Screaming Frog vs Sitebulb
The technical crawler duel. Raw power against explained findings. Most professionals end up owning an opinion here.
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Screaming Frog SEO Spider
The crawler every technical SEO actually uses.
Sitebulb
Technical audits that arrive pre-explained.
Prices last checked on
| Feature | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Sitebulb |
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 4.5 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Price | From $23.25/mo | From $15/mo |
| Free plan | No | |
| Best for | Technical audits, any size | Consultants presenting audits |
| Category | Technical & audits | Technical & audits |
| Provider | Screaming Frog Ltd | Sitebulb Ltd |
| Visit Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Visit Sitebulb |
Our verdict
Screaming Frog wins for technicians. It is faster on big crawls, cheaper (around $259 a year), endlessly configurable, and the de facto standard whose exports every SEO recognizes. Sitebulb wins for everyone who must persuade.
Its prioritized hints, plain-language explanations, and crawl visualizations turn the same findings into reports clients and developers act on without a translation layer. The free Screaming Frog tier (500 URLs) means small sites should simply start there. For consultants selling audits as a deliverable, Sitebulb pays for itself in presentation time saved.
“The technical SEO standard for over a decade. Point the desktop crawler at any site and it finds what is broken, duplicated, redirected, and unindexable. The free 500-URL tier handles small sites. The paid license is the best £199 in technical SEO.”Editorial team, on Screaming Frog SEO Spider
“The crawler that explains itself. Where Screaming Frog gives you data, Sitebulb gives you prioritized hints with plain-language explanations of why each issue matters. Worth the premium for consultants who present findings to humans.”Editorial team, on Sitebulb
Frequently asked questions
Screaming Frog or Sitebulb for technical audits?
Screaming Frog if you do the fixing yourself, Sitebulb if you have to persuade someone else. The Frog is faster on big crawls, cheaper, endlessly configurable, and its exports are the format every SEO recognizes. Sitebulb turns the same findings into prioritized hints, plain-language explanations, and crawl visualizations that clients and developers act on without a translation layer.
How much do Screaming Frog and Sitebulb cost?
The Screaming Frog licence is around £199 a year, roughly $259, and the free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Sitebulb Lite is $162 a year, $13.50 a month, for 10,000 URLs per audit, and Pro is $420 a year, $35 a month, for 500,000 URLs with crawl maps and scheduled audits. Last checked August 2026.
Is the free version of Screaming Frog enough for a small site?
For many small sites, yes. It crawls 500 URLs per crawl with the core reports, which covers broken links, redirect chains, and duplicate titles on a site of a few hundred pages. What you give up is saved configuration, unlimited crawl size, JavaScript rendering, and the API connections to Search Console and Analytics. Start free and pay when you hit the cap.
Which one produces a report I can hand straight to a client?
Sitebulb, without extra work. Issues arrive scored and explained in sentences a client can read, and the crawl maps make architecture problems visible at a glance. Screaming Frog hands you a spreadsheet and expects you to write the story around it. Consultants who sell audits as a deliverable usually find Sitebulb pays for itself in presentation time.