Screaming Frog SEO Spider review

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is desktop software for crawling websites and supporting technical SEO audits. The product is developed by a UK-based SEO agency, and its homepage says SEOs and agencies use it to audit sites. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

You can download the software for free. The free plan is limited to 500 URLs per crawl and includes core crawling and audit features, according to the pricing information. A paid licence raises the listed crawl allowance to “Unlimited*” and adds advanced features, though the homepage does not spell out which features require a licence. The asterisk on “Unlimited*” is not explained in the published pricing details.

This is a crawler, not a broad marketing suite. Its value depends on whether you need to inspect a site’s pages for technical SEO issues—and whether the free crawl limit is enough for your work.

The clearest advantage is that you can start crawling without paying. The free plan allows up to 500 URLs and includes core crawling and audit features, plus free technical support, according to the pricing information. That gives small sites and basic audits a practical way to get started before deciding whether a licence is worth the cost.

For larger crawls, the paid licence is listed with an “Unlimited*” URL allowance, advanced features and free technical support. The product is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, so teams using those operating systems can consider the same crawler rather than needing a separate platform for each.

The pricing structure is straightforward at the headline level: free for smaller crawls, or an annual per-user licence for more capacity and features. The pricing page lists the paid option at $199 per year, equivalent to $16.58 per user per month when billed annually. For a team, the per-user detail matters: each person needs an individual licence. The published pricing also lists lower bulk rates in GBP for five or more licences, which may change the maths for larger teams.

The free plan stops at 500 URLs per crawl. That is a real constraint for larger sites, and moving past it means buying a licence. The paid option is $199 per user per year, listed as $16.58 per month when billed annually; the pricing information lists no monthly billing option. Each user needs a separate licence, so team costs rise with headcount.

There are two details worth checking before switching. First, the published pricing lists paid crawls as “Unlimited*” but does not explain the asterisk. Second, the homepage says a licence adds features, while the published homepage information does not identify them. The pricing lists “advanced features” without naming them, so we would confirm that the specific functions you need are included before budgeting for a licence.

A Reddit user also described being unable to crawl a site that disallowed all bots in robots.txt, even after trying to ignore the file. The thread does not show a solution, so it is a reported setup problem, not evidence that the crawler cannot handle that situation. Still, it flags a case to verify during your own evaluation.

The free download costs $0 and includes core crawling and audit features, free technical support, and a 500-URL crawl limit. The paid licence is listed at $199 per user per year, or $16.58 per user per month when billed annually. That is the jump to budget for if your audits exceed 500 URLs or need the paid tier’s advanced features; the pricing details do not itemize those features.

There is no monthly billing option listed. Licences last one year, require renewal, and are per user, so each teammate needs an individual licence. For bulk purchases, the listed annual prices are £199 per licence for 1–4, £189 for 5–9, £179 for 10–19, and £169 for 20 or more. Those volume prices are in GBP, not USD. The free tier is a useful starting point, but teams should confirm the licence terms and which advanced features they need before budgeting for a renewal.

Switching to Spider is mainly a change to your technical-audit workflow: it is desktop crawler software, not a website platform. The published material lists Windows, Mac, and Linux versions, but does not explain how to import settings or migrate crawl history. It also does not specify data-export formats, so check whether your reports and saved crawl data can move into the tools you plan to use before cancelling another subscription.

Lock-in details are not published on the vendor's site. The paid licence is per user, lasts one year, and requires renewal; no monthly option is listed. That makes renewal timing worth tracking if you are considering a move. We also can’t substantiate what tends to make users leave based on Reddit: no Reddit posts or comments were published for this review. The clearest documented reasons to consider switching are practical fit—needing more than the free 500-URL limit, wanting monthly billing, or needing clearer detail on paid features. Check those needs against your replacement crawler before committing.