Skip to content

Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics

Clearscope vs Frase vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Clearscope

3.9

From $129/mo

Frase

4.0

From $49/mo

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

4.0

From £199/user/yr

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Easiest to use

Pick it if: Content teams and agencies publishing SEO articles every week who want writers to hit a clear quality bar.

Pick it if: Small marketing teams, freelancers and agencies who write SEO content and want research, briefs and drafts in one place.

Best value

Pick it if: Anyone who needs a thorough technical check of a site, especially before or after a redesign or migration.

Overview

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
In one lineGrades your content against what ranks and tracks whether AI search mentions you.Researches, briefs and drafts SEO articles, and tracks if AI search cites you.Crawls your whole site the way Google does and lists what's broken.
Pricing modelPaidPaidFreemium
Starting price$129/mo$49/mo£199/user/yr
Free plan No No Yes
Works with Claude Code No Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Overall rating3.94.04.0
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.5
4.0
2.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.0
4.5
4.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
3.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
2.5
4.0
4.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.0
4.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Access & platform
Free plan No No Yes
Mobile app–– No
Desktop app–– Yes
Browser extension No– No
API access– Yes No
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes No
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes No
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files–– Yes
Understands images–– No
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code No No No
Runs agents or automations– Yes No
Learns your brand or style– Yes No
Works in many languages– Yes Yes
Capabilities score3/ 177/ 175/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Plans

EssentialsOur pick

$129/mo

Small content teams publishing weekly.

Starter

$49/mo, or $39/mo billed yearly

One person writing a few articles a month.

Free

Free

Small sites and one-off checks.

Business

$399/mo

Larger teams and agencies.

ProfessionalOur pick

$129/mo, or $103/mo billed yearly

Small teams publishing weekly.

Paid licenceOur pick

£199/user/yr

Agencies and anyone with a site over 500 pages.

Enterprise

Custom

Big publishers with security needs.

Scale

$299/mo, or $239/mo billed yearly

Agencies running several sites.

Enterprise

Custom

Large teams needing white-label and SSO.

Which plan to pickEssentials is enough for most teams; buy extra pages or drafts as add-ons before jumping to Business. Use the 14-day trial on real articles to see if the grades change your results.Professional is the plan most teams settle on, because Starter's 10 articles a month runs out quickly. Try the 7-day trial on two or three real articles before paying.The free version is enough for most small businesses because it includes every feature and only caps the crawl at 500 pages. Buy a licence when your site or your clients' sites go past that. The price is listed in pounds with dollar and euro options at checkout.

Key features

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Standout features
  • Content grading
  • Topic exploration
  • Page monitoring
  • Drafts
  • AI search tracking
  • Google Docs and WordPress add-ons
  • SERP research and briefs
  • AI drafting in your voice
  • Content scoring
  • Content Guard
  • AI visibility tracking
  • API, MCP and CLI
  • Full site crawl
  • JavaScript rendering
  • Google integrations
  • AI during crawl
  • Crawl comparison
  • Scheduling and command line

Pros and cons

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Pros
  • Simple, clean interface that writers pick up quickly
  • Good-quality term recommendations
  • Unlimited users on every plan
  • Works inside Google Docs and WordPress
  • Fast, thorough content briefs
  • Cheaper than Clearscope and Surfer at the entry level
  • Covers Google and AI search in one tool
  • API, MCP and CLI on every plan
  • The most complete technical crawl available
  • Free version includes every feature up to 500 pages
  • Crawl comparison makes migrations far safer
  • Connects to Google data and AI models during the crawl
  • Runs on your own computer, so your data stays with you
Cons
  • High price for small businesses, with no free plan
  • Tight monthly limits on pages and drafts at the entry price
  • Fewer extras than Surfer (no full site audit)
  • AI search tracking only covers a couple of assistants
  • AI drafts need editing to sound human and be accurate
  • Starter limits are tight
  • Rebuilt in 2026, so the newer features have little track record
  • Past complaints about slow replies on billing issues
  • Dated interface that assumes you know technical SEO terms
  • Desktop only, and big crawls need a lot of memory
  • No cloud dashboard or scheduled reports for clients
  • One licence per user adds up for a team

Who each one is for

AttributeClearscopeFraseScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Best for
  • Making sure articles cover a topic fully
  • Keeping a team of writers consistent
  • Refreshing pages that are slipping
  • Checking if AI search mentions your brand
  • Building SEO content briefs fast
  • Drafting articles from a brief
  • Answering the questions searchers ask
  • Tracking citations in AI search
  • Finding broken links
  • Checking redirects after a migration
  • Auditing titles and headings
  • Exporting a full page list
You'll find it used by
  • Content marketing teams
  • SEO agencies
  • Freelance writers
  • B2B software companies
  • Content marketers
  • SEO freelancers
  • Agencies
  • Small business owners
  • B2B software teams
  • Technical SEOs
  • Agencies
  • Developers
  • Web designers

Questions people ask

Which is better, Clearscope, Frase or Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

They tie on our overall rating (Clearscope 3.9/5, Frase 4.0/5 and Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4.0/5). Clearscope is best for making sure articles cover a topic fully and keeping a team of writers consistent. Frase is best for Building SEO content briefs fast and drafting articles from a brief. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is best for finding broken links and checking redirects after a migration.

Which is cheaper, Clearscope, Frase or Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

Clearscope: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $129/mo. Frase: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $49/mo. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at £199/user/yr.

Which is easier to use, Clearscope, Frase or Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

Clearscope rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Content teams and agencies publishing SEO articles every week who want writers to hit a clear quality bar.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

Swap in another tool

More tools from SEO & Analytics in the library.