Software advice
Best AI Social Listening Software in 2026
AI social listening software is a class of monitoring tools that collect public mentions of a brand, product or topic from social networks, news, blogs, forums and review sites, then use language models to score sentiment, group themes and flag spikes. It is not a publishing scheduler, and its sentiment labels still need a human check on sarcasm and niche vocabulary.
Quick answer
Brand24 ranks first for posted prices and a broad set of AI features at a small-team budget. Awario fits agencies that want euro pricing per topic, and Talkwalker (now Lumen by Talkwalker) suits enterprise teams that need multilingual coverage and accept a quote.
A buyer of social listening software usually chooses between three things: a self-serve monitor with a price list, an enterprise intelligence suite sold through a demo, or a listening add-on inside a social media management plan. The first is fast to start and capped by mention volume. The second covers more sources and languages but hides the price. The third is cheapest to add and shallowest in analysis. This ranking judges how clearly each vendor describes its AI, what the pricing page shows, how data is handled and what a team must buy to get sentiment and alerts. Facts come from the vendors' own pages, checked on 28 October 2026.
The 13 best AI social listening software in 2026, ranked
There is no score. Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. How we rank.
| # | Tool | Best for | Free plan | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brand24 | Small brands and agencies wanting posted prices and AI sentiment on a trial | Trial | $199 per month billed annually, $249 monthly |
| 2 | Awario | Agencies and consultants monitoring many topics at euro prices | Trial | €29 per month billed annually, €49 monthly |
| 3 | Determ | Communications teams wanting unlimited seats and AI summaries on a European vendor | Trial | €249 per month billed annually, €299 monthly |
| 4 | Mention | Teams monitoring reviews and the web alongside social with GDPR-minded procurement | Trial | Quoted |
| 5 | Talkwalker (Lumen by Talkwalker) | Research and communications teams covering many languages and countries | No | Quoted |
| 6 | Brandwatch | Insights teams combining social, news and search signals in one enterprise suite | No | Quoted |
| 7 | Sprout Social | Social teams who want mention tracking inside their publishing and inbox tool | Trial | $199 per seat per month for Standard, annual billing |
| 8 | Sprinklr | Large organizations running listening, care and marketing on one platform | No | Quoted |
| 9 | Meltwater | Communications teams that want media monitoring, social listening and AI visibility tracking from one vendor | No | Quoted |
| 10 | YouScan | Brands and agencies that analyze images and logos in social posts alongside text | No | $499 per month, billed annually (Starter) |
| 11 | BrandMentions | Small businesses and agencies that want posted plan prices, keyword alerts and white-label reports | Trial | $79 per month, billed annually (Starter) |
| 12 | Mentionlytics | Solo marketers and small teams that want AI sentiment, emotion and topic grouping on a modest yearly plan | Trial | $49 per month, billed yearly (Basic) |
| 13 | SentiOne | Agencies and brands that need real-time updates and tiered mention exports, and accept credit-metered AI | No | $199 per month, billed monthly, net of tax |
- 1
Brand24
Brand24 takes first place because every plan price is on the page, the trial runs 14 days, and AI sentiment, insights, event detection and a brand assistant are named and mapped to tiers. The legal entity is American, with servers in the US and Poland. It loses ground on the entry tier's three keywords and a $149 extra fee for API access.
Strong on
- Five plans with posted monthly and annual prices, plus a 14-day free trial
- Lists AI sentiment, topic analysis, event detection and an assistant by plan tier
- Covers Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, podcasts, newsletters and review sites in one project
Weak on
- Entry plan allows only 3 keywords and 2K mentions per month
- API access and Smart Context Search are sold as extra-fee add-ons
- AI Insights covers only 2 projects on the Pro plan
Skip it if: Enterprise teams needing a documented security certification, since the privacy policy lists none. Individual plan with 3 keywords, 2K mentions per month, 1 user; larger tiers add keywords, mentions and AI features.
- 2
Awario
Awario ranks second because pricing is by topic with unlimited keywords per topic, all three plans list Boolean search, CSV export, white-label reports and API access, and the cheapest plan starts at €29 billed annually. The vendor says it crawls over 13 billion web pages daily. Its AI is described less than Brand24's, and the Starter plan allows one team member.
