Media intelligence and social listening platform for tracking brand and news coverage
Best Social Media Listening Tools
Social Media Listening Tools are software that helps you plan, schedule, publish, and analyze social media content across multiple platforms. Use the list below to compare the top Social Media Listening Tools options by features, pricing, and reviews, and shortlist the ones that match your workflow and budget.
Social Media Listening Tools Compared
Compare the 7 most relevant Social Media Listening Tools options on price, free trial and deployment.
| Product | Starting price | Free trial | Free plan | API | Deployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Meltwater Media intelligence and social listening platform for tracking brand and… | Custom | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Mention Real-time media monitoring and social listening platform for brand and… | $599/month | ✓ | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Brand24 AI-powered social listening tool that tracks brand mentions across the… | $199/month | ✓ | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Brandwatch AI-powered consumer intelligence, social listening and social media management suite… | Contact sales | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Sprinklr AI-native unified customer experience management platform for social media, marketing,… | Custom / Contact sales | – | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Sprout Social AI-powered social media management platform for publishing, engagement, listening, and… | $199/seat/month (billed monthly) | ✓ | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
 Hootsuite All-in-one social media management platform for scheduling, publishing, engagement, listening,… | $99/month | ✓ | – | ✓ | Cloud Based |
All Software
7 Best Social Media Listening Tools Options
Showing 1 - 7 of 7 products
Meltwater is a media intelligence and social listening platform that monitors news, social media, podcasts, and broadcast content across more than 240 languages, helping marketing and communications teams track brand mentions, competitors, and emerging conversations. It offers Starter, Pro, Enterprise, and Agency tiers, but does not publish fixed prices; every contract is custom quoted based on sources monitored, regions, data volume, and number of users.
The platform uses AI to summarize coverage, detect sentiment shifts and potential crises, and surface prioritized insights instead of raw mentions. Meltwater does not offer a self-serve free trial, but prospective customers can request a guided demo. Most agreements run on annual contracts with a minimum 12-month term.
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Features
View all Meltwater Features- Media monitoring across news, print, broadcast and podcasts
- Social listening across X, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and YouTube
- Sentiment analysis and spike/crisis detection
- Share of voice and competitor tracking
- AI-powered insights and automated reporting
- Influencer marketing tools
- Media outreach and journalist database
- Custom executive dashboards
- Coverage in 240+ languages
Pricing
Meltwater Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Real-time media monitoring and social listening platform for brand and competitor tracking
Mention is a media monitoring and social listening platform, originally founded in Paris, France, that tracks brand and keyword mentions across social networks, news sites, blogs, forums, and review sites in real time. It offers sentiment analysis, competitor benchmarking, customizable dashboards, and scheduled reporting so marketing and communications teams can monitor conversations and measure brand reach.
As of 2025 Mention moved to a single self-serve tier called the Company Plan, priced from $599 per month on an annual contract, which includes five alerts and a shared 50,000 monthly mention quota with unlimited users. Historical data and API access are available as paid add-ons. Mention's social publishing and engagement features, Publish and Respond, are being discontinued in January 2026 in favor of a separate Agorapulse subscription.
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Features
View all Mention Features- Real-time monitoring across 1 billion+ sources including social, news, blogs, forums, and review sites
- Boolean search alerts (Basic, Standard, Advanced)
- Sentiment, volume, reach, and emotion analytics
- Competitor benchmarking
- Scheduled, auto-updating custom reports and dashboards
- Data export in multiple formats
- Slack notifications for new mentions
- Zapier integration to thousands of apps
- Role-based team access (Admin, User, Guest)
- Optional historical data lookback (up to 2 years) and API access add-ons
Pricing
Company Plan
$599/month
5 alerts, 50,000 mentions/month (shared quota), unlimited users
Mention Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
AI-powered social listening tool that tracks brand mentions across the web in real time
Brand24 is an AI-powered social listening and media monitoring platform that tracks brand, competitor, and keyword mentions across more than 25 million online sources, including social media, news sites, blogs, forums, podcasts, videos, and review sites. It provides sentiment analysis, reach and share of voice metrics, anomaly detection, and influencer identification so marketing and PR teams can respond quickly to conversations about their brand.
Founded in Poland and used by businesses of many sizes, Brand24 offers tiered plans based on keyword count and monthly mention volume, from an Individual plan up to a custom Enterprise tier. Paid plans include AI sentiment analysis, customizable reports, and export to PowerPoint, with faster update frequency and additional AI features unlocked on higher tiers. A 14 day free trial is available with no credit card required.
