in the same free account shows up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords.
Verified sites only, so you cannot audit a competitor or a prospect.
Cloud crawling does not depend on your own computer staying switched on.
It is a free tier of a paid product, and the vendor can reduce the allowance at any time.
// score
Site owners who want a free scheduled audit in the cloud.
Your site has many more than 5,000 pages.
Verified sites only.
04Seobility
free plan, cheap upgradeSeobility is a cloud audit tool with a free plan you can keep. The Basic account is described as free forever, with no credit card: 1 website project, 10 tracked keywords, 5 daily tool credits and a limited website audit, per its pricing page.
When the free audit is not enough, the step up is modest. Premium is €59.90 a month plus VAT, after a 14-day free trial, with 3 website projects, 25,000 pages analysed per crawl and 300 keywords for ranking monitoring. Backlink monitoring and uptime monitoring are included too. Paying annually saves 20%, and monthly contracts can be cancelled at any time. Trustpilot shows 4.4 out of 5 from 92 reviews, with 82% five-star (checked 13 Nov 2026), the best record among the crawlers here.
The catch is depth and size. I saw no number of checks, no JavaScript rendering and no log analysis on the pricing page, so do not expect the detail of Sitebulb or JetOctopus. 25,000 pages per crawl suits a small or mid-sized site only, and bigger limits need Professional at €99.90 or Agency at €209.90. The free audit is labelled limited, without saying how. And 13% of its Trustpilot reviews are one-star.
A free Basic plan with no card, and Premium at €59.90/mo plus VAT after a 14-day trial.
Prices exclude VAT, and the free audit is labelled limited without saying how.
25,000 pages analysed per crawl on Premium, 50,000 on Professional and 100,000 on Agency.
I saw no JavaScript rendering or log analysis on the pricing page, and no stated number of checks.
Trustpilot shows 4.4 out of 5 from 92 reviews, 82% five-star (checked 13 Nov 2026), the best record among these crawlers.
13% of reviews are one-star, and I did not see support hours on the pricing page.
Ranking monitoring for 300 keywords, backlink monitoring and uptime monitoring come with Premium.
Premium covers 3 website projects. More sites mean Professional at €99.90/mo.
Monthly contracts can be cancelled at any time, and annual payment saves 20%.
It is a cloud all-rounder, so each part is lighter than a specialist crawler or tracker.
// score
Small businesses that want a free start and a cheap cloud upgrade.
You need JavaScript rendering or very deep technical checks.
Free audit is labelled limited.
05SE Ranking
audit inside a full suiteSE Ranking Website Audit is the cloud crawler to choose if you already want the rest of the suite. It checks more than 115 parameters, can render JavaScript for script-driven sites and runs scheduled audits weekly or monthly, per its product page. It comes with every plan, from Core at $129 a month.
The page claims speedy crawling, with up to 1,000 pages crawled in under 2 minutes, and offers audit comparisons and reports delivered by email. Because it sits beside rank tracking and the backlink checker, you can see a technical fix and its effect on positions in one account. There is a 14-day trial with no credit card, and Trustpilot shows 4.1 out of 5 from 720 reviews (checked 13 Nov 2026).
The catch is that I cannot give you a firm page limit. The FAQ on the audit page quotes 15,000 pages per project for a plan called Essential and 40,000 for Pro, names that do not appear on the current subscription page, while a features section claims up to 2,000,000 pages per project. The limit for Core is not shown. Ask support for the number before you rely on it. Payments are also non-refundable unless the service was not delivered as promised.
Website Audit is included in every plan, from Core at $129/mo or $103.20 on annual billing.
Too expensive if a crawl is all you need, and payments are non-refundable in most cases.
115+ parameters checked, with JavaScript rendering available for script-driven sites.
Page limits conflict on its own page: 15,000 and 40,000 in the FAQ, up to 2,000,000 elsewhere.
Chat and email support on all plans. Trustpilot shows 4.1 out of 5 from 720 reviews (checked 13 Nov 2026).
