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Social Media · head to head

Awario vs Rival IQ

Awario logo

Awario

Social Media

Social listening with published prices and no per-seat charge on the top tier

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Rival IQ logo

Rival IQ

Social Media

Competitive social media analytics and benchmarking with published, self-service pricing

From
$239/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Awario mention quotas are hard monthly caps, so a brand that experiences an unexpected coverage spike can exhaust its allowance mid-month and stop collecting data during the exact event it needed to monitor.; Rival IQ data history is capped by tier at 6, 12 or 24 months, so a year-on-year comparison is impossible on the entry plan and a three-year trend is impossible on any plan.
  • They diverge on capability: Awario covers Boolean query builder, Rival IQ covers Competitive landscapes.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Awario and Rival IQ actually diverge.

Attributes where Awario and Rival IQ differ
AttributeAwarioRival IQ
Starting price$29/month$239/month
Pricing modelPer month by mention volumePer month by tracked company count
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Social Media).

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 Awario

  • Boolean query builder
  • Multi-source monitoring
  • Sentiment analysis
  • Topic cloud
  • Awario Leads
  • Influencer identification
  • Location filtering
  • White-label reporting

Only in Rival IQ

  • Competitive landscapes
  • Engagement rate benchmarking
  • Private channel analytics
  • Social listening searches
  • Facebook and Instagram ads reporting
  • Head-to-head reports
  • Scheduled exports and alerts
  • Looker Studio connector

What people use each for

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

Awario

  • A five-person agency that needs client-branded listening reports without paying enterprise suite seat prices, using the unlimited-member Enterprise tiernot Rival IQ
  • A software company tracking competitor complaints on forums and Reddit to feed a sales objection librarynot Rival IQ
  • A consumer brand watching for early signs of a product complaint spreading before it reaches mainstream pressnot Rival IQ
  • A consultant who needs a defensible share-of-voice number for a pitch deck and can build the Boolean queries themselvesnot Rival IQ

Rival IQ

  • An agency producing a quarterly competitive social report for a retail client without paying enterprise listening platform ratesnot Awario
  • A social media manager needing a defensible engagement rate benchmark against named competitors for a board decknot Awario
  • A brand team deciding whether to invest further in TikTok by comparing its performance against category peers rather than against its own historynot Awario
  • A marketing lead who wants a competitive tool they can buy on a departmental card in an afternoon rather than through a procurement cyclenot Awario

Where each one falls short

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

Awario

  • Mention quotas are hard monthly caps, so a brand that experiences an unexpected coverage spike can exhaust its allowance mid-month and stop collecting data during the exact event it needed to monitor.
  • Stored-mention limits per topic mean older mentions are purged, so building a genuine multi-year historical baseline is not possible on any published tier and back-filling history before signup is not offered.
  • There is no language filter, and results skew heavily to English, which makes it unreliable for brands whose primary conversation happens in a non-English market.
  • The Leads module identifies accounts showing intent but does not enrich them with an email address or phone number, so every lead still requires manual contact research before outreach.
  • The company operates with a very small team, reportedly down from around thirty staff in 2020, so support depth and the pace of platform coverage updates when a social network changes its API are real risks on a multi-year commitment.

Rival IQ

  • Data history is capped by tier at 6, 12 or 24 months, so a year-on-year comparison is impossible on the entry plan and a three-year trend is impossible on any plan.
  • The entry plan includes a single user seat, which means a two-person social team is pushed to the 349 dollar tier for a reason that has nothing to do with data volume.
  • Social listening is sold as a small number of saved searches rather than a listening platform, so it will not replace a dedicated monitoring tool for crisis detection or broad web coverage.
  • Instagram reporting is the weakest part of the platform, with reach not presented as a clean monthly total, which frustrates teams whose primary channel is Instagram.
  • It analyses but does not publish or schedule, so it is an additional subscription alongside whatever publishing tool you already run rather than a consolidation.

Pricing, plan by plan

Awario

$29/month
  • Starter$49/month
    • 3 topics
    • 30,000 new mentions per month
    • 5,000 stored mentions per topic
  • Pro$149/month
    • 15 topics
    • 300,000 new mentions per month
    • 15,000 stored mentions per topic
  • Enterprise$399/month
    • 100 topics
    • 1,000,000 new mentions per month
    • 50,000 stored mentions per topic

Rival IQ

$239/month
  • Drive$239/month
    • 10 tracked companies
    • 6 months of data history
    • 1 user seat
  • Engage$349/month
    • 20 tracked companies
    • 12 months of data history
    • 2 user seats
  • Engage Pro$559/month
    • 40 tracked companies
    • 24 months of data history
    • 5 user seats

Which should you pick?

Choose Awario if

  • You need boolean query builder.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want multi-source monitoring.
Awario review

Choose Rival IQ if

  • You need competitive landscapes.
  • You also want engagement rate benchmarking.
Rival IQ review

Questions people ask

Is Awario or Rival IQ better?
Neither clearly leads. Awario starts at $29/month and Rival IQ at $239/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Awario or Rival IQ?
Awario starts at $29/month and Rival IQ at $239/month.
Does Awario or Rival IQ run on more platforms?
Awario runs on Web, API. Rival IQ runs on Web.
What is Awario best used for?
Awario is most often used for a five-person agency that needs client-branded listening reports without paying enterprise suite seat prices, using the unlimited-member enterprise tier, a software company tracking competitor complaints on forums and reddit to feed a sales objection library, a consumer brand watching for early signs of a product complaint spreading before it reaches mainstream press, a consultant who needs a defensible share-of-voice number for a pitch deck and can build the boolean queries themselves. Of those, a five-person agency that needs client-branded listening reports without paying enterprise suite seat prices, using the unlimited-member enterprise tier and a software company tracking competitor complaints on forums and reddit to feed a sales objection library are not what Rival IQ is typically brought in for.
What can Awario do that Rival IQ cannot?
Awario covers Boolean query builder, Multi-source monitoring, Sentiment analysis, Topic cloud. Rival IQ covers Competitive landscapes, Engagement rate benchmarking, Private channel analytics, Social listening searches.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Awario: How much does Awario cost?

Starter is 49 USD per month billed monthly or 29 USD per month billed annually, Pro is 149 or 89, and Enterprise is 399 or 249 with unlimited team members.

Rival IQ: Can I schedule posts from Rival IQ?

No. It is analytics and benchmarking only. You keep your publishing tool.

Awario: Can I get historical mentions from before I signed up?

No. Monitoring begins when you create a topic, and stored-mention caps mean older data is purged over time, so it cannot serve as a historical archive.

Rival IQ: Does it need my competitors to grant access?

No. Public metrics for tracked companies are collected without their involvement. Private metrics require connecting your own accounts.

Awario: Is the Enterprise tier suitable for a large enterprise?

Despite the name, reviewers consistently report it does not meet complex enterprise requirements. It is best understood as an unlimited-seat tier for small teams and agencies.

Rival IQ: Is there a free trial?

Yes, 14 days with no card required.

Awario: Does it filter by language?

No. There is no language filter and coverage skews to English, which is a significant limitation for non-English markets.

Rival IQ: How far back does data go when I add a competitor?

Rival IQ backfills history up to your plan limit of 6, 12 or 24 months, so adding a competitor does not start you from zero.

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