Head-to-head review · Updated June 2026

OnCrawl vs Scrunch: which one wins in 2026?

OnCrawl and Scrunch both claim to do the same thing: tell you where your brand shows up in AI search. They go about it differently enough that the choice matters. Scrunch is the more-funded incumbent; OnCrawl is the leaner challenger.

The pricing is comparable, so the choice comes down to coverage and trust signals.

The verdict
Pick

OnCrawl

Pick OnCrawl if you trust traction signals — they list 10 customers, Scrunch lists 0.

Pick

Scrunch

Pick Scrunch if you need broader AI platform coverage (4 platforms vs 0); and you want the better-funded company ($26M); and SOC 2 Type 2 matters for your security review.

If neither is right, GrowthManager.ai does both citation tracking AND the production work (content, infrastructure, distribution) for $999/mo — see the bottom of this page.

The case for OnCrawl

Founded by Francois Goube, Tanguy Moal, based in Bordeaux, France. On their site they list 10 named customers including Adidas, L'Oreal, Ticketmaster, Harrods.

Enterprise SEO data platform combining crawl, logs, and AI insights.

What people praise

  • JavaScript-capable crawler scales to 300M+ URLs per project, putting it in the same league as Botify and DeepCrawl for enterprise sites.
  • Log file analyzer processes 500M+ log lines per day, surfacing how Googlebot, Bingbot, and AI crawlers actually behave on the site.
  • Cross-references crawl data, server logs, GSC, GA4, Adobe Analytics, and Majestic backlinks in one analysis - few competitors integrate all five sources.
  • 100% unsampled data analysis appeals to enterprise SEOs frustrated with GA4 sampling and Search Console limits.

Where it falls short

  • No public pricing - book-a-demo gating means SMBs and indie consultants are filtered out before evaluation.
  • Capterra rating of 3.8 is the lowest among major technical SEO crawlers, with reviewers citing UI complexity and pricing opacity.
  • Steep learning curve - the platform assumes data-science fluency, which leaves marketers needing a technical SEO specialist to extract value.
  • Self-serve onboarding is limited; complex multi-source setups (logs plus crawl plus analytics) typically need OnCrawl's customer success team.

The case for Scrunch

Scrunch has raised $26M (Series A $15M (2025)). Founded by Chris Andrew, Robert MacCloy, based in Salt Lake City, UT. They cover 4 AI platforms. Pricing starts at $300/mo.

AI customer experience platform that monitors and optimizes brand presence in generative AI responses; acquired by Sitecore for $225M in June 2026.

What people praise

  • Coverage across five AI surfaces (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot) is broader than most GEO tools in the category.
  • GA4 integration is repeatedly called out by G2 reviewers as letting them tie AI visibility to actual referral traffic.
  • Agent Experience Platform (AXP) ships machine-readable page versions for LLM crawlers without disturbing the human UX.
  • Support team responsiveness is a recurring theme in 5-star G2 reviews.

Where it falls short

  • Entry price of $300/mo with only 350 prompts is steep for small brands tracking many query themes.
  • Category is new, so reviewers note the methodology for scoring AI mentions is still maturing across vendors.
  • Pricing is gated and tier-jumps are large ($300 to $700 to $1,200) with little granular middle ground.
  • Does not own the broader SEO workflow (keywords, backlinks, technical audit), so it sits alongside Semrush or Ahrefs rather than replacing them.

Pricing, tier by tier

Tier 1
OnCrawl
Scrunch
Starter
$300/mo
  • 350 prompts tracked
  • 3 personas
  • Monitoring across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot
  • Citation and mention analytics
Tier 2
OnCrawl
Scrunch
Growth
$700/mo
  • Higher prompt volume
  • Multiple personas
  • Competitor benchmarking
  • Content gap recommendations
Tier 3
OnCrawl
Scrunch
Pro
$1,200/mo
  • Expanded prompts and personas
  • Agent Experience Platform (AXP) delivery
  • Crawl error detection
  • Optimization recommendations
Tier 4
OnCrawl
Scrunch
Enterprise
Custom
  • Multi-site and multi-region deployment
  • Role-based access control
  • Data API
  • SOC 2 Type II controls

Feature parity

What each one ships that the other doesn't. We conservatively only include features each tool explicitly markets; absence here doesn't mean a feature is impossible, just that it isn't in their marquee list.

