Three Screaming Frog alternatives cost nothing and publish their source: LibreCrawl, SiteOne Crawler and the squirrelscan CLI, all MIT-licensed. Screaming Frog's own free mode crawls 500 URLs and keeps JavaScript rendering, saved crawls and scheduling for the paid licence. If you want a paid desktop crawler instead, Sitebulb is the like-for-like swap at $18 a month. Past that the field turns into cloud platforms: JetOctopus from $349 a month billed annually, and Lumar on a quote.
Every price below was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 23 October 2026. squirrelscan is on the list, and we make it, so its entry says what it does not do as plainly as what it does. That's not a knock on Screaming Frog, either. For a full manual audit it is still the tool we would point most people to. It is a desktop app built around a person in front of a GUI, which is a different job from "run this on every deploy and fail the build if it regresses".
Free and open source Screaming Frog alternatives
| Tool | Licence | Runs as | Free JavaScript rendering | Crawl cap | Last push to GitHub |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LibreCrawl | MIT | Self-hosted web app, Docker or Python | Yes, through Playwright | None in local mode | 29 September 2026 |
| SiteOne Crawler | MIT | Single binary, plus a desktop GUI | Yes, with --browser | None stated | 27 September 2026 |
| squirrelscan CLI | MIT | Single binary, squirrel | No, rendering is a signed-in cloud run | 10,000 pages a crawl | 23 October 2026 |
| FreeCrawl | MIT | Desktop app for Windows, macOS and Ubuntu | Yes, per its site | Unlimited, per its site | 17 October 2026 |
| Screaming Frog free | Closed source | Desktop app | No, paid only | 500 URLs a crawl | Not on GitHub |
LibreCrawl
The free, open-source answer people usually mean. LibreCrawl is MIT-licensed and free, but it is not a desktop app: it is a self-hosted Python and Flask web app that you start with Docker or a start script and then open at localhost:5000, with Playwright doing the JavaScript rendering. The start script runs it in local mode, with no login and no tier limits. The repository was created in September 2025, so treat it as promising rather than battle-tested. It suits developers and technical SEOs who are comfortable with Docker, and teams that want crawl data to stay on their own machines.
SiteOne Crawler
The one to look at if what you wanted was Screaming Frog as a command-line tool. SiteOne Crawler is MIT-licensed, free, and ships as a single dependency-free binary with around 200 options for Windows, macOS and Linux, installable through Homebrew, apt, dnf, zypper and apk. There is a separate desktop GUI. Browser rendering is off by default and --browser turns it on. It does more than crawl: offline site export, sitemap generation, a CI quality gate, and security, accessibility and performance checks. It suits developers, DevOps and QA more than a reporting workflow.
squirrelscan
Ours. The squirrel CLI, the audit engine and the rule packages are MIT on GitHub, and a local audit run signed out or with --offline costs nothing and needs no account. It crawls up to 10,000 pages and scores them against 300+ audit rules, with output written for a coding agent to read. The website audit tool page lists what an audit covers, category by category. What it does not do for free: JavaScript rendering. --render runs in the cloud, needs a login and spends credits, so if free rendering is the requirement, take LibreCrawl or SiteOne Crawler.
FreeCrawl
The newest. FreeCrawl is an MIT-licensed desktop crawler built on Electron, for Windows, macOS and Ubuntu, and its repository was created in April 2026. Its site lists JavaScript rendering, unlimited URLs and Search Console, GA4, Ahrefs, Moz and Semrush integrations. Six months is not long, so try it on a site you know before you trust its numbers.
Greenflare still turns up on older lists of open-source crawlers. Its site, greenflare.io, now shows a hosting placeholder page, and its GitHub repository was last updated in July 2023.
If cost or the licence is the whole question, free and open source Screaming Frog alternatives goes deeper on these, including which of them can fail a build.
