A social media monitoring tool isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a PR and marketing must. If you're not using social media monitoring in 2026, you’re missing an opportunity to drive more leads, increase revenue and protect your brand profile.
Choosing the right technologies for your business should be at the top of your to-do list. A great social monitoring platform won’t just make your community managers’ lives easier in terms of strategizing and creating content. It will also give you the insights you need to lead C-suite discussions on where the business goes next.
Let's take a look at how you too can leverage a social media monitoring tool to make more informed decisions.
Contents
What is Social Media Monitoring?
What's the Difference Between Social Monitoring and Listening?
The Top Social Media Monitoring Tools for 2026
What Are the Benefits of Monitoring Social Media?
Should I Use a Social Media Monitoring Tool or Do It Manually?
FAQ: Social Media Monitoring Tools
Level Up Your Social Media Monitoring in 2026
What is Social Media Monitoring?
Social media monitoring is best described as:
Using software or other tools to track, filter, and digest conversations on social media, based on keywords and searches.
It allows you to:
- Maximize marketing campaign ROI
- Offer customer service that outclasses your competitors
- Connect with influential figures who’ll generate more leads
- Avoid a PR disaster and save your reputation
Businesses can identify topics they'd like more insight on (such as brand or competitor mentions) from the perspective of conversation volume, sentiment, reach, and other parameters. Then a social monitoring tool helps find these mentions, analyzing multiple sources.
Many social media monitoring tools also provide the ability to respond to comments and DMs without having to go through the platforms natively.
What's the Difference Between Social Monitoring and Listening?
You’ll hear people talking about social media listening tools when they mean social media monitoring tools, and vice versa, but technically they are different things. The key distinction lies in how close you are to the action: think zoomed-in vs. zoomed-out.
Social media monitoring means dealing with the day-to-day of managing your social monitoring platform feeds and reacting accordingly. It’s liking a comment on Instagram, getting into a conversation on Facebook, or replying to a tweet. It's responding to queries, compliments, and complaints.
Social listening shows you the bigger picture. If you have all those likes, comments, and posts gathered into graphs and categories, you’ll see patterns at play. You can then make decisions based on your understanding of what your customers or competitors are doing, within the context of industry changes.
The Top Social Media Monitoring Tools for 2026
1. Meltwater
2. Sprout Social
3. Hubspot
4. Hootsuite
5. Cyfe
6. Talkwalker
7. Statusbrew
8. Digimind Social
9. Brand24
10. Agorapulse
11. Synthesio
12. X Pro (formerly TweetDeck)
13. Mention
14. Awario
15. Buffer Analyze
16. Keyhole
17. Emplifi (formerly known as Socialbakers)
18. Sendible
19. BuzzSumo
20. YouScan
21. Zoho Social
22. Sprinklr
1. Meltwater
Trusted by over 27,000 clients worldwide, and ranked as the #1 media monitoring platform by G2, the Meltwater Suite is a sophisticated option, ideal for everyone from enterprise teams to SMEs — offering social media monitoring, social media management, audience insights, influencer marketing, and more.
Key features
- Extensive source coverage, including but not limited to: TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, YouTube, Asian social media sites, review sites, print media, broadcast, and podcasts.
- Tracks visuals for monitoring logos and product images
- Track and improve LLM visibility using GenAI Lens
- AI-powered sentiment analysis
- Real-time alerts
Price: Meltwater offers custom packages.
Best for: Intuitive social listening & monitoring with highly customizable monitoring dashboards, where you can track conversations in real-time, pinpoint developments in consumer sentiment, and capitalize on the most valuable mentions.
Tip: Learn more about brand tracking, brand monitoring, and brand tracking software.
User reviews for Meltwater
👍 Advantages
"Meltwater has significantly improved our ability to track reputation management, both for our organization and our competitors. The convenience of receiving Alerts directly in Teams helps us stay updated on a range of important topics, making it easier to efficiently and effectively oversee our organization's public perception. Beyond just Alerts, Meltwater's reporting features offer valuable insights into trends, key themes, mentions, and share of voice for us and our competitors, and these reports can be easily shared with Leadership." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"There’s is a bit of a learning curve when you first start using it; some of the advanced tools take time to master." (Source)
More about Meltwater social media monitoring
Meltwater social monitoring has helped a wide variety of customers, such as Vans: "We integrated Meltwater into our House of Vans JHB event, to track and monitor reach, AVE and response in the time leading up to the event. By doing so, we were able to increase/ decrease the amount, flow and level of information to ensure that we were achieving positive unpaid media and social media reach as part of the hype leading up to the event." - Warren Talbot, Marketing Manager at Vans
For Talbot, turning to the right tool wasn’t just a strategy to make handling day-to-day social media simpler, it was a way to “justify strategic business decisions”.