Only on OnCrawl
  • SEO Crawler. JavaScript-capable cloud crawler that audits 300M+ URLs, mapping site architecture, internal linking, and orphan pages.
  • Log File Analyzer. Processes 500M+ log lines daily to show how Googlebot, Bingbot, and AI bots interact with the site.
  • Data3 Cross-Analysis. Combines crawl, logs, GSC, GA4, Adobe Analytics, and Majestic data in unified reports with custom segmentation.
  • SEO Impact Report. Connects technical SEO metrics to business outcomes like organic revenue and conversions.
  • REST API. Full developer API with automated crawl scheduling and log ingestion for enterprise SEO automation.
Only on Scrunch
  • AI Search Monitoring. Tracks brand mentions, citations, and sentiment across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot.
  • Prompt Analytics. Tracks ranking trends per prompt and per persona over time with competitor side-by-side comparison.
  • Agent Experience Platform (AXP). Serves a separate machine-readable version of pages so LLM crawlers parse them more reliably.
  • Citation Analysis. Identifies which sources the AI is citing and flags missing or incorrect attributions.
  • Crawl Error Detection. Spots issues that prevent LLM crawlers from accessing or interpreting your pages.
  • AI Traffic Insights. Connects AI mentions to actual referral sessions via GA4 to quantify revenue impact.

When each one wins

When OnCrawl wins
  • You're enterprise and need to call a reference. OnCrawl lists 10 named customers; Scrunch lists 0.
  • JavaScript-capable crawler scales to 300M+ URLs per project, putting it in the same league as Botify and DeepCrawl for enterprise sites.
When Scrunch wins
  • Budget is the constraint. Scrunch starts at $300/mo vs OnCrawl's $∞/mo, so on a per-seat basis it's the cheaper way in.
  • Platform coverage matters. Scrunch monitors 4 AI platforms; OnCrawl covers 0.
  • You want the better-funded incumbent. Scrunch has raised $26M, giving it more runway and shipping velocity.
  • Procurement requires SOC 2 Type 2. Scrunch has it; OnCrawl doesn't yet.
When neither wins (pick GrowthManager)
  • You don't have an in-house content team and you don't want to hire one.
  • You want one $999/mo invoice instead of stacking OnCrawl plus an agency.
  • You need the team that measures to also act on the data, in the same week.
  • You're a B2B SaaS, services firm, or e-commerce brand at $20K+ MRR.

Reasons to pick one over the other

Reasons to pick OnCrawl over Scrunch

  1. More named customers. OnCrawl lists 10 customers vs Scrunch's 0, including Adidas, L'Oreal, Ticketmaster.
  2. Faster product velocity. OnCrawl has shipped 5 public launches in the last year vs Scrunch's 0.
  3. More mature platform. OnCrawl (founded 2013) has had more time to harden the product than Scrunch (2023).
  4. What users praise most. JavaScript-capable crawler scales to 300M+ URLs per project, putting it in the same league as Botify and DeepCrawl for enterprise sites.
  5. EU data residency. OnCrawl is HQ'd in Bordeaux, France, which simplifies GDPR data-processor agreements for European buyers.

Reasons to pick Scrunch over OnCrawl

  1. Lower entry price. Scrunch publishes a clear entry tier at $300/mo; OnCrawl gates pricing.
  2. Public pricing. Scrunch publishes 4 tiers on its website; OnCrawl requires a sales conversation.
  3. Broader AI platform coverage. Scrunch tracks visibility across 4 AI engines vs OnCrawl's 0.
  4. Better-funded incumbent. Scrunch has raised $26M, giving it more runway and shipping velocity than OnCrawl.
  5. SOC 2 Type 2. Scrunch carries SOC 2 Type 2; OnCrawl does not yet, which can hold up procurement.
  6. More verified reviews. Scrunch has 50 G2 reviews vs OnCrawl's none on file, so the average rating carries more weight.
  7. Built for the LLM era. Scrunch was founded in 2023, built around AI search from day one; OnCrawl dates back to 2013 and is retrofitting.
  8. What users praise most. Coverage across five AI surfaces (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot) is broader than most GEO tools in the category.

