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The best BuzzSumo alternative in 2026 is buzzabout, because it answers what share counts cannot: what your audience wants to know, and how it phrases it. BuzzSumo shows which articles already got shared. buzzabout reads posts and comments on seven social platforms and pulls out the questions, objections and words behind your next angle.
Share counts tell you a topic worked. They do not tell you what to say about it. And when every team studies the same most-shared list, every team writes the same article. Counting a conversation, by shares or by keyword mentions, is not researching it.
BuzzSumo still does one job that buzzabout does not do at all: journalist outreach. If that is your job, keep it. For everything else, here are seven BuzzSumo alternatives, buzzabout first, routed by job, with prices and sources.
What BuzzSumo measures, and the era it was built for#
BuzzSumo launched in 2014 as a content marketing tool. One heading on its content discovery page sums up the product: "What does the world care to share?" (vendor site, October 2026).
What it counts#
Its pricing and feature pages list these tools (vendor site, October 2026):
- Content Analyzer. The most engaging articles for any topic, URL or domain.
- Trending feeds. The day's most viral posts, all from the past 24 hours.
- Question Analyzer. Questions from forums, including Amazon, Reddit and Quora.
- Media database. Journalists to research and pitch, from the PR & Comms plan.
- Alerts and coverage reports. Mentions of your brand, your links and your keywords.
The archive is deep. BuzzSumo says it holds 8 billion+ articles and 300 trillion social engagements, with up to five years of history. It covers content across Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube (vendor site, October 2026).
Built for the share era#
BuzzSumo grew up when distributing links was the game. When Brandwatch bought it in 2017, its database held sharing data for "almost every article" published in the previous five years (Daily Research News).
The playbook of that era fit in three steps. Brian Dean's Skyscraper Technique, first posted on Backlinko in May 2013, reads: find link-worthy content, make something even better, reach out to the right people (Backlinko, October 2026).
BuzzSumo's Content Analyzer does step one: it finds the most engaging articles on any topic. Its own headline studies show what that produced, and how fast it aged. In 2017 the top Facebook headline phrase was "will make you", and the best headline using it drew 1.7 million shares (BuzzSumo blog, updated November 4, 2023).
The 2017 study covered headlines published March 1 to May 10, 2017. The update covered all of 2019 and 2020, a window about ten times longer, and the phrase's best headline earned 143,000 shares (BuzzSumo blog, October 2026).
The formula stopped working#
The winning phrases did not survive either. BuzzSumo found "100% difference between the top 20 headline phrases in 2017 vs 2020" on Facebook. The same post notes that Facebook began demoting clickbait on May 17, 2017 (BuzzSumo blog, October 2026).
That is the limit of a leaderboard. It is an accurate record of what won last time, built from the past by design.
Who owns BuzzSumo, and what it costs#
Brandwatch bought BuzzSumo on October 11, 2017 (Daily Research News). Cision then bought Brandwatch for $450 million, announced in February 2021 (TechCrunch).
BuzzSumo's about page still lists the Cision deal as its latest milestone (vendor site, October 2026). Plans are self-serve, with a 7-day free trial and no credit card:
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Users | History | Media database |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content Creation | $199 | $159/mo | 1 | 2 years | No |
| PR & Comms | $299 | $239/mo | 5 | 3 years | Yes |
| Suite | $499 | $399/mo | 10 | 5 years | Yes |
| Enterprise | Not offered | $999/mo | 30 | 5 years | Yes |
Source: BuzzSumo pricing and sign-up pages (vendor site, October 2026). Each tier up adds users, alerts and more history. History tells you what worked. Markets move, and the next piece needs this month's conversation, not 2021's leaderboard.
The convergence problem: everyone studies the same list#
A leaderboard is public. Every team in a niche can pull the same top 20 articles in the same minute. Then each team writes its better version of the winner, and the niche fills with near-copies of one article.
SEO tools automate the same move#
Semrush's SEO Brief Generator builds briefs "backed by the top-ranking pages for your target keyword", so writers can outperform "what's currently ranking" (vendor site, October 2026). Every brief built from the same top ten proposes the same outline.
