How Docket compares
Each of these names at least one thing the other tool does better, because a comparison that never concedes anything is an advertisement.
$59once
For Macs with Apple silicon or Intel, macOS 12 or later, and 64-bit Windows
On a Mac? Get the Mac version.
On your phone?
Black Friday price, all of November: Docket SEO $29.50 once. From 1 December it’s $59, or 4 × $14.75. 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 $29–$449 a month. Docket is $59 once. Screaming Frog’s price read 4 November 2026, Ahrefs’ 28 October 2026.
30 days, no conditions, no questions asked. Refund policy
Intel Mac? Get the Intel version
The three kinds of tool, and which question each answers
Most comparisons between SEO tools are unhelpful because they compare things built to answer different questions. There are broadly three:
- Crawlers: Screaming Frog, Sitebulb. You point them at a site and they return everything, at scale, sortable. The question they answer is "what is on my site". They are very good at it and Docket does not attempt that scale.
- Platforms: Ahrefs, Semrush. A web-scale index of links and keywords, with a site audit attached. The question is "where do I stand against everyone else", and nothing on a desktop can answer it, because the answer requires having crawled the web.
- Auditors: where Docket sits. The question is "what should I change, in what order", which is a judgement rather than a dataset, and it is the one that needs no subscription because the data it needs is your own site.
The practical consequence: if you already pay for a platform, Docket does not replace it. It replaces the part of it you open once a month and then export to a spreadsheet.
When not to use Docket
If you need keyword positions or a backlink profile, none of these pages will help. Docket has neither and is not building either. If your crawl is hundreds of thousands of URLs, use a crawler built for it. Docket's desktop app runs on macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon or Intel) and on 64-bit Windows. Linux runs the command line only.
Each comparison below names at least one thing the other tool does better. That is not modesty; a comparison page that concedes nothing tells you only that its author wanted your money.
Docket vs Screaming Frog
Raw crawl data versus a ranked plan. Screaming Frog supports custom extraction and crawls at far greater scale; Docket does not.
Docket vs Sitebulb
Both draw your site architecture: Sitebulb interactively, Docket as rings by depth sized by link equity. Docket covers AI visibility, conversion and tracking, which Sitebulb does not.
Docket vs Ahrefs Site Audit
Ahrefs has a web-scale index and Docket never will. What you get for $129 a month if the audit is the part you use.
Docket vs Semrush Site Audit
Semrush now checks AI crawler access per bot, tracks issue trends over time and runs 140+ checks. Where a one-time local auditor still makes sense.
SE Ranking vs Screaming Frog
Not a Docket comparison first: a metered cloud audit against an unmetered local crawler, which is the real difference between them. Where Docket fits, and the two things it does not do.
Docket vs Google Lighthouse
The one here that is not an alternative. Lighthouse is free, it is Google's, and you should keep running it. Its SEO category is ten scored checks on one URL, and a crawl is what sits outside that.
Docket vs Google Search Console
A division of labour rather than a comparison. Search Console holds your real queries, index status and field Core Web Vitals, and nothing replaces it. What it cannot answer is what is wrong with a page today.
Docket vs Scrutiny
Both are Mac apps you buy once rather than subscribe to. Scrutiny is the stronger link checker and has been shipping far longer; Docket ranks what it finds and covers conversion, brand and AI visibility, which Scrutiny does not.
Docket vs crawler.sh
Both run locally with no account, and they agree about almost everything except purpose: crawler.sh turns sites into Markdown for AI training, and caps pages per session.
Docket vs CrawlRaven
Close to Docket's pitch, and cheaper only in its first months. It joins Search Console and GA4 to a technical audit sold by the month, with a lifetime plan beside it; Docket's audit is bought once and has no page allowance.
Docket vs JetOctopus
It reads your server logs, which Docket cannot do at all, and meters crawling in hundreds of thousands to millions of URLs. An enterprise platform against a Mac app you buy once.
Docket vs Profound
An answer-engine tracker sold by demo, with no crawler in its published platform list. It reports whether AI assistants mention you; Docket checks whether their crawlers can reach you.
Docket vs Sitechecker
It tracks rankings and whether five AI models mention your brand; Docket does neither. What Docket checks is whether those crawlers can reach you at all: a precondition rather than the same question.
Docket vs SEOptimer
The cheapest way in, and built for selling audits: reports on a custom domain and an embeddable lead-capture audit. The real difference is the meter: SEOptimer buys you a set number of crawls a month, Docket does not count them.