Overview

Brandwatch Listen monitors online conversations about brands, products, and competitors, with analysis and alerts for teams that need to track discussion across social and web sources. It is best suited to organizations already using Brandwatch’s social media management suite, where saved-search access and role permissions fit the team’s workflow.

Its breadth, historical coverage, and filtering are compelling for ongoing monitoring; the contract-dependent saved searches and admin-gated controls make it a less straightforward fit for teams seeking self-serve access.

Key features

Listen covers X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Tumblr, YouTube, Reddit, Bluesky, and QQ, alongside web and news monitoring. Brandwatch says it draws insights from 100 million online sources. That reach is useful for teams watching several channels and broader web discussion, though it does not by itself guarantee that every relevant mention is captured.

Search supports unlimited queries and 48 Boolean operators, giving analysts room to define precise monitoring topics. Saved searches can provide up to a year of mentions and insights, while quick searches are limited to the last month and cannot be revisited, shared with the team, or used to create alerts. All users can create unlimited quick searches, but saved-search availability depends on the organization’s Social Media Management contract.

Analysis classifies sentiment as positive, negative, or neutral and supports multiple languages. Graphs and metrics cover mention volume, sentiment, and demographics; filters include platform, language, and location. AI smart alerts flag spikes and drops in mentions, and teams can receive alerts about negative comments by email. These tools help teams spot shifts without relying solely on manual review, but alert administration is restricted to Team Leaders and Admins.

Listen integrates with Brandwatch Engage so teams can view and act on mentions through a customized feed. The broader feature set also includes survey support, qualitative analysis, API access, competitor tracking, creator discovery, campaign management, performance analytics, a unified social inbox, comment management, reply automation, team assignment, automated rules, and PDF report export. Competitor benchmarking and web traffic data are not included.

Only Team Leaders and Admins can save searches, manage tags and email alerts, or add targeted data sources. This is a meaningful operational constraint for teams that expect analysts or community managers to manage those workflows independently. Brandwatch’s security team follows confidentiality, integrity, and availability principles; product support is offered through its Help Center, Academy courses, and user community.

Pricing

Brandwatch Listen has custom pricing, with pricing on request and no free plan. The plan’s price is not published, and saved-search availability is allocated according to the Social Media Management contract. That makes it important for buyers to confirm both cost and search access against their organization’s agreement before building a workflow around historical searches or shared alerts.

There are no published seat or usage quotas for the plan beyond unlimited quick searches; saved-search access is contract-dependent. Quick searches’ one-month window is a substantive limit, not a substitute for saved searches when teams need reusable queries, alerts, or a year of mentions and insights.

Platforms

Brandwatch Listen is available on web and through an API. A mobile app is also included in its feature set. Its listed coverage spans ten social networks, with additional web and news monitoring.

Who it's for

Social media managers, content marketers, and larger teams monitoring their brand or competitors are the natural audience, particularly when they already use Brandwatch’s social media management suite. Analysts can use Boolean search, multilingual sentiment analysis, and filters to investigate conversation trends; teams using Engage can connect monitoring with action on mentions.

It is a weaker fit for buyers who need transparent pricing, unrestricted saved-search access, or broad control for every team member. Smaller teams seeking a no-cost starting point may prefer a product with a free plan.

Pros and cons

Pros: Wide social, web, and news coverage gives teams multiple sources to monitor in one product.
Pros: Boolean search, up to a year of saved-search data, and multilingual sentiment analysis support more focused and longitudinal analysis.
Pros: Mention-change and negative-comment alerts, plus the Engage integration, connect monitoring with follow-up workflows.
Cons: Pricing is custom, and saved-search access depends on the organization’s contract, complicating cost and workflow planning.
Cons: Quick searches retain only a month of data and cannot be revisited, shared, or used for alerts.
Cons: Only Team Leaders and Admins can save searches or manage alerts, tags, and targeted sources, restricting day-to-day control for other users.
Cons: It lacks competitor benchmarking and web traffic data, so teams needing either should look elsewhere.

Alternatives

dig is a more accessible starting point for teams that want a free tier: it offers 10 credits per month at no cost, while its $25.00 USD per month Pro plan includes 50 credits per month, influencer vetting, crisis detection, and trend discovery.

Muck Rack is another option, with media monitoring and alerts, a media database and pitching, reporting and analytics, and self-led onboarding in its Starter plan.

Konnect Insights Social Listening may suit teams looking for a stated entry price: its Starter plan is $39.00 USD per month and combines omni-channel ticketing, social media engagement, social listening, and publishing tools.

Mentionlytics is worth considering for small brands that want a trial and a published entry plan; its Basic plan is $49.00 USD per month billed yearly and includes three keyword rules and 5,000 monthly mentions.

KWatch.io offers a free plan with two Reddit keyword alerts, two Hacker News keyword alerts, and zero tracked conversations, making it a limited free option rather than a substitute for broad monitoring.

Brand24 is a paid alternative with a free trial and an Individual plan at $249.00 USD per month, billed annually at $199 per month, including three keywords, 2,000 mentions per month, and one user.

Lucidya may fit teams looking for a plan with stated user capacity and reply limits: its Growth plan costs $125.00 USD per month, requires a minimum of six seats, and supports up to 20 users.

Octolens is an alternative for teams prioritizing a defined mention allowance and longer history: its Pro plan includes 15,000 mentions, 10 keywords, hourly refresh, two years of data history, and unlimited team seats at $159.00 USD per month billed annually.

For broader category comparisons, see Social Media Listening Software, Social Customer Service Software, Influencer Marketing Analytics Software, Social Media Customer Service Software, Social Media Advertising Software, and Social Media Analytics Software.

Verdict

Brandwatch Listen is a strong choice for social media and content teams that need broad conversation coverage, Boolean search, sentiment analysis, and alerting within the Brandwatch ecosystem. Its main drawback is operational dependency: saved searches and key administrative actions are governed by contract allocation and elevated roles. Choose it when your organization can secure those permissions and pricing; look elsewhere if you need predictable self-serve access or a free entry point.

	Brandwatch Listen	Influee
Free plan	No	No
Free trial	No	No
Paid from	—	£199/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, Web	api, Web
Creator discovery	Yes	—
Campaign management	Yes	—
Performance analytics	Yes	Yes
Creator payments	Yes	—
Free plan	—	No

Brandwatch Listen vs Influee

Brandwatch Listen

Influee