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SpiderHead vs Semrush Site Audit

Semrush Site Audit is the cloud crawler inside the Semrush marketing platform. SpiderHead is a free open-source crawler and audit toolkit that runs on your machine, with a desktop app, a CLI and a local MCP server.

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

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

SpiderHead scores 71 on coverage and 83 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.

15both have
9only SpiderHead
0only Semrush 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 rows20
100Interfaces2 rows0
75AI agents and integrations2 rows100
67Crawl3 rows50
80Audit5 rows60
63Data sources4 rows75
100Reports and follow-up3 rows50
83Overall24 rows50

Using both

There is no direct integration. Semrush exports audit results as CSV or Excel, which can be kept next to a SpiderHead crawl; SpiderHead adds a local crawl, rechecks and a task backlog.

Side by side

CapabilitySpiderHeadSemrush Site Audit
Price and setup
Free to useYes: Free and open source; no paid tierPartly: Subscription; SEO+AI Search Starter $165.17/mo annual ($199 monthly)
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 Semrush cloud
Works without an accountYes: No account; no hosted serviceNo: Semrush account required (free account available)
Free tierYes: No licence cap; default crawl cap 200 URLsPartly: Free account with limited tools; free SEO checker page
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 MCP (SEO, Trends, read-only Projects API)
APIPartly: Python API; optional self-hosted job APIYes: Projects API v3: run audit, snapshots, issues
Crawl
JavaScript renderingPartly: Optional Playwright extra; raw HTML by defaultPartly: Plan-dependent; docs differ by plan tier
Scheduled crawlsPartly: Writes launchd/cron/Task Scheduler trigger; no daemonYes: Scheduled recurring audits (e.g. weekly)
Custom extractionYes: Declarative extraction rules and content selectorsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Audit
Audit checksYes: 280 checks (generated registry, CHECKS.md)Yes: 140+ technical checks (feature page)
HreflangYes: hreflang-check plus hreflang audit checksYes: International SEO report: hreflang codes, conflicts
Structured dataYes: schema-check/schema-build and Schema.org checksPartly: Markup checks listed among audit areas
Core Web Vitals / LighthousePartly: Lab render-check, CrUX field data; Lighthouse JSON suppliedPartly: Lighthouse-based CWV report, 10 pages per audit
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)Yes: Via My Reports (Search Console data in PDF reports)
Google Analytics 4Partly: Landing pages and page views via provider callsYes: GA connection in Site Audit and My Reports
Backlink dataPartly: Donor-list verification and CSV import; no own indexNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
Keyword dataPartly: Via external providers (Wordstat, Arsenkin, DataForSEO)Yes: Daily keyword tracking (Starter: 500 keywords)
Reports and follow-up
Report exportsYes: XLSX, DOCX, CSV, Markdown, JSON, PDF overviewYes: Excel, CSV, PDF; limits depend on plan
Task list and fix recheckYes: Task backlog, verify-fixes, remediation ledgerPartly: Recurring re-audits and snapshot history
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.
  • No monthly page allowance: crawl size is up to you and your machine.

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

Does Semrush Site Audit run on my machine?
No. Crawls run in Semrush's cloud and are configured in the web app; a Semrush account is required.
Is there a crawl limit?
Yes, by plan. Semrush's knowledge base describes monthly page allowances that scale with the plan (older articles cite 100,000 pages per month for Pro) and a per-audit cap; check your account for current figures.
Does Semrush offer an MCP server?
Yes. Semrush documents an official hosted MCP server that exposes its SEO and Trends APIs and read-only Projects API methods to AI agents.

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

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

More Semrush Site Audit comparisons

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

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