Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Published by Screaming FrogWatch on YouTube
Updated Oct 4, 2026
SEO Tools
Screaming Frog
Desktop website crawler for technical SEO audits
From $23.25/mo
Screaming Frog at a glance
from our research
Desktop crawler for Windows, macOS and Linux that audits sites for 300+ technical SEO issues
Crawl size depends on your computer's memory and storage, not on a plan tier
No keyword database, backlink index or rank tracking, and the free version stops at 500 URLs
Paid license: $279 per user a year, with no monthly option
Overview
What is Screaming Frog?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a desktop website crawler from Screaming Frog Ltd, a UK company founded in 2010 and based in Henley-on-Thames, which is also an SEO agency. The SEO Spider runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it's used for technical audits: broken links, redirects, page titles and meta data, hreflang, duplicate content and XML sitemaps.
A crawl starts from one URL in spider mode or from an uploaded list. Results fill tabs and filters, and the Issues tab flags more than 300 issues, warnings and opportunities, with guidance Screaming Frog says is written by SEOs rather than AI. With a paid license, it can render pages in a built-in headless Chromium to crawl JavaScript sites, scrape elements with XPath, CSSPath or regex through Custom Extraction, compare two crawls, run on a schedule and work headless from the command line. Crawl data is stored in a database on your computer, so the number of URLs a crawl can hold depends on the memory and storage you give it.
A crawl can pull in data from Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights, plus link metrics from the Majestic, Ahrefs and Moz APIs, and its AI features connect to OpenAI, Gemini or Ollama with your own API key. Results export to CSV, Excel or Google Sheets, with a time-series export for Looker Studio. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs. A paid license, sold per user for one year, removes that limit, and log file analysis is a separate product with its own license.
Our verdict on Screaming Frog
Updated Oct 4, 2026Pricing checked Oct 4, 2026
The SEO Spider is for people who audit websites for a living, and for owners of sites big or complicated enough to need a proper crawl. Its strength is control. You decide what gets crawled and how, render JavaScript when a site depends on it, pull any element out of the HTML with XPath or regex, and compare two crawls to see what changed. Because it runs on your own computer, crawl size is set by your hardware rather than a plan tier, and the data stays with you unless you send it to a connected API.
What it leaves out matters just as much. There's no keyword database, no backlink index and no rank tracking, so link metrics have to come in through the Majestic, Ahrefs or Moz APIs. It's a desktop program, and for crawls of several million URLs Screaming Frog recommends an SSD and 16GB of RAM. The free version is limited to 500 URLs and can't save crawls, which makes it fine for a small site or for trying the tool, and not much more.
A paid license costs $279 per user a year, with no monthly option, and drops to $265 each for 5 to 9 licenses, $249 for 10 to 19 and $235 for 20 or more. Renewal costs the same as a new license, and there are no sales or discount codes. Each license belongs to one person and can be transferred once a year. Licenses don't renew automatically unless auto renew was chosen at purchase, and a lapsed license falls back to the free version, which can't open saved crawls. Log analysis means a second license, for the Log File Analyser.
Buy the SEO Spider when technical audits are a regular job and someone on the team is comfortable configuring a crawler; it sits next to a research suite rather than replacing one. If you'd rather not run crawls on your own machine, Ahrefs' Site Audit runs on Ahrefs' own crawler and is free for sites you verify, with 5,000 crawl credits a month per project. Teams that want audits, keyword data and rank tracking in one subscription should look at Semrush, whose SEO plan costs $139 a month and can schedule Site Audit crawls daily or weekly.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Screaming Frog pros and cons
What it does well
- Custom Extraction scrapes any element with XPath, CSSPath or regex
- JavaScript rendering crawls pages in a built-in headless Chromium
- Bulk pricing falls to $235 per license a year at 20 licenses or more
- Crawl data stays on your computer unless you send it to a connected API
Where it falls short
- Each license covers one person, with one transfer allowed a year
- Log file analysis needs a separate Log File Analyser license
- Expired licenses revert to the free version and can't reopen saved crawls
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Screaming Frog pricing
Screaming Frog's paid plans start at $23.25/month, below the $49 median across the 5 tools in our SEO Tools ranking. A free plan is available.
Free
$0
Free plan
- Crawls up to 500 URLs
- Broken links, errors and redirects
- Page titles and meta data analysis
- XML sitemap generator
- Site visualisations
Usage: Each crawl stops at 500 URLs. Crawls can't be saved, and the crawl configuration, scheduling, JavaScript rendering, custom extraction and Google integrations are locked.
Paid license
$23.25/mo
per license, billed yearly
Up to 4 users
- No crawl URL limit, set by your memory
- JavaScript rendering
- Custom extraction and source code search
- Scheduling, saved crawls and crawl comparison
- Google Analytics and Search Console links
Usage: $279 per license per year for 1 to 4 licenses, one license per user. Licenses don't renew automatically unless auto renew is ticked at purchase; an expired license returns to the free 500-URL version.
