People talk about your brand every day on X, TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and news sites. Most of those posts never tag you, so you never see them. Social media monitoring software finds those posts for you. It tracks your brand name, products, and competitors, then shows you what people say and how they feel.
The tools range from $29 a month to custom enterprise deals. This guide compares ten of the best, with prices checked in October 2026, so you can match a tool to your budget and goals.
Quick Picks at a Glance
If you only have a minute, start here. The best social media monitoring software for a small business on a budget is Awario or Brand24. Teams that also post and reply on social media should look at Hootsuite or Sprout Social. Large brands that need deep research usually pick Brandwatch or Meltwater.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Brand24 | Small business brand tracking | $199 a month (yearly) |
| Sprout Social | Teams that post and listen in one place | $79 per seat a month; listening costs extra |
| Hootsuite | Listening included with scheduling | $99 per user a month (yearly) |
| Brandwatch | Deep consumer research | Custom quote |
| Meltwater | Social media news coverage | Custom quote |
| Awario | The lowest price | $29 a month (yearly) |
| Mention | Simple alerts for brands | Price on request |
| YouScan | Image and logo tracking | $499 a month |
| Lumen by Talkwalker | Global brands with many markets | Custom quote |
| Sprinklr | Very large companies | Custom quote |
Prices change often. Check each company’s site before you buy.
What Social Media Monitoring Software Does
Social media monitoring software searches public posts for the words you choose. These are usually your brand name, product names, and common misspellings. When it finds a match, it saves the post and adds details like the author, the reach, and the mood of the post.
Most tools do four main jobs:
- Alerts tell you when mentions spike, so you can act on a complaint before it spreads.
- Sentiment sorts posts into positive, negative, or neutral.
- Competitor tracking shows how often people talk about you compared with rivals.
- Reports turn all of this into charts you can share.
Monitoring also helps marketing in quieter ways. Likes and shares do not directly raise your Google rank, but they can bring links and searches over time. Our guide on social signals and SEO explains how that works.
The 10 Best Social Media Monitoring Software Tools
Each tool below is good social media monitoring software, but each one fits a different team. The list starts with tools most small and midsize teams can afford.
1. Brand24
Brand24 is a strong first choice for small and midsize brands. It is easy to set up. You type in a few keywords, and it starts pulling mentions from social media, news sites, blogs, and other public web pages.
The individual plan costs $199 a month billed yearly, or $249 a month to month. That covers 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions a month, with updates every 12 hours. Most growing teams will want the team plan at $299 a month billed yearly. It allows 7 keywords, 10,000 mentions, unlimited users, and hourly updates.
You can try it free for 14 days without a credit card. As social media monitoring software for the price, Brand24 gives a lot of value, but 3 keywords fill up fast once you add competitors.
2. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is best known for scheduling posts and handling replies. If your team already lives in Sprout, adding listening keeps everything in one place.
Plans start at $79 per seat a month, billed yearly. Here is the problem: listening is not part of any plan. It is a paid extra for the Standard plan ($199 per seat) and above, and Sprout does not post its price. Expect a real budget if you want this social media monitoring software for a team of five.
The 30-day free trial is generous. For more scheduling tools to compare, see our list of the best tools for social media management.
3. Hootsuite
Hootsuite includes social listening in its Standard plan, which costs $99 per user a month, billed yearly. That plan also tracks up to five competitors. This makes Hootsuite a cheaper path than Sprout Social if you want posting and listening together.
The Professional plan, at $199 per user, adds a 30-day quick search, data export, and AI trend forecasting up to 90 days ahead. Advanced listening with 13 months of history is only in Enterprise. Hootsuite offers a 14-day free trial. This social media monitoring software is a good middle ground for small marketing teams.
4. Brandwatch
Brandwatch is built for research. It covers more than 100 million online sources and stores over 1.4 trillion posts going back to 2008. That history lets you study how opinions about a topic changed over years, not just weeks.
Its AI assistant, Iris, writes short summaries of what the data shows. It can also find your logo in images, even when no one types your name. Brandwatch is part of the Cision family. Pricing is by custom quote, and this social media monitoring software is priced for large brands and agencies.
