BearAudit vs. Screaming Frog
Both are desktop technical SEO crawlers with local data. Here’s a detailed comparison so you can choose the right tool for pricing, features, and workflow.
At a glance
BearAudit
- Subscription from £25/mo; no URL cap
- GSC + GA in one app via OAuth
- Per-page security grade A+–F
- Your Gemini key for AI; Jira/Linear export
Screaming Frog
- Free 500 URLs or paid annual licence
- GSC/GA via API integration
- Strong crawl + export; Lighthouse/PSI in newer versions
- Good for power users who like spreadsheet-style workflow
Screaming Frog SEO Spider has been a staple for technical SEOs: free tier (500 URLs), paid annual licence for unlimited crawls, and deep export/analysis. BearAudit is subscription-based (monthly or yearly), keeps all data on your machine, and bundles GSC + GA (OAuth), per-page security grades, keyword cannibalization, and optional AI (your Gemini key) in one app. If you’re comparing them, you’re usually weighing cost model, URL limits, how integrated GSC/GA are, and whether you want a single dashboard vs. export-and-analyse elsewhere.
| Feature | BearAudit | Screaming Frog |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Monthly or yearly from £25/mo. No URL cap. Cancel anytime. | Free: 500 URLs. Paid: annual licence ~£200–260/year (unlimited URLs). Renew yearly. |
| Crawl data | 100% on your machine. No cloud copy. | Local. Crawl data stays on your machine. |
| URL limit per crawl | No hard cap. Unlimited URLs on all plans. | Free: 500 URLs. Paid: unlimited. |
| Google Search Console | OAuth, built-in. Queries, impressions, clicks, high-impact pages in the app. | API integration. Search Analytics + URL Inspection (e.g. 2,000 URLs/day on Inspection). |
| Google Analytics | OAuth, built-in. Traffic, sources, countries, cities in one dashboard. | API integration. Connect account and pull GA data into crawl. |
| Security headers & grade | Per-page check. Single grade A+–F (HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options, etc.). | Not a dedicated security-grade feature. General crawl + integrations. |
| PageSpeed / Core Web Vitals | Optional PageSpeed Insights API (your key). Desktop + mobile, CWV. | Lighthouse & PageSpeed integration (e.g. v23+). |
| Keyword cannibalization / high-impact | Built-in. Query overlap, high-impact pages, prioritised fix lists. | Search Analytics in app; no dedicated cannibalization clusters. |
| AI (suggestions, entities) | Your Gemini API key (stored locally). Suggestions, entity extraction, action plans. | AI features (e.g. OpenAI/Gemini). Check current plan for availability. |
| Export | CSV + JSON. Verifications, broken links, redirects, duplicates, entities. No lock-in. | Export to CSV/Excel. Looker Studio reports on paid. Custom extraction on paid. |
| Jira / Linear / task export | Built-in. Export action items to Jira or Linear. | Not built-in. Export data and use elsewhere. |
| Multiple sites (properties) | Unlimited properties. One app, many sites. Per-property crawl & reports. | Multiple projects/crawls. No fixed “property” limit. |
When BearAudit may fit better
If you want one subscription with no URL cap, GSC and GA in the same app (OAuth, no separate API setup), per-page security grades, keyword cannibalization and high-impact fix lists, and optional AI + Jira/Linear export using your own API key, BearAudit is built for that. You keep full data ownership and get a single dashboard per site.
When Screaming Frog may fit better
If you prefer a free 500-URL option for small checks, or a one-off annual licence and are comfortable exporting to Excel/Sheets and using GSC/GA via API, Screaming Frog is a proven choice. It suits power users who like maximum flexibility and spreadsheet-style analysis.
Pricing and features for Screaming Frog are as commonly cited (e.g. free 500 URLs, paid annual licence). Check screamingfrog.co.uk for current pricing and capabilities.