Best Social Listening Tools in 2026: Pricing and Reviews

The best social listening tools in 2026 split by who they're built for. Enterprise insight teams use Brandwatch, Meltwater, or Sprinklr. Social media teams add listening to the suite they already publish from, like Sprout Social or Hootsuite. B2B teams that sell to people on Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and Hacker News use SnitchFeed, Octolens, or Syften. Below, every tool is grouped by team type, with pricing, API and MCP access, and real quotes from users. New to the topic? Start with what social listening is, or see social listening vs social monitoring for how the two terms differ.

This list reflects our opinion of the market

This list was written by Parth Koshti, SnitchFeed's founder, so SnitchFeed is #1. It would be strange if it weren't: we built SnitchFeed because we think it's the best way for B2B teams to find buyers in social conversations. But it isn't the right tool for every team, so the rest of this list is built to help you find the one that is:

• We tested every tool on this list, hands-on or through a vendor demo where there's no self-serve trial.
• Every tool here is a real option for some team. Several are better than SnitchFeed for jobs we don't do: image recognition, broadcast and print monitoring, Facebook and Instagram, and deep consumer research.
• Every tool has a limitations section, including ours. SnitchFeed doesn't cover Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, and has no free tier.
• Quotes come from public posts on X, Reddit, and LinkedIn, each linked to the original, and we left them out where we couldn't find a real one.
• The "How to choose" section recommends other tools for most situations. SnitchFeed is the pick for one job: B2B teams finding buyers on Reddit, X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Hacker News.

If you care more about tracking brand reputation over time than catching individual conversations, see Best Brand Monitoring Tools in 2026 instead.

How we ranked these tools

We ranked every tool on the same five criteria. Each one maps to a part of the tool's entry, so you can check our reasoning instead of trusting the rank:

• Platform coverage: which networks and sources it actually watches, from Reddit and LinkedIn to news, broadcast, and Instagram. See the Platforms row in each tool's table.
• Pricing transparency: whether you can see a real price and sign up without a sales call. See the Pricing and Free trial rows, and the Self-serve column in the comparison table.
• Filtering quality: whether it cuts noise with AI relevance scoring or intent classification, or hands you every keyword match. Covered under Strengths and Limitations.
• API and AI agent access: whether you can move the data into your own stack, and whether AI assistants like Claude or ChatGPT can query it over MCP. See the API / MCP row.
• Fit: the team the tool is genuinely built for. That's the Best for line at the top of each entry, and it's why the list is grouped by team type instead of ranked in one long line.

Pricing, API, and MCP details come from each vendor's own pricing pages and documentation, checked in September and October 2026. Where a vendor doesn't publish something, the table says "Not published". G2 ratings are included for every tool that has them, as of October 2026, so you can see what users think without taking our word for it. Prices and ratings change often, so confirm the current figure before you budget.

Social listening tools compared: price, G2 rating, API, and MCP

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the standard that lets AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and ChatGPT query a tool's data directly. "Official" means the vendor ships and documents the MCP server; "third-party" means the only route is an independent connector. "Not published" means the vendor doesn't document it.

Best for B2B teams tracking buying intent

1. SnitchFeed

Best for: B2B teams that want intent-tagged mentions from Reddit, X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Hacker News instead of a raw keyword feed, plus API and agentic (MCP) access to that social data for GTM workflows.

G2 rating: 5.0/5 (2 reviews), October 2026

SnitchFeed is real-time social listening built for B2B go-to-market teams. It finds the conversations where people ask for a tool like yours, complain about a competitor, or describe the problem you solve, and it hands them to you (or your AI agent) with an intent label attached.

SnitchFeed monitors Reddit, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Hacker News for your keywords. An AI layer scores every mention for relevance and classifies it by intent: buying intent, recommendation requests, seeking an alternative or switching, competitor complaints, pain points, feature requests, and praise. Sentiment is tagged positive, negative, or neutral. You set a relevance threshold per listener, so the feed only shows what clears it.

The part most listening tools don't have is agentic access. SnitchFeed ships an official MCP server on every plan, with OAuth login, so Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other agents can read your feed, run searches, and build or tune listeners for you. A REST API is included on every plan too. Instead of opening a dashboard, you can ask your agent "who asked about tools like ours today?" and get the posts back with links, or run one of our agent skills to turn a signal into a reply draft, a battle card, or a CRM record.

