14 Best Brand Monitoring Tools (2026): Pricing and Limits

Brand monitoring tools track where your brand appears online and alert you to what matters. Social listening tools such as Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Meltwater and Brand24 measure mentions and sentiment for marketing teams. Security tools such as ZeroFox, Netcraft, BrandShield and Bolster find lookalike domains, phishing pages and fake profiles, and take them down. Google Alerts is the free starting point.

Every product below was checked on its vendor’s website on 6 October 2026: that it is still sold, who owns it now, and what its pricing page says. Several tools on older lists, including this page’s previous version, have since been renamed or bought.

Tool	Type	Best for	Removes fakes?	Pricing (checked 6 Oct 2026)
Brandwatch	Social listening	Enterprise consumer research	No	Quote-based
Talkwalker (Lumen by Talkwalker)	Social listening	Global brands, many languages	No	Quote-based
Meltwater	Media and social monitoring	PR teams tracking news and social together	No	Quote-based, annual contract
Onclusive Social (formerly Digimind)	Social listening	Enterprises that want PR and social in one vendor	No	Quote-based
Sprout Social	Social management with listening add-on	Teams already running social in Sprout	No	From $199 per seat per month (annual) plus Listening add-on
Brand24	Social and web listening	Mid-sized teams wanting a self-serve tool	No	From $199 per month (annual)
Mention	Social and web listening	Agencies, review monitoring	No	Not published; free trial
Mentionlytics	Social and web listening	Small teams on a budget	No	From $69 per month (annual)
Awario	Social and web listening	Lowest-cost paid listening	No	From $29 per month (annual)
Google Alerts	Web and news alerts	Free basic monitoring	No	Free
ZeroFox	Security brand protection	Enterprises needing takedowns at volume	Yes	Quote-based, takedown bundles
Netcraft	Security brand protection	Phishing and scam site removal	Yes	Quote-based
BrandShield	Security brand protection	Marketplaces, domains and social impersonation	Yes	Quote-based
Bolster	Security brand protection	Automated detection and removal of fake sites	Yes	Quote-based

Two kinds of brand monitoring

“Brand monitoring” covers two jobs that are often confused, and most tools only do one of them well.

• Social listening and media monitoring answers “what are people saying about us?” These tools track mentions in social media, news, blogs, forums and reviews, measure sentiment and share of voice, and alert you when a complaint spreads. Marketing, PR and customer care teams use them.
• Security brand monitoring (also sold as digital risk protection or brand protection) answers “who is pretending to be us?” These tools look for lookalike domains, phishing pages, fake social profiles, cloned apps and leaked data, and the better ones remove them. Security, fraud and legal teams use them.

If a fake customer care number or a phishing site is the problem, a social listening tool will rarely catch it, and it cannot take it down. If you need sentiment reports for the CMO, a security tool is the wrong buy. Many companies end up with one of each.

How we chose and evaluated these tools

TIKAJ monitors brands and removes impersonation for enterprise customers, so we see both sides: the mentions marketing tools report and the fakes they miss. For this list we:

• kept only products that are live and sold today, after checking each vendor’s site on 6 October 2026;
• removed tools that are not brand monitoring, and tools whose monitoring is a minor add-on to a publishing, content research or SEO suite;
• described strengths and limits from vendor documentation and from what customers ask us when they switch tools, not from scored lab tests, so there are no scores here;
• took pricing from each vendor’s public pricing page on the same day, and wrote “quote-based” where no price is published. Prices are in US dollars and change often, so confirm before you buy.

Our product: TIKAJ brand monitoring, powered by Hunto.ai

This is our own product, so it is not ranked in the list below. We include it because readers of this page ask about it, and because it fits one use case well: brands that need impersonation found and removed, not mentions counted.

• Who it’s for: banks, fintechs, insurers, retailers and consumer brands, especially in India, dealing with phishing sites, fake customer care numbers, fake social pages, rogue apps and marketplace fraud.
• Strengths: monitoring of domains, social media, app stores, marketplaces and the dark web, with takedowns handled by our team. TIKAJ and Hunto handle 100,000+ takedowns a year for 150+ enterprise customers. Built in India, with Indian languages, Indian platforms and RBI and SEBI requirements in mind.
• Limitations: it is not a social listening tool, so it does not do sentiment, share of voice or campaign analytics. Pricing is not published (annual plans, quote after a demo), and there is no self-serve trial.
• Pricing: quote-based. See brand monitoring services and our takedown service.

Social listening and media monitoring tools

1. Brandwatch

Brandwatch, now part of Cision, is one of the largest consumer research platforms. Its Consumer Research product covers what Brandwatch describes as over 100 million online sources, with an AI assistant (Iris) for summarising conversations and the option to upload your own data.

