Every way to audit your website,
compared honestly.
Free tools, desktop crawlers, SEO suites, agencies — and a £7.99 done-for-you report. Here's what each option actually covers, how much effort and expertise it demands, and what you're holding when you're done.
Every option, in one paragraph
Four questions every option answers differently
A tool and a report aren't the same kind of thing — so instead of pretending feature parity, each option gets judged on what actually matters to a site owner.
Coverage
How much of your site gets checked, and across how many categories — speed, search, security, accessibility, legal.
Effort
Your time: installing, configuring, running, re-running after every fix.
Expertise needed
Whether you need to already know SEO to get value out of the output.
What you end up with
A score, a spreadsheet, a login — or a prioritized list of fixes you can hand to someone.
The five ways people actually audit a site
Full disclosure: we sell the last card, and the last card isn't right for everyone — the sections below say exactly when it is. Pricing as published September 2026. For a tool-by-tool ranking, see the best website audit tools of 2027.
Free one-page tools
Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, Search Console, online checkers.
- Covers one category per tool, one page at a time
- You interpret scores; fixes are on you
- No whole-site picture — just spot checks
Right for you if you enjoy tinkering and have the time to run a dozen checks yourself.
Desktop crawlers
Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Sitebulb, Greenflare. You install, configure, and crawl.
- Deep technical crawls, whole sites, exportable data
- Screaming Frog is free up to 500 URLs
- Built for people who already do SEO for a living
- You get data — turning it into priorities is your job
Right for you if SEO is your job. If it is, honestly: use these — they're excellent.
SEO suites
Semrush, Ahrefs, SE Ranking. Site audit is one module of an ongoing toolkit.
- Continuous monitoring, keywords, backlinks, ranks
- A subscription you have to keep using to justify
- Powerful dashboards — still need an operator
Right for you if SEO is an ongoing workstream with someone owning it.
Agencies & consultants
A human-led audit with strategy, competitor research, and a walkthrough call.
- Human judgment, strategy, accountability
- Weeks of turnaround and a serious invoice
- Often more than a small site needs
Right for you if you need strategy, not just findings — here's what that should cost.
Done-for-you report
We crawl up to 25 pages, run 260+ checks across 21 categories, and write up what's broken, what it costs you, and how to fix it.
PDF in ~30 minutes.
- Whole-site coverage, 21 categories, zero effort
- Findings ranked by cost, fix guidance on each
- One-time diagnosis — no dashboards, no monitoring
Every option, one table
| Option | Coverage | Effort / expertise | You end up with | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free tools | One category, one page at a time | Low effort, but you interpret everything | Raw scores per check | $0 |
| Desktop crawlers | Whole site, technical depth | Install, configure, operate — SEO skills needed | Data exports | £0–£199+/yr |
| SEO suites | Whole site + ongoing tracking | Subscription to learn and keep using | Dashboards | ~$100–150+/mo |
| Agency audit | Deep, strategy-led | Calls, weeks of waiting | Deck + walkthrough | $500–$5,000+ |
| YourSiteIsBroken | Up to 25 pages, 21 categories, 260+ checks | Type your URL — that's it | Ranked findings + fix plan + 90-day roadmap | £7.99 |
Pricing as published by each vendor, September 2026. We sell the last row — we've tried to be fair to the other four anyway.
Three honest endings
"I like tinkering"
Start with PageSpeed Insights and Search Console — free, genuinely useful, and you'll learn something every time. If you keep enjoying it, a crawler is a fun next step.
"SEO is my job"
Use the tools: a crawler for technical work, a suite for the ongoing picture. They're built for professionals and they're worth their price in that hands.
"I just need to know what's broken"
That's the report we sell: £7.99, your URL in, a prioritized fix plan out, ~30 minutes later. And if you later want the ongoing picture, the suites will still be there.
Fair questions, straight answers
Why not just use Screaming Frog or Semrush?
If SEO is your job, you should — they're excellent at what they do. But they're tools: they give you data, and your expertise turns it into action. A done-for-you report is for people who want the findings and the fix plan without becoming tool operators.
How is a £7.99 report different from a free audit tool?
Free tools typically check one category on one page and hand you raw scores. The report runs 260+ checks across 21 categories on up to 25 pages, then interprets and prioritizes everything in writing — see a real one.
Do you replace an SEO suite like Semrush?
No. Suites are ongoing toolkits for continuous SEO work — rank tracking, keywords, backlinks. The report is a one-time diagnosis. Plenty of sites would be fine running a thorough diagnosis once or twice a year instead of a subscription they barely log into.
Which option should I pick?
If you enjoy tinkering, start free. If SEO is your profession, a crawler or suite pays for itself. If you own a site and just need to know what's broken and what to fix first — the £7.99 report is built for exactly that.
You already know which one fits.
Enter your URL and pay securely — your report PDF lands in your inbox in ~30 minutes.