5. Meltwater
Meltwater is the pick if you care about news as much as social media. It tracks social posts, online news, forums, and Reddit in one place. PR teams like it because they can see press coverage and social talk side by side.
Its AI tool, Mira, sums up conversations and flags sudden spikes in Slack or Microsoft Teams. Pricing is by quote, and sources depend on your package and region. Ask exactly which sources come with your plan before you sign for this social media monitoring software.
6. Awario
Awario is the cheapest tool on this list. The Starter plan costs $29 a month billed yearly, or $49 month to month. It covers 3 topics and up to 30,000 new mentions a month. The Pro plan costs $89 a month billed yearly for 15 topics.
The reports are simpler than in Brand24, and the design feels basic. Still, if you are a solo founder or a small shop, this social media monitoring software does the core job at a low price. A free trial is available with no credit card.
7. Mention
Mention keeps things simple. You set up alerts, and it collects mentions from social media and the web. It supports Boolean searches, which let you combine words with AND, OR, and NOT to cut out noise.
Mention now sells one main plan, called Company. You must ask for a price, and historical data and API access cost extra. It works well as basic social media monitoring software, but the lack of a public price makes it harder to compare.
8. YouScan
YouScan is known for reading images. Many people post a photo with a brand logo but never type the brand name. YouScan can spot those posts, though image recognition only comes with its Unlimited plans, which are priced by quote.
The Starter plan costs $499 a month billed yearly. It covers 3 topics, 15,000 mentions a month, unlimited users, and an AI helper that answers 10 questions about your data each month. For consumer brands where photos matter, this social media monitoring software catches what text tools miss.
9. Lumen by Talkwalker
Talkwalker is now called Lumen by Talkwalker, and it is moving closer to Hootsuite. Your data, reports, and workflows stay the same after the name change. It tracks millions of conversations across social, digital, and AI channels, which suits global brands that work in many countries. Pricing is by quote. The company also offers some free tools, so you can test this social media monitoring software before you talk to sales.
10. Sprinklr
Sprinklr is made for very large companies. It joins listening, customer care, publishing, and ads in one system across many channels. Most buyers get a custom quote, and setup can take weeks. Unless you have a big team and budget, this social media monitoring software is more than you need.
How to Choose the Right Tool
The right social media monitoring software depends on three things: budget, team size, and goals.
- Tight budget: Start with Awario or Brand24. Track your brand name and one competitor.
- You also post content: Hootsuite includes listening at a lower price. Sprout Social is polished but costs more.
- PR and news matter: Meltwater covers both.
- Research and insights: Brandwatch has the deepest history.
- Photos drive your brand: YouScan reads logos in images.
Also think about who will use the tool. An agency may already pay for one of these platforms, so ask before you buy. Our breakdown of a social media agency vs an in house team can help you decide who should run monitoring. If you want to link social mentions to sales, pair your tool with customer journey tracking software.
Setup Mistakes to Avoid
Even the best social media monitoring software gives poor results if you set it up badly.
- Keywords that are too broad. A brand name like “Apple” will pull in fruit posts. Add words to include and exclude.
- Forgetting misspellings. People misspell brand names all the time. Add the common ones.
- Only watching your own brand. Track at least one competitor and one topic in your industry.
- Not acting on alerts. A tool only helps if someone checks it and replies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are quick answers to questions buyers often ask about social media monitoring software.
Monitoring tracks mentions and helps you reply to them one by one. Listening looks at the bigger picture, like trends and mood over time. Most social media monitoring software today does both.
Fully free social media monitoring software is rare and very limited. Brand24, Awario, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite offer free trials, which are the best way to test before you pay.
Final Thoughts
Good social media monitoring software helps you hear what people say about your brand when you are not in the room. Small teams should start with Awario or Brand24. Teams that also post content should compare Hootsuite and Sprout Social. Large brands should get quotes from Brandwatch and Meltwater.
Pick two tools, start their free trials in the same week, and track the same keywords in both. After seven days, keep the one that found more useful mentions.
