Brandwatch's price is only available through a sales demo. The one public price list is the rate card Brandwatch filed for UK government buyers, which starts Consumer Research at £10,800 a year for 5 searches, with required onboarding from £3,000. Though, what buyers pay is higher than that. Vendr's data from 40 purchases puts the median contract at about $50,000 a year.
We picked seven Brandwatch alternatives, each the best for a different job:
- Talkwalker is the best for enterprise social listening, and it's priced by quote.
- Sociable AI is the best for finding your brand in Instagram Reels, with social listening from $1,740/mo.
- Meltwater is the best for PR and media monitoring, priced by quote.
- YouScan is the best for visual listening, from $499/mo billed annually.
- Mentionlytics is the best for affordable social listening, from $49/mo billed annually.
- Sprout Social is the best for publishing and listening in one tool, from $199 per seat/mo billed annually plus a listening add-on.
- Iconosquare is the best for Instagram competitor benchmarking, from $79/mo billed annually.
What Brandwatch costs and what it sells
Brandwatch sells two separate products, and each pick below replaces one or the other.
- Consumer Research is listening and research over an archive that goes back to 2008. On the UK rate card it runs from £10,800 a year for 5 searches on the Pro plan to about £109,000 a year on the largest Enterprise plan.
- Social Media Management is publishing, a shared inbox and a listening module called Listen. It's the former Falcon.io. The rate card lists it at £10,800, £16,200 or £33,600 a year for 3, 5 or 20 users. Listen can also be bought on its own at £7,290 a year for 3 users and 3 searches.
Contracts are usually annual on both products.
Our picks
Talkwalker is the best for enterprise social listening
Talkwalker is the closest like-for-like replacement for Brandwatch Consumer Research. One search covers social, news, print and broadcast, with TV, radio and print coming through LexisNexis. Talkwalker also finds "30,000+ brand logos" plus scenes and objects in the images it collects, and every plan comes with unlimited users, so the cost doesn't climb with each person you add. Hootsuite has owned Talkwalker since 2024, and the product is now sold as Lumen by Talkwalker.
Talkwalker doesn't publish prices. As with Brandwatch, you'll need to book a demo and get a quote before you see a number. Talkwalker is rated 4.3 on G2 from 137 reviews.
Keep in mind that on Instagram, Talkwalker only collects posts by hashtag, from accounts you add, and from a catalog of 150,000 Business and Creator accounts, so its logo search only sees posts collected that way. When you add an account, Talkwalker pulls in that account's Reels from the past 400 days, while a new hashtag only brings in the previous 24 hours.
If you want a full enterprise suite rather than listening on its own, Sprinklr Insights is the runner-up. Sprinklr stopped selling self-serve plans in 2025, so every plan is by quote.
Sociable AI is the best for finding your brand in Instagram Reels
Sociable AI lets you search your brand and see the Instagram videos in which it's referenced, including the ones whose caption never names it. For teams that want the data in their own tools, the Search API goes through each Reel frame by frame and returns the brands in it.
When it comes to Instagram, Brandwatch and the other tools in this article collect posts in a few set ways:
- Posts under hashtags you track, where Meta allows 30 hashtags a week and only returns posts from the last 24 hours.
- Posts from Business and Creator accounts you name.
- For Talkwalker and Hootsuite, a fixed catalog of accounts on top of that.
None of them can search all of Instagram by keyword, and in Sociable AI's data on social listening for Instagram, around 9 in 10 Reels in which a brand is referenced never name it in the caption.
Sociable AI is also the only tool here that finds Reels likely to go viral in their first hours and lets you comment on them early. We draft the comment, and you approve each one before it posts.
Every Sociable AI plan is billed monthly:
- Social listening is on the Scale plan at $1,740/mo.
- Viral commenting is on every plan, starting with Growth at $95/mo.
- The Search API is priced by quote.
Each self-serve plan has a free trial.
Meltwater is the best for PR and media monitoring
Meltwater gives you news, broadcast and podcast monitoring alongside social listening, and the same subscription can include a journalist database and press release distribution, so your monitoring and your outreach live in one place. If your listening is mostly press, Meltwater is the closest match for Consumer Research. Meltwater also finds logos in the images it collects. On Instagram, Meltwater turns the speech in the Reels it collects into searchable text, so a creator who says your brand name out loud shows up in a search even when the caption leaves it out.
