Free
$0
Free version with up to 500 URLs per crawl. Advanced configuration, saved crawls, JavaScript rendering and API integrations are restricted.
Check current pricing →S
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Desktop website crawler for technical SEO audits, site structure analysis, JavaScript rendering, issue detection and data export.
Editorial overview
Aggregated Overview
The product provides a broad technical SEO feature set, desktop support across three operating systems, extensive API integrations and a free 500-URL version. Capterra reported strong user ratings, while the main usability trade-off is the depth of configuration required for advanced audits.
This profile combines documented product information and independent evidence where available. It is not a hands-on test unless TechZella explicitly identifies one.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Decision Snapshot
A quick way to understand who this product may suit, where its limits matter, and which facts are most relevant before you compare alternatives.
Platforms
Linux, macOS, Windows
TechZella assessment
8.8/10
Overview
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a locally installed website crawler for technical SEO audits. It crawls websites, URL lists and XML sitemaps, then organizes findings into searchable tabs and exportable reports.
The software identifies more than 300 SEO issues, warnings and opportunities. Its reports cover links, redirects, metadata, directives, canonicals, structured data, images, JavaScript rendering, internal linking and site architecture.
The crawler runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. It uses memory or database storage, allowing larger crawls when the computer has suitable memory and disk capacity.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Features
Technical SEO Auditing
- Broken link, client error and server error detection
- Redirect chain and redirect-loop analysis
- Page title, meta description and heading checks
- Robots directives and canonical analysis
- Hreflang auditing
- Indexability and crawl-depth analysis
- Exact, near-duplicate and semantic similarity checks
Crawling and Rendering
- Spider mode for website crawling
- List mode for URL-list crawling
- XML sitemap crawling
- JavaScript rendering with headless Chromium
- Custom user agents and HTTP headers
- Custom robots.txt testing
- Rendered-page screenshot analysis
Content and Extraction
- Custom source-code search
- Custom extraction using XPath, CSS selectors or regular expressions
- Custom JavaScript snippets
- Spelling and grammar checks
- Image and alternative-text auditing
- HTML and rendered HTML storage
Analysis and Reporting
- Crawl comparison
- Internal-link and site-structure visualization
- XML and image sitemap generation
- Structured-data and rich-result validation
- AMP crawling and validation
- Accessibility auditing with axe rules
- Looker Studio crawl reports
Integrations and AI
- Google Analytics API integration
- Google Search Console APIs
- PageSpeed Insights API integration
- Majestic, Ahrefs and Moz link metrics integrations
- OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama and Anthropic AI connections
- Exportable crawl data and reports
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Specifications
| Deployment | Locally installed desktop application |
|---|---|
| Platform | Windows, macOS and Ubuntu Linux |
| Free trial | Free version available with 500-URL crawl limit |
| Paid licence | Annual, per-user licence |
| Crawl storage | Memory or database storage |
| Rendering engine | Headless Chromium for JavaScript rendering |
| API | Google Analytics, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Majestic, Ahrefs, Moz, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama and Anthropic APIs |
| Integrations | Google Analytics, Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Ahrefs, Majestic, Moz, Looker Studio and AI providers |
| Minimum operating requirement | 64-bit operating system with at least 4 GB RAM available |
| Current version | 24.3 |
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Pricing & Plans
Paid licence
£199 / $279 / €245
year
Per-user annual licence with unlimited crawl capacity subject to available memory and storage, plus advanced features and configuration.
Check current pricing →Bulk licence, 5 to 9 users
£189 per licence
year
Discounted per-user annual pricing for five to nine licences.
Check current pricing →Bulk licence, 10 to 19 users
£179 per licence
year
Discounted per-user annual pricing for 10 to 19 licences.
Check current pricing →Bulk licence, 20 or more users
£169 per licence
year
Discounted per-user annual pricing for 20 or more licences.
Check current pricing →Pricing may change. Verify current plans on the vendor's website.
Our evidence-based assessment
TechZella Score
A proprietary editorial score based on product capabilities, usability, value, performance, support and user sentiment evidence.
8.8/10Moderate confidence
The product provides a broad technical SEO feature set, desktop support across three operating systems, extensive API integrations and a free 500-URL version. Capterra reported strong user ratings, while the main usability trade-off is the depth of configuration required for advanced audits.
Methodology v1.0. The assessment weighs feature coverage (25%), ease of use (15%), value for money (20%), performance (15%), support (10%) and user sentiment (15%), using researched product evidence and verified review evidence where available. It is a TechZella editorial assessment, not a direct user-review average.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Pros & Cons
Pros
- Broad technical SEO audit coverage.
- Free version supports up to 500 URLs per crawl.
- Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Flexible custom extraction, scripting and crawl configuration.
- Strong integration coverage for analytics, search, performance and backlink data.
Cons
- Advanced functionality requires an annual licence.
- Free crawls are limited to 500 URLs.
- Large crawls require suitable local memory and storage.
- The interface may be demanding for new SEO users.
- The standard product is desktop software rather than a native collaborative web application.
Community feedback
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Screaming Frog SEO Spider Competitors & Alternatives
Compare similar products directly, then see which alternatives may make more sense when your requirements differ.
Direct competitors
These products address broadly similar requirements. The descriptions focus on documented reasons a buyer might compare them with Screaming Frog SEO Spider.
FAQ
Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider free?
Yes. The free version supports crawls of up to 500 URLs at a time and excludes several advanced features.
Does it offer a free trial?
The vendor provides a free version rather than a time-limited trial. Users can download it without signing up.
What operating systems are supported?
The SEO Spider supports Windows, macOS and Ubuntu Linux. Current downloads also list Intel and Apple Silicon macOS packages, plus multiple Linux architectures.
Does it have an API?
It connects to external APIs including Google Analytics, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Majestic, Ahrefs and Moz. It also supports AI API connections for OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama and Anthropic.
Can it crawl JavaScript websites?
Yes. Licensed users can enable JavaScript rendering through headless Chromium to inspect rendered content and links.
Can it schedule crawls?
Scheduling is listed among the product features. The application also supports saving, reopening and comparing crawl data in the licensed version.