Search results show the pattern too. Of the nine organic Google results we pulled for "buzzsumo alternative" on October 22, 2026, five were list posts of alternatives (US results via SerpAPI, our count). This page is one as well, so it has to pass the test below.
What Google asks instead#
Google's guidance on helpful content asks writers to check their work against questions like these (Google Search Central, October 2026):
- "Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?"
- "Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?"
- "Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?"
A better-written copy of the most-shared article fails all three by design. It adds polish, not information.
Four tests for any BuzzSumo replacement#
Before you renew or switch, put each tool through four questions. Ask them of buzzabout too:
- Does it show what the audience asks, or what already got shared?
- Does it read the comments? Objections tend to live in replies, not headlines.
- Does it read video? On TikTok and YouTube, the opinion is spoken.
- Does it tell you who is talking? An angle is always for someone.
Where a distinct angle comes from#
Share counts are a verdict on a piece someone already wrote. An angle is an answer to a question nobody on the leaderboard has answered yet. You find those questions where the audience talks, in its own words.
| Share leaderboard | Audience conversation | |
|---|---|---|
| Tells you | A topic worked, once | What people still want answered |
| Unit | Shares per article | Questions, objections, phrases |
| Same for every team? | Yes: one public list | No: it depends on what you ask |
| Gives you | A headline to beat | An angle to own |
BuzzSumo does have a Question Analyzer for forum questions from Amazon, Reddit and Quora (vendor site, October 2026). It is one tab in a product whose center is the engagement leaderboard.
What an unanswered question looks like#
Take Google Trends as a content topic. A tutorial explains how the tool works. A practitioner reading it may want something else entirely:
"Avoiding Short-Lived Spikes: How do you differentiate between a genuine emerging trend and a temporary hype cycle that might not be worth investing content in?"
u/unbiased-gaming, r/analytics, April 16, 2025
That question is an angle. A piece built on it stands apart from every button-by-button guide, because it answers what the reader actually asked. We built a whole article that way: Google Trends alternatives.
Three places the angle hides#
- Questions. What people ask before they buy, try or switch.
- Objections. The reason they almost did not, usually in the replies.
- Phrasing. Their exact words, which become your headline and subheads.
Once you have a few dozen real comments on a topic, any assistant can help you sort them. Paste them into this prompt:
Below are 50 to 100 comments from people discussing <topic>. 1. List every question they ask, grouped by theme. Count each theme. 2. List their objections and doubts, with one verbatim quote each. 3. Note phrases they repeat that a marketer would not use. 4. Compare with these most-shared headlines on the topic: <paste headlines> Which questions do none of those headlines answer? 5. Propose three angles for one article, each built on an unanswered question, with a working headline in the audience's own words. Comments: <paste comments>
The hard part is not the prompt. It is collecting enough real conversation, across the platforms where your audience talks, to make the counts mean something.
BuzzSumo alternatives compared#
Prices are USD list prices from vendor pages in October 2026. Per-year figures use annual billing where a vendor lists it, and 12 monthly payments where it does not. Sources are in each entry below.
| Tool | Entry plan | Per year | What it measures | Job it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| buzzabout | $98/mo | $980 | Questions, objections, phrasing; who is talking from Pro | Social media research |
| BuzzSumo | $199/mo | $1,908 | Shares and engagement per article | Share leaderboards, journalist outreach |
| Ahrefs Content Explorer | $249/mo (Standard) | $2,490 | Search traffic and backlinks per page | SEO and link prospecting |
| Semrush Content Toolkit | $60/mo | $720 | Search demand, top-ranking pages | SEO briefs and drafts |
| Exploding Topics | Not listed | $468 ($39/mo, billed annually) | Growth and search metrics per topic | Startup and category watchlists |
| AnswerThePublic | $20/mo | $160 (offer: $120 until November 8, 2026) | What people type into search | SEO headings and FAQs |
| SparkToro | $38/mo, billed yearly | $450 | Sites, podcasts and accounts an audience follows | Sponsorship and PR pitch lists |
| Brand24 | $249/mo | $2,388 | Keyword mentions and sentiment | Keyword alerts |
On sticker price, buzzabout sits in the middle. A year of Starter costs about half of BuzzSumo Content Creation, and four tools here cost less:
Price follows the unit. The cheaper tools return lists and drafts: search phrases, trends, outlets and briefs. The dearer ones count shares, links or mentions. buzzabout returns what people said, sorted into questions, objections and phrasing.
