Brand24
7,8/ 10from $ 199/month
Social media monitoring tools compared
Social media monitoring tools compared for DACH teams
IN SHORT
This page compares social media monitoring tools and social listening tools for social media, PR and marketing teams in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The order comes from a score that counts only documented checkpoints: sources, analysis, alerts, reporting, data protection and the German language. Nothing here is a hands-on test. Every detail comes from vendor pages, with source and date.
Comparison table
| # | Tool | Score | Analysis & sentiment | Alerts & search | Reporting & export | Data protection & GDPR | German language | Price transparency | AI connectivity & integrations | Price | Data | HQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brand24 | 7,8 | 8,8 | 9,0 | 10,0 | 4,4 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 8,8 | from $ 199/month | mixed | USA |
| 2 |  Hootsuite | 7,8 | 6,9 | 7,0 | 10,0 | 5,0 | 6,7 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from € 99/month | USA | Canada |
| 3 |  Sprinklr | 7,7 | 7,5 | 6,0 | 10,0 | 5,6 | 6,7 | 0,0 | 10,0 | Price on request | mixed | USA |
| 4 |  Talkwalker | 7,6 | 7,5 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 8,1 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 3,8 | Price on request | mixed | LU |
| 5 |  YouScan | 7,4 | 9,4 | 8,0 | 10,0 | 8,1 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 3,8 | from € 499/month | mixed | CY |
| 6 |  Brandwatch | 7,0 | 6,9 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 6,9 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | Price on request | mixed | United Kingdom |
| 7 |  Meltwater | 7,0 | 5,6 | 10,0 | 5,0 | 8,1 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 6,3 | Price on request | mixed | Germany |
| 8 |  Determ | 6,8 | 6,3 | 9,0 | 10,0 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 6,3 | from € 249/month | not documented | HR |
| 9 |  Cision | 6,6 | 5,0 | 9,0 | 7,5 | 6,9 | 3,3 | 0,0 | 5,0 | Price on request | mixed | Germany |
| 10 |  Swat.io | 6,4 | 1,3 | 4,0 | 8,8 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from € 39/month | EU | Austria |
| 11 |  Agorapulse | 6,3 | 1,9 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 6,7 | 10,0 | 8,8 | Free plan, paid from $ 79/month | EU | France |
| 12 |  pressrelations | 6,3 | 6,3 | 6,0 | 10,0 | 5,6 | 3,3 | 5,0 | 5,0 | Price on request | mixed | Germany |
| 13 |  Landau Media | 6,0 prelim. | 6,3 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 2,5 | 3,3 | 10,0 | 2,5 | from € 299/month | not documented | Germany |
| 14 |  Awario | 5,6 prelim. | 5,0 | 8,0 | 7,5 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 3,8 | from € 29/month | not documented | CY |
| 15 |  Sprout Social | 5,4 | 3,1 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 3,8 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from $ 79/month | USA | USA |
| 16 |  Fanpage Karma | 5,2 prelim. | 2,5 | 2,0 | 10,0 | 8,8 | 6,7 | 10,0 | 7,5 | Free plan, paid from € 29/month | EU | Germany |
| 17 |  PMG Presse-Monitor | 5,2 prelim. | 4,4 | 8,0 | 10,0 | 2,5 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 2,5 | from € 50/month | not documented | Germany |
| 18 |  BrandMentions | 5,0 prelim. | 5,0 | 8,0 | 5,0 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 1,3 | from $ 79/month | not documented | Rumänien |
| 19 |  Emplifi | 4,9 | 5,0 | 4,0 | 10,0 | 5,6 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 5,0 | from $ 1 249/month | mixed | USA |
| 20 |  SocialHub | 4,8 prelim. | 1,3 | 2,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | 0,0 | 3,8 | Price on request | EU | Germany |
| 21 |  Vista Social | 4,8 prelim. | 2,5 | 2,0 | 10,0 | 3,8 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from $ 99/month | USA | USA |
| 22 |  ARGUS Data Insights | 4,7 prelim. | 5,0 | 5,0 | 5,0 | 3,1 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 2,5 | Price on request | mixed | Switzerland |
| 23 |  Adhook | 4,5 prelim. | 2,5 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 3,8 | 10,0 | 0,0 | 7,5 | Price on request | not documented | Switzerland |
| 24 |  Peec AI | 4,4 prelim. | 3,8 | 2,0 | 5,0 | 6,9 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from € 85/month | mixed | Germany |