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Features
View all Brand24 Features- Real-time mention tracking across social media, news, blogs, forums, podcasts, videos, and review sites
- AI-powered sentiment analysis
- Anomaly detection for sudden spikes in mentions
- Share of voice and reach metrics
- Influencer and top author identification
- Customizable alert frequency from real-time to weekly digests
- Exportable PowerPoint reports and dashboards
- AI Brand Assistant and AI Topics analysis on Pro tier and above
- Lightning Search for instant historical queries on Pro tier and above
- Boolean keyword filtering
Pricing
Brand24 Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
AI-powered consumer intelligence, social listening and social media management suite for enterprises
Brandwatch is a consumer intelligence and social media management suite, part of Cision, that combines social listening across more than 100 million sources with publishing tools, a unified engagement inbox, and influencer marketing capabilities. The platform offers customizable analytics dashboards, competitive benchmarking, and crisis and trend detection, and is used by market researchers, social media teams, and PR professionals at large brands and agencies. The company is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
Brandwatch does not publish self-serve pricing online. Plans are quoted individually by its sales team based on the modules, data volume, and seats a customer needs, spanning standard to enterprise tiers. There is no self-serve free plan, and prospective customers request a live demo rather than a free trial. Mobile apps for engagement and publishing are available on iOS and Android.
Read Brandwatch Reviews Explore additional details
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Features
View all Brandwatch Features- Social listening across 100 million+ online and social sources
- Consumer intelligence and market research analytics
- Content calendar with publishing and approval workflows
- Unified engagement inbox for community management and customer support
- Influencer marketing and campaign management tools
- Customizable dashboards with exportable reports
- Competitive benchmarking with years of historical data
- Image and logo recognition (Image Insights)
- Crisis and trend detection and alerts
- Developer API access
Pricing
Brandwatch Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
AI-native unified customer experience management platform for social media, marketing, customer service, and insights
Sprinklr is a unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform built for large organizations and enterprises. It brings together social media management, customer service, marketing campaign orchestration, and social listening/insights into a single AI-powered system, letting teams manage conversations and content across 30+ digital and social channels from one console.
The platform uses a shared AI engine and data layer across all its products, offering features like AI copilots, automated agents, sentiment analysis, and omnichannel contact center tools. Sprinklr serves major global brands such as Microsoft, Ford, Uber, and Samsung, and pricing is customized per organization through direct sales consultation rather than published self-serve tiers.
Read Sprinklr Reviews Explore additional details
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Features
View all Sprinklr Features- Social media publishing and scheduling across 30+ digital and social channels
- Unified Agent Console for managing customer interactions from one dashboard
- Social listening and competitive benchmarking (Sprinklr Insights)
- Omnichannel contact center with conversational IVR and quality management (Sprinklr Service)
- AI-powered Copilot for real-time conversational assistance
- AI Agents for automating repetitive customer service and workflow tasks
- Campaign orchestration and social advertising management (Sprinklr Marketing)
- Employee advocacy and content marketing tools
- Sentiment, intent, and urgency-based automatic message categorization
- Developer APIs and platform integrations via Sprinklr Developer Portal
Pricing
Custom Enterprise Plan
Custom / Contact sales
Varies by organization size and modules selected
Sprinklr Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
AI-powered social media management platform for publishing, engagement, listening, and analytics
Sprout Social is a cloud-based social media management platform that helps businesses publish content, engage with customers, and analyze performance across networks like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and X. Its Smart Inbox consolidates messages and comments from every connected profile into one stream, while AI Assist helps teams draft captions, replies, and reports faster.
The platform also offers social listening, competitor benchmarking, sentiment analysis, and review management for businesses that need deeper brand intelligence. Sprout Social is built for teams of any size, from small marketing departments to large agencies and enterprises managing many social profiles, with tiered plans that unlock more automation, reporting, and API access at higher levels.
Read Sprout Social Reviews Explore additional details
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Features
View all Sprout Social Features- Unified publishing and scheduling calendar across major social networks
- Smart Inbox that consolidates messages, comments, and mentions in one stream
- AI Assist for drafting captions, post ideas, and reply suggestions
- Social listening for brand mentions, keywords, and competitor tracking
- Sentiment analysis and message tagging for customer care workflows
- Cross-channel analytics and customizable performance reports
- Review management for third-party review sites
- Optimal send time recommendations based on audience activity
- Sprout Social public API for custom integrations and reporting
- Mobile apps for managing profiles, inbox, and calendar on the go
Pricing
Sprout Social Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
All-in-one social media management platform for scheduling, publishing, engagement, listening, and analytics
Hootsuite is a social media management platform that lets businesses schedule and publish posts, manage a unified inbox for messages and comments, and track analytics across networks like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest from one dashboard. It includes AI-powered tools for caption writing, best-time-to-post recommendations, and trend detection, along with social listening for brand monitoring and competitive benchmarking.