In summary, Meltwater is a social media analytics powerhouse. Backed up by a 24/7, multi-language service team and offering seamless AI assistance with Mira Studio and GenAI Lens, using Meltwater will quickly prove ROI for those who master its far-reaching functionality.
2. Sprout Social
While Sprout is primarily a social media management tool for SMEs to handle day-to-day content publishing, it offers media monitoring functionality too.
Key features
- Smart Inbox
- Trend Reports
- AI-assisted search
Price: Sprout offers four plans, with a free trial also available. Plans start at $199/mo, billed annually
Best for: Streamlining social media monitoring into a more efficient workflow that includes topic and influencer discovery
User reviews for Sprout Social
👍 Advantages
"What surprised me the most about Sprout Social is how it quietly fixes problems I didn’t even realize were slowing down my team. The Smart Inbox feels less like a dashboard and more like a mission-control screen that keeps every conversation—from comments to DMs to mentions—exactly where it belongs. Instead of bouncing between tabs, we literally operate from one place. The approval workflows also felt like an upgrade to our entire content process." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"If I had to pick something, I’d say the learning curve is slightly more detailed than expected—not difficult, just deeper. But honestly, that’s only because Sprout has more features than the average user expects at first." (Source)
More about Sprout social media monitoring
With the Smart Inbox sitting at the heart of the monitoring dashboard, you can bring messages, mentions, and tags from core channels into one central hub, instead of switching between networks to track notifications. Set up inbox filtering and tagging options to help you prioritiZe interactions, and save time to focus on the most valuable opportunities online.
You can also track the most important conversations by setting up Sprout keyword searches to watch for brand and product mentions. Sprout's ‘Trend Reports’ show you emerging topics and popular influencers.
3. HubSpot
Similar to Sprout Social, HubSpot offers a dedicated social media tool that packs publishing and listening features under one roof. The platform’s keyword monitoring streams let you track and respond to specific comments and brand mentions across multiple channels within a unified inbox.
Key features
- Automated notifications
- AI summaries
- Several different report types
- CRM integration
Price: HubSpot offers several plans depending on whether you're an individual or a small team (starting at $9/mo/seat), or a larger enterprise company (starting at $800/mo). There is also a free plan for smaller needs.
Best for: Connecting your social monitoring strategy with your sales strategy
User reviews for HubSpot
👍 Advantages
"It's great because it's a centralized location for all marketing activities, including emails, contact workflows, scheduling social media, managing the website, analytics." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"Some of the tracking could be more robust and improved." (Source)
More about HubSpot social media monitoring
HubSpot also sends out automatic email notifications for your selected monitoring streams, so team members can address critical questions as soon as possible. Another handy feature is the platform’s Inbox Insights tool — it leverages AI to summarize the overall engagement and consumer sentiment across all your posts within a given timeframe.
The platform also includes solid analytics features. You can generate cross-network and network-specific reports covering various metrics like audience size, published posts, and more.
And since the social media management tool seamlessly links with other HubSpot products, you can get a 360-degree overview of your entire campaign’s performance. For example, you can see how many social media users turned into website visitors and vice-versa. Plus, the platform also links to your CRM. That means you can get extra context on each person behind its social comments, like previous company interactions, lead status, and more.
4. Hootsuite
Hootsuite’s monitoring solution lives on an easy-to-use dashboard in its social media management platform.
Key features
- Filter conversations and assign tasks
- Saved replies (paid add-on)
- Social media analytics
- Centralized inbox and messaging
Price: Plans for Hootsuite start at $99 per month and there is a free trial available.
Best for: Centralizing social marketing workflows and easy real-time reacting to social media comments. It's also very popular with agencies and those managing multiple different social accounts.
User reviews for Hootsuite
👍 Advantages
"I love that the Hootsuite interface is easy to use and very intuitive, which simplifies content management and learning for new team members. The platform is constantly updated, adapting to new social networks and features, which is crucial for my work as a social media coordinator. I also value that Hootsuite allows me to have a complete and centralized analysis of the metrics of all the organization's social networks, facilitating access and consultation whenever I need it." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"The main drawback, though not a major problem, is that Hootsuite sometimes experiences slight delays and its analytics can differ somewhat from those provided by native social platforms." (Source)
More about Hootsuite social media monitoring
Hootsuite is best known for scheduling and Streams — a centralized feed of all your brand’s mentions, comments, and tags across X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This makes it easy to filter, reply to or ‘like’ conversations, and assign items to colleagues who are best placed to respond.
Hootsuite's Inbox is similar to Streams in that it collates all your social inboxes into one feed, so you can monitor and respond to messages without jumping between channels or chasing email alerts.
