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Government · head to head

ArchiveSocial vs Osano

ArchiveSocial logo

ArchiveSocial

Government

Social media archiving that captures public agency accounts as legally defensible open records

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Osano logo

Osano

Cybersecurity

Consent management and data privacy platform with a published self-serve tier

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Osano has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: ArchiveSocial coverage depends entirely on third party platform APIs, so when a network restricts or reprices its API the archive's completeness changes for reasons the vendor does not control.; Osano the published visitor ceilings are low, with the paid self-serve tier stopping around 30,000 monthly visitors, so any consumer facing site with real traffic leaves published pricing immediately and negotiates a quote with no public anchor.
  • They diverge on capability: ArchiveSocial covers Continuous capture, Osano covers Consent banner.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ArchiveSocial and Osano actually diverge.

Attributes where ArchiveSocial and Osano differ
AttributeArchiveSocialOsano
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month by monthly website visitors
Free tierNoYes
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity

Identical on both: platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in ArchiveSocial

  • Continuous capture
  • Deletion and edit capture
  • Authenticated records
  • Records request search
  • Litigation hold export
  • Multi platform coverage

Only in Osano

  • Consent banner
  • Pre-consent tag blocking
  • Consent record
  • No fines guarantee
  • Subject rights requests
  • Data mapping
  • Vendor privacy monitoring
  • Cookie scanning

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

ArchiveSocial

  • A city whose legal department has flagged deleted social media comments as a records liabilitynot Osano
  • A police department that must produce social media records under an open records requestnot Osano
  • An agency under litigation hold needing authenticated social media evidence rather than screenshotsnot Osano
  • A communications team operating many accounts across departments with no consistent archivingnot Osano

Osano

  • A mid market company selling into the EU and California that needs one banner honouring different consent rules by visitor regionnot ArchiveSocial
  • A privacy counsel who wants a vendor that will contractually stand behind its consent product rather than disclaim all liabilitynot ArchiveSocial
  • A marketing team that needs Google Consent Mode signals wired correctly so analytics and ads degrade rather than break when consent is refusednot ArchiveSocial
  • A company with a handful of brand domains wanting one consent record and one scanning schedule across all of themnot ArchiveSocial

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

ArchiveSocial

  • Coverage depends entirely on third party platform APIs, so when a network restricts or reprices its API the archive's completeness changes for reasons the vendor does not control.
  • Pricing scales with the number of archived accounts, so an agency where every department runs its own page pays repeatedly for the same compliance obligation.
  • It archives rather than governs, so it will faithfully preserve a policy violation without preventing it, and agencies still need social media policy and training.
  • Since the 2021 CivicPlus acquisition the product is part of a municipal suite, so buyers avoiding that vendor for other reasons are still buying from them.
  • The value is entirely insurance shaped, which makes it a perennial target during budget cuts right up until the first records request it would have answered.

Osano

  • The published visitor ceilings are low, with the paid self-serve tier stopping around 30,000 monthly visitors, so any consumer facing site with real traffic leaves published pricing immediately and negotiates a quote with no public anchor.
  • The no fines guarantee is bounded and conditional on configuring the product as instructed, so it is a marketing differentiator with an indemnity cap rather than the insurance policy the name suggests, and the limits should be read before it influences a decision.
  • Everything beyond consent, including subject rights automation, data mapping and vendor monitoring, is enterprise quoted, so the transparent pricing that attracts buyers covers only the cheapest part of the platform.
  • Tag blocking depends on tags being loaded through the mechanisms Osano can intercept, and marketing teams that inject scripts directly into templates or through server side tagging routinely leak trackers past the banner without anyone noticing.
  • It is a privacy platform rather than a security compliance one, so organisations that also need SOC 2 or ISO 27001 evidence collection run it alongside a separate tool and duplicate parts of the vendor and asset inventory.

Pricing, plan by plan

ArchiveSocial

On request
  • ArchiveSocial$undefined/year
    • Quoted annually, typically scaled by number of archived accounts
    • Additional accounts and platforms increase the subscription
    • Bundled pricing common for agencies already buying CivicPlus products

Osano

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 user
    • 1 domain
    • 5,000 monthly visitors
  • Plus$199/month
    • 2 users
    • 3 domains
    • 30,000 monthly visitors
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited domains and higher visitor volumes
    • Subject rights request automation
    • Data mapping and assessments

Which should you pick?

Choose ArchiveSocial if

  • You need continuous capture.
  • You also want deletion and edit capture.
ArchiveSocial review

Choose Osano if

  • You need consent banner.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want pre-consent tag blocking.
Osano review

Questions people ask

Is ArchiveSocial or Osano better?
Neither clearly leads. ArchiveSocial starts at On request and Osano at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ArchiveSocial or Osano?
Osano has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for ArchiveSocial and Free for Osano.
Does ArchiveSocial or Osano run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Osano for free?
Yes. Osano has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ArchiveSocial starts at On request.
What is ArchiveSocial best used for?
ArchiveSocial is most often used for a city whose legal department has flagged deleted social media comments as a records liability, a police department that must produce social media records under an open records request, an agency under litigation hold needing authenticated social media evidence rather than screenshots, a communications team operating many accounts across departments with no consistent archiving. Of those, a city whose legal department has flagged deleted social media comments as a records liability and a police department that must produce social media records under an open records request are not what Osano is typically brought in for.
What can ArchiveSocial do that Osano cannot?
ArchiveSocial covers Continuous capture, Deletion and edit capture, Authenticated records, Records request search. Osano covers Consent banner, Pre-consent tag blocking, Consent record, No fines guarantee.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ArchiveSocial: Why not just export data from the platforms?

Platform exports do not reliably capture deleted or edited content and carry no chain of custody, which is what makes an archive usable as evidence.

Osano: Does the free tier include the no fines guarantee?

No. The guarantee attaches to paid use of the consent product, and the free tier is capped at one domain and 5,000 monthly visitors.

ArchiveSocial: Are public comments on our posts records?

In many United States jurisdictions yes, and deleted comments have been the subject of litigation against agencies.

Osano: How is Osano priced?

By monthly website visitors, number of domains and tier. The self-serve path stops at a low visitor ceiling and everything above is quoted.

ArchiveSocial: Who owns ArchiveSocial?

CivicPlus, which acquired it in 2021 and sells it alongside its municipal website and communications products.

Osano: Can it handle US state privacy laws as well as GDPR?

Yes, with region aware rule sets covering GDPR, ePrivacy and the US state regimes, so an EU visitor sees an opt-in banner and a US visitor sees the applicable opt-out.

ArchiveSocial: How is it priced?

By archived accounts, quoted rather than published. Comparable agency contracts are public records.

Osano: Does Osano do subject access requests?

Yes, but in the enterprise tier rather than the published plans, and it is quoted separately from consent.

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