For a public Next.js site, start with Google Search Console to understand indexing and PageSpeed Insights to investigate performance. Add a crawler when you need to inspect many routes, and pay for monitoring when repeated manual checks become a problem.
That is the useful way to compare SEO tools for Next.js. Five tools can cover five different questions; you do not need five subscriptions on launch day.
I’m a co-founder of Screpy, which is one of the options below. This comparison is based on the tools’ published features and limits, rather than a hands-on benchmark. The examples focus on public pages such as landing pages, articles, and product listings.
What Next.js already gives you
In the App Router, Next.js supports metadata and generated metadata, along with file conventions for sitemaps, robots.txt, and social images. The metadata exports belong in Server Components. Pages Router projects use different conventions, so check which router a tutorial targets before copying its examples.
You can configure these things without adding an SEO package. External tools answer the next question: did the deployed website produce the result you intended?
| Tool | Question it helps answer | Starting cost or allowance | Important boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search Console | What does Google know about this URL? | Free | Requires access to a verified property |
| PageSpeed Insights | What is making this page slow? | Free web checks | Field data needs enough real-user samples |
| Screaming Frog SEO Spider | Is this problem repeated across routes? | Free up to 500 URLs per crawl | JavaScript rendering needs a paid licence |
| Screpy | How do I keep reviewing SEO and monitoring data over time? | Pro: $192/year regular annual price | Plan limits apply; annual payment is upfront |
| Ahrefs Free | Who links to my site, and what else does its audit find? | Free for verified websites | Restricted access and data allowances |
These are complementary jobs with some overlap. Pick the missing evidence before picking another tool.
1. Google Search Console
Use Google Search Console first when a page is missing from Google, an expected query gets no impressions, or Google appears to have selected a different canonical URL.
The useful distinction is between Google’s stored information and a check of the page as it exists now. The indexed result can describe an earlier deployment. A successful live check does not prove that the current page is indexed.
For example, suppose /blog/new-feature loads correctly after you fix a metadata bug. Inspect that exact URL, check the last crawl information, then use the live test to investigate the current response. Read the Google-selected canonical in the indexed result; the live test cannot predict which canonical Google will choose.
Google’s URL Inspection documentation also explains how to view the rendered page and available HTML. That is useful when the browser looks fine but you want to inspect what Google’s testing tool received.
Search Console is free, with property access and verification requirements. It gives you indexing and search-performance evidence. It does not fix your route code, and repeatedly requesting indexing is not a substitute for resolving the underlying issue.
2. PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed Insights is a useful free starting point when a route loads slowly or feels unstable. Check a representative article, product page, and listing page instead of assuming the homepage represents the whole application.
Its two main kinds of evidence answer different questions. Lighthouse provides a controlled lab run for debugging. Chrome User Experience Report data describes real-user experience over the previous 28 days, where sufficient samples exist.
A new route can have lab results and no page-level field data. The report may show origin-level data, or no field data at all. Check the label before treating a result as evidence about that exact URL. Missing data is not a passing result.
For a Next.js product page, an illustrative investigation might start with the largest visible image, layout shifts around its placeholder, or scripts loading before they are needed. Follow the report’s diagnostics and compare the same route after a focused change.
The official explanation of PageSpeed Insights is worth reading before comparing lab and field numbers. A better lab score is useful feedback, but it does not establish that Google indexed the page or that real users immediately experienced the same improvement.
3. Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Screaming Frog SEO Spider fits investigations where checking URLs individually becomes tedious: repeated titles, redirect chains, broken internal links, or unexpected canonical tags across a route family.
Its free version crawls up to 500 URLs in one crawl. The important Next.js detail is that JavaScript rendering is a paid feature. A small site fitting under the free URL limit does not automatically mean the free version can perform the rendering investigation you need.
Start by understanding the response your site serves. If important content and links are already present in the HTML, a raw HTML crawl can reveal plenty. If links appear only after JavaScript executes, compare raw and rendered output with an appropriately configured paid crawl.
