15 Must-Have Social Media Monitoring Tools

Social media monitoring tools help your team stay on top of brand mentions — unlike social listening, social monitoring tools help teams take immediate action when their organization is mentioned on social. 

These tools provide real-time notifications so teams can quickly respond to customer feedback, manage potential crises and jump on opportunities to engage with customers as they happen. Brands can use tools to monitor social media to keep a close eye on brand mentions, remain responsive — and improve response times — and stay connected to audiences. 

With that, we’re looking at the pros and cons of some of the most popular social media monitoring tools found on G2 and online, along with which industries each tool best suits.

As we briefly mentioned above, some key differences exist between social monitoring and social listening. 

Social monitoring focuses on managing your reputation and tracking mentions of your brand, like customer feedback, to take immediate action. Social listening, however, takes a more analytical approach, which involves analyzing market trends (like what your target demographic is talking about) and other conversations centering around your brand that don’t necessarily require immediate action but can help adjust or craft your future social strategies. Social media listening tools often help measure qualitative factors, like analyzing sentiment, while social media monitoring tools alert your team to comments and criticisms you can reply to right away. 

Think of social monitoring as a reactive, short-term approach, while social listening is a proactive, long-term approach.

The most-used popular social media monitoring tools offer the ability to track brand mentions, monitor keywords across different platforms and more — let’s take a closer look at their similarities, differences and more. 

1. Dash Hudson

Pros: 

• Intuitive interface for managing and responding to social interactions.
• Salesforce and Zendesk integrations streamline customer support workflows.

Cons: 

• May require onboarding for teams unfamiliar with advanced monitoring tools.
• Limited customization in workflow automation.

Best for: 

• Retail, e-commerce, and consumer brands focusing on direct audience engagement.

Dash Hudson's Community Manager allows social teams to monitor audience comments, mentions and direct messages efficiently. This tool empowers teams to engage meaningfully and maintain a strong brand presence, driving loyalty and customer satisfaction. The Zendesk and Salesforce Integration with Dash Hudson ensures a smooth transition of social inquiries into broader customer service workflows.

2. Brand24

Pros: 

• Tracks real-time mentions of brands and competitors. 
• Offers sentiment analysis. 

Cons: 

• Limited integrations compared to larger platforms like Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
• Advanced features like API access may require higher-tier plans.

Best for:

• Tech and engineering teams managing cloud infrastructure and applications.

Brand24 is a robust tool for tracking brand mentions across social media platforms, forums, blogs, and news sites. It provides real-time alerts and sentiment analysis, helping brands stay ahead of conversations about their business.

On G2, Brand24 is known for its overall monitoring and customization features.   

3. Atera 

Pros: 

• Unlimited devices per technician.
• Advanced automation for IT management tasks.

Cons:

• Limited scalability for larger enterprises.
• Reporting customization could be improved. 

Best for:

• Small to mid-sized IT service providers.  

Atera is an all-in-one remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution, ideal for IT professionals and managed service providers (MSPs). It’s designed to streamline IT operations by automating patch management, alerts and helpdesk workflows.

On G2, Atera is commended for how its remote management, which allows teams to monitor any device with the right agent, regardless of network. 

4. JustCall 

Pros: 

• Offers omnichannel monitoring for calls, SMS and integrations.
• Call tracking.

Cons: 

• Call quality varies depending on the network.
• Pricing might be high for small teams or businesses. 

Best for:

• Sales and customer services teams across all industries. 

JustCall is a cloud-based phone system designed for customer support and sales teams to manage communications. It provides a centralized platform to manage calls and SMS, with integrations for CRM tools like HubSpot and Salesforce to enhance productivity.

On G2, JustCall is appreciate for its ability to connect to HubSpot and Salesforce to review sales calls. 

5. Cyfe

Pros:

• Unified view of data from various platforms.
• Highly customizable dashboards. 
• Offers over 100 integrations. 

Cons:

• Technical interfaces might be challenging for certain teams. 
• Limited customer service options.

Best for:

• Small and medium-sized businesses,  

Cyfe, by Traject, offers a business dashboard for tracking KPIs across multiple platforms, including social media, marketing and sales. Its all-in-one approach eliminates the need for multiple tools, making it a popular and cost-effective solution for smaller teams who want a streamlined solution. 

On G2, Cyfe is popular for its ability to serve different platforms and easy-to-use API integrations.

6. Khoros

Pros: 

• Publishing with AI support.
• Centralized visibility and control over account access.

Cons: 

• Issues with duplication in the platform.
• Inconsistent outputs and some instances of lagging.

Best for:

• Large enterprises and customer-centric industries like healthcare and financial services. 

Khoros provides a platform for businesses to manage customer interactions across social platforms and call centers. It also offers AI-driven analytics that provide brands with insights into customer behavior, so marketing teams can enhance their service efforts with a bit of helpful knowledge. 

On G2, Khoros is noted for letting users monitor online comments, yet has a bigger learning curve for some users. 

