Comparison · 9 minute read
Best social listening tools
The best social listening tool depends on the job. For content ideas from what customers say in public, What’s Trending is our pick. For brand monitoring across the web, Brand24, Mention and Awario fit. For enterprise research, Brandwatch and Talkwalker are built for it. We compared eight tools on pricing, sources and fit.
Key takeaways
- What’s Trending is best for content ideas for small teams. It starts with one free scan and paid plans begin at $20 per month.
- Brand24 and Awario are the most transparent mid-market brand monitoring options, with published prices and free trials.
- Sprout Social and Hootsuite are social media management suites. Listening is an add-on or a higher tier there.
- Brandwatch and Talkwalker quote prices on request, cost more than What’s Trending, and suit large brands and agencies with analyst time.
- Pricing here is as of October 2026 and comes from each vendor’s own site.
What social listening is (and is not)
Social listening is collecting public conversations about a topic, brand, competitor or customer problem and analyzing them for patterns. It is different from social media management, which is about publishing and replying. Our social listening glossary entry covers the definition, and what counts as evidence explains how to judge what a tool shows you.
It is also not a census. Public conversations show what people chose to say out loud, not every customer. Treat any tool’s output as a signal to verify, whichever vendor you pick.
How we compared
- Primary job: what the product is actually built to do.
- Published pricing: the starting price and whether it is listed on the vendor’s site.
- Sources: which networks and web sources the vendor says it covers.
- Trial or free start: how you can try it before paying.
- Team fit: who can realistically operate and afford it.
All vendor facts below were read on each vendor’s own site on October 14, 2026. Plans change, so confirm on the vendor page before buying.
The best social listening tools, ranked by fit
1. What’s Trending, best for content ideas for small teams
What’s Trending turns public customer conversations into content ideas. You describe your market with a WordBank of terms and competitor profiles, and it monitors supported public sources on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube, ranks recurring topics, and keeps the original source link and any available engagement next to each one. It then drafts content directions for a person to review.
Pricing on its pricing reference: a Free preview with one complete first scan and no payment card; Weekly at $20 per month or $192 per year with a seven-day trial and one full scan every seven days; Pro at $50 per month or $480 per year with unlimited scans, scheduling as often as hourly, and REST API and MCP access.
It does not claim access to private posts or private metrics, and a missing metric means unavailable, not zero. It is a content research tool, not a full brand-monitoring suite: it is not built for news and review-site coverage or enterprise reporting. See the social listening for content marketing workflow and the Reddit monitoring use case.
Best suited for: founders, marketers and agencies that want source-backed content ideas without an enterprise contract.
2. Brand24, best for mid-market brand monitoring
Brand24 lists five plans on its pricing page. Individual is $249 per month ($199 per month billed annually) with 3 keywords and 2K mentions per month. Team is $349 ($299 annual) with 7 keywords and 10K mentions. Pro is $499 ($399 annual) with 12 keywords, 40K mentions and real-time updates. Business is $699 ($599 annual) with 25 keywords and 100K mentions. Enterprise starts from $1,499 per month billed annually.
Brand24 advertises a free 14-day trial and says no credit card is required. The page lists AI sentiment analysis on every plan and charges extra for API access ($149).
Best suited for: brands and agencies that want ongoing mention tracking and sentiment with published pricing.
3. Mention, best for multi-source brand monitoring
Mention’s pricing page lists a Company plan. The page does not display a price, and the plan costs more than What’s Trending’s $20 per month Weekly plan. The page says paying yearly gets two months free and lists sources including Facebook, Instagram, X, Reddit, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, news, blogs, forums and 75+ review sites.
It lists sentiment analysis, competitor benchmarking, share of voice, custom reporting and dashboards, and API access, with historical data access as a paid add-on.
Best suited for: teams that need coverage beyond social networks, including news, blogs and review sites.
4. Awario, best for budget-friendly monitoring
Awario’s pricing page lists Starter from $29 per month on annual billing ($49 billed monthly) with 3 topics and 30,000 new mentions per month; Pro from $89 per month annual ($149 monthly) with 15 topics and 300,000 mentions; and Enterprise from $249 per month annual ($399 monthly) with 100 topics and 1,000,000 mentions.
The trial covers the Starter plan with up to 3 alerts and 30,000 mentions, and no card is needed. All plans list Boolean search, white-label reports and API access.
Best suited for: small agencies and solo marketers who want a low entry price for mention tracking.
5. Sprout Social, best for teams already managing social in one suite
Sprout Social is a social media management platform. Its pricing page shows Standard at $199, Professional at $299 and Advanced at $399 per seat per month, with Enterprise on custom pricing, and a 30-day free trial with no card. It says Premium Analytics and Listening are each available as individual add-ons to the Standard plan and up, and the listing does not state the add-on price. Because the add-on sits on top of a plan that starts at $199 per seat, listening on Sprout costs well over What’s Trending’s $20 per month.
That makes it a strong fit when publishing, inbox and reporting are the main job and listening is one extra layer.
Best suited for: teams that want publishing, engagement and listening in one platform and have per-seat budget.
