Best Automated Link Checker Tools in 2026 (Compared)

TL;DR: The best automated link checker tools scan your entire website on a schedule, detect broken links, and alert you to issues before they hurt SEO. Top options include SecurityBot (best for indie hackers, $5/mo), Ahrefs Site Audit (best for enterprise SEO), Screaming Frog (best for technical SEOs), and Dead Link Checker (best free option).

Broken links are inevitable. External sites go offline, content gets deleted, URLs change during redesigns, and CMS updates can silently break link structures. Checking for broken links manually doesn't scale beyond a handful of pages, and one-time audits only capture a snapshot. What you need is automated monitoring that continuously crawls your site and alerts you when problems appear.

This guide compares the best automated link checker tools available in 2026, with honest assessments of what each does well and where each falls short.

Why You Need an Automated Link Checker

Manual link checking simply doesn't work for ongoing maintenance. Even if you audit your entire site today and fix every broken link, new ones will appear tomorrow. External sites change URLs, your team publishes new content with typos in links, and pages get deleted without redirects.

The value of automation is consistency. An automated link checker catches problems early, before they accumulate into a larger SEO issue and before your visitors encounter them. Early detection also makes fixes easier because you remember the context of recent content changes.

Automation also saves significant time. A manual audit of a 500-page site could take an entire day. An automated tool does the same work in the background every week with no effort from you.

What to Look for in an Automated Link Checker

Essential Features

Scheduled scans are the defining feature of an automated link checker. The tool should crawl your site on a recurring schedule (weekly or daily) without requiring you to manually trigger each scan.

Full site coverage means the tool can handle your site's size. If you have 1,000 pages, the tool needs to crawl all 1,000 pages, not just a sample.

Multiple status code detection goes beyond just 404 errors. Good tools also catch 403 Forbidden, 500 Server Errors, timeouts, and SSL certificate errors on linked pages.

Reporting should clearly show what's broken, where the broken link appears (the source page), and what error the destination returned. CSV export is essential for tracking fixes.

Alerts notify you when new broken links are found so you don't have to remember to check the dashboard.

Nice-to-Have Features

Configurable crawl settings like custom user agents and adjustable crawl delays help avoid false positives from WAFs and prevent overwhelming your server.

Historical tracking lets you see trends over time. Are broken links increasing? Did a recent deployment introduce new ones?

Integration with other monitoring means you get broken link checking alongside uptime monitoring, SSL monitoring, and other site health checks in a single dashboard.

Best Automated Link Checker Tools Compared

1. SecurityBot Broken Link Checker

Best for: Indie hackers, small teams, SaaS founders

Pricing: $5/month (included with Pro plan)

SecurityBot's Broken Link Checker is designed for people who want reliable monitoring without enterprise complexity or pricing. It crawls up to 2,000 pages per scan, runs automated weekly crawls, and lets you trigger on-demand manual crawls anytime.

The crawler is configurable with custom user agent settings (essential for sites behind WAFs or CDNs) and adjustable crawl delay to prevent rate limiting. Results show the source page, broken URL, and HTTP status code for each issue, and you can export everything to CSV.

What makes SecurityBot stand out is that broken link checking is part of a broader monitoring platform. The same $5/month subscription includes SSL certificate monitoring, uptime monitoring, security header checks, domain expiration alerts, and more. For indie hackers and small teams, this bundled approach is significantly more cost-effective than subscribing to separate tools for each type of monitoring.

Pros:

• Very affordable at $5/month for the full monitoring suite
• Automated weekly crawls plus on-demand manual scans
• Configurable crawler settings (user agent, crawl delay)
• Part of all-in-one website monitoring (SSL, uptime, security headers, domain expiration)
• Simple setup with no technical knowledge required
• CSV export for tracking and sharing

Cons:

• 2,000 page limit per scan (sufficient for most indie sites and small businesses)
• No historical trend tracking yet

2. Ahrefs Site Audit

Best for: Enterprise SEO teams, agencies managing many clients

Pricing: Starting at $99/month

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO platform that includes broken link detection as part of its Site Audit feature. The crawler is thorough, handles very large sites, and provides extensive context around each issue including backlink data, internal link counts, and historical crawl data.

Ahrefs excels when you need broken link checking integrated with broader SEO workflows. If you're already using Ahrefs for keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink monitoring, the site audit feature adds broken link detection without another subscription.

Pros:

• Very thorough crawling with detailed technical data
• Part of a complete SEO toolkit
• Excellent for large sites with thousands of pages
• Historical data shows trends over time
• Advanced filtering and segmentation

Cons:

• Expensive if you only need broken link checking ($99/month minimum)
• Overkill for small sites or non-SEO teams
• Steeper learning curve than dedicated tools
• The site audit feature is one small part of a much larger platform

3. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Best for: Technical SEOs who need detailed one-time audits

Pricing: Free (500 URLs) / £199/year for full version

Screaming Frog is a desktop application that crawls websites and provides extremely detailed technical SEO data. It's the industry standard for technical SEO audits and offers granular control over how crawls are configured.

