F5Bot alternative

F5Bot emails keyword alerts from Reddit, Hacker News and Lobsters. AskHound adds buying-intent packs, intent ranking, reply-state and an MCP server so your agent can work the conversations.

Try it now (free, no signup)

Player 1 · type a product, rival or job

Level select:

F5Bot (f5bot.com, checked 2026-10-18) monitors Reddit, Hacker News and Lobsters and emails you when keywords appear. Free plan; Silver $9.99 (20 keywords) and Gold $49.99 (200 keywords, RSS/JSON, AI filtering, Slack/Discord). Running since 2017.

F5Bot vs AskHound

Feature	F5Bot	AskHound
Sources	Reddit, Hacker News, Lobsters	Hacker News, Stack Exchange, Bluesky, GitHub
Delivery	Email, Slack/Discord, RSS/JSON/API (paid)	Browser, CLI, MCP, Markdown; paid watches: email digest (beta), Slack/Discord/webhook on Pro
Buying-intent packs	You write keywords	Generated from competitors + category
Reply-state for agents	No	Yes, seen / replied / skipped, synced on paid plans
Price	Free; $9.99 / $49.99	Free; $19 / $49 / $149 hosted

Honest take

F5Bot is great, cheap, and covers Reddit. Use it for email alerts. Use AskHound when you want your agent to search on demand, rank by intent and keep track of what it already handled. Many people will use both.

Cartridges

Give it to your agent

Remote MCP

zero install · Stack Exchange + Bluesky, from our server

Free: 10 results per call, 20 calls a day. A key lifts the cap and returns 50 to 100.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "askhound": { "url": "https://askhound.haullabs.dev/api/mcp" }
  }
}

Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http askhound https://askhound.haullabs.dev/api/mcp

Local MCP

all 4 sources · runs on your machine · Node 18+

HN and GitHub are queried with your own access.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "askhound": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "https://askhound.haullabs.dev/askhound-0.1.5.tgz", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

CLI

one file · zero dependencies

npx -y https://askhound.haullabs.dev/askhound-0.1.5.tgz \
  search "otter.ai alternative" --context meeting,transcript

# save a pack, run it daily, new results only
askhound pack save mine --competitor Otter.ai \
  --competitor Fireflies --category "transcript export"
askhound pack run --md today.md

Honest-reply policy (built into every tool response): a human approves every public reply; never auto-post or mass-DM; disclose that you build the product; answer the question first and name alternatives; follow each community's rules. Hacker News, for example, does not allow AI-generated or AI-edited comments, so replies there must be written by you. AskHound finds the conversation. You decide whether you have something useful to say.

Insert coin

Pricing: select your player

Free is for looking around. Paid plans are for not missing anyone: watches re-run your searches on our server and send you only people you haven't seen yet. Hosted searches cover Stack Exchange and Bluesky (the sources whose terms allow server-side use). Hacker News and GitHub run in the free CLI on your machine. No Reddit, no X.

FreeP1 · free play

$0forever

Browser search: 3 a day, last 7 days, top 10
Remote MCP: 10 results per call, 20 calls a day
Open-source CLI + local MCP (MIT): HN, GitHub, Stack Exchange, Bluesky
Local reply-state

Install ▶

Most picked

Solo1 player

$19/ month

$149/ yearsave $79 · 2 months+ free

3 always-on watches
Daily email digest of new askers only (beta)
Search 90 days back, every result
Remote MCP: 50 results per call, no daily cap
Cloud reply-state sync

Start Solo ▶Start Solo yearly ▶

Pro3 players

$49/ month

$390/ yearsave $198 · 2 months+ free

15 watches
Hourly checks (beta, see note)
Slack, Discord or any webhook, plus email
Remote MCP: 100 results per call
3 seats sharing reply-state

Start Pro ▶Start Pro yearly ▶

Agency10 players

$149/ monthmonthly only

Everything in Pro
50 watches (one set per client)
White-label client reports (Markdown/HTML)
10 seats

Start Agency ▶

Beta, plainly: email digests are in beta until our sending domain is verified; until then a new watch is saved and starts emailing the day the sender goes live (Slack, Discord and webhooks on Pro work now). Hourly checks are in beta too: our scheduler runs daily today, hourly is being switched on. Your license key appears right after checkout. Cancel anytime: reply to your Stripe receipt and we cancel it. Full refund within 14 days if it isn't useful to you.