| 25 |  APA-Comm | 4,1 prelim. | 1,9 | 2,0 | 7,5 | 6,3 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 2,5 | from € 59/month | not documented | Austria |
| 26 |  Otterly.AI | 3,8 prelim. | 2,5 | 2,0 | 5,0 | 4,4 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from $ 29/month | mixed | Austria |
| 27 |  Planable | 3,7 prelim. | 1,3 | 1,0 | 3,8 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | Free plan, paid from $ 33/month | USA | USA |
| 28 |  Rankscale | 3,7 prelim. | 3,8 | 2,0 | 5,0 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 10,0 | from $ 17/month | USA | Austria |
| 29 |  Semrush Brand Monitoring | 3,6 prelim. | 3,8 | 4,0 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 10,0 | 0,0 | from $ 79/month | not documented | USA |
| 30 |  Media Focus | 2,7 prelim. | 2,5 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 1,3 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 0,0 | Price on request | not documented | Switzerland |
| 31 |  Google Alerts | 2,4 prelim. | 0,0 | 4,0 | 0,0 | 1,9 | 6,7 | 10,0 | 0,0 | Free plan available | mixed | USA |
| 32 |  Ahrefs Brand Radar | 2,2 prelim. | 0,0 | 2,0 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 7,5 | from € 46,70/month | not documented | SG |
| 33 |  dpa / news aktuell | 1,9 prelim. | 0,0 | 0,0 | 7,5 | 2,5 | 3,3 | 0,0 | 0,0 | Price on request | not documented | Germany |
Ranked only by the fact-based score (Monitoring & Listening). It counts documented features and conditions, not hands-on testing. Scores marked “prelim.” rest on less than 70 % documented checkpoints. Source coverage counts in the score but is not shown as a column. Tool names link to our full reviews, which are in German.
7,8/ 10
Hootsuite
7,8/ 10from € 99/month
- Agencies
- Enterprise
- Community management
- PR & media monitoring
Sprinklr
7,7/ 10Price on request
- Agencies
- Enterprise
- Community management
- PR & media monitoring
Talkwalker
7,6/ 10Price on request
- Enterprise
- PR & media monitoring
YouScan
7,4/ 10from € 499/month
- Enterprise
Brandwatch
7,0/ 10Price on request
- Agencies
- Enterprise
- Community management
- PR & media monitoring
Social media monitoring tools show you where people talk about your brand, your products or your topics, including outside your own channels. The choice is large, and the differences hide in the details: which sources a tool really covers, whether listening is included or costs extra as an add-on, and where your data ends up. The table above sorts the tools by a fact-based score. Below you find how to read it and which questions to settle before you sign anything. All facts were collected from vendor pages in October 2026.
What is a social media monitoring tool?
A social media monitoring tool is software that searches social networks and the open web for terms you define and collects the hits in one place. You set the terms, such as your brand name, product names or competitors, and the tool reports new mentions.
Tools differ in how far they look. Some cover only a few networks, others add news sites, blogs, forums, podcasts or even print and broadcast. Later’s Brand Mentions feature, for example, covers only Instagram and TikTok and only in the Scale plan, according to Later’s help centre.
Social media monitoring mostly answers operational questions. Who is writing about us right now? Does a post need a reply? Is a crisis building? For those questions speed matters more than depth, which is why alerts and search logic carry their own weight in the score.
How do social listening tools differ from monitoring tools?
Social listening tools analyse the same mentions but look for patterns: how sentiment develops, which topics appear next to your brand, how people talk about a whole product category. Monitoring reacts to the single post, while listening reads the total.
In practice the line blurs, and most social media listening tools do both to different depths. So look less at the label and more at what the analysis can do. Sentiment detection, topic clusters and historical data are what turn a monitoring tool into a listening tool.
The range is wide. Agorapulse stores 2 months of data in Advanced Listening by default, selectable up to 2 years, according to its help centre. Planable names 30 days as the maximum period for its listening add-on. If you want to compare this year’s campaign with last year’s, that difference decides the purchase.
What should you check before choosing?
