Brandwatch is one of the oldest and best-known social media management tools for enterprise users. But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s the best option out there or the ideal solution for your team.
If your team is considering a Brandwatch subscription, check the reviews before deciding. After all, you can make a more informed choice when you know how real users experience the software.
In this article, we do heavy lifting for you. We analyzed 1,000+ Brandwatch reviews. We call out both positive and critical takes, so you can see what users like—and what they’d change.
We’ll also look at how Brandwatch compares to Agorapulse. To try our social listening, publishing, engagement, and reporting tool, sign up for a free trial of Agorapulse and test it for 30 days.
Quick Overview of Brandwatch Ratings and Reviews
Here’s how Brandwatch rates across the major software review sites:
- G2: 4.1 out of 5 stars (830+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3 out of 5 stars (230+ reviews)
- TrustRadius: 8.3 out of 10 stars (150+ reviews)
- Trustpilot: 2.3 out of 5 stars (5+ reviews)
But before we dive into the Brandwatch reviews themselves, let’s clear up some questions you may have about the platform. After all, Brandwatch has experienced numerous changes over the years.
When it first launched in 2007, the platform tracked social media mentions and social advertising analytics. Since then, it’s undergone multiple mergers and acquisitions, turning it into a completely different platform.
Most recently, the public relations and communications company Cision acquired Brandwatch in 2021. Cision then acquired the social media platform Falcon.io in 2022. If you were a Falcon user, you’ll likely recognize some of its tools in Brandwatch’s current social media management offering.
As of 2024, Brandwatch has three product suites: consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, and social media management. Our analysis will focus on reviews of the social media suite.
What Positive Reviews Say About Brandwatch
As you can see from the ratings above, Brandwatch customers have a number of good things to say about the social media management platform. Positive Brandwatch reviews typically touch on topics like customization, convenience, and user friendliness.
Convenient social media management
Brandwatch offers publishing and scheduling for most major social networks, including:
- Google Business Profile
- TikTok
- X
- YouTube
Users typically appreciate that they can manage content for all of these channels from a single dashboard. As this G2 reviewer shares, “Having all our social media channels in one place to be able to engage and moderate is really helpful.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning social media management capabilities
Along the same lines, this Capterra reviewer states, “Brandwatch optimizes your time” and makes it easy to reach more customers with scheduled content.
Capterra review of Brandwatch mentioning social media management
Powerful social listening
Brandwatch started as a social listening platform, and this capability has long been one of its strong suits. Even today, users continue to find value in this feature.
This Capterra reviewer speaks highly of the platform’s real-time monitoring and “ability to set up various different queries which can help you monitor not just your brand, but also competitors and industry trends.”
Capterra review of Brandwatch mentioning social listening
When marketing teams invest in social media platforms that don’t support social listening, they often have to purchase a second tool to fill the gap. Brandwatch bundles the two together—a big perk for some users.
As this G2 reviewer explains, “Previously, we’ve had our social listening platform separate to our social management, but since the merge with Brandwatch, it’s helped massively.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning social listening capabilities
User-friendly dashboards
Having a user interface (UI) that’s easy to navigate can improve the user experience (UX) dramatically while also boosting efficiency. Brandwatch users like the G2 reviewer below often rave about the platform’s user-friendliness.
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning user friendliness
However, it’s worth noting that the positive review above pertains to the web version of the platform only. As the reviewer states, “The app version could be better.”
Numerous customization options
Out-of-the-box software platforms tend to be easy to set up and start using quickly. But teams with more complex needs often prefer customizable platforms.
Brandwatch offers both, and users show plenty of appreciation for the platform’s customizable inbox and analytics dashboards.
As this G2 reviewer explains, the platform makes it “easy to configure feeds for moderation in the Engage module, which you can do by user, by team, as well as viewing a single feed unified inbox.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning customization
Reliable customer support
Even the most user-friendly software platforms need quick, reliable customer support teams. Whether you want help navigating a feature or you find that a tool isn’t working as intended, you deserve a rapid response.
As this G2 reviewer shares, the team’s customer success manager is one of the best parts of using the platform. “It’s great to have someone to ask for help and point us in the right direction.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning customer support
What Critical Reviews of Brandwatch Reveal
Even positive reviews of Brandwatch typically mention at least one drawback of the platform. Common themes that appear across critical reviews include missing features, plan limitations, and issues with functionality.
