Best Free SEO Audit Tools in 2026
Eight free SEO audit tools compared on the limit that stops a crawl first: URLs per crawl, credits a month, sites and the cheapest paid step, checked October 2026.
Short answer: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is the best free audit for a site you own. It is free on unlimited verified sites and gives 5,000 crawl credits a month per project, the only free crawl allowance here printed per month. Its paid step is Starter at $29 a month. For a site you do not own, Screaming Frog's free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Every limit below was read on the vendor's own page in October 2026.
Key facts8 tools compared: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Seobility, SEO PowerSuite…
- 8 tools compared: Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Seobility, SEO PowerSuite Website Auditor, Semrush free account, Sitechecker, Google Search Console, Lighthouse
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider (best for: Specialists who run a crawl by hand and can split a larger site into 500-URL runs): Free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Licence €245 per licence per year, priced in euros.
- Seobility (best for: Small sites that want a cloud audit on one project and can work within 100 pages per crawl): Free: 1 website project, 100 pages per crawl. Premium €59.90/mo monthly or €575.04/yr billed annually.
- SEO PowerSuite Website Auditor (best for: Marketers auditing one small site who want readable in-app reports and can do without export): Free: 500 URLs crawled, in-app reports. Professional €149/year, billed in euros.
The best free SEO audit tool in 2026 is the one whose limit covers your whole site in a run you can finish, because a free crawl that stops at URL 500 leaves the rest of the site unchecked.
Take a realistic job: a 2,000-page site audited once a month.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools covers it in one crawl, since 2,000 pages use 2,000 of the 5,000 credits a project receives, as long as each page returns status 200, the only status that costs a credit.
Screaming Frog's free version needs four crawls of 500 URLs, Seobility's free plan needs twenty crawls of 100 pages, and Lighthouse needs one run for every page.
Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, evaluated 253 SEO tools for its October 2026 SEO ranking, and 5 of the 10 tools at the top have a free plan.
This page is the audit cut of that list: the crawl caps, read on each vendor's own pages.
Top Picks
Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.
The largest free crawl allowance in this list, with unlimited verified sites, if you can prove you own each one.
Free for unlimited verified sites, 5K Site Audit crawl credits a month per project. Starter $29/mo.
Site owners who want a full-site audit and the keywords their site already ranks for, at no cost
The best-known free crawler here, with a hard cap of 500 URLs per crawl and advanced features locked in the free version.
Free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Licence €245 per licence per year, priced in euros.
Specialists who run a crawl by hand and can split a larger site into 500-URL runs
A free cloud audit on one project, with a 100-page cap per crawl that means twenty crawls to cover a 2,000-page site.
Free: 1 website project, 100 pages per crawl. Premium €59.90/mo monthly or €575.04/yr billed annually.
Small sites that want a cloud audit on one project and can work within 100 pages per crawl
| Tool | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | Free for unlimited verified sites, 5K Site Audit crawl credits a month per project. Starter $29/mo. | Site owners who want a full-site audit and the keywords their site already ranks for, at no cost |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Licence €245 per licence per year, priced in euros. | Specialists who run a crawl by hand and can split a larger site into 500-URL runs |
| Seobility | Free: 1 website project, 100 pages per crawl. Premium €59.90/mo monthly or €575.04/yr billed annually. | Small sites that want a cloud audit on one project and can work within 100 pages per crawl |
| SEO PowerSuite Website Auditor | Free: 500 URLs crawled, in-app reports. Professional €149/year, billed in euros. | Marketers auditing one small site who want readable in-app reports and can do without export |
| Semrush free account | Free, no credit card: 10 reports a day, 1 demo project. SEO plan €112.52/mo billed annually. | Marketers already using Semrush for keywords who want a free daily check before paying |
| Sitechecker | Free on-page check with no sign-up. Paid plans are custom, quoted on request, with no list price shown. | A quick free on-page check on one URL, with no account, before a client asks for more |
| Google Search Console | Free service offered by Google. Its URL Inspection tool reports on one page at a time. | Site owners who want Google's own view of which pages are indexed and what Google found on them |
| Lighthouse | Open-source tool, no price. Audits one URL per run for SEO, performance, accessibility and best practices. | Developers and SEO leads who check one URL at a time, including page speed and SEO scores |
Pricing read from each vendor's own pricing page, checked Oct 2026. 1 of 8 has no standalone price (bundled, usage-based or free to self-host) and is described as charged, not guessed. 1 of 8 publishes prices for some plans and quotes the rest.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
The largest free crawl allowance in this list, with unlimited verified sites, if you can prove you own each one.
