Sitebulb
A technical SEO crawler that explains why each issue matters.
- SEO
- Development
- Analytics
- from $18/mo
Sitebulb is a website crawler for technical SEO auditing, available as a desktop application and a cloud server product. Its distinguishing feature is not the crawl itself but the output: prioritised hints with explanations of why an issue matters and how to fix it, which makes it unusually useful for producing client-facing audits.
Sitebulb: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 9 August 2026.
- What it is
- A technical SEO crawler that explains why each issue matters
- Best for
- Agencies producing technical SEO audits for clients
- Starts at
- Lite $18/month for 1 user; Pro $42/month
- Free option
- No free plan, 14 days trial
- Biggest strength
- Prioritised hints explain why an issue matters, not just that it exists
- Biggest drawback
- Desktop plans are per user, with extra seats at $11 each
- Closest alternative
- Screaming Frog - Cheaper, faster and the industry default, with far less explanation
- True annual cost
- from $216 a year at the cheapest paid tier
Sitebulb at a glance
| Best for | Agencies producing technical SEO audits for clients, In-house SEOs who want prioritised, explained findings, Anyone auditing JavaScript-rendered sites |
|---|---|
| Category | SEO, Development, Analytics |
| Starting price | Lite $18/month for 1 user; Pro $42/month |
| Free plan | No |
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | Sitebulb Ltd |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Headquarters | United Kingdom |
| Founders | Patrick Hathaway, Gareth Brown |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Web |
| Public API | No |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | None |
| Self-hosting | Yes |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Sitebulb pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 9 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: 14 days.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $18 | per month | One user. Core crawling and auditing. 15% off with yearly billing |
| Pro | $42 | per month | One user. Adds advanced audits and reporting. Extra users $11/month each |
| Cloud Server | From $125 | per month | Hosted crawling with no project limits, for larger teams |
What Sitebulb actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above multiplied out to twelve months, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way.
| Plan | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $18 | $216 |
| Pro | $42 | $504 |
| Cloud Server | $125 | $1500 |
Which Sitebulb plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You audit your own site occasionally | Lite | $18 a month for one user covers core crawling and auditing. |
| You produce technical audits for clients | Pro | $42 buys the prioritised hints and crawl maps that become the audit document. This is the tier that justifies Sitebulb over Screaming Frog. |
| You are an agency with several auditors | Pro, plus seats | Extra users are $11 a month each, so price your team rather than the headline figure. |
| You need scheduled cloud crawling with no project limits | Cloud Server | From $125 a month, which is a different budget conversation entirely. |
| You are an experienced SEO auditing your own site | Consider Screaming Frog instead | Cheaper and faster if you already know what the data means. |
Verdict by who you are
SEO agency producing client auditsYes
The explanations and crawl maps become the deliverable, which saves hours of writing and pays for the price difference outright.
In-house SEO at one companyCompare first
Useful, though Screaming Frog covers the same crawling for less if you can interpret it yourself.
Developer checking a site buildCompare first
The prioritised hints are genuinely instructive if technical SEO is not your specialism.
Anyone needing keyword or backlink dataNo
Sitebulb does neither. It sits alongside Ahrefs or Semrush, not instead of them.
Should you buy Sitebulb?
Buy Sitebulb if…
- Agencies producing technical SEO audits for clients
- In-house SEOs who want prioritised, explained findings
- Anyone auditing JavaScript-rendered sites
Do not buy Sitebulb if…
- Keyword research and rank tracking
- Backlink analysis
- Teams wanting everything in one SEO platform
Key features
- Prioritised hints explaining why each issue matters
- JavaScript rendering for crawling modern sites
- Crawl maps visualising site architecture
- Internal link analysis and link equity distribution
- Core Web Vitals and performance auditing
- Structured data validation
- Crawl comparison between two audits over time
- White-label PDF and Excel export for clients
Integrations
- Google Analytics and Search Console
- Google PageSpeed Insights
- Majestic and Ahrefs for backlink data
- Excel, CSV and PDF export
Sitebulb screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Vendors localise pricing by visitor region, so a pricing screenshot may display a different currency to the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
Sitebulb occupies a narrow and genuinely valuable niche: it crawls a site and then tells you which problems matter and why, in language you can put in front of a client. Screaming Frog gives you the same data faster and cheaper, and expects you to already know what it means. If you are producing audits for people who pay for them, Sitebulb's explanations and crawl maps save hours of writing and justify the price difference on their own. It is not a platform. There is no keyword research, no rank tracking and no backlink index, so it sits alongside Ahrefs or Semrush rather than replacing them, and the desktop tiers are single-user with extra seats charged separately.
