Ahrefs vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Both are in SEO tools. Here is how their plans, prices and features compare, taken from each vendor's own site.
The main differences
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider's cheapest paid plan is $23.25/mo, against $29/mo for Ahrefs.
- Fees: Ahrefs states none; Screaming Frog SEO Spider $279 per licence per year; discounts for 5+ licences.
| Ahrefs | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan · from $29/mo | Free plan · from $23.25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Not stated by the vendor | Not stated by the vendor |
| Plans | Free ($0); Starter ($29/mo); Lite ($129/mo); Standard ($249/mo); Advanced ($449/mo); Enterprise ($1499/mo) | Free Version ($0); Paid Version ($23.25/mo annual, $279/yr) |
| Fees | Not stated | $279 per licence per year; discounts for 5+ licences |
| Best for | Not stated | Not stated |
| Key features | Site Explorer and Keywords Explorer; Rank Tracker and Site Audit; Tracked AI prompts and Brand Radar; API and MCP access on every plan | Crawl a website to audit technical SEO; Find broken links; XML sitemap generator; Web scraping |
| Checked on | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-03 |
Prices change; confirm on the vendor's site before you buy. Full details and sources are on each tool's page.
Ahrefs
- API and MCP access on every paid plan
- A free plan and a $29 Starter plan for light use
- Historical data from 6 months (Lite) up to 5 years (Advanced)
Trade-offs
- Lite starts at $129 a month
- Each plan includes 1 user; extra users cost $40 to $80 a month
- Annual billing, which saves up to 17%, was not priced on the page
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Free version crawls up to 500 URLs
- Paid licence is $279 a year per user
- Volume discounts: $265 for 5 to 9 licences, $249 for 10 to 19, $235 for 20+
Trade-offs
- The free version is limited to 500 URLs
- Licences are per user, so two users need two licences
- The URL limit on the paid version depends on allocated memory and storage