Screaming Frog Vs Ahrefs: A Thorough Comparison

In the SEO industry, the availability of tools is impressive, and each of them has its benefits. Two of the most well-accepted alternatives are Ahrefs and Screaming Frog. 

If you want us to compare Screaming Frog vs Ahrefs, Screaming Frog is a flying specialist. This searches your website extremely in detail to detect technical issues that negatively impact the site’s SEO.

On the other hand, Ahrefs is certainly one of the largest indexes of live backlinks available, and hence, its performance in returning links is unsurpassed. 

Which other concrete aspects of SEO do each of these tools bring to the game? Let’s figure it out.

Screaming Frog: A Deep Analysis Of The SEO Spider Tool

Screaming Frog is not just an ordinary tool but an extreme researcher for you. 

The tool called SEO Spider crawls deep inside a site, analyzes, and tries to uncover issues that go unnoticed. This is a stand-alone application that can scrape and analyze web pages. 

This tool considers aspects such as metadata, internal links, and dead links when evaluating web content. In so doing, it gives a rather comprehensive account of what a particular website looks like and the activities it is able to perform. 

It is like having a very strong microscope that looks beyond the cloud and dust in order even to detect SEO problems.

What works in favor of the tool is its detail and depth of analysis. It highlights the key search engine optimization errors, such as lack of meta description or its elements, redirection loops, and duplicate content. These are some of the salient factors that help a website increase its rank in search engines. 

Core Features Of Screaming Frog

• Screaming Frog can effectively synthesize information. This will allow users to screen any information posted effectively.  
• There’s crawl analysis, where search engines crawl and index the website.
• Search engine optimization auditing analyzes everything that is wrong with your SEO and focuses on errors, redirects, broken links, etc.
• The duplicate content detection tool looks for content duplication across the website, which can be harmful to SEO.
• The checkup of metadata checks out different kinds of meta tags, descriptions, or titles.
• Image optimization check looks for problems such as broken links, overly large files, or images that lack alt tags.
• Recommends designing and managing websites to enhance visitation and customer interaction.
• It generates an XML sitemap automatically, so you will be able to send this sitemap to search engines.

Advantages Of Screaming Frog

• Complete site crawling helps users to identify errors, even more complex and large ones.
• The electronic system makes it painless to generate spidering reports and screen your data outputs.
• Helps you understand which factors would help to index web pages faster and which reduces speed and how for everything.
• The site structure is illustrated so that users can understand the site better.
• Comprehensive bulk assessment allows for the review of many resources and pages, including simple pages with a huge amount of information in just one sweep.

Cons Of Screaming Frog

• Screaming Frog users using the free version may need help crawling larger websites since it only has 500 URLs, and that is quite limiting.
• It is rather easy to imagine that potential first-time users may be driven away by the prospect of the screen being devoid of most elements associated with beauty. Junior users may need help finding the attractive aspects of the interface, which leads to disappointment.
• Due to the advanced features and technical jargon, it is overwhelming for non-technical people.

Ahrefs: Comprehensive SEO Suite For Marketers

As far as search engine optimization specialists are concerned, Ahrefs is of great help in the way it can be viewed as a ‘Swiss army knife.’ 

Now, think of a tool that not only assesses your site’s effectiveness but also arms you with the means of defeating your competitors. 

Ahrefs ceaselessly brings such a mindset to reality by providing a plethora of tools designed to enhance and improve the visibility and performance of your site. 

Every time you need to assess backlinks and their importance, conduct a competition watch, or conduct a words and phrases search for your site, Ahref provides you with everything to conduct an effective SEO.

It’s really good when you want a tip on how and what people are doing in order to build links to their sites so that you can strengthen yours. 

Besides, Ahrefs’ keyword suggestions are quite impressive in assisting you with the selection of suitable keywords. It carefully examines search volumes and keywords, the level of difficulty associated with the keyword, and its adjacent keywords.

One more thing worth mentioning is the competition analysis of the website that Ahrefs offers.  

This data can give you tips and ideas on how to undermine your competition and what areas competition is expected from. 

Core Features Of Ahrefs 

• Site Explorer is the first tool you will have to use to carry out a thorough analysis of the profiles of websites and the links pointing to them.  
• Use Keywords Explorer to search for tens of millions of words. This content also gives statistics on the number of searches for specific keywords, their competition, and other relevant keywords, which aids in optimizing your content and focusing on pertinent keywords better. 
• Content Explorer is a research tool that allows finding the highest-performing content within a particular field. 
• Rank Tracker allows looking back at the performance of a particular rank for a search query over time. So, with this tool, you are able to see precisely how well your keywords have performed.
• Site Audit can be used to check the condition of the website’s SEO strategy. 

Advantages Of Ahrefs

• Get absolutely plenty of backlink information.
• When you are trying to aim for effective keyword research, sufficing sounding phrases and their ‘weight’ are almost everything.
• Lets you investigate your competitors’ SEO practices for further understanding.
• Necessary perfection in the tracking of keyword positioning activities.
• Insider on-page optimization issues.
• Even beginners will be able to understand how to navigate and utilize the system easily.

Cons Of Ahrefs

• In the case of those wanting to try out solutions before actually going out to subscribe, this is one area where there may not be a possibility for a free-up period.
• The complex and overly complicated pricing system of Ahrefs above makes it hard for users to know the best plan based on their requirements. 
• Even within the in-house data reporting, Ahrefs has limits on data that may be an issue for some users.
• This is a feature that cuts across all the Ahrefs plans, including the highest ‘Enterprise’ package. However, organizations or teams that have to use the platform at the same time with more than one user might find this limitation quite harassing.

