Buying guide

Best technical SEO audit tools for a small site

By Joonas Rotko, ex-agency co-owner, 10+ years spending real marketing budgets

Prices verified 2 Oct 2026 · How I choose, and how I earn from this page

For a site of a few thousand pages, I'd start with Screaming Frog. It's a desktop licence at $279/year, billed once a year with no monthly option, and it crawls with no URL cap, so a monthly audit is covered. Crawly and Seodisias cost nothing, Sitebulb explains what to fix, and Seobility adds rank tracking. I checked every price here on 2 Oct 2026.

Every price on this page is for

One site, one user
About 5,000 URLs, crawled monthly

Who this is for. Small business owners, freelancers and in-house marketers who need to find and fix technical problems on a site of a few thousand pages: broken links, redirect chains, missing titles, pages Google can't crawl. A crawler lists what is broken and repairs nothing, so the real question is which one you will still be running every month, and who on your side will act on the report.

Looking for something else?

Different job, different guide.

My picks for different needs

Find the line that sounds like you. Each pick links to the full reasoning below.

The standard crawler, and I don't mind a desktop app
No URL cap on the paid licence and a free version to try first.
Why this one
Screaming Frog
My default
$23.25/moannual
See Screaming Frog plans
I want the audit explained, with the fixes put in order
Turns findings into prioritised hints, with a free trial.
Why this one
Sitebulb
$15/moannual
See Sitebulb plans
I want audits plus rank tracking in one tool
A browser-based audit inside an SEO platform, priced in euros.
Why this one
Seobility
€47.92/moannual
See Seobility plansAffiliate link
I'm on a Mac and want a free crawl with no URL cap
Free, no URL cap per crawl, priced in pounds.
Why this one
Crawly
Freefree plan
See Crawly plans
I'm on Windows, Mac or Linux and want a free crawl
Free, no URL cap, no sign-up.
Why this one
Seodisias
Freefree plan
See Seodisias plans
I run a very large site and need server logs
A cloud crawler with a log analyzer, built for far bigger sites than this list.
Why this one
JetOctopus
$349/moannual
See JetOctopus plans

The tools side by side

Each row is the plan I priced for a monthly audit of a small site, worked out for monthly and annual billing where the vendor sells both. Free tools show Free. JetOctopus meters crawls per month, not per crawl.

a monthly audit of a small site: plan priced, monthly and annual cost, URLs per crawl, JavaScript rendering, Scheduled crawls, Free start
Tool and plan	Cost per month	URLs per crawl	JavaScript rendering	Scheduled crawls	Free start
Screaming FrogPaid licence	$23.25annual Not sold monthly	unlimited	Yes	Yes	Free plan
SitebulbLite	$15annual $18 monthly	10,000	Yes	No	14-day trial
SeobilityPremium	€47.92annual €59.90 monthly	25,000	Yes	Custom interval in days	Free plan and a 14-day trial
CrawlyFree	Free	unlimited	Not published	Not published	Free plan
SeodisiasFree	Free	unlimited	Yes	Not published	Free plan
JetOctopusGrowth (in-house teams)	$349annual Not sold monthly	Not published	Yes	Not published	Trial not published

Prices are in each vendor's own currency. Seobility charges in euros. Crawly charges in pounds. Those rows are never ranked against, or subtracted from, the dollar prices.

Six picks, in the order I'd consider them

Each one says who it is for, what it costs for a monthly audit of a small site, and what you give up.

Screaming Frog

The standard desktop crawler

Hands-on

Choose it if

You want the long-standing desktop crawler, you're fine with an app on your own computer, and a yearly licence suits you better than a monthly subscription.

Consider Sitebulb instead if

You want the findings explained and put in order. Screaming Frog gives you the raw data and expects you to know what to do with it.

Why it fits a monthly audit of a small site

The free version stops at 500 URLs per crawl, which is too small for a site of a few thousand pages. The paid licence has no URL cap and adds JavaScript rendering, scheduling and crawl comparison, so one licence covers a monthly audit.

The plan I priced

I priced the paid licence: $279/year, which works out to $23.25/month billed annually. It is a desktop licence billed yearly only, per user, and there is no monthly plan. The free version is only useful for a trial run on part of your site.

