The unified dashboard provides valuable insights to help refine social strategies and optimize content. The tool also gives you audience demographics like age, gender, and location to help you better understand your target audience.

Top 3 Features

• Real-time analytics on post performance, audience insights, and social trends
• Customizable reports to track key metrics and share with stakeholders
• Intuitive interface for scheduling and analyzing content across platforms

Company overview

Buffer, founded by Joel Gascoigne in 2010, was designed to simplify social media management. Its first product, a scheduling tool launched in 2011, quickly became popular. Over time, Buffer added more features, including analytics tools like Buffer Analyze.

In 2021, Honey acquired Buffer to enhance its offerings and reach. Despite the acquisition, Buffer remains focused on top-notch social media tools and regularly updates its platform.

Today, Buffer supports over 75,000 customers in 100+ countries, from small businesses to large enterprises. Headquartered in San Francisco, it has a global team of 90+ employees. Known for its transparency, remote work culture, and employee well-being, Buffer is celebrated as a top tech workplace.

Verdict

While Buffer excels at social media scheduling and publishing, its monitoring and analytics capabilities are also top-notch. Over 1,000 users rate Buffer (4.3 out of 5) for the needed features: track key metrics like shares, comments, likes, clicks, reach, impressions, and follower growth.

Top 3 features

• Social media analytics dashboard to comprehensively view your social media performance with customizable dashboards.
• Competitor analysis to benchmark your performance against competitors and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Custom reporting to create tailored reports to track specific metrics and KPIs relevant to your business goals.

Company overview

Sprout Social was founded in 2010 by Justyn Howard, Aaron Rankin, Gil Lara, and Mike Del Preto to help businesses manage their social media. They launched their social media management platform in 2011, quickly gaining popularity among small and medium-sized businesses.

Over the years, Sprout Social has expanded its tools, went public in 2019, and now serves over 30,000 customers in 100+ countries. Sprout Social regularly releases updates and new features to keep up with customer needs.

In 2021, Sprout Social acquired Bambu, enhancing its social media management capabilities. Headquartered in Chicago, Sprout Social has a global team of 800+ employees. Its focus on innovation, customer success, and employee well-being has earned it recognition as a top workplace in tech.

Verdict

Sprout Social’s monitoring capabilities provide businesses with powerful tools to stay informed, make data-driven decisions, and optimize their social media strategies for success. Sprout is better suited for businesses and enterprises with a sizeable budget, as user reviews on Capterra point out, where Sprout Social scores 4.4 out of 5.

Top 3 features:

• Social Listening for comprehensive monitoring of brand mentions, industry keywords, and competitor activity across social media platforms.
• Competitive Analysis that benchmarks your performance against competitors to identify areas for improvement.
• Customizable Dashboards for tailored analytics dashboards to track the KPIs and metrics that are most relevant to your business.

Company overview

Founded in 2008, Hootsuite has grown to become one of the most established and widely used social media management platforms, serving over 200,000 customers in more than 175 countries. Its longevity and market presence both demonstrate its reliability and ability to adapt to evolving social media trends.

Verdict

Hootsuite’s monitoring capabilities provide businesses with a powerful suite of tools to stay informed, make data-driven decisions, and optimize their social media strategies for success. Hootsuite is rated 4.2 out of 5 (over 4,000 reviews) on G2 and 4.4 out of 5 on Capterra (3,691 reviews).

Top 3 features

• Social media monitoring across major platforms
• Social media publishing and engagement tools
• Detailed analytics and reporting

Company overview

Agorapulse was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Paris. The company serves over 30,000 customers worldwide, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Spotify. Only in 2022 and 2023 did Agorapulse make substantial progress, with key developments that showcase the platform’s commitment to innovation and user satisfaction. Notably, in 2024, Agorapulse has exciting plans for new features, including Advanced Listening for monitoring conversations, which is quintessential to social media monitoring.

Verdict

Agorapulse is lauded by users because they can schedule posts, respond, and monitor everything in the same app. Agorapulse is rated 4.6 on Capterra out of 710 reviews and 4.5 on G2 based on 924 reviews.

One of Brandwatch’s standout features is its robust Boolean search functionality, which allows me to create precise queries to monitor specific keywords, phrases, and topics related to my brand. This level of precision is crucial for cutting through the noise and ensuring you only receive relevant mentions.

Top 3 features

• Real-time social data collection and analysis
• Sentiment analysis and emotion detection
• Influencer identification and audience insights

Company overview

Brandwatch is a global leader in social intelligence, with offices in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, and Australia. Founded in 2007, the company serves over 2,000 brands and agencies worldwide.

