The best free Ahrefs site audit alternative
Crawly is a free, native macOS SEO crawler. No $129/month subscription. No monthly crawl credits. No cloud account required. And it includes features Ahrefs does not have.
Why teams are switching from Ahrefs Site Audit
Ahrefs is a powerful all-in-one SEO platform, but Site Audit is bundled into a subscription that starts at $129 per month. If your primary need is technical SEO crawling, you are paying for a suite of keyword and backlink tools you may not need. On top of that, crawl limits reset monthly, so large sites can burn through credits quickly.
Crawly was built as a focused, free alternative. It is a native macOS desktop crawler that crawls unlimited pages, stores all data locally, and lets you run audits whenever you like without worrying about monthly quotas. It also includes a Claude Code MCP integration that lets you query your crawl data in plain English from your terminal, and a crawl comparison feature so you can diff two crawls and see exactly what changed.
For freelancers, in-house SEOs, and agencies who want a capable site crawler without a subscription attached, Crawly is the direct answer.
Crawly vs Ahrefs Site Audit
Ahrefs Site Audit starts at $129 per month and caps your crawls. Crawly gives you unlimited crawls, for nothing.
| Feature | Crawly Free | Ahrefs Site Audit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | From $129 / month |
| Page limit | Unlimited | 5,000 pages/month (Lite) |
| Platform | Native macOS | Web-based (cloud) |
| Claude Code MCP | ✓ | ✗ |
| Crawl comparison (diff) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Crawl frequency | On demand, unlimited | Monthly crawl credits |
| Requires subscription | ✗ | ✓ |
| Data storage | Local SQLite, no cloud | Cloud only |
Ahrefs pricing correct as of May 2026. Based on publicly available feature documentation.
See it in action
Clean, native macOS interface. No cloud account. No browser tab. Just your data.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free alternative to Ahrefs Site Audit?
- Yes. Crawly is a completely free desktop SEO crawler for macOS. Unlike Ahrefs, there is no subscription required, no monthly crawl credits, and no page cap. You can crawl unlimited pages, detect 19 issue types automatically, and run audits as often as you like.
- Can Crawly replace Ahrefs Site Audit?
- For technical SEO audits, yes. Crawly covers the core workflow: full site crawls, on-page issue detection, redirect chain analysis, image auditing, hreflang checks, and crawl comparisons. Ahrefs has broader keyword and backlink data as separate tools, but for pure site auditing Crawly competes directly and costs nothing.
- Does Crawly have backlink data like Ahrefs?
- No. Crawly is focused on technical SEO crawling: what is on your site, what issues exist, and how it changes over time. Ahrefs' backlink index is a separate product. If you need backlink analysis, Ahrefs remains the stronger choice for that specific use case.
- How many pages can Crawly crawl vs Ahrefs?
- Crawly has no page limit. Ahrefs Site Audit on the Lite plan allows 5,000 pages per month, and 500,000 per month on Standard. With Crawly, you can crawl any size site as many times as you want, with no monthly credit reset.
- Is Crawly really free?
- Yes, completely. No trial period, no paid tier, no subscription. Crawly is free to download and use indefinitely. It is built and maintained by Limely Ltd.
- Does Crawly work on Mac?
- Crawly is a native macOS application, built for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 12 or later. It is not available for Windows or Linux.
- What SEO issues does Crawly detect?
- Crawly automatically checks for 19 issue types covering titles, meta descriptions, headings, status codes, redirects, indexability, images, security headers, hreflang, and near-duplicate content. Issues are grouped by severity: errors, warnings, and opportunities.
Also comparing? Crawly vs Screaming Frog · Crawly vs Sitebulb · Crawly vs Semrush · Crawly vs Sitechecker · Crawly vs Seobility
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