Closest alternative

Sitebulb becomes the better choice when you want hints that say what to fix first, and you'd rather pay monthly.

Screaming Frog homepage, captured 2 Oct 2026

A monthly audit of a small site: Paid licence

Billed annually

$23.25/mo

The trade-off

It's a spreadsheet-style desktop app. The crawl runs on your own machine, so a big site uses your memory, and the licence renews yearly with no monthly option.

What my review says

Best for: A site of a few thousand pages where you want raw crawl data on your own computer and a yearly licence suits you better than a subscription.

Skip it if you want a hosted dashboard, or the free version's 500 URL cap is enough and you would rather not pay at all.

Strengths

One paid licence has no URL cap, so a site of a few thousand pages crawls in full.
The paid licence adds JavaScript rendering, scheduling and crawl comparison, which suits a monthly audit.
Runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Limits

The free version stops at 500 URLs per crawl and cannot render JavaScript or schedule crawls.
The licence is per user and renews yearly, with no monthly plan.
It is a desktop app, so a crawl uses your own memory and storage.

See Screaming Frog plans My Screaming Frog reviewNo affiliate link: plain link

Sitebulb

Visual audits and plain-language hints

Desk research

Choose it if

You want each problem explained and ranked by importance, and you'd like to try it free before paying.

Consider Screaming Frog instead if

You want raw crawl data and a yearly licence rather than a subscription.

Why it fits a monthly audit of a small site

Lite covers up to 10,000 URLs per audit, which is enough for a site of a few thousand pages, and it renders JavaScript. The hints tell you what is wrong and why it matters, which saves time if you don't audit sites for a living.

The plan I priced

I priced Lite: $18/month billed monthly, or $15/month billed annually. Pro is $42/month billed monthly and adds scheduling and more hints.

Closest alternative

Screaming Frog becomes the better choice when you'd rather pay once a year and don't need the hints.

A monthly audit of a small site: Lite

Billed annually

$15/mo

Billed monthly

$18/mo

Above 10,000 URLs per audit: Pro (+$20.42/mo billed annually).

The trade-off

Lite doesn't include scheduled crawls, so you start each monthly audit by hand. Scheduling is on Pro, which costs more. There's a free trial, but no free plan.

What my review says

Best for: A solo marketer who wants a crawler that explains what to fix and in what order.

Skip it if you only need a one-off crawl of a small site, because free desktop crawlers handle a site that size.

Strengths

Findings are prioritised and explained as hints, not left as raw rows.
Lite crawls up to 10,000 URLs per audit and renders JavaScript.
The free trial needs no credit card.

Limits

Lite has no scheduled audits. Pro adds them from $42/month billed monthly.
There is no free plan, only the trial.
The cloud plans cost more and are built for teams.

See Sitebulb plans My Sitebulb reviewNo affiliate link: plain link

Seobility

An audit inside an SEO platform

Hands-on

Choose it if

You want the audit, rank tracking and backlink data in one browser-based tool, and a euro price list suits you.

Consider Screaming Frog instead if

The crawl is the only job and you don't want rank tracking and backlink tools bundled in.

Why it fits a monthly audit of a small site

Premium crawls up to 25,000 pages per audit and re-crawls on a schedule you set, with nothing to install. The free Basic plan crawls 100 pages, so you can see the audit on your own site first.

The plan I priced

I priced Premium: €59.90/month billed monthly, or €47.92/month billed annually, in euros. Seobility also publishes a separate dollar price list. I use the euro list only and never convert between the two.

Closest alternative

Sitebulb becomes the better choice when you only want the audit and prefer a dedicated crawler with clearer hints.

A monthly audit of a small site: Premium

Billed annually

€47.92/mo

Billed monthly

€59.90/mo

Above 25,000 URLs per audit: Professional (+€32/mo billed annually).

The trade-off

You pay for rank tracking and backlink tools you may not use, and the price list is in euros. A dedicated crawler is the simpler buy if the crawl is the only job.

What my review says

Best for: A site owner who wants the audit, rank tracking and backlink data in one browser-based tool, and is happy with euro pricing.