Brandwatch first began tracking billions of online conversations across blogs, news, forums, videos, Twitter, reviews, images, and Facebook. By 2017, it had developed proprietary web crawler technology that searched over 80 million pages daily, indexing content and conducting sentiment analysis using natural language processing.

Verdict

Brandwatch is an indispensable tool for monitoring a brand’s online presence, analyzing consumer sentiment, and informing marketing and PR strategies—if you can afford it. Brandwatch snagged 4.3 out of 5 on Capterra.

If there’s one thing users like about BuzzSumo, it is its comprehensive data on social shares, backlinks, and engagement metrics. By analyzing how different pieces of content perform across various social platforms, users can identify content trends and optimize their content strategy accordingly.

Top 3 features

• Content performance analysis
• Influencer identification and outreach
• Competitor monitoring and analysis

Company overview

BuzzSumo existed in a “rudimentary” form before its official launch in 2014, thanks to a $150,000 early investment from Steve Rayson. The idea for BuzzSumo came about when Rayson, an experienced entrepreneur, stumbled across an early version of the tool while searching the web for trending content. Realizing its potential, Rayson met with co-founders James Blackwell and Henley Wing to discuss turning BuzzSumo into a full-fledged business.

Today, BuzzSumo is a leading content marketing and social media analytics platform businesses use to discover trending content, identify influencers, and analyze their competitors. In 2017, the company was acquired by Brighton-based social media monitoring firm Brandwatch.

Verdict

BuzzSumo is great for content ideation, competitive analysis, and influencer marketing. Its comprehensive data coverage, advanced search functionality, and actionable insights make it a top choice for content marketers looking to stay ahead of the curve. BuzzSumo is rated 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra.

Keyhole’s QuickTrends functionality synthesizes data from all relevant social accounts in one unified dashboard. It’s no wonder outlets like CNN rely on Keyhole for instant insights on industry trends.

Top 3 features

• Real-time social media monitoring across major platforms
• Detailed analytics for reach, engagement, and clicks
• Automated reporting and alerts

Company overview

Headquartered in Toronto, Keyhole serves over 10,000 customers worldwide, including Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Uber. In 2023, Keyhole expanded its capabilities to include features like machine learning-based performance predictions, sentiment analysis, and influencer management. 

Verdict

Keyhole positions itself as an “enterprise social listening and monitoring tool,” implying it caters to large businesses. However, there are insufficient user ratings and feedback from online platforms like Capterra or G2 to understand how users interact with the platform.

Talkwalker’s comprehensive coverage of over 150 million websites, social networks, blogs, and forums in 187 languages makes it a powerful ally for brands looking to stay on top of online conversations.

Top 3 features

• Real-time social data collection and analysis
• Image and video analytics
• Predictive analytics and trend forecasting

Company overview

Talkwalker was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Luxembourg. The company serves over 2,500 brands and agencies worldwide, including Microsoft, Adidas, and Spotify. Talkwalker’s recent launch of Quick Search, a free social media search engine, shows its dedication to making advanced analytics accessible to all marketers.

In April 2024, Talkwalker was acquired by Hootsuite.

Verdict

Talkwalker is a good option for social media monitoring, analytics, and brand intelligence, although it lacks user reviews on Capterra (rated 4.3 by 23 reviewers) and G2 to gauge users’ interactions with the platform.

That said, it’s important to note that Google Alerts has some limitations. It primarily monitors web pages and indexed content, so it may not be as effective for tracking social media mentions. The tool also doesn’t always return results for queries with low search volume.

Top 3 features

• Web monitoring for keywords and topics
• Email alerts for new mentions
• Basic analytics and insights

Company overview

Google Alerts is one of the many products of tech giant, Google, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998. I couldn’t find the exact launch date for Google Alerts. However, it appears to have been available for several years, at least since the early 2010s, as an established tool for web monitoring.

Verdict

Google Alerts has major limitations, but it’s easy to use. If you have a zero-budget budget for social media monitoring, start with Google Alerts.

From what I’ve seen, Awario’s sentiment analysis is a key feature. By categorizing mentions as positive, negative, or neutral, the tool provides valuable insights into how your brand is perceived online so that you can proactively manage your reputation and address any customer concerns.

