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SpiderHead vs Sitebulb

Both are crawlers for technical audits. Sitebulb is a paid desktop and cloud product built around explained, prioritized Hints and client-ready reports; SpiderHead is a free open-source toolkit 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

Sitebulb

Desktop and cloud SEO crawler

Paid subscription; Cloud from £95/month (FAQ)Local or cloud

Compatibility at a glance

SpiderHead scores 71 on coverage and 83 on automation; Sitebulb scores 88 and 58. Both out of 100, counted from the table.

Out of 24 capabilities we compare for every tool.

18both have
6only SpiderHead
0only Sitebulb

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 rows50
75AI agents and integrations2 rows50
67Crawl3 rows100
80Audit5 rows100
63Data sources4 rows63
100Reports and follow-up3 rows50
83Overall24 rows65

Using both

There is no direct integration. Another crawler's CSV export can be imported into SpiderHead through a declared import manifest, so Sitebulb crawl data can be checked again and turned into tasks.

Side by side

CapabilitySpiderHeadSitebulb
Price and setup
Free to useYes: Free and open source; no paid tierNo: Paid subscription; Cloud from £95/month (FAQ)
Open sourceYes: Core MIT; Desktop GPL-3.0-or-later (PyQt5)No: Proprietary commercial software
Runs on your machineYes: Crawl and storage run on your machinePartly: Desktop crawls locally; Cloud runs in browser
Works without an accountYes: No account; no hosted servicePartly: Cloud and MCP need an account; Desktop not stated
Free tierYes: No licence cap; default crawl cap 200 URLsPartly: 14-day trial equal to Pro, no card; no free tier
Interfaces
Desktop appYes: PyQt5 app: macOS, Windows, LinuxYes: Windows 10/11 (64-bit), macOS Sonoma+ (Apple/Intel)
Command lineYes: seohead CLI, 230 commandsNot found in public docs: Not found in public docs
AI agents and integrations
MCP server for AI agentsYes: Local stdio server, 246 toolsYes: Official read-only MCP for Claude/ChatGPT, Desktop and Cloud
APIPartly: Python API; optional self-hosted job APINo: Cloud: no API yet; webhooks and Data Studio connector
Crawl
JavaScript renderingPartly: Optional Playwright extra; raw HTML by defaultYes: Evergreen Chromium rendering, all plans, toggleable
Scheduled crawlsPartly: Writes launchd/cron/Task Scheduler trigger; no daemonYes: Scheduled/recurring audits on Pro and Cloud
Custom extractionYes: Declarative extraction rules and content selectorsYes: Content Extraction (CSS selector, regex) and Content Search
Audit
Audit checksYes: 280 checks (generated registry, CHECKS.md)Yes: 300+ Hints (vendor Hints page)
HreflangYes: hreflang-check plus hreflang audit checksYes: Hreflang report/checker
Structured dataYes: schema-check/schema-build and Schema.org checksYes: Structured Data validator report
Core Web Vitals / LighthousePartly: Lab render-check, CrUX field data; Lighthouse JSON suppliedYes: Web Vitals and Lighthouse via Chrome, sampled (default 10%)
AccessibilityPartly: Static a11y checks only (lang, labels, alt)Yes: Accessibility audit, 35+ Hints linked to axe guides
Data sources
Google Search ConsoleYes: Search Console via provider (OAuth/service account)Yes: Search Console data, keywords and URL Inspection
Google Analytics 4Partly: Landing pages and page views via provider callsYes: GA4 (or Universal) visitor data in audits
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)Partly: Keywords report from Search Console data only
Reports and follow-up
Report exportsYes: XLSX, DOCX, CSV, Markdown, JSON, PDF overviewYes: Custom PDF reports, Data Studio, Google Sheets; CSV/XLSX
Task list and fix recheckYes: Task backlog, verify-fixes, remediation ledgerPartly: Prioritized Hints and audit-to-audit comparison
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.
  • A CLI and a full read-write MCP server; Sitebulb's MCP is read-only and it has no public API for Cloud yet.

Sitebulb

  • Prioritized Hints (300+) explain each issue and why it matters, which suits client-facing audits.
  • Customizable PDF reports and Data Studio / Google Sheets connectors for stakeholder reporting.
  • Cloud edition supports team collaboration on shared crawl data and crawls up to 10 million URLs per audit.
  • Built-in Search Console and GA4 integration, including URL Inspection data and orphan-page discovery.
  • Site-wide Web Vitals and Lighthouse collection in the crawl, with findings grouped across pages.

Questions

How much does Sitebulb cost?
It is a paid subscription with a 14-day free trial (equivalent to Pro desktop, no card). Desktop has Lite (10,000 URLs per audit) and Pro (500,000 URLs); Cloud requires 2+ users and starts from £95/month per the FAQ. Desktop prices were not readable on the pricing page; yearly plans save 15%.
Does Sitebulb run on my own machine?
Sitebulb Desktop runs on Windows 10/11 and macOS Sonoma or later and stores audit data locally. Sitebulb Cloud runs in the browser and is not limited by your machine.
Can AI assistants use Sitebulb data?
Yes, through the official Sitebulb MCP for Claude and ChatGPT, included on all Desktop and Cloud plans. It is read-only and cannot start crawls. A public API is not offered for Cloud yet.

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

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

More Sitebulb comparisons

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

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