Brand24 is the best software for monitoring forums for most small teams, because it covers forums, Reddit, news, blogs, and social sources, with Individual at $249 per month, or $199 per month billed annually, for 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions per month. Awario is the budget pick at $49 per month, or $29 per month billed annually, for 3 topics and 30,000 new mentions per month, which is 15 times the mention allowance of Brand24 Individual at a lower entry price. Google Alerts is the free starting point at $0, with email or RSS delivery, but it covers only indexed web content and misses most social posts and private groups.
Forum threads often hold the first complaint, the first question about a product, and the first comparison with a rival. The tools below cover forums in different ways, from a free alert service to enterprise listening suites. Start with the keywords you must track, the mentions you expect each month, and whether you need alerts in real time or once a day.
On this page
Best software for monitoring forums: comparison table
Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
| # | Name | Best for | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brand24 | Small teams tracking brand and forum mentions | $249 per month | Free trial (14 days) | Visit |
| 2 | Awario | Budget buyers who want a high mention allowance | $49 per month | Free trial (7 days) | Visit |
| 3 | BrandMentions | Growing brands and agencies that need spoken mentions | $99 per month | Free trial (7 days) | Visit |
| 4 | Mentionlytics | Small teams that want TikTok, LinkedIn, and forum coverage | $69 per month | Free trial (14 days) | Visit |
| 5 | YouScan | Brands that need visual listening and audience insight | $499 per month | No | Visit |
| 6 | Talkwalker | Large teams that need enterprise listening and AI summaries | quote only | No | Visit |
| 7 | Sprout Social | Social teams that also need publishing and an inbox | $79 per seat/month | Free trial (30 days) | Visit |
| 8 | Google Alerts | Solo users who want free web and forum alerts | $0 | Yes | Visit |
The 8 best best software for monitoring forums, in detail
Brand24
Best for: Small teams tracking brand and forum mentions
Brand24 collects mentions from forums, Reddit, news, blogs, review sites, and social networks, then sorts them by source, sentiment, and reach. Individual costs $249 per month, or $199 per month billed annually, for 3 keywords, 2,000 mentions per month, and 1 user, with updates every 12 hours. Team costs $349 per month, or $299 per month billed annually, for 7 keywords, 10,000 mentions, unlimited users, and hourly updates.
- Pro costs $499 per month, or $399 per month billed annually, for 12 keywords and 40,000 mentions, with real-time updates.
- Business costs $699 per month, or $599 per month billed annually, for 25 keywords and 100,000 mentions, and Enterprise starts at $1,499 per month bill
- One limit: the entry plan is slow for a fast-moving thread, so a team that needs same-hour alerts should start at Team or Pro.
Pros
- Covers forums, Reddit, news, blogs, and social sources
- Individual plan includes AI sentiment analysis and 2,000 mentions per month
Cons
- Individual plan updates every 12 hours and covers only 1 user
- API access costs an extra $149 per month
Awario
Best for: Budget buyers who want a high mention allowance
Awario watches keywords across social networks, news, blogs, forums, and the open web, and it drops each match into a feed with sentiment and a topic cloud. Starter costs $49 per month, or $29 per month billed annually, for 3 topics, 30,000 new mentions per month, and 1 user. Pro costs $149 per month, or $89 per month billed annually, for 15 topics and 300,000 mentions.
- Enterprise costs $399 per month, or $249 per month billed annually, for 100 topics and 1,000,000 mentions.
- Each topic can hold unlimited keywords, so the plan limit counts topics, not single words.
- The trial runs for 7 days on Starter access, with 3 alerts and 30,000 mentions, and no card is needed.
- One limit: export to a CSV file is held for Pro and Enterprise, so Starter users must work inside the Awario feed.
Pros
- Starter includes 30,000 new mentions per month and 3 topics
- Boolean search is included on every plan
Cons
- Data export is limited to Pro and Enterprise plans
- trial lasts only 7 days
BrandMentions
Best for: Growing brands and agencies that need spoken mentions
BrandMentions tracks mentions across social media, news, blogs, forums, websites, review sites, and spoken mentions in videos and podcasts, with AI sentiment in more than 100 languages. Starter costs $99 per month billed quarterly, or $79 per month billed annually, for 5 keywords, 5,000 mentions per month, and 3 projects, with daily updates. Pro costs $299 per month, or $249 per month billed annually, for 20 keywords, 30,000 mentions, and 10 projects, with hourly updates.
- Expert costs $499 per month, or $399 per month billed annually, for 50 keywords, 75,000 mentions, and 10 users, with real-time updates, Boolean search
- Enterprise starts at $1,299 per month, or $1,099 per month billed annually, with custom limits and up to 10 years of history.
- One limit: Starter refreshes only once a day.