Getting the data into the rest of your stack is just as direct. Alerts go to Slack, Discord, and email on every plan. On Pro, webhooks push each mention into Clay, Zapier, Make, n8n, or your own endpoint the moment it arrives, and CSV exports let you load mentions into your CRM, Instantly, or Clay in bulk. GTM teams use this to reach buyers before they ask for a demo; brand teams use the same feed to track praise, complaints, and sentiment shifts.

What users say about SnitchFeed:

"Here's a very nifty social listening workflow I built using SnitchFeed. if you're spending time on LinkedIn trying to find the right posts to comment on, this one's for you."

Fedor Šimić on LinkedIn

"That's why tools like #Snitchfeed feel different. Instead of guessing what someone cares about... You find their actual voice."

Andrej Bačić on LinkedIn

Strengths:

• Intent and sentiment classification on every mention, with a relevance threshold you set per listener
• Official MCP server and REST API on every plan, so agents can query and manage your social data
• Real-time Reddit and Bluesky monitoring; X, LinkedIn, and Hacker News refresh as often as hourly
• Self-serve signup and published pricing

Limitations:

• No Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, broadcast, or print coverage
• Not a consumer-research platform: no image recognition or market-level trend forecasting
• Webhooks and CSV exports need the Pro plan
• No free tier; the trial is the only free option

Website: snitchfeed.com

Enterprise social listening platforms

These tools are built for large brands with dedicated analysts and five- or six-figure budgets. If you want a quick view of how they compare against a lighter tool, see our enterprise social listening comparison or the full list of Brandwatch alternatives.

2. Brandwatch

Best for: Large enterprises that need deep, cross-market consumer research alongside social listening.

G2 rating: 4.4/5 (728 reviews), October 2026

Brandwatch is one of the most established consumer-intelligence platforms, built for research and insights teams that study markets, not just mentions.

Brandwatch pairs social listening with consumer research: advanced AI sentiment analysis, image and logo recognition, and years of historical data that analysts can query to understand how a category or audience has changed over time. It covers social networks, news, blogs, forums, and review sites.

The platform is sold to enterprises through sales. There's no published pricing and no self-serve signup; every quote starts with a demo. Developers get an API with an llms.txt index for agent-readable docs, but MCP access currently runs through third-party data platforms rather than an official Brandwatch server.

What users say about Brandwatch:

"Brandwatch is a trustworthy social data provider. The problem with all this is that it doesn't matter if you're not monitoring the right accounts."

@_elzubeir on X

"You might try Brandwatch! They have great coverage, it's just expensive (but powerful)"

@randfish on X

Strengths:

• Depth of historical data and query power for research and insights teams
• Image and logo recognition at scale

Limitations:

• No published pricing and no self-serve signup
• Built for analyst teams; heavy for a small marketing or sales team

Website: brandwatch.com

3. Meltwater

Best for: Comms and PR teams that need broadcast and print coverage alongside social and news.

G2 rating: 4.1/5 (2,675 reviews), October 2026

Meltwater is a media intelligence platform spanning news, social, broadcast, print, and podcasts, common in PR teams at larger organizations. Comparing options? See our Meltwater alternatives.

Meltwater's case is coverage. Few tools on this list monitor earned media as broadly, which is why PR and comms teams use it to track press coverage, measure campaigns, and report to leadership. Social listening sits alongside that media monitoring rather than being the core of the product.

Every plan is sold through sales with tailored pricing. Meltwater offers a developer API plus an official MCP server as part of its Mira API, so its media and social data can be queried from AI assistants.

What users say about Meltwater:

"If media monitoring is more important to you, choose Meltwater. If the journalist database is more important, choose Muck Rack. [...] A note: both will negotiate. Don't take the first price they give you."

u/Occasionally_Sober1 on Reddit

"Meltwater's media monitoring is a mess. Complicated and clunky, and I didn't have the time to do a million classes on the program."

u/kingajeezy on Reddit

Strengths:

• Broadest earned-media coverage on this list
• Official MCP access to media and social data

Limitations:

• Every plan requires a sales conversation
• More than most B2B startups need if social and forums are the priority

Website: meltwater.com

4. Sprinklr

Best for: Large enterprises that want listening inside a broader customer-experience platform.

