You can run a free SEO audit yourself with four tools: Google PageSpeed Insights for speed and Core Web Vitals, Google Search Console for the data Google holds on your site, the Site Audit in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, and the free version of Screaming Frog's SEO Spider, which crawls up to 500 URLs. Each one has a limit you should know before you trust the result, and the biggest is that two of them only work on sites you own.
A free audit won't hand you a neat score with a sales pitch attached. What it will do is show you the problems Google and a crawler can see, which is what any audit worth paying for starts from anyway. Here's what each tool covers, where its free version stops, and the order I'd run them in.
What you can get for nothing
The surprise for most people is how little the free versions hold back. Screaming Frog's pricing page lists the same features for the free and paid SEO Spider, apart from one thing: the free version stops at 500 URLs. If your site is smaller than that, you're getting the full crawler without paying. The paid licence, which removes the cap (subject to your computer's memory and storage), is 199 pounds a year for a single licence, as of Nov 2026, in pounds.
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is similar. It's free for websites you verify, and its Site Audit gives you 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month. Those credits are only used on HTML pages that return a 200 status, so images and redirects don't eat into them. The catch is the word verified: you can only audit sites you can prove you own.
The four free tools compared
| Tool | What it checks | Free limit | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google PageSpeed Insights | Lab data from Lighthouse (Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO scores) and field data from real Chrome users (INP, LCP, CLS, FCP and an experimental TTFB) | Free; Google's page doesn't mention a sign-up | Field data only appears where there are enough samples, so low-traffic pages may show lab data alone |
| Google Search Console | Google's own data on your verified site, including the Links report | Free for sites you verify | The Links report is a sample, not a comprehensive list, with tables capped at 1,000 rows |
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, Site Audit | A crawl of your verified site | 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month, used only on HTML pages returning 200 | Verified sites only, so no competitor audits |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider, free version | A crawl of your site, up to the URL limit | 500 URLs | Bigger sites need the paid licence at 199 pounds a year (as of Nov 2026, in pounds) |
Reading PageSpeed Insights without getting it wrong
PageSpeed Insights mixes two kinds of data on one screen, and people regularly read the wrong half. The lab data comes from Lighthouse, which loads your page in a test environment and scores it. Google calls a Lighthouse score of 90 or more good. The field data comes from the Chrome User Experience Report: real visits over the previous 28 days.
Core Web Vitals pass or fail on the field data, not the lab score. Google's rule is that a page passes when the 75th percentile of INP, LCP and CLS are all in the Good range. So a page can score well in the lab and still fail Core Web Vitals, or the other way round. And if your page doesn't get enough visits to produce field data, you'll only see the lab half, which tells you what might be slow rather than what your visitors went through.
A free SEO audit in six steps
This is the order I'd work in. Each step is short here because the detailed walkthroughs already exist on this site; I've linked them where they help.
- Run your home page and your two or three most important pages through PageSpeed Insights. Note whether each passes Core Web Vitals on field data, and what the lab report flags.
- Open Search Console for your site and work through it report by report. My step-by-step Search Console audit covers which reports to check and what good looks like.
- Look at the Links report while you're there, remembering it's a sample with a 1,000-row cap, so treat it as a floor.
- Verify your site in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools and run a Site Audit. Fix the errors on pages that matter to you before the long tail of warnings.
- Crawl the site with Screaming Frog's free version. Under 500 URLs, you'll get the whole site; above that, crawl your key sections one at a time.
- Write the findings in one list, ranked by the pages that bring you enquiries or sales, and fix from the top.
If you'd rather follow one complete method from start to finish, how to do an SEO site audit walks you through the whole thing in simple steps.
What free audits miss
Free tools are good at telling you what's broken. They're limited in three ways worth knowing up front.
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- Competitors. Search Console and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools only work on sites you verify, so they can't audit a rival.
- Big sites. Once you're past 500 URLs, the free crawler only sees part of the picture, and you'll need to split the crawl or pay for the licence.
- Quiet pages. PageSpeed Insights needs enough real visits to show field data. Low-traffic pages only get the lab test.
None of these tools will tell you what to write next, which pages to merge, or whether your content answers what people are searching for. That part is judgement, and it's where most paid audits earn or lose their fee.
My verdict
I'd start with PageSpeed Insights and Search Console, add a 500-URL crawl, and skip paid audits until the free ones run dry. For most small business sites, that covers most of the technical picture for nothing. If you'd still like a second opinion, why a regular SEO audit matters explains what to expect from one, and my roundup of free SEO checker tools compares more free options if these four don't suit you.
SEO audit guides on this site
Running the audit
- How to carry out an SEO audit using Search Console: the exact reports to check, with a real client example.
- Run a local SEO audit yourself: the checks for a business with a location, done in under three hours.
- Website audit tools for ongoing SEO maintenance: audits as routine maintenance rather than a one-off.
- The benefits of a site auditor tool: why an online business needs one.
Free tools and checkers
- Best free SEO tools for small business: fifteen free tools and the combination I use for clients.
- Best broken link checkers: ten tools for small sites, with free plan or trial status.
- Free AI SEO tools: ten tools for keyword ideas, content help and search visibility.
- Best AI SEO tools: eight tools for content optimisation, keyword research and on-page SEO, and their limits.
My free checkers
- Keyword density checker: paste your text and see which words your page repeats most.
- Readability checker: a Flesch Reading Ease score, reading grade and word stats in your browser.
- Website traffic checker: an estimate of any site's monthly Google traffic and ranking keywords.
- Domain authority checker: an authority score, referring domains, backlinks and spam score, no sign-up.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get a free SEO audit?
Yes. PageSpeed Insights, Google Search Console, the Site Audit in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools and the free version of Screaming Frog's SEO Spider together cover the main technical checks at no cost, within their limits.
What is the limit on Screaming Frog's free version?
It crawls up to 500 URLs. Its pricing page lists the same features as the paid version apart from that crawl limit. The paid licence was 199 pounds a year for a single licence as of Nov 2026.
Can I audit a competitor's site for free?
Not with Search Console or Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, which only work on sites you verify. For a rival's site you'd need a different kind of tool, and this page doesn't cover one.
Why does PageSpeed Insights show no field data for my page?
Field data comes from real Chrome users over 28 days and only appears where there are enough samples. Low-traffic pages often show lab data from Lighthouse alone.
How many pages can Ahrefs Webmaster Tools audit for free?
Its Site Audit gives 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month, and credits are only used on HTML pages that return a 200 status.
