How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Brand24 at $199 per month is the most natural mid market upgrade, with AI sentiment and reach scores.
- Awario at $29 per month billed annually is the lowest cost paid listening tool here, with 30,000 mentions.
- Brandwatch, Meltwater, and Talkwalker suit enterprise teams, with quote based pricing and deeper archives.
- Sprout Social and Hootsuite bundle listening with publishing, which suits teams that already run social in those suites.
- Mention itself is not listed here, since this article covers alternatives. Note that Mention retired its Solo, Pro, and Pro Plus tiers in July 2025, and its public pricing page now routes buyers to a demo request.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Brand24 | Mid market brand monitoring | $199 per month | Free trial |
 Awario | Budget brand monitoring | $29 per month | Free trial |
 Brandwatch | Enterprise consumer research | See website | No |
 Sprout Social | Management plus listening add on | $199 per user per month | Free trial |
 Hootsuite | Publishing with listening built in | $99 per user per month | Free trial |
 Meltwater | PR plus social listening | See website | No |
 Talkwalker | Enterprise visual and multilingual listening | See website | No |
 Google Alerts | Free basic monitoring | Free | Yes |
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The best Mention alternatives
#1Brand24
Best for: Mid market brand monitoring4.6/5 on
G2 (366 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit brand24.com
Starting price$199 per month
Free planFree trial
Brand24 is the most natural upgrade for teams leaving Mention, monitoring major social platforms plus web sources, with newsletters and podcasts on higher tiers. Five pricing tiers run from $199 per month for Individual to $1,499 per month for Enterprise, all billed annually, with a 14 day free trial.
The Individual plan caps at 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions per month with updates every 12 hours, and the price jump from $79 to $199 stings for small teams. For a mid market team that wants self serve listening with AI sentiment, Brand24 is the baseline to beat.
What we like- AI sentiment and reach scores
- Monitors social, web, newsletters, and podcasts on higher tiers
- 14 day free trial
Watch out for- Individual plan caps at 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions per month with 12 hour updates
- Price jumped from $79 to $199
- Filtering limits on lower tiers
#2Awario
Best for: Budget brand monitoring3.9/5 on
G2 (48 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit awario.com
Starting price$29 per month
Free planFree trial
Awario is the lowest cost paid listening tool here at $29 per month billed annually, with 30,000 mentions and coverage across forums, blogs, news, and social. It suits startups and solo marketers who need web wide monitoring without enterprise pricing.
Analytics are shallow, X access is limited, and ease of use scores trail Brand24. For a budget team that needs basic monitoring and lead discovery, Awario is the cheapest credible alternative.
What we like- Lowest cost paid listening at $29 per month billed annually
- 30,000 mentions
- 7 day free trial
Watch out for- Shallow analytics
- Limited X access
- Lower ease of use scores than Brand24
#3Brandwatch
Best for: Enterprise consumer research4.4/5 on
G2 (730 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit brandwatch.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Brandwatch is the enterprise consumer research leader, with a large historical archive, deep consumer intelligence, and enterprise AI analytics. It suits large brands that need trend analysis, audience research, and global coverage at scale.
Pricing is quote based, often $20,000 to $60,000 per year, with no affordable entry point and no free trial. For an enterprise team that outgrew Mention's depth, Brandwatch is the top tier pick.
What we like- Deepest consumer intelligence
- Large historical archive
- Enterprise AI analytics
Watch out for- Quote based pricing, often $20,000 to $60,000 per year
- No affordable entry point
- Demo only, no free trial
#4Sprout Social
Best for: Management plus listening add on4.4/5 on
G2 (6,880 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit sproutsocial.com
Starting price$199 per user per month
Free planFree trial
Sprout Social bundles listening with publishing, which suits teams that already run social in Sprout. Standard pricing runs $199 per seat per month billed annually, with listening as a paid add on, plus optimal send times and reporting with competitor benchmarks.
Per seat pricing adds up fast for larger teams, and listening depth trails Brandwatch. For a team that wants one suite for publishing and listening, Sprout is the all in one pick.
What we like- Listening plus publishing in one suite
- Optimal send times
- Profile and post level reporting
Watch out for- $199 per seat per month billed annually plus a listening add on
- Per seat pricing adds up fast
- Listening is an add on, not the core
#5Hootsuite
Best for: Publishing with listening built in4.3/5 on
G2 (7,433 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit hootsuite.com
Starting price$99 per user per month
Free planFree trial
Hootsuite is a social media management platform for creating, scheduling, monitoring, engaging with, and analyzing content across networks. Standard pricing runs $99 per user per month, with bulk composer scheduling up to 350 posts from a CSV on eligible plans, a unified inbox, and listening tools.
Listening is secondary to publishing, and per user pricing multiplies with team size. For a team whose main job is publishing with light monitoring attached, Hootsuite is the practical pick.
