Side-by-side comparison · SEO & Analytics
Google Search Console vs Screaming Frog SEO Spider vs Writesonic
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: Marketing teams and agencies that want to measure and improve how AI assistants talk about their brand.
Overview
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Writesonic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Tracks how AI search talks about your brand and writes SEO content to improve it. |
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | Free | £199/user/yr | $79/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Writesonic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 2.5 | 4.0 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Writesonic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | No | No | – |
| Desktop app | No | Yes | – |
| Browser extension | No | No | – |
| API access | Yes | No | – |
| 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 | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | No | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | Yes |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 5/ 17 | 5/ 17 | 6/ 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 | Writesonic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Every website owner, with no exceptions. | Free Free Small sites and one-off checks. | Starter $79/mo billed yearly A single brand testing AI visibility. |
Paid licenceOur pick £199/user/yr Agencies and anyone with a site over 500 pages. | Basic $199/mo billed yearly Small teams tracking more questions. | ||
GrowthOur pick $399/mo billed yearly Teams actively working to raise AI visibility. | |||
Enterprise Custom Large brands and agencies. | |||
| 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. | Start on Starter to see where you stand in AI answers. Growth is the plan for teams who will act on the findings each month, because that is where sentiment and suggested fixes come in. |
Key features
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Writesonic |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Writesonic |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Google Search Console | Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Writesonic |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Writesonic?
They tie on our overall rating (Google Search Console 4.0/5, Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4.0/5 and Writesonic 3.7/5). 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. Writesonic is best for tracking brand mentions in ChatGPT and Gemini and Comparing AI visibility with competitors.
Which is cheaper, Google Search Console, Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Writesonic?
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. Writesonic: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $79/mo.
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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