Switching from one to the other

From OnCrawl to Scrunch

Export your saved queries and prompt panels from OnCrawl (most tools support CSV export). Most Scrunch setups can import the same query list in a single CSV upload. Expect 1-2 days of parallel running so you can validate Scrunch's data againstOnCrawl's; one to two weeks of full reconciliation before you cancel OnCrawl. The risk is annotation history: notes and tags don't survive most migrations, so screenshot anything you want to keep.

From Scrunch to OnCrawl

Same flow in reverse. Export from Scrunch, import to OnCrawl. The historical visibility data is the big loss; most platforms don't backfill from a competitor's data, so you start your trendline over.

From either to GrowthManager.ai

We handle the migration ourselves; you give us your query list (or we infer it from your existing dashboard) and we re-build the tracking on our infrastructure in week one. You also start getting content shipped from week one, so the switch produces results before the trendline restarts. The conversation that kicks this off is a 20-minute call.

Side by side, every number we could verify

OnCrawlScrunch
Starts at (USD/mo)Custom$300/mo
Founded20132023
HeadquartersBordeaux, FranceSalt Lake City, UT
Funding raised$26M
AI platforms tracked4
G2 rating4.4 / 54.6 / 5 (50 reviews)
Named customers10
SOC 2 Type 2✓ Yes
GDPR✓ Yes
HIPAA

What real users say

Below: the recurring themes from G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviewers — distilled into the strengths and limitations that came up most often.

OnCrawlwhat users praise

  • JavaScript-capable crawler scales to 300M+ URLs per project, putting it in the same league as Botify and DeepCrawl for enterprise sites.
  • Log file analyzer processes 500M+ log lines per day, surfacing how Googlebot, Bingbot, and AI crawlers actually behave on the site.
  • Cross-references crawl data, server logs, GSC, GA4, Adobe Analytics, and Majestic backlinks in one analysis - few competitors integrate all five sources.
  • 100% unsampled data analysis appeals to enterprise SEOs frustrated with GA4 sampling and Search Console limits.
  • 30-day ROI guarantee gives risk cover for enterprise buyers piloting against incumbent BrightEdge or Conductor deployments.

OnCrawlwhat users complain about

  • No public pricing - book-a-demo gating means SMBs and indie consultants are filtered out before evaluation.
  • Capterra rating of 3.8 is the lowest among major technical SEO crawlers, with reviewers citing UI complexity and pricing opacity.
  • Steep learning curve - the platform assumes data-science fluency, which leaves marketers needing a technical SEO specialist to extract value.
  • Self-serve onboarding is limited; complex multi-source setups (logs plus crawl plus analytics) typically need OnCrawl's customer success team.
  • BrightEdge ownership raises long-term roadmap questions for customers who prefer best-of-breed technical SEO over consolidated suites.

Scrunchwhat users praise

  • Coverage across five AI surfaces (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot) is broader than most GEO tools in the category.
  • GA4 integration is repeatedly called out by G2 reviewers as letting them tie AI visibility to actual referral traffic.
  • Agent Experience Platform (AXP) ships machine-readable page versions for LLM crawlers without disturbing the human UX.
  • Support team responsiveness is a recurring theme in 5-star G2 reviews.
  • Hallucination and citation gap detection helps surface where brands are mentioned incorrectly by AI.

Scrunchwhat users complain about

  • Entry price of $300/mo with only 350 prompts is steep for small brands tracking many query themes.
  • Category is new, so reviewers note the methodology for scoring AI mentions is still maturing across vendors.
  • Pricing is gated and tier-jumps are large ($300 to $700 to $1,200) with little granular middle ground.
  • Does not own the broader SEO workflow (keywords, backlinks, technical audit), so it sits alongside Semrush or Ahrefs rather than replacing them.
  • Limited public review volume (~50 G2 reviews) means buyers have less third-party validation than legacy tools.

