Keyhole Alternatives: 6 Tools for Social Teams in 2026

A few years ago, a lot of social reporting started with a hashtag. You set up a tracker, watched the mentions roll in and reported reach at the end of the campaign.

Today, the questions are different. Which formats are working? Which topics move engagement? How do we compare with the brands leadership keeps bringing up?

Keyhole was built for the first kind of reporting. If your team now spends more of its time on the second, it’s worth checking whether your tool has kept up.

My take: if you mainly used Keyhole for account analytics and competitor benchmarking, a dedicated analytics tool fits better. If real-time mention tracking is the job you can’t lose, a listening tool with public pricing is the cleanest swap. And if your team works closely with PR, staying with Keyhole inside Muck Rack can still make sense.

Below, I compare six Keyhole alternatives by the job each one does best, from account analytics and competitor benchmarking to mention tracking and influencer reporting. Let's dive in!

What happened to Keyhole?

Key takeaway: Muck Rack acquired Keyhole in September 2024, built its social listening into the Muck Rack platform in February 2025, and now routes new Keyhole customers through its own sales process.

Keyhole didn't disappear. It changed hands.

Its new owner is best known for a journalist database and media monitoring, so the deal made Keyhole part of a PR toolkit. It wasn't a surprise match, either: the two companies had already worked together for about a year, with Muck Rack reselling Keyhole's monitoring to its own customers.

Here's where things stand for buyers in 2026:

• Keyhole still runs on its own. Muck Rack said it would keep supporting Keyhole as a standalone product.
• Buying it goes through Muck Rack. There's no public price list, and the pricing page leads to a Muck Rack demo request.
• The roadmap leans toward PR. Muck Rack positions its social listening for communications teams measuring brand perception across media.

What did social teams use Keyhole for?

Key takeaway: Social teams used Keyhole for four main jobs: tracking hashtags and campaigns, analyzing their own accounts, benchmarking competitors and measuring influencer posts.

Before you look at alternatives, it's worth being honest about which of these your team actually relied on. Most teams lean on one or two.

1. Hashtag and campaign tracking. Keyhole made its name with real-time trackers: set up a hashtag or keyword and watch posts, reach and engagement come in as a campaign or event unfolds.

2. Account analytics. Performance reports for your own profiles: what you posted, how it did, when your audience engaged.

3. Competitor benchmarking. Putting your accounts next to competitors' to see who's growing faster and whose content lands better.

4. Influencer tracking. Measuring the posts creators publish for a campaign, so you can report on reach and engagement per creator.

Which Keyhole alternatives are worth comparing?

Key takeaway: Socialinsider replaces Keyhole's account analytics and benchmarking, Brand24 and Mentionlytics replace its hashtag and mention tracking, CreatorIQ covers influencer reporting, and Meltwater or Muck Rack suit PR-led teams.

Find the Keyhole job you'd miss most, then read across.

Is Socialinsider a good Keyhole alternative for social media analytics?

Key takeaway: Socialinsider is the strongest Keyhole alternative for account analytics and competitor benchmarking, with past post data from day one and campaign tagging, but it doesn't track hashtags across all public posts in real time.

If Keyhole was mostly your reporting tool, this is the one I'd try first. Socialinsider is a social media analytics and benchmarking platform for the six networks most brands report on.

Which Keyhole jobs it takes over?

Account analytics and competitor benchmarking, and it goes deeper on both. Add your profiles and your competitors', and Socialinsider loads 3, 6 or 12 months of their past posts, depending on the plan. You can compare engagement, growth and posting habits side by side, then check them against industry benchmarks.

Campaign reporting works too, just from a different angle than Keyhole's trackers. Instead of following a hashtag across every public post, you tag the posts that belong to a campaign, by hashtag, keyword or by hand, and Socialinsider groups their results.

Here's how it works in practice. In Socialinsider's Content Pillars section, open the Query Builder and create a query for the words, phrases or keywords that define your campaign.

