Brand24 vs. Brandwatch: Which Is the Right Choice? (2025 review)

Choosing between Brand24 and Brandwatch – two leading social listening platforms – requires careful consideration of their distinct capabilities. This comprehensive comparison draws from extensive platform documentation, pricing information, and verified user experiences to help organizations make an informed decision. Our analysis covers everything from data coverage and core features to pricing structures and usability, ensuring you can evaluate which tool best matches your specific needs.

Both platforms excel at tracking online conversations and brand mentions, but they serve different market segments with varying levels of sophistication and price points. Through detailed examination of their respective strengths and limitations, this guide helps readers understand which platform aligns with their social listening goals and budget constraints.

We’ll explore each platform’s approach to data collection, real-time monitoring capabilities, and analytical features so you can confidently select the solution that best serves your organization’s unique monitoring needs.

Pricing & Plans

Brand24 and Brandwatch present distinct pricing approaches in the social media monitoring space. Brand24 offers transparent, tiered pricing starting at $149/month for the Individual plan, while Brandwatch operates on custom enterprise pricing requiring consultation.

Core Plans and Billing

Brand24’s four-tier structure ranges from $149 to $499 monthly, with options for annual billing. The Individual plan includes 3 keywords and 2,000 monthly mentions, while their Enterprise tier offers 25 keywords and 100,000 mentions. **Unlimited users** are available from the Team plan upward. Brandwatch, focusing on enterprise clients, doesn’t publicly disclose pricing but requires annual commitments.

Trial Access and Demos

Brand24 provides a free trial period, allowing users to test their platform’s capabilities across all features. In contrast, Brandwatch doesn’t offer a trial but provides comprehensive demos tailored to specific use cases – particularly valuable for their Consumer Intelligence, Social Media Management, and Influencer Marketing solutions.

Add-on Features

Brand24’s primary add-on is their API access at $99, keeping their pricing structure relatively straightforward. Brandwatch offers custom add-ons based on specific client needs, though pricing isn’t publicly available. Their modular approach allows clients to build solutions matching their requirements.

Payment and Billing Flexibility

Both platforms accept standard payment methods including credit cards and bank transfers. Brand24 offers more flexibility with monthly or annual billing options, while *Brandwatch requires annual commitments*. Brand24 accepts online payment systems for added convenience.

Refund Policies

Brand24 maintains a customer-friendly approach with a 30-day money-back guarantee. *Brandwatch’s terms are notably stricter, with fees being non-cancellable and non-refundable* unless specifically stated in their order terms.

For businesses seeking scalable social monitoring solutions, Brand24 presents a more accessible entry point with transparent pricing and flexible terms, while Brandwatch targets enterprise-level organizations requiring comprehensive social intelligence capabilities.

Features

Brand24 and Brandwatch both offer robust social listening dashboards with distinct layouts and functionalities. Brand24’s interface emphasizes quick metrics visualization with a clean, card-based design that prioritizes real-time mention tracking. Brandwatch presents a more data-dense layout focusing on comprehensive analytics and trend visualization through multiple concurrent charts.

Alert Creation & Setup

Brand24 streamlines the alert creation process with a two-step system focusing on keywords and language selection. While this approach is user-friendly for beginners, it lacks immediate refinement options, requiring users to access separate parameter settings for advanced keyword management. Brandwatch implements a more sophisticated boolean operator system, allowing for precise query construction with source and country operators, though this approach has a steeper learning curve.

Metrics & Analysis Capabilities

Brand24 tracks engagement metrics comprehensively, including sentiment analysis, influence scores, and social engagement rates. Their sentiment analysis leverages deep learning and pretrained language models, achieving a claimed 95% accuracy rate. Brandwatch offers a broader range of metrics including reach, impressions, and emotion analysis, though their sentiment accuracy ranges from 60-75%. Both platforms provide robust filtering options, with Brand24 offering saved filter functionality and Brandwatch providing detailed demographic and account-type filtering.

Data Coverage & Sources

Brandwatch maintains a more extensive source network, covering major social networks, news outlets, and review sites, with the addition of radio and TV monitoring. They offer an impressive three-year historical data access. Brand24 segments their source access by subscription tier, with basic platforms available to individual users and premium sources like podcasts reserved for enterprise clients. Their historical data is limited to 30 days.

Language Support

Brandwatch demonstrates superior language coverage with support for 165 languages, while Brand24 monitors 24 languages. Both platforms implement sentiment analysis across multiple languages, though accuracy varies significantly between primary and secondary language support.

Reporting Capabilities

Both platforms offer diverse reporting options including PDF, Excel, and email formats. Brand24 includes infographic generation and provides comprehensive mention analysis in reports, including discussion context and influential profiles. Brandwatch offers detailed data visualization with emotion tracking and gender demographics, though it has stricter export limitations of 5000 mentions per CSV file.

