Prices
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: $279 per year per user (about $23.25 per month). Volume pricing: $265 for 5-9 licences, $249 for 10-19, $235 for 20 or more. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs.
- SE Ranking: Core $129 per month ($103.20 billed annually), Growth $279 per month ($223.20 annually).
Crawling and auditing
Screaming Frog is the specialist: it crawls on your machine, handles very custom configurations and JavaScript rendering, and exports raw data for deep technical analysis. SE Ranking's audit runs in the cloud with a page budget (250,000 pages per month on Core, 2,000,000 on Growth) and turns issues into a prioritised report you can share.
What only SE Ranking does
Rank tracking (2,000 keywords daily on Core), keyword and competitor research, backlink monitoring, client reporting and AI search tracking. Screaming Frog does none of these; it is a crawler.
Weaknesses of each
- Screaming Frog: desktop-bound, one licence per user, and no tracking or research.
- SE Ranking: less configurable crawling than a dedicated desktop crawler.
When to use both
Agencies doing technical SEO for large sites commonly run Screaming Frog for deep one-off crawls and a suite like SE Ranking for ongoing monitoring and reporting. If you only need one, start with SE Ranking. Try SE Ranking free for 14 days.
Verdict
Screaming Frog is the best-known specialist crawler; SE Ranking is the everyday SEO workspace. Most site owners and small agencies need SE Ranking first. Start the SE Ranking trial.
Questions
Is Screaming Frog free?
The free version crawls up to 500 URLs. The paid licence costs $279 per year per user.
Can SE Ranking replace Screaming Frog?
For routine site audits, yes: Core audits up to 250,000 pages per month. For deep custom crawls, specialists still use Screaming Frog.
Does Screaming Frog track rankings?
No. It is a website crawler; SE Ranking tracks 2,000 keywords daily on Core.
Which is cheaper?
Screaming Frog at $279 per year, but it covers only crawling.