WordPress SEO
SmartCrawl: what it does, what it costs
WPMU DEV's SEO plugin — site crawls, automatic linking and instant indexing, priced per site.
SmartCrawl at a glance
Every row is a verified field or an honest absence. A row is dropped rather than filled with an em dash, so the length of this table says how complete the record is.
| What it is | WPMU DEV's SEO plugin — site crawls, automatic linking and instant indexing, priced per site. |
|---|---|
| Category | WordPress SEO |
| Best suited for | Existing WPMU DEV users wanting the SEO piece of the same stack |
| Starting price | From $36/year for 1 site under a standing 40% discount; list price $60 |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | None offered |
| Main strength | Every Pro tier has the same features, so only site count matters |
| Main limitation | Headline prices depend on a standing 40% coupon, not a published rate card |
| Evidence | Primary-source researched |
| Closest alternatives | Rank Math, The SEO Framework, SEOPress, Slim SEO |
| Pricing checked | 20 August 2026 |
| Record checked | 20 August 2026 |
What SmartCrawl is
SmartCrawl is the SEO plugin in WPMU DEV's suite, and its emphasis is automation rather than configuration: scheduled site crawls that also apply fixes, automatic internal linking, location-based redirect rules, instant indexing, and SEO health audits with reports. If you already run WPMU DEV's other plugins, it is the SEO piece of the same stack.
Pricing is per site and cheap: $36 a year for one site, $60 for three, $120 for ten, with unlimited sites available through the Premium membership. Every feature listed appears across all three Pro tiers, so you are buying site count rather than capability — a simpler decision than most plugins in this category offer.
One thing to read carefully. Those figures are a 40% discount applied through a coupon the vendor describes as "40% Off, Forever", against list prices of $60, $100 and $200. A standing discount is still a real price while it stands, but it is a promotion rather than a rate card, so confirm what renewal actually costs before committing — that is the number that matters in year two.
What you can use it for
- Run scheduled site crawls that also apply fixes
- Add internal links automatically across a site
- Push new and updated pages for instant indexing
- Manage location-based redirects and rules
- Send SEO health audit reports
The features that matter for SEO
Each one says what it does and the SEO job it serves. A vendor feature list without that second half tells you nothing you could not read on their own site.
Automated site crawls and fixes
Crawls the site on a schedule and applies fixes rather than only reporting issues.
The distinguishing feature. Most plugins tell you what is wrong; applying the fix is what actually closes the gap between an audit and a result.
Automatic fixes on a live site are worth reviewing before you trust them unattended.
Automatic internal linking
Adds internal links across content automatically.
Internal linking is the highest-return work most sites skip because it does not scale by hand. Worth checking the anchor choices it makes.
Instant indexing
Submits new and updated URLs for indexing.
Useful on sites publishing frequently, where waiting for a crawl is the delay between publishing and earning anything.
Location-based redirects and rules
Applies redirects and rules by visitor location.
Relevant for multi-region sites, and a feature that usually needs a separate plugin.
Geo-redirects can interfere with crawling if misconfigured — search engines crawl from specific locations.
SEO health audits and reports
Audits the site and produces reports.
The standard plugin audit. Its value here is being scheduled and paired with the crawl-and-fix loop rather than run manually.
Same features on every Pro tier
Includes the full feature set on all three Pro plans, differing only by site count.
Makes the buying decision trivial — count your sites. No feature is held back for a higher tier.
Pricing and limits
Starting price: From $36/year for 1 site under a standing 40% discount; list price $60 Checked 20 August 2026 Vendor’s own pricing page
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | The vendor's pricing page covers the Pro upgrade rather than detailing the free tier, so the free feature set is not itemised here.
|
| Pro | $36 /year Discounted from a $60 list price under a standing 40% coupon |
|
| Pro Standard | $60 /year Discounted from a $100 list price |
|
| Pro Plus | $120 /year Discounted from a $200 list price |
|
| Premium | Part of the WPMU DEV membership /year | Sold as the WPMU DEV membership rather than as a SmartCrawl licence, so no standalone figure is published for it here.
|
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Every Pro tier has the same features, so only site count matters
- Crawls apply fixes rather than only reporting
- Automatic internal linking and instant indexing included
- Very cheap per site — 10 sites for $120 a year
- Part of a wider WPMU DEV stack if you use it
Limitations
- Headline prices depend on a standing 40% coupon, not a published rate card
- The Premium tier's cost is the WPMU DEV membership, not published standalone
- The free version's feature set is not itemised on the product page
- Automatic fixes and geo-redirects need review — both can cause problems unattended
- Smaller SEO-specific ecosystem than the dedicated market leaders
Who it is for, and who should skip it
Worth it if
- Existing WPMU DEV users wanting the SEO piece of the same stack
- Anyone managing several small sites cheaply
- Sites that want crawls to fix issues, not just list them
Skip it if
- You want a published price rather than a coupon-dependent one
- You prefer to review every change before it is applied
- You want the deepest WordPress SEO feature set and community
Alternatives to SmartCrawl
Each one answers when it is the better choice, which is the only thing a list of competitors is useful for.
- Rank Math Choose it when you want the most features and the strongest free tier.
- The SEO Framework Choose it when you want a light plugin with no ads and extension-based features.
- SEOPress Choose it when you want flat pricing and white-label capability.
- Slim SEO Choose it when you want automation with predictable renewal pricing.
Sources and verification
Last verified 20 August 2026 0 days ago
Pricing 20 August 2026 Plans 20 August 2026 Features 20 August 2026
- SmartCrawl product and pricing Pricing page verifies pricing, plans, limits, features checked 20 August 2026
What changed
- 20 August 2026 — Both the discounted and list prices are recorded. The vendor presents $36, $60 and $120 as "40% Off, Forever" against $60, $100 and $200 — a standing promotion rather than a rate card, and quoting only the discounted figure would misrepresent what a renewal may cost.
Questions
How much does SmartCrawl cost?
$36 a year for 1 site, $60 for 3 and $120 for 10, under a standing 40% coupon against list prices of $60, $100 and $200. Unlimited sites comes via the WPMU DEV Premium membership. Verified on 20 August 2026.
Which plan has which features?
All of them have the same features — SEO health audits, automatic linking, location-based redirects, instant indexing and automated crawls with fixes. The tiers differ only by how many sites you can use it on, so choosing is just counting sites.
Should I let it fix issues automatically?
Review it first. Automated crawl fixes and location-based redirects are the two features here most capable of causing problems unattended — geo-redirects in particular can interfere with crawling, because search engines crawl from particular locations.