Free Screaming Frog alternatives in 2026, priced side by side
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is the crawler most SEOs learn on. Its free mode crawls up to 500 URLs, and the paid licence is £199 a year per user. If you hit that limit, or do not want a desktop app, these are the real options. A note on who is writing: we make Sitewalk, and Sitewalk is built on LibreCrawl, which is also on this list. We say where each other tool is the better pick.
What Screaming Frog's free mode gives you
- Up to 500 URLs a crawl, on Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Broken links, redirects, titles and meta data, directives, hreflang, exact duplicates and XML sitemap generation.
- JavaScript rendering, structured data, PageSpeed, scheduling and custom extraction need the paid licence.
The alternatives, priced
| Tool | Price | Limit | Install | Pages built with JavaScript | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LibreCrawl | USD 0, MIT licence | Unlimited URLs | Self-hosted, web interface | Yes, with Playwright | You want a free crawler with no cap and can host it yourself |
| ScreamingCAT | Free, MIT licence | No crawl limits | Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux | Yes | You want a free desktop crawler. Its site says launching April/May 2026 and lists 60+ issues |
| SiteOne Crawler | Free | Not stated on the page read | One binary or desktop app: Windows, macOS, Linux | Listed: crawl JavaScript and SPA sites | You also want an offline copy or Markdown export of the site |
| Sitewalk (hosted) | Free: 5 audits a month. Pro USD 9 a month | 500 pages an audit with a confirmed email, 50 without | None. You ask ChatGPT | Reads the HTML the server sends and flags pages that look empty without scripts | You want the answer, not the crawl data: one list, worst first, with a fix for each |
| Sitewalk (self-hosted) | Free, MIT licence | No page cap on your own machine | Docker on your machine | Built on LibreCrawl, whose Chromium is included for rendering (see the setup docs) | You want the open-source build and your own AI client |
| Ahrefs Free | Free for websites you verify | 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month | None (web) | Not read for the free tier | It is your own site and you also want backlink and keyword data |
| Seobility Basic | Free, no time limit | 1 website project, 100 pages per crawl, limited website audit | None (web) | Listed in its plan table; which plans, not read | A small site and a simple score |
| Sitebulb (paid) | Lite USD 18 a month, Pro USD 42 a month; 14-day free trial | 10,000 URLs an audit on Lite, 500,000 on Pro | Desktop app; Cloud from USD 125 a month | Yes, on all plans | You need client-ready visual reports and will pay for them |
Which one to take
- No install, plain answers: Sitewalk in ChatGPT.
- No page limit, free, your own server: LibreCrawl, or self-hosted Sitewalk on top of it.
- A free desktop app like the one you know: ScreamingCAT or SiteOne Crawler.
- Your own site plus backlinks: Ahrefs Free.
- A client report with charts: Sitebulb.
Where Screaming Frog is still the better buy
- Custom extraction with CSS Path, XPath or regex.
- Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed connections in one crawl.
- No set page limit on the licence, with JavaScript rendering for the whole crawl.
- It crawls faster than Sitewalk: by default it runs 5 requests at once, where Sitewalk waits at least 1.5 seconds between requests.
If you use those every week, £199 a year is fair. Stay with it.
What free costs you
- Self-hosted tools cost your time and a machine.
- Free tiers cap pages: Sitewalk 500 an audit, Seobility 100 a crawl, Screaming Frog 500 URLs.
- Sitewalk's hosted app reads server HTML, so a site that builds every page in the browser needs a crawler that renders JavaScript.
Questions
Is there a free alternative to Screaming Frog?
Yes. LibreCrawl and ScreamingCAT are free and open source with no page cap. Sitewalk is free for 5 audits a month and needs no install.
What is the limit of Screaming Frog's free version?
500 URLs a crawl, without JavaScript rendering.
Which alternative needs no installation?
Sitewalk runs inside ChatGPT. Ahrefs Free and Seobility run in the browser.
Is there an open-source Screaming Frog alternative?
LibreCrawl and ScreamingCAT are both MIT licensed. Sitewalk's self-hosted build is MIT licensed and built on LibreCrawl.
Which is right for a beginner?
One that tells you what to fix first. Sitewalk ranks the problems and gives a plain fix for each; Seobility gives a simple score.
Can any of these audit a site I do not own?
Sitewalk, LibreCrawl, ScreamingCAT, SiteOne Crawler and Sitebulb can crawl any public site. Ahrefs Free works on sites you verify.
Compare: Screaming Frog alternative · Semrush Site Audit alternative · Ahrefs Site Audit alternative · SE Ranking Website Audit alternative · Website crawler · Sitewalk for ChatGPT · all tools side by side
Checked 12 November 2026 against the sources below.
Sources: screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/pricing/ and /user-guide/configuration/, librecrawl.com, screamingcat.net, crawler.siteone.io, ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools, seobility.net/en/pricing/, sitebulb.com/pricing/, all read 12 November 2026; Sitewalk facts from this site and its GitHub README.