Netpeak Spider online: a no-install alternative and an honest comparison with a cloud audit
Netpeak Spider is a strong desktop crawler, but it has no online version. We look at when a cloud site audit is the better deal: $5 for a site up to 5,000 pages with no subscription, a free 100-page express audit and a ready AI report. And we are honest about where Netpeak Spider is stronger: 500 URLs free, XLSX export, flexible settings and a lower price for regular work.
Netpeak Spider is one of the most popular technical SEO crawlers in Ukraine and the CIS region. But it is a desktop program: you have to install it, and your computer has to stay on for the whole crawl. So when people search for "Netpeak Spider online", they usually mean something else: a site audit with no installation, from any device, sometimes for a client's site they do not have access to yet. Below is an honest look at what Netpeak Spider can do, what can replace it in the cloud, where a cloud audit wins and where the desktop crawler is still stronger. The comparison covers our PromoPilot SEO Audit, plus Screaming Frog SEO Spider and Sitebulb. Competitor prices were checked on their official pages in October 2026.
Is there a Netpeak Spider online version?
Short answer: no. Netpeak Spider runs as an app for Windows and macOS, and the official page lists no web version that crawls on a server. There is a Mac version, so working on a Mac is not, by itself, a reason to look for a replacement.
The usual reasons to look for a cloud alternative are different:
- You rarely need an audit. A site owner checks the site before a redesign and a couple of times a year after that. Paying for a subscription for that makes little sense.
- No suitable computer. A large site takes hours to crawl, and the laptop has to stay on and awake the whole time. A cloud crawler runs on a server: you can close the tab and come back later, or start the crawl from a phone or a Chromebook.
- You need a report, not a spreadsheet. A desktop spider gives you excellent raw data, but turning it into a document a client or a developer will actually read is a separate job.
- The site is not yours. A freelancer or an agency wants to show a prospect what is wrong with their site before the contract, without access to their dashboards or ownership verification.
If none of this gets in your way, Netpeak Spider is most likely the right tool for you. The rest of this article is for those it does get in the way of.
The comparison at a glance
| PromoPilot SEO Audit | Netpeak Spider | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Sitebulb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Cloud, nothing to install | Desktop: Windows, macOS | Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux | Desktop or Cloud |
| Price | $5 per audit for a site up to 5,000 pages, $25 up to 50,000. One-off, no subscription | Pro: $20 a month, $193 a year or $496 lifetime | $279 a year (£199), volume discounts from 5 licenses | Cloud from £95 a month; Desktop Lite and Pro prices did not load when we checked |
| Free | Express audit of 100 pages, up to 30 runs a day, free account, no card | 500 URLs, 5 threads; 3-day Pro trial | 500 URLs | 14-day trial |
| Size limit | 50,000 pages per audit | No fixed limit, up to 200 threads | No fixed limit (your computer's RAM and disk) | Lite 10,000 URLs, Pro 500,000 (up to 2 million) |
| JavaScript rendering | Automatic only, when the site is empty without it (up to 1,000 pages) | Yes, via Chromium | Yes, configurable | Yes |
| Scheduled crawls | Only automatic monitoring every 30 days | No data on the official page | Yes | Pro and Cloud |
| Report | AI report in English, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian, included in the price of a full audit | Export to CSV, XLSX, PDF, Google Sheets | Export to many formats; AI via your own OpenAI and Gemini keys | Hints and visualizations |
| Export | CSV and printable PDF; no XLSX, no API | CSV, XLSX, PDF, Google Sheets | Many formats | Yes |
| Audit a site you do not own | Yes, no verification | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Two facts matter most in this table. Netpeak Spider's free tier is bigger than ours: 500 URLs versus 100. On the other hand, one full audit with us costs $5 with no subscription, and if you audit rarely, that is cheaper than any license. Below we go into when each fact matters more.
What the PromoPilot cloud audit gives you
The crawl runs on our server
You enter a domain and the crawl runs in the cloud. You can shut down the computer and close the tab. You can start a check from Windows, a Mac, a Chromebook or a phone, and a 50,000-page site does not eat your laptop's memory.
$5 for a site up to 5,000 pages, $25 up to 50,000
There is no subscription: you pay from your balance for a specific audit, and the price depends only on the size of the site. If fewer pages turn out to be reachable than the tier you paid for, the difference down to the lower tier is refunded. You see the site size and the exact price after the free express crawl, before you pay.