Strong on
- Plans list Boolean search, CSV export, white-label reports and API access throughout
- Prices in euros with unlimited keywords per topic on every plan
- Tracks news, blogs, forums, videos and review sites plus major social networks
Weak on
- Starter allows a single team member and 5,000 stored mentions per topic
- Pricing page does not describe AI assistants or theme summaries
- Privacy policy page read was last updated in February 2023
Skip it if: Teams wanting a conversational AI assistant or LLM brand tracking from the same vendor. Starter covers 3 topics, 30,000 new mentions per month and one team member.
- 3
Determ
Determ sits third because every posted plan includes unlimited users, unlimited keywords and all AI features, including the Synthia assistant, entity sentiment and executive summaries. It is operated from Croatia, a point that matters for some European buyers. The cost is higher than Awario per mention, and the mention caps of 5,000 and 10,000 are modest.
Strong on
- Unlimited users and all AI features included on both posted plans
- Synthia assistant offers summaries, digests and entity-level sentiment
- Trial of 5 days without a card, extended to 14 days after a demo
Weak on
- Posted plans cap mentions at 5,000 and 10,000 per month
- The pricing page does not show which plans include API access
- No security certifications are listed on the pricing page
Skip it if: High-volume brands tracking millions of mentions, who will land on the custom tier. Expand plan covers 5 topics and 5,000 mentions, with unlimited users and keywords.
- 4
Mention
Mention is placed fourth because it covers the web, social networks and more than 75 review sites, and its owner Agorapulse describes itself as a Paris-based company under French data protection law. The pricing page read showed one Company plan with no figures, and Historical Data and API sit behind paid add-ons, so budgeting needs a sales call.
Strong on
- Monitors news, blogs, forums and more than 75 review sites including Trustpilot and Glassdoor
- Sentiment, share of voice and competitor benchmarking are listed on the plan
- Boolean alerts accept queries up to 2,000 characters
Weak on
- Pricing page showed no figures, only a Company plan and demo request
- Historical data and API access are paid add-ons
- Trial length is not stated on the page read
Skip it if: Small teams who need a price list before a sales conversation. The pricing page read shows one Company plan and a demo request, with no figures.
- 5
Talkwalker (Lumen by Talkwalker)
Talkwalker, now branded Lumen by Talkwalker, ranks fifth because its scale is concrete: it cites 150 million data sources, 30 plus social platforms and 187 languages. It documents an AI agent, peak forecasting and LLM Insights. The price is quote-only with no trial, and the rebrand alongside Hootsuite means product names may change again. Teams should budget for onboarding.
Strong on
- Cites 150 million sources, 187 languages and 196 countries on its pricing page
- Includes an AI agent, forecasting summaries and LLM Insights for tracking AI answers
- All three plans list unlimited users, with onboarding and training included
Weak on
- No price or trial is shown; pricing is a custom quote
- The brand moved to Lumen by Talkwalker after joining Hootsuite, so naming may shift
- The pages read gave no security certifications or AI training statement
Skip it if: Small teams needing a price and trial before talking to sales. Core, Analyze and Business plans are sold by custom quote; no figures are published.
- 6
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is sixth because its suite spans consumer intelligence, search intelligence, social management and influencer tools, and Iris AI writes Boolean queries, summarizes spikes and answers questions. It is part of the Cision family. Pages read show no price, trial or training statement, and the breadth is more than a single listening buyer may need.
Strong on
- Iris AI answers questions with charts, drafts Boolean queries and summarizes anomalies
- Suite covers consumer research, search intelligence, social management and influencers
- Allows uploading your own data alongside collected mentions
Weak on
- No pricing or trial is published, only a demo request
- Iris AI page does not say whether customer data trains models
- Product names changed after acquisitions, for example the former Falcon suite
Skip it if: Teams buying one listening feature on a small budget, without a sales process. No price appears on the pages read; the call to action is a demo.
- 7
Sprout Social
Sprout Social ranks seventh because listening is an add-on rather than the core product. It lists AI-powered Smart Categories, sentiment tracking and scoring and spike alerts, sold on top of per-seat plans. A 30-day free trial exists. Per-seat pricing grows with team size, and the Listening add-on price is not shown. Teams wanting depth should compare dedicated platforms.