The audit FAQ still names plans that are not on the subscription page, so the documentation lags behind.
Scheduled audits weekly or monthly, audit comparisons and reports by email.
White-label audit reports were not shown on the page I read, and JavaScript rendering slows the audit.
A 14-day trial with no credit card lets you crawl your own site before paying.
The crawl speed figure, 1,000 pages in under 2 minutes, is the vendor's claim and I did not measure it.
// score
Teams that want audits, rank tracking and backlinks in one subscription.
You only need a crawler.
Page limits on the audit page contradict each other.
06JetOctopus
crawler plus log analysisJetOctopus is a cloud crawler for large sites that also reads your server logs, so you can see which pages search engine bots really fetched. The Growth plan starts at €299 a month and includes 500,000 crawled URLs and 2 million log lines a month, with unlimited seats on every plan, per its pricing page.
For an online shop or a publisher with hundreds of thousands of URLs, that pairing is what matters. A crawl shows what exists, and the logs show which of those pages bots actually visit. Unlimited seats mean developers, writers and managers can all log in. Higher plans go to 2 million and 5 million URLs a month, with an Unlimited plan by quote.
The catch is cost and clarity. The page showed two prices for each plan, €299 and €399 for Growth, without clearly labelling which is which. There is no instant trial: the page says a credit card is not required because the trial account opens after a demo. Refunds are case by case, for duplicate subscriptions or faults on its side. And its Trustpilot profile has only 2 reviews, averaging 3.8 out of 5 (checked 13 Nov 2026).
Unlimited seats on all plans, so the price does not rise with your team.
Growth showed €299 and €399 a month without a clear label, and that is the cheapest plan.
500,000 crawled URLs and 2 million log lines a month on Growth, rising to 5 million URLs on Ultra.
Far more capacity than a small site can use, so most of what you pay for would sit idle.
A demo comes before the trial, so someone walks you through the setup.
Trustpilot has only 2 reviews, averaging 3.8 out of 5 (checked 13 Nov 2026), so there is little public record.
Crawler and log file analysis in one platform, with an Unlimited plan for the largest sites.
No self-service trial. The trial account opens only after a demo call.
Runs in the cloud, so crawling half a million URLs does not depend on your own hardware.
Refunds are case by case, limited to duplicate subscriptions or faults on its side.
// score
Large shops and publishers that need crawl data and log files together.
Your site has fewer than tens of thousands of pages.
Two prices per plan, not clearly labelled.
07Netpeak Spider
cheapest monthly crawlerNetpeak Spider is the cheapest crawler here that you pay for by the month. Its pricing page lists $20 a month on a one-month billing period, which suits someone who audits a site once and may not need the tool again for a while. That makes it the low-commitment choice.
The terms are friendly for a short job. There is a 3-day free trial, and the page lists a 14-day money-back guarantee. Spider is also sold inside bundles, such as Crawl and Check at $390 a year, if you want the vendor's other tools. Paying $20 for one month and cancelling costs far less than a yearly licence you use once.
The catch is how little the pricing page explains. It did not show a free version or a URL limit, or say whether the program runs on Windows, on Mac or in the cloud, so check the system requirements before you pay. A 3-day trial is short for a real audit. The money-back line is general and gives no Spider-specific terms. And its Trustpilot profile has a single review, at 3.6 out of 5 (checked 13 Nov 2026), so there is no customer record to speak of.
$20 a month on monthly billing, the lowest paid monthly price among these crawlers.
No Spider-only annual price was shown. The bundle with it, Crawl and Check, is $390 a year.
A dedicated crawler bought by the month, so you pay only for the months you audit.
The pricing page showed no URL limit and no list of checks, so capacity is unknown until you try.
A 3-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee are listed on the pricing page.
Trustpilot has just 1 review, at 3.6 out of 5 (checked 13 Nov 2026), and I saw no support hours.
Sold alone or in bundles with the vendor's other tools, so you can add to it later.
The page did not say whether it runs on Windows, Mac or the cloud. Check before you buy.
