A migration can leave you with a clean homepage and a collection of broken paths underneath it. The useful broken link checker is the one that helps you find those paths, locate the links that send people there, and verify the replacement.
These five tools cover different parts of that job. Start with the access and crawl coverage you need before buying a larger plan.
This is a comparison based on official documentation checked on November 9, 2026, not a hands-on benchmark. I'm a co-founder of Screpy, which is one of the tools below.
Check old routes and new links separately
A crawl of the new site answers: which links can the crawler discover now? Your old URL list answers a different question: what happens when someone opens an address that existed before the move?
If an old route disappears from navigation, crawling the new homepage may never reach it. Keep a separate mapping of old URLs to their intended replacements. Google's site-move guidance covers building that inventory and updating internal links.
| Tool | Useful migration job | Access or capacity to check |
|---|---|---|
| Screaming Frog | Inspect source links and explicitly check an old URL list | Free: 500 crawled URLs; advanced features require a licence |
| Sitebulb | Investigate broken URLs, redirects and audit changes | Desktop Lite: 10,000 URLs per audit; audit comparisons require Pro |
| Dr. Link Check | Run a focused hosted link check | Free Lite: 1,500 unique links per website, two projects, one-time checks |
| Ahrefs Site Audit | Audit a verified site without running a desktop crawler | Ahrefs Free: 5,000 crawl credits per project per month |
| Screpy | Trace failed destinations to source pages alongside technical audits | Pro: five projects, 5,000 crawl pages per project |
Those limits use different units. A page can contain many links; a monthly credit allowance isn't a per-crawl page limit.
Before comparing reports, check whether the crawler can reach staging, pass any required authentication and see links created by JavaScript. A partial inventory can still be useful, provided you know what's missing.
1. Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Screaming Frog is the option I'd look at first when the migration involves a spreadsheet of old routes and someone needs source-level evidence for repairs.
Its broken-link tutorial shows the workflow: filter Response Codes to Client Error (4XX), select a failed URL, then inspect Inlinks to find the pages pointing to it. The bulk 4XX Inlinks export includes sources and destinations.
For the old route inventory, use List mode to supply URLs explicitly rather than relying on discovery from the new homepage. Inspect redirect outcomes separately; the immediate source of a failure can itself be a redirect.
The free edition covers up to 500 URLs. JavaScript rendering, saving crawls, scheduling and crawl comparison are paid features. The pricing page served during research showed €245 per user for one year. Paid crawl capacity still depends on memory and storage.
The tradeoff is hands-on work. You get detailed data, but you still need to decide whether a final destination is the right replacement.
2. Sitebulb
Sitebulb is worth comparing when you need to explain why a migration finding matters, rather than hand over a raw error export.
Its documentation separates broken internal URLs from redirect problems, including redirects that end in a 4XX or 5XX response and loops. That distinction helps when an old URL appears to redirect successfully at first, but the chain never reaches a usable page.
Choose the plan around the investigation. The Desktop plan comparison lists 10,000 URLs per audit for Lite and a default 500,000 for Pro. JavaScript crawling is listed for both; native audit comparisons and scheduled audits are Pro features.
The exact subscription amounts didn't load in the pricing page available during this review, so I'm not quoting an old price. Check the current currency, billing period and user count before buying.
I'd evaluate Pro when before-and-after audit comparison is part of the migration handoff. Don't buy Lite expecting that particular workflow just because its crawl limit fits the site.
3. Dr. Link Check
Dr. Link Check suits a narrower job: crawl a website's HTML and CSS, check discovered internal and external destinations, and find the locations that need an edit. It also checks referenced resources such as images and style sheets.
The important buying detail is its definition of a link. The pricing page counts each unique document or resource once, even when several pages reference it.
Lite is free for two projects and 1,500 links per website, with one-time checks. Standard is $13/month for five projects and 10,000 links per website, with monthly or biweekly scheduled checks. Weekly and daily schedules belong to higher tiers.
That can be useful for checking a small public site after launch without buying a full SEO suite. But don't read “1,500 links” as “1,500 pages,” and don't assume the entry paid plan runs daily.
For a migration, keep the old URL mapping as a separate acceptance checklist. A discovery crawl can check what it finds; it doesn't establish that every retired route has been tested.
4. Ahrefs Site Audit
For a site you can verify, check Ahrefs Free before assuming you need a paid Ahrefs subscription. It includes Site Audit and a documented allowance of 5,000 crawl credits per verified project per month.
The counting rule matters. Ahrefs says those credits are used for HTML pages returning 200; broken URLs, redirects and non-HTML resources don't consume that allowance. It isn't the same as a 5,000-URL limit on one migration crawl.
This is an option when you want hosted technical audit reports for a site you control. Confirm verification and crawl access before relying on it for staging.
Also separate Site Audit from the public Ahrefs Broken Link Checker. The public tool can surface broken inbound and outbound link records, but a quick lookup isn't proof that a fresh audit has checked your complete migration inventory.
I'd start with the free verified-site access, inspect whether it covers the routes you need, and only consider paid access when a specific limit or missing workflow justifies it.
5. Screpy
Screpy's Broken Link Checker works from a completed crawl. It groups destinations and lets you inspect source pages, which helps separate one missing route from a shared navigation link repeated across the site.
For migration cleanup, review broken destinations and the separate 3XX view. The grouped table isn't a full redirect-chain viewer. Check the final destination directly.
There's also an export boundary worth knowing: CSV and Excel exports cover loaded destination rows on the current table page. Source Pages opens separately and has no export control. Don't treat that export as a complete source-by-source migration checklist.
The Pro plan includes five projects and 5,000 crawl pages per project. Its regular annual price is $192, equivalent to $16/month paid upfront for the year. Welcome pricing is conditional; I'm using the regular price here. Subscriptions renew automatically, and the seven-day trial becomes paid unless cancelled in time.
I'd compare Screpy when link cleanup belongs alongside your ongoing technical audits. MCP can help an assistant investigate supported crawl findings, but it doesn't automatically repair your website. After edits, run a new crawl with comparable coverage.
Verify the migration, not just the error count
Whichever broken link checker you choose, keep a small record that someone else can verify. For each important route, record the old URL, expected destination, observed response and final URL. For links on the new site, also keep the source page and anchor.
Here's an illustrative acceptance table, not a test result:
| Case | What you observe | Decision |
|---|---|---|
/docs/install should move to /help/install
|
Old route redirects to the intended installation guide, which returns 200 | Mapping works; update controlled source links to the new URL |
/guides/setup still links to /docs/install
|
The old route returns 404 | Repair the source link and the missing migration redirect |
| An intentionally retired page has no relevant replacement | It returns 404 or 410, and no current navigation points there | Don't invent an unrelated redirect just to reduce the error count |
| Every old guide redirects to the homepage | The final response is 200 | Still investigate: a successful response doesn't make the destination relevant |
Google specifically warns against sending many old URLs to an irrelevant homepage. A green status code alone isn't the acceptance test.
After repairs, repeat the old-URL checks and the new-site crawl. Keep the starting scope, page capacity and rendering settings comparable. Otherwise, a lower error count might simply mean the second crawl reached fewer source pages.
For a small migration, a free checker may be enough. Pay when you need the coverage, repeatability, source exports or audit comparison that your actual workflow requires. The useful result is a working path to the right content, with evidence you can hand to the next person.
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