Best Alternative to Detailed for Everyday SEO Workflows
If you like what Detailed does in your browser but you keep hitting its limits in your day-to-day SEO work, Sprout SEO is built for you.
Sprout SEO is a browser extension that takes the “see everything at a glance” idea and pushes it further into real workflows: fast technical checks, richer SERP context, and practical audit helpers that save you from jumping between several other tools.
Key Takeaways
robots.txt checks, sitemap analysis, redirect chain tracing, and broken link detection help you prevent issues, not just document them
Page-level performance metrics plus SERP overlay showing Core Web Vitals for all ranking results
Google Trends, location changer, and keyword planner integration directly in search results for faster workflow
Why people look for a Detailed alternative
Detailed is useful for a first look at a page and SERP, but many SEOs outgrow it when they need to:
- Combine SERP context with real-world signals like Reddit and archive history
- Run quick technical sanity checks without opening heavy desktop tools
- Move faster between different sites and markets with a location-aware workflow
- Get more structured help for link analysis, redirects, and hreflang
- Access Core Web Vitals monitoring and performance insights
- Get automated SEO scoring and actionable recommendations
Sprout SEO focuses on that next step: not just seeing more information, but helping you get work done in fewer clicks.
How Sprout SEO compares to Detailed
You can think of Sprout SEO as a practical, workflow-first alternative to Detailed.
1. SERP context that goes beyond blue links
Sprout adds more context right where you search, including:
- Understand competitive landscape instantly with SERP enhancements that show what matters
- Test local SEO performance with location changer to simulate results from different markets (Detailed doesn’t have this)
- Spot trending opportunities with Google Trends integration so you see whether a query is rising or fading
- Identify performance gaps with Core Web Vitals overlay showing metrics for all ranking results
- Discover content opportunities with People Also Asked extraction for research
Instead of doing a search, then opening several tools to understand the opportunity, you get a more complete picture in one view.
2. Built-in technical checks
Sprout SEO adds fast checks that SEOs use multiple times a day:
- Prevent indexing disasters with robots.txt and sitemap presence and sanity checks
- Avoid redirect chain problems with tracing that shows the full chain before you change anything
- Fix international SEO mistakes with hreflang inspection that spots obvious mistakes early
- Understand page structure with link and on-page analysis that shows how a page is actually structured
- Find broken links before users do with automated detection and HTTP status codes
- Get prioritized action items with automated SEO scoring that provides actionable recommendations
This makes Sprout a strong alternative to Detailed if you care about technical correctness as well as content—and want to prevent issues, not just document them.
3. Archive and change-awareness
Web content changes all the time. The Sprout SEO browser extensionincludes archive.org helpers so you can quickly see how a page looked before, which makes it easier to:
- Understand why a ranking might have dropped
- Investigate competitor changes
- Recover lost content structure when you inherit a messy site
Comparison Table: Sprout SEO vs Detailed SEO Extension
| Feature | Detailed SEO Extension | Sprout SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | ✅ Free forever | ✅ Free |
| Page-Level Insights | ✅ Title, meta description, robots, X-Robots headers | ✅ Title, meta description, robots, canonical, X-Robots headers |
| Heading Structure | ✅ H1-H6 visualization with indentation | ✅ H1-H6 with structure validation, CSV export |
| Structured Data Viewing | ✅ Schema markup viewing | ✅ JSON-LD detection with validation links, copy functionality |
| Right-Click Menu Tools | ✅ Quick access to Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, etc. | ✅ 18+ SEO tools via context menu |
| Duplicate Content Detection | ✅ Find duplicates of highlighted text | ✅ Enhanced duplicate detection |
| People Also Asked | ✅ PAA extraction from search results | ✅ PAA scraper with enhanced features |
| User Agent Changing | ✅ View as Googlebot, etc. | ✅ JavaScript toggle, rendered source viewer |
| Hreflang Viewing | ✅ Quick view with status codes | ✅ Inspection, validation, and back reference checking |
| Sitemap Access | ✅ Quick link to sitemap.xml | ✅ Sitemap analysis and validation |
| Link Export | ✅ Export page links | ✅ Export links with HTTP status codes, broken link detection |
| Image Export | ✅ Export image URLs as CSV | ✅ Export images with dimensions, file size, title tag |
