What is a Sitemap Generator? 9 Best Sitemap Generator Tools in 2026

A sitemap generator is a tool that creates an XML sitemap listing the important URLs on your website, helping search engines discover pages they might otherwise miss.

That sounds simple until your site starts changing. Every new post, product, or deleted page means your sitemap has to change too. Updating it by hand is slow and easy to get wrong, and an outdated sitemap can send crawlers to dead pages while missing the ones you just published.

The right tool depends on your website. A WordPress blog, a Shopify store, and a 100,000-page website need very different things. In this guide, we compare the 9 best sitemap generator tools in 2026, free and paid, with each tool’s best use, key features, and current pricing.

Quick picks

Short on time? Start here.

• Best for WordPress: Yoast SEO
• Best free WordPress plugin: XML Sitemap Generator for Google
• Best free online generator: XML-Sitemaps.com (up to 500 pages)
• Best for large websites: XML-Sitemaps.com PRO (no page limit)
• Best for news websites: XML Sitemap & Google News
• Best for Shopify: Sitemapper
• Best desktop tool: Inspyder Sitemap Creator (one-time price, unlimited pages)
• Best visual sitemap builder: Slickplan
• Best for site audits and visual mapping: Dyno Mapper
• Best for team collaboration: WriteMaps

What is a Sitemap Generator?

A sitemap generator is a tool that automatically builds a list of your website’s important URLs, usually as an XML file, and keeps it up to date. Search engines read this file to find pages to crawl, especially new pages or pages with few internal links.

How a sitemap generator works

• Finds your pages. It crawls your site from the homepage, or reads your pages directly from your CMS, such as WordPress or Shopify.
• Filters the list. It leaves out pages you don’t want crawled, such as tag archives, noindexed pages, and redirects.
• Builds the file. It writes the URLs into an XML sitemap, often with the date each page was last changed.
• Keeps it current. Plugins update the sitemap when you publish. Crawler-based tools update it on a schedule.

Some tools also create image, video, or news sitemaps, and some can notify search engines through IndexNow when pages change. For more free tools that help with crawling and indexing, see our list of the best free SEO tools.

Do you even need a sitemap generator?

You may already have a sitemap. WordPress (version 5.5 and later) creates one automatically at /wp-sitemap.xml, and Shopify creates one at /sitemap.xml for every store.

A sitemap generator is worth adding when you need more control:

• Excluding thin or duplicate pages from the sitemap
• Image, video, or Google News sitemaps
• An HTML sitemap for visitors
• A website without a CMS, or one with thousands of pages
• Planning a new site structure before it’s built

A sitemap helps search engines discover your pages, but it doesn’t guarantee they’ll be indexed or ranked.

Top 9 Sitemap Generator Tools in 2026

The best sitemap generator depends on your platform, your site’s size, and what you need the sitemap for. These tools fall into two groups:

• XML sitemap generators create the sitemap file search engines read, and keep it updated as your content changes.
• Visual sitemap builders help you plan and organize pages, navigation, and site structure. Most can also export an XML sitemap.

Tool	Type	Best for	Free option	Paid from
Yoast SEO	WordPress plugin	WordPress websites	Yes, free plugin	$118.80/year
Inspyder Sitemap Creator	Windows software	Desktop sitemap creation	Trial, up to 25 pages	$39.95 one-time
XML-Sitemaps.com	Online generator	Small sites; large sites with PRO	Yes, up to 500 pages	$2.44/month
XML Sitemap Generator for Google	WordPress plugin	Free WordPress sitemaps	Yes	Free; some formats paid
XML Sitemap & Google News	WordPress plugin	News websites	Yes	Paid Pro extensions
Slickplan	Visual builder	Visual planning	Yes, one sitemap	$10.79/month, billed annually
Dyno Mapper	Visual builder	Site audits and visual mapping	14-day trial	$39/month, billed annually
WriteMaps	Visual builder	Team collaboration	Yes, 2 projects	$16/month
Sitemapper	Shopify app	Shopify stores	Yes, up to 200 products	$4.99/month

Prices checked on each tool’s official page on October 15, 2026, and shown in USD before tax.

