Crawl Errors Checker: Best Free Tools and How to Choose One

Quick Answer

The best crawl errors checker depends on the job: Google Search Console shows Google's reported crawl and indexing information, Bing Webmaster Tools provides Bing-specific diagnostics, and Screaming Frog SEO Spider helps inspect a website's URLs. Ahrefs Site Audit offers a free allowance for verified websites. These tools provide different evidence, and none guarantees indexing.

Key Takeaways

Choose a checker based on the question you need answered. A search engine's own report and a third-party website crawl can reveal different problems.

• Google Search Console is the first choice for Google's reported crawl and indexing states.
• Bing Webmaster Tools provides Bing-specific diagnostics and site scans with affected-URL reports.
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider helps inspect response codes, redirects, and patterns across many URLs.
• Ahrefs documents 5,000 Site Audit crawl credits per month per project for free accounts with verified site ownership.
• A 404 response can be correct when a page has been removed and no suitable replacement exists.
• A third-party crawler's result does not prove that Googlebot or Bingbot received the same response.
• Crawling, indexing, and appearing for a search query are separate outcomes.

The right choice depends on your goal, access, and budget. Use the tool that can answer your question, then confirm important findings before changing the website.

Choose a Crawl Errors Checker Based on the Question

Start with the source of evidence you need. Google Search Console is best for Google's reported URL states. Bing Webmaster Tools provides information from Bing. A technical crawler checks pages according to its own settings and access.

These tools solve related but different problems. A search engine may report that a URL is not indexed. A website crawler may find a broken internal link or a redirect chain. Server logs may then reveal a temporary failure that neither report explains fully.

The table below compares the main options by purpose, evidence, and limits. It is a practical selection guide, not a measured ranking of accuracy.

For Google-specific issues, begin with its Page indexing report. For Bing, review Bing Site Scan. If you need to inspect many URLs in one crawl, consider a desktop crawler such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider.

The choice matters because the results are not interchangeable. A crawler can identify a response received during its scan. It cannot automatically tell you what Google recorded during a past visit. Likewise, a search engine report may not show every broken link that a full site crawl can find.

Compare the Leading Free Crawl-Error Tools

For most website owners, the sensible starting point is a first-party search tool. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools provide their own reports without requiring you to buy a third-party crawler. When you need a wider technical scan, a crawler can add useful detail.

Google Search Console: Google's own reports

Use Google Search Console when a page is missing from Google or its indexing report shows a problem. The Page indexing report groups URLs by their reported states and explains why some pages are not indexed. Some exclusions are expected. A page with a valid noindex directive, for example, may be excluded by design.

Google also provides URL Inspection for individual pages and Crawl Stats for information about Google's crawling activity and host availability. Its crawling troubleshooting guide explains how to investigate reported issues and check server availability.

Search Console is the best first step when the question is, "What does Google report about this URL?" It is not a full replacement for a crawler that checks every reachable page under your chosen settings.

Bing Webmaster Tools: Bing-specific checks

Bing Site Scan crawls a configured website and reports common technical issues. The report includes scan status, pages scanned, issue groups, and affected URLs. Users can also download lists of affected pages as CSV files.

Bing lets users set scan scope, crawl depth, page limits, and crawl speed. Its documentation says up to five scans can be stored at a time. Automatic quotas may vary, so do not assume every account has the same scan allowance.

Read the official Site Scan guide before planning a large audit. Use Bing's crawl-error alert guidance when the issue concerns Bing's access to a site. A scan error alone does not prove that Bingbot has the same problem. For account or tool-access questions, consult Bing Webmaster Support, which is separate from a technical scan result.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Detailed website crawling

Screaming Frog is useful when you need to inspect many pages and trace technical patterns. It can help find response codes, redirect chains, broken internal links, and other crawl issues. This makes it useful for site migrations, large content sites, and audits where a list of affected URLs is not enough.

Its results depend on the setup. A crawl may be limited by blocked access, connection errors, server timeouts, or the way JavaScript rendering is configured. A crawler may also receive a different response from a normal browser.

Screaming Frog's HTTP status-code guide explains common response types. Its configuration guide helps explain why settings can change what a crawl finds. Check those details before treating a scan result as a confirmed website fault.

Ahrefs Site Audit: A limited free allowance

Ahrefs offers Site Audit for technical checks on websites. Its published free-account information documents 5,000 Site Audit crawl credits per month per project for websites with verified ownership. Credits are a usage allowance, not a promise that 5,000 unique pages will be fully audited successfully.

