Screaming Frog pricing: evaluate the free cap and annual licence

Estimate discovered URLs, not article count

A site with a hundred articles can expose many more URLs. Inspect the discovered set before judging whether the free cap fits your job. Exclusions should express an audit boundary, not merely make the number look small; excessive exclusions can hide the issue you intended to investigate.

Tie a paid feature to a deliverable

A licence should remove an identified obstacle rather than certify that you are serious about SEO. A migration review needs reproducible scope and retained evidence. A small, one-off broken-link check may have a different requirement. Describe the deliverable first, then check the relevant feature boundary on the official comparison.

Separate a planning equivalent from the bill

Paid licences last a year. Dividing an annual amount by twelve can help planning, but does not turn it into a cancellable monthly contract. Verify currency, taxes, users and renewal pricing at purchase, and check whether another team already holds access that covers your intended use.

Example: only two substantial audits a year

If you need only two major audits a year, do not assume a monthly usage pattern. Place pre-change inspection, release validation and follow-up checks on the actual schedule covered by the annual commitment. Establish what evidence must remain available for the next change. Few executions do not automatically make the licence unnecessary, and a small monthly equivalent does not automatically make it economical.

Prepare a reason for renewal

Before renewal, compare last year’s audits with next year’s planned work. A completed migration may leave only small checks, while several future releases may still need retained configuration and evidence. Either can change the purchasing decision. Base renewal on work you will complete and capabilities that enable it, not on the original purchase price or the effort already spent learning the tool. Retain required evidence before making any access change.

Include the work around the licence

For an illustrative internal estimate, saving thirty minutes of preparation on each of two monthly audits saves one hour per month. This is a calculation to test in your own workflow, not a benchmark measured for the product. If findings never lead to action, even a modest licence can be poor value.

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