Media monitoring tool for small business
Enterprise media monitoring is quoted per contract and often starts in the thousands a year. MentionRadar gives a small business the same core job for $49 a month: every news article, blog post, Reddit thread and review that names your company, with sentiment, email alerts and a weekly report, plus a check on what ChatGPT and Perplexity say about you.
- Public pricing from $49 a month, monthly plans
- News, blogs, forums, Reddit and reviews every 15 minutes
- Email alerts the day a negative review appears
- ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews checks included
Scan your business name across the web and AI answers
Starter is $49 a month, or $24 billed yearly. Compare plans
What a small business gets from media monitoring
You do not need a PR department to benefit. You need to know quickly when someone writes about you.
Two star review: delivery arrived a week late
Customer says support replied after two days and the box was damaged.
Northwind Coffee opens a second roasting room
Regional business paper quotes the founder on hiring six people.
r/coffee: office coffee subscriptions, who do you use
Three commenters recommend Northwind, one asks about decaf.
Most small businesses are talked about in four places: review sites, local and trade news, community threads such as Reddit, and roundup articles that rank competitors. Each one shapes who gets the next call.
MentionRadar checks those sources every 15 minutes for your company name, owners, product names and chosen competitors. Each mention shows its source, reach and sentiment, so the angry review is at the top of your inbox and the neutral roundup waits for the weekly report.
A negative review answered within a day often costs nothing. One found a month later has already been read by prospects.
Why small teams drop enterprise media monitoring
Enterprise suites bundle journalist databases, press release distribution, broadcast and print clipping, and analyst support. That is a fair product for a comms team of ten. A small business that only needs to read what is written about it ends up with annual contracts, auto-renewal and three to seven percent uplifts for features it never opens.
If that is your situation, see how the cost works out on our Meltwater pricing and alternatives page or the Cision pricing breakdown. Both end in the same question: how many of those modules did you use last quarter?
The smaller tools make a different trade. Published prices, monthly billing, one to five seats and no journalist database. You give up print and broadcast and keep the part most small businesses use daily, which is online coverage, reviews and forums.
Small business media monitoring tools compared
Entry prices from each vendor's public pages or buyer data, checked October 2026. Confirm before you buy.
| Meltwater or Cision | Awario | MentionRadar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you buy | Demo and quote | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Typical entry cost | Roughly $3,000 to $12,000+ a year (buyer data) | EUR 49 a month (EUR 29 billed yearly) | $49 a month ($24 billed yearly) |
| Contract | Annual, auto-renew | Monthly or yearly | Monthly or yearly |
| News, blogs, forums, reviews | |||
| Print and broadcast | |||
| ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews tracking | |||
| Journalist database |
Honest read: if you pitch journalists every week or need TV and print clips, an enterprise suite earns its price. Awario is a solid mentions-only option, see our Awario pricing breakdown. MentionRadar suits the owner or marketer who wants coverage, reviews and AI answers in one inbox for under $150 a month.
Set up media monitoring for your business in 15 minutes
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1
Scan your name
Enter your company and one competitor at the top of this page and read real recent mentions before you sign up.
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2
Add keywords
Company name, owner names, product names and common misspellings. Starter holds 3 keywords and 3 competitors.
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3
Turn on alerts
Get an email when a negative mention or a new press article appears, so you answer the same day.
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4
Read the weekly report
A summary of volume, sentiment and top articles, ready to forward to a partner or manager.
Which small business plan fits
Owner or solo marketer
Starter
$49 a month
3 keywords, 3 competitors, 5,000 web mentions a month, email alerts and 15 AI prompts weekly.
Small marketing team
Growth
$149 a month
30,000 mentions, 40 prompts in five engines, Slack alerts, scheduled PDF reports and 5 seats.
Agency serving small clients
Agency
$499 a month
15 client workspaces, white-label reports and read-only client access.
Yearly billing halves each price. For a broader look at press tracking see media monitoring software, and for review and complaint alerts see reputation monitoring software.
Questions small businesses ask about media monitoring
What is the best media monitoring tool for a small business?
The best fit is a tool with public pricing, a short setup and alerts you will actually read. MentionRadar starts at $49 a month with 3 keywords and 5,000 web mentions, no contract and no sales call. Brand24 and Awario are comparable small team options, while Meltwater and Cision are built for larger PR departments.
How much does media monitoring cost for a small business?
Enterprise suites such as Cision or Meltwater are quoted by contract, and buyer data puts them from roughly $3,000 to well over $12,000 a year. Small business tools run $24 to $150 a month. MentionRadar is $49 a month, or $24 billed yearly, with Growth at $149 for teams that report to a manager.
Can a small business do media monitoring for free?
Manual alerts and searches catch some coverage, but they miss most forum threads, review sites and video, and they send no sentiment or report. A paid tool pays back when one unseen negative review or missed press mention costs a customer. MentionRadar offers a free brand scan before you buy.
Do I need media monitoring if I am a local or small brand?
Yes, if customers read reviews and forums before buying. Small brands feel a single viral complaint or a new competitor article faster than large ones. Monitoring your name, owners and two or three competitors takes a few keywords and ten minutes a week.
Does MentionRadar cover print, TV or radio?
No. MentionRadar monitors online sources: news sites, blogs, forums, Reddit, Hacker News, review sites, YouTube and X. If you need print clippings or broadcast monitoring, an enterprise service is the right tool. For most small businesses, online coverage is where customers look.
Can I track what ChatGPT says about my small business?
Yes. Starter runs 15 weekly prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews and records whether your business is named, where, and which competitors come first. That matters because buyers now ask these assistants for recommendations before they search.
See what the web says about your business today
Scan your company name and one competitor. You see recent news, forum and review mentions plus a real AI answer before you create an account.