What is Screaming Frog SEO Spider used for?

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a desktop website crawler for Windows, macOS and Ubuntu that SEO professionals use for technical site audits. It is a good fit for technical SEO audits for client sites and checking redirects before a site migration.

Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider free?

Yes. Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free plan, and paid plans start at $279 per seat per year.

Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider open source?

No. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to Screaming Frog SEO Spider include OpenSEO.

Can I self-host Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

Yes. Although Screaming Frog SEO Spider is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers.

What are some alternatives to Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

Screaming Frog SEO Spider competes with Sitebulb, Botify and Semrush. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider: pricing and alternatives

About Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a downloadable crawler from the UK digital marketing agency Screaming Frog. It runs on Windows, macOS and Ubuntu, follows the links on a site much as a search engine would, and reports what it finds so SEOs can audit technical issues.

Typical findings include broken links, redirect chains, page titles and meta descriptions, duplicate content, response codes and indexability problems, and the tool can render JavaScript and pull in data from other sources. The same company also sells a Log File Analyser. A free version with a crawl limit is available, with a paid licence for full use. Because it runs locally, it is popular with agencies and consultants.

Key features

Desktop crawler for Windows, macOS and Ubuntu
Finds broken links and redirect chains
Reports on titles, meta descriptions and headings
Detection of duplicate content
JavaScript rendering for modern sites
Export of crawl data for reporting

Good fit for

→Technical SEO audits for client sites
→Checking redirects before a site migration

Tags: seo; site-crawler; technical-seo; site-audit; desktop-software; link-checker; agencies

Screaming Frog SEO Spider: questions and answers

What is Screaming Frog SEO Spider used for?: Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a desktop website crawler for Windows, macOS and Ubuntu that SEO professionals use for technical site audits. It is a good fit for technical SEO audits for client sites and checking redirects before a site migration.
Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider free?: Yes. Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a free plan, and paid plans start at $279 per seat per year.
Is Screaming Frog SEO Spider open source?: No. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to Screaming Frog SEO Spider include OpenSEO.
Can I self-host Screaming Frog SEO Spider?: Yes. Although Screaming Frog SEO Spider is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers.
What are some alternatives to Screaming Frog SEO Spider?: Screaming Frog SEO Spider competes with Sitebulb, Botify and Semrush. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Screaming Frog SEO Spider alternatives.