Best Mention Alternatives in 2026 (After the Pricing Change)
Mention retired all self-serve plans in July 2025 — Solo ($49/month), Pro ($99/month), and ProPlus ($179/month) are gone. The only option for new customers is the Company Plan at $599/month with annual billing required. That pricing change orphaned thousands of SMB customers who relied on the $49-179/month tiers.
Several tools fill the gap Mention left at a fraction of the cost. Xpoz provides up to 5,000,000 results/month at $20 across Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, with a free tier at up to 400,000 results. Awario offers a traditional dashboard at $29/month (annual). This guide compares the alternatives that actually fit a small-team budget — with real prices, honest trade-offs, and a migration checklist.
What Changed at Mention
In July 2025, Mention retired its three self-serve plans:
- Solo ($49/month) — discontinued
- Pro ($99/month) — discontinued
- ProPlus ($179/month) — discontinued
The only option for new customers is the Company Plan at approximately $599/month with annual billing required ($7,188/year). In January 2026, Mention also dropped its Publish & Respond features, pushing teams to use Agorapulse for publishing.
The Company Plan caps at 50,000 mentions/month with no automatic overage — data collection stops when you hit the limit.
Best Mention Alternatives Ranked
| Alternative | Cost | Results/Mentions | Platforms | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xpoz | Free–$200/mo | Up to 400K–100M | Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit | Multi-platform monitoring, research |
| Awario | $29–$249/mo | 30K–unlimited | Social + web + news | Traditional dashboard monitoring |
| Brand24 | $199–$499/mo | 2K–100K | Social + web + news | Dashboard with influencer scoring |
| Buska | $49–$249/mo | Varies | 16-33 sources | Lead generation from mentions |
| ForumScout | Free–$129/mo | Varies | 10M+ sources | Budget monitoring with free tier |
| F5Bot | Free–$70/mo | 50-1K alerts/day | Reddit, HN, Lobsters | Reddit-only keyword alerts |
| Google Alerts | Free | Unlimited | Web/news only | Basic web monitoring (no social) |
Detailed Comparison
1. Xpoz — Free (up to 400K) | $20/mo (up to 5M) | $200/mo (up to 100M)
Best for: Multi-platform brand monitoring, competitive research, teams using AI assistants
Xpoz provides social data through natural language queries via Claude or ChatGPT. Instead of a dashboard with keyword limits, you ask questions in plain English and get structured results across four platforms.
What you get vs. Mention:
- Up to 5,000,000 results/month at $20 vs. 50,000 mentions at $599
- 4 platforms (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit) vs. Mention's web + social mix
- Historical data on all tiers including free
- No keyword/alert limits — query anything
- CSV export for reporting and analysis
What you lose vs. Mention:
- No traditional dashboard (conversational interface via AI assistants)
- No automated email/Slack alerts (queries are on-demand)
- No web/news monitoring (social platforms only)
Pricing:
| Plan | Results | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Up to 400,000 | $0 |
| Pro | Up to 5,000,000/mo | $20/mo |
| Max | Up to 100,000,000/mo | $200/mo |
2. Awario — $29/mo (annual) | $49/mo (monthly)
Best for: Teams who want a traditional Mention-like dashboard at a lower price
Awario is the closest feature match to what Mention used to offer at its Solo/Pro tiers — dashboards, alerts, Boolean search, sentiment analysis.
What you get vs. Mention:
- 30,000 mentions/month at $29 vs. 50,000 at $599
- Boolean search on all tiers
- Competitive comparison features
- Email alerts
What you lose vs. Mention:
- Dated interface
- Smaller data source pool
- No publishing features
Pricing: Starter $29/mo (annual), Pro $89/mo, Enterprise $249/mo.
3. Brand24 — $199/mo (annual)
Best for: Teams needing influencer identification and PDF reporting
Brand24 offers traditional social listening with influencer scoring and sentiment analysis. Its entry price rose from $79 to $199/month — still cheaper than Mention's $599 but no longer budget-friendly.
What you get: 3 keywords, 2,000 mentions/month, sentiment analysis, influencer scoring, email alerts, PDF reports.
Pricing: Individual $199/mo, Team $299/mo, Pro $499/mo.
4. Buska — $49/mo
Best for: Teams focused on finding leads from social mentions
Buska monitors 16-33 sources for brand mentions with buying-intent scoring and CRM integration — more lead-gen tool than traditional social listening.
What you get: Buying-intent scoring, CRM integration, Slack/email alerts, lead export.
Pricing: Growth $49/mo, Pro $99/mo, Premium $249/mo.
5. ForumScout — Free–$129/mo
Best for: Budget monitoring with a genuinely free plan
ForumScout monitors 10M+ sources with Plutchik emotion analysis (beyond basic positive/negative sentiment) and unlimited seats on all plans.