Paid desktop and cloud crawlers
Sitebulb
The closest like-for-like swap. Sitebulb is a desktop crawler for Windows and Mac with the same shape as Screaming Frog, plus a separate Sitebulb Cloud web app for teams that want crawls running off their laptops. It explains findings rather than just listing them, which makes it the usual pick for people who hand reports to clients. There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial. Desktop Lite is $18 a month and caps an audit at 10,000 URLs; Pro is $42 a month with 500,000 URLs per audit and $11 a month for each extra user; Sitebulb Cloud starts at $125 a month for two or more users. Yearly plans save 15%. Every plan, the trial included, now has a read-only MCP server that lets Claude or ChatGPT read finished audits. How Sitebulb compares with Screaming Frog has the head-to-head.
JetOctopus
A cloud platform rather than a tool you install: crawling, log file analysis, Search Console and GA4 in one place, aimed at sites large enough that server logs are the interesting data. There is no monthly billing. The in-house Growth plan is $349 a month billed annually, or $459 billed quarterly, for 500,000 crawled URLs and 2 million log lines a month, and every plan includes an MCP integration. The free trial runs 7 days with full access, up to 10,000 URLs, and no card. If that price makes you flinch, you are not the customer.
Lumar
Formerly Deepcrawl, and the enterprise end of the category: technical SEO crawling, site speed, accessibility and AI search visibility as one platform, sold to organizations with governance requirements and a lot of URLs. There is no published price, just a quote form. Assume a procurement cycle rather than a credit card.
squirrelscan Pro
The paid side of ours is the cloud. Signed in, every audit spends credits, including the browser rendering and AI analysis the local CLI does not do, and Pro is $19 a month with 3,000 credits. If your deliverable is a client report, one of the desktop tools above will serve you better.
Prices compared
| Tool | Interface | Free option | Entry price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screaming Frog | Desktop app, MCP on a licence | 500 URLs per crawl | £199 per user per year | Deep manual audits |
| Sitebulb | Desktop app plus cloud | 14-day trial | $18/month (Lite) | Client-facing reporting |
| LibreCrawl | Self-hosted web app | Free, MIT | Free | Docker-comfortable, privacy-minded teams |
| SiteOne Crawler | CLI binary plus GUI | Free, MIT | Free | Developers, DevOps, QA |
| FreeCrawl | Desktop app | Free, MIT | Free | Trying a new open-source desktop crawler |
| JetOctopus | Cloud | 7-day trial, no card | $349/month billed annually | Large sites with log file data |
| Lumar | Cloud, four apps | Not published | Quote | Enterprise governance |
| squirrelscan | CLI plus MCP server | Free local audits, signed out | Pro $19/month | CI gates and coding agents |
Prices read 23 October 2026 on each vendor's own site, in the currency it showed us. Sitebulb's page shows your local currency, so its numbers may differ for you.
Screaming Frog has a CLI and an MCP server
Worth clearing up, because these are what people search for after "alternative". Screaming Frog's paid licence runs crawls from the command line with --headless and on a schedule. Since version 24.0, released 19 May 2026, it also has an MCP server, so Claude and other assistants can run a crawl and work with the data. Both are paid licence features.
What you are driving is still a licensed desktop application on a machine you manage. The command-line guide describes exports, not a pass or fail exit code, so a build step gets files to inspect. That is fine for a scheduled crawl on a box you own, and awkward for a build step that has to pass or fail. SiteOne Crawler and squirrelscan are command-line tools first, and both exit with a code a pipeline reads.
What Screaming Frog is great at
The SEO Spider earned its place. Its exploratory crawls run deep: you can filter, segment and cross-reference data in ways that reward someone who knows what they are hunting for, duplicate titles filtered by directory, orphaned pages against Google Analytics, custom extraction with XPath or CSS selectors. Tabs, filters and bulk exports to Excel or Google Sheets make it a tool you click around in. The integrations are built for agency reporting: Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights connect natively, which matters if your deliverable is a client report rather than a CI status check. JavaScript rendering is mature, and log file analysis lives in a separate Log File Analyser.
If your job is diving into a site's structure and asking open-ended questions on the fly, Screaming Frog is still the right desktop tool. This page is not trying to talk you out of that.
Where the categories diverge
The difference is what each tool assumes about who is using it. Screaming Frog assumes a person, clicking, right up until the crawl finishes. squirrelscan assumes the output might go straight to a CI pipeline, a coding agent or a script, with no person in the loop until something needs a decision.
