Softwr

Social Media · head to head

Khoros vs Mention

Khoros logo

Khoros

Social Media

Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Mention logo

Mention

Social Media

Real-time media monitoring made simple

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Mention has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Khoros igniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.; Mention historical data access is not included in the Company plan and is only available as a paid add-on
  • They diverge on capability: Khoros covers Branded communities, Mention covers Real-time monitoring.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Khoros and Mention actually diverge.

Attributes where Khoros and Mention differ
AttributeKhorosMention
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, Ios, Android
FoundedUnknown2012

Identical on both: 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 Khoros

  • Branded communities
  • Community gamification
  • Social publishing
  • Social customer care
  • Moderation tooling
  • Listening and analytics
  • Aurora and Iris AI
  • Knowledge deflection

Only in Mention

  • Real-time monitoring
  • Sentiment analysis
  • Influencer identification
  • Competitive analysis
  • Custom reports
  • Slack
  • Zapier
  • Buffer

What people use each for

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

Khoros

  • A telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volumenot Mention
  • A consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissionsnot Mention
  • A games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing featuresnot Mention
  • A bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same SLA framework as its email and chat queuesnot Mention

Mention

  • Brand monitoringnot Khoros
  • Competitor trackingnot Khoros
  • Social listeningnot Khoros
  • Reputation managementnot Khoros

Where each one falls short

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

Khoros

  • IgniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • Community migration is genuinely hard: moving years of threads, accepted solutions, member reputation and SEO-bearing URLs off Khoros later is a project measured in quarters, which makes the switching cost far higher than the annual licence suggests.
  • Pricing is not published and the platform is sold on annual enterprise contracts with substantial implementation and design services, so the first-year cost is materially higher than the recurring licence and hard to benchmark.
  • The publishing and listening side inherited from Spredfast has been outpaced by dedicated social suites, so social-first teams frequently find themselves keeping a second tool for scheduling and analytics and paying for overlapping capability.
  • The product is the result of merging two large codebases and has now changed private-equity owner twice, and reviewers consistently report that community administration and social management still feel like separate systems sharing a login rather than one product.
  • Khoros Community Classic is being sunset in favour of the new Aurora AI community platform, so existing customers face a forced migration of an already hard-to-move asset, on the acquirer timetable rather than their own.

Mention

  • Historical data access is not included in the Company plan and is only available as a paid add-on

Pricing, plan by plan

Khoros

On request
  • Khoros$undefined/year
    • Branded communities
    • Social publishing and governance
    • Social customer care queue

Mention

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 alert
    • 1,000 mentions
    • Basic monitoring
  • Solo$41/month
    • 2 alerts
    • 5,000 mentions
    • Boolean search
  • Pro$83/month
    • 5 alerts
    • 10,000 mentions
    • Team features
  • EnterpriseFree
    • Unlimited alerts
    • Unlimited mentions
    • Custom integrations

Which should you pick?

Choose Khoros if

  • You need branded communities.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want community gamification.
Khoros review

Choose Mention if

  • You need real-time monitoring.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want sentiment analysis.
Mention review

Questions people ask

Is Khoros or Mention better?
Neither clearly leads. Khoros starts at On request and Mention at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Khoros or Mention?
Mention has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Khoros and Free for Mention.
Does Khoros or Mention run on more platforms?
Khoros runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. Mention runs on Web, Ios, Android.
Can I use Mention for free?
Yes. Mention has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Khoros starts at On request.
What is Khoros best used for?
Khoros is most often used for a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume, a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions, a games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing features, a bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same sla framework as its email and chat queues. Of those, a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume and a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions are not what Mention is typically brought in for.
What can Khoros do that Mention cannot?
Khoros covers Branded communities, Community gamification, Social publishing, Social customer care. Mention covers Real-time monitoring, Sentiment analysis, Influencer identification, Competitive analysis.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Khoros: Who owns Khoros now?

IgniteTech, an ESW Capital company, acquired Khoros on 27 May 2025. Vista Equity Partners, which created Khoros by merging Lithium and Spredfast, is no longer the owner.

Mention: What does the Mention Company Plan include?

The Company Plan includes real-time mention tracking across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube, plus news, blogs, and forums. It covers 75+ review sites, sentiment analysis, competitor benchmarking, custom reporting, and dedicated account manager support.

Source
Khoros: Why does the website say khoros.ai?

The company moved its corporate domain from khoros.com to khoros.ai as part of an AI-first relaunch under IgniteTech, centred on its Aurora and Iris AI capabilities.

Mention: What is the cost of Mention's Company Plan?

Mention's Company Plan pricing is not displayed on the pricing page and requires contacting sales or requesting a demo to get a quote.

Source
Khoros: Is pricing published?

No. Khoros quotes privately on annual enterprise contracts, and implementation services are a significant separate cost.

Mention: Does Mention offer a free trial?

Yes. Mention offers a free trial accessible through their signup page, with no credit card required to get started.

Source
Khoros: Should the ownership change affect my decision?

It should affect your contract. Ask for written roadmap commitments, named support staffing and exit or data-export terms before signing a multi-year community deal.

Mention: Can I save money by paying annually for Mention?

Yes. If you pay yearly instead of monthly, Mention gives you 2 months free, saving approximately $360 USD per year depending on your plan.

Source
Mention: Are there add-ons or upsells available with Mention?

Yes. Mention offers paid add-ons for historical data and white-label reporting beyond what is included in the standard plan.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Khoros

More on Mention

Keep looking

Other head to heads