Social listening answers one question: who is talking about you, where, and in what tone. It is a reputation and monitoring job, and the tools built for it are priced accordingly. Below is what each one costs, what that price actually covers, and which to buy for which situation.
Tool
Best for
Starting price
What that price covers
Free plan
Brand24
Marken, die Erwähnungen, Sentiment und Reputation verfolgen
ab ~199 $/Monat
1 user, 3 keywords, billed annually
Free trial
Sprout Social
Teams, die ihre eigenen Social-Accounts verwalten und bespielen
from ~$79/seat/mo (annual), $99 monthly
1 seat, billed annually ($99 monthly)
Free trial
Hootsuite
die eigenen Social-Accounts planen und verwalten
from ~$99/mo per user
1 user
Free trial
ViralHunt
discovering viral content and turning it into posts, as a team
from $29/mo
1 user (Creator). Studio: $99/mo for up to 4 users and 4 projects, no per-seat charge
Yes, and it never expires
Every price was read off the vendor's own pricing page. We show no G2 or Capterra ratings because we are not listed there, and an invented rating would destroy the only thing these pages have, which is that all of it can be checked.
Brand24
ab ~199 $/Monat
Social listening
Brand24 ist ein Social-Listening-Tool, das Erwähnungen Ihrer Marke oder von Keywords in sozialen Netzwerken, Nachrichten, Blogs und Foren in Echtzeit überwacht, mit Sentiment-Analyse, KI-Zusammenfassungen und Anomalie-Erkennung. Es ist für Reputations-Tracking und Share of Voice gemacht, ideal, um zu wissen, was über Sie gesagt wird, aber nicht, um virale Inhalte zum Wiederverwenden zu entdecken, und ohne Content-Workflow.
Vorteile
Echtzeit-Erwähnungs-Tracking mit Sentiment
KI-Zusammenfassungen + Anomalie-Erkennung
Slack- und CRM-Integrationen
Nachteile
Listening-zentriert, keine virale Entdeckungs-Engine
Kein redaktioneller Workflow oder Board
Preis nach Erwähnungsvolumen
A team of five:
$299/mo (annual) (the Team tier, the first with unlimited users).
Read off their own pricing page on 2026-09-02.
Sprout Social ist eine All-in-one-Suite fürs Social-Media-Management: Planung, einheitlicher Posteingang, Analytik und, in höheren Tarifen, Social Listening. Sie dreht sich um das Verwalten und Veröffentlichen auf Ihren eigenen Accounts. Leistungsstark und ausgereift, aber teuer (Preis pro Platz, mit Listening als kostenpflichtigem Add-on) und nicht dafür gemacht, zu entdecken, was in den Netzwerken viral geht.
Hootsuite ist eines der bekanntesten Social-Media-Management-Tools: Beiträge planen und auf Ihren Accounts veröffentlichen, einen einheitlichen Posteingang verwalten, Analytik und einfaches Social Listening von einem Dashboard aus betreiben. Im Kern ist es ein Planer rund um die Accounts, die Sie besitzen, kein Tool, um virale Inhalte über Netzwerke hinweg zu entdecken oder Trends aufzudecken, denen Sie noch nicht folgen.
Vorteile
Ausgereifte Planung und Publishing über viele Accounts
Einheitlicher Posteingang und Analytik
Einfaches Social Listening inklusive
Nachteile
Planungszentriert, keine virale Entdeckung
Preis pro Platz summiert sich schnell
Kein plattformübergreifender viraler Radar
A team of five:
$495/mo (5 users on Standard, priced per user).
Read off their own pricing page on 2026-09-02.
ViralHunt is not a listening tool and does not track mentions of your brand. We watch posts rather than mentions, which is the opposite direction: what is performing right now regardless of whether anyone said your name. If reputation monitoring is the job, buy one of the tools above.
The dashboard, one section per network. This is the screen the tools above do not have, because none of them watches other people's posts.
Every price above was read off the vendor's own page and dated. ViralHunt has a free plan that does not expire, so you can check ours the same way.
Most comparison pages are written from marketing copy. This one is not.
each of these tools's pricing was read off their own pricing page, not from a third-party roundup.
Every capability we call partial says partial. We do not turn an almost into a tick.
Where each of these tools does something we do not, the table says so.
What we did not check, and why
We have not run each of these tools daily for weeks. We verify pricing, seat terms and documented capability; we do not publish an opinion on their interface that we have not earned.
Enterprise tiers behind a custom quote are out of scope, because there is no public figure to verify.
And one that cost us: for months this table said Ahrefs starts at $129/mo. It starts at $29, and they also run a free tier. We were overstating a competitor's price by 4.4x, in the direction that flattered us. We found it while verifying and corrected it. If you spot another one, it is a mistake rather than a tactic.
Frequently asked questions
How were these tools chosen?
They are the tools we are most often compared against in this category. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page, read on the date shown on each comparison page, not from a third-party roundup.
Is this list ranked?
No. Ranking tools that answer different questions produces a number rather than an answer. Each entry says what it is the better buy for, and the section at the end says which to pick for which situation.
Where does ViralHunt sit?
ViralHunt is not a listening tool and does not track mentions of your brand. We watch posts rather than mentions, which is the opposite direction: what is performing right now regardless of whether anyone said your name. If reputation monitoring is the job, buy one of the tools above.
See what is viral in your niche right now
2.7 million posts measured across 12 networks. Free plan, no card, and it does not expire.