Skip it if the crawl is the only job, or you want a dollar price list.

Strengths

A browser-based audit with nothing to install, re-crawled on a schedule you set.
Premium crawls up to 25,000 pages per audit.
A free Basic plan that crawls 100 pages, and a 14-day trial on paid plans.

Limits

You pay for rank tracking and backlink tools you may not use.
The price list is in euros.
Premium stops at 3 projects.

See Seobility plans My Seobility review Seobility pricingAffiliate link

Crawly

Free crawler for Mac

Hands-on

Choose it if

You're on a Mac and want a crawl with no URL cap and no cost.

Consider Seodisias instead if

You work on Windows or Linux. Crawly's Windows and Linux versions are listed as coming soon.

Why it fits a monthly audit of a small site

There's no URL cap, so a site of a few thousand pages crawls in full at no cost. It includes crawl comparison, hreflang auditing and sitemap generation.

The plan I priced

Crawly is free, with no URL cap. The vendor prices in pounds, and I never convert them into other currencies.

Closest alternative

Seodisias becomes the better choice when you're not on a Mac, or you need JavaScript rendering, which Seodisias lists.

A monthly audit of a small site: Free

Free plan

Free

The trade-off

It's macOS only for now. The vendor's pricing page doesn't document JavaScript rendering or scheduled crawls, and it says paid features for teams and agencies may be added later.

What my review says

Best for: A Mac-using site owner who wants an uncapped crawl at no cost.

Skip it if you work on Windows or Linux, which the vendor lists as coming soon.

Strengths

Free with no URL cap per crawl.
Crawl comparison shows what changed since the last audit, which suits a monthly check.
Includes hreflang auditing and sitemap generation.

Limits

macOS only for now.
The vendor says paid features for teams and agencies may arrive later.
Its pricing page does not document JavaScript rendering or scheduled crawls.

See Crawly plans My Crawly reviewNo affiliate link: plain link

Seodisias

Free crawler for Windows, Mac and Linux

Hands-on

Choose it if

You want a free crawl on any desktop operating system, with PDF reports and no account.

Consider Screaming Frog instead if

You want the established tool and will pay for scheduling and integrations.

Why it fits a monthly audit of a small site

There's no URL cap, it renders JavaScript, and it exports PDF reports, so a site of a few thousand pages crawls in full at no cost. It also checks llms.txt and structured data.

The plan I priced

Seodisias is free, with no URL cap. The vendor plans a paid tier later for AI-powered analysis, SERP tracking and team workflows.

Closest alternative

Crawly becomes the better choice when you're on a Mac and want a crawler with crawl comparison.

A monthly audit of a small site: Free

Free plan

Free

The trade-off

The vendor places team workflows in a future paid tier, and its site doesn't document scheduled crawls. Its homepage carries a testimonial from me, Joonas Rotko, so weigh my view of it with that in mind.

What my review says

Best for: A small business owner who wants a free crawl and a PDF report without signing up.

Skip it if you need team workflows or a hosted dashboard, which the vendor places in a future paid tier.

Strengths

Free with no URL cap and no sign-up.
Runs locally on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Checks llms.txt and structured data alongside the usual technical issues.

Limits

A young product, with a paid tier planned for later.
Scheduled crawls are not documented on the vendor's site, so I treat the monthly crawl as a manual job.
Team workflows and a hosted dashboard are not available yet.

See Seodisias plans My Seodisias reviewNo affiliate link: plain link

JetOctopus

Large sites and server logs

Desk research

Choose it if

Your site has hundreds of thousands of pages, or you need server log analysis next to your crawl data.

Consider Sitebulb instead if

Your site is a few thousand pages. Sitebulb's desktop plans cost a fraction of this.

Why it fits a monthly audit of a small site

It isn't a fit for this guide's buyer, and I list it so you know where the ceiling is. The cheapest plan crawls 500,000 URLs a month, and every plan includes JavaScript rendering and log analysis.

The plan I priced

The entry plan for in-house teams is Growth at $349/month billed annually. The vendor also lists a quarterly price. There is a free trial with no card.

Closest alternative

Sitebulb becomes the better choice when you want a cloud crawler without paying for a large-site allowance.