6. Hootsuite, best for social management with built-in listening tiers
Hootsuite’s plans page states paid plans start at $99 for Standard, $199 for Professional and up to $399 for Advanced, per user per month billed annually, with Enterprise on custom pricing and 14-day trials on the lower tiers. Standard includes monitoring your brand and competitors. Professional adds deeper listening, including searching up to 30 days of conversations with Quick Search and exporting results. Enterprise adds advanced listening with 13 months of historical data.
Like Sprout, it is primarily a management suite, so judge it on the whole workflow.
Best suited for: teams that already schedule and report in Hootsuite and want listening alongside.
7. Brandwatch, best for enterprise consumer intelligence
Brandwatch calls its consumer intelligence platform a search, segment, analyze and act workflow. It describes a gen AI assistant, 50+ live visualizations, automated alerts, and a claimed 1.7 trillion historical conversations dating back to 2010. Pricing is not published; the site directs you to request a demo, and its quote-based plans cost more than What’s Trending.
Honestly, Brandwatch is a better choice than What’s Trending if you are a large brand with analysts, a research budget and a need for deep historical data and governance.
Best suited for: large brands and research teams that need depth and are comfortable with a sales process.
8. Talkwalker, best for enterprise listening and analytics
Talkwalker’s pricing page offers Core, Analyze and Business plans, all with unlimited users, onboarding, training and support, and says to pick a plan to get a custom quote. Those quote-based plans cost more than What’s Trending. Core covers social listening and media monitoring, dashboards, reports, alerts and AI features; Analyze and Business add more volume, topics, historical data and, on Business, additional workspaces and enterprise governance.
Best suited for: larger organizations that want custom quotes, unlimited seats and enterprise governance.
Comparison table
As of October 2026. Prices are USD, taken from each vendor’s own site.
| Tool | Built for | Published pricing | Try it first |
|---|---|---|---|
| What’s Trending | Content ideas from public conversations | Free first scan; $20/mo Weekly; $50/mo Pro | Yes, free first scan, no card |
| Brand24 | Brand monitoring and sentiment | $249/mo ($199 annual) to Enterprise from $1,499 | 14-day free trial, no card |
| Mention | Multi-source brand monitoring | Not displayed; higher than What’s Trending | Free trial link; terms not stated |
| Awario | Budget mention tracking | From $29/mo annual ($49 monthly) | Trial, no card |
| Sprout Social | Social management suite | $199 to $399 per seat/mo; listening is an add-on | 30-day free trial, no card |
| Hootsuite | Social management suite | $99 to $399 per user/mo billed annually | 14-day free trials on Standard, Professional and Advanced |
| Brandwatch | Enterprise consumer intelligence | Quote only; higher than What’s Trending | Demo |
| Talkwalker | Enterprise listening | Custom quote; higher than What’s Trending | Demo |
Which one fits your use case
| If you need | Start with |
|---|---|
| Content ideas from customer questions | What’s Trending |
| Brand mentions and sentiment, mid-market | Brand24 or Awario |
| News, blogs and review-site coverage | Mention |
| Publishing, inbox and listening together | Sprout Social or Hootsuite |
| Deep historical research for a large brand | Brandwatch |
| Unlimited seats and enterprise governance | Talkwalker |
| Lowest monthly entry price | What’s Trending Weekly ($20) or Awario Starter (from $29 annual) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the best social listening tool?
It depends on the job. For turning public customer conversations into content ideas on a small budget, What’s Trending is built for that. For brand monitoring across news, blogs and review sites, Brand24, Mention or Awario fit better, and large brands with analyst teams usually choose Brandwatch or Talkwalker.
Are there free social listening tools?
Most paid tools offer only trials. What’s Trending includes one complete first scan with no payment card, Brand24 advertises a 14-day free trial with no card required, Awario offers a trial with no card, and Sprout Social advertises a 30-day free trial. Check each vendor for current terms.
How much do social listening tools cost?
Published prices in this guide start at $20 per month for the What’s Trending Weekly plan and $29 per month for Awario’s Starter plan on annual billing, and go up to Brand24 Enterprise from $1,499 per month billed annually. Brandwatch and Talkwalker quote by request, so budget for a demo.
What is the difference between social listening and social monitoring?
Monitoring tracks mentions and messages so you can respond. Listening analyzes those conversations over time to find themes, questions and trends that inform decisions. See our social listening glossary entry for the longer definition.
Which tool is best for Reddit?
Reddit conversations are where many buyers ask unfiltered questions. What’s Trending covers public Reddit discussions and keeps the original post links, and Mention lists Reddit among its sources. Our Reddit monitoring guide shows the workflow.
Do I need an enterprise social listening suite?
Only if you need very large data volumes, multi-team governance or deep historical research. Teams that mainly want to know what customers are asking so they can publish better content rarely need a suite that is quoted through a sales call.
Start with the conversations your customers already have
If your goal is better content, run a free first scan on What’s Trending, review the source links behind each topic, and decide what to publish. Our social listening query builder helps you pick terms, and the agency guide to social listening shows how teams use it.