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SpiderHead vs Ahrefs Site Audit

Ahrefs Site Audit is a cloud crawler inside an all-in-one SEO platform with its own backlink and keyword data. SpiderHead is a free open-source crawler that runs on your machine and keeps every scan for agents and people.

Checked 21 October 2026 against each vendor's own public pages. Sources below.

SpiderHead

Open-source crawler and audit toolkit

Free and open source; no paid tierRuns on your machine

Ahrefs Site Audit

Cloud SEO crawler inside an all-in-one SEO platform

Paid plans: Starter $29/mo; Lite $129/mo; free tierRuns in the vendor cloud

Compatibility at a glance

SpiderHead scores 71 on coverage and 83 on automation; Ahrefs Site Audit scores 75 and 75. Both out of 100, counted from the table.

Out of 24 capabilities we compare for every tool.

16both have
8only SpiderHead
0only Ahrefs Site Audit

Market map

Crawl, audit and data coverage / Automation and AI agents: SpiderHead 71·83, Screaming Frog 92·75, Sitebulb 88·58, Ahrefs Site Audit 75·75, Semrush Site Audit 63·75, SEOnaut 8·25, LibreCrawl 29·50, advertools 21·2500252550507575100100Crawl, audit and data coverage →Automation and AI agents →SpiderHeadScreaming FrogSitebulbAhrefs Site AuditSemrush Site AuditSEOnautLLibreCrawlAadvertools
Scores are counted from the table: yes = 1, partly = ½, no or not found in public docs = 0, as a share of the rows on each axis. Horizontal: Crawl, audit and data coverage (12 rows). Vertical: Automation and AI agents (6 rows). Hover or focus a marker for the breakdown; click to keep it open.

Coverage by group

Share of rows each tool covers in a group, 0–100, counted from the table below.

100Price and setup5 rows30
100Interfaces2 rows0
75AI agents and integrations2 rows100
67Crawl3 rows83
80Audit5 rows80
63Data sources4 rows63
100Reports and follow-up3 rows50
83Overall24 rows58

Using both

There is no direct integration. Ahrefs issue exports (CSV) and API data can sit next to a SpiderHead crawl as a separate source; SpiderHead brings the local crawl, the task list and fix rechecks.

Side by side

CapabilitySpiderHeadAhrefs Site Audit
Price and setup
Free to useYes: Free and open source; no paid tierPartly: Paid plans: Starter $29/mo; Lite $129/mo; free tier
Open sourceYes: Core MIT; Desktop GPL-3.0-or-later (PyQt5)No: Proprietary SaaS
Runs on your machineYes: Crawl and storage run on your machineNo: Crawl runs in Ahrefs cloud
Works without an accountYes: No account; no hosted serviceNo: Free account and verified site required
Free tierYes: No licence cap; default crawl cap 200 URLsYes: 5,000 crawl credits per verified project/month
Interfaces
Desktop appYes: PyQt5 app: macOS, Windows, LinuxNo: Web app only
Command lineYes: seohead CLI, 230 commandsNo: Not found in public docs
AI agents and integrations
MCP server for AI agentsYes: Local stdio server, 246 toolsYes: Official hosted remote MCP, paid plans from Lite
APIPartly: Python API; optional self-hosted job APIYes: API v3 Site Audit endpoints, paid plans from Lite
Crawl
JavaScript renderingPartly: Optional Playwright extra; raw HTML by defaultYes: Optional JavaScript execution in crawl settings
Scheduled crawlsPartly: Writes launchd/cron/Task Scheduler trigger; no daemonYes: Scheduled crawls plus Always-on audit (Lite+)
Custom extractionYes: Declarative extraction rules and content selectorsPartly: Post-crawl search of raw/rendered HTML; no XPath found
Audit
Audit checksYes: 280 checks (generated registry, CHECKS.md)Yes: 170+ issues, per Site Audit page
HreflangYes: hreflang-check plus hreflang audit checksYes: Hreflang issues and graph view
Structured dataYes: schema-check/schema-build and Schema.org checksYes: Checked against 190+ Google/Schema.org requirements
Core Web Vitals / LighthousePartly: Lab render-check, CrUX field data; Lighthouse JSON suppliedYes: CrUX and Lighthouse metrics; PSI API key
AccessibilityPartly: Static a11y checks only (lang, labels, alt)Not found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Data sources
Google Search ConsoleYes: Search Console via provider (OAuth/service account)Partly: GSC import/verification of projects; deeper use unclear
Google Analytics 4Partly: Landing pages and page views via provider callsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Backlink dataPartly: Donor-list verification and CSV import; no own indexYes: Own index in Site Explorer (free: 1,000 shown)
Keyword dataPartly: Via external providers (Wordstat, Arsenkin, DataForSEO)Yes: Organic keywords in Site Explorer (free: 1,000 shown)
Reports and follow-up
Report exportsYes: XLSX, DOCX, CSV, Markdown, JSON, PDF overviewYes: CSV and ZIP bulk issue export
Task list and fix recheckYes: Task backlog, verify-fixes, remediation ledgerPartly: Crawl-to-crawl comparison and alerts; no task list found
Reads Screaming Frog exportsYes: Screaming Frog CSV/XLSX export analysisNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
yespartlynonot found in public docs