7. Reputation 

Pros:

• In-depth analytics for reputation management.
• Strong focus on multi-location businesses. 

Cons:

• Not suitable for large enterprises.  
• High learning curve for beginners.

Best for:

• Hospitality, healthcare and retail brands managing multiple locations.

Reputation helps small and medium-sized businesses transform customer feedback into actionable insights to drive growth. Its ability to analyze sentiment and trends in customer feedback lets businesses refine their strategies and maintain a positive public image.

On G2, Reputation is celebrated for its ability to collect helpful information from reviews, useful for brands heavily focused on reputation management.

8. Agorapulse

Pros: 

• Unified inbox for all social channels.
• Competitor analysis features.

Cons: 

• Limited integrations compared to larger platforms.
• Advanced features locked behind higher-tier plans.

Best for:

• Small businesses and agencies managing multiple social accounts. 

Agorapulse simplifies social media monitoring and management with various scheduling and reporting features. Its collaborative tools enable teams to stay aligned, making it ideal for small to mid-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use solution. 

On G2, Agorapulse is lauded for its easy-to-use interface and lack of bugs. 

9. Meltwater 

Pros: 

• Comprehensive media monitoring, including traditional outlets.
• Global reach and multi-language capabilities.

Cons: 

• Steep learning curve for non-technical users.
• Expensive compared to other tools.

Best for:

• Large Enterprises in Technology, Public Relations and Media and Entertainment. 

Meltwater provides social listening and media monitoring tools to track brand mentions and trends online. It’s a popular choice for PR and marketing teams looking to analyze media sentiment and stay ahead of industry conversations.

On G2, Meltwater is popular for its ability to monitor conversations across time, but also known to have a bit of a learning curve. 

10. Hootsuite 

Pros:

• Easy-to-use interface with team collaboration features.
• Extensive integration library. 

Cons: 

• Limited analytics in lower-tier plans.
• Monitoring capabilities aren't as robust as dedicated tools.

Best for:

• Small to medium-sized businesses and freelancers.

Hootsuite’s listening tools help teams track brand mentions, keywords and competitor activity. By integrating social monitoring with scheduling and analytics, it provides a comprehensive solution for managing online presence.

On G2, Hootsuite is known for it’s cost-effective monitoring features, perfect for teams starting to monitor online presence. 

11. Sprout Social 

Pros: 

• Intuitive UI and strong reporting features.
• Sentiment analysis and trend monitoring.

Cons:

• Pricing is on the higher side.
• Limited integrations with less common platforms. 

Best for:

• Marketing agencies and mid-sized businesses focused on audience insights.

Sprout Social offers advanced social listening tools to analyze trends, sentiment and audience behavior. It also provides actionable insights that allow brands to tailor their strategies based on customer preferences.

On G2, Sprout Social is popular for its ease of use among users. 

12. Atribus 

Pros: 

• Multilingual sentiment analysis.
• Strong customization options for monitoring.

Cons: 

• Limited automation for reporting.
• Small learning curve for less tech-savvy teams.

Best for:

• Brands focused on global markets and competitive analysis.

Atribus specializes in social listening and market intelligence for businesses looking to monitor digital trends. Its multilingual capabilities make it ideal for global brands with various global handles seeking to engage with diverse audiences. Its ability to tap into press mentions and radio make it a popular choice for brands tracking less traditional mentions. 

On G2, Atribus is known for its attention to detail and range of supported languages and mediums. 

13. Statusbrew

Pros: 

• Affordable pricing plans.
• Collaboration tools for team management.

Cons: 

• Analytics not as detailed as competitors.
• Fewer integrations compared to larger platforms.

Best for:

• Small teams and startups managing customer engagement.

Statusbrew offers a social monitoring tool with features like unified inboxes and team workflows. Its affordable pricing makes it a great choice for startups and smaller businesses looking to scale their social efforts. Statusbrew also offers reddit listening, which can be a helpful way to reach niche communities and understand their concerns. 

On G2, users appreciate Statusbrew's ability to monitor conversations in realtime across social networks.   

14. Emplifi

Pros: 

• Strong sentiment analysis capabilities.
• Advanced visual content tracking.

Cons: 

• Expensive for smaller teams.
• Limited focus outside of social media.

Best for:

• Brands in e-commerce and entertainment.

Emplifi combines social listening with customer experience insights to help brands drive engagement. Its visual content tracking adds a unique layer of analysis, enabling brands to refine their creative strategies.

On G2, Emplifi user’s are positive about creating custom dashboards for monitoring queries. 

15. Fedica

Pros: 

• Deep audience analytics.
• Customizable reporting features.

Cons: 

• Limited scheduling capabilities.
• UI may feel outdated.

Best for:

• Businesses looking to understand audience demographics and behaviors.

Fedica helps businesses monitor and manage social media, focusing on audience insights. It excels at uncovering audience demographics and behaviors, allowing brands to tailor their content for maximum engagement.

On G2, Fedica is notable for its quick expansion into new or niche social platforms, like Mastodon.