Do I need a sitemap generator if my CMS already makes one?

Only if the generated one is wrong, which is worth checking rather than assuming. Many CMS sitemaps include tag archives, paginated listings and pages carrying a noindex directive.

Does an XML sitemap help pages get indexed?

It helps them get discovered. Whether a discovered page is indexed is a separate decision the search engine makes on its own.

XML Sitemap Generator: Crawl and Build

Crawl a site and build a valid XML sitemap containing only the URLs that should actually be in one.

Website URL Enter your website's homepage URL

Pages to Crawl

250 pages

Free

500 pages

5 credits (need more)

1,000 pages

10 credits (need more)

5,000 pages

40 credits (need more)

10,000 pages

75 credits (need more)

Change Frequency

Crawl Delay (seconds)

Options

Respect robots.txt Include images

Pages marked noindex are always excluded, since they are not eligible for a sitemap.

Crawled

Pending

Discovered

Time

What Gets Included

The generator crawls the site and then filters, which is the part most sitemap plugins skip. A URL belongs in a sitemap only if it returns 200, is canonical to itself, is not blocked from indexing, and is a page you would want someone to land on.

Plugins that include every URL a CMS can produce generate sitemaps full of tag archives, paginated listings and pages carrying a noindex directive. A sitemap contradicting your own directives is a confusing signal, not a helpful one.

Reading the Output

Generator output, one site

CRAWLED      412 URLs
INCLUDED     318
EXCLUDED      94

  noindex directive          14
  non-canonical              31
  redirects                  22
  404                        22
  paginated archives          5

OUTPUT       sitemap_index.xml
             3 child sitemaps, 5,000 URL cap each
LASTMOD      from server response, not build time

Ninety-four excluded URLs out of 412 is ordinary, and every exclusion is a URL that would have weakened the file. The lastmod line matters more than it looks: a sitemap that stamps every URL with today's date each time it rebuilds is telling search engines the entire site changed, which teaches them to ignore the field.

Questions

Do I need one if my CMS makes one?
Only if the generated one is wrong, which is worth checking before assuming. Many include URLs that should not be there.

Does a sitemap help pages get indexed?
It helps them get discovered. Indexing is a separate decision the search engine makes.

What does it cost?
It runs on credits, not a subscription, and credits never expire.

Build one for a site you know well and read what got excluded. That list is usually more interesting than the sitemap.

Create Free Account

Runs on credits · No subscription · Credits never expire

Next
Site Audit, find out why 94 URLs were excluded
Robots.txt Generator, control crawling separately, free
Pricing