Strong on
- Listening sits beside publishing, inbox and reporting in one login
- Lists Smart Categories, sentiment scoring and spike alerts
- 30-day free trial and posted per-seat prices for the plans
Weak on
- Listening costs extra and its price is not published
- Per-seat pricing becomes expensive as the team grows beyond a few people
- Keyword groups are limited to 10 or 20 brand keywords on plans
Skip it if: Research teams analyzing the whole web, who need a dedicated platform. Listening is a separate add-on on Standard and above; its price is quoted via demo.
- 8
Sprinklr
Sprinklr ranks eighth because Sprinklr Insights is one module in a customer experience platform covering service, social, marketing and insights. Social Listening, LLM Insights and Video Intelligence are named. The vendor says it was named a Leader in 2026 Gartner reports. No price, trial or certification appears on the pages read, and buying means a full sales cycle.
Strong on
- Insights suite names Social Listening, LLM Insights and Video Intelligence
- Covers service, social publishing, advertising and listening in one vendor
- Cites analyst recognition in 2026 for social listening and voice of customer
Weak on
- No pricing or trial; a demo is the only entry point
- Pages read did not state certifications or AI training policy
- Scope far exceeds a team that only needs brand mention alerts
Skip it if: Small teams that need quick, low-cost brand alerts without an enterprise rollout. No price or trial on the pages read; the call to action is a demo.
- 9
Meltwater
Meltwater ranks ninth because social listening is one module in a wider media intelligence suite, and the price is quoted per program. The vendor states it covers over 1.3 billion documents daily and mixes news, social, broadcast and LLM signals. That breadth suits a PR team, but a buyer who only wants mention alerts pays for more than needed.
Strong on
- Combines editorial, social, broadcast and LLM signals in one search view
- Enterprise tier lists an API, MCP integrations and workflow governance
- Mira AI answers questions from Meltwater data and shows its sources
Weak on
- No posted price or trial; every tier ends in Contact Sales
- Pages read did not state certifications or an AI training policy
Skip it if: Small teams that want a posted monthly price and a quick self-serve start for brand mentions. No list price; the pricing page offers Starter, Pro, Enterprise and Agency tiers, each with Contact Sales.
- 10
YouScan
YouScan is tenth because its strength is narrow and its entry price is high for a small team. Starter costs $499 per month billed annually and includes unlimited users and alerts, but only three topics. Image recognition (Visual Insights) and Audience Insights are add-ons on the vendor pricing page. It rewards buyers whose questions are about how products look in photos.
Strong on
- Starter includes unlimited users, unlimited alerts and an AI agent with 10 questions per month
- Visual Insights searches by logo and image content, not only text
- Support offers chat, email and WhatsApp on weekdays
Weak on
- Starter allows only 3 topics and 15,000 mentions per month
- Visual Insights and Audience Insights are sold as add-ons
- No free plan; trial access runs through a demo request
Skip it if: Solo marketers who need many topics on a budget under a few hundred dollars per month. Starter covers 3 topics and up to 15,000 monthly mentions; the Unlimited plan is priced after a demo.
- 11
BrandMentions
BrandMentions ranks eleventh because its plans are clear and cheap but capped by keywords and monthly mentions. Starter is $79 per month on annual billing for 5 keywords and 5,000 mentions, and Expert at $399 adds white-label reports and Boolean search. The vendor says it processes data under the GDPR and Romanian law. It fits buyers who value price over depth of analysis.
Strong on
- All four plan prices and limits are posted, with a 7-day free trial
- Expert plan adds white-label reports, Boolean search and 10 users
- Starter includes daily updates and AI sentiment scoring
Weak on
- Starter caps 5 keywords and 5,000 mentions per month
- Real-time updates start on the Expert plan at $399 per month annual
Skip it if: Enterprise comms teams that need image analysis, deep historical data and a managed rollout. Starter allows 5 keywords and 5,000 mentions per month; $99 per month if billed quarterly. A 7-day trial is offered.