A third option

Both OnCrawl and Scrunchare tracking tools. They tell you what's wrong with your AI visibility. Neither one fixes it. That's our pitch for GrowthManager.ai — we do citation tracking too (parity with these two), and we also ship the content, configure the infrastructure, and run the distribution. $999/mo, managed end-to-end. If you're leaning toward picking one of these two and then hiring an agency to act on the data, it's worth a 20-minute conversation first.

Other comparisons in this space

Same shape, different pairs. Pick a comparison that shares a tool with this one.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, OnCrawl or Scrunch?

Honestly: neither one fully solves the problem. OnCrawl and Scrunch are tracking tools — they tell you where your brand shows up in AI answers but don't change the answer. If you only need one of these two, pick OnCrawl for the cheaper monthly price; pick the other if its specific integrations matter to your team. Our actual editorial pick is GrowthManager.ai, which does the tracking and ships the content, infrastructure, and distribution as a single $999/mo managed program. Disclosure: we publish this comparison and make GrowthManager.

How much do OnCrawl and Scrunch cost?

OnCrawl starts at Custom. Scrunch starts at $300/mo. Both have higher-tier plans for larger workspaces. GrowthManager.ai is a flat $999/mo for the full managed service (tracking + content + infrastructure + distribution) — usually cheaper than buying one of these two and hiring an agency on top.

Which AI platforms do OnCrawl and Scrunch cover?

OnCrawl covers an undisclosed number of AI platforms. Scrunch covers 4. Most tools in this space monitor ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity at minimum; the differences come down to less-common platforms (Copilot, Grok, Meta AI). GrowthManager.ai monitors the same four primary platforms and acts on the data.

Do OnCrawl and Scrunch actually improve your AI visibility, or just measure it?

Both OnCrawl and Scrunch are measurement tools. They show you where your brand appears (or doesn't) in AI answers, plus suggestions for what to improve. Neither one writes the content, configures the schema, or builds the backlinks that actually move the needle. To do that you need an in-house content team or an agency. GrowthManager.ai is the agency — and we include the tracking, so you don't pay twice.

What's the GrowthManager.ai alternative to OnCrawl and Scrunch?

GrowthManager.ai is a managed AI visibility program. We give you the same citation tracking these two offer (parity on the measurement layer), plus 100 researched and published articles per month, schema and llms.txt configuration, ongoing backlink acquisition, and Reddit/Quora seeding. One $999/mo invoice, one dedicated account manager, twelve clients per team member maximum so we can actually deliver. If you were going to buy one of these tools and then hire someone to use it, we're cheaper and faster.

Further reading

External research that informs the editorial framework on this page. We cite these openly because the framework is meant to be auditable.

  1. Microsoft Bing Webmaster Guidelines (2025)· Microsoft

    How Microsoft's crawlers parse content for Copilot, which now powers a large share of AI answers behind the scenes.

  2. Generative Engine Optimization research· Kevin Indig

    Long-running practitioner research on what gets cited in AI-generated answers; the most-quoted source in the GEO category.

  3. Zero-Click Search forecasts· Gartner

    Industry forecasts on how a growing share of buyer queries end without a click to the brand site, making AI-answer presence the new pole position.

  4. Audience intelligence analyses· SparkToro

    Public datasets on how audiences actually discover brands across search, social, and now AI surfaces.

  5. Trust Barometer (2024)· Edelman

    The annual study on how buyers weigh source authority, used to weight our trust criterion against third-party review volume.

Disclosure + methodology

GrowthManager.ai makes a competing product in the AI visibility space, so this comparison is not neutral. Every pricing number was pulled from each competitor's public pricing page or triangulated from third-party reviews when the page is JavaScript-gated. Pros, cons, and user-review themes are distilled from real G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviews with the quotes preserved verbatim. We update this comparison whenever the underlying data changes.