Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics
Clearscope vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Surfer
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Content teams and agencies publishing SEO articles every week who want writers to hit a clear quality bar.
Pick it if: Anyone who needs a thorough technical check of a site, especially before or after a redesign or migration.
Pick it if: Content marketers and bloggers who publish regularly and want each page to have a fair shot at ranking.
Overview
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Grades your content against what ranks and tracks whether AI search mentions you. | Crawls your whole site the way Google does and lists what's broken. | Tells you what to add to a page so it can rank for a chosen keyword. |
| Pricing model | Paid | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | $129/mo | £199/user/yr | $49/mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | No | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 3.9 | 4.0Winner | 3.9 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 2.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 2.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | No | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | – | No | No |
| Desktop app | – | Yes | No |
| Browser extension | No | No | Yes |
| API access | – | No | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | No | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | No | Yes |
| 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 | No |
| Makes images | No | No | – |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | – | No | No |
| Learns your brand or style | – | No | Yes |
| Works in many languages | – | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 3/ 17 | 5/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | EssentialsOur pick $129/mo Small content teams publishing weekly. | Free Free Small sites and one-off checks. | Discovery $49/mo billed yearly A solo blogger publishing a couple of posts a week. |
Business $399/mo Larger teams and agencies. | Paid licenceOur pick £199/user/yr Agencies and anyone with a site over 500 pages. | AI Search Analytics $82/mo billed yearly Brands that only want to track their AI visibility. | |
Enterprise Custom Big publishers with security needs. | StandardOur pick $99/mo billed yearly A small content team publishing weekly. | ||
Pro $182/mo billed yearly Agencies managing content for several brands. | |||
Peace of Mind $299/mo billed yearly High-volume publishers who want no limits. | |||
Enterprise Custom Large organisations with security requirements. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Essentials 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. | 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. | Discovery is enough if you publish a couple of posts a week. Standard is the sensible pick for a team because it adds collaboration and triples the document count. The prices shown are for yearly billing; Surfer says monthly billing costs up to 17 percent more. |
Key features
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standout features |
|
|
|
Pros and cons
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros |
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|
Who each one is for
| Attribute | Clearscope | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for |
|
|
|
| You'll find it used by |
|
|
|
Questions people ask
Which is better, Clearscope, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Surfer?
Screaming Frog SEO Spider scores highest overall in our ratings (Clearscope 3.9/5, Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4.0/5 and Surfer 3.9/5). Clearscope is best for making sure articles cover a topic fully and keeping a team of writers consistent. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is best for finding broken links and checking redirects after a migration. Surfer is best for optimising blog posts and content briefs for writers.
Which is cheaper, Clearscope, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Surfer?
Clearscope: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $129/mo. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at £199/user/yr. Surfer: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $49/mo.
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.
