Ahrefs vs Screaming Frog Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Ahrefs | Screaming Frog | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $129/mo | Custom |
| Number of plans | 4 | 2 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | — |
| Pricing model | hybrid | flat-rate |
Lite
- 5 projects
- 6 months of historical data
- 750 tracked keywords
- 5 tracked AI prompts
- 100,000 crawl credits
- API and MCP access
- 1,000 credits per user
- 1 user included
- Add 2 more users at $40/mo each
- Dashboard
- Site Explorer
- Keywords Explorer
- Brand Radar
- Tracked AI prompts
- Site Audit
- Always-on audit
- Rank Tracker
- Competitive Analysis
- SERP history
- Page Inspect
- Web Analytics
- API access
- MCP Server
- Report Builder
- Social Media Manager (Beta)
- GBP Monitor (Beta)
Standard
- 20 projects
- 2 years of historical data
- 2,000 tracked keywords
- 10 tracked AI prompts
- 500,000 crawl credits
- API and MCP access
- Unlimited credits per user
- 1 user included
- Add 5 more users at $60/mo each
- Portfolios
- Content Explorer
- Batch Analysis
- SERP comparison
- Brand Radar
- Web visibility
- Site structure
- Broken backlinks
- Broken links
- Outgoing links
- Calendar view
- Linking authors
- AI suggestions
- Keyword clusters
- Search intents
- Translations
- SERP updates
- Site structure
Advanced
- 50 projects
- 5 years of historical data
- 5,000 tracked keywords
- 20 tracked AI prompts
- 1,500,000 crawl credits
- API and MCP access
- Unlimited credits per user
- 1 user included
- Add 10 more users at $80/mo each
- Looker Studio integration
- Search type distribution
- Agency directory listing
- Segmentation (Soon)
- HTTP authentication
Enterprise
- Uncapped API access
- SSO & enterprise-grade security
- Access management & audit log
- Unlimited historical data
- Forecasting & trends
Free Version
- Find Broken Links, Errors & Redirects
- Analyse Page Titles & Meta Data
- Review Meta Robots & Directives
- Audit hreflang Attributes
- Discover Exact Duplicate Pages
- Generate XML Sitemaps
- Site Visualisations
- Crawl Limit - 500 URLs
- Crawl Configuration
- Structured Data & Validation
Paid Version
- Find Broken Links, Errors & Redirects
- Analyse Page Titles & Meta Data
- Review Meta Robots & Directives
- Audit hreflang Attributes
- Discover Exact Duplicate Pages
- Generate XML Sitemaps
- Site Visualisations
- Crawl Limit - Unlimited*
- Scheduling
- Crawl Configuration
- Save & Open Crawls
- JavaScript Rendering
- Crawl Comparison
- Near Duplicate Content
- Custom robots.txt
- Mobile Usability
- AMP Crawling & Validation
- Structured Data & Validation
- Spelling & Grammar Checks
- Custom Source Code Search
- Custom Extraction
- Custom JavaScript
- Crawl with OpenAI & Gemini
- Google Analytics Integration
- Search Console Integration
- PageSpeed Insights Integration
- Accessibility Auditing
- Link Metrics Integration
- Forms Based Authentication
- Segmentation
- Looker Studio Crawl Report
- Free Technical Support
Ahrefs vs Screaming Frog FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Ahrefs uses hybrid pricing, while Screaming Frog goes with flat-rate. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Ahrefs: Ahrefs sits firmly in premium territory compared to scrappier SEO tools, but it's priced below Semrush at the equivalent tiers, so it's playing the 'slightly cheaper premium' card rather than undercutting on cost. They're chasing serious SEO teams and agencies who already know the category, not budget-conscious beginners. Screaming Frog: At $279/year, they're genuinely affordable for a professional SEO crawler — cheaper than Sitebulb's top tier and a fraction of enterprise tools like DeepCrawl or Lumar. They're going after working SEOs and lean agency teams, not enterprise procurement budgets.
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