Top 3 features

• Boolean search for advanced monitoring queries
• Automated reports and alerts
• Team collaboration features

Company overview

Founded in 2015, Awario has quickly established itself as a leader in the social listening space. Awario has grown into a powerful web monitoring tool that crawls 13 billion website pages daily to track mentions across social media, news, blogs, forums, and more. The company serves over 10,000 customers worldwide, including major brands like Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Uber.

Verdict

While Awario may not have the brand recognition of some of its competitors, its powerful features, user-friendly interface, and affordable pricing make it a top choice for businesses of all sizes looking to monitor their online presence. Awario scores 4.3 out of 5 on Capterra (47 reviews).

One great thing about Mention is its sentiment analysis and influencer identification capabilities. By analyzing the tone and context of brand mentions, Mention helps you gauge consumer sentiment and identify key influencers who are driving conversations about your brand, which is invaluable for proactively managing your brand’s reputation and reaching the right audiences.

Top 3 features

• Social media monitoring across major platforms
• Sentiment analysis and emotion detection
• Influencer identification and audience insights

Company overview

Mention was founded in 2012 and has since grown to serve over 1 million users worldwide, including major brands like Adidas, Coca-Cola, and Uber. The company has expanded its coverage to monitor mentions across various social media platforms, news sites, blogs, and forums.

Verdict

Mention may not have the brand recognition of some of its competitors, but its powerful social listening features, affordable pricing, and growing user base make it a top choice for businesses of all sizes. Users rate it on average 4.7 out of 5 (289 reviews) on Capterra.

Top 3 features

• Social media inbox
• Social media analytics
• Social media scheduling

Company overview

HubSpot was founded in 2006 by MIT students Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, who recognized the potential of the internet to help smaller companies compete with larger ones. They started a blog to build an inbound marketing community and formally launched their business plan in 2005, becoming semi-finalists in MIT’s $50,000 business plan competition.

HubSpot went public in 2014 and has since evolved into a comprehensive customer platform with marketing, sales, service, and website management tools. HubSpot’s journey has been marked by key milestones, such as acquiring Oneforty, securing over $65 million in venture capital, and expanding internationally.

Verdict

HubSpot is recognized as a powerhouse when it comes to social media management, which is why HubSpot has over 4,000 reviews on Capterra, scoring 4.5, and 4.4 out of a whopping 10,823 reviews on G2.

Determ’s key features include real-time alerts for potential crises, AI-generated summaries and insights, and the ability to create visually stunning reports that prove the ROI of PR efforts. Users report saving up to 20 hours per week by automating monitoring and reporting with Determ.

Top 3 features

• Real-time online and social media monitoring
• AI-powered sentiment analysis and insights
• Customizable reports to prove PR impact

Company overview

Determ, initially known as Mediatoolkit, was founded in 2016 to offer businesses a powerful and user-friendly media monitoring solution for tracking online mentions in real time across social media, news sites, blogs, and forums.

In its early years, Determ focused on building a robust data infrastructure and developing AI-powered analytics. The platform quickly gained popularity among PR and marketing professionals for its real-time insights into brand reputation, competitor activity, and media coverage. The company expanded its team, opened new offices in Europe and the US, and added features like customizable reporting, sentiment analysis, and an AI assistant named Synthia.

Today, Determ serves over 4,000 customers worldwide and is a leading provider of media monitoring and analytics software.

Verdict

According to customer reviews, Determ is a “great and affordable media tool” that helps teams “explore big data” and “improve their ability to track information from media and social platforms.” The platform’s support team is also praised for being “very competent” and helpful. Determ is rated 4.4 out of 5 with 34 reviews on Capterra.

Digimind’s advanced analytics and reporting features make it easy to prove the impact of social media monitoring. Customizable dashboards display key metrics like share of voice, sentiment, and influencer impact. Automated reports can be scheduled to keep stakeholders informed regularly. 

Top 3 features

• Global monitoring of 1M+ sources in 80+ languages
• Customizable dashboards and reports
• Multi-language support

Company overview

Founded in 1998 in Grenoble, France, Digimind launched its first product, vStrat, within a year. It was followed by Strategic Finder in 1999. By 2003, Digimind introduced Digimind Evolution, a competitive intelligence software application. In 2007, they launched Digimind 7 for real-time news analysis. 

Today, Digimind has over 200 employees across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and was recognized as a leader in Market and Competitive Intelligence Platforms by Forrester Research in 2019.

Verdict

Users praise Digimind’s ability to provide “a 360-degree view of the market” and “uncover valuable insights to drive business decisions,” although there are very few reviews (14 at the moment) on Capterra.