For example, a listing page might show all its product cards in your browser while its raw HTML exposes none of their links. That discrepancy is a reason to inspect the implementation and rendering behavior. It is not proof that every search engine sees exactly what your crawler saw.
The paid tool uses an annual licence, and practical crawl size depends on available memory and storage. Choose it when you need detailed crawl control. If your problem is simply whether Google indexed one page, Search Console is the more direct starting point.
4. Screpy
Screpy fits the ongoing part of the job: reviewing website audit findings, tracked rankings, and monitoring data after the initial implementation work is finished.
For a Next.js project, the useful unit is an affected URL and the route template behind it. If several articles share a metadata issue, investigate their shared implementation before editing pages individually. Screpy works with the deployed website; you do not need to describe it as a native Next.js integration to use it for that workflow.
The current plan comparison lists Pro at $192 per year before the welcome discount, with five projects, 5,000 crawl pages per project, and 100 tracked keywords per project. The annual total is paid upfront.
As checked on October 18, the page advertises a 50% welcome offer during a 72-hour window, bringing annual Pro to $96. It includes a seven-day trial that converts to a paid subscription unless cancelled. The page says the discount continues on renewals while the subscription stays active. Check the final checkout terms before subscribing.
Pro does not include AI Visibility. Max includes 50 tracked AI Visibility prompts per project; only choose that extra capacity if you need to measure AI answers as well as conventional SEO.
For developers already using an assistant, Screpy MCP can bring eligible project data into that conversation. A useful request would be: “Show the affected article URLs from the latest completed crawl and group the findings I should investigate together.”
The assistant still needs access to the right project, and plan eligibility still applies. Connecting MCP does not edit your Next.js repository or deploy fixes. Use the findings to decide what to change, then verify the deployed result.
5. Ahrefs Free
Ahrefs Free is worth considering when your next question is about links to your site or the search visibility of its existing pages. The product previously called Ahrefs Webmaster Tools now points users toward Ahrefs Free.
For verified websites, its published allowances include 5,000 Site Audit crawl credits per project per month and up to 1,000 backlinks and keywords visible at once in Site Explorer. The free scope is your verified websites; analyzing unverified competitor websites requires a paid plan.
That makes it a useful addition when you have published a Next.js documentation site or blog and want to investigate which pages attract links. It does not require the framework to expose a special SEO plugin interface.
There is overlap with other audit tools in this list. If you already have a crawl report and no concrete backlink question, another audit dashboard may add little to your next decision. Use its distinct data when it answers something you cannot currently answer.
Do not read “free” as unrestricted access to every Ahrefs product. Check the allowances against the size of the site and the investigation you actually need to complete.
Which SEO tools for Next.js should you actually use?
Start with a small sample of public routes: one landing page, one article, one listing, and one detail page. These examples can help you choose the next investigation; they are not results from a test of a particular website.
| What you notice | Start here | Useful next action |
|---|---|---|
| A new article is absent from Google | Search Console | Separate the indexed result from the live test; inspect the reported reason and canonical |
| Every article seems to share the same title | A crawler | Compare affected URLs, then inspect the shared metadata implementation |
| Listing links appear in the browser but not in raw crawl output | Screaming Frog with paid JavaScript rendering | Compare HTML and rendered output before deciding which code needs changing |
| A product page is slow on mobile | PageSpeed Insights | Read its diagnostics and check whether field data represents the page or the origin |
| You need ongoing findings or backlink context | Screpy or Ahrefs Free, according to the gap | Choose monitoring for repeated review, or verified-site link data for a specific link investigation |
For a new, small site, Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are a sensible starting point. Add a free crawl if the issue spans multiple URLs. Pay for rendering when the investigation requires it, or for monitoring when you need a repeatable review process.
After a change, check the affected routes again using the same kind of evidence. A resolved crawl warning, a changed lab result, and a later indexing update are different outcomes. Keep them separate so you know what actually improved.
The best SEO tools for Next.js are the ones that help you make the next decision. Start with the question your current setup cannot answer, and expand only when another tool has a clear job.
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