They also offer a more advanced social media monitoring tool, Hootsuite Insights, where you can drill down into audience trends and segments in real-time, benchmark brand health against competitors, and track conversations across blogs, forums, and message boards.
Tip: Also take a look at these Hootsuite alternatives.
5. Cyfe
Cyfe offers you the chance to centralize insights from your media activity (as well as site data, sales journeys, marketing spend, and customer support) into widget-filled dashboards.
Key features
- Customizable dashboards
- Real-time data visualization
- Spike alerts
Price: Cyfe offers four different plans, with a 14-day free trial: Starter ($19/mo), Standard ($39/mo), Pro ($65/mo), and Premier ($119/mo).
Best for: Sharing consolidated overviews of online activity with various stakeholders in a visually pleasing and polished format
User reviews for Cyfe
*Note: as of December 2025, there are no recent G2 reviews for Cyfe
👍 Advantages
"Nice look and feel. Very basic data sources work okay." (Review from 2023, Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"Cyfe is a very Simple Tool, so may be limited in some aspects. Maybe has missing features like the lack of sending invoices to a specific email different from the main account. And maybe can be difficult to configure the first time if you aren't a programmer." (Review from 2022, Source)
The emphasis is on visualization over interaction, so if you need something with both monitoring and interaction functionality instead, you may want to research other tools.
That said, it’s very easy to get started: to track the core platforms for mentions, keywords, and likes. You can either use one of their pre-built dashboards or customize your own from multiple display widgets.
The tool will then pull real-time data on your (or your competitors’) social media activity into the dashboard for you to monitor live or export as a report. To get notified of a spike in mentions or engagement — perhaps to capitalize on influence or remedy a mistake — you can also set up instant email and SMS alerts.
6. Talkwalker
Talkwalker is an advanced monitoring and insights tool aimed at large agencies and global brands that want insights on consumer sentiment, relationships with public figures, competitor benchmarking, and reputation management.
Key features
- Extensive source and language coverage
- Image and logo tracking
- Custom alerts
Price: Talkwalker offers three tiers: Listen, Analyze, and Business. Contact them for specific price details.
Best for: Real-time insights and easily customizable dashboards for sorting by all different kinds of social metrics
User reviews for Talkwalker
👍 Advantages
"Talkwalker helps our brand monitor trending topics and mentions across the web. Our social media team is able to quickly and seamlessly pull reports, look at dashboards, and keep informed." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"The main drawback is that it’s not the easiest product to set up or manage at the start. Because it’s a complex platform, it takes time to get comfortable, learn the system, and sort through the volume of information." (Source)
More about Talkwalker social media monitoring
Companies with high levels of activity across multiple regions can monitor written content on digital and offline media in 187 languages — and if you upgrade to the Enterprise package, you can track images and logos too.
Depending on your package, you can gather data from over 150 million websites and 20+ social channels. And, the entry-level package offers a year of retrospective data — which extends to 2 years in the full subscription.
Use ready-made dashboards to monitor brand health, understand audience insights, analyze campaigns, or build custom dashboards to track tailored topics and keywords. The Talkwalker analytics dashboard breaks down social activity into the core metrics, i.e., mentions, sentiment, hashtags, engagement.
7. Statusbrew
If you've ever found yourself managing multiple conversations across various social and review channels, Statusbrew is a platform you shouldn't overlook.
Key features
- Unified Inbox
- Integrates with Facebook, Pinterest, the App Store and more
- Trend analysis
- AI assisted writing for optimal social posts
Price: Statusbrew has four plans, starting at $69/mo (billed annually). There is also a 14-day free trial available
Best for: Those in need of scaling, automation, and smoother workflows for responding to social media messages and managing social marketing
User reviews for Statusbrew
👍 Advantages
"The richness of analytics will enable us to determine precisely what features of the game and characters our fans are the most enthusiastic about. We are able to follow high activity periods of release of new content or announcements, and we have a clear response on what our players are excited about. The sentiment analysis assists us in the understanding of response to various updates which is priceless." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"There was a slight fine-tuning of the initial configuration of custom tracking of very niche terms community-specific." (Source)
More about Statusbrew social media monitoring
Statusbrew allows omnichannel monitoring through its Unified Inbox, a centralized hub that simplifies managing social interactions across various networks. You can respond to your customers and collaborate with your team without switching between different platforms. The platform integrates with major social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, WhatsApp, Google My Business (GMB), Google Play Store, and App Store.
Statusbrew offers a range of analytics tools that provide insights into customer behavior, comprehensive overviews of different channels, and trend analysis. The platform presents all the collected data in a readily accessible format through its sharable reporting dashboards.
