ForumScout vs Keyhole in 2026: $19/month self-serve social listening vs a Muck Rack-gated hashtag analytics platform
Keyhole's acquisition by Muck Rack removed its public pricing and self-serve signup entirely. ForumScout costs $19 a month, keeps unlimited seats on every plan, and adds AI-drafted replies for every matched mention.
ForumScout
Keyhole- Keyhole has no public pricing and no self-serve signup as of 2026; its pricing page at keyhole.co redirects to a Muck Rack demo request form. ForumScout has three published tiers starting at $19/month.
- ForumScout includes unlimited team seats on every plan, so a growing team does not pay more to add people. Keyhole's seat structure is not disclosed publicly and is negotiated per enterprise contract.
- Keyhole tracks hashtags and keywords with multi-year historical data, which ForumScout does not offer at all. This makes Keyhole the stronger option for retrospective campaign benchmarking.
- ForumScout generates an AI-drafted reply for every matched mention, turning monitoring into an engagement workflow. Keyhole has no reply or engagement feature; it is built for measurement and reporting, not outreach.
- Keyhole includes influencer analytics with audience quality scoring, a feature ForumScout does not have. Keyhole is used by NBC Universal, Billboard, USTA, and WWF for exactly this kind of campaign measurement.
- Neither tool covers Reddit as a headline strength in the same way: ForumScout treats Reddit as a first-class monitored source with AI relevance scoring, while Keyhole's coverage is social-platform-focused (X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn) and does not include Reddit at all.
- ForumScout API access starts on the $49/month Pro plan. Keyhole's API is only available on its Enterprise tier, which requires a sales conversation to price.
ForumScout and Keyhole solve different problems for different budgets, and the gap has widened since Keyhole was acquired by Muck Rack in 2024. ForumScout is a self-serve social listening tool built for growth and sales teams: $19/month gets you monitoring across Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram, Bluesky, forums, and news, plus an AI-drafted reply for every mention worth acting on. Keyhole built its reputation on hashtag tracking, influencer analytics, and campaign measurement for enterprise brands like NBC Universal and Billboard, but as of 2026 there is no public pricing and no way to sign up without going through a Muck Rack demo request. If you want to try a tool this afternoon, only one of these two lets you. If you need multi-year hashtag history and influencer quality scoring for a large campaign, only one of these two has it.
The tools at a glance
ForumScout
Social listening with AI-generated reply suggestions for sales and growth teams
ForumScout monitors Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram, Bluesky, forums, and news for keyword matches, scores each result for relevance, and then does something most monitoring tools stop short of: it drafts an AI reply for the post. A team reviews the draft, edits if needed, and posts it manually. There is no auto-posting, so brand voice and account control stay with a person, but the time between spotting a relevant conversation and responding to it shrinks to a quick review.
The pricing model is the other differentiator. All three plans, from $19/month Starter to $129/month Ultra, include unlimited team seats, so cost scales with keyword volume rather than headcount. Webhooks and a Google Sheets integration are included on every tier, which is enough for most teams to route mentions into a lightweight CRM or reporting sheet without buying additional middleware.
What ForumScout does not do is where the comparison with Keyhole gets interesting: no hashtag campaign aggregation, no influencer quality scoring, and no multi-year historical trend data. It is built for finding and acting on individual conversations, not for measuring a hashtag campaign's total reach across owned, partner, and influencer posts.
| Feature | Starter $19/mo | Pro $49/mo | Ultra $129/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keywords monitored | 5 | 15 | 50 |
| Team seats | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| AI reply suggestions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms covered | 8+ | 8+ | 8+ |
| API access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Priority support | No | No | Yes |
Keyhole
Social media analytics with hashtag tracking, influencer analytics, and campaign measurement, now part of the Muck Rack platform
Keyhole built a genuinely strong product around three workflows most tools handle separately: hashtag and keyword tracking with multi-year historical data, influencer analytics with audience quality scoring, and campaign measurement that aggregates every post using a shared hashtag into one dashboard. It has held a top ranking on G2 in social media analytics and counts NBC Universal, Billboard, USTA, and WWF among its customers.