Scheduling problems
At a bare minimum, you expect a social media management platform to be able to schedule and publish content consistently. However, some Brandwatch users report bugs and problems with scheduled content.
As this G2 reviewer states, “Brandwatch has a lot of dreams but falls short when it comes to regular use. There were many times when the basic usability just wasn’t there, such as […] issues with posts failing to publish but then publishing later after being deleted from the system.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning scheduling problems
The customer above also expresses frustration with the platform’s customer support. “You tend to get handed from person to person when seeking assistance and the chatbot seems to be the go-to when needing any type of support, even if you get your own account manager.”
Issues with cross-posting
For many social media management platforms, cross-posting is a major perk. It can save significant time while ensuring that copy and creatives remain consistent between platforms.
However, Brandwatch doesn’t seem to support cross-posting across social networks.
As this G2 reviewer states, “The system doesn’t allow you to post to multiple platforms at the same time, which is how they advertise themselves on Google.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning cross-posting
So, what’s the solution? As this G2 reviewer explains, “Right now, you have to copy and paste across all networks, and it is time-consuming, and I constantly worry that something will get missed.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning cross-posting
Missing features
Social media teams typically invest in a tool to avoid having to manage each profile in a separate app or with a different login. Investing in a platform that doesn’t meet basic functionality needs can seem like a waste.
As this G2 reviewer shares, Brandwatch lacks key functionality. “It is missing a fair few features that you would have access to if you were to simply use the platforms themselves, thus limiting the content that you can post on the various platforms.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning missing features
However, jumping between Brandwatch and native social media apps isn’t always a reliable solution. As this Capterra reviewer explains, “The biggest issue I have is when I publish content natively through a social media site. Sometimes it does not appear in the general calendar on Brandwatch or the analytics available for the post are limited.”
Capterra review of Brandwatch mentioning missing features
Plan limitations
Brandwatch doesn’t offer any standard plans. Instead, all plans are custom.
However, some social media teams find that their custom plans don’t support their needs. As this G2 reviewer shares, “The only complaint I have is our current package is limited to monitoring 20 channels for benchmarking purposes.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning plan limitations
User and permission confusion
Typically, social media tools make it easier to configure users and permissions so you can grant the appropriate access to the right team members. However, some Brandwatch users report problems setting up access.
As this G2 reviewer explains, “Some of the user/group settings are a little confusing. I wish you could share metrics reports with individual users rather than just groups.”
G2 review of Brandwatch mentioning users and permissions
High costs and upsells
When you speak with a sales rep who doesn’t listen to your needs, you can end up paying more for software than you’d planned. As this Trustpilot reviewer laments, the Brandwatch rep upsold the customer on an unnecessary plan.
“The sales team and customer service is only interested in the sale. They do not look at you as a customer or want to help correct their mistakes. I would never buy from this group. The software is good, but the cost and game to buy is not worth the product.”
Trustpilot review of Brandwatch mentioning upsells
So, how much does Brandwatch cost? The company doesn’t publicly share any pricing, as all plans are custom.
Brandwatch pricing 2024
However, our deep dive into Brandwatch pricing found standard costs for the platform’s prior iteration, Falcon. That platform’s basic plan started at $1,000 per month. The advanced plan started at $1,750 per month.
Those prices were from before the two platforms merged in 2022. It’s likely that Brandwatch’s pricing has increased since then. All in all, you can probably expect to pay more than $1,000 per month for a subscription.
How Brandwatch Compares to Agorapulse
Next, let’s look at how Brandwatch compares to Agorapulse across the major software review sites. Spoiler: from usability to support to features, Agorapulse outperforms Brandwatch in almost every category.
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Ease of use
Brandwatch users generally have positive things to say about the platform’s user friendliness. But these reviews can’t touch Agorapulse’s usability ratings.
G2 reviewers give Agorapulse a 9.1 for ease of use, ease of setup, and ease of admin. Brandwatch gets an 8.4 for the first two categories and an 8.5 for the third.
G2 comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing usability
Capterra reviewers have a similar take. Agorapulse gets a 4.6 for ease of use, while Brandwatch earns a 4.2.
We designed our platform to be as intuitive and user-friendly as possible so you can navigate between profiles and tasks efficiently. But we know there’s a learning curve for new software. This is why we offer group training with all our set plans as well as one-on-one training with our Custom plans.