What works in Sitebulb
- Prioritised hints explain why an issue matters, not just that it exists
- Crawl maps and internal link analysis are genuinely insightful
- JavaScript rendering handles modern sites properly
- Bootstrapped and independent, with steady focused development
What doesn't
- Desktop plans are per user, with extra seats at $11 each
- No keyword research, rank tracking or backlink data
- Slower crawling than Screaming Frog on very large sites
- Cloud Server jumps to $125 a month
EveryAny Decision Score
Scored by dimension rather than averaged into one number, because the trade-offs are the useful part. 3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts by published formula; the rest are editorial judgement, labelled as such. How each score is calculated.
- Cost position8/10
derivedentry tier at $18 a month against a category median of $49 across 5 comparable tools
- Portability7/10
derivedself-hostable, documented export
- Subscription flexibility6/10
derivedfree trial, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depth7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Ease of learning7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Collaboration4/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- AI capability3/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Professional adoption6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
What leaving Sitebulb would cost
low lock-in
Calculated as 10 minus a portability score of 7, built from four signals (self-hosting, a public API, open-source licensing and a documented export path) . Sitebulb scores on: self-hostable, documented export. Formula.
Sitebulb competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| Screaming Frog | Cheaper, faster and the industry default, with far less explanation. |
| Semrush Site Audit | Included if you already pay for Semrush, and shallower technically. |
| Lumar | Enterprise-grade cloud crawling at enterprise prices. |
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
SEO
A desktop crawler that finds more technical problems than tools ten times the price.
Semrush
SEO
All-in-one SEO, PPC and competitive research platform for marketing teams.
The pricing is per user, and that is the catch
Lite is $18 a month and Pro $42 a month, each for one user, with 15% off if you pay yearly. Additional users on Pro are $11 per month each. Cloud Server starts at $125 a month and removes project limits.
For a solo consultant, $42 for Pro is straightforward. For a five-person agency it is $42 plus four extra seats at $11, so $86 a month, which is still reasonable but no longer the headline number. Count your seats before comparing with Screaming Frog’s licence.
What you are actually buying over Screaming Frog
Both crawl. Both find broken links, redirect chains, duplicate titles and canonical problems. The difference is what happens next.
Screaming Frog hands you a spreadsheet and assumes expertise. Sitebulb produces prioritised hints, each explaining why the issue matters, what causes it and how to fix it, plus crawl maps that make site architecture visible at a glance.
If you write audits for clients, that is the product. The explanations become the document, and the crawl maps become the slide that makes a non-technical stakeholder understand the problem. That saves real hours, which is the honest justification for paying more.
If you are an experienced technical SEO auditing your own site, you may not need any of it, and Screaming Frog is cheaper and faster.
It is not an SEO platform
No keyword research. No rank tracking. No backlink index. Sitebulb crawls and audits, and that is the entire scope.
So it sits beside Ahrefs or Semrush rather than instead of them. Budget for it as a specialist addition, and be sceptical of any comparison that puts it head to head with a full platform, because they are answering different questions.
Sitebulb questions, answered
- Is Sitebulb worth it?
- Sitebulb occupies a narrow and genuinely valuable niche: it crawls a site and then tells you which problems matter and why, in language you can put in front of a client.
- How much does Sitebulb cost?
- Lite $18/month for 1 user; Pro $42/month. The cheapest paid tier we recorded works out at $18 a month, or $216 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does Sitebulb have a free plan or free trial?
- Sitebulb has no free plan. A free trial is available: 14 days.
- What is the best Sitebulb alternative?
- It depends on the job. Screaming Frog: Cheaper, faster and the industry default, with far less explanation. Semrush Site Audit: Included if you already pay for Semrush, and shallower technically. Lumar: Enterprise-grade cloud crawling at enterprise prices.
- Can I self-host Sitebulb?
- Yes. Sitebulb can be run on your own infrastructure, so the data stays under your control.
Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Pricing verified, including the $11 per extra user on Pro
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Sitebulb pricing - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