Feature-By-Feature Comparison: Screaming Frog Vs Ahrefs

Choosing the right SEO tool can solve the mysteries of website performance, spiraling your online presence to remarkable heights. Our comparative analysis peels back the layers to discover the fundamental differences between them.

Website Audit 

When Screaming Frog is brought in to review your site, apart from meeting you to understand your recommendations, they will audit B2C websites, the code, and the content within the whole website. In this case, in terms of website optimization, it is akin to having a pair of binoculars. 

In contrast, Ahrefs performs this at the high site level, catering to gross site parameters. Because of that, Screaming Frog is better suited for the detailed technical side of things, while Aherfs performs better in broad-based approaches.

Backlinks Analysis 

Ahrefs is the best when it comes to backlinks due to its broad database. Thanks to this tool, you can see all the backlinks to your site and all the competitors’ backlinks.

If you want to seek new opportunities and generate strong link_empires, then you need this function. Screaming Frog focuses on the site’s audit first, which is why Screaming Frog does not provide comprehensive backlink analysis features.

Keyword Research 

With its sophisticated data, Ahrefs is able to provide search volumes, keyword difficulties, and related terms, making it an ideal tool for keyword research. Approaches to content optimization and reasonable selection of the corresponding keywords are being simplified with the help of this tool. 

On the other hand, Screaming Frog provides little data on keyword performance and opportunities like other tools; its KWS feature could be stronger. For example, it can only find keywords found in URLs.

User Interface 

Since Screaming Frog is a desktop application, you have to install it on your computer. Even though it is not complicated, users who are used to cloud-based solutions may find it frustrating. 

Ahrefs, on the other hand, provides a web-based interface that is quite simple and user-friendly, as it can be accessed from any device that has an internet connection. 

Practical Situations 

Screaming Frog is best suited for disc and disk. When it comes to technical work for site optimization, it works to boost even on-page SEO. Its users rely on the tool because it has a specific design to meet a number of needs, such as technical programming. 

However, decoding the competitors’ websites and techniques through SEO effort-related link-building work renders Ahrefs tools ineffective. It can be attributed to conducting regular keyword tracking, content gap analysis, and providing insight into competitors’ link profile status. 

Ahrefs provides you with any information necessary for the implementation of an efficient SEO campaign, whether interested in content strategy or link building.

Verdict 

Now, we have a well-thought verdict ready for you if you need clarification on which one is right for your business. Let’s see! 

Medium-Sized And Small Enterprises

Among small to medium-scale enterprises, affordability is a challenge, and this is where Screaming Frog comes in. It’s inexpensive to the point where one can afford deep studies regarding the state of the SEO for your site. 

Issues such as broken links, duplicate content, and making XML sitemaps, among other things, couldn’t escape the prying eyes of your employees. If you wish for the performance of such a site to remain optimized, then such qualities are a must-have.  

In terms of competitiveness, Ahrefs supports small and medium-sized enterprises well. Knowing industry benchmarks and your place in it is possible by means of its strong competitor analysis tools. 

For content improvement and outreach tactics, Ahrefs offers all the essentials in terms of keyword research and backlinks analysis. 

Corporate Clients And Agencies  

Screaming Frog is a perfect tool for agencies dealing with building up several clients or large websites at a go, regardless of the nature of the client; it is expandable. It is perfect for export operation management of sites of large sizes as it can perform in and out cross-sectional surveys. 

You and your team can ensure that these extremely massive websites are optimized in all possible ways for search engines. Screaming Frog tool works on various projects and has extensive analyses and research that support high-level search engine marketing, making the sites healthy.

On the other hand, a large organization or agency will also find all the features of Ahrefs very helpful with such extensive data and SEO tracking services. Get a head start on your competitors, analyze the marketplace, and track organic searches with Ahrefs. 

For SEO Consultants And Freelancers 

Screaming Frog is a professional and extremely low-cost solution for both independent SEO consultants and freelancers. It is important to perform sophisticated SEO checks well, especially when there are no resources. Also, it becomes easier to establish a good reputation in the competitive SEO market since the tool assists in diagnosing the problem and resolving elements of the technical SEO of a site.

Again, Ahrefs is a great tool for any freelancer who seeks a one-stop shop for full-service SEO and content marketing. You will increase your credibility and efficacy when you enlist this tool to help clients with comprehensive reports and easy wins. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the limitations of Screaming Frog?

A complaint with the free version of Screaming Frog is that it does not have ardent features and configurations, including a maximum of up to 500 URLs that can be crawled per session. Without a paid version, you can’t save crawls, which makes this software somewhat useless for deeper crawling sessions. 

Which is better Moz or Screaming Frog?

The Screaming Frog is a low-cost stand-alone alternative to the Moz crawler, which is an integrated and more expensive bundle of SEO tools. Screaming Frog is an inexpensive alternative to Moz too, a comprehensive yet costly tool kit for technical SEO site assessments and other related activities for which the users do not need other functions.

Is Ahrefs any good?

Ahrefs is known to have a very powerful suite of tools for both keyword research and backlink analysis. Most people tend to use it because it is the best available tool in the market, but it is not the most affordable.

Is Ubersuggest better than Ahrefs?

Due to its creativity and ease of use, Ubersuggest is a decent tool for grassroots marketers unfamiliar with complex keyword planner processes or user interfaces. Still, due to its advanced SEO health checks and backlink analysis, Ahrefs stays in this position. 

Final Verdict

Assess the factors, including your specific needs and resources available, before choosing between Screaming Frog vs Ahrefs. Screaming Frog is a low-cost, suitable technical SEO and in-depth site audit tool If your business is small, occupies medium market space, or your agency deals with a large site. 

On the contrary, Ahrefs offers backlink analysis, keyword research, competitor insights, and other important data. Whichever you choose, be very careful in order to ensure the most of your SEO activities.