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- 27 Great Competitor Research Tools to Spy on Your Competitors
27 Great Competitor Research Tools to Spy on Your Competitors
-
Nikolett Lorincz
- Marketing
- 6 min read
Table of Contents
Curious about what your competitors are up to but struggling to find the right tool to peek behind the curtain?
You’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll walk you through:
- 27 of the best competitor research tools out there
- How each one fits seamlessly into your marketing stack
The right competitor analysis tool can sharpen your campaigns, keep you ahead of industry trends, and show you exactly what’s working (and what’s not).
Ready to dig in? Let’s go.
Content research tools
“Content is king” for a reason.
Great content draws in visitors and shows them why your brand fits their needs.
Use these competitor analysis tools to improve your content strategy. See what’s working for others—and apply those insights to your own campaigns.
1. NapoleonCat: monitor and outrank your competitors
Keeping a close eye on your competitors is crucial to becoming the industry leader.
With NapoleonCat, a social media management tool, you can track competitor activity across:
- YouTube
You can monitor what content and posting times work for your competitors and learn from their mistakes – not your own ;).
Some other available metrics include follower growth, engagement and interactions, and reach. The data is updated in real-time.
You can monitor every profile separately for in-depth insights or create comparative dashboards to get a bird’s-eye view of the entire market, identify industry leaders, and inspire your next marketing move.
Pricing: NapoleonCat offers a free 14-day trial. The pricing is very flexible, and it depends on your individual needs. Prices start from $27 a month.
2. Mention: Competitor monitoring and social media management tool
Mention collects insights that improve your marketing plan and website traffic. This competitor analysis tool notifies you when someone mentions your rivals on social media, blog posts, and news sites.
Download the mobile app and get real-time notifications when your competitor is active. That way, you’ll stay ahead of the curve when it comes to mastering the best marketing practices in your industry.
Pricing: Mention offers a free package that tracks one competitor across three social media platforms. Premium packages start at $29 a month and let users set up more alerts.
The ProPlus plan is their largest package. It costs $199 a month and tracks seven competitors across 15 different social media sites.
3. Feedly: Keep up with your competitors’ content marketing efforts
Feedly is a newsreader that lets you subscribe to competitor websites via their RSS feeds.
Receive notifications every time your rivals update their pages or make a blog post.
Feedly also downloads your updates. You don’t have to waste time visiting multiple websites just to snoop on your rivals, you can read them all within the app.
Price: Feedly’s baseline package costs $6 a month and lets you subscribe to 1,000 feeds.
Upgrading to another package gives you more subscriptions and other perks. For example, Twitter subscriptions and research feeds for your whole team.
4. Owler: Track the companies that matter
Owler is a comprehensive competitor analysis tool that lets you keep a close eye on your biggest rivals. You can use it to improve your content strategy or assess the performance of other businesses.
Track down hard-to-find company data, business news, and other strategic information you want to know about brands in your industry.
It’s like you have your very own seat in your competitor’s boardroom.
Pricing: Owler’s free plan gives you limited insights into five companies. Premium packages start at $99 a year and grants access to more information.
Social media research tools
Social media helps brands build strong customer relationships and great social media content makes all the difference. It’s also a smart way to track how competitors earn loyalty through social media monitoring.
Here are our favorite tools to boost your social media strategy.
5. Fanpage Karma: Extensive social media management suite
Fanpage Karma is a competitive analysis tool that lets you track brands’ social media activity on an easy-to-use dashboard. Get an in-depth analysis of your competitors’ social strategy by measuring their:
- Growth
- Engagement
- Response time
- And other metrics that are typically only available to the account owner
The tool also measures the success rate of your competition’s social media campaigns. See which posts gave your competitors more followers and apply those tactics to your campaigns.
Pricing: Fanpage Karma offers a free account that tracks the campaign performance of one Facebook account.
They offer several enterprise packages ranging from $69 to $799 a month, which allow you to track more social media accounts.
6. Followerwonk: Collect data from competitors’ Twitter accounts
Followerwonk is a Twitter research tool that gives you insight into the type of audience your competitors attract.
With Followerwonk, you can
- Collect demographic data about your rivals’ followers,
- see how customers engage with other brands,
- then compare the data with your Twitter campaigns.
You can use Followerwonk to find new followers and learn how to create content that resonates with your customer base. It’s a great research tool for any ecommerce company with a Twitter presence.
Pricing: Followerwonk offers a free account that lets you track one Twitter account. Premium subscriptions range from $29 to $79 a month and track data from more competitors.
