Free Social Listening and Brand Monitoring Tools
Which social listening and brand monitoring tools a startup can track mentions of its brand, competitors and keywords with for free today, how many keywords or mentions the free plan covers, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each provider's own page.
Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . Listening tools change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the provider's page before you rely on it.
Social listening tools a startup can use for free today include F5Bot (Free for personal use), Awario (Free trial of the Starter plan), Talkwalker Alerts (Free Google Alerts alternative), Syften (14-day free trial of the PRO plan), and Social Searcher (Free, unlimited searches). Each of the 8 free plans below links to the provider's page that states it, with its main limit, its keyword and mention caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.
Knowing when someone mentions your product, a competitor or a problem you solve lets you join the conversation, answer complaints and find customers. Brand monitoring tools send alerts for your keywords, a few for free, and social listening platforms add sentiment and reports with a free trial.
The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. Free plans cap keywords or alerts a day and cover only some sources, and full listening platforms are usually trial-only. Each tool below shows what is free, its main limit, its keyword and mention caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the provider's own page with the date we read it.
Which tools we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the providers'. Some of these providers pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which tools are listed or where.
Brand monitoring with a free plan
Get alerts when your brand or keywords are mentioned, free.
- 1
F5Bot
Reddit and Hacker News keyword alerts, free for personal use
F5Bot's free plan is for personal use only, with 5 keywords and no card needed. The first paid plan, Silver, is $12.99 a month billed monthly.
- What's free
- Free for personal use (source: f5bot.com)
- Keywords and mentions
- 10 alerts a day per keyword (source: f5bot.com)
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: f5bot.com)
- First paid plan
- Silver: $12.99/mo, billed monthly (source: f5bot.com)
- 2
Talkwalker Alerts
Free email alerts for a brand, competitor or topic
A free alternative to Google Alerts that covers news, blogs, forums and Twitter (X). You choose the alert types you want when you set it up.
Start free at TalkwalkerTerms read on talkwalker.com on Talkwalker Alerts: the free allowance and how to start - 3
Social Searcher
Checking public brand mentions by hand, no sign-up
Its Social Listening tool is completely free with no caps or daily limits, and it shows publicly visible mentions across social networks.
- Keywords and mentions
- No caps or daily limits (source: social-searcher.com)
Start free at Social SearcherTerms read on social-searcher.com on Social Searcher: the free allowance and how to start
Social listening platforms with a free trial
Paid listening platforms with sentiment and reports you can try free first.
- 1
Awario
Trying alert and mention tracking before paying
Awario's trial gives free access to the Starter plan, with up to 3 alerts and 30,000 mentions. You do not need a credit card to sign up.
- Keywords and mentions
- Up to 30,000 mentions on the trial (source: awario.com)
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: awario.com)
- 2
Syften
Reddit and forum keyword alerts, 14 days to try
Syften's 14-day trial runs on its PRO plan, with 100 community filters and 500 results a day, and needs no credit card. The entry plan is $29.95 a month.
- Keywords and mentions
- 500 community results a day (source: syften.com)
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: syften.com)
- First paid plan
- Entry: $29.95/month (source: syften.com)
- 3
Octolens
AI-filtered brand mentions with a short trial
Octolens offers a 7-day free trial with no credit card. Its Pro plan is $159 a month billed annually.
- What's free
- 7-day free trial (source: octolens.com)
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: octolens.com)
- First paid plan
- Pro: $159/month billed annually (source: octolens.com)
- 4
Mention
Brand and competitor mentions, 14 days to try
Mention's signup page offers a 14-day free trial of the plan you pick, with no credit card required.
- What's free
- 14-day free trial (source: mention.com)
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: mention.com)
- 5
BuzzSumo
Media mentions and content alerts, 30-day trial
BuzzSumo's free trial lasts 30 days with no credit card and no commitment. The first paid plan, Content Creation, is $199 a month billed yearly.
- What's free
- 30-day free trial (source: buzzsumo.com)
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: buzzsumo.com)
- First paid plan
- Content Creation: $199/mo yearly (source: buzzsumo.com)
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How this comparison is built
The list covers social listening and brand monitoring tools a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each tool's terms. Every term comes from the tool's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on keywords or mentions a month, sources such as social networks kept for paid plans, a trial instead of a free plan can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the provider states them. Some of these tools pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a tool appears, and no tool pays for a placement on this page.
Read the full methodologyCommon questions
What is the best free social listening tool?
By the terms each provider states, F5Bot is free for personal use with 5 keywords, Talkwalker Alerts is a free Google Alerts alternative covering news, blogs, forums and X, and Social Searcher offers free, unlimited searches of public posts.
Is there a free alternative to Google Alerts?
Yes. Talkwalker Alerts describes itself as a free Google Alerts alternative, covering news, blogs, forums and Twitter (X).
Which social listening tools have a free trial?
BuzzSumo offers a 30-day free trial, Syften and Mention 14-day trials, and Octolens a 7-day trial; Awario's trial covers up to 3 alerts.
Is F5Bot free?
F5Bot is free for personal use with 5 keywords and up to 10 alerts a day per keyword; its Silver plan is $12.99 a month.
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