Map each BuzzSumo habit to a replacement#
| If you used BuzzSumo's | For | Use now |
|---|---|---|
| Content Analyzer | Seeing which articles worked | buzzabout for the angle; Ahrefs for traffic and links |
| Question Analyzer | Finding audience questions | buzzabout, across posts and comments on seven platforms |
| Trending feeds | Spotting what is rising | buzzabout listening agents; Exploding Topics for search growth |
| Keyword Tool | Search volume and CPC | Semrush or Ahrefs |
| Influencer search | Finding voices and outlets | SparkToro placement lists |
| Alerts | Brand and keyword mentions | Brand24 |
| Media database | Pitching journalists | Keep BuzzSumo |
#1 · The research pick
1. buzzabout: the angle, in the audience's own words#
buzzabout is a social media research platform, not a share counter or a keyword tracker. You ask a question in plain language. It collects posts and comments from Reddit, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, then extracts what the conversation means.
- Ask what your next piece should answer. "What do founders get wrong about pricing?"
- Read the conversation, not the leaderboard. Up to 100 comments per post.
- Pull out questions, objections and phrasing. The assistant mines patterns and samples quotes.
- Build the brief. Share live charts, or query the data from Claude or ChatGPT.
Why it finds angles a leaderboard cannot#
- Comments included. Objections live in replies; it reads up to 100 per post.
- Video read, not just captions. Speech transcribed and on-screen text read, from Starter.
- Every mention labeled. Emotion, intent, hook and narrative, ready to filter.
- Who is talking, from Pro. AI-estimated age, occupation, interests and OCEAN personality.
- Agents that keep reading. They extract new questions and send digests to Slack.
The output is a brief, not a ranking: the questions in the audience's words, the objections to answer, and real quotes to cite. Our audience research guide walks through the workflow.
One method, every platform#
Much of today's opinion is spoken in video or argued in reply threads. buzzabout reads both, on all seven platforms. Our platform guides show the method on TikTok, LinkedIn and Reddit.
- Pricing
- Starter $98/mo ($980/yr) · Pro $178 ($1,780/yr) · Business $450 ($4,500/yr), per buzzabout pricing
- Credits
- 2,000, 5,000 or 20,000 a month; 1 credit per post collected, comments not counted
- Best for
- Content teams that need the angle for the next piece, not last year's winners
- Trial
- a $1 one-day trial with 1,000 credits, followed by 50% off your first paid month (monthly plans)
Pros
- Questions, objections and phrasing extracted across seven platforms
- Reads comments and transcribes video from the $98 plan
- Commenter profiles from Pro, AI-estimated from public profiles
- MCP connectors for Claude and ChatGPT on every plan
Cons
- No journalist database, media lists or outreach tools
- No backlink, search volume or other SEO data
- One seat on Starter; audience research and CSV export start on Pro
- API access starts on the $450 Business plan
SEO content databases: Ahrefs and Semrush#
If you used BuzzSumo to find pages that earn links and traffic, these two are the SEO-side replacements. They measure search, not social: what ranks, what earns links, and what people type.
2. Ahrefs Content Explorer: pages that earn traffic and links#
Content Explorer searches Ahrefs' index of 22.7 billion pages, with 10 million new pages found every 24 hours. You filter by page traffic, referring domains, Domain Rating, author and publication date (vendor site, October 2026).
Ahrefs pitches it for content marketing, link building and PR. Its link-building uses include finding unlinked brand mentions and broken pages with many backlinks (vendor site, October 2026).
Content Explorer is not on the $129 Lite plan. It starts on Standard at $249 a month, or $2,490 a year on annual billing (vendor site, October 2026).
