Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in social listening tools
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 12 tools, reviewed
#1 Awario
Listening and web monitoring with published prices · Cyprus · awario.com
Published pricing Boolean search Topic-based plans
Awario earns first place because a single marketer can sign up, define topics with unlimited keywords, and have a reading list the same day, with the whole price grid on one public page. Starter's 30,000 monthly mentions suit a brand with a distinctive name, and Pro's 15 topics and 300,000 mentions cover a company that also tracks competitors.
- Pricing: Per plan / month, volume-capped. Starter is €49 a month billed monthly or €29 a month billed annually (3 topics, 30,000 new mentions a month, 1 team member). Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Small teams tracking brand and competitors
- Strengths: Boolean search; Unlimited keywords per topic; Sentiment analysis.
Where it falls short
Starter allows a single team member, which breaks the moment a second person needs a login. Stored mentions are capped per topic (5,000 on Starter, 15,000 on Pro), so long-running topics need pruning.
Wrong for
Enterprise research or PR teams needing analyst support, broadcast and print coverage or a journalist database.
Visit Awario →
#2 Brand24
Keyword-based mention tracking with AI analysis · United States · brand24.com
14-day free trial AI sentiment Keyword-metered
Brand24 is the pick for a marketer who wants AI-assisted reading of the feed rather than a raw list. Its tiers scale in a way that is easy to forecast: keywords and mentions go up each step, and Team and above include unlimited users.
- Pricing: Per plan / month, keyword-metered. Individual is $249 a month ($199 billed annually) for 3 keywords and 2K mentions. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Marketers wanting AI sentiment and insights
- Strengths: Mention tracking across social and web; AI sentiment analysis; Influencer analysis.
Where it falls short
The entry price is the highest among the independents, and Individual updates only every 12 hours with one user. Keyword counts are tight: 3 on Individual.
Wrong for
A very small business that only needs weekly brand checks, who will find Awario cheaper, or a PR team needing press-wire and journalist data, who should compare Meltwater.
Visit Brand24 →
#3 SentiOne
Social listening with long history on higher tiers · Poland · sentione.com
Many languages History up to 36 months Published tiers
SentiOne is the listening tool to look at when language coverage and archive length decide the purchase. Its pricing page publishes every package in USD, EUR, GBP and several Central European currencies, lists project counts, languages, users and history in months, and moves from 1 month of history on Social packages to 36 months on Enterprise.
- Pricing: Per package / month, tiered. Net monthly prices listed in USD: Social packages $199 (1 user) and $399 (3 users), Research $399, Business $849, and Enterprise from $1,180, with monthly or annual billing switch and 1 to 36 months of history depending on package. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Teams needing many languages and history
- Strengths: Social listening and analytics; Automated reports; Crisis prevention alerts.
Where it falls short
The entry Social package updates only every 12 hours and allows one language and one project. History is gated by tier, so year-over-year analysis requires Business or above.
Wrong for
A one-person team that wants a free trial before paying, or a PR team that needs print and broadcast coverage and journalist contacts, who should look at Meltwater or Onclusive.
Visit SentiOne →
#4 Mention
Monitoring with review sites and share of voice · France · mention.com
Review monitoring Owned by Agorapulse Add-on API
Mention packages monitoring of social networks, news, blogs and forums with review monitoring across 75+ sites, including Google, Trustpilot, Amazon and Glassdoor, which is unusual in this price class. Its Company plan lists Boolean search, sentiment, share of voice, competitor benchmarking, custom dashboards and shared team alerts.
- Pricing: Single plan, billed monthly or yearly. The pricing page shows a single Company plan with monthly and yearly billing and two months free on yearly payment. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams adding review monitoring to social listening
- Strengths: Real-time mention tracking; Review monitoring on 75+ sites; Boolean search.
Where it falls short
The pricing page offers one plan and, in the version read, no visible figure, so a buyer has to start a trial or ask for a demo to learn the cost. Historical data and API access are not included and are sold as add-ons.
Wrong for
A buyer who wants a transparent price grid up front or heavy historical analysis included in the plan.
Visit Mention →
#5 Brandwatch
Enterprise consumer intelligence and social suite · United Kingdom · brandwatch.com
Demo-led Analyst services Large enterprise
Brandwatch is the reference choice when listening feeds a research function: query building at scale, a long historical archive, analyst and consultant services, and a suite that now includes social management and influencer tools. Its site shows Iris AI and a combined Brandwatch plus Cision offering for global enterprises, and the company states that Falcon.io is now part of Brandwatch.
- Pricing: Quote only. Sold by quote after a demo request; the plans page shows a demo form and no list price. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Enterprises running multi-market research
- Strengths: Consumer intelligence; Search intelligence and GenAI monitoring; Social media management (former Falcon suite).
