The one-line difference
Screaming Frog runs on your machine: you install it, configure the crawl, and it fetches your site the way your network sees it. Shipwork runs on its own servers: you paste a URL and it fetches your site the way a crawler sees it: no install, no config, no machine fast enough to matter. Desktop control versus a two-minute answer.
| Shipwork | Screaming Frog | |
|---|---|---|
| Install | None: runs in the browser | Desktop app download |
| Cost | Free audit; paid watch only | Free version caps at 500 URLs; paid licence beyond |
| Point of view | Outside your network, like a crawler | Your machine and network |
| Shopping feed checks | Yes | No: it crawls pages, not Merchant Center logic |
| AI crawler checks | Yes: nine named agents | No dedicated surface |
| Scheduling | Daily watch, 12 months | You run it when you remember |
What each one sees
A desktop crawler sees your site the way your laptop does: fast, authenticated-adjacent, on your network. That is perfect for mapping a site you control and useless for the failure class this whole site exists for: pages that load fine for you and fail for a cold crawler. Bot protection, firewall rules, cold code paths and rate limits all discriminate by visitor, and your own machine is the one visitor guaranteed a warm welcome. The outside read is not a convenience feature; it is the only view that contains the failure.
What each one costs
Shipwork\u2019s audit is free; Screaming Frog\u2019s free version caps crawls at 500 URLs with a paid licence beyond that. For a small site the free desktop crawl suffices technically. The price you pay instead is your time: install, configure, run, interpret. For a store owner with a disapproval today, two minutes beats free-but-manual.
Which one fits
- Pick Shipwork first if: you want an answer now with no install, the question is feed, landing-page or AI shaped, or you suspect a works-for-me failure.
- Pick Screaming Frog if: you are technical, want full control of a deep crawl, and enjoy configuring crawlers.
- Use both if: you do SEO for clients: Frog for the deep controlled crawl, Shipwork for the instant outside second opinion and the store checks.
Related: vs Ahrefs · pages not indexed · the free audit itself
The free audit runs every check that applies to your site in under a minute from outside your network. The crawler\u2019s view a desktop tool cannot give you. Free, no account, no signup. Paste your store address.
Run the free auditQuestions
- Is Screaming Frog free?
- There is a free version capped at 500 URLs; larger crawls need the paid licence. Either way you install and run it yourself.
- Why would an outside read beat my own crawl?
- Because bot protection, firewalls and cold code paths treat your machine differently from a crawler. Your own crawl shares your network\u2019s blind spot.
- Does Shipwork crawl as deep as Screaming Frog?
- No: it reads a bounded sample, instantly. Depth belongs to desktop crawlers and the paid deep crawl; the free audit optimises for the answer, not the map.
- Which should an agency use?
- Both, honestly: Screaming Frog for controlled deep crawls, Shipwork when a client needs an answer before the call ends.
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