Comparison · prices as of October 2026

PromoPilot SEO Audit vs Screaming Frog: a cloud audit or a yearly licence

Screaming Frog SEO Spider is the reference desktop crawler for technical SEO. PromoPilot SEO Audit is a cloud crawler with pay-per-audit pricing and a ready AI report. Here is an honest comparison: where each one wins and what a year of audits costs.

$5 for a site up to 5,000 pages, $25 up to 50,000, one-off, no subscription
Screaming Frog: £199 ($279) a year per user, 500 URLs free
The licence is cheaper from about 56 audits a year

The short answer

The choice is not about better or worse; it depends on how often and how deeply you audit.

Screaming Frog if you crawl every week and need custom extraction, log files or crawls of hundreds of thousands of URLs.
PromoPilot SEO Audit if you audit occasionally, have no suitable computer, or need a ready report for a client in their language.
Both if you already own Screaming Frog: the cloud for prospects and reports, the desktop for deep work.

Run an audit: 100 pages free Check one page, no sign-up

Feature by feature

Screaming Frog from its official pricing and features page (October 2026). PromoPilot from the live service settings.

	PromoPilot SEO Audit	Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Where it runs	Cloud: nothing to install, the crawl runs on our server	Desktop app for Windows, macOS, Linux
Price	$5 up to 5,000 pages, $25 up to 50,000; one-off	£199 ($279) a year per user; £189 from 5 licences, £179 from 10, £169 from 20
Free tier	Express audit of 100 pages, up to 30 a day; no export or AI report	Up to 500 URLs, no time limit
Crawl size	Up to 50,000 pages per audit	No fixed limit in the paid version: depends on memory and storage
JavaScript rendering	Automatic when a site is almost empty without scripts; up to 1,000 pages	Paid version, configurable
Report	AI report in en/pl/ru/uk with example URLs, included in the full audit; printable PDF	Data exports and a Looker Studio crawl report; you draw the conclusions
Beyond the crawl	Pages in Google index (site:), Core Web Vitals on a sample, Perplexity citations, llms.txt, AI bots blocked in robots.txt	GA, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights integrations, link metrics; Crawl with OpenAI & Gemini with your own keys
Flexibility	No custom extraction, list mode or log file analysis	Custom extraction, custom JavaScript, forms authentication, segmentation; logs in the separate Log File Analyser
Scheduling and comparison	Comparison with the previous crawl; automatic monitoring every 30 days for active customers	Scheduled crawls and crawl comparison
Export and API	CSV and PDF; no XLSX, no audit API	Many export formats

Screaming Frog prices change; check the official site before buying.

What a year of audits costs

Full audits only. Screaming Frog: one licence for one user.

	PromoPilot SEO Audit	Screaming Frog	Better value
2 sites, quarterly audits (8 a year)	8 × $5 = $40	$279	PromoPilot
Freelancer, 2 audits a month (24 a year)	24 × $5 = $120	$279	PromoPilot
A 20,000-page shop, monthly	12 × $25 = $300	$279	Screaming Frog
Agency, 10 audits a month	120 × $5 = $600	$279 per licence	Screaming Frog
Sites under 500 URLs, free only	$0 for 100 pages	$0 for 500 URLs	Screaming Frog, if you have a computer

Licence break-even: about 56 audits of sites up to 5,000 pages a year, or about 11 up to 50,000. Free 100-page express audits are not counted.

Where Screaming Frog is stronger

More free volume: 500 URLs versus our 100 pages.
Custom extraction, list mode, log files, custom JavaScript and detailed crawl configuration.
No 50,000-page ceiling and manual JavaScript rendering for any site.
With a steady flow of audits the licence is cheaper: from about 56 a year.

When to choose PromoPilot SEO Audit

A few audits a year: pay $5 per audit, not for a year of licence.
A Mac, a Chromebook or a phone; the crawl does not depend on your computer.
A ready AI report for a client in their language, and any site without ownership verification.
Signals beyond the crawl: Google index, Core Web Vitals, Perplexity visibility.

Why we do not tell technical SEOs to drop Screaming Frog

The SEO Spider is an investigation workbench: extract any data, crawl a URL list, analyse logs, tune rendering for a specific site. A cloud audit with a fixed set of 65 issue types does not replace that work. Its job is different: check a whole site quickly and cheaply and get a report people can read.

When the cloud helps even if you own a licence

Checking a prospect before the contract, a site that blocks your IP, or a big site from a laptop without spare memory. The express audit is free, and the full one runs on our server and switches the user agent itself if the host blocks the crawler.

One account, the whole SEO loop

Shared balance and single sign-on: a project moves from one service to the next with the domain already filled in.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Screaming Frog or PromoPilot SEO Audit?

It depends on how many audits you run a year. A full PromoPilot audit costs $5 for a site up to 5,000 pages and $25 up to 50,000; a Screaming Frog licence costs $279 a year. The licence pays off after about 56 audits of small sites or 11 audits of large ones per year. Occasional audits are cheaper per audit; an agency with a steady flow saves with a licence.

Does PromoPilot have a free version like Screaming Frog?

Yes, but smaller. The express audit crawls up to 100 pages of any site, up to 30 times a day, with a free account; some details are hidden and there is no export or AI report. The free Screaming Frog crawls up to 500 URLs, but you have to install it on your computer.

Can a cloud audit fully replace Screaming Frog?

Not for a technical SEO. PromoPilot has no custom extraction, list mode, log file analysis, manual JavaScript rendering or crawls above 50,000 pages. A cloud audit covers routine checks of your own and client sites, while Screaming Frog remains the tool for deep technical work.

Does PromoPilot SEO Audit work on a Mac without installing anything?

Yes. The crawl runs on our server, so you can open the audit in a browser on Windows, Mac, a Chromebook or a phone and close the tab before it finishes. Screaming Frog is an app for Windows, macOS and Linux, and your computer has to stay on for the whole crawl.

Is the AI report included in the audit price?

Yes, in the full audit: a written report in English, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian with example URLs for each issue, no API key of your own needed. The free express audit has no AI report. In Screaming Frog, Crawl with OpenAI & Gemini works with your own API keys.

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