G2 rating: 4.1/5 (1,223 reviews), October 2026

Sprinklr is a large customer-experience suite where listening is one module alongside customer care, marketing, and social commerce.

Sprinklr is built for companies that want one vendor across every customer-facing channel. Listening data can flow into care and marketing workflows in the same platform, which is the main reason enterprises choose it over a standalone listening tool.

It's quote-based and sold to enterprises only, with long implementations. Sprinklr offers an open API and documents an official MCP tool in its help center.

What users say about Sprinklr:

"we need a tool to help us organize the thousands and thousands of mentions we get every day (and it works great, ♥️Sprinklr)"

@TeamYouTube on X

"Aside - moving from Khoros to Sprinklr is a bad decision."

Richard Millington on LinkedIn

Strengths:

• One vendor for listening, care, and publishing at enterprise scale
• Official MCP support

Limitations:

• No self-serve tier, long implementations
• Far more platform than a team that only needs monitoring will use

Website: sprinklr.com

5. YouScan

Best for: Consumer and CPG brands that need image and logo recognition alongside text monitoring.

G2 rating: 4.7/5 (308 reviews), October 2026

YouScan focuses on visual social listening: it detects logos and objects in images, so it catches brand mentions that text-only tools miss. Comparing options? See our YouScan alternatives.

For consumer brands, a lot of brand presence is a product in a photo with no caption that names it. YouScan's image recognition finds those posts, and its dashboard pairs visual insights with sentiment analysis across social media, news, blogs, forums, and review sites.

The entry tier is published at $499/mo billed annually; higher tiers need a demo. YouScan has a REST API and webhooks. We didn't find an MCP server.

What users say about YouScan:

"It's exciting to give students hands-on access to an enterprise-grade social intelligence platform used by brands and agencies."

Bryce Whitwam on LinkedIn

Strengths:

• Visual and logo recognition
• Sentiment analysis in a visual-first dashboard

Limitations:

• A large spend for a small team, and pricing transparency stops after the entry tier

Website: youscan.io

Social media management suites with listening

These are publishing and engagement platforms first, with listening as a module or add-on. They make sense when your team already schedules posts and answers comments from the same tool.

6. Sprout Social

Best for: Teams already publishing with Sprout who want listening in the same platform.

G2 rating: 4.4/5 (6,874 reviews), October 2026

Sprout Social is primarily a publishing, engagement, and analytics platform. Listening is sold as an add-on for teams that want monitoring alongside their Sprout workflow.

Sprout's strength is the workflow around social: scheduling, a shared inbox, team assignment, response-time tracking, and cross-channel reporting. Listening plugs into that, so a mention can be routed to the right person and answered from the same place it was found.

Core plans are priced per seat, and Listening is a separate, quote-based add-on, so the combined cost can exceed a dedicated listening tool. Sprout has a public API covering analytics, listening, publishing, and inbox, and an official MCP server that works in ChatGPT only and covers TikTok data, not listening. One thing to check before you buy: on LinkedIn, Sprout can only pull mentions and comments tied to your own connected page, not a keyword search across the platform.

What users say about Sprout Social:

"Sprout 100x. So user friendly, great analytics, tons of features and multiple platforms within the family (employee advocacy, influencer marketing), and their customer service and support is next level."

u/sculptsocial on Reddit

A Sprout Social employee confirmed the LinkedIn limitation in a public thread:

"LinkedIn only lets us query mentions and comments tied to your own connected business page, not a broad keyword search across the platform"

u/max-at-sprout on Reddit

Strengths:

• Tight integration with publishing, engagement, and cross-channel analytics
• Team assignment and response-time tracking

Limitations:

• Listening isn't sold standalone, so the combined Sprout plus Listening cost can exceed a dedicated listening tool
• Per-seat pricing adds up as the team grows
• LinkedIn coverage is limited to your own page's mentions and comments

Website: sproutsocial.com

7. Hootsuite

Best for: Teams that want listening bundled with a full publishing and scheduling platform.

G2 rating: 4.3/5 (7,477 reviews), October 2026

Hootsuite is a social media management platform with listening built in. That listening runs on Talkwalker, which Hootsuite acquired.

