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LibreCrawl vs advertools

LibreCrawl (Open-source web-based SEO crawler (self-hosted)) 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.

LibreCrawl

Open-source web-based SEO crawler (self-hosted)

Free, $0; donations requestedRuns on your machine

advertools

Python library with a Scrapy-based SEO crawler

Free, MIT licence; no paid tierRuns on your machine

Compatibility at a glance

LibreCrawl scores 29 on coverage and 50 on automation; advertools scores 21 and 25. Both out of 100, counted from the table.

Out of 24 capabilities we compare for every tool.

10both have
3only LibreCrawl
2only 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.

90Price and setup5 rows100
25Interfaces2 rows0
50AI agents and integrations2 rows25
33Crawl3 rows33
50Audit5 rows20
0Data sources4 rows13
50Reports and follow-up3 rows33
46Overall24 rows38

Side by side

CapabilityLibreCrawladvertools
Price and setup
Free to useYes: Free, $0; donations requestedYes: Free, MIT licence; no paid tier
Open sourceYes: Yes, MIT licenceYes: Yes, MIT licence
Runs on your machineYes: Self-hosted; Local mode on 127.0.0.1Yes: Runs in your own Python environment
Works without an accountPartly: Not in Local mode; login in Standard modeYes: None for crawling (some SERP APIs need own keys)
Free tierYes: No URL cap stated; guests 3 crawls/24hYes: No limits; free library
Interfaces
Desktop appNo: Web UI in browser (Docker or Python)No: Python library, no native app
Command linePartly: python main.py --local; no crawl CLINot found in public docs: No CLI documented; used from Python
AI agents and integrations
MCP server for AI agentsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
APIYes: Session-auth HTTP API, 19 endpointsPartly: Python API; no hosted web API
Crawl
JavaScript renderingYes: Yes, via Playwright (Chromium)No: Not built in; scrapy-playwright mentioned
Scheduled crawlsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNo: No built-in scheduler; run via your own cron
Custom extractionNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsYes: CSS and XPath selectors via crawl()
Audit
Audit checksNot found in public docs: No count; 13 check areas listedNo: No fixed audit checklist; raw crawl data columns
HreflangYes: Listed among audit checksPartly: Extracts alternate/hreflang links; no audit report
Structured dataPartly: Schema listed among audit checksPartly: Extracts JSON-LD columns; no validation
Core Web Vitals / LighthouseYes: PageSpeed Insights Core Web VitalsNo: Not documented for the crawler
AccessibilityNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNo: Not documented
Data sources
Google Search ConsoleNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNot 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 dataNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsNo: No backlink data in the crawler
Keyword dataNot found in public docs: Not found in public docsPartly: SERP functions for Google and YouTube (own API keys)
Reports and follow-up
Report exportsYes: CSV, XLSX, JSON, XML (site: CSV/JSON/XML)Partly: JSON Lines output; parquet conversion; pandas
Task list and fix recheckPartly: Issue filtering; no task tracking 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

LibreCrawl

  • Fully open source under MIT, so the code can be modified and self-hosted.
  • Multi-user mode with isolated sessions and tiers for teams sharing one server.
  • Browser plugin system: JavaScript files add custom tabs reading crawl data.
  • Documented HTTP API with crawl start, stop, pause, resume and export endpoints.
  • Built-in PageSpeed Insights and JavaScript rendering via Playwright.

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, LibreCrawl or advertools?
LibreCrawl: Free, $0; donations requested. advertools: Free, MIT licence; no paid tier. Prices as published on 21 October 2026; check the vendors' pricing pages before you buy.
Does LibreCrawl or advertools run on my own machine?
LibreCrawl: self-hosted; Local mode on 127.0.0.1. advertools: runs in your own Python environment.
Can AI agents use LibreCrawl or advertools?
MCP server — LibreCrawl: not found in public docs; advertools: not found in public docs. API — LibreCrawl: session-auth HTTP API, 19 endpoints; advertools: python API; no hosted web API.
Is LibreCrawl free?
Yes. The README and website state it is free and MIT-licensed; the author asks for optional donations.
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

LibreCrawl is a trademark of LibreCrawl project (open source). 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 LibreCrawl project (open source) or advertools project (open source). Owners can ask us to remove an icon via contact.

Compare with SpiderHead

SpiderHead vs LibreCrawlOpen-source web-based SEO crawler (self-hosted)SpiderHead vs advertoolsPython library with a Scrapy-based SEO crawlerAll tools, one table8 SEO crawlers and audit tools

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