• Who it’s for: large brands and agencies doing market and consumer research, not just alerting.
• Strengths: depth of historical data, flexible query language, strong analysis and dashboards; sister products for publishing and influencer marketing.
• Limitations: quote-only and priced for enterprises. Brandwatch has retired its separate Reviews product, so review sites are analysed inside Consumer Research. It does not remove fakes.
• Pricing: quote-based (plans page).
• India relevance: Brandwatch has an office in Chennai.

2. Talkwalker (Lumen by Talkwalker)

Hootsuite agreed to acquire Talkwalker in April 2024, and the product is now branded Lumen by Talkwalker. Talkwalker says it covers 150 million sources, 30+ social networks and 187 languages.

• Who it’s for: global brands that need many languages and markets in one place.
• Strengths: language and country coverage, image and video recognition, unlimited users on all plans.
• Limitations: quote-only; result volume, topics and historical data depend on the plan. No takedowns.
• Pricing: quote-based, with Core, Analyze and Business plans (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated by the vendor beyond language coverage.

3. Meltwater

Meltwater combines news and media monitoring with social listening, which suits PR teams that track press coverage and social conversation together. It also sells a feature for tracking how AI assistants describe a brand.

• Who it’s for: PR and communications teams.
• Strengths: news coverage and media contact tools alongside social listening, in one contract.
• Limitations: quote-based, annual contracts and no self-serve trial, only a demo. No takedowns.
• Pricing: quote-based (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated on the pages we checked.

4. Onclusive Social (formerly Digimind)

Onclusive bought Digimind in 2022 and renamed the product Onclusive Social in 2024, so you will no longer find Digimind as a separate brand. It covers platforms including LinkedIn, TikTok and Threads, and Onclusive quotes 24 months of historical data.

• Who it’s for: enterprises that want media monitoring and social listening from one vendor.
• Strengths: historical data, unlimited searches, combined PR and social reporting.
• Limitations: no public pricing; demo first. No takedowns.
• Pricing: quote-based.
• India relevance: Onclusive has an office in Navi Mumbai.

5. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management platform (publishing, inbox, reporting) with Listening sold as an add-on.

• Who it’s for: teams that already run their social accounts in Sprout and want listening in the same tool.
• Strengths: one workflow for publishing, replying and listening; good reporting; 30-day free trial.
• Limitations: Listening is a paid add-on available on the Standard plan and above, and pricing is per seat, so costs rise with team size. No takedowns.
• Pricing: Standard from $199 per seat per month billed annually, plus the Listening add-on (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated.

6. Brand24

Brand24 is a self-serve listening tool covering social networks, news, blogs, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, podcasts and review sites, with AI sentiment analysis.

• Who it’s for: mid-sized brands and agencies that want to start the same day without a sales call.
• Strengths: broad sources for the price, 14-day free trial without a card, simple setup.
• Limitations: every plan caps keywords and mentions (the Individual plan: 3 keywords, 2,000 mentions a month, updates every 12 hours). Some AI features start on the Pro plan. No takedowns.
• Pricing: from $199 per month billed annually ($249 monthly) (prices).
• India relevance: none stated.

7. Mention

Agorapulse has acquired Mention, and Mention’s publishing features are being folded into Agorapulse while listening continues. Mention says it monitors over a billion sources, including 75+ review sites.

• Who it’s for: agencies and brands that want listening plus review monitoring.
• Strengths: real-time alerts, review site coverage, up to two years of data.
• Limitations: the pricing page shows a “Company” plan but no published price at the time of our check; historical data and API access are paid add-ons. No takedowns.
• Pricing: not published; free trial available (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated.

8. Mentionlytics

Mentionlytics covers the web plus X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Bluesky, Threads, Telegram and podcasts, with AI sentiment and an 18-month archive.

• Who it’s for: small teams and agencies that want broad coverage at a low entry price.
• Strengths: wide platform list (including Telegram), 14-day free trial without a card.
• Limitations: mention caps on every plan; the Basic plan has 3 keyword rules, 5,000 mentions and 12-hour updates. Extended review monitoring and historical data are add-ons. No takedowns.
• Pricing: Basic from $69 per month billed yearly, shown with a limited-time offer at the time of our check (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated.

9. Awario

Awario is a low-cost listening tool covering X, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, news, blogs, forums, the web and reviews, with Boolean search and an API.

• Who it’s for: startups and small businesses that want real listening on a small monthly budget.
• Strengths: lowest entry price on this list, Boolean search, free trial without a card.
• Limitations: mention and storage caps (Starter: 3 topics, 30,000 mentions a month, one user). No takedowns.
• Pricing: Starter from $29 per month billed annually ($49 monthly) (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated.

10. Google Alerts

Google Alerts emails you when Google finds new pages that match your search terms.

• Who it’s for: anyone starting out, and as a free backstop alongside a paid tool.
• Strengths: free, quick to set up, can filter by region (including India) and language (including Hindi).
• Limitations: sources are news, blogs, the web, video, books and discussions, with no social network coverage, no sentiment and no analytics. It misses a lot, and it cannot remove anything.
• Pricing: free (Google Alerts).