- 12
Mentionlytics reads mentions for sentiment and emotion, groups them by topic, flags unusual changes and answers questions through its SIA chatbot. It sits last because prices are shown only on yearly billing, the privacy policy says nothing about AI training, and no hosting region or certification is named. Basic at $49 per month limits you to 2 users and 12-hour updates, so team use means the $169 Essential tier or above.
Strong on
- Monitoring spans web, social media, reviews, news and AI search engines
- Pro adds AI emotion analysis and AI mention clustering with unlimited users
- Slack, Hootsuite, Looker Studio and Power BI are listed as connections
Weak on
- Only yearly-billed prices are shown, with no monthly-billed amounts
- Privacy policy does not mention AI training, hosting region or certifications
- Basic updates every 12 hours and allows only 2 users
Skip it if: Enterprise comms teams that need a stated hosting region, named certifications and monthly billing before they commit. Amounts are shown only for yearly billing; a 14-day trial needs no card. Basic allows 3 keyword rules.
- 13
SentiOne is a social listening tool from SentiOne S.A. with an AI Assistant, AI Tagging and mention summaries, all drawn from monthly AI Credits. It lands last because the $199 Social plan has no export and refreshes every 12 hours, the credit cost per action is unpublished, annual prices were not captured, and ISO 27001 appears only as a stated goal. Real-time updates start at $399.
Strong on
- Realtime and Business plans update in real time, and Business keeps 18 months of history.
- Exports reach 500,000 mentions a month on Business, and Enterprise offers API exports.
- Coverage names Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, news portals and blogs, with X on Business.
Weak on
- AI Credits are an internal currency and the page does not state what each AI action costs.
- The Social plan has one project, one language, one user and no mention export.
- ISO/IEC 27001 and 42001 are described as a goal, not a current certification.
Skip it if: Buyers who need published annual pricing, a stated hosting region or a confirmed security certification before shortlisting. Social plan: 1 project, 1 user, 12-hour updates, no export. Annual figures were not captured.
How these AI social listening software were judged
How accurate are AI sentiment scores and theme grouping?
No vendor page read for this ranking publishes an independent accuracy figure for sentiment, so quality is judged by design and by what you can verify. Brand24 describes AI sentiment analysis, topic analysis and event detection on its pricing page, while Determ lists entity-level sentiment and an assistant called Synthia. Brandwatch describes Iris AI as an assistant that writes queries and summarizes spikes. Sentiment on short, sarcastic or non-English posts is where every tool slips. Before buying, load a brand with known controversy and read thirty raw mentions behind each negative label.
What does AI social listening software cost per month?
Prices range from about 30 euros per month to custom contracts, and as of October 2026 only the self-serve tools post them. Awario lists €49, €149 and €399 per month, or €29, €89 and €249 billed annually. Determ lists €299 and €499 per month. Brand24 lists $249 to $699 monthly plus Enterprise from $1,499. Sprout Social posts $199 per seat per month for its Standard plan, with Listening sold separately. Talkwalker, Brandwatch, Sprinklr and Mention give no figures on the pages read. Ask about mention caps, because volume drives every bill.
How do social listening vendors handle collected data?
Listening tools mostly process public posts, but account details and uploaded customer data still need a policy. Brand24's privacy policy says customer data is not used to train third-party public AI models and lists servers in the United States and Poland. Awario's policy names TechFusion Ltd in Cyprus as controller. Agorapulse SAS describes itself as based in Paris and applying French data protection law. Sprout Social acts as processor for its customers' data and cites the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. For Talkwalker, Brandwatch, Sprinklr and Determ, training use was not stated on the pages read.
How hard is it to leave a social listening tool?
Leaving costs you historical data more than configuration. Awario exports mentions as CSV and lists API access on every plan, which preserves what you collected. Brand24 sells API access as an extra, and Determ lists an API and MCP link. Enterprise contracts from Talkwalker, Brandwatch and Sprinklr are annual and built around saved queries, dashboards and trained classifiers that do not travel. Before signing, ask how long history is kept after cancellation, whether Boolean queries export as text, and whether sentiment labels leave with the mentions.
Which social listening tool fits which team size?