- Pricing
- Free for unlimited verified sites, 5K Site Audit crawl credits a month per project. Starter $29/mo.
Best for: Site owners who want a full-site audit and the keywords their site already ranks for, at no cost
Pros
- 5,000 crawl credits a month per project, and only pages returning status 200 use a credit, so a 2,000-page site fits in one monthly crawl.
- Covers unlimited verified websites, and shows up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords at once in Site Explorer.
- The limits are printed in a list on the free product page, so the cap is readable before you sign up.
Cons
- The 5,000 credits are one pool per project, so a re-crawl in the same month draws on the same allowance.
- The free page does not say what Starter adds to the free crawl, so a team that needs more has to check Ahrefs' pricing separately.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
The best-known free crawler here, with a hard cap of 500 URLs per crawl and advanced features locked in the free version.
- Pricing
- Free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Licence €245 per licence per year, priced in euros.
Best for: Specialists who run a crawl by hand and can split a larger site into 500-URL runs
Pros
- The free version keeps the crawl itself, and the 500-URL cap is the only crawl limit it prints, so a run inside that cap costs nothing.
- The licence lasts one year and drops to €235 per licence from five licences, so a small team pays less per seat.
- A 500-URL crawl is enough to test one section of a site, such as a blog or a product category, before you buy a licence.
Cons
- JavaScript rendering, custom extraction and API integrations are restricted in the free version, which matters for sites built on client-side code.
- The licence is priced in euros with no USD figure on the page, so a US budget has to convert it.
Seobility
A free cloud audit on one project, with a 100-page cap per crawl that means twenty crawls to cover a 2,000-page site.
- Pricing
- Free: 1 website project, 100 pages per crawl. Premium €59.90/mo monthly or €575.04/yr billed annually.
Best for: Small sites that want a cloud audit on one project and can work within 100 pages per crawl
Pros
- The pricing page names both free limits, one project and 100 pages per crawl, in plain words.
- The paid plans run monthly or yearly, and the page says a subscription can be cancelled at any time with no cancellation period.
- Premium is the lowest of the three paid plans, and the yearly rate is 20% below the monthly rate.
Cons
- The free plan does not state how many audits you can run a day or a month, so the real monthly volume is unknown until you run one.
- All three paid plans are priced in euros with no USD figure on the page.
SEO PowerSuite Website Auditor
A 500-URL free audit with in-app reports, where the paid Professional plan adds CSV, SQL, PDF and HTML export.
- Pricing
- Free: 500 URLs crawled, in-app reports. Professional €149/year, billed in euros.
Best for: Marketers auditing one small site who want readable in-app reports and can do without export
Pros
- In-app reports are available in every version, including the free plan, so the findings are readable without paying.
- The 500-URL crawl is printed as its own line in the free list, with no monthly cap stated.
- Professional at €149 a year adds export in CSV, SQL, PDF and HTML.
Cons
- Saving, emailing and scheduling reports are locked on the free edition, so every audit is a manual run.
- Enterprise at €359 a year is also priced in euros, and the page gives no USD figure for either paid tier.
Semrush free account
A free SEO Checker that runs one check a day, plus a report allowance, but no printed page count for a full-site crawl.
- Pricing
- Free, no credit card: 10 reports a day, 1 demo project. SEO plan €112.52/mo billed annually.
Best for: Marketers already using Semrush for keywords who want a free daily check before paying
Pros
- The free account needs no credit card, and the SEO Checker allows one check a day for free, per Semrush's own pages.
- The free account gives 10 reports a day across the main tools, enough for a quick domain or keyword check without a crawl.
- The SEO plan lists 5 websites and 500 keywords to track daily, so a small team can run several sites on one plan.
Cons
- Neither the pricing page nor the SEO Checker prints a page limit for a full-site crawl, so the free audit cannot be sized in advance.
- The pricing page shows the SEO plan in euros with no USD figure, so the dollar cost is not quoted here.
Sitechecker
The fastest free check in this list, with 14 days of full access to try before choosing a plan, but no free crawl allowance printed.
- Pricing
- Free on-page check with no sign-up. Paid plans are custom, quoted on request, with no list price shown.
Best for: A quick free on-page check on one URL, with no account, before a client asks for more
Pros
- The on-page check returns its report in about two seconds with no sign-up.