8. Digimind
Digimind (now Onclusive Social) is a social media monitoring tool best suited for understanding brand reputation and less so for holistic social media tracking.
Key features
- Benchmark unlimited social accounts
- Sentiment insights
- Custom reports
Price: Request a demo through the form on their website to get a quote
Best for: Brand monitoring and insights including consumer, influencer, competitor, and industry benchmarking
User reviews for Digimind (Onclusive Social)
*Note: as of December 2025, there are no recent G2 reviews for Digimind (Onclusive Social)
👍 Advantages
"Very comprehensive insights & recommendations provided from Digimind team." (Review from 2024, Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"The UI is not the most friendly so it needs some training to understand the power behind it." (Review from 2023, Source)
More about Digimind social media monitoring
You can use the platform to monitor for brand mentions and gather insights on reader sentiment from your main networks, as well as millions of publications.
If you’re looking for a platform to also help you publish content and manage conversations, Digimind doesn't offer that. But they do specialize in unearthing insights on what they feel about your brand, competitors and industry, Digimind could be what you’re after.
9. Brand24
Brand24 (acquired by Cision in 2021) has an analytics & reporting tool that gives Sprout a run for its money and is best suited for medium-sized brands.
Key features
- Sentiment analysis
- Visual tracking for logos and more
- Emotion and sarcasm detection
Price: Contact through their website for specific price details
Best for: With an emphasis on day-to-day social media monitoring, you’re more likely to use Brand24 for middleweight analysis and reporting, but less so if you need to extract high-level insights.
User reviews for Brand24
👍 Advantages
"Brand24 enables fast and clear monitoring of brand mentions, as well as efficient verification of the context and sentiment of published content. The tool works perfectly as a daily overview of the most important information and opinions about the brand, allowing teams to start the day with an up-to-date view of the brand’s media presence." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"Sometimes the volume of alerts can spike randomly, and I wish the filtering was a bit more intuitive when mentioning multiple projects at once." (Source)
More about Brand24 social media monitoring
Through the tool, you can track brand mentions and run keyword searches across your core channels, as well as blogs, news sites, and visual platforms like Instagram and YouTube.
Additionally, you can use the Mentions and Analysis dashboards to understand the sentiment and the activity of public figures online. You can then export your analysis into templates, custom reports, or visualizations including graphs and word clouds.
The Brand24 social media monitoring functions are solid — but to get deeper insights on ROI and social metrics, you’ll want to look to a more advanced tool.
Tip: Learn why companies choose Meltwater for media monitoring.
10. Agorapulse
Agorapulse is a 2-for-1 tool: a management platform supplemented by social media monitoring functionality.
Key features
- Real-time alerts
- AI assistants to streamline your workflow
- Easily shareable reports
- Integrated CRM
Price: There are four plans available, starting at $79/mo
Best for: Elevating workflows for more seamless customer interactions and influencer outreach
User reviews for Agorapulse
👍 Advantages
"I love the ability to monitor and respond to multiple social media platforms all in one space. I love that I can group the profiles and organize it. The queue feature is great." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"Although the reports are clear and easy to use, some advanced metrics or customization options (notably for comparative or segmented reports) may be limited compared to other platforms more oriented towards "data analytics." (Source)
More about Agorapulse social media monitoring
You get an easy-to-use moI love the ability to monitor and respond to multiple social media platforms all in one space. I love that I can group the profiles and organize it. The queue feature is great.nitoring inbox called Social Inbox (echoing Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox) that brings all your brand’s social comments, mentions, and conversations into one feed for easy responding. There’s also a comprehensive influencer outreach dashboard and an integrated CRM.
Alongside the tool’s reliable publishing and scheduling features, you can measure and improve the ROI of your content strategy thanks to ready-made, easy-to-export reports.
Tip: Take a look at more Agorapulse alternatives.
11. Synthesio
Synthesio is a strong contender for enterprise or global brands on the hunt for a reporting tool. With multiple interactive dashboards, you can use Synthesio for audience monitoring, advanced data reporting, and to extract key business insights.
Key features
- Customized insights
- Wide range of sources
- Data integration to better track owned content
Price: Request a demo through the form on their website
Best for: Tracking KPIs to prove ROI, and data visualization for presenting insights
User reviews for Synthesio
*Note: as of December 2025, there are no recent G2 reviews for Synthesio
👍 Advantages
"Through synthesio we were able to do great social listening about consumer opinions on different topics, synthesio help us to make amazing analysis of these topics and therefore have actionable consumer insights, also it is a very intuitive tool but at the same time super complete, it's a great tool for us, and it has become a fundamental part of the business!" (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"The dashboard setup is laborious and can be time consuming but in the end it is completely worth it." (Source)
More about Synthesio social media monitoring
Once you’ve set the interface up yourself or used a template, the main social media monitoring dashboard is built around a Listen feed and an Analyze display, with filters available for breaking down data by time period, region, and language.