- Pricing
- Lite $129/mo (no Content Explorer) · Standard $249/mo ($2,490/yr) · Advanced $449/mo ($4,490/yr) (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- SEO teams building link prospect lists and checking search traffic per page
- Trial
- No trial listed; a free plan covers data for your own site (vendor site, October 2026)
Pros
- 22.7 billion pages, filtered by traffic and backlinks
- Broken-link and unlinked-mention prospecting built in
- API and MCP access on Lite, Standard and Advanced
Cons
- Content Explorer needs Standard, at $249 a month
- Measures search and links, not what people say
- Ranks pages by SEO metrics; no commenter or audience data
3. Semrush Content Toolkit: SEO briefs from what already ranks#
Semrush sells its content tools as a separate Content Toolkit. It bundles Topic Finder, an SEO Brief Generator, an AI article generator and content repurposing for email and social (vendor site, October 2026).
Topic Finder looks for topics with "high search demand", and briefs are built from the top-ranking pages for your keyword (vendor site, October 2026). That makes SEO production fast, and it starts every brief from the pages your rivals also see.
The toolkit lists at $60 a month on Semrush's pricing page, with a 7-day free trial (vendor site, October 2026). Semrush now belongs to Adobe, which completed the purchase on April 28, 2026 (SEC filing).
- Pricing
- Content Toolkit $60/mo; SEO and AI search plans sold separately (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- SEO teams producing briefs and drafts for keywords they already target
- Trial
- 7 days free (vendor site, October 2026)
Pros
- Topic ideas, briefs and drafts in one $60 toolkit
- Built on Semrush's keyword data: 28 billion+ keywords
- Publishes to WordPress, Google Docs and social networks
Cons
- Briefs start from the current top-ranking pages
- Search demand only; no social conversation or comments
- Keyword research and AI visibility tools cost extra
Search-demand signals: Exploding Topics and AnswerThePublic#
These two read the search box. That shows what people type, which helps with SEO. A query is short, though, and it rarely carries the objection behind it. Our Exploding Topics alternatives guide covers this shelf in depth.
4. Exploding Topics: startup and category watchlists from search growth#
Exploding Topics lists trending topics with their growth and says its database holds 1.1 million+ trends. Each trend analysis shows "growth, search metrics and channel-level insights" (vendor site, October 2026).
Its pricing page lists Entrepreneur at $39 a month, Investor at $99 and Business at $249, each marked "Billed Annually" and each with a 7-day free trial. It shows no month-to-month price. Investor adds trending startups, forecasting and CSV export (vendor site, October 2026).
Semrush bought Exploding Topics in August 2024 (Semrush annual report), so it now sits inside Adobe too.
- Pricing
- Entrepreneur $39/mo · Investor $99/mo · Business $249/mo, billed annually; no month-to-month price listed (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- Investors and founders scanning startups and product categories by growth
- Trial
- 7 days free on every plan
Pros
- 1.1 million+ trends in one database
- Low entry price: $39 a month
- Channel breakdown on every plan
Cons
- Startups, forecasts and CSV export start at $99
- Measures search growth, not what people say
- 10 trend analyses on Entrepreneur
5. AnswerThePublic: search phrasing on a small budget#
AnswerThePublic turns a keyword into the questions and phrases people type into search engines. Its homepage pitches "what people are searching everywhere, from Google to ChatGPT" (vendor site, October 2026). It is an NP Digital product.
Starter lists at $20 a month, or $160 a year, for 100 searches a month and one user. Growth lists at $99 a month and Business at $199. Registered free users get 3 searches a day (vendor site, October 2026).
A limited-time offer cuts the annual plans to $120, $594 and $1,194 a year. It ends November 8, 2026 (vendor site, October 2026).
- Pricing
- Starter $20/mo ($160/yr) · Growth $99/mo ($792/yr) · Business $199/mo ($1,592/yr); annual offer $120, $594 and $1,194 until November 8, 2026 (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- SEO writers drafting FAQ sections and subheads from search phrasing
- Trial
- Free version with 3 searches a day once registered
Pros
- Lowest entry price here: $20 a month, or $160 a year
- Questions and phrases straight from search autocomplete
- CPC and search volume data on every paid plan
Cons
- 100 searches a month on Starter
- Queries carry no context, replies or objections
- The annual discount ends November 8, 2026
Placement lists and alerts: SparkToro and Brand24#
The last two replace BuzzSumo's influencer search and its alerts. One tells you where an audience spends time. The other tells you when someone names your brand.