Built for teams of all sizes, Hootsuite supports approval workflows, message routing, and custom reporting to help marketing and customer care teams collaborate efficiently. It connects with over 100 third-party apps and integrations, and offers a 14 day free trial with no credit card required.
Read Hootsuite Reviews Explore additional details
Explore various Keka features, compare the pricing plans, and unlock the potential of seamless operations by selecting the right software for your business.
Features
View all Hootsuite Features- Multi-network post scheduling and bulk publishing (up to 350 posts at once)
- Unified social inbox for messages, comments, and customer care
- AI-powered caption and content generation (Wisdom AI assistant)
- Best-time-to-post recommendations
- Social listening with brand monitoring and sentiment analysis
- Competitive benchmarking and trend forecasting
- Custom analytics and reporting dashboards
- Content approval workflows and team collaboration tools
- Message routing and assignment for team inboxes
- Support for organic and paid social content management
Pricing
Hootsuite Caters to
- StartUps
- SMEs
- Agencies
- Enterprises
Social Media Listening Tools Buyer's Guide
Most Social Media Listening Tools options look alike on a feature grid, so the useful comparison is how each handles your actual process. What follows is a practical breakdown of features, buyers, cost, and the questions worth putting to a vendor.
What is Social Media Listening Tools?
Social Media Listening Tools help teams bring the operational admin behind social media listening work into one place rather than several disconnected tools. The practical gain is consolidation: information that would otherwise sit across spreadsheets and email threads stays in one place and stays current. The practical difference shows up in the awkward cases rather than the standard ones.
Key features to look for in Social Media Listening Tools
Treat the list below as a checklist rather than a requirement set, since not all of it will apply to you.
- Records and profiles built around social media listening work
- Scheduling and capacity planning
- Workflow stages matching how social media listening operations actually run
- Invoicing and payment handling
- Document storage and compliance records
- Customer and contact communication
- Reporting on the measures that matter in social media listening work
- Role based access for different staff types
Benefits of using Social Media Listening Tools
Where the fit is right, reported gains from Social Media Listening Tools usually include:
- Workflows that match social media listening operations instead of a generic process
- Less adaptation of general purpose software to a specialist job
- Records and terminology that fit the field
- Compliance and record keeping handled in one place
- Reporting on measures that are actually relevant
Who uses Social Media Listening Tools?
Social Media Listening Tools is used by owners and managers in social media listening work, administrative staff, and the frontline teams delivering it. Fit is decided by how you work rather than how large you are.
How to choose the right Social Media Listening Tools
When comparing Social Media Listening Tools, weigh these factors:
- How closely the workflow matches your own social media listening operation
- Whether sector specific compliance requirements are covered
- The size of operation the product is genuinely designed for
- Data migration from whatever you use today
- How responsive the vendor is to requests specific to this field
Trial a small shortlist against genuine work rather than a vendor scenario, and let the people who will live in the tool lead that evaluation.
How much does Social Media Listening Tools cost?
Vendors in this space normally price per seat or per location each month, tiered by size. Pricing tends to sit above general purpose software, a function of narrow market size rather than margin. Map the pricing model to expected usage a year out rather than today, and confirm the capabilities you need sit in the tier you are pricing rather than one above it.
FAQs of Social Media Listening Tools
Social Media Listening Tools handles the day to day paperwork of social media listening work, keeping customer records, scheduling and payment in one place.
General tools need adapting to social media listening workflows and rarely cover the terminology or compliance involved, which is what Social Media Listening Tools is built around.
Scale assumptions vary widely across Social Media Listening Tools, so ask any vendor what a typical social media listening customer of theirs actually looks like.
Social Media Listening Tools vendors differ on migration, so confirm the import path for your current social media listening records rather than assuming it is included.
Social Media Listening Tools pricing is commonly per seat or per site and tiered by scale, so budget above what a general purpose social media listening tool would cost.
Trial Social Media Listening Tools against real social media listening work rather than a vendor demo, and involve the staff who will use it daily.