That shows up in a few places.
Automation and CI. Screaming Frog's paid tier runs from the command line and on a schedule, on your own machine or a server you manage. squirrelscan is built CLI-first: squirrel audit https://example.com runs the same way whether a person types it or a GitHub Actions workflow does, and --fail-on 'score<90' exits 2 when a threshold trips, which is the primitive CI needs.
Agent integration. Both have an MCP server now, and they work differently. Screaming Frog's drives the SEO Spider on your machine, with a licence. squirrelscan ships a Claude Code skill, a hosted server speaking the Model Context Protocol, a local one (squirrel mcp), and a --format llm output mode written for a model to read. Point Claude Code or Cursor at a site and it can pull a report, work out the fix, change the code and re-run the audit in one session. The SEO MCP server roundup compares the two with nine others.
Free tier shape. Screaming Frog's free mode caps you at 500 URLs per crawl and marks JavaScript rendering, saved crawls, scheduling and crawl configuration as paid, per their own pricing page. A licence is £199 per user per year, dropping to £189 each from five licences. squirrelscan's local audits are free while signed out, with no licence tier gating the local rules; signed in, every audit spends credits, and the paywall is on those cloud audits, not on running the tool.
Output shape. Screaming Frog exports CSVs and spreadsheets, built for a person to filter and sort. squirrelscan's default output is a scored report with structured JSON alongside it, so a script, a dashboard or an agent can consume it without anyone translating column headers first.
What getting started looks like
Screaming Frog starts with a download and an install wizard, which is fine for a desktop tool you open a few times a week. squirrelscan starts with a one-line install and a URL:
curl -fsSL https://install.squirrelscan.com | bash
squirrel audit https://example.comNo GUI to open and no project file to save. For output a coding agent can reason about instead of a person, add one flag:
squirrel audit https://example.com --format llmThe same command runs on your laptop, in a GitHub Action, or inside a Claude Code session. Screaming Frog's command line can cover the CI part, but you are then shipping a licensed desktop application into a build environment, which is a heavier lift than most CI setups want.
Screaming Frog vs squirrelscan
| Screaming Frog | squirrelscan | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Desktop GUI (Windows, macOS, Linux) | CLI, plus Claude Code skill and MCP servers |
| Free tier | 500 URLs a crawl, no JavaScript rendering, no saved crawls | Local CLI audits free signed out, 10,000 pages a crawl |
| Paid tier | £199 per user per year, removes the URL cap | Credits for cloud audits with browser rendering, Pro $19/month |
| Automation | Command line and scheduled crawls, ending in exports | Runs in CI as itself, --fail-on exits 2 on a threshold |
| Agent integration | MCP server since v24.0, paid licence, runs on your machine | Hosted and local MCP servers, Claude Code skill, --format llm |
| Crawl depth and JavaScript rendering | Deep, mature, highly configurable | Local crawl to 10,000 pages, rendering on signed-in cloud audits, 300+ audit rules |
| Output | CSV and spreadsheet exports, custom extraction | Structured JSON plus a readable report, LLM-ready text |
| Best for | Manual audits, agency reporting, ad hoc investigation | CI gates, agent workflows, repeatable checks |
Who should stick with Screaming Frog
If you do agency work where the deliverable is a polished report for a client, or you regularly slice a crawl fifteen ways to answer a question nobody asked you yet, keep your licence. The exploratory, filter-everything workflow is what it was built for, and a CLI will not replace that kind of digging.
Who should add a CLI-first tool
If the question you keep asking is "did this regress" or "is this still broken", rather than "let me explore this site", you want something that runs unattended. That is a CI job checking for broken links after every deploy, a coding agent auditing a page before it opens a PR, or a scheduled check that pages you when a health score drops. None of that needs a GUI.
Plenty of teams run both: Screaming Frog for the deep dives, squirrelscan in CI and the coding agent for everything that should happen automatically. Look at the sample report to see the output shape, or read how it fits into a Claude Code workflow. If you are fixing issues an audit turned up, using an AI agent to work through them is worth reading before you start clicking through tickets one by one. Or point the website audit tool at your own URL and see what it finds.