Audit a competitor's site or a prospect's
You do not need access to the site or ownership verification. That is handy when you want to show a site's problems before the work starts. If you connect Google Search Console for your own sites, the audit also shows pages with traffic, the problem pages that get that traffic, and pages in positions 4–20 with a click forecast.
AI report in English, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian
Every full audit includes an AI-written report that explains each problem in plain language, with concrete URLs from your site. You can hand it to a client or a developer as is. You do not need your own API key; the report is included in the price. The free express audit does not include it.
Compare with the previous crawl
After fixes, run the audit again and check page by page what was fixed, what is new and what is still there. Automatic monitoring runs a free express crawl every 30 days and emails you the changes.
Google index, Core Web Vitals and AI search visibility
Besides 65 issue types in six categories (indexing, meta tags, content, speed, links, security), the audit shows the number of pages in Google's index for a site: query, Core Web Vitals and PageSpeed for a sample of pages, whether Perplexity cites the site for queries in its niche, whether llms.txt exists, and whether AI bots are blocked in robots.txt. Schema.org markup validation, hreflang, orphan pages, click depth, and broken internal and external links are part of the crawl itself.
A practical detail for sites behind Cloudflare and other protection: if the hosting or a WAF blocks the crawler, the audit switches user agents (Googlebot desktop and smartphone, Bingbot, Chrome desktop and mobile) and re-requests the blocked URLs through an unblocking proxy, up to 300 requests per audit.
Where Netpeak Spider is stronger, honestly
This section matters more than the rest. If you work in Netpeak Spider every day, here is what you will miss in our audit:
The takeaway is simple: for deep day-to-day work, a desktop spider is more convenient and cheaper. A cloud audit works best as a second tool, for client sites, quick checks and reports you need to hand over as is.
Doing the math: which is cheaper when
It all comes down to the number of full audits. Pro at $20 a month equals four of our $5 audits. The $193 yearly Pro pays off at about 39 audits a year, the $496 lifetime license at about 99. For large sites at $25 the picture changes: $193 is less than eight such audits.
| Scenario | PromoPilot SEO Audit | Netpeak Spider Pro | Cheaper option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner of two small sites, an audit every quarter (8 a year) | 8 × $5 = $40 a year | $193 a year, or $20 for each month you need it | Cloud, pay per audit |
| Freelancer, 2 client audits a month, sites up to 5,000 pages (24 a year) | 24 × $5 = $120 a year | $193 a year | Cloud, pay per audit |
| Agency, 10 audits a month (120 a year) | 120 × $5 = $600 a year | $193 a year or $496 lifetime | Netpeak Spider |
| Online store with 20,000 pages, an audit every month | 12 × $25 = $300 a year | $193 a year | Netpeak Spider, if your computer can handle the crawl |
The agency and store rows are not a typo. If audits are a constant part of your work, a license is cheaper, and we recommend it outright. The cloud wins for irregular work. Also, the math counts only full audits: quick checks with the free 100-page express audit cost nothing.
One more cost that is not in the table is the time spent on the report. With a desktop spider, you have to build the client report from the export yourself. Our full audit includes a ready AI report and a printable PDF version in the price. Whether that saves you an hour or nothing depends on how you work.
What the free express audit shows
The express audit is an honest free option, not a five-page demo. It crawls up to 100 pages of any site, and you can run it up to 30 times a day with a free PromoPilot account (sign in with Google or email, no card needed). It includes:
- a Health Score from 0 to 100, based on errors, warnings and notices on the crawled pages;
- the main issues on those pages, grouped by category;
- a site profile: the detected CMS and an estimate of the site's size.
What it does not include: some details are blurred, there is no export and no AI report, and it does not crawl more than 100 pages. In return, its results show you the site size and the exact price of a full audit before you pay. If you need to check a single page with no sign-up at all, you can do that with the free SEO analysis among our free tools.
How to choose a cloud SEO crawler instead of a desktop one
If you have decided to try a cloud audit, ours or anyone else's, check a few things before you pay. This is where cloud services differ the most:
- What counts as free. Some services give you a few pages for free and hide almost all the results; others give you an honest sample. Check whether the free version shows the actual issues and example URLs, not just an overall score.
- Pricing model. A subscription pays off for regular work, pay-per-audit for occasional work. Find out whether an unused quota expires at the end of the month and what happens if the site turns out smaller than the tier you paid for.