JetOctopus homepage, captured 2 Oct 2026

A monthly audit of a small site: Growth (in-house teams)

Billed annually

$349/mo

Above 500,000 URLs crawled a month: Pro (in-house teams) (+$460/mo billed annually).

The trade-off

It's overkill for a small site. The cheapest plan costs $349/month billed annually for a crawl allowance a site of a few thousand pages will never use.

What my review says

Best for: An in-house team running a very large site that needs crawl data and server logs together.

Skip it if your site is a few thousand pages, because Sitebulb or a free desktop crawler handles a site that size for far less.

Strengths

Cloud crawling, so nothing runs on your own computer.
Server log analysis, Search Console and GA4 sit next to the crawl data.
No per-seat or per-project fees.

Limits

The cheapest plan costs far more than any desktop crawler.
Billing is annual or quarterly only, with no monthly option shown.
Built for large sites, so a small site pays for capacity it will not use.

See JetOctopus plans My JetOctopus reviewNo affiliate link: plain link

What a monthly audit of a small site really costs

Each price is the plan that can crawl a site of this size, shown per month at annual billing. Screaming Frog is a yearly desktop licence divided by twelve, and JetOctopus meters crawls per month rather than per audit, so the bars show scale, not a like-for-like race. Free crawlers have no bar.

Dollar prices, per month (billed annually where sold)

Sitebulb$15/mo
Screaming Frog$23.25/mo
JetOctopus$349/mo

Other currencies, per month (billed annually where sold)

Seobility€47.92/mo

Other currencies are not converted to dollars and are not compared with the bars above.

Pay monthly or yearly?

What yearly billing saves on the same plan.

Sitebulb$18 monthly, $15 yearly: 17% less
Seobility€59.90 monthly, €47.92 yearly: 20% less

When you'll outgrow the plan

The first limit you hit, and the next plan up.

Sitebulb: above 10,000 URLs per audit, Pro (+$20.42/mo)
Seobility: above 25,000 URLs per audit, Professional (+€32/mo)
JetOctopus: above 500,000 URLs crawled a month, Pro (in-house teams) (+$460/mo)

How I calculated this

Workload: One site, one user, About 5,000 URLs, crawled monthly.

Screaming Frog qualifies through 5,000 URLs per audit.
Sitebulb qualifies through 5,000 URLs per audit.
Seobility qualifies through 5,000 URLs per audit.
JetOctopus qualifies through 5,000 URLs crawled per month.

Other options, and why they missed the list

This guide covers dedicated site crawlers only. Full SEO suites run an audit too, but you pay for keyword and tracking tools you may not want, so they sit in the SEO software guide instead. JetOctopus is last because it is built for sites far larger than this one, not because it crawls badly.

Sitechecker
A browser-based site auditor with monitoring, closer to an SEO platform than a dedicated crawler.
Botify
An enterprise crawler and log platform for very large sites, with custom pricing.
Ahrefs
Its Site Audit is included in the SEO platform, but you pay for the whole suite to get it.
Semrush
Site Audit comes with the suite. A good choice if you want the full toolbox, not a dedicated crawler.
Alli AI
Fixes on-page issues automatically on your site, which is a different job from auditing it.

How I chose, and how I earn from this page

Who is behind this guide

Joonas Rotko

I co-ran a marketing agency in Finland and spent more than ten years buying SEO and marketing software with real client budgets. I write these guides for the person who has to pay for the tool and use it.

Hands-on with 4 of these 6 tools
Prices checked 2 Oct 2026
How this page earns

More about me and how I review

Affiliate disclosure

Seobility is the one crawler here I have an affiliate link for, so I may earn a commission if you buy through it, at no extra cost to you. I have no affiliate link for Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, Crawly, Seodisias or JetOctopus, and they are listed on merit. Seobility sits third, below Screaming Frog and Sitebulb, because it is a platform with an audit built in, while those two are dedicated crawlers: Screaming Frog has no URL cap on its paid licence and Sitebulb explains each fix. Seodisias's homepage carries a testimonial from me, Joonas Rotko, the owner of this site, so weigh my view of it with that in mind. A link never changes a price or a verdict.