Security brand monitoring tools that remove fakes

11. ZeroFox

ZeroFox, taken private by Haveli Investments in 2024, monitors social media, marketplaces, forums, phishing domains and the deep and dark web, and includes takedowns.

• Who it’s for: large enterprises with high volumes of impersonation and phishing.
• Strengths: broad external threat coverage, takedowns included, executive protection bundle.
• Limitations: quote-only, and takedowns are capped per bundle (the Foundation bundle lists 250 takedowns a year). See our list of ZeroFox competitors if you are comparing.
• Pricing: quote-based, sold as Foundation, Core, Premium and Executive bundles (pricing).
• India relevance: none stated.

12. Netcraft

Netcraft is a long-running internet security company known for phishing site detection and removal. Its brand protection service covers websites, ads, social media, scams, apps and the deep and dark web.

• Who it’s for: banks and consumer brands with a phishing problem.
• Strengths: phishing detection and takedown as its core service, a free public report form that blocks sites in Netcraft’s own products.
• Limitations: quote-only. Its strength is fraud and phishing rather than marketing analytics.
• Pricing: quote-based (get pricing).
• India relevance: none stated (offices in the UK, US and Australia).

13. BrandShield

BrandShield monitors domains, phishing, social media scams, marketplaces, rogue apps, the dark web and executive impersonation, and its own enforcement team handles takedowns.

• Who it’s for: brands with counterfeit and marketplace problems as well as phishing.
• Strengths: marketplace and counterfeit coverage alongside cyber threats, in-house enforcement.
• Limitations: quote-only, demo first.
• Pricing: quote-based.
• India relevance: none stated.

14. Bolster

Bolster uses machine learning to detect and remove phishing sites, impersonation, social scams and fraudulent ads; in July 2026 it added fraudulent ad monitoring. It also runs CheckPhish, a free URL scanner.

• Who it’s for: security teams that want automated detection and takedown with little manual review.
• Strengths: automation, fake site detection, ad impersonation coverage.
• Limitations: no public pricing, and its website blocks automated access, so we could not read its pricing page directly.
• Pricing: quote-based.
• India relevance: none stated.

Tools we removed from this list, and why

Tool on the old list	What we found on 6 Oct 2026	Why it is not listed
Netskope, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Symantec	Live and sold	Cloud, endpoint and network security, not brand monitoring
Keyhole	Now sold through Muck Rack; pricing page redirects to a demo request	No public product page or price of its own
Semrush	Brand monitoring is a third-party app (by Prowly); Semrush is now owned by Adobe	An add-on to an SEO suite
Hootsuite	Full listening is now Lumen by Talkwalker; self-serve plans search the last 30 days	Covered by the Talkwalker entry
BuzzSumo	Live, part of Cision	Content research tool; alerts capped at 2 on the entry plan
Sendible	Live	Publishing tool; monitoring covers your own profiles, not the wider web
Digimind	Rebranded Onclusive Social	Listed under its current name

How to choose

1. Decide the job first. Sentiment and share of voice means a listening tool. Fake sites, fake profiles and phishing mean a security tool with takedowns. See our guide on how to get a website taken down to understand what removal involves.
2. Test with your own brand. Run a trial or a demo on your real brand name and your three loudest competitors, and compare what each tool finds in the same week.
3. Check the caps. Listening tools cap keywords and mentions; security tools often cap takedowns. Estimate your volume before comparing prices.
4. Check the languages and platforms your customers use. For Indian brands that usually means regional languages, Telegram and WhatsApp channels, and Indian marketplaces. Our guide to brand protection services in India covers this in detail.

FAQ

What are brand monitoring tools used for?

Brand monitoring tools find where your brand is mentioned or used online. Marketing teams use social listening tools to track mentions, sentiment and share of voice across social media, news and reviews. Security teams use brand protection tools to find phishing sites, lookalike domains, fake profiles and cloned apps, and to get them taken down before customers are scammed.

What is the best free brand monitoring tool?

Google Alerts is the most useful free option. It emails you when new web, news, blog or discussion pages mention your terms, and you can filter by country and language. It does not cover social networks or measure sentiment, so treat it as a starting point. Several paid tools, including Brand24, Awario and Mentionlytics, offer free trials without a card.

What is the difference between brand monitoring and brand protection?

Brand monitoring usually means watching what people say about your brand: mentions, sentiment and reach. Brand protection means finding and removing misuse of your brand, such as phishing pages, fake apps, counterfeit listings and impersonation accounts. Social listening tools do the first. Security vendors such as ZeroFox, Netcraft, BrandShield and Bolster do the second, including takedowns.

How much do brand monitoring tools cost?

Self-serve listening tools start low: Awario from $29 a month and Mentionlytics from $69 a month on annual billing, with Brand24 from $199. Enterprise listening (Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Meltwater) and security brand protection (ZeroFox, Netcraft, BrandShield, Bolster) are quote-based and sold on annual contracts. Prices were checked on 6 October 2026.