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Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics

Frase vs Google Search Console 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.

Frase

4.0

From $49/mo

Google Search Console

4.0

Free to start

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

4.0

From £199/user/yr

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

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 with a website. There's no reason not to set it up.

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

Overview

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
In one lineResearches, briefs and drafts SEO articles, and tracks if AI search cites you.Google's free report on how your site shows up in search, AI results included.Crawls your whole site the way Google does and lists what's broken.
Pricing modelPaidFreeFreemium
Starting price$49/moFree£199/user/yr
Free plan No Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

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

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Overall rating4.04.04.0
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.0
2.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
3.0
4.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
3.5
4.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.0
5.0
4.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
3.5
4.0

Feature comparison

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

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Access & platform
Free plan No Yes Yes
Mobile app– No No
Desktop app– No Yes
Browser extension– No No
API access Yes Yes No
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes No
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes No No
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files– No Yes
Understands images– No No
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code No No No
Runs agents or automations Yes No No
Learns your brand or style Yes No No
Works in many languages Yes Yes Yes
Capabilities score7/ 175/ 175/ 17

Pricing

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

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Plans

Starter

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

One person writing a few articles a month.

FreeOur pick

Free

Every website owner, with no exceptions.

Free

Free

Small sites and one-off checks.

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.

Scale

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

Agencies running several sites.

Enterprise

Custom

Large teams needing white-label and SSO.

Which plan to pickProfessional 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.There's only one plan and it costs nothing. Verify every site you own, including subdomains, and add your marketing person or agency as a user so they can see the data too.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

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Standout features
  • SERP research and briefs
  • AI drafting in your voice
  • Content scoring
  • Content Guard
  • AI visibility tracking
  • API, MCP and CLI
  • Performance report
  • Indexing report
  • URL inspection
  • Issue alerts
  • Core Web Vitals
  • API access
  • Full site crawl
  • JavaScript rendering
  • Google integrations
  • AI during crawl
  • Crawl comparison
  • Scheduling and command line

Pros and cons

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Pros
  • 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
  • Real data from Google rather than estimates
  • Completely free with no traffic or user limits
  • Catches indexing and mobile problems you'd never notice yourself
  • Shows when your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode
  • An official API that Claude Code can read
  • 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
  • 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
  • Only covers your own site, so no competitor research
  • Data lags by one to two days
  • The reports assume you know SEO terms like impressions and canonical
  • Query data is sampled and hides some long-tail searches for privacy
  • 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

AttributeFraseGoogle Search ConsoleScreaming Frog SEO Spider
Best for
  • Building SEO content briefs fast
  • Drafting articles from a brief
  • Answering the questions searchers ask
  • Tracking citations in AI search
  • Seeing which searches bring visitors
  • Finding indexing problems
  • Seeing when you appear in AI Overviews
  • Submitting sitemaps
  • Finding broken links
  • Checking redirects after a migration
  • Auditing titles and headings
  • Exporting a full page list
You'll find it used by
  • Content marketers
  • SEO freelancers
  • Agencies
  • Small business owners
  • B2B software teams
  • Business owners
  • Marketers
  • Agencies
  • Developers
  • Technical SEOs
  • Agencies
  • Developers
  • Web designers

Questions people ask

Which is better, Frase, Google Search Console or Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

They tie on our overall rating (Frase 4.0/5, Google Search Console 4.0/5 and Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4.0/5). Frase is best for Building SEO content briefs fast and drafting articles from a brief. Google Search Console is best for seeing which searches bring visitors and finding indexing problems. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is best for finding broken links and checking redirects after a migration.

Which is cheaper, Frase, Google Search Console or Screaming Frog SEO Spider?

Frase: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $49/mo. Google Search Console: It's free to use. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at £199/user/yr.

How we compare

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

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