For example, say you're analyzing Duolingo. You could build a query for posts that mention Duo, the brand's owl mascot. Socialinsider then pulls every matching post from Duolingo's accounts into one pillar, so you can see how Duo-led content performs compared with everything else the brand publishes.

Where it falls short

Socialinsider analyzes the profiles you add. It doesn't track a hashtag across every public post on a network in real time, the way Keyhole's trackers do.

Pricing

Adapt costs $82 a month billed yearly, or $99 month to month. Predict costs $199 a month billed yearly and covers 40 profiles, five seats and twelve months of history. See all plans.

Reviews

What I appreciate most about Socialinsider is its rich suite of features, providing comprehensive functionality for various analytical needs, paired with an intuitive, user-friendly interface that makes navigating these powerful tools straightforward and efficient. Most importantly, the exceptionally helpful customer support ensures any questions or issues are quickly resolved, making the overall experience seamless and productive. - G2 reviewer

In short: the best fit for social teams that used Keyhole as their reporting and benchmarking tool.

Is Brand24 a good Keyhole alternative for hashtag tracking?

Key takeaway: Brand24 is the closest Keyhole alternative for real-time hashtag and keyword tracking, with public pricing from $199 a month billed yearly, but real-time updates start on its Pro plan.

Keyhole's trackers were the reason many teams signed up, and Brand24 works the same way: set your hashtags or keywords, and mentions start coming in from social media, news, blogs, forums, podcasts and review sites.

Which Keyhole job it takes over?

Hashtag and campaign tracking. You get a running feed of mentions, reach estimates, sentiment and the most active voices around a hashtag, which is handy during launches and live events.

Where it falls short

The cheaper plans don't update in real time. The Individual plan refreshes every 12 hours and Team hourly, so live tracking means the Pro plan. Each plan also caps keywords and monthly mentions, and Brand24 doesn't benchmark competitors' accounts.

Pricing

Individual costs $199 a month billed yearly ($249 monthly), Team $299 ($349), Pro $399 ($499) and Business $599 ($699). Pro includes real-time updates and 40,000 mentions a month.

Reviews

I still like how easy it is to set up a project and start tracking keywords. Another useful aspect is having mentions from different online sources collected in one dashboard. The overview of mentions, sources, reach, and interactions makes it easier to understand brand visibility without checking multiple platforms separately. The interface remains clean and approachable, even for beginners. - G2 reviewer

In short: the cleanest swap if hashtag trackers were the main reason you used Keyhole.

Is Mentionlytics a good cheaper Keyhole alternative?

Key takeaway: Mentionlytics is a budget-friendly Keyhole alternative for keyword and mention monitoring, with plans from $69 a month, but its analytics are lighter than Keyhole's.

If you need to keep an eye on mentions on a tight budget, Mentionlytics is worth a trial. It's a social listening and monitoring tool that tracks brand mentions, keywords and sentiment across social networks and the web.

Which Keyhole job it takes over?

Mention and keyword tracking. Mentionlytics collects mentions of your brand, hashtags and competitors, adds sentiment, and surfaces the accounts driving the conversation.

Where it falls short?

Mentionlytics is a monitoring tool first. Account analytics, competitor benchmarking and influencer reporting are lighter than in Keyhole or in a dedicated analytics tool.

Pricing

Plans start at $69 a month for Basic, with lower rates on yearly billing and a free trial available.

What I like best about Mentionlytics is how easy it makes monitoring and understanding online conversations. The interface is intuitive, the insights are clear and actionable, and it helps quickly identify trends, sentiment, and key mentions without requiring complex setup or deep technical knowledge. - G2 reviewer

In short: a low-cost way to keep mention tracking running without an enterprise contract.

Is CreatorIQ a good Keyhole alternative for influencer tracking?

Key takeaway: CreatorIQ is a strong Keyhole alternative for brands running large influencer programs, covering creator discovery, campaign management and reporting, but it isn't built for hashtag listening or account benchmarking.

Some teams kept Keyhole mainly for influencer reports. For them, a dedicated creator platform like CreatorIQ is a bigger step up than another listening tool.

