Cheaper Than Brandwatch 2026: Affordable Social Listening Tools
TL;DR - Quick Answer
9 min readQuick tool comparison. Features, pricing, and what works best for your needs.
Brandwatch too expensive? Here are cheaper options:
Brandwatch costs $800-15,000+/month. Most teams don't need that.
Create content, post everywhere
Create posts, images, and carousels with AI. Schedule to 9 platforms in seconds.
Start your free trialWhat Brandwatch Costs
No public pricing. Sales call required.
Best Budget Alternatives
Mention, $41/month
What you get at $41/month:
- 2 alerts
- 5,000 mentions/month
- Web + social monitoring
- Email notifications
Best for: Small teams wanting basic monitoring.
You need basic brand monitoring. Budget: $50/month. Best option?
Brand24, $79/month
What you get at $79/month:
- 3 keywords
- 2,000 mentions/month
- AI sentiment analysis
- PDF reports
Best for: SMBs who want sentiment analysis.
SocialRails, $29/month
What you get:
- Social scheduling
- Analytics dashboard
- AI content generation
- Team collaboration
Best for: Social teams who need management + analytics.
Try SocialRails free →You need to monitor mentions AND schedule posts. Best budget option?
Sprout Social, $249/user/month
What you get:
- Publishing + listening
- Smart inbox
- Analytics
- Team collaboration
Best for: Teams needing full social management with listening.
Full comparison →Free Options
Google Alerts
Use case: Basic web mention tracking. Very limited.
TweetDeck / X Pro
Use case: X/Twitter monitoring only.
Manual + Native Analytics
Limitation: Siloed data, no unified view, no monitoring.
Zero budget. Best monitoring approach?
Comparison Table
Annual Savings
A 3-person team has $5,000/year for monitoring. Best stack?
When Brandwatch Makes Sense
Don't switch if you need:
Migration Checklist
Before Switching
- Document current queries
- Note essential vs nice-to-have features
- Export historical data
- Test alternatives with trials
After Switching
- Set up equivalent monitoring
- Configure alerts
- Train team on new interface
- Cancel Brandwatch contract
FAQ
Cheapest Brandwatch alternative?
SocialRails at $29/month if you need publishing. Mention at $41/month for monitoring only.
Best sentiment analysis on budget?
Brand24 at $79/month has AI sentiment. Not Brandwatch-deep, but 80% accuracy at 90% lower cost.
Can I combine cheaper tools?
Yes. Brand24 ($79) + SocialRails ($29) = $108/month for monitoring + sentiment + publishing. Saves $700+/month vs Brandwatch.
Bottom Line
Brandwatch is powerful but most teams don't need 100M+ sources.
Save $9,000+/year:
- $29/mo: SocialRails for social management
- $41/mo: Mention for basic monitoring
- $79/mo: Brand24 for AI sentiment
Create content, post everywhere
Create posts, images, and carousels with AI. Schedule to 9 platforms in seconds.
Start your free trialRelated
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- Brandwatch Pricing 2026
- Brandwatch Alternatives
- Brandwatch Review
- Brandwatch vs Sprout Social
- Brandwatch vs Hootsuite
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