| Nofollow Highlighting | ✅ Highlight nofollow links | ✅ Highlight nofollow links with status codes |
| Site Search | ✅ One-click site:domain searches | ✅ Site search with enhanced options |
| Dark Mode | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Core Web Vitals | ❌ | ✅ Page-level CWV + SERP overlay with performance metrics |
| Technical SEO | ❌ | ✅ robots.txt checks, sitemap validation, redirect tracing |
| Broken Link Detection | ❌ | ✅ Automated checking with status codes |
| SEO Score | ❌ | ✅ Automated 0-100 score with recommendations |
| Social Media Preview | ❌ | ✅ Complete Open Graph and Twitter Card with validation |
| Reddit Integration | ❌ | ✅ Discussion signals and community insights (in social tab) |
| Archive.org Integration | ❌ | ✅ Download CSV for broken migration analysis |
| Google Trends | ❌ | ✅ Direct integration in SERP |
| Keyword Planner | ❌ | ✅ Integrated in SERP |
| Location Changer | ❌ | ✅ SERP location simulation for local SEO |
| Offline Functionality | ✅ Basic | ✅ Full offline support |
| Cross-Browser Support | ✅ Chrome, Firefox | ✅ Chrome, Firefox, Edge |
When Detailed is enough, and when Sprout makes more sense
If you only need a light, occasional look at how a page is built, Detailed might be enough.
Choose Sprout SEO as your Detailed alternative when:
- You live in the browser all day as an SEO, content lead, or technical specialist
- You want a tool that supports audits, migration checks, and quick sanity checks
- You like working in the SERP and want richer context without leaving it
- You prefer one extension that covers several daily workflows
- You need Core Web Vitals monitoring and performance insights
- You require technical validation like robots.txt checks and sitemap analysis
Many users keep both installed, but reach for Sprout when they need to get real work done under time pressure.
Example workflows where Sprout SEO shines
Here are a few concrete things you can do faster with Sprout:
- Check robots, sitemaps, redirects, and hreflang for a new client site in minutes
- Scan the SERP with Trends context and location changer to decide which keywords to target
- Validate social tags and basic on-page elements before a content launch
- Follow a redirect chain from the SERP so you do not miss hidden issues
- Access Reddit discussion signals in the social tab to understand real user conversations
- Monitor Core Web Vitals for pages and SERP results to understand performance
Try Sprout SEO as your Detailed alternative
Sprout SEO is built by someone who hit the same ceilings you hit with browser SEO tools.
Install Sprout SEO and open a SERP you care about. Run your next audit directly from your browser and see how much faster your workflow becomes. All current features are available immediately—no credit card required.
FAQs
Yes, Sprout SEO is free to use with all current features available. Like Detailed SEO Extension, you can get started immediately without a subscription.
Yes, Sprout SEO matches all of Detailed’s core features including page-level insights, heading structure visualization, structured data viewing, right-click menu enhancements, duplicate content detection, and People Also Asked extraction. It also adds many advanced features that Detailed doesn’t offer, like Google Trends data in the SERP, or a location changer to better research local SEO queries.
Yes, Sprout SEO includes People Also Asked (PAA) scraping with enhanced features, matching Detailed’s functionality while adding more comprehensive SERP integration.
Yes, Sprout SEO includes comprehensive hreflang inspection, validation, and back reference checking, matching and exceeding Detailed’s hreflang quick view functionality.
Yes, Sprout SEO includes CSV export for links, images, headings, and content, matching Detailed’s export capabilities while adding HTTP status codes for links and file size/title tag tracking for images.
Yes, Sprout SEO includes Core Web Vitals monitoring at the page level plus SERP overlay showing performance metrics for all ranking results, a feature that Detailed doesn’t offer.
Yes, Sprout SEO includes robots.txt validation (including x-robots-tag) and sitemap analysis, advanced technical SEO features that Detailed doesn’t provide.
Sprout SEO goes beyond Detailed by offering comprehensive SERP integration including Google Trends data, People Also Asked (PAA) scraping, location changer for local SEO, and keyword planner integration directly in search results.
Yes, Sprout SEO runs entirely offline for on-page analysis, matching Detailed’s offline functionality. Network features like broken link checking and SERP integration require internet connectivity.
Both tools view schema markup, but Sprout SEO adds validation links to Google’s Rich Results Test and Schema.org validator, plus copy-to-clipboard functionality for easier workflow integration.