The best social listening tool depends on your size and goals. Brandwatch and Talkwalker suit brands that want deep consumer insight, Meltwater suits PR teams tracking news and social together, Sprout Social and Hootsuite suit teams that want listening inside their social media tool, Brand24, Mention and Awario suit small businesses tracking brand mentions, and YouScan suits brands that want to spot their logo in images.
Social listening means tracking what people say about your brand, your competitors and your industry online, even when they don't tag you. It's how you catch a complaint before it grows, find people asking for exactly what you sell and spot the topics your audience cares about.
The tools below are well known and widely used. Some are enterprise research platforms and others are simple mention trackers a small business can set up in an afternoon. I've focused on what each one is known for, so shortlist two and track the same keywords in both.
What should you look for in a social listening tool?
- Sources. Check which social networks, news sites, blogs, forums and review sites it covers.
- Search queries. Good keyword and filter options keep out the noise.
- Sentiment. Positive, negative and neutral tagging helps you spot problems fast.
- Alerts. Real-time alerts for spikes or negative mentions let you respond quickly.
- Competitor tracking. Compare your share of the conversation with your competitors.
- Reports. Clear reports make it easy to share what you've found.
I've looked at StatSocial for audience intelligence in more depth.
Social listening tools compared
| Tool | Best for | Stand-out feature |
|---|---|---|
| Brandwatch | Deep consumer research | Large data archive and analysis |
| Talkwalker | Brand and image monitoring | Listening plus image recognition |
| Meltwater | PR and media teams | News and social monitoring |
| Sprout Social | Social media teams | Listening inside a social suite |
| Hootsuite | Teams managing many channels | Listening alongside scheduling |
| Brand24 | Small businesses | Mentions, sentiment and alerts |
| Mention | Real-time brand alerts | Simple mention monitoring |
| Awario | Finding sales leads | Lead-finding from conversations |
| YouScan | Visual insights | Logo and image recognition |
Plans and features change often, so check each vendor's current plans before you commit.
The best social listening tools
1. Brandwatch
Brandwatch is one of the best-known consumer intelligence platforms. It collects online conversations from social networks, forums, blogs and news, and has detailed tools for analysing topics, sentiment and audiences.
Who it suits: larger brands and agencies doing serious consumer and market research.
What stands out: depth. Its search and analysis tools go far beyond counting mentions.
Watch out for: it's built for research teams, so a small business may find a simpler tool more practical.
2. Talkwalker
Talkwalker is a listening and analytics platform, now part of Hootsuite. It's known for broad source coverage and image recognition that spots brand logos in photos and videos.
Who it suits: brands that want listening across many sources, including visual mentions.
What stands out: image recognition. It finds your brand even when nobody writes your name.
Watch out for: check how it's packaged now it sits within Hootsuite, as plans may have changed.
3. Meltwater
Meltwater started in media monitoring and now combines news, broadcast and social listening in one platform, with media contact tools for PR teams.
Who it suits: PR and communications teams tracking press coverage and social conversation together.
What stands out: the PR focus. Coverage, journalists and social mentions live in one place.
Watch out for: if you only need social mentions, a dedicated listening tool may be simpler.
4. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a social media management platform with publishing, engagement and reporting. Its listening features track topics, brand mentions and competitor conversations.
Who it suits: social media teams that want listening next to their scheduling and inbox.
What stands out: convenience. You can spot a conversation and reply from the same platform.
Watch out for: listening is an add-on to the core suite, so check what's included in your setup.
5. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a long-running social media management tool for scheduling, engagement and analytics. Its listening features, strengthened by the Talkwalker acquisition, track mentions and trends.
Who it suits: teams managing several social accounts who want listening in the same dashboard.
What stands out: the all-in-one dashboard for publishing, replying and listening.
Watch out for: for deep research, a dedicated platform such as Brandwatch or Talkwalker goes further.
6. Brand24
Brand24 tracks mentions across social media, news, blogs, forums, podcasts and review sites. It includes sentiment analysis, alerts and AI summaries of what people are saying.
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Who it suits: small businesses and marketers who want clear brand monitoring without complexity.
What stands out: ease of use. You can set up a project and see mentions quickly.
Watch out for: coverage of some social networks depends on what each platform allows, so check your key channels.
7. Mention
Mention is a brand monitoring tool that tracks your name, competitors and keywords across the web and social media, with real-time alerts.
Who it suits: small teams that want simple alerts when they're talked about.
What stands out: real-time alerts, so you can respond while a conversation is still live.
Watch out for: its analysis is lighter than the enterprise platforms.
8. Awario
Awario monitors social media and the web for mentions of your brand and keywords. It's known for a lead-finding feature that surfaces people asking for recommendations in your area of business.
Who it suits: small businesses that want to find sales conversations as well as monitor their brand.
What stands out: lead-finding. It spots people looking for exactly what you offer.
Watch out for: as with any listening tool, refine your keywords or you'll get a lot of noise.
9. YouScan
YouScan is a social listening platform known for visual insights. Its image recognition identifies logos, objects and scenes in social media photos.
Who it suits: consumer brands whose products appear in customer photos.
What stands out: visual listening. It shows how people use and photograph your products.
Watch out for: it's aimed at brands with plenty of visual mentions, so smaller businesses may not need it.
How to choose the right social listening tool
Start with your goal. If you want to know when your brand is mentioned and respond quickly, Brand24, Mention or Awario will do the job for most small businesses. If you already use Sprout Social or Hootsuite, try their listening features first.
If you're running PR, Meltwater brings news and social together. For deep research into audiences and markets, Brandwatch and Talkwalker are the heavyweights. Whatever you choose, spend time on your search terms, as good queries make the difference between insight and noise.
For more on making it work, read my guide to social listening to track brand mentions and how to go from social listening to actionable insights. My roundup of AI brand monitoring tools covers tracking your name in AI answers too.
Building a tool in this space? Here's how tools get considered for my roundups.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best social listening tool?
Brandwatch and Talkwalker are the best known for deep research, Meltwater suits PR teams and Brand24, Mention and Awario suit small businesses tracking brand mentions.
What's the difference between social listening and social monitoring?
Monitoring tracks and responds to individual mentions. Listening looks at the bigger picture, such as trends, sentiment and what your audience cares about.
Can social listening tools track competitors?
Yes. Most let you track competitor names and compare your share of the conversation with theirs.
Can small businesses use social listening?
Yes. Tools such as Brand24, Mention and Awario are built for small teams and can be set up quickly.