The allowance may suit a small site or a focused review. Larger sites may need a different plan or a different crawl strategy. Check the current Ahrefs free-account feature limits before planning work around a fixed allowance.

There is no verified independent accuracy test in the supplied research that proves one of these tools finds more crawl errors than all the others. Choose by data source, site size, crawl needs, and budget instead of relying on an unsupported accuracy score.

Match the Error Report to the Next Check

A crawl report gives you a clue, not always a diagnosis. Before fixing an issue, confirm the current response and decide whether the URL should exist. The same status code can be a real defect on one page and the correct result on another.

Use this completed diagnostic matrix to choose a safe first step. It covers common findings, what each one establishes, and what to inspect next.

Google's HTTP status-code documentation explains how Google handles common response classes. The table above is a practical aid, not an official severity score. Other search engines may handle some cases differently.

A valid 404 is worth keeping when a page has truly gone and no useful replacement exists. Redirecting every missing URL to the homepage can create a poor match for visitors and may be treated as a soft 404. On the other hand, if a public service page breaks after a site update, restoring that page and correcting links to it is a sensible repair.

Server errors need a different approach. A 503 could reflect a short outage, an application fault, or an unavailable service behind the website. Compare the report time with logs and deployment records. One successful request later does not prove that a recurring problem has stopped.

Understand Why Two Crawl Checkers Can Disagree

Two tools can show different results because they may test different things. They can use different user agents, settings, network locations, rendering methods, and test times. They may also have different access rights.

Imagine a page opens in a normal browser but a third-party crawler receives a 403 response. One possible cause is a firewall or content delivery network rule that treats the crawler differently. That is a hypothesis, not a confirmed diagnosis. The page may also have changed between the two tests.

Start by recording when each test ran and the exact URL used. Compare the response code, redirect path, and relevant logs. Check the crawler's configuration and confirm its identity where possible. A user-agent string alone does not prove that a request comes from a genuine search engine.

Screaming Frog's troubleshooting FAQ covers cases such as blocks, timeouts, connection errors, and server failures. Use the details to understand how a crawler may encounter a different result from a visitor or search engine.

Do not disable security controls just to make a scan turn green. First confirm which request was blocked and whether that request should have been allowed. A narrow, evidence-based change is safer than a broad firewall exception.

Follow a Safe Check-and-Verify Workflow

A reliable repair starts with the page's intended state, not the report's label. Confirm the problem, fix only what the evidence supports, and test the result before requesting another crawl. This approach also makes it easier to explain the work to another developer or site owner.

Use the following workflow for an important URL or a group of related errors.

1. Record the finding. Save the full URL, the reporting tool, the error, and the time of the test.
2. Check the current response. Inspect the HTTP status, redirects, and final destination. Compare the result with the intended page state.
3. Review access rules. Check robots.txt, login settings, permissions, and relevant firewall or CDN rules when they may explain the failure.
4. Check logs when needed. For recurring 5xx errors, connection failures, or unexplained blocks, compare timestamps with server and application records.
5. Separate crawling from indexing. If the page can be fetched, check indexing directives and canonical signals only when the remaining issue concerns search inclusion.
6. Make the smallest justified change. Repair the confirmed route, content, server fault, or access rule. Keep valid removals and needed security controls.
7. Retest and record the result. Repeat the relevant test and note what it proves. Keep later search-engine indexing updates as a separate check.

For more detail on the sequence of technical checks, see IndexNowFast's guide to testing a website for crawlability and finding errors. That related article covers the broader crawlability process; this article focuses on choosing the right checker and interpreting its output.

Consider a hypothetical example. A site owner sees a 503 response for a public page. The owner checks the timestamp and finds an application error in the logs. After fixing the fault, a new request returns the intended 200 response. That supports the claim that the tested technical issue has been corrected under those conditions. It does not prove that every crawler can access the page or that Google has indexed it.

If the problem involves a single URL in Google, the Google Search Console URL Inspection tool provides a deeper path for reviewing Google's available URL information. If many pages show recurring server or crawl-capacity issues, a wider investigation may be useful. IndexNowFast's article on finding and fixing a Google crawl-rate bottleneck is relevant only when the evidence points to that wider question.

Know What a Crawl Checker Cannot Prove

A crawl checker cannot automatically reveal every search engine's private crawl history. It also cannot guarantee indexing, search visibility, or better rankings. Its result is limited to the data it can access and the test it performs.

