screaming-frog vs screaming-frog-seo-spider
Screaming Frog vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider — clarifying the difference between these identical technical SEO crawlers.
Quick Verdict
There's no meaningful comparison to be made here — "Screaming Frog" and "Screaming Frog SEO Spider" are the same product. The confusion likely stems from how the tool is referenced across different contexts, with some calling it simply "Screaming Frog" while others use the full product name "Screaming Frog SEO Spider."
Both entries point to the same company (founded 2010, headquartered in Henley-on-Thames), the same website domain (screamingfrog.co.uk), and describe identical functionality. This is a single desktop crawler tool that has become the industry standard for technical SEO auditing.
Feature Comparison
Since these are the same product, there are no feature differences to compare. The Screaming Frog SEO Spider crawls websites to identify technical SEO issues including broken links, redirect chains, duplicate content, missing meta descriptions, oversized images, and schema markup problems. It exports data to CSV for analysis and integrates with Google Analytics and Search Console for enhanced reporting. The tool offers both free and paid versions, with the free tier limiting crawls to 500 URLs. The paid license removes this restriction and adds features like JavaScript rendering, custom extraction, and API access.
Pricing Comparison
There's no pricing difference because this is one product. The free version handles sites up to 500 pages, which covers most small business websites. The paid license costs £149/year and removes the URL limit while adding advanced features like form submission, custom robots.txt testing, and scheduled crawling.
Best For
Choose Screaming Frog (the actual product) when you need comprehensive technical SEO auditing, whether you're an agency handling multiple client sites or an in-house SEO managing enterprise websites. It's particularly valuable for large site migrations, regular technical health checks, and identifying crawlability issues that impact search performance. The tool works best for users comfortable with desktop software and CSV data analysis, rather than those preferring cloud-based dashboards with built-in visualization.
The Verdict
This comparison highlights the importance of clear tool naming and documentation. There's only one Screaming Frog crawler, regardless of whether it's called "Screaming Frog" or "Screaming Frog SEO Spider." If you're evaluating technical SEO crawlers, focus on comparing Screaming Frog against actual alternatives like Sitebulb, DeepCrawl, or OnCrawl rather than different names for the same tool.