What we like- Publishing with listening built in
- Bulk scheduling up to 350 posts from CSV on eligible plans
- 30 day free trial
Watch out for- Listening is secondary to publishing
- $99 per user per month on Standard
- Per user pricing multiplies with team size
#6Meltwater
Best for: PR plus social listening4.1/5 on
G2 (2,677 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit meltwater.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Meltwater suits PR teams that track news and social together, with broadcast, print, and social sources plus media monitoring depth. It covers the PR side of brand monitoring better than pure social tools.
Pricing is quote based, often from about $6,000 per year, with opaque pricing and long contracts, and no free trial. For a PR team that needs news and broadcast beside social, Meltwater is the media pick.
What we like- PR and news coverage plus social listening
- Broadcast and print sources
- Media monitoring depth
Watch out for- Quote based pricing, often from about $6,000 per year
- Opaque pricing and long contracts
- No free trial
#7Talkwalker
Best for: Enterprise visual and multilingual listening4.3/5 on
G2 (137 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit talkwalker.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Talkwalker suits global brands and agencies with visual logo recognition, image and video analytics, and multilingual listening across social, web, images, and video. It catches brand mentions in images and video that text only tools miss.
Pricing is quote based, often about $27,000 per year, with a steep learning curve and no free trial. For an enterprise team that needs visual and multilingual listening, Talkwalker is the specialist pick.
What we like- Visual logo recognition
- Image and video analytics
- Multilingual coverage for global brands
Watch out for- Quote based pricing, often about $27,000 per year
- Steep learning curve
- No free trial
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Google Alerts is the zero budget option: free monitoring of Google indexed pages for brand terms, with email alerts when new pages appear. It suits a solo founder or tiny team that needs basic web and news alerts at no cost.
There is no social listening, no sentiment analysis, and no analytics, and coverage is limited to pages Google indexes. For a free baseline beside a paid tool, or as the only tool a tiny budget allows, Google Alerts is the starting point.
What we like- Free
- Zero budget monitoring
- Covers Google indexed pages for news and web mentions
Watch out for- No social listening
- No sentiment or analytics
- Alerts limited to Google indexed pages
How we chose
We ranked alternatives by coverage, sentiment accuracy, and price. Dedicated listening platforms scored on source coverage and sentiment, suites scored on publishing bundling, and enterprise tools scored on archives and visual analytics. Prices are vendor list prices as of October 2026, with annual billing noted where it applies.
We noted Mention's pricing change plainly, since it explains why teams search for alternatives. Mention retired its Solo, Pro, and Pro Plus tiers in July 2025, dropped Publish and Respond features in January 2026, and its public pricing page now routes buyers to a demo request. Mention itself is excluded, since this article covers alternatives.
Buying guide
Start with the job. If the job is sentiment reports for marketing, a listening tool like Brand24 or Brandwatch suits. If the job is catching impersonation, phishing pages, and fake profiles, a security brand protection tool suits instead, since listening tools rarely catch fakes and cannot take them down. Many companies end up with one of each.
Next, test with your own brand terms before buying. Sentiment accuracy and source coverage matter more than dashboard polish, and a tool that covers your niche forums and review sites beats one with a prettier dashboard. Check keyword caps, mention caps, and update frequency on the tier you plan to buy, since lower tiers often update only every 12 hours.
Finally, count the real total. Add seats, listening add ons, and overage costs, since a $199 per seat plan plus a listening add on costs far more than its headline. Listening only pays off when someone acts on alerts, so pick a tool whose alerts reach the team that can respond, by email, Slack, or inbox. Also confirm the trial length and what happens when mention caps are hit. Some plans stop collecting data when the cap is reached, with no overage, which can leave a gap in coverage during a crisis. Test alerts during the trial with real brand terms, check how fast alerts arrive, and confirm whether historical data is included, since some tools only track mentions from the day you start. Finally, confirm the contract length before signing, since enterprise tools often require annual contracts with opaque pricing, while self serve tools bill monthly or annually with published rates.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Mention alternative overall?
Brand24 at $199 per month is the most natural mid market upgrade, with AI sentiment and reach scores. Awario at $29 per month is the budget pick, while Brandwatch leads for enterprise depth.
What is the cheapest Mention alternative?
Google Alerts is free for basic web monitoring, while Awario at $29 per month billed annually is the cheapest paid listening tool here.
Why did Mention's pricing change?
Mention retired its Solo, Pro, and Pro Plus tiers in July 2025, and its public pricing page now routes buyers to a demo request. The remaining Company plan runs about $599 per month on an annual contract.
Does social listening catch phishing sites and fake profiles?
Rarely. Listening tools track mentions and sentiment, while security brand protection tools find lookalike domains, phishing pages, and fake profiles and remove them. If impersonation is the problem, buy a security tool.
Which alternative bundles listening with publishing?
Sprout Social at $199 per seat per month plus a listening add on, and Hootsuite at $99 per user per month with listening built in. Both suit teams that already run social in those suites.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.