Month-to-month billing means you can stop after a single audit without losing a yearly fee.
The money-back line is general, with no terms specific to Spider, and three days is a short trial.
// score
One-off audits where a month of access is enough.
You want published limits and a visible customer record.
No URL limit or platform shown on the pricing page.
08Lumar
enterprise platform, quote onlyLumar is an enterprise website platform, and I list it so that owners of very large sites know it exists. Its site describes four apps: Analyze for crawling and audits, Monitor for tracking many domains, Protect for automated testing before releases, and Impact for reporting to stakeholders.
The scope is wider than SEO. Modules cover technical SEO, AI search, site speed, WCAG 2.2 accessibility and custom analytics, and the site says you can easily audit millions of pages. Protect connects to CI/CD pipelines, so developers can catch a problem before it goes live. Named customers on the site include Deloitte, Comcast and The Motley Fool. Pricing is modular, so you choose the features you need.
The catch is that none of this has a public price. The pricing page asks you to fill in a form, with demo buttons and no free trial that I could see, and it shows no crawl limits, user counts or contract terms. I found no reviews on its Trustpilot profile (checked 13 Nov 2026). Expect a sales process before you learn the cost. For a small business site this is the wrong tool.
Pricing is modular, so you choose the features your team needs and skip the rest.
No public prices. The pricing page offers a form and demo buttons only.
The site says you can audit millions of pages, with monitoring across many domains.
No crawl limits, crawl speed or user counts are published, so you cannot compare on numbers.
A demo is offered before any purchase, and reporting tools are built for stakeholders.
I found no reviews on its Trustpilot profile (checked 13 Nov 2026) and no free trial on the pricing page.
Four apps: Analyze, Monitor, Protect and Impact, including WCAG 2.2 accessibility and CI/CD testing.
Much of this is built for developer and operations teams, which a small business does not have.
Named customers on its site include Deloitte, Comcast and The Motley Fool.
Contract terms are not shown, so ask about minimum term and exit before you sign.
// score
Enterprise teams with millions of pages and developers to act on the findings.
You run a small or mid-sized site.
No public price or trial.
09Oncrawl
enterprise crawl and logsOncrawl is a technical SEO platform for large sites, built around a crawler and a log analyzer. Its site says it targets enterprise SEO teams, e-commerce, media, listing sites and agencies, and it offers guided analyses it calls Lenses, including ones for AI search and content.
The scale claims are the reason it is here. Oncrawl states more than 300 million URLs crawled with JavaScript and more than 500 million log lines processed daily, and it says the data is 100% unsampled. There are integrations and a REST API for teams that want the data in their own reports. Logos on the site include Ticketmaster and Skyscanner.
The catch is that I could find no price at all. The pricing page says there are different plans and stops there, with no figures, limits or contract term. The site offers a demo booking, and I saw no free trial mentioned. Trustpilot shows 3.2 out of 5 from 21 reviews (checked 13 Nov 2026), a small sample. I could not verify the scale claims. Unless your site has hundreds of thousands of URLs, a desktop crawler will serve you better.
The pricing page says different plans exist, so there may be a fit for mid-sized sites.
No prices, limits or contract terms are published. You must book a demo to learn the cost.
Claims 300 million+ URLs crawled with JavaScript and 500 million+ log lines processed daily.
Those are vendor claims I could not verify, and no per-plan crawl limit is shown.
Guided analyses called Lenses, including AI search and content, help structure an audit.
Trustpilot shows 3.2 out of 5 from 21 reviews (checked 13 Nov 2026), and I saw no free trial, only a demo.
Crawler, log analyzer, integrations and a REST API in one platform.
Aimed at enterprise, e-commerce and media teams. A small site would use a fraction of it.
It says its data is 100% unsampled, and shows logos such as Ticketmaster and Skyscanner.
With no public terms, you cannot judge cost or commitment before a sales call.
// score
Large e-commerce and media sites that need crawl and log data joined up.
You want to see a price before you talk to sales.
No public price or trial.
