Compare / 2026-10-18
Social listening tools compared, from their own pricing pages
Pick based on where your buyers talk.
- Reddit + Hacker News on a budget: F5Bot (free plan; paid from $9.99/mo).
- The widest range of communities, Reddit included: Syften (from $29.95/mo).
- AI-filtered B2B brand monitoring, including X and LinkedIn: Octolens (Pro $159/mo billed annually, $199 paid monthly).
- Big-network brand analytics (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok): Brand24 (from $199/mo billed annually).
- Buying-intent asks on Stack Exchange and Bluesky, plus HN and GitHub through a free CLI, and agent-ready over MCP: AskHound (free; hosted from $19/mo). AskHound does not cover Reddit or X.
Try it now (free, no signup)
Comparison (each tool's own page, checked 2026-10-18)
| Tool | Sources it lists | Starting price | Alerts / delivery | API / MCP | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AskHound | Hosted: Stack Exchange, Bluesky. Free CLI/local MCP adds Hacker News, GitHub. No Reddit, no X | Free (CLI, browser 3 searches a day, remote MCP 10 results per call); Solo $19/mo | Solo: daily email digest (beta, not sending yet); Pro $49/mo: hourly checks (beta), Slack, Discord, webhook | Remote and local MCP; REST | Free tier; 14-day refund |
| F5Bot | Reddit, Hacker News, Lobsters | Free; Silver $9.99/mo (20 keywords); Gold $49.99/mo (200 keywords) | Email (instant, batched or digest); Slack & Discord on Gold | "RSS, JSON & API access" | Free plan |
| Syften | Public web, Reddit, X (paid add-on, +$40/mo), Indie Hackers, Hacker News, GitHub, Product Hunt, Stack Exchange, forums, Lobsters, Dev.to, Slack communities, newsletters, YouTube (add-on), podcasts, Bluesky, Mastodon. Says it does not monitor LinkedIn | Entry $29.95/mo (3 community filters, 7-day archive); Standard $49.95; PRO $119.95 | Email, Slack, RSS, API, webhook | API on all plans; MCP and webhooks on PRO | 14 days, no card |
| Octolens | Reddit, Bluesky, DEV, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Hacker News, YouTube, GitHub, Stack Overflow, podcasts, newsletters, news, web, reviews (some on higher plans) | Pro $159/mo billed annually or $199 paid monthly (10 keywords, 15,000 mentions, hourly) | Slack, email, webhooks | API, webhooks and MCP on all plans | 7 days |
| Brand24 | Facebook, Instagram, X, news, blogs, Reddit, LinkedIn, Medium, Quora, YouTube, TikTok, reviews, Twitch, newsletters, podcasts | Individual $249/mo, or $199/mo billed annually (3 keywords, 2K mentions, 12-hour updates) | Reports, Storm Alerts, Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations (plan coverage not checked) | Lists an MCP row and API (API at an extra fee); plan coverage not checked | 14 days |
| hnrss.org | Hacker News only | Free | RSS, Atom, JSON Feed | Feeds are the API | n/a |
No longer available to new customers: GummySearch, a Reddit research tool. Its homepage says "GummySearch is closed as of 11/30/2025." Its closure notice says existing paid customers keep access until their plans end, and that on December 1, 2026 all services shut down and user data is deleted.
Where each one is strongest (fairly)
- F5Bot is the cheapest way to cover Reddit and HN. The homepage says it checks "every few minutes" and has run since 2017.
- Syften has the widest list of community sources here, including Bluesky and Mastodon. Its FAQ is frank about limits: no LinkedIn, and it doesn't replace GummySearch's audience research.
- Octolens is built for B2B SaaS teams, with AI relevance scoring and sentiment, and it's the only tool here that lists LinkedIn and TikTok alongside developer sources.
- Brand24 is the classic brand-analytics suite: reach, sentiment, influencers, and big consumer networks. It's the most expensive entry plan in this list.
- hnrss is free and flexible if you only care about HN and already use an RSS reader.
- AskHound is narrower by design. It looks for questions ("X alternative", "is there a tool…"), tracks which threads you've already replied to, and gives AI agents an MCP. Its gaps are real: no Reddit, no X, no LinkedIn; email digests are in beta and not sending yet, and hourly checks are in beta.
How to choose
- List the three places your last ten customers came from.
- Drop every tool that doesn't cover those places.
- Among the rest, pick the cheapest one that delivers to where you already work (email, Slack, or your agent).
Continue?
If your users ask on Stack Exchange, Bluesky, HN or GitHub, try AskHound free.
Run a search in the browser, install the free CLI, or add the remote MCP to your agent. Hosted watches start at $19/mo.
FAQ
Which social listening tool covers Reddit?
In this table: F5Bot, Syften, Octolens and Brand24. AskHound and hnrss don't.
What's the cheapest paid option?
F5Bot Silver at $9.99/mo; F5Bot and hnrss also have free options. AskHound's paid plans start at $19/mo, and its CLI is free.
Which tools offer an MCP server for AI agents?
From their own pages: AskHound (remote and local), Syften (PRO plan) and Octolens (all plans). Brand24's pricing table also lists an MCP row; we didn't check which plans include it.
Is GummySearch still available?
Not to new customers. GummySearch stopped taking signups and payments on 11/30/2025. Existing paid customers keep access until their plans end, and GummySearch says it shuts down entirely and deletes all user data on December 1, 2026.
Related
- F5Bot alternative
- Syften alternative
- Octolens alternative
- GummySearch alternative
- Hacker News keyword alerts
- Bluesky monitoring
- MCP for lead generation
Guides: where your users ask
- Find users on Hacker News
- Hacker News keyword alerts
- Find users in GitHub issues
- Find users on Bluesky
- Bluesky monitoring
- Stack Exchange recommendation questions
- Where to find beta users
- Social listening for developer tools
- MCP for lead generation
Sources
- https://f5bot.com/
- https://syften.com/ (pricing section and FAQ)
- https://octolens.com/pricing
- https://www.brand24.com/prices/
- https://hnrss.org/
- https://gummysearch.com/ and https://gummysearch.com/docs/gummysearch-is-now-closed-6533h
- https://askhound.haullabs.dev/ (pricing) and /docs
Cartridges
Give it to your agent
Remote MCP
zero install · Stack Exchange + Bluesky, from our serverFree: 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 dependenciesnpx -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.mdHonest-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.
- Browser search: 3 a day, last 7 days, top 10
- Remote MCP: 10 results per call, 20 calls a day
- Free CLI + local MCP: HN, GitHub, Stack Exchange, Bluesky
- Local reply-state
- 3 always-on watches
- Daily email digest of new askers only (beta, not sending yet)
- Search 90 days back, every result
- Remote MCP: 50 results per call, no daily cap
- Cloud reply-state sync
- 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
- Everything in Pro
- 50 watches (one set per client)
- White-label client reports (Markdown/HTML)
- 10 seats
Beta, plainly: email digests are in beta and not sending yet: our email sender isn't switched on. A new email watch is saved now and starts sending the day the sender goes live. Slack, Discord and webhooks on Pro deliver today. Hourly checks are in beta too: an external hourly scheduler was added on 2026-10-18, and the label stays until we've confirmed hourly runs in production. 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.