Octolens and ScoutTide: an honest comparison
Octolens is social listening: it tracks your keywords across many networks and scores every mention with AI. ScoutTide looks for buyers, reading posts and tenders against a description of what you sell, in one ranked list each morning. Here is which one fits you.
Which one fits you
- Choose Octolens if you watch a brand across many networks. It covers X, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky, GitHub and more, and its Scale plan adds podcasts, news and newsletters. ScoutTide reads fewer networks.
- Choose Octolens if mentions should flow into your own tools. An API, webhooks and an MCP server come with every plan, refreshed hourly or in real time. ScoutTide sends one ranked list a day.
- Choose ScoutTide if you are looking for buyers rather than mentions. Describe what you sell and ScoutTide reads each post against it, with a short reason for every match. Government tenders arrive in their own list.
Octolens and ScoutTide, compared
| Compared | Octolens | ScoutTide |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Reddit, X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow and DEV. The Scale plan adds podcasts, news, the web and newsletters | Tenders from 143 official sources in 182 countries, plus social leads from Reddit, Hacker News, Stack Exchange, Discourse forums and web searches that reach LinkedIn, Upwork and X |
| How matching works | Keywords you choose. AI scores every mention for relevance using your company context and tags sentiment and categories such as buy intent. Alerts by Slack, email or webhook, refreshed hourly on Pro and in real time on Scale | AI reads each notice and post against a plain description of what you sell and gives a short reason for every match. One ranked list each morning, with an email digest |
| Pricing | Pro $159 and Scale $499 a month billed annually, or $199 and $599 paid monthly. Enterprise is priced on request. Mentions beyond a plan’s quota are billed per mention | Individual $39 a month, Team $149 a month, less when paid yearly. Bought online, cancel anytime |
| Free trial | 7 days with the Pro features and up to 5,000 mentions. Its homepage says no credit card | 14 days, no card needed to begin |
| Working as a team | Unlimited team seats on every plan. Enterprise adds multiple workspaces | Team includes 25 seats: one shared queue, each lead claimed by one person, pipeline stages and roles |
| Languages | Not stated on its website | The site in 22 languages. Tenders written in other languages are translated to English |
The Octolens column is based on its own website as of October 2026: octolens.com/pricing, octolens.com/
What each does that the other does not
Going by each product’s own website as of October 2026.
Only Octolens
- Many more networks. X, TikTok, YouTube, Bluesky, GitHub and DEV, plus podcasts, news, newsletters and the web on the Scale plan. Its pricing page also lists reviews from Trustpilot, the App Store and Google Play.
- Brand analytics. Sentiment analysis, a graph of mentions over time and CSV export.
- Built into your stack. Full API access, webhooks and an MCP server on every plan, and unlimited team seats.
Only ScoutTide
- A description instead of keywords. Describe what you sell in plain words. ScoutTide turns that into searches and gives a short reason for every match.
- Upwork posts and forums. Public Upwork posts reached through web searches, and questions on Discourse forums, next to Reddit, LinkedIn and Stack Exchange.
- Government tenders. Tenders from official portals arrive in their own list, matched against the same description.
What ScoutTide does not do
- No instant alerts. You get one ranked list a day, ready each morning. If you need to reply within minutes of a post going up, a real time alert tool suits you better.
- No posting for you. ScoutTide never posts, replies or sends messages on your behalf. It shows you the post and why it fits, and you answer from your own account.
- No brand analytics. There are no mention counts, sentiment charts or share of voice reports. ScoutTide is a list of people who may buy, not a brand monitoring tool.
Questions about Octolens and ScoutTide
Does ScoutTide track brand mentions like Octolens?
No. ScoutTide is a list of people who may buy, not a brand monitoring tool: there are no mention counts, sentiment charts or share of voice reports. Octolens is built for that.
Is ScoutTide real time?
No. ScoutTide sends one ranked list each morning. Octolens refreshes hourly on its Pro plan and in real time on Scale.
Which networks does ScoutTide read?
Reddit, Hacker News, Stack Exchange and Discourse forums, plus web searches that reach public LinkedIn, Upwork and X posts, and government tenders from official portals. Octolens covers more social networks, such as TikTok, YouTube and Bluesky.
How much does ScoutTide cost?
Individual is $39 a month or $390 a year. Team is $149 a month or $1,490 a year. Both start with a 14 day free trial.
Try ScoutTide on your own market.
The table is a summary. Your own list is the real test: describe what you sell today and read your first ranked list tomorrow morning.