Screaming Frog
Technical SEOIndustry-standard website crawler for technical SEO auditing
Overview
Screaming Frog established itself as the go-to technical SEO crawler when it launched in 2010, and it remains the industry standard desktop solution. Built by a small UK team, this Windows/Mac application crawls websites to identify technical issues that impact search performance. Unlike cloud-based enterprise crawlers, Screaming Frog runs locally on your machine, making it accessible to individual SEOs and small agencies.
The tool excels at finding the technical problems that hurt rankings: broken internal links, redirect chains, duplicate content, missing meta descriptions, and malformed structured data. While newer cloud crawlers offer more sophisticated analysis, Screaming Frog's combination of power, affordability, and ease of use keeps it relevant for most technical SEO work.
The free version handles sites up to 500 URLs, making it useful for small business audits and quick technical checks. The paid version removes URL limits and adds JavaScript rendering, which became essential as more sites adopted SPAs and dynamic content generation.
Key features
Website Crawling
Crawls websites to identify technical issues like broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, and missing meta tags.
JavaScript Rendering
Renders pages using Chrome to analyze SPAs and JavaScript-heavy sites that traditional crawlers miss.
Custom Extraction
Extract specific elements using CSS path, XPath, or regex for detailed technical analysis.
Log File Analysis
Analyze server log files to understand search engine crawl behavior and identify crawl budget issues.
Structured Data Testing
Validates JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa structured markup across entire websites.
XML Sitemap Generation
Automatically generates XML sitemaps based on crawl data with customizable filters and priorities.
Advanced Filtering
Filter crawl results by status codes, content types, response times, and custom criteria for targeted analysis.
Bulk Export Options
Export data to CSV, Excel, or databases for further analysis and reporting to stakeholders.
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Up to 500 URLs, basic crawling, link analysis, meta data audit |
| Paid | $259/year | Unlimited URLs, advanced exports, JavaScript rendering, custom filters |
FAQ
What's the difference between free and paid Screaming Frog?
The free version crawls up to 500 URLs and includes basic features. The paid version removes URL limits, adds JavaScript rendering, advanced exports, and log file analysis for $259/year.
Can Screaming Frog crawl JavaScript-heavy websites?
Yes, the paid version includes JavaScript rendering using Chrome to crawl SPAs and dynamically generated content. The free version only crawls static HTML.
How does Screaming Frog compare to cloud-based crawlers?
Screaming Frog runs locally on your desktop, giving you full control and faster crawling for smaller sites. Cloud crawlers like Botify and Lumar offer better scalability for enterprise sites but cost significantly more.
Does Screaming Frog slow down websites during crawling?
You can control crawl speed through delay settings and thread limits. Default settings are conservative, but aggressive crawling can impact server performance on smaller sites.
Can I use Screaming Frog for competitor analysis?
Yes, but respect robots.txt and crawl ethically. It's excellent for analyzing competitor site structure, finding their key pages, and identifying technical SEO opportunities.
How does Screaming Frog compare?
View all comparisons →Review Sentiment
414 reviews across 3 sources
Bottom line
Screaming Frog costs nothing and does industry-standard website crawler well enough to earn a 4.8/5 from 414 users. Just know that resource-intensive desktop app.
People love
- +Industry-standard website crawler for thorough technical SEO audits
- +Uncovers broken links, duplicate content, and missing tags with deep crawling
- +Very affordable at $259/year compared to cloud-based SEO suites
Common complaints
- –Resource-intensive desktop app — crawling large sites can slow down your computer
- –Steep learning curve with Excel-like interface and technical terminology
- –No cloud version means crawl data is not automatically saved or shared
Last updated Feb 2026