Where it falls short
There is no published price and the buying route is a demo form, so small teams cannot test it alone. The suite is broad enough that a smaller team pays for modules it will not use.
Wrong for
Small businesses and agencies that need a working alert this week with a monthly card payment.
Visit Brandwatch →
#6 Meltwater
Media and social intelligence for PR and comms · Norway · meltwater.com
PR-led News plus social Agency tier
Meltwater combines press monitoring with social listening, so a communications team can report on coverage and on social reaction from one place. The pricing page splits capabilities into media intelligence, social listening, AI visibility tracking and media relations, adds influencer marketing at Enterprise and Agency levels, and offers an Agency tier for multiple clients.
- Pricing: Quote only. Pricing is tailored and quote-based: the pricing page lists Starter, Pro, Enterprise and Agency tiers with Contact Sales and no figures, and says the quote is customized to each account. Free plan: none.
- Best for: PR and communications teams
- Strengths: Media intelligence; Social listening; AI visibility tracking.
Where it falls short
Nothing about price is public, and the tiers are named by capability rather than limits, which makes comparisons hard until a quote arrives. The breadth suits PR more than a lean brand-alert use case.
Wrong for
A marketer who only wants brand-name alerts and a weekly sentiment view at a flat monthly price.
Visit Meltwater →
#7 Sprout Social
Social management with built-in keyword monitoring · United States · sproutsocial.com
Per-seat pricing 30-day trial Bundled monitoring
Sprout Social matters here for one reason: a team that already runs publishing and customer replies in it can add keyword and location monitoring without buying a second tool. Brand keyword groups are listed per plan (10 on Standard and Professional, 20 on Advanced), and the platform offers a 30-day trial.
- Pricing: Per seat / month. Annual billing, per seat per month: Essentials $79, Standard $199, Professional $299, Advanced $399, Enterprise custom, with a 30-day free trial. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams already managing social profiles here
- Strengths: Keyword and location monitoring; Brand keywords per group (10 on Standard and Professional, 20 on Advanced); Consolidated inbox.
Where it falls short
Monitoring on the base plans is keyword-based and sized for brand alerts, not deep research; the heavier listening is an add-on priced separately.
Wrong for
A research team or agency wanting archival analysis across many topics, or any team with no need for publishing and inbox tools.
Visit Sprout Social →
#8 Hootsuite
Social suite with monitoring and advanced Enterprise listening · Canada · hootsuite.com
14-day trial Per-user pricing Owns Talkwalker
Hootsuite's Standard plan lists monitoring of your brand and competitors alongside publishing and inbox, so a team that already lives in the product gets a basic listening view at no extra stage. Enterprise adds listening that uncovers trends across social, digital and AI, and its suite now includes Lumen for insights and listening, following Talkwalker joining the company.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Per user per month with Standard, Professional and Advanced plans and a 14-day free trial; Enterprise is custom. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams already publishing from Hootsuite
- Strengths: Brand and competitor monitoring (Standard); Unified inbox; Trend forecasting up to 90 days (Professional).
Where it falls short
Monitoring in the lower plans is a convenience, not a research tool. Stronger listening is the Enterprise tier or the separately sold Lumen product, which means a sales conversation.
Wrong for
A buyer who needs mention volume, sentiment history and exports as the main purchase.
Visit Hootsuite →
#9 Sprinklr
Enterprise CXM suite with social listening · United States · sprinklr.com
Enterprise Suite pricing Demo-led
Sprinklr treats listening as one module of a broad customer-experience platform, with separate product, location and visual insight offerings. Its public product tree lists Social Listening, Competitive Insights and Benchmarking, Product Insights, Location Insights, Visual Insights, LLM Insights and Video Intelligence, which suits a global brand that wants social data to feed service and marketing teams.
- Pricing: Quote only. The pages read show no price list. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Large multi-team enterprises
- Strengths: Social listening; Competitive insights and benchmarking; Product insights.
Where it falls short
Sprinklr is built for enterprise rollouts, with sales-led buying, implementation work and training that a ten-person team does not need. Suites are modular, so the cost of reaching listening depends on which others are bundled.
Wrong for
Small and mid-sized companies that need alerts and sentiment without a project plan.
Visit Sprinklr →
#10 Lumen by Talkwalker
Social listening and media monitoring, Hootsuite company · Canada · talkwalker.com
Unlimited users Hootsuite company Demo-led
Lumen by Talkwalker, the renamed Talkwalker platform, stands out for unlimited users on every plan, which removes the per-seat arithmetic that burdens other suites. The plans differ by volume of non-sampled results, topics, filters, channels and history. The page claims 150 million data sources and 30+ social platforms. It sits inside Hootsuite, so publishing and listening can be purchased from one group.