Talkwalker's technology, with 150 million-plus sources and its Blue Silk AI for logo and scene detection, powers Hootsuite's listening, with the deeper features on the higher tiers. For teams already scheduling and reporting in Hootsuite, that means listening without a second vendor.

Pricing is per user and published, from $99/user/mo on annual billing up to Advanced at $399/user/mo, with Enterprise on a custom quote. Hootsuite has a public API and an official Lumen MCP server (powered by Talkwalker) that brings listening data into ChatGPT and Claude for Lumen subscribers.

What users say about Hootsuite:

"I use Hootsuite for this purpose and have found that it works well!"

@JustinLehmiller on X

"hootsuite gets expensive fast at that many accounts fyi."

u/Traditional-Motor885 on Reddit

Strengths:

• Listening included on paid tiers, not sold as a separate add-on
• Scales from a single user to enterprise team workflows

Limitations:

• Per-seat cost is high if you only need listening
• Deeper listening is gated to Advanced and Enterprise

Website: hootsuite.com

8. Agorapulse

Best for: SMB teams that want listening folded into a social media management platform.

G2 rating: 4.5/5 (974 reviews), October 2026

Agorapulse is a scheduling, inbox, and reporting platform with listening on its higher tiers.

Agorapulse's unified inbox lets a team reply to comments and messages across networks from one dashboard, and listening feeds into the same workflow.

Plans are priced per user, and competitor benchmarking needs the Advanced or Custom plan. Agorapulse has an API and an official MCP connector for Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot on paid plans (excluding Legacy and Free).

What users say about Agorapulse:

"It's the best tool I've found for scheduling, managing, reporting, listening & collaborating for all client's social media accounts. Their support is also outstanding."

@EddieGarrison on X

"We are currently using @Agorapulse and honestly just not happy with it. Little bit of price gouging happening over here."

@ashvinmelwani on X

Strengths:

• Listening, publishing, and inbox in one workflow
• Official MCP connector for Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot

Limitations:

• Listening isn't sold standalone, so you pay for the full suite
• No buying-intent classification

Website: agorapulse.com

Mid-market tools and agencies

9. Mention

Best for: Agencies and mid-market teams already on a Mention plan.

G2 rating: 4.3/5 (442 reviews), October 2026

Mention covers social, news, blogs, and forums with up to two years of historical data and team workflows built for agencies.

Mention's collaboration features (assigning mentions, tracking who handled what) and historical data make it a fit for agencies juggling several client brands. It monitors the web and news along with X, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit.

Mention is no longer sold as a standalone product. As of July 1, 2026, new buyers are pointed to Agorapulse Listening, sold through Agorapulse's sales team, and existing customers keep their legacy plans (Mention's help center). New buyers should look at Agorapulse above. Existing plans include a REST API with a real-time streaming endpoint; we didn't find an MCP server.

What users say about Mention:

"Mention (https://web.mention.com/) is also another social mention tracker. I use it for an open source project and would recommend it."

ngokevin on Hacker News

"https://mention.com - pricey, but looks pretty polished."

overcast on Hacker News

Strengths:

• Historical data and assign-and-track collaboration

Limitations:

• Not sold to new buyers since July 1, 2026

Website: mention.com

10. Mentionlytics

Best for: Agencies and brands tracking several clients in more than one language.

G2 rating: 4.9/5 (115 reviews), October 2026

Mentionlytics tracks social networks (including LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky), news, blogs, forums, review sites, and LLM answers, with sentiment and emotion scored in every language.

Each client gets its own workspace, and Share of Voice and white-label reporting make it easy for agencies to send branded reports. Multi-language sentiment and emotion analysis is the main reason teams monitoring several markets pick it.

Pricing is published and starts low, but the entry plan is limited: Basic includes only 3 keyword rules with 12-hour updates. The REST API and official MCP server start at the $499/mo Pro plan.

What users say about Mentionlytics:

"I tried Brandwatch, Brand24, Sprout, and Mentionlytics. They are all good, depending on what you're aiming for and how well you set up the account (trust me, it's a game changer). I ended up with Mentionlytics"

u/Puzzleheaded-Walk426 on Reddit

"Mentionlytics social media sentiment analysis was used to see the extent of the explosion of negative posts about CrowdStrike. See the other insights I gathered within just 15 minutes."