Hashtags work the same way in Meltwater as in the other tools. When you add one, Meltwater collects the previous 24 hours of posts and then collects forward from that point, and you can add Business and Creator profiles you don't own to monitor alongside them.
Meltwater doesn't publish prices, and the minimum contract is 12 months. Meltwater is rated 4.1 on G2 from about 2,700 reviews.
If you want news and social coverage at a published price, Determ is the runner-up. It starts at €249/mo billed annually, with print, TV and radio in some regions, and every plan includes unlimited users and keywords. Keep in mind that the monthly price still needs a yearly commitment. Determ is rated 4.7 on G2 from 44 reviews.
YouScan is the best for visual listening
YouScan collects posts by the logos and objects in their images as well as by their text, and YouScan says this finds "up to 80% more mentions". That covers the same ground as the image analysis in Consumer Research, and every plan includes unlimited users.
Pricing starts at $499/mo billed annually on Starter, which gives you 3 topics, 15,000 mentions a month and text searches only. Starter also keeps just 30 days of history. You'll need one of the Unlimited plans, which are priced by quote, to collect posts by logo and keep unlimited history. YouScan is rated 4.7 on G2 from 311 reviews.
There is no self-serve signup. You book a demo, and YouScan sets up a trial account for you afterwards.
Mentionlytics is the best for affordable social listening
Mentionlytics is the lowest-priced tool here that covers TikTok and YouTube as well as Instagram, X and the web, and you can try it for 14 days without a card. It's a small-scale version of what Consumer Research does.
- The Basic plan is $49/mo billed annually, or $59/mo billed monthly, for 3 keywords and 5,000 mentions a month. It covers 2 users and 10 social profiles, with mentions updated every 12 hours.
- If you need LinkedIn, unlimited users or continuous updates, the Advanced plan is $249/mo billed annually for 15 keywords and 50,000 mentions a month.
- Mentionlytics is rated 4.9 on G2 from 115 reviews.
On the other hand, Mentionlytics only collects Instagram posts by hashtag, not by caption.
Two runners-up sit near Mentionlytics on price:
- Awario is the lowest-priced listening tool in this article at $29/mo billed annually, or $49/mo billed monthly, for 3 topics and 30,000 mentions a month. It doesn't list TikTok or LinkedIn, and the Starter plan has no exports or PDF reports. You'll need the Pro plan, at $89/mo billed annually, for those. The trial runs 7 days. Awario is rated 3.9 on G2 from 48 reviews.
- Brand24 starts at $199/mo billed annually, or $249/mo billed monthly, for one user with updates every 12 hours. Unlimited users and hourly updates start on the Team plan at $299/mo billed annually, and so do TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn. Brand24 is rated 4.6 on G2 from 373 reviews.
Sprout Social is the best for publishing and listening in one tool
Sprout Social gives you publishing, a shared inbox for comments and DMs, reporting and listening from one vendor, which is the same set of things Brandwatch sells as Social Media Management.
Sprout Social prices per seat. Standard is the lowest plan Sprout Social's pricing page lets you add Listening to, at $199 per seat/mo billed annually or $249 per seat/mo billed monthly. The cheaper Essentials plan, at $79 per seat/mo billed annually, isn't listed for the add-on. Listening itself is priced separately, and Sprout Social quotes it rather than listing a price, so your total still depends on a sales call even though the base plan is public. You can try Sprout Social free for 30 days. It's rated 4.4 on G2 from about 6,900 reviews.
As with Mentionlytics, Sprout Social's listening only collects Instagram posts by hashtag, and there is no history from before you set the topic up.
Two other management suites bundle listening in a similar way:
- Hootsuite includes Talkwalker's listening (Lumen) only on Enterprise, which is priced by quote. Self-serve plans start at $99 per user/mo billed annually. Hootsuite is rated 4.3 on G2 from about 7,500 reviews.
- Agorapulse starts at $79 per user/mo billed annually, with a 30-day trial. As with Sprout Social, listening is a quote-only add-on. Agorapulse is rated 4.5 on G2 from 976 reviews.
Iconosquare is the best for Instagram competitor benchmarking
Iconosquare is Instagram-first analytics with competitor and hashtag tracking, so you can compare your Instagram account against your competitors' accounts over time. Brandwatch sells this as Benchmark, a module of Social Media Management, so Iconosquare replaces that part of Brandwatch rather than its listening.