- Pricing: Quote only. Three plans (Core, Analyze, Business) priced by custom quote after a demo request. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Insight teams wanting unlimited seats
- Strengths: Social listening; Media monitoring; Social benchmarking.
Where it falls short
Pricing is quote-only, and plans are differentiated by data volume, topics and history rather than features, so the only way to compare is a demo.
Wrong for
A small team looking for a transparent monthly card price, or a buyer who dislikes mergers changing a product's name and packaging.
Visit Lumen by Talkwalker →
#11 BuzzSumo
Content research with mention alerts · United Kingdom · buzzsumo.com
Content research Media database Published pricing
BuzzSumo comes from the content side: it finds what performs well on a topic, tracks who writes about it, and sends alerts about media mentions and engagement. Its PR & Comms plan adds a journalist database, coverage reports with placement and excerpts, and Slack alerts.
- Pricing: Per plan / month, user-capped. Billed yearly: Content Creation $199 a month (1 user, 2 alerts), PR & Comms $299 (5 users, 5 alerts, media database), Suite $499 (10 users). Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Content and PR teams tracking coverage
- Strengths: Content Analyzer; Trending feeds; Question Analyzer.
Where it falls short
It is not a full social listening platform: the alert count is small (2 on the entry plan, 5 on PR & Comms), and it lacks the sentiment breadth of Brand24 or Brandwatch.
Wrong for
A brand-protection team that needs all public conversations, including forums and reviews, with sentiment scoring.
Visit BuzzSumo →
#12 Onclusive
Media monitoring and PR analytics with social listening · United States · onclusive.com
PR-led Demo-led Private-equity owned
Onclusive packages media monitoring, a media contacts database and social listening analytics in one platform, aimed at PR, communications and marketing professionals. Its legal page says its group companies are owned by holding companies in turn owned by investment affiliates of STG Partners, and its contact page lists offices in New York, London, Madrid and Barcelona, which helps European comms teams.
- Pricing: Quote only. Sold by demo request with no list price on the pages read. Free plan: none.
- Best for: PR teams needing coverage plus social
- Strengths: Media monitoring; Media contacts and events database; Social listening analytics.
Where it falls short
The listening module is one part of a PR suite, so social-specific depth lags dedicated tools. Pricing is not published and the route is a demo request. Private-equity ownership can mean packaging and price changes.
Wrong for
A growth marketer whose goal is real-time social alerts at a monthly card price.
Visit Onclusive →
Questions and answers
What is the best social listening tool in 2026?
Awario ranks first of 12, best for small teams tracking brand and competitors. Brand24 is second (marketers wanting AI sentiment and insights) and SentiOne third (teams needing many languages and history). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
What is the difference between social listening and social media monitoring?
Monitoring means watching for specific mentions and replying to them, such as a tag or a brand name in a complaint.
How much do social listening tools cost?
Published entry prices run from about €29 to €49 a month for Awario, $199 for SentiOne's smallest Social package and $249 monthly for Brand24 (or $199 billed annually), up to $499 monthly for BuzzSumo's Suite when billed annually.
Can social listening tools see private accounts or closed groups?
No. They collect public posts, public pages, news, blogs, forums and review sites that the platform's terms and APIs allow.
Does Sprout Social or Hootsuite replace a dedicated listening tool?
For brand-name alerts, often yes. Sprout Social's Standard plan lists keyword and location monitoring, and Hootsuite's Standard plan lists brand and competitor monitoring. Both sell deeper listening separately, Sprout through its Social Insights add-on and Hootsuite through its Lumen product.
How many keywords or topics do I need?
Start with one topic per brand, one per product line and one per major competitor, which is usually five to ten for a mid-sized company.
Which tools include news and press coverage, not just social?
Meltwater, Onclusive and BuzzSumo's PR & Comms plan are built around news and journalist data as well as social.
Can I track how AI assistants talk about my brand?
Some vendors now sell it. Lumen by Talkwalker lists LLM Insights, Meltwater lists AI Visibility Tracking, Onclusive lists AI Brand Visibility, Brand24 lists an AI Visibility module on its Enterprise plan, and Sprinklr lists LLM Insights.
Can a social listening tool handle multiple languages?
Most do, but depth differs. Awario lets you add keywords in any language, and SentiOne's higher packages go up to 80 languages.
How long does it take to see useful results?
A new alert on a clean query returns mentions within minutes to hours, but the first week is cleanup: excluding homonyms, adding misspellings and tagging noise. Trustworthy sentiment and share-of-voice benchmarks need a month or two of data.
Should I pick an independent vendor or one owned by a bigger group?
Independent specialists such as Awario, Brand24 and SentiOne tend to ship listening improvements as their core business, but have less cushion in a downturn.
