jetoctopus vs screaming-frog-seo-spider
JetOctopus vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
JetOctopus and Screaming Frog represent two different philosophies in technical SEO crawling. Screaming Frog is the established desktop crawler that's been the industry standard since 2010, while JetOctopus is the newer cloud-based enterprise solution launched in 2017 that promises to handle massive sites without hardware limitations.
The core difference comes down to deployment and data integration. Screaming Frog runs locally on your machine and focuses purely on crawling, while JetOctopus operates in the cloud and combines crawling with log file analysis and Google Search Console data for a more comprehensive audit picture.
Feature Comparison
Screaming Frog excels at traditional crawling fundamentals — broken links, redirects, duplicate content, schema markup validation, and page speed insights. It crawls up to 500 URLs for free, with unlimited crawling available for £149/year. The tool integrates with Google Analytics, Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights, but you're limited by your local machine's processing power and memory. JetOctopus takes a different approach with cloud-based crawling that can handle millions of pages without choking your laptop. Its standout feature is log file analysis integration, allowing you to cross-reference what search engines actually crawl versus what your site serves. The platform also pulls in Search Console data and provides JavaScript rendering capabilities that Screaming Frog only offers in its more expensive configurations. Where JetOctopus really differentiates is in data visualization and collaborative features. Multiple team members can access the same crawl data, set up automated monitoring, and generate white-label reports. Screaming Frog remains a single-user desktop application, though recent updates have improved its visualization capabilities.
Pricing Comparison
Screaming Frog wins decisively on budget accessibility. The free version handles most small site audits, while the full license costs just £149/year ($185). For agencies and consultants working with multiple smaller sites, this represents exceptional value. JetOctopus starts at $60/month with no free tier, making it $720 annually — nearly 4x Screaming Frog's cost. However, this pricing includes unlimited crawling, log analysis, team collaboration, and automated monitoring features that would require additional tools or services with Screaming Frog. For large enterprises crawling millions of pages monthly, JetOctopus can actually be more cost-effective than upgrading hardware and managing multiple Screaming Frog licenses.
Best For
Screaming Frog is better for SEO consultants, small agencies, and in-house teams working with sites under 100,000 pages. If you need reliable crawling, don't mind desktop software, and want to minimize tool costs, Screaming Frog remains unbeatable. It's also ideal for teams already invested in the Screaming Frog ecosystem with trained users who know the interface. JetOctopus suits large enterprises, agencies managing massive e-commerce sites, and teams prioritizing log analysis integration. If you're crawling millions of pages, need team collaboration features, want automated monitoring, or require log file analysis to understand search engine crawling patterns, JetOctopus justifies its higher cost through enhanced capabilities and cloud scalability.
The Verdict
Choose Screaming Frog unless you specifically need JetOctopus's cloud scaling or log analysis features. For 80% of technical SEO work, Screaming Frog delivers everything you need at a fraction of the cost. However, if you're managing enterprise-level sites where log analysis and team collaboration are critical, JetOctopus provides capabilities that Screaming Frog simply cannot match through its desktop architecture.