Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics
Google Search Console 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: 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.
Pick it if: Content marketers and bloggers who publish regularly and want each page to have a fair shot at ranking.
Overview
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | 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. | Tells you what to add to a page so it can rank for a chosen keyword. |
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | Free | £199/user/yr | $49/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.9 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 2.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 3.0 | 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. | 5.0 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | No | No | No |
| Desktop app | No | Yes | No |
| Browser extension | No | No | Yes |
| API access | Yes | No | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | No | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | No | No | Yes |
| 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 | No |
| Makes images | No | No | – |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | No | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | Yes |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 5/ 17 | 5/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Every website owner, with no exceptions. | Free Free Small sites and one-off checks. | Discovery $49/mo billed yearly A solo blogger publishing a couple of posts a week. |
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. | ||
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 | 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. | 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 | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Surfer |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Surfer?
They tie on our overall rating (Google Search Console 4.0/5, Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4.0/5 and Surfer 3.9/5). 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. Surfer is best for optimising blog posts and content briefs for writers.
Which is cheaper, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Surfer?
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. Surfer: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $49/mo.
Which is easier to use, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Surfer?
Surfer rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Content marketers and bloggers who publish regularly and want each page to have a fair shot at ranking.
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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