The Sitebulb alternative that's free and AI-native
A free, local alternative to Sitebulb with deeper graph analysis, AI-native MCP integration, and no monthly subscription.
What crawler4seo does better
- crawler4seo is free — Sitebulb starts at $18/month and locks scheduling behind Pro ($42/month)
- Fully local by default with SQLite storage — Sitebulb Cloud requires a subscription and uploads your data
- Interactive D3 force graph with PageRank, HITS hubs/authorities, and connected components — Sitebulb shows a crawl map but skips formal graph metrics
- Native MCP server for conversational SEO analysis with Claude — not available in Sitebulb
- Crawl-to-crawl diffing (pages, issues, PageRank shifts) included, no extra tier required
Sitebulb's strengths
- •Polished UX with visual crawl maps — easier to hand off audits to clients
- •Prioritized issue lists designed for non-technical stakeholders
- •Both desktop (Lite/Pro) and cloud plans available
- •Strong reporting and PDF export
We try to stay honest — if one of these matters more than free + local + AI-native for your use case, Sitebulb is a legitimate choice.
crawler4seo vs Sitebulb
Feature-by-feature comparison across 24 dimensions — pricing, deployment, crawl capabilities, analysis depth, data ownership and AI integration.
| Feature | crawler4seo | 🇬🇧Sitebulb |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
Starting price | Free (early access) | $18-42/mo desktop |
Free tier Usable without paying | Included | 14-day trial only |
License model | Free — desktop app | Monthly/annual subscription |
Account required | ||
| Deployment | ||
Hosting | Local desktop | Desktop + Cloud tiers |
macOS | Included | |
Windows | Included | |
Linux | Included | |
| Crawling | ||
URL limit (free/paid) | Unlimited | 10k Lite / unlimited Pro |
JavaScript rendering | Included | |
Scheduled crawls | Included | Pro tier ($42/mo+) |
Crawl diff / regression detection | Included | |
| Analysis | ||
On-page + technical SEO analyzers | 20 built-in | Broad, prioritized hints |
Internal-link graph + PageRank | Included | Crawl map, no PageRank |
Schema.org Rich Results eligibility | Included | Detects, limited validation |
hreflang reciprocity audit | Included | |
Core Web Vitals (real CrUX) | Included | |
Sitemap coverage cross-ref | Included | |
GEO audit (AI-engine readiness) Per-bot robots.txt rules for AI crawlers, llms.txt, schema coverage, JS-dependency risk | Included | |
| Data | ||
Data privacy | 100% local | Local on desktop, cloud uploads otherwise |
Multi-sheet XLSX export | Included | |
Custom CSS/regex extraction | Included | |
| AI & Integrations | ||
MCP server (AI-native) | Included | |
CLI / local API | Included | |
Open source | Source-visible, binaries free | |
Data reflects publicly documented features and pricing as of April 2026. Please verify on each vendor's site for the latest changes.
Frequently asked questions
Things people ask before switching.
Is crawler4seo really free compared to Sitebulb?+
Yes. crawler4seo is free to download and use with no URL limit during early access — you don't need a credit card or an account. Sitebulb requires $18-42/mo desktop, $125+/mo cloud.
Does crawler4seo run locally or in the cloud?+
crawler4seo is a desktop app (Electron) that runs 100% on your machine. Your crawl data is stored in a local SQLite database and never leaves your computer. The only outbound traffic is the target site you crawl and an optional Google PageSpeed API call for Core Web Vitals.
Can I replace Sitebulb with crawler4seo?+
For most technical SEO audit workflows — yes. crawler4seo ships 20 analyzers (including a GEO audit for AI-engine readiness), internal-link graph with PageRank, Schema.org Rich Results eligibility, hreflang reciprocity, Core Web Vitals, sitemap coverage, crawl diffing and scheduled crawls. If your use case depends on Sitebulb-specific integrations we don't cover, you can run both side-by-side — crawler4seo is free.
What does "MCP integration" mean, and why does it matter?+
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is Anthropic's open protocol that lets AI assistants like Claude securely call tools on your machine. crawler4seo ships an MCP server, so you can point Claude at your crawl and ask questions like "which pages lost PageRank since yesterday?" or "list all Product pages with invalid Schema.org". No other crawler in this category ships this natively.
What platforms does crawler4seo support?+
macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows 10/11 (64-bit) and Linux (AppImage). All builds are free during early access.
Does crawler4seo have visual crawl maps like Sitebulb?+
crawler4seo ships an interactive D3 force-directed graph of internal links with PageRank, HITS hubs/authorities, connected components and click-depth. It's different from Sitebulb's tree-style crawl map but covers the same "visualize site architecture" use case with deeper metrics.
Is there a cloud version of crawler4seo?+
Not today — crawler4seo is desktop-first because the design principle is "your data stays on your machine". If you need shared dashboards across a team, Sitebulb Cloud or Lumar are better fits; if you want a fast, free local audit, crawler4seo is the right choice.
Try the Sitebulb alternative — free
Download crawler4seo and run a full technical audit in minutes. No account, no credit card, no URL limit. Your data stays on your machine.