Like the Meltwater social media monitoring tool, Synthesio covers a full gamut of media sources alongside news, blogs, and forums, for which you can build Boolean search queries around keywords, brand names, or centered on specific platforms.
Synthesio brings out key metrics to help you prove your wins, including a heavy emphasis on KPIs. With a section dedicated solely to ROI, you can show how your share of voice, reach, or customer sentiment gains are justifying your marketing efforts.
12. X Pro (formerly TweetDeck)
TweetDeck is X’s social media monitoring dashboard, now called X Pro. If the other channels aren’t relevant to your marketing or PR strategy, TweetDeck is a simple social monitoring tool for tracking and responding to X (Twitter) mentions and conversations.
Key features
- Dashboard dedicated solely to X (formerly known as Twitter)
- Hashtag tracking
- Social media management features
Price: $8 per month.
Best for: X marketing insights
User reviews for X Pro
👍 Advantages
"I love how easy TweetDeck is to use, especially for real-time monitoring. It's incredibly reliable for 24/7 monitoring and organizing my content. The initial setup was super easy. Since I started using it, I've loved it!" (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"The interface can feel a bit cluttered when many columns are open, and sometimes the app slows down with heavy usage. Also, advanced analytics features are limited compared to other social media management tools." (Source)
More about X Pro social media monitoring
It offers a series of streams (similar to Hootsuite), which allow you to track direct mentions, inbox messages, and real-time tweet searches in parallel feeds. So, if you set up searches for your brand and common misspellings alongside competitor names, you or your team will see conversations fed live into the dashboard and be able to respond quickly.
It’s ideal for the social media manager of a public figure or a startup that is verified on X (Twitter) and only interested in X (Twitter) activity.
13. Mention
Mention (acquired by Agorapulse in 2025) is a streamlined and easy-to-use tool with reliable analytics, a reach across platforms, and a level of simplicity best aligned with social listening for small-to-medium brands.
Key features
- Daily alerts
- Sentiment analysis
- Real-time monitoring
Price: Plans start at $599
Best for: Real-time insights and easy search setup for tracking brand or competitor mentions
User reviews for Mention
👍 Advantages
"Mention is a secure and capable platform designed for collaboration, perfectly suited to our needs. It's simple and intuitive to use, yet offers advanced tools for refining queries and eliminating false positives." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"I wish Mention would allow us to capture historical data after creating a boolean search." (Review from 2023, Source)
More about Mention social media monitoring
If you want to keep tabs on brand mentions, run simple real-time searches for competitors and public figures (e.g., filtered by channel, language, and date), and get daily alerts for brand mentions across the past 24 hours, Mention could be the tool for you.
You can also set up their Pulse alerts to get notified of a recent spike in mentions — crucial for making the most of a boost in reader sentiment or managing the fall-out of a PR slip.
14. Awario
With Starter, Pro, and Enterprise benefits, Awario is a flexible tool you can scale as your business grows. It tracks the usual suspects and will alert you to mentions, competitors, top influencer-based interactions, and changes in the way consumers perceive your brand.
Key features
- Always-on monitoring
- Extensive analytics
- Multi-language support
Price: Awario has three different plans, starting at $29/mo and going up to $249/mo for their Enterprise plan.
Best for: Deep analysis and consumer insights to help improve marketing campaigns on social media
User reviews for Awario
👍 Advantages
"I’ve been using Awario for social media monitoring for over 3 years, and I can definitely say it’s a reliable and cost-efficient tool. I monitor brand mentions on Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube, and Awario is super quick at picking up new mentions, so I can reply almost instantly. I also love the Leads module, which collects relevant social media discussions where you can jump in and talk about your brand." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"It would be great if more popular platforms, such as TikTok, could be added for alerts and monitoring." (Source)
More about Awario social media monitoring
It can also help you grow brand engagement by responding to conversations quickly, cutting through social noise to find audience insights, and improving marketing campaigns with detailed consumer intelligence. Furthermore, you can rely on the tool’s search function to find even the most niche conversation data.
15. Buffer Analyze
You probably know Buffer for its publishing platform, but they also offer a strong entry-level contender in the social monitoring and analytics space.