@CliveRoach on X

Strengths:

• Multi-language sentiment and emotion analysis
• Share of Voice and white-label reporting for agencies

Limitations:

• Basic includes only 3 keyword rules with 12-hour updates
• API and MCP gated to the $499/mo Pro plan

Website: mentionlytics.com

11. Brand24

Best for: PR teams and growing brands that want broad platform coverage with self-serve pricing.

G2 rating: 4.6/5 (366 reviews), October 2026

Brand24 is one of the most widely used self-serve monitoring tools, covering social media, news, blogs, forums, TikTok, YouTube, podcasts, and review sites. Comparing options? See our Brand24 alternatives.

Brand24 scores sentiment on each mention, identifies influential authors, and benchmarks a presence score against competitors. Automated PDF reports suit agencies and PR teams that send regular updates to clients or stakeholders.

Plans are published and self-serve, from $199/mo billed annually, with mention caps that scale by tier. Its official MCP server is included on Pro and above, while REST API access is a paid add-on below Enterprise.

What users say about Brand24:

"This is my first year using BRAND24 as an analytic tool and I'm still learning to use it. I'm really enjoying it."

@JimHarris on X

"In the last month, we've switched from [...] @brand24 => @Octolens"

@CalebPeffer on X

Strengths:

• Broad source coverage for the price
• Automated PDF reports for stakeholders and clients

Limitations:

• Mention caps on lower tiers fill up quickly for active brands
• Dense interface with a learning curve

Website: brand24.com

12. BrandMentions

Best for: Teams that want web and social mention tracking with clear, published tiers.

G2 rating: 4.9/5 (242 reviews), October 2026

BrandMentions monitors brand mentions across the web and social media with real-time notifications.

BrandMentions is a straightforward monitoring tool: set your keywords, and get notified when they appear on the web or social media. Its appeal is clarity, with mention and keyword limits stated up front on every tier.

Starter is $79/mo billed annually with 5,000 mentions and 5 keywords. API access starts at the Expert plan ($499/mo).

What users say about BrandMentions:

"Using Awario and Brandmentions, but manual checks take too long."

@TheAICodereb on X

Strengths:

• Published pricing with mention and keyword limits stated up front

Limitations:

• Only 5 keywords on Starter
• No API below the Expert plan

Website: brandmentions.com

13. Determ

Best for: PR and comms teams that want real-time media monitoring with unlimited keywords and users.

G2 rating: 4.7/5 (44 reviews), October 2026

Determ covers social, news, blogs, and forums with sentiment analysis and reporting, priced by topic rather than by seat.

Every Determ plan includes unlimited keywords and users, which suits PR teams where many people need access. It connects to BigQuery, Power BI, Slack, Teams, and Zapier for teams that want the data in their own reporting.

Plans are priced in euros and scoped by topics and mention caps, starting at €99/mo for one topic and 1,000 mentions. Determ has an API on paid plans. Note that Determ's own "MCP" means Media Coverage Platform, not a Model Context Protocol server.

What users say about Determ:

Determ was called Mediatoolkit until its 2023 rebrand.

"I use @mediatoolkit. It generates automatic reports, sends notifications in real time and it also tracks posts from communities (like Reddit)."

@manjamunda on X

Strengths:

• Unlimited keywords and users on every plan
• BigQuery, Power BI, Slack, Teams, and Zapier integrations

Limitations:

• Euro pricing scoped by topics and mention caps, so compare carefully against dollar-priced tools

Website: determ.com

14. Keyhole

Best for: Agencies running hashtag-driven campaigns who need client-ready analytics.

G2 rating: 4.3/5 (70 reviews), October 2026

Keyhole is a real-time hashtag and campaign tracker for X, Instagram, and Facebook, known for influencer analytics and reporting.

Keyhole measures campaigns: how far a hashtag spread, which posts and influencers drove it, and how it compares over time. Agencies use it to produce client-ready campaign reports.

Pricing is published by tracker count, from $179/mo for three trackers. A JSON API is available on supported plans; we didn't find an MCP server.

Strengths:

• Hashtag tracking and campaign measurement

Limitations:

• Measurement-focused, not built for keyword alerts or lead signals

Website: keyhole.co

15. BuzzSumo

Best for: Content marketers and PR teams researching what to write and who to pitch.