10Semrush Site Audit
audit bundled with SemrushSemrush Site Audit is the crawler built into Semrush. I would use it only if you already pay for the suite, because the pages I read do not say how many pages you can crawl. The SEO plan costs $139 a month, or $117.33 on annual billing, per the prices page.
What the product page does say is useful. It lists more than 140 technical and on-page checks and lets you schedule automatic, recurring audits. If your keyword research and position tracking already live in Semrush, having the audit in the same project saves switching tools. A free SEO Checker allows one check a day, which is enough to sample a single page.
The catch is missing numbers and a poor record. Neither the Site Audit page nor the prices page showed pages per audit or per month, and JavaScript rendering was not mentioned. I saw no refund policy. Trustpilot shows 1.6 out of 5 from 1,442 reviews, with 45% one-star (checked 13 Nov 2026), the weakest record among these tools. For a crawl alone, Screaming Frog costs £199 for a whole year.
Included with the Semrush plans, and a free SEO Checker allows one check a day.
The SEO plan is $139/mo, and I saw no refund policy on the prices page.
140+ technical and on-page checks, per the product page, across crawlability, content and links.
Pages per audit were not shown on the pages I read, and JavaScript rendering was not mentioned.
1,442 Trustpilot reviews let you read plenty of customer experiences before paying.
They average 1.6 out of 5, with 45% one-star (checked 13 Nov 2026). I saw no support hours listed.
Scheduled, recurring audits in the same project as your research and tracking.
As a crawler alone it is poor value next to a £199 yearly licence for Screaming Frog.
A 7-day trial of the paid plans lets you run an audit before the first charge.
With that review record, read the cancellation terms before you enter a card.
// score
Teams that already pay for Semrush.
You only need a site crawler.
Crawl limits not shown, and Trustpilot 1.6 out of 5.
// prices and limits come from each vendor's official pages, read on 13 Nov 2026, plus Trustpilot where I say so. Scale figures are vendor claims I could not verify.
Short Head-to-Head Comparisons
Three quick matchups. The verdicts are my opinion from official pages and customer reviews.
Screaming Frog or Sitebulb?
Screaming Frog scores 17 and Sitebulb 16. Both are desktop crawlers. Screaming Frog is free to 500 URLs and £199 a year after that, and gives you raw data. Sitebulb explains issues through more than 300 Hints on Pro and builds PDF reports, but its desktop price did not load when I read the page. Pick Screaming Frog for price and control, and Sitebulb if you want the findings explained.
Ahrefs Site Audit or Seobility?
Both score 15 and both run in the cloud with a free tier. Ahrefs gives 5,000 crawl credits a month per verified site. Seobility has a free Basic plan with a limited audit, and Premium at €59.90 a month for 25,000 pages per crawl plus rank and backlink monitoring. Pick Ahrefs for the bigger free crawl, and Seobility for an affordable paid step with a 4.4 Trustpilot score.
JetOctopus, Lumar or Oncrawl?
All three are for large sites. JetOctopus is the only one with public prices, from €299 a month for 500,000 URLs and 2 million log lines. Lumar and Oncrawl are quote only. Lumar reaches into accessibility and release testing. Oncrawl focuses on crawl and log analysis. Start with JetOctopus if you want to know the cost before a sales call.
My Recommendation: Who Should Pick What
If you only read one section, read this one.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
17 out of 20. Free to 500 URLs with the full feature list, then £199 a year for unlimited crawling.
Sitebulb
More than 300 Hints, scheduled audits and PDF reports on Pro. Start with the 14-day trial, no card needed.
Ahrefs Site Audit
5,000 crawl credits a month per verified site at no cost, in a hosted dashboard.
Seobility
Free Basic plan, then €59.90 a month for 25,000 pages per crawl with rank and backlink monitoring.
Netpeak Spider
$20 for a month, with a 3-day trial. Check the system requirements first, because the pricing page does not state them.
JetOctopus
From €299 a month for 500,000 URLs and log analysis, with unlimited seats. The only enterprise tool here with public prices.
