vioscaleAI
Comparison

Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Surfer SEO

No clear leader: Screaming Frog SEO Spider (55.8) and Surfer SEO (55.4) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider full profile →Surfer SEO full profile →
Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider56
Surfer SEO55
Score
vioscaleAI score
Screaming Frog SEO Spider56 / 100medium · 50%
Surfer SEO55 / 100medium · 57%
Pricing
Free tier
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✓
Model
Screaming Frog SEO Spiderfreemium
Surfer SEOfreemium
Price level
Screaming Frog SEO Spiderhigh
Surfer SEOhigh
Starting price
Screaming Frog SEO Spider–
Surfer SEO$82
Transparent
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✓
Integrations
Count
Screaming Frog SEO Spider3
Surfer SEO3
Security
Gdpr
Screaming Frog SEO Spider–
Surfer SEO✓
Iso27001
Screaming Frog SEO Spider–
Surfer SEO✓
Trust center
Market
Availability
Content
Faq
Screaming Frog SEO Spider5 items
Surfer SEO7 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for seo tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Pricing
Pricing transparency
Screaming Frog SEO SpiderTransparent
Surfer SEOTransparent
Free tier / free tool
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✓
Pricing model
Screaming Frog SEO SpiderFlat
Surfer SEOFlat
Data
Backlink index
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✗
Keyword research database
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✓
Capability
Rank tracking
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✓
Technical site audit / crawler
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✓
Content optimisation (SERP-driven)
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✓
Competitor / SERP intelligence
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✓
Coverage
Local / mobile SERP support
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✓
Countries / locales covered
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEOGlobal
Integration
Public API
Screaming Frog SEO Spider-
Surfer SEO✓
Search Console / GA4 integration
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✓
Deployment
Deployment
Screaming Frog SEO SpiderDesktop app
Surfer SEOCloud

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Desktop software that crawls websites to identify over 300 SEO issues and opportunities. Helps analyze and improve both technical SEO performance and user experience, with integration capabilities for Google Analytics and Search Console.

Independently observed

Surfer SEO

A platform for monitoring how AI models mention your brand, researching topics to establish authority, optimizing content for both traditional search and AI responses, and managing your visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI systems.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

from £199/moSubscriptionFree tier

Free tier (500 URLs) or £199/year for unlimited crawls and advanced features

  • FreeFree
    • Crawl up to 500 URLs
    • Identify SEO issues
    • Find broken links
    • Audit redirects
    • Analyze page titles and metadata
    • +4 more
  • Paid License£199 per year
    • Unlimited URL crawls
    • All free features
    • Advanced features
    • Extract data with XPath and CSS selectors
    • Crawl JavaScript-rendered websites
    • +2 more
as of verify ↗

Surfer SEO

from $82/moSubscriptionFree tier

From $82/month. Free tier. Annual commitment saves up to $720.

  • FreeFree
    • AI visibility tracking
    • Brand knowledge base
    • MCP
  • Track AI Visibility$82/month billed annually; saves $156/year
    • Monitor visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews
    • Plan, write, and track AI visibility
    • Brand knowledge base
    • MCP
  • Standard$99/month billed annually; saves $240/year
    • 360 documents
    • Integrations
    • 1-click content optimization
    • Team collaboration
    • Plagiarism checker
    • +1 more
  • Pro$182/month billed annually; saves $444/year
    • Everything in Standard
    • 5 brand spaces
    • 1-click internal linking
    • Content ideas and coverage gaps
    • Templates and custom voices
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Unlimited optimization
    • API access
    • Dedicated success manager
    • Advanced SERP analysis
    • SSO and enterprise security
    • +1 more
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✗
Surfer SEO✓
macOS
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✗
Windows
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✗
Linux
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✗
Surfer SEO✓
Self-hosted
Screaming Frog SEO Spider✓
Surfer SEO✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

3 total
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Search Console
  • PageSpeed Insights
Independently observed

Surfer SEO

9 total
  • WordPress
  • Google Docs
  • Contentful
  • Zapier
  • Looker Studio
  • Google Sign-In
  • Jasper
  • Google Analytics 4
  • Google Ads
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Surfer SEO: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.