1. Yoast SEO: Best Sitemap Generator for WordPress

Best for: WordPress websites that want sitemaps handled automatically

Price: Free plugin; Premium $118.80/year per site

Yoast SEO creates an XML sitemap as soon as you install it and updates it every time you publish or change content. It replaces the basic WordPress core sitemap with one you can control, such as leaving out tag archives or other thin pages.

The free plugin covers sitemaps fully. Premium adds tools that sit around your sitemap, such as a redirect manager for moved or deleted pages and internal linking suggestions.

Key features

• Automatic XML sitemaps that update on publish
• Exclude content types and individual pages from the sitemap
• Premium includes the News SEO and Video SEO plugins for news and video sitemaps
• Premium redirect manager and orphaned-content finder

Choose it if: you run WordPress and want sitemaps, plus everyday SEO settings, in one plugin.

2. Inspyder Sitemap Creator: Best Desktop Sitemap Tool

Best for: Any website, including non-CMS sites, managed from a Windows PC

Price: $39.95 one-time per license; free trial up to 25 pages

Inspyder Sitemap Creator runs on your Windows computer, crawls your website, and builds the sitemap for you. Nothing is installed on your server, and the full version has no page or site limits.

Its scheduler can rebuild your sitemap daily, weekly, or monthly, upload it to your server, and email you a report of each run.

Key features

• Unlimited pages with a one-time payment
• Image, video, and mobile sitemaps
• Built-in FTP, FTPS, and SFTP upload
• Set priority and update frequency for whole sections of your site at once

Good to know: Inspyder can ping search engines after an update, but Google stopped accepting sitemap pings in 2023. Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console instead.

Choose it if: you want a one-time purchase that handles sites of any size.

3. XML-Sitemaps.com: Best Free Online Sitemap Generator

Best for: Small websites that need a sitemap quickly, and large sites using the PRO service

Price: Free up to 500 pages; PRO from $2.44/month; standalone PHP script $49.99 one-time

XML-Sitemaps.com is the fastest way to make a sitemap without installing anything. Enter your URL and it crawls up to 500 pages for free, with no sign-up, then gives you XML, HTML, and text versions to download.

For larger or frequently updated sites, its PRO Sitemaps service handles websites of any size. It hosts your sitemap, keeps it updated automatically, and submits it to Google, Bing, and IndexNow.

Key features

• No registration for the free generator
• XML, HTML, and text sitemaps in one crawl
• PRO: automatic updates, cloud hosting, and broken-link reports
• PRO: image, video, and news sitemaps

Choose it if: you need a free sitemap today, or want a hosted service that keeps a large sitemap current.

4. XML Sitemap Generator for Google: Best Free WordPress Sitemap Plugin

Best for: WordPress sites that want a free, focused sitemap plugin

Price: Free (GPL); some sitemap formats require a paid subscription

XML Sitemap Generator for Google is one of the longest-running sitemap plugins, with more than 1 million active installations. It builds your sitemap dynamically and updates it automatically when you publish.

It notifies Bing through IndexNow when you post new content, and it supports posts, pages, custom post types, and WooCommerce products.

Key features

• Automatic XML sitemap with HTML and RSS options
• IndexNow support for Bing
• Add custom URLs that WordPress doesn’t generate
• WooCommerce product sitemaps

Choose it if: you want a free plugin that only does sitemaps, without a full SEO suite.

5. XML Sitemap & Google News: Best for News Websites

Best for: WordPress publishers who need a Google News sitemap

Price: Free; paid Pro extensions available 

XML Sitemap & Google News gives you control over the WordPress core sitemap and adds a Google News sitemap. It creates no static files, so the sitemap always reflects your current content.

It can also connect to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, so you can submit sitemaps and check for errors from your WordPress dashboard.