5 to 9 licenses
$22.08/mo
per license, billed yearly, 5 to 9 licenses
Minimum 5 seats
- No crawl URL limit, set by your memory
- JavaScript rendering
- Custom extraction and source code search
- Scheduling, saved crawls and crawl comparison
- Google Analytics and Search Console links
Usage: $265 per license per year when buying 5 to 9 licenses, one license per user.
10 to 19 licenses
$20.75/mo
per license, billed yearly, 10 to 19 licenses
Minimum 10 seats
- No crawl URL limit, set by your memory
- JavaScript rendering
- Custom extraction and source code search
- Scheduling, saved crawls and crawl comparison
- Google Analytics and Search Console links
Usage: $249 per license per year when buying 10 to 19 licenses, one license per user.
20+ licenses
$19.58/mo
per license, billed yearly, 20 or more licenses
Minimum 20 seats
- No crawl URL limit, set by your memory
- JavaScript rendering
- Custom extraction and source code search
- Scheduling, saved crawls and crawl comparison
- Google Analytics and Search Console links
Usage: $235 per license per year when buying 20 or more licenses, one license per user.
Checked against Screaming Frog Ltd.'s pricing page on October 4, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Screaming Frog features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Platform
- Included:Data APIProgrammatic access to the tool's data for dashboards and internal reporting.Command line and scheduled exports, no web API
- Not included:White-label reportingClient-ready branded reports on a schedule.
Research Data
- Not included:Backlink index & analysisA crawler-backed index of links pointing at any domain, with history and anchor data.
- Not included:Competitor traffic analysisEstimates which keywords and pages drive a competitor's organic traffic.
- Not included:Keyword research databaseVolume, difficulty and intent estimates across a large keyword corpus.
- Not included:Paid search & ad dataCompetitor ad copy, spend estimates and paid keyword coverage.
Site Auditing
- Included:Automated site auditScheduled crawls that flag technical issues with severity and guidance.
- Included:Custom data extractionScrape arbitrary elements from pages during a crawl with XPath or CSS selectors.
- Included:JavaScript renderingRenders JavaScript so single-page applications are crawled as a browser sees them.
- Included:Log file analysisReads server logs to show what search engines actually crawled.Separate Log File Analyser license
Content & Rankings
- Not included:Automated content briefsGenerates an outline and requirements for writers from SERP analysis.
- Not included:Daily rank trackingTracks positions daily across locations and devices.
- Not included:Local SEO toolsListing management and local pack tracking for physical locations.
- Not included:On-page content editorScores a draft against currently ranking pages and suggests terms and structure.
Ecosystem
Screaming Frog integrations
- Ahrefs
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Majestic
- PageSpeed Insights
Videos
Watch Screaming Frog in action
Product walkthroughs from Screaming Frog's own YouTube channel.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Published by Screaming FrogWatch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top Screaming Frog alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Fit check
Will Screaming Frog fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Knowledge base
Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
Deployment
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
- Mid-size companies
- Enterprises
FAQs
Screaming Frog FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Screaming Frog free?
Yes, with limits. The free version of the SEO Spider crawls up to 500 URLs per crawl and covers broken links, redirects, page titles and meta data, directives, hreflang, exact duplicates, XML sitemaps and site visualisations. It can't save crawls, and the crawl configuration, JavaScript rendering, custom extraction, scheduling and Google integrations are locked. A paid license removes those limits for $279 per user a year, and there's no trial of the paid version. See Screaming Frog pricing.
How much does a Screaming Frog license cost?
A license costs $279 per user a year. Bulk purchases lower the price to $265 per license for 5 to 9 licenses, $249 for 10 to 19 and $235 for 20 or more. There's no monthly plan: licenses last one year, renewing costs the same as buying new, and the vendor runs no sales or discount codes. Renewal is manual unless you choose auto renew at purchase, which can't be switched on later, and an expired license returns the SEO Spider to the free version.
How many URLs can Screaming Frog crawl?
Up to 500 per crawl on the free version, and no fixed limit with a paid license. A paid crawl is limited by your computer instead: the SEO Spider stores crawl data in a database by default, so the number of URLs it can handle depends on the memory and storage you allocate. For crawls of several million URLs, Screaming Frog recommends a 64-bit operating system, an SSD and 16GB of RAM.
Can a Screaming Frog license be shared?
No. Each license key is for one person for the whole term of the license, so two people need two licenses. That person can use it on more than one device. If someone leaves the company, the license can be transferred to a colleague once a year. Bulk pricing starts at five licenses, at $265 each a year, falling to $235 at 20 or more.
Does Screaming Frog analyze log files?
Not the SEO Spider. Log analysis is a separate product, the SEO Log File Analyser, with its own license. Its free version handles 1,000 log events and keeps one project at a time, and a license that removes those limits costs $139 per user a year. Like the SEO Spider, it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it can verify search engine bots and combine log data with crawl data.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Screaming Frog Ltd.'s public website and documentation (United Kingdom). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 4, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2010
- 1 language supported
- screamingfrog.co.uk
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