Best Broken Link Checker Tools for Websites, Markdown, and Git Docs

"Dead link checker" is highly competitive. You can still win by targeting use-case-specific queries such as markdown dead link checker, GitHub README link checker, and GitLab link checker.

1. DeadLinkTool (Website + Markdown + Git)

DeadLinkTool is optimized for mixed workflows: website audits and documentation checks in the same interface.

• Strengths: no setup, markdown parsing, relative-path checks, fast scans.
• Best fit: dev teams, technical SEO, docs quality control.

2. Google Search Console (Indexing Reality)

Use GSC to see which broken URLs Google has actually crawled and indexed.

• Strengths: direct Google data, historical tracking.
• Limits: delayed updates, no full markdown repository coverage.

3. W3C Link Checker (Standards Legacy)

Useful for standards-focused validation, but less suited to modern Git-based documentation workflows.

• Strengths: strict checks.
• Limits: slower execution and limited CI ergonomics.