Collaboration & AI Features

Brandwatch excels in collaboration with multi-step approval workflows and note-sharing capabilities. Brand24 offers basic Slack integration but lacks comprehensive team features. Both platforms incorporate AI for sentiment and emotion analysis, with Brand24 adding anomaly detection and Brandwatch providing conversation insights through their Iris AI system.

Brand24 emerges as an accessible option for small to medium businesses needing straightforward social listening capabilities, while Brandwatch serves enterprise-level needs with comprehensive historical data and advanced analysis tools. Their distinct approaches to monitoring and analysis make them suitable for different organizational requirements and user expertise levels.

Customer Service

Brand24 Customer Service

Brand24’s help center provides comprehensive support through 171 articles across 12 categories, covering everything from basic setup to advanced AI features. The bilingual knowledge base (English and Polish) makes it particularly accessible for users in these markets, though it may limit global reach. Their real-time support through email and live chat ensures quick issue resolution, while the extensive training resources include interactive webinars and personalized account setup assistance.

Enterprise clients benefit from dedicated account managers, though this service isn’t available for lower-tier subscribers. The well-organized documentation and proactive training approach through regular webinars and product sessions demonstrate Brand24’s commitment to user education. They’re best suited for companies seeking hands-on support with robust self-service options, particularly those operating in English or Polish-speaking markets.

Brandwatch Customer Service

Brandwatch structures its support around specialized product categories, offering detailed guidance across consumer intelligence, research, and marketing functions. While their help center is English-only, they provide multiple support channels including in-app chat, email support (with 4-24 hour response times), and a dedicated mobile app for engagement. The Brandwatch Academy stands out with its professional certification programs, complemented by regular webinars and industry reports.

Account manager access is available, though specific tier requirements aren’t publicly detailed. The slower email response times (up to 24 hours) may impact urgent support needs, but the comprehensive educational resources through Brandwatch Academy help offset this limitation. They’re ideally positioned for enterprise-level organizations that value in-depth training and can accommodate longer response times in exchange for comprehensive support resources.

Customer testimonials

Brand24 User Reviews

Brand24 maintains strong user satisfaction with a blended rating of 4.64/5 across 490 total reviews. On G2, it holds a 4.6 rating from 294 reviews, while on Capterra it scores 4.7 from 196 reviews. Users praise the platform’s accessibility and support: “The software is easy to use, they have decent guides and help docs, and the support is stellar. A very good app for tracking mentions. Lots of filters to hone in on the results that matter.” However, some users note limitations with subscription flexibility: “I wish there were a ‘pause account’ option. We only use it when a client requires this specific service which is somewhat infrequent, so I wind up cancelling and reopening once or twice per year.”

Brandwatch User Reviews

Brandwatch receives a blended rating of 4.35/5 from 895 total reviews. The platform scores 4.4 on G2 (661 reviews) and 4.2 on Capterra (234 reviews). Users appreciate its intuitive interface and educational resources: “Its query builder is clean and simple, as are the Brandwatch Academy resources which teach junior colleagues how to use it. The Quick Search function rivals Google Trends in being a ‘pick up and play’ insight finder.” However, some users report technical challenges: “Too much of online news and approx (3 to 5)% of them do not show or show errors. The keyword backfilling fails even after multiple attempts. Sometimes data loading takes too much time.”

While Brand24 stands out for its user-friendly approach and superior customer support, Brandwatch offers more comprehensive features despite occasional technical hiccups. Brand24’s higher overall rating suggests better user satisfaction, though Brandwatch’s larger review base provides a broader perspective on its performance.

Brandwatch vs Brand24: Final verdict

Brand24 and Brandwatch each excel in distinct areas – Brand24 delivers cost-effective social listening with intuitive dashboards and reliable sentiment analysis, while Brandwatch offers enterprise-grade capabilities with unmatched historical data access and advanced analytics. For growing businesses prioritizing ease of use and core monitoring features, Brand24’s straightforward approach proves valuable. Enterprise teams requiring comprehensive data coverage and customizable reporting will find Brandwatch’s robust toolkit essential, despite its steeper learning curve.

However, both platforms have notable limitations. Brand24’s restricted historical data access of 12 months and basic Boolean search capabilities may constrain long-term analysis. Meanwhile, Brandwatch’s premium pricing puts it out of reach for many small-to-medium businesses, and some users report its complex interface requires significant onboarding time. Neither tool currently offers comprehensive TikTok monitoring – a growing priority for social media teams.

For teams seeking an alternative that balances advanced capabilities with accessibility, Mention offers a compelling middle ground. With 82% sentiment accuracy, real-time monitoring across over 1 billion sources, and up to 2 years of historical data, it addresses key gaps while maintaining competitive pricing. Teams can start a free trial to test its extensive reporting suite or schedule a demo to explore how its comprehensive social listening capabilities align with their specific needs.