Independent · sourced · Updated June 2026
Best Social Listening (2026)
The cheapest social listening is Awario at $29/mo. This page compares 8 options on entry price, free tier, HIPAA/SOC 2 and best-for — every figure linked to its source, updated June 2026.
8 options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked cheapest-first. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it; quote-only tiers show “—”, never a guess.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest: Awario at $29/mo (Starter).
- Typical paid price: from $29/mo, median $199/mo, up to $599/mo — across 5 with published pricing.
- Tracked: 8 vendors, data current through 2026-06-15.
Comparison
| # | Social Listening | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awario | $29/mo Starter | No | — | — | SMB | awario.com |
| 2 | Sprout Social | $79/mo Essentials | No | — | Yes | social media management | sproutsocial.com |
| 3 | Brand24 | $199/mo Individual | No | — | — | brand monitoring | brand24.com |
| 4 | BuzzSumo | $199/mo Content Creation | No | — | — | content marketing | buzzsumo.com |
| 5 | Mention | $599/mo Company | No | — | — | enterprise brand monitoring | mention.com |
| 6 | Brandwatch | — | No | — | — | enterprise brand intelligence | quote-only |
| 7 | Meltwater | — | No | — | Yes | enterprise PR | quote-only |
| 8 | Talkwalker | — | No | — | Yes | enterprise social intelligence | quote-only |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve monthly rate as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest social listening?
Awario has the lowest published entry price at $29/mo (Starter), as of 2026-06-15.
How much does social listening cost per month?
Across the 5 social listening with published paid pricing, the median starting price is $199/mo, ranging from $29/mo to $599/mo, as of 2026-06-15. 3 are quote-only.
More software comparisons
How we compiled this
Official pricing pages were re-fetched via WebFetch on 2026-06-15 for each vendor: brand24.com/prices/, awario.com/pricing/, mention.com/en/pricing/, buzzsumo.com/pricing/, sproutsocial.com/pricing/, brandwatch.com/plans/, meltwater.com/en/pricing, and talkwalker.com/pricing. Prices shown reflect the default annual-billing toggle where applicable; monthly-billing equivalents are noted in plan notes when published. Brandwatch, Meltwater, and Talkwalker do not publish self-serve prices and are listed as quote-only (monthlyUsd:null). Compliance flags are set true only where an official statement was found (Sprout Social security page; Meltwater SOC 2 Type II press release + Trust Center; Talkwalker security-practices page); otherwise null. Brand24 GDPR retained per vendor docs; Brandwatch SOC 2 downgraded to null as it was not explicitly confirmed on an official page in this check. accessedAt 2026-06-15.
Last verified 2026-06-15. We re-check published prices and compliance on a recurring cadence and update this page when they change.
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