- The Chrome extension is listed as free, with no sign-up.
- The 14 days of full access let you try the paid features before you choose a plan.
Cons
- No free site-crawl limit is printed, so a full-site audit cannot be sized before you run it.
- Paid plans are priced on request, based on the number of websites and keywords, so the cheapest paid step cannot be quoted.
Google Search Console
Not a crawler you point at a site. It reports on pages Google already knows about, and URL Inspection checks a single page.
- Pricing
- Free service offered by Google. Its URL Inspection tool reports on one page at a time.
Best for: Site owners who want Google's own view of which pages are indexed and what Google found on them
Pros
- URL Inspection gives crawl, index and serving information for a page directly from the Google index.
- It helps you fix indexing problems and request re-indexing of new or updated content.
- Google describes it as a free service, so it sits in an audit stack with no budget line.
Cons
- It is not a full-site technical crawler, so an audit of broken links and crawl depth still needs one of the crawlers above.
- Its help page prints no page count for URL Inspection, so a large site has to be checked in samples.
Lighthouse
An open-source audit for one page at a time, with an SEO score, so a site-wide review means many runs.
- Pricing
- Open-source tool, no price. Audits one URL per run for SEO, performance, accessibility and best practices.
Best for: Developers and SEO leads who check one URL at a time, including page speed and SEO scores
Pros
- Scores SEO alongside performance, accessibility and best practices in one run per URL.
- Open source, so there is no subscription and no crawl credit to track.
- Gives a score for each page you care about, which suits checking a few templates.
Cons
- There is no site-wide crawl: a 2,000-page site needs 2,000 separate runs.
- The report is aimed at developers, so a content owner gets less guidance on what to rewrite than from the crawlers above.
What it is
A free SEO audit tool crawls a site, or checks one page, and reports technical problems such as broken links, missing titles and slow pages, without a paid subscription. The limit is whatever the vendor lets the free account do: URLs per crawl, credits per month, projects, or checks per day.
For the head-to-head between the two biggest suites, read our Ahrefs vs Semrush comparison.
How we compared: we read the free-plan, pricing and help pages of 13 tools in October 2026. Eight are ranked below.
Five are left out because their free use is only a trial, or because the vendor prints no free audit limit: SEOptimer, Sitebulb, Ubersuggest, WooRank and SEO Review Tools. Prices are the vendor's own.
Where a vendor shows only euros, we quote euros and do not convert them.
SEOptimer is the one left-out tool with dollar prices on its page: its Starter plan is $21.75 a month billed yearly ($261 a year), and Pro is $39 a month.
Sitebulb's pages show a currency switch but no amounts. The Toolradar profiles for Screaming Frog and SEO PowerSuite sit in the directory for the category view.
How it works
Pick the tool by its unit. Ahrefs counts credits per project, Screaming Frog, SEO PowerSuite and Seobility count URLs per crawl, and Lighthouse counts one URL per run. Match that unit to your site before you choose: a 2,000-page site fits in one Ahrefs crawl, but needs four Screaming Frog crawls and twenty Seobility crawls.
Choose by the job.
If you own the site and want the whole thing in one run, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is the only free option here with a monthly allowance large enough for that. If you want a crawl you run yourself and will split a bigger site into batches, Screaming Frog's free 500-URL crawl is the tool.
A small site on one project fits Seobility's free plan. If you need one page checked, or a quick on-page read, Sitechecker or Lighthouse is faster than a crawl.
Use a crawler for the whole site and a page tool for the pages that matter.
Crawl the site with Ahrefs or Screaming Frog, then run Lighthouse on the templates that carry the most traffic.
For the wider AI-search angle, the best AI SEO tools guide covers the paid suites by job, and the content optimization guide covers the page-level scoring that comes after an audit.
Why it matters
Free audit tools fail at the cap, not at the findings. The same 2,000-page audit takes one run on Ahrefs, four on Screaming Frog and SEO PowerSuite, twenty on Seobility, and 2,000 single-URL runs in Lighthouse.
A tool with a generous crawl can still hold the report back: SEO PowerSuite's free edition keeps in-app reports but locks saving, emailing and scheduling, and its CSV, SQL and HTML exports sit on the paid tiers.
The cost is mostly in euros. Four of the paid steps here are priced in euros with no USD figure on the vendor page.
A budget in dollars has to convert them, and the conversion moves with the exchange rate.
