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SEO · head to head

Lighthouse vs Lumar

Lighthouse logo

Lighthouse

SEO

Audit web page performance and quality

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lumar logo

Lumar

SEO

Website intelligence platform, formerly DeepCrawl, that can fail a build on SEO and accessibility regressions

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lighthouse has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Lighthouse performance scores vary significantly due to A/B testing, device differences, browser extensions, and antivirus software affecting results; Lumar the crawl allowance is measured in URLs per month, so full crawls of a large site exhaust it quickly and teams end up sampling, which is exactly how regressions escape.
  • They diverge on capability: Lighthouse covers Performance scoring, Lumar covers Site crawler.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lighthouse and Lumar actually diverge.

Attributes where Lighthouse and Lumar differ
AttributeLighthouseLumar
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsChrome, EdgeWeb, REST API
Founded1998Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (SEO).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Lighthouse

  • Performance scoring
  • Accessibility audit
  • SEO check
  • PWA validation
  • Chrome support
  • Edge support

Only in Lumar

  • Site crawler
  • Protect
  • Automation Hub
  • Accessibility auditing
  • Monitor
  • Impact

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Lighthouse

  • Performance auditing to identify page loading speed improvementsnot Lumar
  • Accessibility compliance checking for users with disabilitiesnot Lumar
  • SEO optimization verification for search engine compatibilitynot Lumar
  • Security and best practices scanning for code healthnot Lumar
  • Progressive web app validation and CI/CD pipeline integrationnot Lumar

Lumar

  • A site deploying weekly that keeps shipping accidental noindex tags and blocked resources into productionnot Lighthouse
  • Comparing crawls before and after a migration to prove what changed rather than what looks wrong nownot Lighthouse
  • Reporting accessibility and technical SEO issues from one crawl to satisfy two different internal ownersnot Lighthouse
  • Prioritising a backlog of thousands of technical issues by estimated traffic impact rather than severity labelnot Lighthouse

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Lighthouse

  • Performance scores vary significantly due to A/B testing, device differences, browser extensions, and antivirus software affecting results
  • Limited to metrics that contribute to scores; Opportunities and Diagnostics don't directly impact scoring
  • Diminishing returns above 0.96 score, making perfect 100 scores extremely challenging
  • Scores based on HTTP Archive data which may not reflect all performance scenarios

Lumar

  • The crawl allowance is measured in URLs per month, so full crawls of a large site exhaust it quickly and teams end up sampling, which is exactly how regressions escape.
  • It provides no keyword, ranking or backlink data, so it is always an addition to the SEO budget rather than a consolidation of it.
  • The pipeline gating that justifies the price needs engineering adoption, and a marketing budget cannot buy that agreement.
  • Log file analysis is not the core strength it is at Botify, so crawl budget diagnosis on very large sites is weaker.
  • The 2022 rebrand from DeepCrawl means much of the community knowledge, tutorials and older documentation is filed under the previous name.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lighthouse

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Performance audit
    • Accessibility check
    • SEO analysis

Lumar

On request
  • Lumar$undefined/year
    • Priced by URLs crawled per month
    • Protect, Impact and accessibility modules licensed separately
    • Annual contract

Which should you pick?

Choose Lighthouse if

  • You need performance scoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Chrome, Edge.
  • You also want accessibility audit.
Lighthouse review

Choose Lumar if

  • You need site crawler.
  • You work on Web, REST API.
  • You also want protect.
Lumar review

Questions people ask

Is Lighthouse or Lumar better?
Neither clearly leads. Lighthouse starts at Free and Lumar at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lighthouse or Lumar?
Lighthouse has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lighthouse and On request for Lumar.
Does Lighthouse or Lumar run on more platforms?
Lighthouse runs on Chrome, Edge. Lumar runs on Web, REST API.
Can I use Lighthouse for free?
Yes. Lighthouse has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lumar starts at On request.
What is Lighthouse best used for?
Lighthouse is most often used for performance auditing to identify page loading speed improvements, accessibility compliance checking for users with disabilities, seo optimization verification for search engine compatibility, security and best practices scanning for code health. Of those, performance auditing to identify page loading speed improvements and accessibility compliance checking for users with disabilities are not what Lumar is typically brought in for.
What can Lighthouse do that Lumar cannot?
Lighthouse covers Performance scoring, Accessibility audit, SEO check, PWA validation. Lumar covers Site crawler, Protect, Automation Hub, Accessibility auditing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lighthouse: Is Lighthouse free?

Yes. Lighthouse is completely free and open-source. It is developed by Google and integrated into Chrome DevTools, PageSpeed Insights, and available as a command-line tool. There are no licensing fees or premium tiers.

Source
Lumar: Is Lumar the same as DeepCrawl?

Yes, the same company and product line, rebranded in 2022. Older tutorials under the DeepCrawl name still broadly apply.

Lighthouse: Can I run Lighthouse offline?

Yes. Lighthouse can run offline in multiple ways: through Chrome DevTools (built into Chrome), as a command-line tool (Node.js), or as a Node.js module integrated into your build process. You do not need an internet connection after installing the tool.

Source
Lumar: Can it really block a deployment?

Yes, through Automation Hub integrated into your CI pipeline. Whether your engineering team accepts that gate is the real question.

Lighthouse: What pages can Lighthouse audit?

Lighthouse can audit any web page, including pages that require authentication. This is an advantage over some alternative tools that cannot test behind login screens. You can run audits on public pages or authenticated pages via command-line with custom headers.

Source
Lumar: Does it replace Screaming Frog?

For scheduled monitoring and pipeline testing, yes. For quick ad hoc crawls on a laptop, the desktop crawler remains faster and cheaper.

Lighthouse: Can Lighthouse prevent performance regression during development?

Yes. Lighthouse CI is available to prevent performance degradation during development cycles. You can integrate Lighthouse CI into your continuous integration pipeline to automatically audit pages on every commit and fail builds if performance metrics fall below thresholds you define.

Source
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