G2 rating: 4.5/5 (107 reviews), October 2026

BuzzSumo, owned by Cision, analyzes which content performs on a topic and includes a large journalist and influencer database for PR outreach.

BuzzSumo answers "what's working on this topic?" It shows which articles earned the most engagement, and its Question Analyzer surfaces the questions people ask online, which makes it a research tool for content and PR teams more than a real-time alerting tool.

Plans are published, from $199/mo for Content Creation up to Enterprise at $999/mo. BuzzSumo has a REST API for paid users; MCP access runs through a third-party connector only.

What users say about BuzzSumo:

"Content research toolkit I use when I don't know what to post as a social media manager [...] BuzzSumo : finding content people engage with"

@chisom_nwankire on X

"Warning: it's a tad expensive BUT extremely valuable if used right and daily!"

@jaredgooodman on X

Strengths:

• Content performance analysis and the Question Analyzer

Limitations:

• A research tool, not real-time mention alerting

Website: buzzsumo.com

Tools for startups, B2B, and developer teams

16. Octolens

Best for: Developer-tool companies that want GitHub, Hacker News, and Stack Overflow alongside social.

G2 rating: 5.0/5 (8 reviews), October 2026

Octolens covers developer and B2B platforms with AI relevance filtering, priced by mention volume.

Octolens monitors X, LinkedIn, Reddit, Bluesky, GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, and more, then uses AI to filter mentions for relevance. Coverage of developer platforms like GitHub and Stack Overflow is what sets it apart for dev-tool companies.

The API, webhooks, and an official MCP server are included on every plan. Pricing starts at $159/mo for Pro, which refreshes hourly; real-time refresh needs the $499/mo Scale tier. Filtering is AI-only, with no Boolean query syntax.

What users say about Octolens:

"i love @Octolens. it's a bat signal for val town mentions [...] honestly i tried to build it myself, but it's easier to pay octolens the $120 / month"

@stevekrouse on X

"we built [...] because @Octolens was too expensive for something that should be free."

@matthewsoldit on X

Strengths:

• Developer-platform coverage most tools skip
• API and MCP included from the entry plan

Limitations:

• Real-time refresh needs the $499/mo Scale tier; Pro is hourly
• AI-only filtering with no Boolean query syntax

See our full SnitchFeed vs Octolens comparison.

Website: octolens.com

17. Awario

Best for: Small teams that want Boolean search on a fixed budget.

G2 rating: 3.9/5 (48 reviews), October 2026

Awario offers Boolean search across web, news, and major social platforms, with a shared monthly mention cap.

Awario gives you precise control over what you track through Boolean queries, at one of the lowest prices on this list. Data export and PDF reports are included on every tier.

Pricing starts at $29/mo billed annually. The API is available on every plan; there's no MCP server. Awario doesn't apply AI relevance or intent classification, so results are Boolean matches only, and it doesn't cover LinkedIn.

What users say about Awario:

"@AwarioApp is how we found this question to respond to lol, it scrapes the internet for keywords that might be relevant to your brand such as "lead generation""

@Sochelle4 on X

"Using Awario and Brandmentions, but manual checks take too long."

@TheAICodereb on X

Strengths:

• Boolean query control at a low price
• Data export and PDF reports on every tier

Limitations:

• No AI relevance or intent classification; Boolean matches only
• No LinkedIn coverage

See our full SnitchFeed vs Awario comparison.

Website: awario.com

18. Syften

Best for: Solo founders who want Reddit and Hacker News alerts at the lowest paid price.

G2 rating: 5.0/5 (1 review), October 2026

Syften tracks Reddit, Hacker News, Lobsters, and other community sources with Slack, email, RSS, and webhook delivery.

Syften is a focused, fast keyword monitor for communities where developers and founders talk. It's popular with indie hackers who want alerts the moment their product or category comes up on Reddit or Hacker News.

The $29.95/mo Entry plan is email-only with no AI filtering; Standard ($49.95/mo) adds AI filtering, Slack, and the API, and PRO ($119.95/mo) adds webhooks and MCP. X is a paid add-on, and there's no LinkedIn at any tier.

