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Upthread vs Octolens

Octolens listens across social networks, communities, reviews and news, scores every mention with AI and sends it to your team or your agents. Upthread works on Reddit only: the threads Google and AI answers cite, rule-checked replies, and what each reply did.

Last checked Nov 7, 2026. Every fact about Octolens is numbered to its source at the bottom of the page.

On this page
  1. Why look beyond Octolens
  2. Who should choose which
  3. Octolens in brief
  4. Pricing, plan by plan
  5. Point by point
  6. What it watches
  7. Replying
  8. After you post
  9. Price and plans
  10. Switching from Octolens
  11. Reddit access is changing
  12. Questions
  13. Sources
  14. Related comparisons

Why people look beyond Octolens.

Octolens is social listening built for teams that work with agents. It tracks mentions of your brand and competitors across social networks, communities, media and reviews, lets AI filter out the noise, and pushes what is left to Slack, email, an API or your own agents over MCP. 1

It is priced by mentions and keywords. Pro covers 15,000 mentions and 10 keywords for $199 a month, or $159 billed annually; Scale covers 50,000 mentions and 40 keywords and adds news, podcasts, newsletters and the web. Mentions over the quota are billed one by one, with a spend cap you can set. 2

Upthread starts where a mention feed stops. It covers Reddit only, ranks threads by how often Google and AI answers put them in front of buyers, drafts a reply that follows the subreddit's rules, and keeps a record of what that reply did after you post it.

Who should choose which.

Who should choose Octolens

  • You need to hear mentions on X, LinkedIn, GitHub, review sites and news as well as Reddit. Upthread covers Reddit only. 2
  • You want every mention as data for your own tools: Octolens has an API, webhooks and an MCP server on every plan. 2
  • A large team needs access. Seats are unlimited on every Octolens plan. 2

Who should choose Upthread

  • Reddit already shows up in your mention feed, and you want to know which of those threads Google and AI answers keep showing buyers.
  • You want each reply drafted inside the subreddit's rules, with your disclosure, before you post it yourself.
  • You need to show a client what a reply did after it went up, not only that a mention happened.

Octolens in brief

Social listening across Reddit, X, LinkedIn, Hacker News, GitHub, reviews and more, sent to Slack, an API or your agents.

  • Pro costs $199 a month, or $159 billed annually. Scale costs $599, or $499 billed annually. Enterprise is custom. 2
  • Watches Reddit, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, DEV and app store and Trustpilot reviews. Scale adds podcasts, news, newsletters and the web. 2
  • Scores each mention high, medium or low for relevance and tags it with sentiment and categories such as buy-intent. 2
  • Sends mentions to Slack and email, with an API, webhooks and an MCP server on every plan. 2
  • Reports share of voice against competitors and a sentiment breakdown on every plan. 2
  • On AI answers, it says it "monitors the open web, not the inside of AI answers". 3
  • Says it "finds conversations" and "doesn't scrape profiles or build contact lists". 1
  • Offers a 7-day free trial of Pro features, up to 5,000 mentions, with no credit card. 2

Pricing, plan by plan.

Octolens

Pro$199 a month, or $159 a month billed annually
15,000 mentions, 10 keywords, hourly refresh, all social and community sources, Slack and email alerts, API, webhooks and MCP, AI filtering, analytics and a daily brief email, 2 years of history. 2
Scale$599 a month, or $499 a month billed annually
50,000 mentions, 40 keywords, real-time refresh, adds podcasts, news, newsletters and the web, unlimited history, priority support in Slack Connect. 2
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited mentions and keywords, multiple workspaces for multi-brand portfolios, custom AI agents. 2
  • Every plan has unlimited team seats. 2
  • Mentions over the quota keep coming at $0.013 each on Pro and $0.01 on Scale, and extra keywords cost $10 a month on Pro and $5 on Scale. You can set a monthly spend cap or turn extra mentions off. 2
  • Annual billing saves up to 20%. 2
  • The 7-day free trial includes Pro features and up to 5,000 mentions, with no credit card. 2

Upthread

Starter$49 a month
1 brand, 25 keywords, 25 buyer questions, 3 engines, 150 drafts a month, 1 seat. Discovery: Daily.
Growth$149 a month
3 brands, 100 keywords, 75 buyer questions, All engines, 600 drafts a month, 3 seats. Discovery: Every 6 hours.
Agency$499 a month
15 brands, 500 keywords, 300 buyer questions, All engines, 2,500 drafts a month, 10 seats. Discovery: Every 6 hours.

Yearly billing gives 2 months free. Every workspace starts with a 7-day trial on Starter limits, with no card. See full pricing.

Octolens and Upthread, point by point.

Each row sets a sourced fact about Octolens next to what Upthread does, grouped by what you would check first.

What it watches

SourcesThey do more
OctolensReddit, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Hacker News, GitHub, reviews and more. Scale adds news, podcasts and the web. 2
UpthreadReddit only.
Finding threadsDifferent approach
OctolensEvery mention of your keywords, scored high, medium or low for relevance and tagged, for example as buy-intent. 2
UpthreadThreads from Google results and AI citations, ranked by priority, plus threads that name your brand: Google results from the past 24 hours and threads you open, labelled by type. It sees what Google has indexed, not every new comment.
AI answersUpthread does more
OctolensShows the threads and pages AI engines cite, but says it does not track inside AI answers. 3
UpthreadGoogle AI Overviews and AI Mode twice a week, from live Google results. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude weekly through their APIs, labelled API.
How it reads RedditDifferent approach
OctolensNo Reddit data source stated. 2
UpthreadBuilt on your own logged-in browser, so Reddit's move to logged-in-only viewing doesn't break it. Discovery comes from Google results and AI citations, with no Reddit API.