Key features
- Quick analytics to improve your social approach
- Visually attractive reports
- Real-time team collaboration
Price: Buffer has three plans, including a Free plan. Paid plans start at $5/mo and can be billed monthly or annually
Best for: Social scheduling and easy reporting
User reviews for Buffer Analyze
👍 Advantages
"The most liked thing about Buffer is to add and integrate all of the social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more, which resolved my login issue every time, scheduling the post to individual platforms, tracking the post report, and checking the analytics of monthly, weekly, yearly, and more." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"Buffer is great in general, but I have trouble squinting at the screen for the calendars. It's not clunky or anything like that, I just think the calendar display could be better." (Source)
More about Buffer Analyze social media monitoring
You can use the Buffer Analyze dashboard to measure media impact across platforms, export detailed reports on relevant KPIs and inform your strategy with insights on what’s working well. Data is broken down by typical metrics — including comments, mentions, retweets, likes, and shares.
As a mid-weight tool, the platform doesn’t offer in-depth details on target market demographics, but it will suit marketers who’ve realized it’s time to make more of their social data.
16. Keyhole
Keyhole is a social media monitoring and reporting tool, best for tracking campaign impact, managing influencer partnerships, and keeping tabs on conversations.
Key features
- Sentiment analysis
- All-in-one social analytics
- Direct and indirect mention monitoring
- Influencer search
Price: Plans start at $79 per month and there is a free trial available
Best for: Uncovering trending topics and comprehensive mentions monitoring
User reviews for Keyhole
👍 Advantages
"Keyhole's social media analytics - especially hashtags - were the reason we switched to this platform. All features were VERY easy to use and train your staff on." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"We stopped using Keyhole because social media scheduling posts would failed almost 1-2 times a week or the full week and their support was very hard to get ahold of." (Source)
More about Keyhole social media monitoring
Their user-friendly dashboards come with an easy learning curve so you can quickly start measuring customer sentiment, evaluating opportunities among your audiences, and benchmarking against competitors.
The platform also offers real-time influencer-related, hashtag, and keyword searches across communities.
A Keyhole highlight is its visualization function: which allows you to convert activity into heat maps, charts, and word clouds that you can display as is, or export into company presentations.
17. Emplifi (formerly known as Socialbakers)
Emplifi competes with tools like Sprout and Hootsuite when it comes to social publishing, but if you’re after more sophisticated social media monitoring, opt for the likes of Meltwater, Synthesio, or Talkwalker.
Key features
- Customizable dashboards
- AI writing and publishing tools
- Exportable reports
Price: Book a demo through the form on their website
Best for: Daily social media activities, reporting and performance analysis
User reviews for Emplifi
👍 Advantages
"I like that Emplifi’s layout is clean cut and an easy tool to learn, which I can appreciate. What I like the most is its ability to pulls together analytics, publishing, and community management all in one place. The reporting and listening tools are pretty decent when you need to grab quick insights, and you're able to customize dashboards to fit your reporting needs." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"The tool can be a hit or miss sometimes. Some features run as intended, while others can be a bit glitchy. I find that the publishing and analytics were the main culprits of this if you’re managing a lot of accounts. Several instancs I’ve had random issues pop up after updates that mess with my workflows, which would frustrate anyone." (Source)
More about Emplifi social media monitoring
Emplifi covers the spectrum of day-to-day media monitoring and interaction to media listening. The listening function sits beside content research and planning, media management, and influencer discovery, as well as analytics and reporting functionality.
You can choose from a variety of social media metrics and widgets to design your dashboard. Also, under the Analytics tab, you can run top-level analyses — for instance, you can extract insights on evolving trends by tracking comparisons between competitors, industries, and countries — as well as more in-depth analyses thanks to AI suggestions.
Once you’ve gathered insights, you can export reports with graphs, charts, or tables, share campaign results and prove campaign ROI.
18. Sendible
Sendible is a comprehensive media management tool with scheduling, monitoring, and consumer insights available on one platform.
Key features
- Smart Compose for optimizing copy
- Campaign management
- Custom tagging for smoother workflows
Price: Sendible offers several plans depending on what your needs are. The lowest priced plan begins at $29/mo.
Best for: Handling several brands at once, running campaigns, and workflow organization
User reviews for Sendible
👍 Advantages
"I like the easy scheduling process and ability to create different profile groups for different companies. It is very easy to use and complete the social media sharing I need to do for three companies." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"I do wish there was an easier way to reconnect personal LinkedIn profiles for people who do not have Sendible accounts." (Source)
More about Sendible social media monitoring
Designed for marketers who want to handle several brands at once, it can be ideal for agencies — but could also be suitable for SMEs that want a solid solution for publishing, social monitoring, and reporting.
The social media monitoring and reporting functions are thorough and cover all the main platforms. Like Hootsuite, you can assign items and conversations to the most relevant member of your team to speed up response times.
Sendible’s monitoring dashboard is intuitive, and its Reports offering is easy to run and makes insights straightforward — you’ll get exportable data on mentions, sentiment, public figures, and more.
