Screaming Frog vs Semrush Site Audit

Screaming Frog (SEO Spider desktop crawler) and Semrush Site Audit (Cloud SEO platform module (technical site audit)) 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.

Screaming Frog

SEO Spider desktop crawler

Paid licence $279 per user per year (1-4 licences)Runs on your machine

Semrush Site Audit

Cloud SEO platform module (technical site audit)

Subscription; SEO+AI Search Starter $165.17/mo annual ($199 monthly)Runs in the vendor cloud

Compatibility at a glance

Screaming Frog scores 92 on coverage and 75 on automation; Semrush Site Audit scores 63 and 75. Both out of 100, counted from the table.

Out of 24 capabilities we compare for every tool.

14both have

8only Screaming Frog

1only Semrush Site Audit

Market map

Horizontal axisVertical axis

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.

70Price and setup5 rows20

100Interfaces2 rows0

50AI agents and integrations2 rows100

100Crawl3 rows50

100Audit5 rows60

75Data sources4 rows75

83Reports and follow-up3 rows50

83Overall24 rows50

Side by side

Capability	Screaming Frog	Semrush Site Audit
Price and setup
Free to use	Partly: Paid licence $279 per user per year (1-4 licences)	Partly: Subscription; SEO+AI Search Starter $165.17/mo annual ($199 monthly)
Open source	No: Proprietary; free version is closed source	No: Proprietary SaaS
Runs on your machine	Yes: Crawls run on your own machine	No: Crawl runs in Semrush cloud
Works without an account	Yes: Licence key only; free version needs no sign-up	No: Semrush account required (free account available)
Free tier	Yes: Free version crawls up to 500 URLs	Partly: Free account with limited tools; free SEO checker page
Interfaces
Desktop app	Yes: Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon/Intel), Linux	No: Web app only
Command line	Yes: Command-line crawling and exports	No: Not found in public docs
AI agents and integrations
MCP server for AI agents	Yes: Official MCP server since v24.0; paid licence only	Yes: Official hosted MCP (SEO, Trends, read-only Projects API)
API	No: No public REST API found; it consumes third-party APIs	Yes: Projects API v3: run audit, snapshots, issues
Crawl
JavaScript rendering	Yes: Integrated headless Chromium rendering	Partly: Plan-dependent; docs differ by plan tier
Scheduled crawls	Yes: File > Scheduling with intervals and auto-exports	Yes: Scheduled recurring audits (e.g. weekly)
Custom extraction	Yes: XPath, CSS Path, regex, custom search	Not found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Audit
Audit checks	Yes: Over 300 issues, warnings, opportunities (issues list)	Yes: 140+ technical checks (feature page)
Hreflang	Yes: Missing return tags, bad codes, non-200 URLs	Yes: International SEO report: hreflang codes, conflicts
Structured data	Yes: Schema.org and Google rich result validation	Partly: Markup checks listed among audit areas
Core Web Vitals / Lighthouse	Yes: PageSpeed Insights API: Lighthouse and CrUX data	Partly: Lighthouse-based CWV report, 10 pages per audit
Accessibility	Yes: Automated WCAG checks using axe rules	Not found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Data sources
Google Search Console	Yes: Search Analytics and URL Inspection APIs	Yes: Via My Reports (Search Console data in PDF reports)
Google Analytics 4	Yes: GA4 API connection during a crawl	Yes: GA connection in Site Audit and My Reports
Backlink data	Partly: Link metrics via Majestic, Ahrefs, Moz APIs	Not found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Keyword data	Partly: Only GSC query/position data per URL	Yes: Daily keyword tracking (Starter: 500 keywords)
Reports and follow-up
Report exports	Yes: Spreadsheets, XML sitemaps, Google Sheets, Looker Studio	Yes: Excel, CSV, PDF; limits depend on plan
Task list and fix recheck	Partly: Re-crawl and compare crawls; no task tracker found	Partly: Recurring re-audits and snapshot history
Reads Screaming Frog exports	Yes: Native: opens .seospider and .dbseospider crawls	Not found in public docs: Not found in public docs

yespartlynonot found in public docs

Where each one is stronger

Screaming Frog

Mature, widely used crawler with a very large built-in issue list (over 300 as published).
Built-in headless Chromium rendering with raw-versus-rendered HTML comparison.
Direct API connections to Google Search Console, GA4, PageSpeed Insights, Majestic, Ahrefs and Moz inside the crawl.
Axe-based accessibility checks and Schema.org/rich result validation.
Saved crawl files, scheduling with auto-exports, and crawl comparison, with a free tier of 500 URLs.

Semrush Site Audit

Fully hosted: no installation, no local resources, crawls run in the vendor cloud
Same account gives keyword tracking, competitor and other SEO tools alongside the audit
Scheduled recurring audits with a snapshot history of earlier crawls
Official hosted MCP server and Projects API for reading Site Audit project data
PDF and report building that combines audit data with Google Analytics and Search Console

Questions

Screaming Frog: Paid licence $279 per user per year (1-4 licences). Semrush Site Audit: Subscription; SEO+AI Search Starter $165.17/mo annual ($199 monthly). Prices as published on 21 October 2026; check the vendors' pricing pages before you buy.

Screaming Frog: crawls run on your own machine. Semrush Site Audit: crawl runs in Semrush cloud.

MCP server — Screaming Frog: official MCP server since v24.0; paid licence only; Semrush Site Audit: official hosted MCP (SEO, Trends, read-only Projects API). API — Screaming Frog: no public REST API found; it consumes third-party APIs; Semrush Site Audit: projects API v3: run audit, snapshots, issues.

The pricing page on the check date lists $279 per licence per year for 1-4 licences, with lower per-licence prices from 5 licences. A free version crawls up to 500 URLs. Licences are per user.

No. Crawls run in Semrush's cloud and are configured in the web app; a Semrush account is required.

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

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

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