- Competitor and hashtag tracking are on the Scale plan, from $79/mo billed annually or $95/mo billed monthly.
- A free plan covers 2 profiles, with analytics only.
- The trial runs 14 days.
- Iconosquare is rated 4.4 on G2 from 136 reviews.
You can only track competitors that are Business profiles, and only with 90 days of history. There's also no news or web coverage. Hashtag tracking shows the last 30 days of posts for each hashtag, and it starts collecting on the day you add the hashtag, so there is no history from before that either.
Pricing and Instagram coverage compared
Here's how the seven picks and their runners-up compare on price, trial and the way each one finds Instagram posts:
| Tool | Best for | Price from | Free trial | How it finds Instagram posts | G2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talkwalker | Enterprise social listening | Not published | No | Hashtags, added accounts and a 150,000-account catalog; logos in images | 4.3 (137) |
| Sociable AI | Finding your brand in Instagram Reels | $1,740/mo (social listening) | Yes | Search your brand; finds it in the video | No reviews yet |
| Meltwater | PR and media monitoring | Not published | No | Hashtags and profiles; speech in Reels | 4.1 (about 2,700) |
| YouScan | Visual listening | $499/mo annual | No (demo first) | Hashtags and channels; logos in images | 4.7 (311) |
| Mentionlytics | Affordable social listening | $49/mo annual | 14 days | Hashtags | 4.9 (115) |
| Sprout Social | Publishing and listening in one tool | $199 per seat/mo annual, plus listening add-on | 30 days | Hashtags | 4.4 (about 6,900) |
| Iconosquare | Instagram competitor benchmarking | $79/mo annual | 14 days | Hashtags and named accounts | 4.4 (136) |
| Sprinklr Insights | Runner-up, enterprise suite | Not published | No | Hashtags | 4.3 (105) |
| Determ | Runner-up, news and social | €249/mo annual | 5 days | Hashtags and named accounts | 4.7 (44) |
| Awario | Runner-up, lowest price | $29/mo annual | 7 days | Hashtags | 3.9 (48) |
| Brand24 | Runner-up, affordable listening | $199/mo annual | 14 days | Hashtags and named accounts | 4.6 (373) |
| Hootsuite | Runner-up, management suite | $99 per user/mo annual | 14 days | Same as Talkwalker, on Enterprise only | 4.3 (about 7,500) |
| Agorapulse | Runner-up, management suite | $79 per user/mo annual, plus listening add-on | 30 days | Hashtags | 4.5 (976) |
Find the Reels your brand is in, then get your comment in early
Sociable AI shows you the Reels your brand is referenced in, even when the caption never names it. Once you can see those Reels, the next step is being part of them while they're still climbing. In our data, comments left in a Reel's first hour earned about three times the likes of comments left a few hours later, and Sociable AI users have earned nearly 1.4 million likes this way.
Sociable AI monitors Reels across your niche in their first hours and flags the ones likely to go viral. We draft a comment that fits the post, you approve it, and the comment goes up while the Reel is still climbing.
Try Sociable AI and see which Reels your brand is in today.
FAQ
How much does Brandwatch cost?
Brandwatch doesn't publish its prices. Its UK government rate card starts at £10,800 a year, and Vendr's median across 40 purchases is about $50,000 a year.
Does Brandwatch have a free trial?
No. Every signup route on Brandwatch's site leads to a demo.
What is the cheapest Brandwatch alternative?
Awario is the cheapest, from $29/mo billed annually. Mentionlytics is the next step up at $49/mo billed annually, and it adds TikTok, which Awario doesn't list.
Who owns Brandwatch?
Cision has owned Brandwatch since 2021. Falcon.io and Paladin are now part of Brandwatch, sold as Social Media Management and Influence.
Is Mention still available?
Mention is no longer sold as a standalone product. It stopped selling to new customers on July 1, 2026 after Agorapulse bought it. Its replacement is Agorapulse Listening, and new Mention buyers are moved to Agorapulse.
Which Brandwatch alternatives can find logos in images?
Talkwalker, Hootsuite (through Talkwalker), Meltwater, YouScan and Sprinklr find logos in images they have already collected. Mentionlytics does the same on its Business plan and up. Sociable AI finds your brand in Instagram Reels by watching the video itself.