// opinion from official pages and customer reviews, checked 13 Nov 2026. Count your URLs before you choose a plan.
Final Conclusion
Count Your URLs, Then Choose
The right crawler depends on the size of your site more than on any feature list. Under 500 URLs, Screaming Frog is free and complete. Up to a few thousand pages, add the free Ahrefs Site Audit for a cloud view. Tens of thousands of pages justify a licence for Screaming Frog or Sitebulb, or a cloud plan such as Seobility. Only sites with hundreds of thousands of URLs need JetOctopus, Lumar or Oncrawl.
My practical advice: run one full crawl, fix the errors that block pages from being reached, then crawl again to confirm. An audit you do not act on is only a long list. If you would rather hand over the reading and the fixing, that is my day job: cheap SEO services for small businesses, starting with a plain look at what is holding the site back.
Questions People Ask Me
What is the best SEO crawler?
On my scoring Screaming Frog SEO Spider is first with 17 out of 20: it is free to 500 URLs with the full feature list, and £199 a year removes the limit. Sitebulb scores 16 and Ahrefs Site Audit 15. Scores are my opinion from official pages, not test results.
What is the best free site audit tool?
For a small site, the free version of Screaming Frog, which crawls up to 500 URLs. For a cloud option, Ahrefs Site Audit gives 5,000 crawl credits a month per verified site. Seobility also has a free Basic plan with a limited audit for one project.
How much does an SEO crawler cost?
From nothing to several hundred a month. Screaming Frog is £199 a year and Netpeak Spider $20 a month. Seobility Premium is €59.90 a month. SE Ranking and Semrush include audits in suites at $129 and $139 a month. JetOctopus starts at €299 a month, and Lumar and Oncrawl quote on request.
Desktop or cloud crawler: which should I choose?
A desktop crawler such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb costs a flat fee and crawls as often as you like, but it uses your own computer. A cloud crawler runs on the vendor servers on a schedule and is easier to share, but it is usually limited by pages or credits. Small sites do well with desktop, and teams often prefer cloud.
Do I need JavaScript rendering?
Only if important content or links on your site are added by JavaScript. Sitebulb lists JavaScript crawling on every plan, and SE Ranking can enable JavaScript rendering, though it says audits take longer. A simple site with a standard theme usually does not need it.
What is log file analysis?
It means reading your server logs to see which URLs search engine bots requested and how often. JetOctopus and Oncrawl include it. It matters on sites with hundreds of thousands of URLs, where bots may never reach some pages. A small site can skip it.
How often should I audit my site?
For a small site, once a month and after any big change such as a redesign or a migration. Cloud tools can do it for you: SE Ranking schedules audits weekly or monthly, and Sitebulb Pro and Semrush also offer scheduled audits.
Is Screaming Frog free?
Yes, up to 500 URLs per crawl. Its pricing page lists the same features for the free and paid versions, and free technical support for both. A paid licence costs £199 a year and removes the crawl limit, subject to the memory and storage of your computer.
Which crawler is best for a large site?
For hundreds of thousands of URLs, look at JetOctopus, Lumar and Oncrawl. JetOctopus publishes prices from €299 a month for 500,000 URLs and includes log analysis. Lumar says it can audit millions of pages, and Oncrawl claims more than 300 million URLs crawled. Both of those quote on request.
How did you research and score these tools?
I read the pricing and product pages of each tool for the entry price, crawl limit and trial or refund terms, then read its Trustpilot record on 13 Nov 2026 where one exists. I scored four criteria worth five points each: real cost, crawl capacity, depth of checks, and trust and trial. Scores are my opinion from published information. I did not run benchmark crawls.
Sources I Trust
The three pages behind the key facts: the free and paid terms of the top pick, the limits of the free cloud audit, and the public record of the best-reviewed tool here.
- Screaming Frog: SEO Spider pricing
- Ahrefs: Webmaster Tools limits
- Trustpilot: Seobility customer reviews
// last checked 13 Nov 2026. Prices and limits can change, so confirm on the official site before you pay.