Where each one is stronger

SpiderHead

  • Free and open source, runs on your machine with no account: crawl data never leaves it.
  • A local MCP server with 246 tools and a CLI with 230 commands, so an AI agent can crawl, audit and report on its own.
  • After the audit: a task backlog, recheck of fixes and a remediation ledger, not just a list of issues.
  • Crawls any site, not only verified ones, with no crawl credits.

Ahrefs Site Audit

  • Large first-party backlink and keyword datasets alongside the audit, in one account
  • Hosted crawling with no local setup and high crawl speeds on verified sites
  • Always-on audit with email alerts and scheduled crawls without running anything locally
  • Official hosted MCP server and API v3 with Site Audit endpoints for AI agents
  • Free access for verified sites through Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Questions

Is Ahrefs Site Audit free?
Yes, for verified sites: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (now Ahrefs Free) includes Site Audit with 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month. Analyzing competitors requires a paid plan.
Does Ahrefs have an official MCP server?
Yes. Ahrefs publishes a hosted remote MCP server (api.ahrefs.com/mcp/mcp) available on paid plans from Lite; usage draws from the plan's API units. Local MCP setup is stated as not supported.
Does the crawl run on my machine?
No. Site Audit crawls run in Ahrefs' cloud and are managed from the web interface; there is no desktop app or CLI in public docs.

How we compared

  • Every cell comes from the vendor's own public pages (product, documentation, pricing, release notes, repository) on 21 October 2026.
  • “Not found in public docs” means we could not confirm it from an official source, not that the feature is missing. Charts count it as 0.
  • Prices and plans change. Check the vendor's pricing page before you buy.
  • Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.

Sources

Ahrefs Site Audit is a trademark of Ahrefs Pte. Ltd.. Names and icons identify the products compared; SpiderHead is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by Ahrefs Pte. Ltd.. Owners can ask us to remove an icon via contact.

More Ahrefs Site Audit comparisons

Screaming Frog vs Ahrefs Site AuditCloud SEO crawler inside an all-in-one SEO platformSitebulb vs Ahrefs Site AuditCloud SEO crawler inside an all-in-one SEO platformAhrefs Site Audit vs Semrush Site AuditCloud SEO platform module (technical site audit)Ahrefs Site Audit vs SEOnautOpen-source web-based SEO auditing tool (self-hosted or hosted)Ahrefs Site Audit vs LibreCrawlOpen-source web-based SEO crawler (self-hosted)Ahrefs Site Audit vs advertoolsPython library with a Scrapy-based SEO crawlerAll tools, one table8 SEO crawlers and audit tools

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