Pros
- Starter includes 5 keywords, 5,000 mentions per month, and 3 projects
- no extra charge when a plan limit is reached
Cons
- Starter updates only once a day and excludes video sources
- Starter has no monthly billing option, so the first charge covers 3 months
Mentionlytics
Best for: Small teams that want TikTok, LinkedIn, and forum coverage
Mentionlytics scans web sources, including news, blogs, and forums, plus X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Bluesky, and Threads. Basic costs $69 per month for 3 keyword rules, 5,000 mentions per month, 10 social profiles, and 2 users, with updates every 12 hours. Essential costs $169 per month for 10 keyword rules, 15,000 mentions, and 10 users, with updates every 6 hours.
- Advanced costs $299 per month for 15 keyword rules and 50,000 mentions, with continuous updates and unlimited users.
- Pro costs $499 per month for 25 keyword rules and 100,000 mentions, while Business costs $749 per month for 40 or more rules and 200,000 or more menti
- One limit: on Basic and Essential, collection stops when the monthly cap is reached.
Pros
- Basic includes 3 keyword rules, 5,000 mentions per month, and 2 users
- review monitoring covers TripAdvisor, Booking, and Trustpilot as an add-on
Cons
- Basic updates only every 12 hours
- mention collection stops at the monthly cap on Basic and Essential plans
YouScan
Best for: Brands that need visual listening and audience insight
YouScan is an AI listening platform that covers social media, blogs, forums, review sites, and online news, with aspect sentiment analysis, trend detection, and word clouds. Starter 3 costs $499 per month billed annually for 3 topics based on text queries, up to 15,000 monthly mentions, unlimited users, and 1 custom dashboard. Insights Copilot answers 10 questions per month on Starter 3, and the plan includes 1 integration with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or WhatsApp.
- Unlimited plans add as many topics as a team needs, unlimited sampled mentions, Visual Insights for logos and images, Audience Insights, unlimited cus
- Those plans are sold only after a demo, with no public dollar figure.
- One limit: Starter 3 reads text only, so a brand that needs logo recognition must move to a quoted Unlimited plan.
Pros
- Starter 3 includes 3 topics, 15,000 monthly mentions, and unlimited users
- Insights Copilot answers 10 questions per month on Starter 3
Cons
- Visual Insights and API access sit on Unlimited plans that need a demo and a quote
- Starter 3 covers text queries only
Talkwalker
Best for: Large teams that need enterprise listening and AI summaries
Talkwalker is now sold as Lumen by Talkwalker, after Hootsuite acquired Talkwalker in 2024, and it covers 150 million data sources, more than 30 social platforms, 187 languages, and 196 countries. Core is the entry plan, with listening and monitoring, topic analytics, custom dashboards, reports, alerts, Wisdom audience insight, an AI Agent, LLM Insights, IQ Apps, and unlimited users. Analyze adds 2x non-sampled results volume and 25 additional topics.
- Business adds 6x non-sampled results volume, 3 times more topics, filters, and channels, plus additional historical data, more AI Agent questions, mor
- Every plan includes professional onboarding, online training, regional support, and regular strategy reviews.
- One limit: the pricing page asks you to pick a plan to get a custom quote, so there is no public monthly figure to put in a budget.
Pros
- Every plan includes unlimited users and professional onboarding
- Analyze adds 2x non-sampled results volume and 25 additional topics
Cons
- No price is published and no self-serve trial is offered
- a demo and a sales quote are needed before you can start
Sprout Social
Best for: Social teams that also need publishing and an inbox
Sprout Social is a social suite for publishing, engagement, reporting, and listening, and its seat price is easy to misread, because Listening is sold as a separate add-on. Essentials costs $79 per seat per month billed annually, or $99 per seat per month billed monthly, for 5 social profiles, publishing, optimal send times, and profile reporting. Standard costs $199 per seat per month billed annually for 5 profiles, a consolidated inbox, keyword monitoring, and review management.
- Professional costs $299 per seat per month billed annually for unlimited profiles, message tagging, competitor insights, and 10 brand keywords per gro
- Advanced costs $399 per seat per month billed annually for unlimited profiles, sentiment in the inbox, API access, helpdesk integrations, Spike Alerts
- Listening is an add-on to the Standard plan and up, with no public price.
- One limit: Essentials gets no brand keywords at all, so forum listening needs Standard plus the quoted Listening add-on.
Pros
- Essentials includes 5 social profiles and 100 AI agent credits per seat per month
- Standard adds keyword monitoring and 10 brand keywords per group
Cons
- Listening is a quote-only add-on for Standard and higher plans, so the $79 seat price does not buy forum listening on its own
- Essentials includes no brand keywords
Google Alerts
Best for: Solo users who want free web and forum alerts
Google Alerts is a free service from Google that sends an email when new results for a topic appear in Google Search, and it covers web pages, news, blogs, and forum threads that Google has indexed. To use it, go to google.com/alerts, sign in, type a topic, click Show options to set frequency, sources, language, and region, then click Create Alert. You can choose as-it-happens, once a day, or once a week, and receive results by email or as an RSS feed.
