jetoctopus vs screaming-frog
JetOctopus vs Screaming Frog — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
The choice between JetOctopus and Screaming Frog often comes down to scale and budget. Screaming Frog dominates the technical SEO space with its free desktop crawler that's become the industry standard for auditing websites. JetOctopus positions itself as the enterprise alternative, offering cloud-based crawling with advanced integrations that desktop tools simply can't match.
Most SEO professionals start with Screaming Frog's free version, but as websites grow larger or teams need collaborative features, they hit limitations. JetOctopus targets this exact pain point with unlimited crawling, log file analysis, and team collaboration features that make it attractive for agencies and large organizations managing multiple sites.
Feature Comparison
Screaming Frog excels at comprehensive technical auditing with its desktop application that crawls up to 500 URLs free or unlimited with the paid version at £149/year. It identifies broken links, analyzes page titles and meta descriptions, finds duplicate content, and audits redirects with remarkable detail. The tool integrates with Google Analytics, Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights, making it a one-stop solution for most technical SEO needs. JetOctopus takes a different approach with cloud-based crawling that removes size limitations entirely. Its standout feature is log file analysis integration, allowing you to see which pages Googlebot actually crawls versus what your sitemap claims. The platform combines crawl data with Google Search Console insights and server logs to provide a complete picture of search engine behavior. JetOctopus also offers advanced features like JavaScript rendering, custom extraction rules, and real-time monitoring that enterprise teams require. The collaboration difference is stark. Screaming Frog saves crawl data locally to your machine, making team sharing cumbersome. JetOctopus stores everything in the cloud with user permissions, shared dashboards, and automated reporting that keeps teams synchronized across multiple projects.
Pricing Comparison
Screaming Frog wins on affordability with a generous free tier for sites under 500 URLs and just £149 annually for unlimited crawling. This pricing has remained stable for years, making it incredibly cost-effective for freelancers and small agencies. There are no user limits or collaboration restrictions beyond the technical limitations of desktop software. JetOctopus starts at $60 monthly, making it 4x more expensive than Screaming Frog's annual license. However, this price includes unlimited crawling, log file analysis, team collaboration, and cloud storage that would require multiple tools to replicate. For agencies managing dozens of client sites or enterprises with complex technical requirements, the per-user cost often justifies itself through time savings and advanced capabilities.
Best For
Screaming Frog is the better choice for individual SEO professionals, small agencies, and anyone working with sites under 100,000 pages. Its learning curve is gentle, documentation is excellent, and the free version handles most auditing needs. If you're doing technical SEO audits, competitive analysis, or troubleshooting specific issues, Screaming Frog's desktop interface and detailed reporting excel at these tasks. JetOctopus makes sense for large agencies, enterprise SEO teams, and organizations managing multiple complex websites. If you need log file analysis, JavaScript rendering, team collaboration, or automated monitoring, JetOctopus provides capabilities that Screaming Frog simply cannot match. The cloud-based approach also works better for teams that need to access crawl data from multiple locations or integrate with existing workflows.
The Verdict
Choose Screaming Frog unless you specifically need enterprise features or log file analysis. Its combination of powerful auditing capabilities, reasonable pricing, and proven reliability makes it the right choice for 90% of SEO professionals. JetOctopus justifies its higher cost only when you're managing large-scale technical SEO operations that require cloud collaboration, advanced integrations, or detailed server log analysis that goes beyond basic crawling.