SEO audit tools for Mac
If you want to audit a site from a Mac, five tools are worth comparing: Check Engine, Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, Scrutiny and SEO PowerSuite. This page says what each one costs, how it is sold, what the free version does, whether you can get your money back, and when it is the better choice. It also says when Check Engine is not.
The five, side by side
Checked 14 October 2026, from each vendor's own pages (sources at the foot of the page). Prices are US dollar list prices for one person.
| Tool | On a Mac | How it is sold | Free version | Refund | It is the better choice when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Check Engine SEO | Mac (Apple silicon or Intel, macOS 12 or later) and 64-bit Windows | $59 once | A full audit with no key: the score, the number of problems in each area and the most important one in full | 30 days, no conditions | you want a ranked list of what to fix first, from a tool that runs on your own Mac with nothing to renew |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Mac (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux | $279 a year per person (£199, €245); a renewal costs the same | Crawls up to 500 URLs, with some settings locked | 14 days, if you contact them | you want raw crawl data, JavaScript rendering across a whole crawl, or custom extraction |
| Sitebulb | Desktop app for Mac or Windows, and a separate cloud product | Lite $180 a year ($18 a month); Pro $425 a year for one user | 14-day trial of the Pro desktop app, no card | Not stated on the pages read | you want an interactive crawl map |
| Scrutiny | Mac only. The current release needs macOS 11.5 or later | $149 once | 30-day trial with export switched off | Not stated on the page read | you want spell checking, HTML validation and site search |
| SEO PowerSuite (WebSite Auditor) | Lists Windows, Apple and Linux builds | Professional $349 a year, $558 for two years or $717 for three; WebSite Auditor on its own from $149 a year | 500 URLs, and one project that is not saved | None: "will not provide you any refunds at any time" | you also want rank checking and backlink tools in the same suite |
What each costs over 3 years
Add up what you would have paid at list price, with no discount codes, if you kept using the tool for 3 years. A subscription is paid again every year; Check Engine and Scrutiny are not.
| Tool | Year one | Over 3 years | More than Check Engine over 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Check Engine SEO | $59 | $59 | this is Check Engine |
| Scrutiny | $149 | $149 | $90 more |
| SEO PowerSuite, WebSite Auditor alone | $149 | $447 | $388 more |
| Sitebulb Lite | $180 | $540 | $481 more |
| SEO PowerSuite Professional | $349 | $717 prepaid for three years, or $1,047 paid yearly | $658 more |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | $279 | $837 | $778 more |
| Sitebulb Pro | $425 | $1,275 | $1,216 more |
Check Engine costs less than Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, Scrutiny and SEO PowerSuite from the first day: $59 once, against $149 once for Scrutiny and $279 a year for Screaming Frog. It is cheap because one person in Grand Rapids builds it, with no investors to repay and no sales team, not because it does less. Check Engine's one price includes every 1.x release, and Scrutiny's page does not say how long its free updates last.
If you want your money back
Check Engine refunds the whole price within 30 days of the receipt, with no conditions and no form. Screaming Frog refunds in full if you contact them within 14 days. SEO PowerSuite's return policy says it will not provide refunds at any time. The pages read for Sitebulb and Scrutiny do not state a refund policy, so ask them before you pay.
When to pick something other than Check Engine
- Screaming Frog if you want raw crawl data and exact control over what is extracted, or you need JavaScript rendered across a whole crawl. Check Engine gives you a ranked answer and not the raw table. The two compared in detail.
- Sitebulb if you want an interactive crawl map. Check Engine draws a static structure map in its HTML report, compares audits, and writes PDFs with your agency's name and logo. Its scheduled monitoring runs while the app is open. The two compared.
- Scrutiny if you want spell checking, HTML validation or site search. The two compared.
- SEO PowerSuite if you also want rank checking and backlink tools from the same company.
What Check Engine does not do
Check Engine runs on a Mac or a 64-bit Windows PC. It does not track where you rank for a keyword. It is lighter than Screaming Frog on custom extraction and on rendering JavaScript across a crawl, and it says so on the comparison page. It runs 99 checks across 13 areas, some on each page, some across the whole site, including whether AI crawlers such as GPTBot and ClaudeBot can reach your site, and puts what it found in the order to fix it. Its last audit of this site covered 4 pages in under a minute. The free audit shows the score, how many problems each area has and the single most important problem in full, so you can see what it finds on your own site before you pay anything.
Not in the table
Ahrefs Site Audit and Semrush Site Audit run in a browser and are sold as part of larger subscriptions, so they are not Mac apps; see Ahrefs and Semrush. The Mac App Store also sells small crawlers. They were not compared here. If you also use Windows, or want Netpeak Spider and LibreCrawl in the comparison, see Screaming Frog alternatives for Mac and Windows.
$59once
For Macs with Apple silicon or Intel, macOS 12 or later, and 64-bit Windows
Priced in US dollars. Checkout shows your currency and any local tax.
On a Mac? Get the Mac version.
Launch price: $29.50 once, through 30 November. From 1 December: $59. Buy applies the code FOUNDINGDOCKET for you; if the checkout shows $59, enter it under ‘Have a discount code?’.
Screaming Frog is $279 a year. Ahrefs plans with Site Audit run $129–$449 a month. Check Engine is $59 once. Screaming Frog’s price read 4 November 2026, Ahrefs’ 9 November 2026.
30 days, no conditions, no questions asked. Refund policy
Checked 14 October 2026. The factual claims about this product were read from its own pages on that date: Scrutiny: $149 once; free: 30-day trial with export switched off; refund: Not stated on the page read (source); Screaming Frog SEO Spider: $279 a year per person (£199, €245); a renewal costs the same; free: Crawls up to 500 URLs, with some settings locked; refund: 14 days, if you contact them (source); Sitebulb: Lite $180 a year ($18 a month); Pro $425 a year for one user; free: 14-day trial of the Pro desktop app, no card; refund: Not stated on the pages read (source); SEO PowerSuite (WebSite Auditor): Professional $349 a year, $558 for two years or $717 for three; WebSite Auditor on its own from $149 a year; free: 500 URLs, and one project that is not saved; refund: None: "will not provide you any refunds at any time" (source); SEO PowerSuite refund policy (source); SEO PowerSuite platforms (source); Screaming Frog pricing and platforms (source); Sitebulb platforms and trial (source). If a price on this page is out of date, tell us and it will be corrected.
Common questions
Which SEO audit tools run on a Mac?
Check Engine, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Sitebulb and Scrutiny run as Mac apps, and SEO PowerSuite lists an Apple build. Ahrefs and Semrush are web tools and run in a browser.
Is there a one-time-price SEO audit tool for Mac?
Yes. Scrutiny is a one-off $149 purchase and Check Engine is a one-off $59. The others in this comparison are yearly subscriptions.
Does Check Engine have a free version?
Yes. A full audit runs with no key and shows your score, the number of problems in each area and the most important problem in full with its fix.