7. Social Searcher: Get real-time follower interactions from multiple social platforms
Social Searcher is a lightweight competitor monitoring tool. You can use it to track activity across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
You can conduct real-time searches to see who your competitors are engaging with and what hashtags they’re using.
The email alert feature notifies you anytime someone mentions a specific keyword. Social Searcher removes the unnecessary conversations, so you can track the information that helps further your brand.
Pricing: Social Searcher has a free option that gives 100 daily searches and email alerts for two topics. Its premium packages range from €3.49 to €19.49 a month and support more searches and alerts.
8. Sprout Social: Get detailed analytics of rival social media campaigns
Sprout Social is one of the most trusted tools for competitor monitoring—and for good reason. It not only tracks rival campaigns but also helps you level up your own social strategy.
With Sprout Social, you can:
- Gain competitive research from your competitors
- Stay on top of industry changes and trends
- Manage all your social campaigns from one platform
Use it to sharpen your marketing plan, discover content ideas, and see what resonates most with customers.
Pricing: Plans start at $89/month for five social profiles. Enterprise options are available at $149 and $249/month for tracking more accounts.
9. Buzzsumo: Uncover innovative marketing ideas and create high-performing content
Get an up-close look at your competitor’s content strategy with Buzzsumo.
This handy tool lets you analyze the content your competitors are putting out.
Buzzsumo is great for researching the latest content. It gives you a breakdown of your rival’s keywords and topics. You can see what people are saying about competing brands on social media and what type of content resonates with their followers.
Pricing: The free Buzzsumo plan gives users 10 searches a month.
Premium subscriptions start at $99 a month. Those come with unlimited searches and a wide range of additional features.
SEO research tools
These SEO research tools can boost your organic traffic and help you outrank competitors. Discover which keywords work for them, then use those insights to optimize your own content.
10. SE Ranking: an all-in-one tool with a strong competitive analysis potential
When it comes to competitive research, SE Ranking is a tool you don’t want to miss.
It helps you uncover key insights such as:
- Which keywords do your competitors rank for
- The URLs driving the most traffic
- Their traffic sources (organic vs. paid)
- Website performance metrics
You’ll also get detailed data on backlinks and even track paid campaigns—making it easier to refine your own strategy.
Pricing: Plans start at $39/month, making it a solid choice for small businesses and SEO specialists alike.
11. Traffic Travis: Manage your SEO strategy and monitor your competitors
If you’re new to SEO, some tools can feel overwhelming, but Traffic Travis keeps things simple. It’s a user-friendly solution that makes managing your SEO strategy easier.
With Traffic Travis, you can:
- Track competitor keyword rankings
- View backlink data to see who’s linking to them
- Research popular keywords for your next content campaigns
Pricing: There’s a free version for basic SEO management (without competitor analysis). The full version costs a one-time fee of $97 and includes competitor performance tracking.
12. WebCEO: Track rival SEO and digital marketing campaigns
WebCEO gives you insight into your competitors’ keywords and SEO strategies.
See how your business compares to other brands in your industry using the competitive analysis roadmap.
This feature gives you a breakdown of your competitors’ performance and compares it with your SEO strategy. It also highlights the areas you need to work on.
You can even use the platform to discover new keyword opportunities to improve your search engine rankings.
When it comes to SEO, WebCEO does it all.
Pricing: Packages range from $35 to $299 a month, depending on your needs. Their pro packages offer more keywords to research and let you track multiple competitor domains.
13. KW Finder: Collect keyword data to increase organic traffic
KW Finder is a keyword research tool that helps to identify which keywords your customers are using in their Google search.
You can also use it to conduct a competitor analysis on other brands’ SEO strategies. Simply enter the domain of the competitor you want to track, and KW Finder will give you a breakdown of their top-ranking keywords.
You can then use that data to create SEO-driven content that brings more users to your site.
Pricing: Packages range from $29 to $79 a month based on the number of keywords and competitors you want to research.
14. MOZ Link Explorer: Collect valuable backlink data
MOZ provides detailed information on backlinks, anchor texts, and other key SEO data for either your website or your competitors’ sites.
The reports are great for identifying areas of improvement within your SEO strategy.
MOZ will generate a backlink profile of your competitor and how they’ve acquired their link-building opportunities.
Pricing: MOZ offers tiered packages ranging from $99 to $599 a month, depending on the number of keywords and websites you want to research.
