Alternatives
An F5Bot alternative when you need more than Reddit and Hacker News
F5Bot is a well-loved free tool that e-mails you when a keyword appears on Reddit, Hacker News or Lobsters. If that is all you need, use it. EchoMention is for when you also want Bluesky, YouTube, news and Telegram channels in the same digest.
Start monitoring for free See pricing
Free plan forever. No credit card required.
- EchoMention Pro $19
- EchoMention Business $39
- F5Bot Silver, 20 keywords (a free plan exists too) $9.99
EchoMention vs F5Bot at a glance
| Feature | EchoMention | F5Bot |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan; Pro $19/month; Business $39/month, billed monthly | Free; Silver $9.99/month (20 keywords); Gold $49.99/month (200 keywords) |
| Sources | Google News, RSS/Atom feeds, Hacker News, Bluesky, YouTube, public Telegram channels, web search via the Brave index (Reddit, review sites, forums) | Reddit, Hacker News, Lobsters |
| Speed | Daily digest; Business: negative mentions checked every 30 minutes | Checked every few minutes |
| Slack / Discord | Pro and Business | Gold plan |
| Sentiment | Yes | AI filtering on Gold |
F5Bot facts checked on on https://f5bot.com/. Prices and plans change; check the vendor's page for the current offer.
Where F5Bot shines
F5Bot checks its three sites every few minutes and has a free plan. Its paid Gold plan ($49.99/month) adds Slack and Discord webhooks, RSS/JSON feeds and AI filtering for 200 keywords. For pure Reddit and HN alerts it is faster than EchoMention, which collects once a day.
What EchoMention adds
- Bluesky, YouTube, Google News, RSS feeds and public Telegram channels.
- Positive / neutral / negative sentiment on every mention.
- Slack, Discord and Telegram delivery from the $19 Pro plan.
- A dashboard with history and per-source status.
A note on Reddit
F5Bot reads Reddit directly. EchoMention finds Reddit threads through the Brave Search index (site:reddit.com), usually within a day. If real-time Reddit alerts matter most, F5Bot is the better tool.
How EchoMention works
- Add keywordsBrand, product, competitors, with spelling variants and exclusions.
- Pick sourcesNews, RSS, Hacker News, Bluesky, YouTube, Telegram channels, web search.
- We match and scoreDuplicates removed, every mention marked positive, neutral or negative.
- Get the digestIn Slack, Discord, Telegram or e-mail, at the hour you choose.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use F5Bot and EchoMention together?
Yes, and many people should: F5Bot for minute-level Reddit and HN alerts, EchoMention for the daily picture across news, Bluesky, YouTube and Telegram.
How does Reddit monitoring work?
Through the Web search source (Pro and Business): EchoMention queries the Brave Search index with site:reddit.com, so it does not depend on Reddit's API, which Reddit is closing by March 2027. New threads usually appear once the index has picked them up, typically within a day, so it is not real-time.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. The Free plan monitors 1 keyword on Google News and Hacker News and sends a weekly e-mail digest, with 7 days of history. No credit card is needed. Pro ($19/month) adds every source, a daily digest and Slack, Discord and Telegram delivery.
Does EchoMention monitor Lobsters?
Not as a dedicated source. You can add a Lobsters RSS feed to the RSS source, and EchoMention will match your keywords in it.
Start monitoring in two minutes
Free plan forever, no credit card. Pro is $19/month when you need every source and a daily digest.