But if you need granular insights into demographics, for example, or competitor benchmarking, you’re better off with more comprehensive insights tools like Meltwater, Talkwalker, or Synthesio.
19. BuzzSumo
You can use BuzzSumo to compare the results of new campaigns against old ones (with up to 5 years of historical content performance data) or track trends to capitalize on new market opportunities.
Key features
- Content discovery
- Brand and competitor monitoring
- Custom alerts
Price: Plans start at $199 per month; there is also a free 30-day trial available
Best for: Following industry trends and popular content to better serve content strategy
User reviews for BuzzSumo
👍 Advantages
"BuzzSumo makes it incredibly easy to discover high-performing content across any topic or industry. I love how I can instantly see which articles are getting the most engagement across social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter). The Content Analyzer and Trending Feeds are my favorite features — they save me hours of research and help me plan content that’s more likely to succeed. It also helps identify top influencers and competitors’ best-performing content, which is a huge bonus." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"While BuzzSumo is a powerful tool, some of its best features — like full historical data, backlink analysis, and advanced filters — are only available on higher-tier plans, which can be expensive for small teams or individual users. Also, the UI, while clean, could be a bit more intuitive in terms of navigation between reports. Lastly, data for some newer or niche topics can be limited." (Source)
More about BuzzSumo social media monitoring
The BuzzSumo platform comprises 4 overarching pillars: discovery, research, influencers, and monitoring.
The Discovery dashboard shows you the best-performing content from your team and your competitors to help you build stronger communities. In the Monitoring dashboard, you can monitor real-time brand mentions, market trends, and social activity relating to competitors.
The core analytics and social media monitoring functions sit in the Research dashboard where you can run keyword, influencer, user, and Boolean phrase searches across an index of 5 billion items.
20. YouScan
YouScan stands out as an image-first social monitoring tool. In addition to capturing written brand mentions, it turns visual data including logos, backgrounds, and people in posts on social media, blogs, news, and forums into ‘visual insights’.
Key features
- Sentiment analysis
- Influencer identification
- Social measurement
- Visual listening
Price: YouScan has plans starting at $299 per month
Best for: Tracking your logo or product images and UGC from content creators
User reviews for YouScan
👍 Advantages
"This service allows you to maximize the depth of research of customers' opinion about the brand. It allows you to create dashboards and has a wide range of functionality, from text mentions to voice and visual mentions, which in turn perfectly combines with the improvement of customer experience." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"Compared to other social listening platforms, the UX isn't the best, and it can be a little clunky. I would not recommend it for team members who have a hard time learning new technology. I also wish there were a mobile app. The website doesn't work well on a mobile device, and being able to access insights on the go is paramount for social media teams." (Source)
More about YouScan social media monitoring
If your product appears in a social image, for example, the tool will spot your brand and extract real-life, contextual insights about your products and customers — who they are, where they are, what they’re doing — so you get a deeper understanding of your market.
It’s also ideal for measuring sponsorship ROI, finding more user-generated content, and connecting with the most valuable brand ambassadors.
YouScan processes millions of visual mentions every day, integrates with your CRM for easy team collaboration, and comes with an AI-powered assistant, called Aina, who can alert you to positive insights and negative conversations.
21. Zoho Social
Zoho Social offers a user-friendly platform for social media management, social media monitoring, and social media analytics.
Key features
- Hashtag analytics
- Sentiment analysis
- Follower analytics
- Content library
Price: Zoho Social offers multiple plans for businesses and agencies. Business plans start at $10/mo, while agency plans start at $230/mo. There is also a free plan available for individuals.
Best for: Customizing your social monitoring streams, gaining deep insights and understanding your engagement activity
User reviews for Zoho
👍 Advantages
"What I like best about Zoho Social is how simple and reliable it is for everyday social media management. The centralized dashboard makes scheduling, publishing, and monitoring incredibly easy, even for new users. The content calendar view is especially helpful for planning ahead, and the collaboration and approval features keep everyone aligned without added complexity." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"What I dislike about Zoho Social is that while it handles the basics very well, some of the more advanced features feel limited. The analytics could be deeper and more customizable, post previews are not always fully accurate across all platforms, and managing a large number of brands or high posting volumes can sometimes feel a bit cluttered." (Source)
More about Zoho social media monitoring
For monitoring and listening, you’ll want to head to the Monitor section and set up monitoring streams. Zoho’s streams are reliably customizable and you can add columns for X interactions, specific public figures, or conversations with particular leads.
Every dashboard from Monitor to Posts and Reports within Zoho has an “Add to CRM” option, so if you’re already using their CRM, it’s simple to start using the Zoho Social tool.
Tip: See other alternatives to Zoho Social.
