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Ahrefs Site Audit vs advertools

Ahrefs Site Audit (Cloud SEO crawler inside an all-in-one SEO platform) and advertools (Python library with a Scrapy-based SEO crawler) on the same 24 capabilities, with a source for every cell and charts counted from the table.

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

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

advertools

Python library with a Scrapy-based SEO crawler

Free, MIT licence; no paid tierRuns on your machine

Compatibility at a glance

Ahrefs Site Audit scores 75 on coverage and 75 on automation; advertools scores 21 and 25. Both out of 100, counted from the table.

Out of 24 capabilities we compare for every tool.

9both have
7only Ahrefs Site Audit
3only advertools

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.

30Price and setup5 rows100
0Interfaces2 rows0
100AI agents and integrations2 rows25
83Crawl3 rows33
80Audit5 rows20
63Data sources4 rows13
50Reports and follow-up3 rows33
58Overall24 rows38

Side by side

CapabilityAhrefs Site Auditadvertools
Price and setup
Free to usePartly: Paid plans: Starter $29/mo; Lite $129/mo; free tierYes: Free, MIT licence; no paid tier
Open sourceNo: Proprietary SaaSYes: Yes, MIT licence
Runs on your machineNo: Crawl runs in Ahrefs cloudYes: Runs in your own Python environment
Works without an accountNo: Free account and verified site requiredYes: None for crawling (some SERP APIs need own keys)
Free tierYes: 5,000 crawl credits per verified project/monthYes: No limits; free library
Interfaces
Desktop appNo: Web app onlyNo: Python library, no native app
Command lineNo: Not found in public docsNot found in public docs: No CLI documented; used from Python
AI agents and integrations
MCP server for AI agentsYes: Official hosted remote MCP, paid plans from LiteNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
APIYes: API v3 Site Audit endpoints, paid plans from LitePartly: Python API; no hosted web API
Crawl
JavaScript renderingYes: Optional JavaScript execution in crawl settingsNo: Not built in; scrapy-playwright mentioned
Scheduled crawlsYes: Scheduled crawls plus Always-on audit (Lite+)No: No built-in scheduler; run via your own cron
Custom extractionPartly: Post-crawl search of raw/rendered HTML; no XPath foundYes: CSS and XPath selectors via crawl()
Audit
Audit checksYes: 170+ issues, per Site Audit pageNo: No fixed audit checklist; raw crawl data columns
HreflangYes: Hreflang issues and graph viewPartly: Extracts alternate/hreflang links; no audit report
Structured dataYes: Checked against 190+ Google/Schema.org requirementsPartly: Extracts JSON-LD columns; no validation
Core Web Vitals / LighthouseYes: CrUX and Lighthouse metrics; PSI API keyNo: Not documented for the crawler
AccessibilityNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNo: Not documented
Data sources
Google Search ConsolePartly: GSC import/verification of projects; deeper use unclearNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Google Analytics 4Not found in public docs: Not found in public docsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Backlink dataYes: Own index in Site Explorer (free: 1,000 shown)No: No backlink data in the crawler
Keyword dataYes: Organic keywords in Site Explorer (free: 1,000 shown)Partly: SERP functions for Google and YouTube (own API keys)
Reports and follow-up
Report exportsYes: CSV and ZIP bulk issue exportPartly: JSON Lines output; parquet conversion; pandas
Task list and fix recheckPartly: Crawl-to-crawl comparison and alerts; no task list foundPartly: compare() diffs two crawls; no task tracking
Reads Screaming Frog exportsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNo: Not documented
yespartlynonot found in public docs

Where each one is stronger

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

advertools

  • Fully scriptable in Python with every Scrapy setting exposed, so crawl behavior is highly customisable
  • Crawl output is tidy tabular data for pandas, including large crawls through parquet conversion
  • Also covers sitemap and robots.txt downloads, log-file parsing and SERP API helpers in one package
  • Free MIT-licensed code with no URL limits or account

Questions

Which is cheaper, Ahrefs Site Audit or advertools?
Ahrefs Site Audit: Paid plans: Starter $29/mo; Lite $129/mo; free tier. advertools: Free, MIT licence; no paid tier. Prices as published on 21 October 2026; check the vendors' pricing pages before you buy.
Does Ahrefs Site Audit or advertools run on my own machine?
Ahrefs Site Audit: crawl runs in Ahrefs cloud. advertools: runs in your own Python environment.
Can AI agents use Ahrefs Site Audit or advertools?
MCP server — Ahrefs Site Audit: official hosted remote MCP, paid plans from Lite; advertools: not found in public docs. API — Ahrefs Site Audit: aPI v3 Site Audit endpoints, paid plans from Lite; advertools: python API; no hosted web API.
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.
Is advertools an audit tool with reports?
No fixed audit checklist is published. It extracts page elements into data tables, and the analysis is done by the user in pandas; a few helpers cover links, images, redirects and crawl comparison.

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

Compare with SpiderHead

SpiderHead vs Ahrefs Site AuditCloud SEO crawler inside an all-in-one SEO platformSpiderHead vs advertoolsPython library with a Scrapy-based SEO crawlerAll tools, one table8 SEO crawlers and audit tools

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