6. SparkToro: sponsorship and PR placement lists#
SparkToro builds a report from a sentence, such as "vegan home cooks who follow plant-based nutrition creators." Reports list the websites, podcasts, publications and social accounts that audience follows (vendor site, October 2026).
Its own page frames the output as lists to act on: "Sponsorship and SEO target lists", a "PR pitch list", and podcasts for guest spots and sponsorships (vendor site, October 2026). That makes it a media-planning tool.
A free plan gives 3 previews a month. Personal is $450 a year, billed yearly only, for 4 reports a month. Business is $150 a month, or $1,344 a year (vendor site, October 2026).
- Pricing
- Free (3 previews/mo) · Personal $450/yr · Business $150/mo ($1,344/yr) · Agency $300/mo ($2,700/yr) (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- Media planners building sponsorship, podcast and PR pitch lists
- Trial
- Free plan with preview data
Pros
- Sites, podcasts and accounts an audience follows, in one report
- Free plan to preview the data
- MCP access from the $450 Personal plan
Cons
- 4 reports a month on Personal
- Personal is billed yearly only
- Shows where people go, not what they say there
7. Brand24: keyword alerts across social and the web#
Brand24 tracks mentions of your keywords across social media, news, blogs, videos, forums, podcasts and reviews (vendor site, October 2026). It replaces BuzzSumo's alerts, not its content research.
Individual is $249 a month, or $199 a month billed annually, for 3 keywords, 2,000 mentions a month, one user and 12-hour updates. Brand24 offers a 14-day free trial (vendor site, October 2026).
Semrush took a majority stake in Brand24 in April 2024 (Semrush annual report). Our Brand24 alternatives guide covers the alert tools.
- Pricing
- Individual $249/mo ($199 billed annually) · Team $349 ($299) · Pro $499 ($399) (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- Brand and keyword alerts across social, news and podcasts
- Trial
- 14-day free trial
Pros
- Self-serve, with a 14-day free trial
- Wide sources, including podcasts and reviews
- AI sentiment analysis on every plan
Cons
- Entry plan: $249 a month, or $199 billed annually
- Counts mentions of terms you already know
- AI Insights and AI Topics start on Pro, $399 billed annually
Keep BuzzSumo if the job is journalist outreach#
Not every BuzzSumo user does content research. If your team pitches journalists, BuzzSumo's media database does that job. buzzabout has no media database and does not do outreach.
BuzzSumo: the media database is the reason to stay#
BuzzSumo's homepage says its media database lets you "find and connect with 700K journalists," with 330K profile updates a month and an AI pitching tool (vendor site, October 2026). Profiles show interests, top content, contact details and the outlets each journalist writes for.
The database starts on PR & Comms at $299 a month, or $239 billed yearly, with coverage reports and Slack alerts. The $199 Content Creation plan does not include it (vendor site, October 2026).
What reviewers say#
Reviewers rate BuzzSumo 4.5 out of 5 across 107 reviews on G2. On Trustpilot, six reviews average 2.8, and two of them mention price:
"They have progressively upped their pricing."
Trustpilot reviewer on BuzzSumo, September 2024
Another Trustpilot reviewer calls it a "Really good tool, just a bit expensive but super useful to use" (June 2021). In a January 2023 r/SEO thread, a user who already paid for other SEO tools asked whether "the monthly price of $79 is worth it."
- Pricing
- Content Creation $199/mo ($159 billed yearly) · PR & Comms $299 ($239) · Suite $499 ($399) · Enterprise $999/mo, annual only (vendor site, October 2026)
- Best for
- PR teams pitching journalists and reporting on coverage
- Trial
- 7-day free trial, no credit card (vendor site, October 2026)
Pros
- 700K journalists, per its homepage, from the PR & Comms plan
- Coverage reports and Slack alerts for PR teams
- Up to five years of engagement history
Cons
- Media database not on the $199 Content Creation plan
- Two of six Trustpilot reviews flag the price
- Share counts show past winners, not the next angle
If press coverage is the bigger job, our Meltwater alternatives guide compares the media monitoring suites. BuzzSumo's parent, Brandwatch, has its own Brandwatch alternatives guide.