- JavaScript rendering. On sites built with React, Vue and other frameworks, a crawler without rendering will see empty pages. Find out whether rendering turns on automatically, whether you can turn it on manually, and how many pages get rendered.
- Handling bot protection. Sites behind Cloudflare and other WAFs often block cloud crawlers. It helps if the service can switch user agents and retry blocked requests, and if the report is honest about which pages it could not fetch.
- Report language and format. If the report goes to a client, it matters what language it is written in, whether it lists concrete URLs, and whether you can print or export it.
- Repeat checks. An audit is useful when you can see "before and after" once fixes are done. Check whether the service compares a new crawl with the previous one and whether it offers monitoring.
No cloud crawler will replicate every Netpeak Spider setting. That is not the goal. The goal is to cover the cases where desktop is inconvenient, without overpaying for them.
Which one to pick
| Who you are | What fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| An SEO who crawls sites every day | Netpeak Spider Pro or Screaming Frog | Speed, flexibility, export to XLSX and Google Sheets, no page ceiling |
| An agency with a steady flow of audits | A Netpeak Spider license (yearly or lifetime) | A fixed price beats paying per audit from about 39 audits a year |
| Owner of 1–5 sites | PromoPilot SEO Audit | $5 per audit, nothing to install, a ready report, monitoring every 30 days |
| A freelancer looking for clients | PromoPilot free express audit | Any site without ownership verification, up to 30 free runs a day |
| You need a client report in Ukrainian, Russian or Polish | PromoPilot full audit, or desktop plus a cloud report | An AI report in the client's language with concrete URLs is included in the price |
| Weak laptop, large site | A cloud crawler | The crawl runs on a server and does not depend on your computer's memory |
How to combine Netpeak Spider and a cloud audit
Many people do not have to choose. Here is a workflow we see among freelancers and small agencies:
First look in the cloud
For a new client or a prospect, run the free express audit: the Health Score and the main issues show up within a few minutes, with nothing to install or verify.
Deep work on the desktop
Once the contract is signed, do the detailed analysis with fine-tuned settings and exports to XLSX and Google Sheets in Netpeak Spider.
Reporting and follow-up back in the cloud
For a report in the client's language and a "before and after" check once fixes are done, use a full cloud audit, and automatic monitoring every 30 days will let you know if something breaks on the site again. We covered where to start with fixes in "SEO audit: what to fix first".
If you are also comparing other desktop crawlers, read our breakdown of a free Screaming Frog alternative: it goes deeper into the Screaming Frog license, Sitebulb, and how many audits it takes for a yearly license to pay off.
FAQ
Is there a Netpeak Spider online version?
No. According to the official page, Netpeak Spider is a Windows and macOS app that crawls the site from your computer. If you need an audit with no installation, use a cloud crawler such as PromoPilot SEO Audit or Sitebulb Cloud.
How much does Netpeak Spider cost in 2026?
As of October 2026, the Pro plan costs $20 a month, $193 a year or $496 for a lifetime license. The free version crawls up to 500 URLs in 5 threads, and there is a 3-day Pro trial. Prices change, so check the official website.
Does Netpeak Spider work on Mac?
Yes, according to the official page Netpeak Spider is available for Windows and macOS. A cloud audit makes sense not because of the Mac, but when your computer cannot crawl a large site for hours or you need an audit from any device.
What is a free Netpeak Spider alternative online?
PromoPilot SEO Audit crawls up to 100 pages of any site in the cloud for free, up to 30 times a day, with a free account and no card. That is less than the 500 URLs in the free Netpeak Spider, but there is nothing to install and the crawl runs on a server. A full audit costs $5 for a site up to 5,000 pages.
When is Netpeak Spider cheaper than a cloud audit?
When you run a lot of audits. The $20-a-month Pro plan beats paying $5 per audit if you run more than four full audits a month, and the $193 yearly plan wins from about 39 audits a year. For occasional audits, paying per audit in the cloud costs less.
Can I audit someone else's site without access to it?
Yes. PromoPilot SEO Audit crawls any public site without ownership verification, so you can use it to check a competitor's site or a prospect's. Connecting Google Search Console is optional and only adds traffic data for your own sites.
Sources: official pages of Netpeak Spider (pricing), Screaming Frog SEO Spider (pricing) and Sitebulb (pricing), checked in October 2026. PromoPilot features and prices as of October 2026. Competitor prices change, so check their websites before buying. This comparison was prepared by PromoPilot and is not sponsored by any of the services mentioned.
