Screaming Frog SEO Spider

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.

Core auditing features include broken-link detection, redirect analysis, title and meta-description checks, hreflang auditing, duplicate-content discovery, robots.txt testing and XML sitemap analysis.

Advanced capabilities include JavaScript rendering through headless Chromium, crawl comparison, custom extraction, custom source-code searches, custom JavaScript, segmented crawls and rendered-page screenshots.

The tool can validate structured data, audit AMP pages, check spelling and grammar, review accessibility with the axe rule set, generate XML sitemaps and visualize internal linking structures.

Integrations include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, PageSpeed Insights, Majestic, Ahrefs, Moz and Looker Studio. AI connections support OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama and Anthropic workflows where configured by the user.

The free version has no stated time limit and supports up to 500 URLs per crawl. It does not require an account or email capture, but advanced configuration, saved crawls, JavaScript rendering and API integrations are restricted.

The paid licence costs £199 per user per year on the official pricing page. The vendor also lists currency prices of $279 and €245. Licences last one year and are purchased per user.

Bulk pricing is listed for five or more licences: £189 per licence for five to nine users, £179 for 10 to 19 users and £169 for 20 or more users.

Pros

• Broad technical SEO coverage with more than 300 issue checks.
• Free version supports meaningful audits of smaller websites.
• Runs locally across Windows, macOS and Linux.
• Offers flexible crawling, extraction, rendering and export controls.
• Connects with major analytics, search, speed and backlink APIs.

Cons

• Advanced features require an annual licence.
• The free version limits each crawl to 500 URLs.
• Large crawls depend on local memory, storage and hardware.
• The desktop interface can require technical SEO knowledge.
• It is not a browser-based collaborative platform by default.

Sitebulb provides desktop and cloud technical SEO auditing, prioritized reports, JavaScript crawling and crawl comparison.

Semrush Site Audit offers browser-based technical auditing, recurring crawls, issue prioritization and integration with the broader Semrush marketing platform.

Ahrefs Site Audit is a cloud-based alternative that combines technical crawling with backlink, keyword and competitive research features.

Lumar and Oncrawl are comparable options for teams seeking larger-scale crawling, automation and enterprise reporting.

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.