What about just asking ChatGPT for an angle?#
Many teams now skip both tools and ask ChatGPT or Claude for content ideas. With web search on, the assistant reads the pages that rank and summarizes them. That is the leaderboard again, averaged.
The answer sounds fresh and is built from the same top ten everyone else reads. It cannot tell you whether a question shows up in three comments or three hundred, or who asked it.
Ground it instead. buzzabout's MCP connectors, on every plan, let Claude or ChatGPT query your collected, labeled conversations (pricing). The assistant you already use then answers from what your audience said.
How to choose: last year's winners or the next piece's angle#
BuzzSumo answers "what worked?" That is a fair question for a report and a weak one for a brief. The question that gives a piece its angle is "what does my audience still want answered?" Choose by the job:
You need the angle for your next piece: questions, objections, phrasing
→ buzzabout
Reads posts and comments on seven platforms and extracts what people ask.
You want to know what video audiences say, not only what they share
→ buzzabout
Transcribes speech and reads on-screen text from the $98 plan.
You want your AI assistant briefing from real conversations
→ buzzabout
MCP connectors for Claude and ChatGPT on every plan.
Your job is pitching journalists
→ BuzzSumo PR & Comms
700K journalists, per its homepage; buzzabout has no media database.
You build link prospect lists for SEO
→ Ahrefs Content Explorer
Traffic and backlinks per page; needs the $249 Standard plan.
You produce SEO briefs for keywords you already target
→ Semrush Content Toolkit
$60/mo; briefs start from the top-ranking pages.
You scout startups and product categories by growth
→ Exploding Topics
From $39/mo billed annually, with a 7-day free trial.
You need FAQ subheads from search phrasing on a tiny budget
→ AnswerThePublic
From $20/mo; 3 free searches a day.
You plan sponsorships, podcast spots and PR pitch lists
→ SparkToro
Free previews; Personal is $450 a year.
You need alerts when your brand or keyword is named
→ Brand24
From $199/mo billed annually; 14-day trial.
Frequently asked questions#
What is the best BuzzSumo alternative? For content research, buzzabout: it reads posts and comments across seven platforms and extracts the questions, objections and phrasing behind your next angle, from $98/mo. For journalist outreach, BuzzSumo's own PR & Comms plan does that job. For SEO link data, Ahrefs Content Explorer covers it.
Is BuzzSumo free to use? Partly. Its site lets you run a sample search free, and new accounts get a 7-day free trial with no credit card. Paid plans start at $199 a month, or $159 a month billed yearly (vendor site, October 2026).
Is there a free BuzzSumo alternative? AnswerThePublic gives registered users 3 free searches a day, and SparkToro has a free plan with 3 previews a month. For research, buzzabout offers a $1 one-day trial with 1,000 credits, followed by 50% off your first paid month (monthly plans).
How much does BuzzSumo cost in 2026? Content Creation is $199 a month, PR & Comms $299 and Suite $499. Billed yearly, they drop to $159, $239 and $399 a month. Enterprise is $999 a month on annual billing only (vendor site, October 2026).
Who owns BuzzSumo? Brandwatch bought BuzzSumo in October 2017 (Daily Research News). Cision then bought Brandwatch, a deal announced in February 2021 (TechCrunch). BuzzSumo's about page lists the Cision deal as its latest milestone (vendor site, October 2026).
What is the difference between BuzzSumo and Exploding Topics? BuzzSumo measures engagement on content that already exists: shares and engagement per article. Exploding Topics measures how fast interest in a topic grows, with search and channel metrics. Both report a number; neither shows the questions behind it.
Can buzzabout replace BuzzSumo for PR outreach? No. buzzabout has no journalist database, media lists or pitching tools. It can show a PR team which angle an audience cares about. Finding the journalist to pitch is a media database's job.
Find the angle before you write the next piece#
Pick the topic of your next article. Before you open a share leaderboard, read what your audience asks about it, across seven platforms, in its own words. Look for the question nobody on the leaderboard has answered.
buzzabout's pricing page has the trial on monthly plans: a $1 one-day trial with 1,000 credits, followed by 50% off your first paid month.