What users say about Syften:

"Syften is so good! No flashy stuff, the core feature just works. Excellent backend engineering!"

@raviojhax on X

"I use it for monitoring Reddit and all kinds of communities for mentions of my name and the titles of my books."

arvidkahl on Hacker News

"f5bot because I'm too cheap to pay for one. [...] And syften is good but not free"

@czue on X

Strengths:

• Broad forum coverage at a low price
• Fast Reddit alerts

Limitations:

• No LinkedIn at any tier
• The $29.95 Entry plan has no AI filtering, Slack, or API

See our full SnitchFeed vs Syften comparison.

Website: syften.com

19. Common Room

Best for: Developer and community-led companies that want person-level buyer signals.

G2 rating: 4.5/5 (124 reviews), October 2026

Common Room aggregates community, product, and intent signals into person-level profiles for sales and marketing teams.

Rather than a mention feed, Common Room builds a profile for each person and account from community activity, social, product usage, CRM, and intent data, so a team can see who is engaging. Zoom announced it is acquiring Common Room in July 2026 and plans to fold it into Zoom Revenue Accelerator.

Essential starts at $2,500/mo billed annually, with Advanced and Enterprise on custom quotes. An API and an official MCP server are available, so assistants like Claude and ChatGPT can query and update your Common Room data.

What users say about Common Room:

"I've used Common Room (https://www.commonroom.io/), which has similar automation features as well as broader functionality for community management and insights. Worth checking out too."

swyx on Hacker News

"@CommonRoomHQ: surfaces warm signals (Slack, GitHub, LinkedIn) early"

@aaxelrod01 on X

Strengths:

• Person-level profiles across community and GTM data

Limitations:

• Not broad mention monitoring, and priced for funded teams
• Product direction may shift as it moves into Zoom

Website: commonroom.io

Free social listening tools

Two free tools are reviewed below. For every free option, including Talkwalker Alerts and KWatch.io's free plan, with each free tier's limits and platforms, see free social listening tools.

20. F5Bot

Best for: Developers and indie hackers who want free Reddit and Hacker News alerts.

G2 rating: No G2 listing

F5Bot emails you when your keywords appear on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters: within 2 hours on the free plan, which covers 5 keywords.

F5Bot is the default first tool for founders doing Reddit marketing: add your brand, competitors, and category terms, and new posts and comments that match land in your inbox. There's nothing to configure beyond the keywords.

It's free, with Silver ($9.99/mo) and Gold ($49.99/mo) tiers that add more filtering, Slack and Discord delivery, AI filtering, and RSS and JSON feeds. Every keyword match becomes an alert, so broad keywords get noisy, and it doesn't cover X, LinkedIn, or Bluesky.

What users say about F5Bot:

"F5Bot is a simple tool (the free plan is enough for most founders) that watches those communities and emails you when your keywords get mentioned."

@cihatmu on X

"I use f5bot.com, which monitors HN, Reddit, and Lobsters. (I have no connection to f5bot except being a happy user.)"

kens on Hacker News

"Does anyone know of a good alternative to F5bot? 🤖 [...] Being limited to Reddit and HN is annoying lol"

@TheRealEtch on X

Strengths:

• Free and fast

Limitations:

• Every keyword match becomes an alert, so broad keywords get noisy
• No X, LinkedIn, or Bluesky

See our full SnitchFeed vs F5Bot comparison.

Website: f5bot.com

21. Google Alerts

Best for: A free baseline for web and news mentions, not social.

G2 rating: No G2 listing

Google Alerts emails you when Google indexes new pages that match your keywords. If you have outgrown it, see our Google Alerts alternatives, grouped by the job you need done.

Google Alerts is the zero-setup baseline: enter a keyword and get a daily or as-it-happens email of new pages Google has indexed. It's useful for news coverage and blog mentions.

It only sees what Google indexes, so most Reddit, X, and LinkedIn conversations never show up. There's no filtering, no Slack delivery, and no API.

What users say about Google Alerts:

"a lot of teams rely on Google Alerts, which barely covers social."

u/No-Mechanic-433 on Reddit

"Google Scholar misses impact. Google Alerts misses media."

@Dcollier74 on X

Strengths:

• Free, with zero setup

Limitations:

• Misses most Reddit, X, and LinkedIn content
• No filtering or Slack delivery

Website: google.com/alerts

What about Reddit lead-generation tools?