Digimind’s robust data collection and reporting capabilities make it a favorite among PR and marketing teams looking to monitor brand reputation, track competitors, and measure the impact of their campaigns. However, its high price point and steep learning curve may be prohibitive for smaller businesses.

Top 3 features

• Real-time social media monitoring
• Sentiment analysis
• Influencer identification

Company overview

Brand24, founded in 2011 by Michał Sadowski and Michał Lipka in Poznań, Poland, initially focused on providing social media monitoring services for tracking brand mentions and online conversations. 

The company quickly grew by offering an affordable, user-friendly solution and expanding its data sources to include news sites, blogs, forums, and more. Over time, advanced features like sentiment analysis, influencer identification, and custom alerts were added, leading to over 1,000 customers worldwide by 2019 and the launch of mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Today, Brand24 has over 50 employees in Poland and the US, continually innovating its platform with AI-powered insights and analytics.

Verdict

Brand24 is a solid choice for small to medium-sized businesses seeking an affordable, easy-to-use social media monitoring solution. Its real-time tracking, sentiment analysis, and influencer identification features provide valuable insights to help manage brand reputation and identify key opinion leaders.

While it lacks some of the advanced capabilities of enterprise tools, Brand24 delivers strong value for its price point, scoring 4.7 out of 5 on Capterra based on 159 reviews.

Users praise Sprinklr’s ability to provide a “single pane of glass” for managing social media and customer experience. The unified platform makes it easy to monitor conversations, engage with customers, and prove the value of our efforts.” One user states, “The reporting capabilities are unparalleled – we can create custom dashboards to track the metrics that matter most to our business.”

Top 3 features

• Omnichannel social media monitoring
• Advanced analytics and reporting
• Unified customer experience platform

Company overview

Sprinklr was founded in 2009 by Ragy Thomas and has grown to over 2,000 employees worldwide. The company has raised over $200 million in funding and acquired several social media management and analytics startups, including Dachis Group, Branderati, Pluck, and Postano. In 2021, Sprinklr went public on the NYSE, raising $266 million.

Verdict

Sprinklr is the social media monitoring tool of choice for large enterprises that require comprehensive coverage across channels and the ability to tie social data into a broader customer experience strategy.

Thanks to data collection, AI-powered analytics, and multi-language support, Sprinklr is a powerful solution for global brands looking to understand and engage with customers at scale. However, its high price point and complexity may be prohibitive for smaller businesses with more limited budgets and resources. Users rate it 4.2 out of 5 on average, based on 81 reviews on Capterra.

Zoho Social’s integration with Zoho CRM is a key differentiator. It provides a 360-degree view of customer interactions, from social media to sales and support, so that businesses deliver more personalized and effective engagement.

Users praise Zoho Social’s ease of use and the ability to manage all social media activities in one place. One reviewer notes, “The unified inbox makes it simple to respond to comments and messages across networks.”

Top 3 features

• Social media monitoring across 9 networks
• Integration with Zoho CRM for unified customer data
• Social media scheduling, publishing, and analytics

Company overview

Zoho Social is part of Zoho Corporation, a global technology company founded in 1996. Zoho has evolved from a single online office suite to a comprehensive business operating system with over 45 applications. Zoho Social was launched in 2015 as the company’s social media management offering. In 2021, Zoho Social introduced enhanced monitoring features, including sentiment analysis and influencer identification.

Verdict

Zoho Social is a strong choice for businesses that are already using Zoho’s CRM and marketing tools. Maybe this isn’t for you if you’re not using the other tools in the Zoho One suite.

While it may not have all the advanced features of dedicated social media monitoring platforms, Zoho Social provides solid value for the price, especially for small to medium-sized businesses in Zoho’s ecosystem, and it’s rated favorably with a 4.7 score out of 3,122 reviews on Capterra.

Users commend Sendible’s ability to streamline their social media workflow. One reviewer notes “Sendible has been a game-changer for our agency. The ability to monitor multiple clients and networks from a single dashboard saves us hours each week.”

Top 3 features

• Social media monitoring across 12 networks
• Unified inbox for responding to messages
• Social media scheduling, publishing, and analytics

Company overview

Sendible was founded in 2009 by Gavin Hammar. The company has grown to over 50 employees and serves over 100,000 users worldwide. In 2021, Sendible launched a new visual planner feature to help users create and schedule content more efficiently.