Fit follows team size and the question being asked. A founder or one-person marketing team can run Brand24 or Awario on a trial and decide in two weeks. An agency tracking many clients should count topics, because Awario sells by topic and Determ by topic and mention bundle. A communications team already living in Sprout Social can add Listening without a second login. Research groups comparing markets across many languages belong with Talkwalker or Sprinklr, where onboarding is part of the product and a demo precedes any price.
How to choose an AI social listening tool in three steps
- Define the volume before you shop. Estimate how many mentions per month your brand and three competitors generate, using the free search on a trial. Caps differ sharply: Awario counts new mentions per month across all topics, Determ caps 5,000 or 10,000 mentions on its two posted plans, and Brand24 caps by keyword and mention bundle. A tool that hits its cap mid-month stops collecting, so pick the tier on observed volume rather than on a guess about growth. Write the cap next to the price so plans compare on cost per thousand mentions.
- Test sentiment on your own hard cases. Open a trial and add a brand with a recent complaint, a product name that is also a common word and one non-English market you serve. Read thirty mentions in each sentiment bucket and note the error rate by hand. Vendors describe their AI in marketing terms, so your own sample is the only accuracy figure you will get. Repeat the same search in two tools and compare what each one missed. Keep the spreadsheet, because it also makes renewal talks concrete.
- Check sources and history before price. Confirm that the networks you care about are covered and what the tool can collect from them, because platform access changes. Brand24 lists Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, podcasts and newsletters, Awario lists forums and blogs, and Talkwalker cites 30 plus social platforms. Ask how much historical data a new project can pull, since backfilling a competitor's last year may be an add-on rather than part of the plan. Also check how quickly new posts appear, since Brand24 lists updates every 12 hours on its entry plan and real time higher up.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI social listening software in 2026?
Brand24 ranks first here because it posts all five plan prices, offers a 14-day trial and lists AI sentiment, insights, event detection and a brand assistant. Awario ranks second for per-topic pricing in euros, and Determ third for unlimited users. The order is editorial and reflects what each vendor documents publicly as of October 2026.
How much does social listening software cost?
Self-serve tools start around €29 per month for Awario billed annually and €249 per month for Determ billed annually. Brand24 starts at $199 per month billed annually. Enterprise platforms such as Talkwalker, Brandwatch and Sprinklr quote privately. Costs rise with mentions, topics and users, so request a written overage rate before agreeing to any plan.
What is the difference between social listening and social monitoring?
Monitoring tracks direct mentions and tags so a team can respond. Listening goes further by analyzing the wider conversation for sentiment, themes and competitor activity. Most tools in this ranking do both, but Sprout Social sells listening as a paid add-on, while Brand24 and Awario include monitoring and sentiment in their base plans.
Do AI social listening tools work in languages other than English?
Coverage claims vary and are vendor statements. Talkwalker cites 187 languages, and Awario lets you monitor keywords in any language. Accuracy of sentiment in smaller languages is not documented by any vendor read here, so test your target language on a trial. Short posts with slang and sarcasm are the usual failure case.
Can social listening tools track what AI chatbots say about a brand?
Several vendors now sell this as a module. Brand24 lists an AI Visibility module on its Enterprise plan, Talkwalker lists LLM Insights, Sprinklr lists LLM Insights as new, and Meltwater and Onclusive describe similar tracking. Features and scope differ, so ask what prompts are tested, how often, and in which AI assistants.
Which social listening tool has a free trial?
Brand24 advertises a 14-day free trial, Awario trial gives access to its Starter plan, and Determ lists a 5-day trial with no card required. Sprout Social offers 30 days free with annual billing. Talkwalker's pricing page shows a demo request and no trial, and Sprinklr offers a demo only.
Is it legal to collect public social media posts for brand monitoring?
Collecting public posts for brand monitoring is common, but the rules depend on the platform's terms and on data protection law where the authors live. Under the GDPR, posts that name individuals can count as personal data. Check each vendor's privacy policy for its role as processor, and ask counsel about retention and deletion requests.
Do social listening tools replace a social media management platform?
No. Listening tools collect and analyze mentions, while management platforms schedule posts, run inboxes and report on owned channels. Sprout Social and Sprinklr combine both in one product, and Brandwatch sells a social management suite alongside listening. Smaller teams often run a self-serve monitor next to a separate scheduler.