Key features

• Dedicated Google News sitemap for recent articles
• Choose which post types, taxonomies, and authors to include
• Works with Polylang, WPML, multisite, and most caching plugins
• Submit sitemaps to Google and Bing from the admin

Choose it if: you publish news and want a lightweight plugin built for it.

6. Slickplan: Best Visual Sitemap Builder

Best for: Agencies and teams planning a new site or a redesign.

Price:Free plan (one sitemap); paid from $10.79/month billed annually; 14-day free trial.

Slickplan is a website planning tool rather than a sitemap file generator. You build your site structure with drag and drop, import an existing site with its crawler, or let its AI assistant suggest a structure.

It then helps your team plan the content for each page and send the finished structure to WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal through its CMS plugins.

Key features

• Drag-and-drop sitemap builder with an AI sitemap assistant
• Site crawler and XML import for existing websites
• Content planner, diagram maker, and design mockups
• Google Analytics integration and CMS plugins

Choose it if: you’re planning site structure with a team or client, not maintaining a live sitemap file.

7. Dyno Mapper: Best for Site Audits and Visual Mapping

Best for: Teams that want visual sitemaps plus content and accessibility audits

Price: From USD 39 a month billed annually (USD 49 billed monthly); 14-day free trial.

Dyno Mapper crawls public or private websites, including JavaScript-heavy ones, and turns them into interactive visual sitemaps. It can export SEO-ready XML sitemaps, including image and video sitemaps, and lets you set page priority and update frequency.

Crawl limits depend on the plan: 2,500 pages per crawl on Lite, 5,000 on Pro and Standard, and 25,000 on Organization. Enterprise plans with higher limits are available on request.

Key features

• Five visual styles: default, tree, circle, folder, and thumbnail
• Exports to XML, PDF, CSV, and vector formats
• Content inventory, content audit, and web accessibility testing
• Integrations with GA4, Figma, Jira, and WordPress

Choose it if: you need audits and visual mapping as well as an XML sitemap.

8. WriteMaps: Best Sitemap Builder for Team Collaboration

Best for:Small teams planning website structure together.

Price:Free for 2 projects with 10 pages each; Unlimited plan $16/month.

WriteMaps is a simple visual sitemap builder with real-time collaboration. You can build a structure from scratch, crawl an existing website, or use AI to generate a starting sitemap.

Project history lets you go back to earlier versions, and you can export the finished structure as a sitemap.xml file.

Key features

• Real-time collaboration and project history
• AI sitemap generation and website crawling
• Content writing and SEO meta tags per page
• Export to sitemap.xml, PDF, PNG, and more

Choose it if: you want a lower-cost alternative to Slickplan for team planning.

9. Sitemapper: Best Sitemap App for Shopify

Best for: Shopify stores that want an HTML sitemap and more indexing control

Price:Free up to 200 products; paid plans from $4.99/month.

Shopify already creates an XML sitemap for every store, so Sitemapper’s main value is what Shopify doesn’t do. It adds a customer-facing HTML sitemap page, a custom XML sitemap, and controls for pages you don’t want indexed.

It syncs automatically when your products, pages, or blog posts change, and it supports multilingual stores.

Key features

• Multilingual HTML and XML sitemaps, even on the free plan
• NoIndex and NoFollow tags (Starter plan and above)
• Plans for up to 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 products
• Rated 4.6 out of 5 from 74 reviews on the Shopify App Store

Choose it if: your Shopify store needs an HTML sitemap or better control over duplicate pages.

Best free online sitemap generator

If you want to generate a sitemap online without installing anything, use XML-Sitemaps.com. It’s free for up to 500 pages and needs no sign-up. For a WordPress site, a free plugin such as XML Sitemap Generator for Google is the better choice, because it updates the sitemap automatically.

