sitebulb vs screaming-frog-seo-spider
Sitebulb vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider — features, pricing, and which to choose for your SEO workflow in 2026.
Quick Verdict
Both Sitebulb and Screaming Frog SEO Spider are UK-based website crawlers designed for technical SEO audits, but they serve different user types. Screaming Frog established itself as the industry standard desktop crawler since 2010, favored by technical SEO professionals who want granular control over their audits. Sitebulb, launched in 2017, positions itself as the more user-friendly alternative with visual reporting and AI-powered prioritization.
The choice between them often comes down to whether you prioritize ease of use and presentation (Sitebulb) or raw power and customization (Screaming Frog). While both tools can crawl websites and identify technical issues, their approaches to presenting and acting on that data differ significantly.
Feature Comparison
Screaming Frog SEO Spider excels at comprehensive crawling with detailed filtering options, custom extraction capabilities, and extensive integrations with tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and PageSpeed Insights. It provides raw data exports, allows custom regex patterns, and offers JavaScript rendering for modern websites. The tool's strength lies in its flexibility — experienced users can configure crawls for virtually any technical audit scenario. Sitebulb takes the same crawling foundation but wraps it in visual reporting with prioritized recommendations. It automatically categorizes issues by importance, provides visual site architecture maps, and uses AI to suggest which problems to tackle first. Sitebulb includes built-in reporting templates, automated scheduling, and team collaboration features that Screaming Frog lacks. However, it offers less customization for power users who want to dig into raw crawl data. Both tools handle JavaScript rendering, broken link detection, duplicate content identification, and schema markup analysis, but Sitebulb presents these findings in digestible visual reports while Screaming Frog provides spreadsheet-style data tables.
Pricing Comparison
Screaming Frog offers a permanently free version that crawls up to 500 URLs, making it accessible for small sites and testing. The paid license costs £149/year (roughly $185) for unlimited crawling, which represents exceptional value for the feature set. There's no monthly subscription — just a one-time annual purchase. Sitebulb starts at $13.50/month ($162/year) for 10 projects and scales up to $65/month for unlimited projects. While slightly more expensive than Screaming Frog's annual license, Sitebulb's pricing includes cloud hosting, automated crawling, and team features that justify the subscription model for agencies and larger teams.
Best For
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is better for technical SEO professionals who want maximum control over their crawls, work with large enterprise sites regularly, or need to perform highly customized audits. If you're comfortable with spreadsheet-style data analysis and want the most cost-effective solution, Screaming Frog delivers unmatched value. It's also ideal for consultants who need to audit hundreds of different sites annually. Sitebulb is better for agencies, in-house teams, and SEO professionals who need to present findings to non-technical stakeholders. If you want automated prioritization, visual reports, and collaborative features without sacrificing audit depth, Sitebulb's approach saves significant time. It's particularly valuable for teams that run regular audits and need consistent, branded reporting.
The Verdict
For most technical SEO professionals, Screaming Frog SEO Spider remains the better choice due to its unbeatable price-to-feature ratio and industry-standard status. The free version handles most small to medium audits, while the annual license provides enterprise-level capabilities at a fraction of competitor costs. However, Sitebulb wins for teams prioritizing user experience, visual reporting, and automated insights over raw data access. Choose Sitebulb if you're willing to pay more for significantly better presentation and collaboration features.