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SEO · head to head

Lighthouse vs Sitebulb

Lighthouse logo

Lighthouse

SEO

Audit web page performance and quality

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sitebulb logo

Sitebulb

SEO

Technical SEO audit tool that crawls sites and generates visual, prioritized hints

From
$95/month
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; Sitebulb desktop plans are limited to a single user, so teams need Sitebulb Cloud or paid add-on seats to collaborate.
  • They diverge on capability: Lighthouse covers Performance scoring, Sitebulb covers JavaScript crawling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lighthouse and Sitebulb actually diverge.

Attributes where Lighthouse and Sitebulb differ
AttributeLighthouseSitebulb
Starting priceFree$95/month
Pricing modelfreesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsChrome, Edgeweb, windows, mac
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 Sitebulb

  • JavaScript crawling
  • Prioritized Hints
  • Crawl maps
  • Scheduled recurring audits
  • Audit comparisons
  • Google integrations

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 Sitebulb
  • Accessibility compliance checking for users with disabilitiesnot Sitebulb
  • SEO optimization verification for search engine compatibilitynot Sitebulb
  • Security and best practices scanning for code healthnot Sitebulb
  • Progressive web app validation and CI/CD pipeline integrationnot Sitebulb

Sitebulb

  • Agencies running recurring technical SEO audits for clientsnot Lighthouse
  • In-house SEO teams tracking site health over timenot Lighthouse
  • Auditing JavaScript-rendered sites for crawlability issuesnot Lighthouse
  • Benchmarking site architecture via crawl visualizationsnot 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

Sitebulb

  • Desktop plans are limited to a single user, so teams need Sitebulb Cloud or paid add-on seats to collaborate.
  • Large sites near or above the 500,000 URL Pro limit require reconfiguration or the Cloud tier to avoid hitting crawl caps.
  • Desktop crawling relies on local machine resources, so audit speed and scale depend on the user's hardware rather than cloud infrastructure.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lighthouse

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

Sitebulb

$95/month
  • Lite$undefined/month
    • 1 user
    • 10,000 URLs per audit
    • 100+ Hints
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • 1 user
    • 500,000 URLs per audit
    • 300+ Hints
  • Sitebulb Cloud$undefined/month
    • 2+ users
    • No project limits
    • Automated recurring crawls

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 Sitebulb if

  • You need javascript crawling.
  • You work on web, windows, mac.
  • You also want prioritized hints.
Sitebulb review

Questions people ask

Is Lighthouse or Sitebulb better?
Neither clearly leads. Lighthouse starts at Free and Sitebulb at $95/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lighthouse or Sitebulb?
Lighthouse has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lighthouse and $95/month for Sitebulb.
Does Lighthouse or Sitebulb run on more platforms?
Lighthouse runs on Chrome, Edge. Sitebulb runs on web, windows, mac.
Can I use Lighthouse for free?
Yes. Lighthouse has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sitebulb starts at $95/month.
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 Sitebulb is typically brought in for.
What can Lighthouse do that Sitebulb cannot?
Lighthouse covers Performance scoring, Accessibility audit, SEO check, PWA validation. Sitebulb covers JavaScript crawling, Prioritized Hints, Crawl maps, Scheduled recurring audits.

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
Sitebulb: Is there a free trial?

Sitebulb offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required and no up-front commitment.

Source
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
Sitebulb: Can I cancel anytime?

Yes, subscriptions can be cancelled anytime and users are never locked into a contract.

Source
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
Sitebulb: What does Sitebulb integrate with?

Sitebulb connects to Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Sheets, and Google Data Studio to pull data into audit reports.

Source
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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