Keep these five states separate:

• Live access: A test shows whether a page responds under the conditions used.
• Third-party crawl: A crawler reports what it found with its own settings and access.
• Search-engine report: A search engine reports information from its systems, which may reflect an earlier observation.
• Index inclusion: A page is included in a search engine's index, subject to that engine's decisions.
• Search visibility: A page appears for a particular query. This can vary even when the page is indexed.

A successful HTTP 200 response proves that the request received a successful status. It does not prove that the content is useful, that the canonical points where you expect, or that the page will be indexed. Likewise, submitting a URL asks a search engine to consider a change; it does not force an immediate crawl.

Google explains the limits of recrawl requests in its official recrawl guidance. A site owner should repair the technical cause first, then use the suitable notification or recrawl option when it helps. Repeated submissions are not a substitute for fixing a broken route or server fault.

The same care applies to tool claims. No independent accuracy benchmark was found in the supplied research. Be cautious about claims of perfect accuracy, guaranteed indexing, or a tool that finds every issue. Before paying for a checker, confirm its data source, crawl limits, export options, and the type of problems it can actually test.

The supplied research also does not confirm the current features, price, or outputs of an IndexNowFast crawl errors checker. This article therefore does not claim that IndexNowFast offers a working checker. Verify the live product before describing any tool features or asking readers to rely on them.

Frequently Asked Questions About Crawl Errors Checkers

These answers focus on choosing a tool and using its findings safely. The best next step depends on the URL, the reporting source, and whether the issue concerns access or indexing. They also separate what a checker observes from what a search engine records. That distinction helps prevent needless redirects, risky access changes, and repeated recrawl requests that cannot fix the cause.

What is a crawl errors checker?

A crawl errors checker helps identify problems that occur when a website crawler or search engine tries to access URLs. Depending on the tool, it may show HTTP responses, redirect issues, blocked pages, or indexing states. Check what the tool tests before treating its result as a complete diagnosis.

What is the best free way to check crawl errors?

Start with Google Search Console for Google's reported crawl and indexing information, or Bing Webmaster Tools for Bing-specific diagnostics. Use a technical crawler when you need to inspect many URLs. The best option depends on whether you need search-engine data or a broader site scan.

Can Google Search Console find every crawl error?

No. Search Console reports information from Google's systems, but it is not a complete record of every possible website defect. A technical crawler can find other issues during its own scan, while server logs can help explain errors that occurred at specific times.

How do I check HTTP status codes across a website?

Use a site crawler such as Screaming Frog SEO Spider to inspect many URLs and review their response codes. Check the crawl settings, access rules, and final redirect destinations. Then confirm important findings with a direct test or server evidence before changing the site.

What is the difference between a crawl error and a page that is not indexed?

A crawl error concerns a problem fetching or processing a URL. A page that is not indexed may be accessible and successfully crawled but still excluded from search. Use the relevant search-engine report to determine which stage needs attention.

Why can Google and a third-party crawler show different results?

They may test at different times or use different user agents, access rules, rendering methods, and settings. Compare the exact URL, time, response, and logs. Do not assume either result is wrong until you understand the difference.

How do I check whether robots.txt blocks a page?

Fetch the site's actual robots.txt file and inspect the rule that matches the URL and crawler group. Confirm that the block is unintended before changing it. Remember that robots.txt controls crawling and is not the same as a noindex directive.

How often should I run a crawl check?

Set the schedule based on how often the site changes and how important technical stability is. A large site or one with frequent releases may need regular checks, while a small, stable site may need less frequent full crawls. Also run a targeted check after a major migration, deployment, or reported failure.

Choose the Checker That Fits the Job

Use Google Search Console when you need Google's reported URL and indexing information. Choose Bing Webmaster Tools for Bing-specific reports and scans. Use Screaming Frog or Ahrefs Site Audit when a broader technical crawl fits your site size and budget. If you are unsure where to begin, start with the search engine named in the report, then add a site crawler only when you need a wider list of affected URLs.

Then confirm the finding. Check whether the URL should exist, reproduce the issue, and fix only the cause supported by evidence. Keep valid 404 responses, preserve needed security controls, and treat indexing as a separate outcome. If two tools disagree, compare their test times, settings, response codes, and access conditions before deciding which result applies.

For a small site, this approach can keep the first check free and focused. For a large site, a crawler can help group errors by template or path, while search-engine reports show what each engine records. In either case, save the original result and the retest result. That record makes the repair easier to review later and helps show what is still unknown. A good checker supports a decision; it does not make the decision for you.