Synthesio is a social listening and audience insights platform.
It helps businesses monitor, analyze, and act on conversations happening across social media, blogs, forums, news sites, and other online platforms.
Finding the right social listening tool isn’t as simple as it looks. Every business has different priorities some care about:
Sure, Synthesio is a powerful enterprise solution, no doubt about it. But it’s not always the best match for every team.
If you’re a startup, a growing business, or just someone who needs a LinkedIn-first approach, there are smarter, lighter, and often more affordable options out there.
That’s exactly where these alternatives come in each tailored for different use cases, budgets, and workflows.
Here is a quick review to evaluate each brand:
Tool | Product Summary | Best For | Pricing | Opportunities (Highlights) |
---|---|---|---|---|
OutXAI | LinkedIn-native intel machine focused, no noise. | Founders, Sales pros, Marketers on LinkedIn | ✅ Free trial, ✅ freemium | Founders: sharp market signals. Sales: real-time, active prospects. Marketing: high-signal LinkedIn convos. |
Brand24 | Starter pack for social listening, easy + affordable. | Founders, Sales, Marketing | ✅Free trial, ❌ Freemium | Founders: quick market feedback. Sales: jump into convos fast. Marketing: track campaigns/hashtags. |
Talkwalker | Enterprise Ferrari tracks social, news, TV, radio with AI. | Founders at scale, Sales leaders, Big Marketing teams | ✅ Free trial ✅ Freemium | Founders: crisis monitoring. Sales: AI-driven behavior insights. Marketing: predict future trends. |
Sprout Social | Full social HQ publishing, engagement, analytics. | Founders, Sales teams, Marketing teams | ✅Free trial, ❌Freemium | Founders: one-stop stack. Sales: CRM-like nurturing. Marketing: strong ROI reporting. |
Awario | Scrappy underdog affordable but deep listening. | Budget Founders, Sales, Marketing | ✅Free trial, ❌Freemium | Founders: market intel on a budget. Sales: discover intent in forums/reviews. Marketing: influencer discovery. |
Hootsuite | Swiss Army knife dashboards for publishing + monitoring. | Founders juggling multi-platform, Sales, Marketing | ✅Free trial, ❌ Freemium | Founders: total visibility. Sales: cross-platform signals. Marketing: scheduling + analytics hub. |
Agorapulse | Engagement-first inbox zero + clean reporting. | Lean Founders, Sales, Marketing agencies | ✅Free trial, ✅Freemium | Founders: never miss a DM. Sales: one inbox for leads. Marketing: strong competitor + client reporting. |
Muck Rack | PR-focused track journalists + media mentions. | PR-driven Founders, Sales in credibility-heavy industries, PR/Marketing | ❌ free trial, ❌ Freemium | Founders: build authority. Sales: leverage PR for trust. Marketing/PR: media monitoring. |
Zoho Social | Budget-friendly + integrated into Zoho ecosystem. | Early-stage Founders, Sales in Zoho CRM, Marketers | ✅Free trial, ✅Freemium | Founders: cost-efficient social listening. Sales: CRM pipeline tie-in. Marketing: multi-account mgmt. |
Buffer | Minimalist tool scheduling, analytics, lightweight. | Solopreneurs, Sales reps, Small business marketers | ✅Free trial, ✅Freemium | Founders: consistency w/o distraction. Sales: simple mentions/responses. Marketing: fast campaign tracking. |
Most tools try to be everywhere. OutXAI does the opposite. It’s a LinkedIn-native intel machine built for people who actually sell, market, and build on LinkedIn. No bloated dashboards, no chasing noise on platforms you don’t care about. Just one thing done extremely well: tracking people, companies, and conversations that actually move revenue.
It doesn’t just monitor mentions.
It listens for intent. For context. For opportunity.
AI-powered comment suggestions. You see the signal. It gives you a smart reply. Speed + relevance. That’s unfair advantage.
Compared to Synthesio’s enterprise fees, this is startup-friendly. A lean stack with LinkedIn focus at less than 1/10th the cost.
If LinkedIn is your battlefield, OutXAI is your unfair weapon.
Think of Brand24 as the starter pack for social listening. Affordable, lightweight, and no PhD required to use it. It grabs mentions across the internet and spits out alerts you can actually understand.
✅Free trial, ❌ Freemium
Not as LinkedIn-specific as OutXAI.
This is the enterprise Ferrari of listening tools. Expensive? Yep. Worth it if you’re playing on the global stage? Absolutely. Talkwalker tracks everything social, news, TV, radio and layers in AI for predictive insights. It’s not scrappy, it’s industrial-grade.
Too broad for someone who just wants LinkedIn and leads.
Sprout isn’t just listening. It’s social media HQ. Manage publishing, engagement, analytics, and monitoring all under one roof. Built for teams who want less tool chaos and more integration.
✅Free trial, ❌Freemium
Pricey for mid-market companies.
Awario is the scrappy underdog. Affordable, flexible, and surprisingly deep for the price. It scans social platforms, blogs, and forums giving you a wide-angle lens without the enterprise headache.
Not hyper-focused on LinkedIn like OutXAI. Broader, but less specialized.
The OG of social dashboards. Hootsuite is the Swiss Army knife publishing, monitoring, analytics, all in one place. It’s not specialized, but if you’re running multiple social lanes at once, it keeps you sane.
✅Free trial, ❌ Freemium
The UI feels a little less intuitive and its learning curve is very high.
Agorapulse is customer engagement first, everything else second. Think collaboration, inbox zero, and reports clients actually understand. It’s an agency’s best friend, but founders and sales teams win here too.
Not as deep in analytics as enterprise-focused tools.
Forget chasing hashtags Muck Rack is PR ammo. It’s where you track journalists, monitor press mentions, and build media relationships. Not for everyone, but if your business thrives on visibility, this is your weapon.
Pricing not listed
Not budget-friendly. And not as LinkedIn-focused as leaner tools.
Zoho Social is the budget-friendly workhorse. Simple, affordable, and perfectly tied into Zoho’s ecosystem. If you’re already in Zoho land, this plugs right into your CRM and workflows.
✅Free trial, ✅Freemium
Analytics and listening aren’t as deep as high-tier platforms.
Buffer is the minimalist’s tool. It started as scheduling, grew into listening + analytics, and never lost its clean, lightweight vibe. Perfect for solopreneurs, creators, and small businesses that don’t want bloat.
✅Free trial, ✅Freemium
Not heavy on analytics. Not built for monitoring at scale.
Choosing the right Synthesio alternative for LinkedIn monitoring depends on where you are in your journey most founders, sales pros, and marketers don’t need “everywhere.” They need LinkedIn-first intelligence.
That’s where OutXAI wins. Instead of drowning you in data from platforms which you’ll never use, it delivers sharp, LinkedIn-native insights that actually move revenue.
Imagine knowing which competitors are making moves, which prospects are active right now, and which conversations your market is paying attention to all without leaving LinkedIn.
With a freemium plan, affordable pricing, and zero bloat, OutXAI is built for speed, clarity, and results. It’s not about vanity metrics; it’s about high-signal intel that gives you an edge.
So, while Synthesio and its peers are powerful, if your growth depends on LinkedIn, the smarter play is clear: start with OutXAI, and let the signal cut through the noise.