KWatch alternative: when you want a ranked buyer list

KWatch calls itself real-time social listening. You add keywords for each platform and it alerts you when one appears. It covers Reddit, Hacker News, X, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube. Its FAQ is specific about depth. On LinkedIn it reads posts but not comments, and only on paid plans. On YouTube it reads only the video title and description. On Facebook it reads posts and public groups. X is on paid plans. There is no Instagram and no TikTok.

On Reddit and Hacker News it can also track a conversation and alert you when someone comments in that thread. Alerts arrive by email, Slack or webhook, and an AI step reads the context around the keyword to judge sentiment. KWatch says it checks continuously and alerts within seconds to a minute. One of its listed use cases is streaming sales signals into Clay.

Plans on 17 October 2026, per month:

• Free, $0: 2 Reddit and 2 Hacker News keywords, no AI and no integrations.
• Essential, $19: 20 Reddit and 20 Hacker News keywords, 2 on X, 2 on YouTube, 1 on Facebook, 1 on LinkedIn, plus 2 tracked conversations on each of Reddit and Hacker News and AI analysis.
• Business, $79: 100 Reddit and 100 Hacker News keywords, 10 on X, 10 on YouTube, 5 on Facebook, 5 on LinkedIn, webhooks, Slack, MCP and team access.
• Enterprise, $199: 500 Reddit and 500 Hacker News keywords, 50 on X and YouTube, 25 on Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Agency: custom.

Plans are prorated and you can stop anytime.

Pick KWatch if Hacker News matters to your market, because HearBuyers doesn't read it yet. It also suits teams that think in keywords, want a free tier to try, or need alerts sent to a webhook or a tool like Clay. At $19 a month it's one of the cheaper ways to watch Reddit and Hacker News keywords.

Its home page lists sentiment, but no buying-intent score and no reply drafting.

• Keywords or problems. A keyword list only works if you guess how buyers write. A tool that starts from how buyers describe the problem catches posts your list would miss.
• A score you can set a bar on. Sentiment tells you the mood. An intent score tells you whether to act.
• The evidence. The alert should show the sentence where the need appears.
• Quotas that match your work. Keyword caps per platform can force trade-offs.
• A person in control of replies.

HearBuyers fits if you use KWatch to find sales leads on Reddit and X. You paste your company website instead of building keyword lists. HearBuyers works out your product summary, buyer roles, the problems those buyers describe, search phrases, competitors and subreddits, and you edit what it finds. It reads public X posts and replies and Reddit posts and comments, starting with the last seven days.

Each post gets a score, the sentence that shows the need and a one-line reason. Matches at or above your threshold (70 by default) get a drafted public reply, plus a DM draft on X. A person edits, approves, copies and posts it. Alerts go to Slack, a daily email digest and a team inbox with stages.

It isn't the right fit if you need Hacker News, Facebook or YouTube, webhooks into other systems, or alerts in under a minute, since HearBuyers runs on a schedule. It is free for 14 days with no card, then from $19 a month.

If Hacker News is a main source for you, or you want a free tier and a webhook, KWatch is a good fit at its price. Some teams keep it for keyword alerts and add HearBuyers for the ranked list with replies drafted.

1. Export or list your KWatch keywords and the conversations you track.
2. Sign up for HearBuyers and paste your company website.
3. Compare its suggested search phrases with your keywords and add anything missing.
4. Add your competitors and the subreddits where you watch threads.
5. Set your threshold and connect Slack.

Read the guide to keyword monitoring tools, the Reddit keyword alerts page, or the full alternatives list.