We checked 49 social listening tool lists against each vendor’s own pricing page. Twenty-six of them, 53%, carry at least one claim the vendor’s page contradicts today.
The errors aren’t spread evenly. Thirty-eight of the 39 sit on five tools whose situation changed. One was folded into another product, two lost their free options, one lost its domain and one raised its price.
Four tools that appear on 13 to 28 lists each drew no errors at all. Here’s how we checked, where the lists go wrong, and how to test a list yourself.
What We Checked
On 25 September 2026 we ran 15 searches a buyer would run, such as “free social listening tools” and “Brand24 alternatives”. From the top results we kept the editorial roundups.
- In: 49 roundups of social listening, brand monitoring and mention tools.
- Out: vendor product pages, directories, Q&A sites, scheduling-tool lists, one deleted page and our own site.
- Checked against: each vendor’s own pricing or help page, read the same day.
A claim counts as out of date only when the vendor’s current page contradicts it. A claim that was true when written still counts, because the reader is buying today.
What we didn’t score
We didn’t judge rankings, opinions or feature descriptions. Only claims a vendor’s own page can settle made the cut: whether a free plan exists, what the entry price is and whether the product is still sold.
Where a list said no more than that a tool offers a free trial, we left it alone.
Where the Lists Go Wrong
| Tool | Lists naming it | Out of date | What’s true today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mention | 29 | 16 | Not sold on its own since 1 July 2026 |
| Brand24 | 33 | 8 | From $199 a month billed yearly |
| Social Mention | 6 | 6 | Its domain no longer loads |
| Hootsuite | 30 | 5 | No free plan since March 2023 |
| TweetDeck (now X Pro) | 6 | 3 | Needs X Premium+, from $40 a month |
| Talkwalker | 31 | 1 | Alerts and Free Social Search are still free |
| BuzzSumo, Awario, Mentionlytics, Sprout Social | 13 to 28 each | 0 | No free plan, and no list claimed one |
Mention is still for sale on 16 lists
Mention’s help centre says that since 1 July 2026 it isn’t sold as a standalone product, and new buyers are pointed to Agorapulse Listening. Sixteen of the 29 lists that name Mention still quote a plan, a price or a free tier.
The prices quoted run from $29 to $599 a month, and four lists still promise some kind of free tier. Some of those prices were real once, but none of them can be bought today.
Social Mention is recommended by every list that names it
All six lists that mention Social Mention present it as a working free tool, and five link to socialmention.com. That domain doesn’t resolve at all.
One of the six sits on a social media vendor’s own blog and was updated in July. If you need a working replacement, our roundup of free social mention tools covers the ones that still load.
Two free plans that ended years ago
Hootsuite ended its free plan on 31 March 2023. Five lists still offer it, two of them down to the number of social accounts it allowed.
TweetDeck became X Pro and went subscriber-only in August 2023. X’s help centre now lists X Pro under Premium+, from $40 a month, yet three of the six lists naming TweetDeck still file it under free tools.
Brand24’s price moved up
Brand24’s pricing page lists its entry plan at $249 a month, or $199 a month billed yearly. Eight lists quote less, from $49 to $149.
One list retired a tool that’s still free
The only Talkwalker error runs the other way. One list says Talkwalker Alerts and Free Social Search are gone, but both are still free on Talkwalker’s site.
The Errors Cluster Where Something Changed
BuzzSumo, Awario, Mentionlytics and Sprout Social appear on 13 to 28 lists each. None of them offers a free plan, and none of those lists claimed one.
The errors sit where something changed: a product folded into another, a free plan withdrawn, a domain lost, a price raised. A list goes stale at the speed of its most changeable entry, not its average one.
The lag is measured in years
Mention’s change is three months old, so some lag is understandable. Hootsuite’s and TweetDeck’s changes are more than three years old and still circulate.
That gap suggests these claims get copied forward rather than rechecked. We can’t prove how each one survived, only that it did.
An Update Date Isn’t a Check Date
Sixteen lists show an update date within the last 90 days. Five of them still carry an out-of-date claim.
Thirty-two lists put 2026 in the title, and 14 of those carry at least one. Two lists updated after 1 July still sell Mention as a standalone product.
An update date tells you someone touched the page. It doesn’t tell you which claims were rechecked.
What This Doesn’t Prove
- One category, one day: 49 lists about listening and monitoring tools, checked on 25 September 2026.
- One search source: the results came from a single web search tool, so this isn’t a ranking study.
- Stale isn’t careless: some of these claims were true when written, and vendors change plans without notice.
We haven’t named the publishers. The pattern matters more than a scorecard, and most of these errors would take a minute to fix.
How to Check a Tools List Before You Buy
You can check any list in about five minutes.
- Open the pricing page: confirm the plan and price on the vendor’s own site, not the list’s summary.
- Start with the changeable entries: free plans, acquired products and anything a bigger company bought.
- Look for a checked date: “prices checked on” names what was verified, while “updated on” doesn’t.
Our own list of free social listening tools shows the date its prices were checked, the day before this study.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Mention still have a free plan
No. Mention has no free plan, and since 1 July 2026 it isn’t sold as a standalone product. New buyers are directed to Agorapulse Listening.
Is TweetDeck still free
No. TweetDeck is now X Pro, and X’s help centre lists it under Premium+, which starts at $40 a month.
Does Hootsuite have a free plan
No. Hootsuite ended its free plan on 31 March 2023. It offers a free trial, and paid plans start at $99 per user a month billed annually.
Does Social Mention still work
The original doesn’t. socialmention.com no longer resolves, so a list that links to it sends you nowhere.
How much does Brand24 cost
Brand24’s entry plan costs $249 a month, or $199 a month billed yearly. It has no free plan, only a 14-day free trial.
Why are software tool lists out of date
It happens because vendors change plans faster than publishers recheck them. A list is only as current as its most recently changed entry, and an update date doesn’t show which claims were verified.
Check the Vendor’s Page, Then the List
More than half the lists we checked would mislead a buyer about at least one plan, price or tool. The fix costs a buyer five minutes and a publisher about the same.
Before you shortlist a tool from any roundup, open its pricing page yourself.