Which Keyhole job it takes over

Influencer tracking, and a lot more around it. CreatorIQ helps you find creators, manage briefs and contracts, track every sponsored post and report on results by creator and campaign.

Where it falls short

CreatorIQ is an enterprise platform with an enterprise rollout. It doesn't replace Keyhole's hashtag trackers or the analytics for your own brand accounts.

Pricing

Quote only.

Reviews

CreatorIQ is an excellent resource for creator discovery, as well as channel insights and performance tracking. - G2 reviewer

In short: the right move if influencer marketing is a program of its own at your company.

Is Meltwater a good Keyhole alternative?

Key takeaway: Meltwater is a good Keyhole alternative for teams that want social listening and media monitoring in one platform, but it's quote-only and lighter on post-level social benchmarking.

If you liked that Keyhole now sits next to PR tools, Meltwater gives you a similar mix from a company that has done both for years.

Which Keyhole job it takes over

Listening and campaign monitoring, plus coverage beyond social. Meltwater tracks mentions across social, online news, print, broadcast and podcasts, which helps when a campaign gets press as well as posts.

Where it falls short

Meltwater is priced for communications teams with enterprise budgets. Comparing your brand's posts with a competitor's, post by post, isn't its strong suit.

Pricing

Quote only.

Meltwater has a lot of capabilities and has been helpful for tracking media coverage and managing our media contacts. - G2 reviewer

In short: a good home for teams where social and PR share the monitoring work.

Should you stay with Keyhole inside Muck Rack?

Key takeaway: Staying with Muck Rack makes sense for PR-led teams that want Keyhole's social listening next to a journalist database and media monitoring, but social-first teams may find the roadmap leans away from them.

Sometimes the best alternative is not switching at all. Muck Rack now combines Keyhole's social listening with its own PR tools.

Which Keyhole jobs it keeps

All of them, in principle. Keyhole still runs on its own, and Muck Rack Social Listening brings the same technology into a platform that also covers journalist search, pitching and media monitoring.

Where it falls short

Muck Rack is built for PR and communications teams. If your social team bought Keyhole for social work, check how much of the roadmap is aimed at you before you renew.

Pricing

Quote only, through Muck Rack's sales team.

In short: a sensible choice if your social and PR teams already work as one.

Which Keyhole alternative should you pick?

Key takeaway: Pick by the Keyhole job you'd miss most: Socialinsider for reporting and benchmarking, Brand24 or Mentionlytics for hashtag tracking, CreatorIQ for influencers, Meltwater or Muck Rack for PR-led monitoring.

Go back to the four jobs. Which one would leave a gap tomorrow?

• Monthly reports and competitor comparisons: Socialinsider.
• Live hashtag tracking during launches and events: Brand24, on the Pro plan for real-time updates.
• Mention monitoring on a small budget: Mentionlytics.
• Large influencer programs: CreatorIQ.
• Social and press monitoring in one place: Meltwater.
• A social team that already works hand in hand with PR: stay with Keyhole through Muck Rack.

Final thoughts

Social reporting has moved on from counting mentions. Most teams now need to explain which content works and how they stack up against competitors, and that’s a different job from the one Keyhole was built for.

If that sounds like your team, start there. Pick the tool that answers your most common question fastest, and let the rest of the stack follow.

FAQs on Keyhole alternatives

Is Keyhole still available?

Yes. Keyhole still runs as a standalone product, and its social listening is also available inside the Muck Rack platform.

How much does Keyhole cost?

Keyhole doesn't publish prices. New customers request a quote through Muck Rack's sales process.

Does Keyhole have a free plan?

No. Keyhole has no free plan; you request a demo through Muck Rack instead.

What is the best Keyhole alternative for hashtag tracking?

Brand24 is the closest Keyhole alternative for hashtag tracking, with plans from $199 a month billed yearly. Real-time updates are included on its Pro plan.

Can I use Socialinsider for competitor benchmarking instead of Keyhole?

Yes. Socialinsider compares your accounts with competitors' across six networks and loads 3 to 12 months of their past posts, depending on the plan.