The best free Screaming Frog alternatives
Screaming Frog costs £259/year for unlimited crawls. Here are the best free alternatives - compared by platform, page limit, and features.
- Native Mac app - no Java required
- 19 issue types auto-detected
- Claude Code MCP integration for AI-powered analysis
- Crawl comparison - diff any two crawls
- Image audit, security headers, hreflang, custom CSS extraction
- Saves full crawl history locally
The best free Screaming Frog alternative for Mac users. No page cap, no Java, and the only crawler with a built-in AI integration.
- Free with no page cap
- Covers core crawl data: titles, meta, status codes, links
- Simple, functional interface
The go-to free alternative for Windows users. Less polished than Screaming Frog but covers the essentials at no cost.
- The original SEO spider - most widely documented
- Free version covers sites up to 500 URLs
- Comprehensive feature set in paid version
Useful for very small sites but the 500-URL cap makes it impractical for real audits. Unlimited crawls require a £259/year licence.
- Strong data visualisations
- Good for presenting audit results to clients
- No ongoing free tier
Not free long-term. Worth trialling if you value visual reporting, but requires a subscription to continue.
The short answer
If you are on a Mac, Crawly is the clear choice. It is free, crawls unlimited pages, runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel, and includes features Screaming Frog charges £259/year for - plus a Claude Code MCP integration that no other crawler offers at any price.
If you are on Windows and need a free tool, BeamUsUp is the main option with no URL cap. It is functional for core audit work, though less polished than modern alternatives.
If you need Screaming Frog specifically - for a workflow, a plugin, or a team that already uses it - the free version is worth using for sites under 500 pages. For anything larger, the £259/year licence is the only option.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best free alternative to Screaming Frog?
- For Mac users, Crawly is the best free alternative. It crawls unlimited pages with no page cap, detects 19 issue types automatically, and includes a Claude Code MCP integration. For Windows users, BeamUsUp is the primary free option with no URL limit.
- Why does the Screaming Frog free version have a 500 URL cap?
- Screaming Frog limits their free tier to 500 URLs to encourage upgrades to the paid licence (£259/year). For sites larger than 500 pages - or any professional audit - this makes the free version insufficient.
- Is Crawly really completely free?
- Yes. Crawly is free to download with no page cap, no trial period, and no paid tier. It is built by Limely Ltd and will always have a free tier.
- Does Crawly work on Windows?
- Not currently. Crawly is a native macOS application (Apple Silicon and Intel). Windows users should consider BeamUsUp as a free alternative.
- What makes Crawly different from other Screaming Frog alternatives?
- Two things: it is the only SEO crawler with a built-in Claude Code MCP integration, and it runs as a native Mac app rather than requiring a Java runtime. The MCP integration lets you query crawl data in plain English from your AI coding tool.
Compare Crawly head to head: vs Screaming Frog · vs Sitebulb · vs BeamUsUp · vs JetOctopus · vs SEO Tracer · vs LibreCrawl · vs SEOnaut
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