Best HTML sitemap builder

An HTML sitemap is a page that lists your site’s links for visitors, while an XML sitemap is a file written for search engines. These tools create HTML sitemaps:

• XML-Sitemaps.com: HTML version with every free crawl
• XML Sitemap Generator for Google: HTML sitemap option for WordPress
• Sitemapper: customer-facing HTML sitemap page for Shopify stores

Best visual sitemap generator

A visual sitemap generator shows your site structure as a diagram, which helps when planning a new site or a redesign.

• Slickplan: best overall for agencies and teams, with content planning built in
• WriteMaps: simplest and lowest cost for small teams
• Dyno Mapper: best when you also need content and accessibility audits

Best sitemap generator for Google

Any tool that produces a valid XML sitemap works for Google. What matters is that the sitemap only lists live, indexable URLs and that you submit it in Google Search Console. For most sites, the simplest option is the one built for your platform: Yoast SEO for WordPress, Shopify’s built-in sitemap, or XML-Sitemaps.com for everything else.

How to Pick the Best Sitemap Generator

Start with your platform, then check your site’s size and budget.

If you…	Choose
Run WordPress and want everything automatic	Yoast SEO or XML Sitemap Generator for Google
Publish news articles on WordPress	XML Sitemap & Google News
Run a Shopify store	Shopify’s built-in sitemap, plus Sitemapper for an HTML sitemap
Have a small site without a CMS	XML-Sitemaps.com (free up to 500 pages)
Have a large site without a CMS	XML-Sitemaps.com PRO or Inspyder Sitemap Creator
Are planning a new site with a team	Slickplan or WriteMaps
Need audits as well as a sitemap	Dyno Mapper

Before you commit, check these four things:

• Page limits: free plans often cap URLs, such as 500 pages on XML-Sitemaps.com or 200 products on Sitemapper.
• Automatic updates: sites that publish often need a sitemap that updates itself.
• Sitemap types: check for image, video, news, or HTML sitemaps if you need them.
• Exclusion controls: you should be able to leave out thin, duplicate, and noindexed pages.

Sitemaps are one piece of a wider SEO strategy; see what else matters in our guide to Google ranking factors.

How to Set Up and Submit Your Sitemap

Once your sitemap exists, make sure crawlers can find it, then submit it to Google and Bing. If your CMS or plugin manages the sitemap, skip step 1.

1. Publish the sitemap on your website

Upload the XML file to your site’s root folder so it loads at an address like yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. On WordPress, Shopify, Wix, or Squarespace, find the sitemap URL in your platform or plugin settings instead.

2. Add the sitemap to robots.txt

Add a line such as Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml to your robots.txt file. Every major crawler reads robots.txt, so this helps them find your sitemap even before you submit it.

3. Check the sitemap for errors

Open the sitemap in your browser and confirm it only lists live pages you want indexed. Remove URLs that redirect, return errors, or carry a noindex tag. A free validator, such as the one on XML-Sitemaps.com, will catch formatting problems.

4. Submit it to Google Search Console

• Open your property in Google Search Console.
• Go to Indexing & Sitemaps.
• Enter your sitemap URL, such as sitemap.xml or sitemap_index.xml.
• Click Submit, then check that the status shows Success.

To track your sitemap’s results alongside your other SEO data, see our guide to the best SEO reporting tools.

5. Submit it to Bing Webmaster Tools and use IndexNow

Add your site in Bing Webmaster Tools and submit the same sitemap URL under Sitemaps. If your tool supports IndexNow, turn it on. IndexNow tells Bing and other participating search engines about new or changed pages right away. Google does not use IndexNow, so keep your sitemap submitted in Search Console.

6. Make sure AI search tools can reach your pages

There is no separate sitemap for AI. AI search tools that crawl the web find pages through links and robots.txt, much like search engines do. Check that your robots.txt doesn’t block crawlers you want visiting, and keep your sitemap accurate so they find your important pages.

7. Keep it updated and monitor it

If you add or remove pages often, use a tool that updates the sitemap automatically. Check the Sitemaps and Pages reports in Search Console every month for pages that are discovered but not indexed. A clear site structure helps too.

FAQs