- There is no subscription plan, no trial to expire, and no mention cap published on the Google support page.
- One limit: Google Alerts only sees content that Google can discover, crawl, and index, so it misses posts on Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook, and Linke
- It also has no dashboard and no sentiment scoring.
Pros
- Free with a Google account and sends alerts by email or RSS feed
- frequency can be set to as-it-happens, once a day, or once a week
Cons
- Covers only indexed web content and misses most social posts and private groups
- no dashboard, sentiment analysis, or mention history is included
How we chose
We chose tools that name forums, discussion boards, or community sources in their coverage, or that watch the wider web where forum threads appear, and we checked each official pricing page on 12 November 2026. Prices and plan limits come from those official pages opened today, and where a vendor hid the price, we wrote quote only. We did not test any tool hands-on. We did not install, use, or trial any of the tools for this article. Mention was left out because it is no longer sold as a standalone product.
Which tool fits your budget and coverage needs
| Need | Pick | Monthly starting cost | Mention limit to note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free start, low volume | Google Alerts | $0 | No published mention cap, web index only |
| Cheapest subscription plan with a high allowance | Awario | $29 per month billed annually | 30,000 new mentions per month on Starter |
| Small team, one dashboard | Brand24 | $199 per month billed annually | 2,000 mentions per month on Individual |
| Agency work with spoken mentions | BrandMentions | $99 per month billed quarterly | 5,000 mentions per month on Starter |
| TikTok and LinkedIn in one feed | Mentionlytics | $69 per month | 5,000 mentions per month on Basic |
| Visual listening and audience insight | YouScan | $499 per month billed annually | 15,000 mentions per month on Starter 3 |
| Enterprise volume and governance | Talkwalker | quote only | Analyze adds 2x non-sampled volume |
| Publishing plus listening, with a quote | Sprout Social | $79 per seat per month billed annually | Listening is a quote-only add-on |
Frequently asked questions
What is the best software for monitoring forums for a small team?
Brand24 is the best fit for most small teams, because it covers forums, Reddit, news, blogs, and social sources, with Individual at $249 per month, or $199 per month billed annually, for 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions per month. Awario is the better budget choice at $29 per month billed annually, with 30,000 mentions, if you can work with a 7-day trial and no export on Starter.
Can I monitor forums for free?
Yes, Google Alerts is free with a Google account at google.com/alerts, and it sends new indexed web, news, blog, and forum results by email or RSS feed. It misses most social posts and private groups, and it has no dashboard, so it works as a first layer, not as a full listening suite.
How much does forum monitoring software cost?
Entry prices run from $0 for Google Alerts to $499 per month billed annually for YouScan Starter 3, with Awario at $29 per month billed annually, Mentionlytics at $69 per month, BrandMentions at $99 per month billed quarterly, Brand24 at $199 per month billed annually, and Sprout Social at $79 per seat per month billed annually. Talkwalker is quote only.
Which tool is best for monitoring Reddit and forums together?
Brand24, Awario, BrandMentions, and Mentionlytics all list forums and Reddit in their coverage, so the choice turns on volume and speed. Awario Starter gives 30,000 mentions per month, Brand24 Team gives hourly updates and 10,000 mentions, and Mentionlytics Basic gives 5,000 mentions, so match the cap to your thread volume first.
Does Sprout Social include forum listening in its $79 plan?
No, the $79 per seat per month Essentials plan includes 5 social profiles and publishing tools, but no brand keywords. Listening is a quote-only add-on for Standard and higher plans, so a team that needs forum listening must budget for Standard at $199 per seat per month billed annually plus the quoted add-on.
What happened to Mention?
Mention is no longer sold as a standalone product. Since 1 July 2026, its listening has been replaced by Agorapulse Listening, sold as an add-on to Agorapulse plans or as a standalone package through the Agorapulse sales team, so old Solo and Pro plan lists no longer apply.
Sources
- https://brand24.com/
- https://brand24.com/pricing
- https://awario.com/
- https://awario.com/pricing/
- https://brandmentions.com/
- https://brandmentions.com/pricing.php
- https://www.mentionlytics.com/
- https://www.mentionlytics.com/pricing/
- https://youscan.io/
- https://youscan.io/pricing
- https://www.talkwalker.com/
- https://www.talkwalker.com/pricing
- https://sproutsocial.com/
- https://sproutsocial.com/pricing
- https://www.google.com/alerts
Prices and features were read on each company’s own website in November 2026. They change often, so confirm the current offer on the official site before you sign up or buy.