A separate group of tools is built mainly to find sales leads in Reddit threads rather than to monitor a brand: RedReach, Alertly, and ReplyGuy are the best known. They aren't broad social listening tools, so they aren't ranked here. For that job, see our guide to the best Reddit monitoring tools, or our head-to-head comparisons with RedReach, Alertly, and ReplyGuy. One caution: ReplyGuy posts AI-generated replies from your own account, which Reddit treats as spam.

How to choose a social listening tool

Two questions narrow the list faster than any feature comparison:

1. Where do your buyers or customers talk? If it's Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and Hacker News, start with the B2B and startup groups above. If it's Instagram, TikTok, news, and broadcast, start with the enterprise platforms and suites.
2. What will you do with a mention? Replying to a person, reporting on brand sentiment, and pushing a lead into your CRM are different jobs, and most tools are built for one of them.

Before you buy, take one real thread where a buyer asked for a tool like yours and search for it in each trial. If a tool can't find a conversation you already know exists, it won't find the ones you don't.

Social listening tools FAQ

What is the best social listening tool?

It depends on where your audience talks and what you need to do with the data. Enterprise brands doing consumer research usually choose Brandwatch, Meltwater, or Sprinklr. Teams that want listening inside a publishing tool choose Sprout Social or Hootsuite. B2B teams that care about Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and Hacker News, and want to catch buying intent rather than measure brand health, are better served by SnitchFeed.

What are the top 10 social listening tools?

By how often they come up for this category: Brandwatch, Sprout Social, Meltwater, Hootsuite, Brand24, Sprinklr, YouScan, Mention, Agorapulse, and SnitchFeed for B2B teams focused on Reddit, X, and LinkedIn.

What's the best free social listening tool?

F5Bot is the simplest free option for Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters, and Talkwalker Alerts covers news, blogs, forums and X for free. Google Alerts is free too, but it only covers pages Google indexes, so it misses most social media. For the full list with each free tier's limits, see free social listening tools.

What's the difference between social listening and social monitoring?

Social media monitoring is one part of social listening: catching individual mentions as they appear so someone can respond. Social listening, in the broad sense most people use, covers that plus analysing many posts over time for patterns. Vendors that compare the two keep "listening" for the analysis part only. Most tools on this list do both. See social listening vs social monitoring.

Which social listening tool is cheapest for a B2B startup?

Awario ($29/mo billed annually) and Syften ($29.95/mo) are the cheapest paid options, but neither covers LinkedIn. SnitchFeed ($59/mo) adds X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Hacker News with intent and sentiment classification.

Which social listening tools work with AI agents like Claude or ChatGPT?

SnitchFeed, Octolens, Brand24, Mentionlytics, Agorapulse, Meltwater, Sprinklr, Hootsuite (Lumen, powered by Talkwalker), Syften, and KWatch.io ship an official MCP server. SnitchFeed and Octolens include it on every plan; the others gate it to higher tiers, add-ons or enterprise contracts (Brand24 from Pro, Mentionlytics from Pro, Syften on PRO). Sprout Social's official server works in ChatGPT only and covers TikTok data, not listening. Brandwatch, Mention, and Awario have no official MCP server. For more detail, see Social Listening APIs and MCP Servers in 2026.

Does any social listening tool classify mentions by buying intent?

SnitchFeed labels each mention with an intent (buying intent, recommendation request, seeking an alternative, competitor complaint, pain point, feature request, or praise) plus sentiment, so a team can triage by what a conversation means rather than reading every keyword match.

Is there a social listening tool with no contract?

Yes. SnitchFeed, Awario, Syften, Octolens, Brand24, Mentionlytics, BrandMentions, BuzzSumo, Agorapulse, and Determ all offer month-to-month billing. Enterprise tools like Brandwatch, Meltwater, and Sprinklr generally require annual contracts.

Is ReplyGuy safe to use?

Approach it carefully. ReplyGuy posts AI-generated replies through your own account, and third-party reporting found most accounts shown on its site had been banned. A tool that alerts you to relevant threads and lets you write the reply yourself carries far less platform risk.

For Twitter specifically, see our roundup of the best Twitter monitoring tools.