Key features to look for
Pricing
Among the ranked tools that print a dollar price, Ahrefs Starter is the only paid step, at $29 a month. The page prints no yearly rate, so the monthly figure is the one to quote: $348 for a year at that rate (29 x 12).
Read the full plan list in our Ahrefs pricing breakdown before you commit to Starter.
Among the euro-priced tools, the lowest paid yearly price is SEO PowerSuite Professional at €149 a year, then Screaming Frog's licence at €245 a year.
Seobility's Premium plan is €575.04 a year billed annually, or €59.90 a month billed monthly. Nothing here is converted from euros.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools Free | Free | Unlimited verified sites, 5,000 Site Audit crawl credits a month per project |
| Ahrefs Starter | $29/mo | The paid step Ahrefs names from its free account; its contents are not listed on that page |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider free | Free | Crawls up to 500 URLs per crawl; JavaScript rendering, custom extraction and API integrations restricted |
| Screaming Frog licence | €245 per licence per year | One licence for one year, with volume rates from five licences; no USD price published |
| SEO PowerSuite Website Auditor free | Free | Crawls 500 URLs with in-app reports; saving, emailing and scheduled reports locked |
| SEO PowerSuite Professional | €149/year | Adds CSV, SQL, PDF and HTML export, billed yearly as a subscription fee |
| Seobility Free | Free | One website project and 100 pages per crawl |
| Seobility Premium | €59.90/mo or €575.04/yr | The lowest of its three paid plans; the page says a subscription can be cancelled at any time |
| Semrush Free | Free, no credit card | One demo project, 10 reports a day across the main tools, one SEO Checker check a day |
| Semrush SEO | €112.52/mo billed annually | 5 websites and 500 keywords tracked daily; euro price on the pricing page, no USD figure |
| Sitechecker | Custom | On-page check with no sign-up and 14 days of full access; plans quoted on request |
| Google Search Console | Free | Google's own data on the pages it has indexed, with URL Inspection for single pages |
| Lighthouse | Open source | Audits one URL per run for SEO, performance, accessibility and best practices |
The bottom line
Start with Ahrefs Webmaster Tools if you own the site: 5,000 free crawl credits a month per project cover a 2,000-page audit in one run, if every page returns status 200. Use Screaming Frog for a hands-on crawl of up to 500 URLs at a time, and Lighthouse for page-level scores.
Check the paid step on the vendor's own pricing page before you commit, since four of the paid plans are priced in euros.
For the keyword side of the same stack, read our best free keyword research tools guide, and for position checks, the best free rank trackers guide.
Our Semrush review covers the paid plans in full.
Cite this: MarketingShot, "Best Free SEO Audit Tools in 2026", October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free SEO audit tool in 2026?
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, for a site you own: it is free on unlimited verified sites and gives 5,000 Site Audit crawl credits a month per project. For a site you do not own, Screaming Frog's free version crawls 500 URLs per crawl. Limits were read on each vendor's pages in October 2026.
Is there a free SEO audit tool with no crawl limit?
Not among the eight here. Ahrefs is the only free tool here that prints a monthly allowance, 5,000 credits per project, and its free audit covers verified sites only. Lighthouse checks one URL per run, and Google Search Console reports on pages Google already knows about rather than crawling a site on demand.
How many pages does Seobility's free plan crawl?
100 pages per crawl on one website project, the two limits its pricing page prints. The page does not state how many crawls you can run a day or a month, so a 2,000-page site needs 20 separate crawls.
Is Screaming Frog free?
Yes, its free version crawls up to 500 URLs per crawl, with JavaScript rendering, custom extraction and API integrations restricted. The licence is €245 per licence per year, priced in euros, and the page shows no USD figure.
How much does a free SEO audit tool cost after the free plan?
Ahrefs Starter is the first paid step and is priced in dollars on its page. Among the euro-priced tools, SEO PowerSuite Professional is €149 a year, Screaming Frog's licence is €245 a year and Seobility's Premium plan is €59.90 a month or €575.04 a year. SEOptimer has no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and lists Starter at $21.75 a month billed yearly ($261 a year).
Does Semrush have a free site audit?
Semrush's free account prints no page limit for a full-site audit. It offers 10 reports a day and one demo project, with no credit card, and its free SEO Checker runs one check a day. Check the crawl limit inside the account before you rely on it. The Semrush alternatives guide covers the paid side.
Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.
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