Customer support
While some Brandwatch users have a less than ideal experience, customers generally find the platform’s support to be good.
But once again, Agorapulse outranks Brandwatch.
G2 reviewers give Agorapulse a 9.2 for quality of support, while Brandwatch earns an 8.8.
G2 comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing support
Capterra users give Agorapulse a 4.7 for customer support, while Brandwatch gets a 4.5.
Capterra comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing customer support
At Agorapulse, we consider our support team to be the best in the industry. We maintain a 96% user satisfaction rating, and we’re here to help 24/7.
We also guarantee response times for each plan so you always know when you’ll hear back. However, our team’s average response time for all customers is 30 minutes or less.
Product direction
Jumping from one social media management platform to another can get incredibly expensive. The costs go beyond the subscription fee. After all, implementing and learning new software takes time, too.
So ideally, any social media tool you choose will become a long-term solution for your team.
According to G2, customers prefer Agorapulse’s product direction over Brandwatch’s. Users also consider Agorapulse a better partner in doing business.
G2 comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing business partnership
Curious which features and UX updates we’ve launched recently? Take a look at our release notes.
Social media management features
Altogether, Agorapulse outranks Brandwatch in 28 out of 30 of G2’s feature and capability categories.
First, let’s zoom in on social media management features. From social publishing to social engagement to social analytics, Agorapulse easily outperforms Brandwatch.
G2 comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing social media management features
With Agorapulse, you can easily speed up social media content creation via cross-posting. In addition to publishing the same post verbatim across multiple profiles, our platform also lets you customize posts for each profile.
And while we offer helpful out-of-the-box reports, you can also customize yours using our power reports. We also make it easy to automate social media reports for internal and external stakeholders.
Social media listening features
Although Brandwatch is known as a social listening and monitoring platform, it ranks second to Agorapulse in every G2 category in this area.
G2 comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing social listening features
With Agorapulse’s new advanced social listening tool, you can collect and analyze more data than ever. Whether you want to monitor your brand, the competition, or a trend, our platform offers helpful engagement and sentiment analysis reports that help you act on data efficiently.
Collaboration features
While Brandwatch is designed for large enterprise teams, G2 reviewers don’t rate its collaboration features particularly highly. Instead, Agorapulse ranks first in every category.
G2 comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing collaboration features
With Agorapulse’s approval workflows, you can ensure the right person signs off on every social post before it goes live. And with our Inbox Assistant, you can moderate your social inbox automatically, saving your team a ton of time.
Plus, our users and permissions settings make it easy to assign the right access to every team member. And when you need to loop in external stakeholders, our shared calendars let them view and approve social posts.
Value for money
Above, we estimated that Brandwatch’s most basic plan costs at least $1,000 per month. In contrast, Agorapulse’s most basic plan starts at $49 per month.
You read that right: Agorapulse pricing starts at less than one-twentieth of the cost of Brandwatch.
All in all, we offer three paid plans with set pricing (billed annually):
- Standard: Starts at $49 per month for basic social media features
- Professional: Starts at $79 per month for team collaboration features
- Advanced: Starts at $119 for advanced social media and agency features
Each plan includes 10 social media profiles and one user. Just multiply the base price by the number of users you plan to onboard to get team pricing. And when you need to add more social profiles, you can do so for $10 each per month (billed annually).
For large brands and agencies, we also offer a Custom plan. Since this plan includes all features and supports unlimited users, it comes with a custom price that meets the needs of your team.
It’s no wonder Capterra users think Agorapulse (4.4) offers significantly more value for money compared to Brandwatch (3.9).
Capterra comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing value
TrustRadius reviewers share a similar sentiment. A whopping 94% of Agorapulse users believe our platform delivers good value for the price. Only 67% of Brandwatch users think the same.
TrustRadius comparison between Agorapulse vs Brandwatch showing value
Given the difference in perceived value, it’s easy to see why 98% of Agorapulse users reported that they would buy again—while only 75% of Brandwatch users planned to renew.
Wrapping Up Our Analysis of Brandwatch Reviews
With its user-friendly interface, customization options, and reliable support, Brandwatch has plenty of positive reviews. However, it ranks below Agorapulse in usability, support, value, and virtually every feature category.
Ready to see for yourself why reviewers across most major software sites prefer Agorapulse? Sign up for a free trial of Agorapulse and try our social media management solution with your team for 30 days.
