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?
Why would an outside read beat my own crawl?
Does Shipwork crawl as deep as Screaming Frog?
Which should an agency use?
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