15. Serpstat: Collect data on rival SEO and PPC campaigns
Serpstat is one of the most trusted SEO competitor tracker tools on the market. Top brands like Samsung, Deloitte, and Shopify use the platform to sharpen their SEO strategies and monitor competing websites.
Evaluate your competitor’s SEP campaigns with Serpstat. Research emerging keyword trends, and monitor your competitors’ content strategies too.
Learn which keywords and campaigns are earning your competitors’ money, then use the same tactics to grow your customer base.
Pricing: Serpstat’s packages range from $55 to $399 a month, depending on the number of daily searches you need.
16. Netpeak Checker: Analyze Competitor’s SEO strategy
Netpeak Checker is a desktop tool for mass analyzing and comparing websites on multiple parameters. With Netpeak Checker, you can quickly scrape SERP results and aggregate data from top SEO services.
The program then allows you to compare the thousands of websites it finds in bulk, making it an ideal tool for marketers looking for a comprehensive overview of the competition within their niche.
The tool is great for freelancers, agencies and SEO teams, as well as link builders and SEO consultants.
Pricing: Netpeak Checker’ packages range from $26 to $55.20 a month, depending on number of crawled URLs and threads you need.
17. iSpionage: Spy on your competitors’ digital marketing strategies
Calling iSpionage a keyword tool is an understatement. It’s a powerful competitor analysis solution you can use for researching keywords and studying rival marketing campaigns.
iSpionage gives you an in-depth look at your competitor’s marketing activities. Get data on your competitor’s paid advertising budgets and see which keywords they’re using in their PPC (Pay Per Click) ads.
Pricing: iSpionage packages cost between $59 and $299 a month. They also offer custom subscriptions for companies that need advanced competitor reporting features.
18. SEMRush: Analyze the paid traffic of your competitors
SEMRush is one of the most popular SEO tools for uncovering competitor strategies. You can use it to:
- Analyze your competitors’ paid traffic
- Collect data on rival marketing campaigns
- Discover new competitors you may have missed
It’s also great for improving your own campaigns—helping you find keyword opportunities, fill content gaps, and optimize advertising efforts.
Pricing: Plans range from $119 to $449/month, depending on how many brands you track. SEMRush also offers add-ons like lead generation tools and advanced market research.
19. SpyFu: Research competitor keywords for Google Ads
SpyFu gives you an in-depth look into your rival’s marketing campaigns, especially their Google Ads activity, including every keyword they’ve bought on Google Ads, every organic rank, and every ad variation.
Search for the brand you want to look at, and SpyFu will give you a comprehensive rundown of their Google Ads campaigns.
See what they’ve been doing right, what they need to improve, and what ideas you can use to improve your advertising campaigns.
Pricing: SpyFu packages start at $33 a month and increase based on how many keywords you need to research.
20. Adbeat: Evaluate your competitors’ advertisements
Adbeat is a digital competitive analysis tool that lets you evaluate any brand’s digital marketing strategy.
Gain insight on what your competitors spend on advertising and look at which ad campaigns perform well with their customers.
Use your Adbeat data to determine which value propositions to focus on or brainstorm ideas for your next ad campaign.
Pricing: Adbeat offers a standard package for $249 a month and an advanced package for $399 a month.
The advanced subscription comes with more comprehensive reporting features. They also offer customer-tailored enterprise packages for big companies with unique business needs.
21. RankActive: Accomplish SEO tasks effortlessly with all features in one tool
RankActive is a cloud-based SEO tool packed with features to help you grow your traffic.
With RankActive, you can:
- Track your website’s search engine rankings
- Find competitive keywords for content marketing
- Analyze technical and on-page SEO metrics
- Monitor your competitors’ performance
It offers a wide range of features, like white-label which allows you to bind your subdomain to the account and mark the entire platform with your custom logo and description.
Using the rank monitor feature, you can check Google rankings of your website.
Moreover, with the Report Center feature of RankActive, you get relevant data directly in your inbox.
It is an all-in-one tool that will help you get more traffic from some of the most popular search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Pricing: The minimal plan starts from $99.99 per month and you can get the ultimate plan at $229.99 per month. There’s an option of flexible plan too whose price depends on the number website.
22. Rank Tracker: Unlimited tracking of keywords and competitor websites
Rank Tracker from SEO PowerSuite is a powerful, customizable rank checker that works with 500+ search engines and any geographic location.
With Rank Tracker, you can:
- Track your competitors’ SEO metrics
- Discover their top-ranking organic keywords
- Record and analyze search results history
The Competitor Research Module helps you identify major organic competitors—by topic or domain—and shows keyword overlap between your site and theirs.
