screaming-frog vs lumar
Screaming Frog vs Lumar — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
Screaming Frog and Lumar represent two different approaches to technical SEO crawling. Screaming Frog is the desktop crawler that's become the industry standard for SEO audits, while Lumar positions itself as an enterprise website intelligence platform built for large-scale operations.
The choice between them typically comes down to scale and budget. Screaming Frog excels as a hands-on auditing tool for agencies and individual SEOs, while Lumar targets enterprise teams that need automated monitoring, team collaboration, and executive reporting capabilities.
Feature Comparison
Screaming Frog's strength lies in its comprehensive desktop crawling capabilities. It identifies broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, missing meta descriptions, and structured data issues across websites up to 500 URLs for free (unlimited with the paid version). The tool provides detailed CSV exports, custom extraction using XPath and regex, and integrations with Google Analytics and Search Console data. Lumar takes a different approach with cloud-based crawling that focuses on continuous monitoring rather than one-time audits. It offers automated crawl scheduling, accessibility monitoring beyond basic SEO, executive dashboards with trend analysis, and team collaboration features. Lumar's platform includes API access, white-label reporting, and can handle enterprise-scale websites with millions of pages without the memory limitations that affect desktop crawlers. The core difference is scope: Screaming Frog excels at deep, manual auditing where you need to dig into specific issues, while Lumar automates the monitoring process and surfaces trends over time.
Pricing Comparison
Screaming Frog offers exceptional value with its free tier covering most small to medium websites (up to 500 URLs). The paid license costs £149/year and removes crawl limits while adding advanced features like custom extraction and API access. This makes it incredibly cost-effective for agencies and consultants who need powerful auditing capabilities. Lumar uses custom enterprise pricing, typically starting in the thousands per month depending on website size and feature requirements. While this puts it out of reach for smaller operations, enterprise customers get dedicated account management, custom integrations, and the infrastructure to monitor multiple large websites continuously.
Best For
Screaming Frog is the better choice for SEO consultants, agencies, and in-house teams that need hands-on technical auditing capabilities. If you're conducting site audits, preparing migration plans, or need to dig into technical issues across small to medium websites, Screaming Frog's combination of power and affordability is unmatched. Lumar makes sense for enterprise organizations with large websites (100k+ pages) that need continuous technical SEO monitoring, team collaboration features, and executive-level reporting. If you're managing multiple large sites, need automated alerts for technical issues, or require accessibility monitoring beyond basic SEO, Lumar's platform approach delivers value despite the higher cost.
The Verdict
Screaming Frog wins for 90% of use cases due to its combination of comprehensive features and accessible pricing. Unless you're managing enterprise-scale websites that require continuous monitoring and team collaboration, Screaming Frog's desktop approach provides better value and more detailed insights for technical SEO work.