Replying

DraftingUpthread does more
OctolensNone described. Mentions go to Slack, email, the API, webhooks or your own agents over MCP. 2
UpthreadTwo drafts per thread, grounded in the thread, its top comments, the subreddit's rules and your facts. A lint and an AI judge check each one first.

After you post

ReportingDifferent approach
OctolensShare of voice against competitors, a sentiment breakdown and a daily brief email. 2
UpthreadShare of voice per AI engine, plus each reply's score, removals and citation history.
After postingUpthread does more
OctolensNo reply or outcome tracking listed. 2
UpthreadScore over time, moderator removals, and the thread's citation history before and after your reply. Links carry UTM tags for your own analytics.

Price and plans

PriceDifferent approach
Octolens$199 / $599 a month, or $159 / $499 billed annually. Enterprise is custom. 2
Upthread$49 / $149 / $499 a month, or 2 months free yearly. A 7-day trial with Starter limits. No card required.
AgenciesDifferent approach
OctolensEnterprise covers multi-brand portfolios with multiple workspaces, at a custom price. Seats are unlimited on every plan. 2
UpthreadAgency plan: 15 brands, 10 seats and shareable client reports. No white-label yet.

Switching from Octolens.

Setup starts from your website address. Upthread reads your homepage and a few key pages, drafts a brand profile, and suggests competitors, keywords, buyer questions and focus subreddits for you to keep or change. You set your voice and disclosure, pick engines and a country, and the first discovery and visibility runs start, with the browser extension as an optional last step.

What you bring across

  • Your keyword list. Brand and product terms become Upthread keywords, and the terms you filter out become negative keywords.
  • The competitors you track for share of voice, each with its aliases, so Upthread can spot them in threads and in AI answers.
  • Your Slack channel. Growth and Agency plans post new high-priority threads and citation changes there, next to a daily or weekly email digest.

What works differently

  • Octolens watches every mention across many sources and scores each one for relevance. Upthread watches one source, Reddit, and ranks each thread by Google rank, AI citations per engine, buying intent, freshness and how the subreddit treats brands. 2
  • Octolens says it monitors the open web, not the inside of AI answers. Upthread asks your buyer questions in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode twice a week and in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude weekly, and keeps the Reddit threads each answer cites. 3
  • Octolens hands mentions to Slack, your CRM or your own agents and leaves the reply to you. Upthread drafts two replies per thread, checks them against the subreddit's rules, and adds your disclosure when a draft mentions your brand. 2
  • After you post, Upthread follows the reply itself: its score over time, whether moderators removed it, and whether the thread is still cited.

How Reddit access is changing

Reddit is closing its public API and moving toward logged-in viewing. This matters for any tool that reads Reddit, so each comparison states only what the tool itself says about its data source.

  1. On Oct 29, 2026, Reddit said it will shift to a primarily logged-in experience, starting with tests in select markets outside the US. 4
  2. 9to5Mac reported that Reddit will start requiring a logged-in account for most of its content. 5
  3. Reddit's CEO said most unauthorized access to its content happens through the logged-out experience. 6

Octolens and Upthread: questions.

Does Octolens draft or post Reddit replies?

No drafting or posting is described on its pages. It sends mentions to Slack, email, an API, webhooks or your own agents over MCP. Upthread drafts the reply and leaves the posting click to you. 2

Does Octolens track AI answers?

Not inside the answers. It says it monitors the open web and suggests pairing it with an answer tracker for a prompt-level score. Upthread records your mention rate, share of voice and the Reddit threads each engine cites. 3

Which one costs less?

Octolens Pro is $199 a month, or $159 billed annually, for 15,000 mentions across all its sources. Upthread Starter is $49 a month for 25 keywords, 25 buyer questions and 150 drafts, on Reddit only. 2

Does Octolens find leads?

It tags posts that show buying or switching intent, such as someone asking for an alternative to a competitor, and says it finds conversations without scraping profiles or building contact lists. Upthread sends no DMs or outreach at all. 1

Can I use Octolens and Upthread together?

Yes. Keep a broad listening feed for every network, and use Upthread for the Reddit threads that matter in search and AI answers, from the draft to the tracked reply.

Sources

We read each page on the date shown. Octolens's own pages are named, not linked. Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will fix it.

  1. [1]Octolens homepage, checked Nov 7, 2026.
  2. [2]Octolens pricing page, checked Nov 7, 2026.
  3. [3]Octolens AI visibility page, checked Nov 7, 2026.
  4. [4]Engadget, checked Oct 29, 2026.
  5. [5]9to5Mac, checked Oct 29, 2026.
  6. [6]CyberInsider, checked Oct 30, 2026.

Run your first discovery, then judge for yourself.

Enter your website. Upthread drafts your brand profile, suggests buyer questions and subreddits, and runs your first discovery.

Start free trialSee pricing

No card required. 7 days with Starter limits.