22. Sprinklr
Sprinklr’s social media monitoring and listening tool comes as part of its broader customer intelligence package and is aimed at enterprise brands.
Key features
- Real-time insights
- Competitive benchmarking
- Crisis alerts
- Automated workflows
Price: Available through the contact form on their website
Best for: Visualizing insights and generating reports to measure and demonstrate your impact
User reviews for Sprinklr
👍 Advantages
"I really like how Sprinklr Social centralizes everything in one place. The ability to monitor multiple social channels, schedule posts, and review engagement all from a single dashboard saves a lot of time. The interface feels professional and organized once you get used to it. The analytics and reporting tools are the most helpful. They make it easy to see what’s performing well across platforms and to share those results with other teams." (Source)
✍️ Could be improved
"It can be a bit overwhelming at first. There are a lot of tabs, menus, and configuration options that take time to learn. Occasionally, the system feels slower than expected when switching between modules or running larger reports." (Source)
More about Sprinklr social media monitoring
Sprinklr covers 25 social networks — as well as message boards and Asian networks like Weibo and WeChat.
Templates and custom reports dashboards offer comprehensive analytics for campaigns and viewer demographics. It also comes with far-reaching drill-down functionality and a growing list of visual widgets that make it easy to understand your data and measure your social media impact.
Tip: Learn more about other Sprinklr alternatives.
What Are the Benefits of Monitoring Social Media?
There are numerous benefits to monitoring your social media profiles and the specific conversations happening online. Whether you’re managing an enterprise or a small business, monitoring can protect and promote your brand simultaneously — with a combination of human and technological input.
Top benefits include:
- Connect with the most valuable members of your market
- Offer best-in-class customer service
- Predict, measure, and maximize the ROI of marketing campaigns
- Stay one step ahead of competitors
- Predict and capitalize on new market trends
- Protect brand reputation in a PR crisis
Should I Use a Social Media Monitoring Tool or Do It Manually?
In the fast-paced digital world, you’re better off using an automation tool for a social media search than trying to handle these tasks manually.
Manually monitoring can quickly become unreliable, as you’re likely to miss important conversations by simple human error. It also wastes time that you could dedicate more usefully to other projects.
Instead of flipping distractedly between platforms, delegate your work to one combined social monitoring platform, freeing up your time for other important work.
The best tools can track, aggregate, and analyze editorial media, tweets, posts, and conversations for you — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether you’re in the UK, South Africa, Ireland, or India.
Now, to understand choosing the right social media tracker, use this list as a guideline to find out which of these solutions best suits your team.
Tip: Take a look at the top social media analytics tools as well.
FAQ: Social Media Monitoring Tools
Frequently asked questions about the best social media monitoring tools.
What are social media monitoring tools?
Social media monitoring tools are software solutions that help companies manage their social media presence, learn about their customers or competitors, and get important analytics to hone their strategy. They also often integrate with CRM tools, giving companies a more streamlined way to communicate with customers or leads.
How are social media monitoring tools different from social listening tools?
While social media monitoring tools and social listening tools are quite similar, there are some distinct differences mainly to do with the level of detail. Social monitoring is more granular than social listening, providing engagement analytics and reporting to demonstrate your social media impact. Social listening on the other hand broadens the scope, providing insight into industry trends and what's driving consumer conversations.
Why is social media monitoring important for my business?
Social media monitoring is crucial for optimizing and maximizing your social strategy. It helps you make sure you're communicating with the right audiences, finding with the best influencers to help spread your message, and generating reports and dashboards to share successes and areas for improvement with key stakeholders.
What features should I look for in a social media monitoring tool?
When researching social media monitoring tools, it's important to look for competitive features that will set you up for success. These include things like sentiment analysis, AI-powered insights to help provide meaningful context, alerts, and any integrations that would be necessary for your needs.
Level Up Your Social Media Monitoring in 2026
With a rise in digital communication and brands furiously competing to garner consumer attention on the internet, social media monitoring has become an important facet of modern research, marketing, and PR.
However, it’s a pointless exercise without the right social media monitoring tools to help you distill information and gain useful functionality, relative to the size of your business and the scope of your work.
Whether you’re in Silicon Valley, Scotland, or Singapore, there are useful tools to aid you in managing mentions, pre-empting a crisis, and collaboratively keeping tabs on your brand and competitors.
While some tools and apps put a cap on how many mentions, Boolean searches, influencers, or competitors you can monitor, with Meltwater, you get unlimited searches to filter a mammoth data pool of 200 billion conversations across the globe.
If you’re curious to hear why more than 27,000 companies worldwide trust Meltwater to help with their social media monitoring, get in touch with us by filling out the form below.