Verdict

Sendible is great for agencies and businesses that are managing multiple social media accounts. Its monitoring, publishing, and reporting features make it easy to stay on top of conversations and prove the value of social media efforts.

Although Sendible lacks some advanced capabilities of enterprise tools, it delivers strong functionality at an affordable price point. Users rate Sendible 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra.

Customers praise YouScan’s ability to provide a comprehensive view of online conversations thanks to multi-language support and visual recognition features. Some user feedback states, “The brand reputation management tools make it easy to identify and mitigate potential crises before they escalate.”

Top 3 features

• AI-powered image and video recognition
• Multi-language monitoring in 100+ languages
• Brand reputation management tools

Company overview

YouScan was founded in 2012 by a team of data scientists and marketing experts in Kyiv, Ukraine. The company has grown to over 100 employees and serves enterprise clients across Europe, North America, and Asia. In 2020, YouScan launched its AI Brand Assistant, which uses natural language processing to provide actionable insights from social data.

Verdict

YouScan is a powerful social media monitoring solution for large enterprises that require advanced AI capabilities and multi-language support. Its image and video recognition and comprehensive brand reputation management features make it a top choice for global brands looking to understand and engage with customers at scale. However, YouScan’s pricing and enterprise focus are prohibitive for smaller businesses. It is rated 4.9 out of 5 on Capterra based on 64 reviews.

Meltwater’s advanced analytics and reporting features make it easy to prove the impact of PR and social media efforts. Customizable dashboards display key metrics like share of voice, sentiment, and message resonance. Automated reports can be scheduled to keep stakeholders informed regularly. Users praise Meltwater’s ability to provide “a 360-degree view of the market” and “uncover valuable insights to drive business decisions.”

Top 3 features

• Historical data captures
• Automated regular reporting
• Advanced Boolean search tools

Company overview

Meltwater was founded in 2001 by Jørn Lyseggen in Oslo, Norway. The company has grown to over 2,000 employees across 50 offices worldwide. In 2021, Meltwater acquired social media analytics firm Sysomos to enhance its social media monitoring capabilities. The company went public on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2021.

Verdict

Meltwater is a powerful media monitoring solution for large enterprises, offering comprehensive global coverage and advanced analytics. Its robust data collection and reporting capabilities make it ideal for PR and marketing teams to monitor brand reputation, track competitors, and measure campaign impact.

However, Meltwate can be crazy expensive (the average price is $5,000!) and complex for smaller businesses with limited budgets. Users rate it a 4.0 out of 5 based on 91 reviews on Capterra.

Cyfe is praised for its affordability and ability to consolidate data from multiple sources. One user review states, “The customizable dashboards make it easy to get a high-level view of how our social media, SEO, and other marketing efforts are performing.”

Top 3 features

• Track Facebook insights over time
• Integrations with 40+ data sources, including social media
• Customizable dashboards and widgets to monitor key metrics

Company overview

Cyfe was founded in 2011 by Russ Henneberry and Shaun Elley. The company is based in San Diego, California. In 2019, Cyfe launched its mobile app for iOS and Android to allow users to monitor their business metrics on the go.

Verdict

Cyfe is a good option for small businesses looking to monitor social media alongside other important business data. While it lacks some of the advanced features of dedicated social media monitoring tools, Cyfe makes up for it with an affordable price point and easy-to-use dashboards. Integrating data from over 40 sources into one place is a major selling point for users, corroborated by reviews of 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra.

Customers praise BrandMentions’ ability to provide a comprehensive view of online conversations and its detailed competitor analysis capabilities. The ability to benchmark against competitors and see exactly where brands stand is invaluable. Plus, the white-label reporting makes showcasing the value of marketing agency work to clients easy.

Top 3 features

• Monitoring of 100M+ websites, blogs, forums and social media
• Competitor analysis and benchmarking
• White-label reporting for agencies

Company overview

BrandMentions was founded in 2012 by a team of digital marketing experts in Bucharest, Romania. The company has grown to over 100 employees and serves enterprise clients across North America, Europe, and Asia. In 2021, BrandMentions launched its AI-powered sentiment analysis and intent detection features to provide deeper insights into online conversations.

Verdict

BrandMentions is a powerful brand monitoring solution for large enterprises that require comprehensive web coverage and advanced competitor analysis. Its AI-powered sentiment analysis and intent detection make it easy to understand how a brand is perceived online and identify potential risks or opportunities. While likely too expensive for small businesses, BrandMentions delivers strong value for its enterprise-level clients. BrandMentions scores 4.6 out of 5 on G2.