The free version crawls up to 500 URLs, which is enough for small sites. The paid version removes this limit and adds scheduling, though the scheduling runs on your local machine rather than in the cloud.

Pros:

• Extremely powerful and detailed technical data
• Free tier available for small sites
• Industry standard trusted by SEO professionals
• Highly customizable crawl configuration
• Crawl data can be exported in multiple formats

Cons:

• Desktop application, not cloud-based (crawls only run when your computer is on)
• Scheduling requires the paid version and a running desktop
• Requires technical knowledge to use effectively
• Not truly automated in the way cloud tools are
• No built-in alerting for new issues

4. Dead Link Checker

Best for: Quick free checks when you need a one-time audit

Pricing: Free

Dead Link Checker is a web-based tool that scans your site for broken links with no signup required. Enter your URL, wait for the crawl to complete, and review the results. It's the simplest option for a quick check.

Pros:

• Completely free with no account required
• No installation or setup
• Quick results for small sites
• Simple, no-frills interface

Cons:

• No automation or scheduling
• Limited features compared to paid tools
• No monitoring or recurring alerts
• Results can be slow for larger sites
• No configurable crawl settings

5. Dr. Link Check

Best for: WordPress users who want cloud-based monitoring

Pricing: Free (basic) / $15/month for full features

Dr. Link Check is a cloud-based broken link checker that offers scheduled scans and email reports. It integrates well with WordPress sites and provides a straightforward interface for non-technical users.

Pros:

• Cloud-based with genuine automated scheduling
• Good WordPress integration
• Affordable at $15/month
• Email reports delivered automatically
• Easy to use for non-technical users

Cons:

• Limited free tier
• Less comprehensive than Ahrefs or Screaming Frog
• Fewer configuration options than some alternatives
• Focused solely on link checking (no other monitoring features)

Comparison Table

How to Choose the Right Tool

Choose SecurityBot if:

You're an indie hacker, solo founder, or small team that needs reliable monitoring without a large budget. You want all-in-one website monitoring (broken links, SSL, uptime, security headers, domain expiration) rather than subscribing to separate tools. Your site is under 2,000 pages and you want something that works with minimal setup. Start a free trial to see how it works for your site.

Choose Ahrefs if:

You need comprehensive SEO tools beyond just broken link checking. You're an agency managing many client sites and need deep competitive analysis alongside site health monitoring. Budget isn't a primary constraint, and you need to crawl very large sites with detailed historical tracking.

Choose Screaming Frog if:

You prefer desktop tools and want maximum control over crawl configuration. You need periodic detailed technical audits rather than ongoing automated monitoring. You're technically savvy and comfortable interpreting raw crawl data. You need one-time audits for client sites where ongoing monitoring isn't required.

Choose Dead Link Checker if:

You need a quick, free check with no commitment. You want to audit a small site one time without creating an account. You're evaluating whether broken links are a problem before investing in a paid tool.

Choose Dr. Link Check if:

You run a WordPress site and want cloud-based automated monitoring at a moderate price point. You want scheduled scans and email reports without the complexity of enterprise tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should automated link checks run?

Weekly scans are sufficient for most websites. This frequency catches new broken links before they accumulate and before search engines have time to repeatedly encounter the same errors. Run additional manual scans after deployments or major content changes. Sites with very frequent content changes (daily blog posts, active ecommerce catalogs) may benefit from more frequent scans.

Do I need a paid tool?

Free tools work for occasional one-time checks. If you want ongoing automated monitoring with scheduled scans, alerting, and historical tracking, a paid tool is worth the investment. The cost of a paid link checker is far less than the SEO and user experience damage that undetected broken links cause over time.

Can these tools check external links too?

Yes, most broken link checkers test both internal links (pointing to pages on your own site) and external links (pointing to other websites). SecurityBot, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, and Dr. Link Check all check both types. Results typically distinguish between internal and external broken links so you can prioritize fixes appropriately.

Will an automated crawler slow down my website?

A well-configured crawler has negligible impact on site performance. Tools like SecurityBot include configurable crawl delays that control the pause between requests, ensuring the crawler doesn't overwhelm your server. The request rate from an automated weekly crawl is far lower than normal visitor traffic.

Try SecurityBot's Broken Link Checker free for 14 days. Automated weekly scans, 2,000 pages, CSV exports, plus SSL, uptime, and security monitoring, all for $5/month. Start Free Trial.

Last updated: February 2026 | Written by Jason Gilmore, Founder of SecurityBot