How this guide was prepared

What I did

Every price and crawl limit comes from the crawler's own pricing or licence page and is stored with the link it came from and the date I checked it.
A plan counts here when it can crawl a site of a few thousand pages. Where a tool meters crawls per month instead of per audit, as JetOctopus does, I set its monthly allowance against the same site size.
Seobility is priced in euros and is never set against a dollar figure. Crawly's price list is in pounds, and its crawler is free.
The Hands-on and Desk research badges show what each review rests on: my own use of the crawler, or the vendor's published plans and documentation.

What to keep in mind

Crawlers change their limits with new releases, so check the date beside each source before you buy.
JetOctopus publishes its allowance per month, not per audit, so its audit limit can't be set directly beside the others.
Crawly and Seodisias don't document every feature, such as scheduled crawls. Those table cells say Not published, which is not the same as no.

Sources and verification dates

Screaming Frog pricing and limits checked 2 Oct 2026
Sitebulb pricing and limits checked 2 Oct 2026
Seobility pricing and limits checked 29 Sep 2026
Crawly pricing and limits checked 2 Oct 2026
Seodisias pricing and limits checked 2 Oct 2026
JetOctopus pricing and limits checked 2 Oct 2026

Prices and limits checked on 6 vendor pages. Oldest check: 29 Sep 2026.

2 Oct 2026: First Best V2 version: the ranked list is built from verified plan facts for a monthly audit of a small site.

Questions people ask

Should I use a desktop crawler or a cloud crawler?

A desktop crawler (Screaming Frog, Seodisias, Crawly, and Sitebulb's desktop plans) runs on your own computer, so you pay little and keep the data, but a big crawl uses your memory and nothing runs while your laptop is off. A cloud crawler (Seobility, JetOctopus, Sitebulb Cloud) runs on the vendor's servers, schedules audits for you and lets a team see the results. For one site of a few thousand pages, desktop is usually enough.

Do I need a paid crawler for a small site?

Often not. Crawly and Seodisias crawl with no URL cap at no cost. Screaming Frog's free version stops at 500 URLs per crawl, so a site of a few thousand pages needs its paid desktop licence, $279/year with no monthly option. Pay when you want scheduled crawls, clearer explanations of each problem, or support.

How much does a technical SEO audit tool cost?

For one site of a few thousand pages, the free tools cost nothing. Screaming Frog is $279/year on its yearly desktop licence, with no monthly option. Sitebulb Lite is $15/month billed annually, or $18/month billed monthly. Seobility Premium is €47.92/month billed annually, in euros. JetOctopus starts at $349/month billed annually and is built for much larger sites.

Can I try these tools before paying?

Screaming Frog has a free version capped at 500 URLs per crawl. Sitebulb has a 14-day free trial. Seobility has a free Basic plan and a 14-day trial on paid plans. Crawly and Seodisias are free with no URL cap. JetOctopus offers a free trial with no card.

How often should I run a technical SEO audit?

Monthly is a sensible default for a small site, which is the workload I priced. Run one after any redesign, migration or big batch of new pages too, because that's when broken links and redirect chains appear. Tools with scheduling, such as Seobility and Screaming Frog's paid licence, can run the monthly crawl for you.

Do I need a developer to act on a crawl report?

For many findings, no. Titles, meta descriptions, broken internal links and missing alt text can be edited in your CMS. Redirect chains, canonical tags, server errors and pages blocked in robots.txt often need someone with access to the server or the theme. Sitebulb explains each finding in plain language, which helps you sort the fixes you can make from the ones you hand over. Screaming Frog and the free crawlers list the rows and leave that judgement to you.

Best technical SEO audit tools for a small site

Looking for something else?

I want more than a crawl

I want to start for free

I'm choosing for my agency

My picks for different needs

The tools side by side

Six picks, in the order I'd consider them

Screaming Frog

Sitebulb

Seobility

Crawly

Seodisias

JetOctopus

What a monthly audit of a small site really costs

Pay monthly or yearly?

When you'll outgrow the plan

Other options, and why they missed the list

How I chose, and how I earn from this page

Joonas Rotko

Affiliate disclosure

Questions people ask

The SEO and AI visibility software worth your money, and the ones that are not