What you get: Free tier with limited keywords, emotion analysis, email/Slack alerts, unlimited seats.
Pricing: Free, Starter $29/mo, Pro $49/mo, Business $129/mo.
6. F5Bot — Free–$70/mo
Best for: Reddit and Hacker News keyword monitoring on a budget
F5Bot is the simplest alert tool: set keywords, get email notifications when they appear on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters. No dashboards, no analytics — just alerts.
What you get: Free tier with 200 keywords and 50 alerts/day. Paid tiers increase limits.
Pricing: Free, $17/mo, $35/mo, $70/mo.
7. Google Alerts — Free
Best for: Basic web monitoring as a supplement (not a Mention replacement)
Google Alerts monitors web pages and news articles for free. It does not cover any social media platform — no Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, or TikTok.
Limitations: Delayed 24-72 hours, email-only delivery, no sentiment analysis, no API, no team features, declining reliability since ~2013. Covers roughly 20% of brand-relevant conversations in 2026.
Try this with Xpoz
No API keys needed. Query Twitter, Reddit, Instagram & TikTok with natural language.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Xpoz ($20) | Awario ($29) | Brand24 ($199) | Buska ($49) | Mention ($599) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly volume | Up to 5M | 30K | 2K | Varies | 50K |
| Platforms | 4 social | Social + web | Social + web | 16-33 sources | Social + web |
| Historical data | Yes | Limited | Limited | No | Limited |
| Sentiment | Via AI | Yes | Yes | Basic | Yes |
| Alerts | On-demand | Slack/email | Email/Slack | ||
| Dashboard | AI conversation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Boolean search | Natural language | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Free tier | Up to 400K | No | No | No | No |
Migration Checklist: Moving from Mention
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Export your data. Before your Mention subscription ends, export all historical mention data, reports, and alert configurations.
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Map your keywords. List every keyword, brand name, and competitor you tracked in Mention. Most alternatives support the same keywords — Xpoz has no keyword limits.
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Test with free tiers. Start with Xpoz's free tier (up to 400,000 results) or ForumScout's free plan to verify coverage against your actual monitoring needs.
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Decide what you actually need.
- Need multi-platform social data? → Xpoz
- Need a traditional dashboard? → Awario
- Need leads from mentions? → Buska
- Need Reddit-only alerts? → F5Bot
- Need web/news only? → Google Alerts (free)
-
Set up your replacement before canceling Mention to avoid a monitoring gap.
Key Takeaways
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Mention's $599/month pricing puts it out of reach for the SMB teams it once served. The same monitoring costs $20-49/month with alternatives.
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Xpoz offers the best value — up to 5M results at $20/month across 4 platforms, with a free tier at up to 400K results.
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Awario is the closest traditional replacement at $29/month (annual) with dashboards, alerts, and Boolean search.
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Google Alerts is free but not a real replacement — it covers only web/news, not social media, and alerts are delayed by hours to days.
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Start with free tiers — Xpoz and ForumScout both offer genuinely free plans to test before committing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Mention alternative in 2026?
Several tools fill the gap Mention left at a fraction of the cost. Xpoz provides up to 5,000,000 results/month at $20 across Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, with a free tier at up to 400,000 results. Awario offers a traditional dashboard at $29/month (annual) with 30,000 mentions and Boolean search. Both are far cheaper than Mention's $599/month (annual-only).
Why did Mention get so expensive?
Mention retired all self-serve plans in July 2025 — Solo ($49/mo), Pro ($99/mo), and ProPlus ($179/mo) were all discontinued. The only option for new customers is the Company Plan at approximately $599/month with annual billing required. Mention also dropped its Publish & Respond features in January 2026.
What is the cheapest Mention alternative?
Several alternatives start at $0/month. Xpoz offers a free tier with up to 400,000 results/month across four platforms, with paid plans at $20/month for up to 5M results. F5Bot is free for Reddit/HN monitoring with 200 keywords. Awario starts at $29/month (annual) with 30,000 mentions.
Is Google Alerts a good Mention alternative?
Google Alerts is free but only monitors web and news — it has no social media coverage (no Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, or TikTok). Alerts are delayed 24-72 hours with no sentiment analysis. It works as a basic supplement but not a Mention replacement. Xpoz covers social platforms Google Alerts misses, starting at $0/month.
Conclusion
Mention's retreat to $599/month annual-only pricing opened a gap that several tools now fill at a fraction of the cost. Xpoz delivers the most value — up to 5M results at $20/month with four-platform coverage and a free tier — while Awario offers the most familiar dashboard experience at $29/month.
Start with Xpoz's free tier (up to 400,000 results) to test coverage, then upgrade if the data supports it. Most teams switching from Mention find they get more data for less money with any of these alternatives.