Best of all, the enterprise version has no limits on keywords or projects. Whether you’re tracking 10 results or 1,000, you can manage unlimited keywords and websites.
Traffic, visitor activity, and web ranking research tools
Want to have a better understanding of your competitor’s customer journey? Check out these competitor finder tools that evaluate the traffic and visitor activity of your competition.
23. SimilarWeb: Check and analyze any website
SimilarWeb is a user-friendly tool that breaks down your competitors’ traffic sources. You can see how much traffic a brand gets from:
- Paid ads
- Social media
- Search engines
- Direct visits
It also highlights which web pages perform best, giving you insight into the content that drives the most visitors—so you can apply those learnings to your own campaigns.
Pricing: SimilarWeb has a free version for basic traffic insights. Premium plans start at $249/month and include detailed reports on ads, keywords, affiliates, and more.
24. Alexa: See how your brand compares to competitors
Alexa (not the Amazon voice command 😉) is a keyword research and competitive analysis software solution. It gives you deeper insight into your competitors’ traffic.
All you need to do is enter the domain name you want to look at, and Alexa will give you a comprehensive report of their:
- Global traffic rank
- Number of backlinks going to their website
- Audience data
- Search analytics, and more
Alexa even has an Audience Overlap tool that shows you how your company compares among your competitions. This is great for identifying your own strengths and weaknesses.
Pricing: Premium Alexa plans start at $19 a month and offer competitive analysis reports. Bigger packages range between $149 and $299 a month and have a broader range of tools for researching content and SEO strategies.
25. WooRank: Improve your website’s performance
WooRank is a tool for measuring your website’s performance by giving you an SEO audit of your site. You can use it to locate elements of your website that could negatively impact your SEO rating.
But that’s not all WooRank does. It’s also an effective SEO competitor analysis tool for evaluating rival SEO strategies.
Compare your SEO performance to other brands to see if you’re outperforming your competitors—or whether you need to optimize your site’s SEO.
Pricing: WooRank packages range between $79.99 and $199.99 a month. Choose your package depending on the number of keywords and pages you need to analyze.
26. Hubspot Website Grader: Grade your site based on key metrics like performance, mobile readiness, SEO, and security
Website Grader is a marketing tool by Hubspot that evaluates your website’s performance. Once you enter a site into the search bar, Website Grader will give you a detailed report that grades your:
- SEO activity
- Cybersecurity
- Mobile responsiveness
- Loading times
Website Grader isn’t designed for spying on your competitors. But you can use it to generate reports on your competitors. This will help you get an idea of their website’s strengths and weaknesses and whether your site is better optimized than theirs.
Pricing: Free.
27. Monitor Backlinks: Track backlinks and keywords
Monitor Backlinks makes it easy to track your competitors’ link-building strategies. Simply enter a URL, and the tool generates a detailed performance report. You’ll see:
- Overall SEO performance of the page
- Which websites are linking to it
- The quality of those backlinks (spam vs. authoritative sites)
Pricing: Flexible plans range from $25 to $187/month, depending on how many domains you need to monitor.
FAQ
Can I use a social media tracker to monitor my competitors?
Absolutely! A social media tracker is one of the best ways to keep tabs on your competition’s engagement, post frequency, and content performance. Top tools like NapoleonCat, Sprout Social, and Fanpage Karma allow you to track metrics such as follower growth, engagement rates, and even campaign performance so you can stay one step ahead.
Is it legal to use competitor analysis tools?
Yes, using competitor research tools is completely legal. These tools collect publicly available data like SEO rankings, backlinks, social media engagement, and website performance. You’re not “hacking” your competition, just making smarter marketing decisions.
What are the best free competitor analysis tools?
Some great free competitor analysis tools include:
- SimilarWeb (limited free access to website traffic data)
- Followerwonk (track one Twitter account for free)
- Mention (basic plan to monitor one competitor)
- BuzzSumo (10 free searches/month)
These tools are a great way to get started without spending a dime, especially if you’re just testing out what kind of data is most useful for your business.
Get the most from your competitive analysis tools
We hope you enjoyed this list of competitor analysis tools for beating your competition.
Discover how your rivals are building their customer base and incorporate elements of their strategies into your marketing campaigns.
These tools will help you grow your traffic.
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Written by
Nikolett Lorincz
Nikolett is the Head of Content at OptiMonk. She is obsessed with content marketing and loves creating educational content for ecommerce store owners. She truly believes in the importance of quality over quantity.
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Product updates: January Release 2025