The first thing to check is whether a tool covers the sources where people talk about you. After that come analysis, alerts, reporting, the conditions that matter in the DACH region and the connection to AI assistants and other software. These eight criteria make up the score in the monitoring pillar, with fixed weights explained in the methodology: source coverage 20 %, analysis and sentiment 15 %, alerts and search 15 %, reporting and export 10 %, data protection and GDPR 15 %, German language 5 %, price transparency 5 %, AI connectivity and integrations 15 %.
Check what “real time” means. Planable syncs listening data every 24 hours, according to its help centre, and says itself that the add-on is “not a live stream”. That is enough for weekly reports and too slow for crisis alerts.
Test the search logic. AND, OR and NOT let you separate your brand from words with the same spelling and filter out noise. Brandwatch, Meltwater and Swat.io document these operators in their own help pages.
Ask about German sentiment. Few vendors say anything specific about German. Emplifi and YouScan list German among the languages of their automatic sentiment analysis. Brand24 says its sentiment works in all languages, with accuracy that varies by language. Use the trial to test with real German posts, including irony.
Add the add-on to the price. With several management tools, listening costs extra. Compare the full price, never the base plan alone.
Which tools cover print, TV and radio?
Print, TV and radio are covered mainly by specialist media monitoring tools and the large listening suites. Many listening add-ons stop at social networks and the web.
Regional media monitoring services document large print and broadcast sets. APA-Comm (German review) in Vienna names around 2,000 print sources and, as an extension, over 50 radio and TV stations. ARGUS Data Insights (German review) in Zürich lists more than 80,000 print media and more than 5,000 radio and TV stations. pressrelations (German review) in Düsseldorf names 58,000 print media, including regional titles, and 4,200 stations.
Among the global suites, Meltwater (German review) lists over 200 million online publications, over 400,000 newspapers, magazines and trade titles and over 20,000 podcasts. Brandwatch (German review) names almost 3,000 TV and radio stations in more than 15 languages, with print as an add-on. Ask to see your key regional titles in the demo.
Where do monitoring tools store your data?
Two questions come first for social media monitoring under GDPR: where is your data processed, and will the vendor sign a data processing agreement (DPA)? Most tools here document a DPA; for ARGUS Data Insights, Awario and pressrelations, among others, none is on record yet.
| Data location according to vendor | Tools |
|---|---|
| EU | Agorapulse (AWS Ireland), Fanpage Karma (EU/EEA per DPA), SocialHub (Germany), Swat.io (EU) |
| USA | Hootsuite (AWS USA), Sprout Social (AWS us-east-1), Planable, Vista Social (AWS US-East) |
| Mixed | ARGUS Data Insights (Switzerland, AI partly USA), Brandwatch (USA, Europe, UK), Brand24 (mainly Poland, also USA), Cision (transfers via standard contractual clauses), Emplifi (subprocessors incl. USA), Meltwater (Ireland and Germany among others, partly outside the EU), pressrelations (Germany, one demo service in the USA), Sprinklr (USA and Europe, USA by default), Talkwalker (Germany plus Europe and USA), YouScan (access incl. from USA and Ukraine) |
| Not documented | Adhook, APA-Comm, Awario, dpa, Landau Media, Media Focus, PMG Presse-Monitor |
A US location does not rule a tool out; Hootsuite points to standard contractual clauses in its DPA. An EU location is still the simpler route, and in the score it earns full points, a mixed one half. This overview is not legal advice; check your use case with your data protection officer.
Are there free social media monitoring tools?
Free social media monitoring tools with real listening are not documented in our fact base: no tool includes social listening in a free plan. Free plans exist, but they cover planning and analysis of your own profiles. Talkwalker offers two free extra tools, Talkwalker Alerts and Free Social Search, but no free version of its platform.
Fanpage Karma has a permanent free plan; its monitoring costs at least €49 a month as an add-on. Planable gives you the first 50 posts for free, while social listening costs 99 USD per workspace a month and can be trialled for 30 days in paid plans. Meltwater offers no free trial according to its pricing page, only a demo.
Trials are the realistic way in. Brand24 gives 14 days, Awario 7 days and YouScan 3 days. Plan your test searches before the clock starts.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between social media monitoring and social listening?
