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HTMLProofer vs W3C Link Checker: catalog facts
HTMLProofer	W3C Link Checker
Free Free and open source.	Free Free to use on the W3C website.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Web
Checks generated output rather than source templates Works well in CI for static sites	Checks anchors as well as full URLs Recursive crawling with a configurable depth
Requires a Ruby environment Works on local HTML files rather than crawling live sites	Plain interface with a text-heavy report Works best when the pages already have valid markup
Downloadable app	Web application
Open source	Closed source
License not stated	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.