Social media monitoring collects individual mentions and alerts you so you can react. Social listening analyses the same mentions over a longer period and looks for patterns in sentiment and topics. Most tools do both, to different depths. When you compare tools, sentiment detection, historical data and topic analysis tell you more than the label on the product page.
Which social media monitoring tool is the best?
The best social media monitoring tool depends on the sources you need and how your team works. The ranking on this page comes from a score that counts only documented checkpoints. A PR team that needs print and TV will look at different tools from a small team that mainly watches Instagram. The criteria and weights are published on the methodology page.
How much do social listening tools cost?
Social listening tools range from a fixed plan or add-on price to an individual quote. Standalone listening tools publish prices, billed annually, as of October 2026: Awario from €29, Brand24 from 199 USD and YouScan from 499 a month. As an add-on, Planable charges 99 USD per workspace a month and Fanpage Karma at least €49. Meltwater, Brandwatch, Talkwalker and Sprout Social publish no listening prices.
Is social media monitoring compatible with GDPR?
Social media monitoring can work under GDPR, but that depends on the vendor and on how you use it. Check whether the vendor signs a data processing agreement and where it stores data. Agorapulse, Fanpage Karma, SocialHub and Swat.io document an EU location. Whether your specific use is lawful is for your data protection officer to decide.
Which tools monitor print, TV and radio?
Print, TV and radio are documented for media monitoring specialists such as APA-Comm, ARGUS Data Insights and pressrelations, and for global suites such as Meltwater and Brandwatch. ARGUS Data Insights lists more than 80,000 print media and more than 5,000 stations. Meltwater names over 400,000 newspapers, magazines and trade titles. At Brandwatch, print is an add-on.
Which social listening tools analyse sentiment in German?
Emplifi and YouScan list German among the languages of their automatic sentiment analysis, according to their help pages. Brand24 says its sentiment works in all languages, with accuracy that varies by language. For most other tools, German sentiment is simply not documented, which does not prove it is missing. Test irony and dialect with real German posts during the trial before you rely on the numbers.
How far back can social listening tools search?
How far back a social listening tool can search ranges from a few weeks to many years. According to the vendors, Brand24 collects up to 30 days before a project starts, Emplifi backfills up to 365 days for most sources, Talkwalker keeps 13 months with up to five years at extra cost, and Brandwatch's product page names posts back to 2008. Planable's listening add-on stops at 30 days.
How fast do social media monitoring tools send alerts?
Alert speed depends on the tool and often on the plan. YouScan alerts you by email or messenger as soon as a matching mention appears, or hourly, according to its help centre. Brand24 updates in real time only from its Pro plan; Individual updates every 12 hours and Team hourly. Planable syncs listening data every 24 hours, which suits weekly reports more than crisis work.
Can social media monitoring tools track brand mentions in ChatGPT and other AI assistants?
Yes, several monitoring tools now track how AI assistants mention your brand. Meltwater includes AI visibility measurement in all plans, Talkwalker offers LLM Insights from its Core plan, and Hootsuite sells LLM Insights for ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude as an add-on to Hootsuite Lumen. pressrelations started GEO monitoring in summer 2026, and Brand24 sells an AI visibility module as an add-on.
What is Boolean search in social media monitoring?
Boolean search combines search terms with operators such as AND, OR and NOT, so a monitoring tool finds your brand and ignores words with the same spelling. Brandwatch, Meltwater and Swat.io document these operators in their help pages, and Brandwatch and Swat.io add NEAR for terms that appear close together. Without it, a short or common brand name quickly buries the relevant mentions in noise.
Can social listening tools recognise logos in images?
Yes, some can. Brandwatch, Talkwalker and Sprinklr document logo recognition in images, and Talkwalker and Sprinklr extend it to video. Hootsuite Lumen finds brand mentions in images, video and audio. At Emplifi, object and logo detection for listening comes only in the Intelligent plan. Brand24 offers no image recognition and itself points to Talkwalker for that need, according to its pricing information.
Do I need a separate monitoring tool next to my management tool?
Often not, if your management tool sells a listening add-on. Agorapulse, Planable, SocialHub, Sprout Social and Vista Social, among others, offer listening as an extra, and Swat.io offers it in its Custom plan. Check which sources the add-on covers. For print, TV and radio an add-on is rarely enough, and a specialist media monitoring tool is usually the better fit.
Sources for this page (53) in our source index · with access dates, German page