The 2024 acquisition by Muck Rack changed how you access any of it. As of 2026, keyhole.co's pricing page redirects to a Muck Rack demo request form. There is no self-serve signup, no public pricing, and no trial you can start on your own. Every prospective buyer, regardless of company size, goes through Muck Rack's enterprise sales process before seeing a number.
For a large brand already running Muck Rack for PR, or an agency managing hashtag-heavy influencer campaigns for enterprise clients, that sales process is a minor friction point on the way to real analytical depth. For anyone else, including the solo founder or small team that ForumScout was built for, Keyhole is currently not evaluable without a sales call, which rules it out for most self-serve comparisons on price alone.
| Feature | Professional Contact for pricing | Enterprise Contact for pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Hashtag and keyword tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Historical data | Limited | Extended |
| Influencer analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Competitor benchmarking | Yes | Yes |
| API access | No | Yes |
| Self-serve signup | No | No |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | ForumScout | Keyhole |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms monitored | Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, YouTube, Instagram, Bluesky, forums, news (8+) | X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn |
| Reddit / community coverage | Yes, treated as a first-class source with AI relevance scoring | No |
| AI reply / engagement suggestions | Yes, on every plan | No |
| Influencer analytics | No | Yes, with audience quality scoring |
| Hashtag campaign measurement | No | Yes, with multi-year historical data |
| Competitor benchmarking | Yes, via competitor keyword monitoring | Yes, across all tiers |
| Sentiment analysis | Yes, on every plan | Yes, as part of hashtag and keyword tracking |
| API access | Pro plan ($49/mo) and above | Enterprise tier only |
| Self-serve signup | Yes | No, Muck Rack demo required |
| White-label / agency delivery | No | Not stated publicly |
| Team seats | Unlimited on all plans | Not stated publicly |
| Starting price | $19/mo | Contact for pricing |
Which should you choose?
ForumScoutKeyholeForumScoutKeyholeForumScoutKeyholeForumScoutThis comparison is lopsided in a specific way: Keyhole is arguably the deeper product for hashtag-anchored campaign measurement, but the Muck Rack acquisition put it behind a sales process with no visible price tag, which removes it from consideration for most of the market that would compare it against a $19/month tool in the first place. ForumScout was never trying to be a hashtag analytics platform; it is built for active social listening that turns into engagement. The two only really compete for the sliver of buyers who need both, and for that buyer, the honest answer is neither tool alone covers the full job.
Bottom line
If you can start monitoring today without a procurement process, ForumScout is the only one of these two that lets you, and the unlimited-seat pricing makes it easy to justify at $19/month. Keyhole is worth the Muck Rack demo call specifically if hashtag campaign aggregation and influencer quality scoring are core to how your team measures success, and you have the enterprise budget and timeline to match. For most small and mid-size teams comparing these two head to head, the lack of self-serve access alone settles it in ForumScout's favor.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sign up for Keyhole without going through a sales call in 2026?
No self-serve signup exists for Keyhole as of 2026. Since its acquisition by Muck Rack, the keyhole.co pricing page redirects directly to a Muck Rack demo request form, and there is no way to start an evaluation independently. ForumScout, by contrast, publishes its pricing and lets you sign up for the $19/month Starter plan immediately.
Does ForumScout offer hashtag campaign tracking like Keyhole does?
No, ForumScout does not aggregate posts by campaign hashtag or provide the multi-year historical hashtag data Keyhole is known for. ForumScout is built around keyword-based monitoring across Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and other platforms, paired with AI-drafted replies, which is a different job than campaign measurement.
Is ForumScout or Keyhole better for tracking Reddit conversations about my brand?
ForumScout is the clear choice for Reddit specifically. It treats Reddit as a first-class monitored source with AI relevance scoring built to surface buying-intent threads. Keyhole's platform coverage is X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn, and does not include Reddit at all.
What happened to Keyhole's pricing after the Muck Rack acquisition?
Keyhole was acquired by Muck Rack in 2024, and as of 2026 it no longer publishes pricing independently. Prospective customers must request a demo through Muck Rack and go through an enterprise sales process, which is a meaningful change from Keyhole's prior self-serve professional tiers.
Which tool has influencer analytics, ForumScout or Keyhole?
Keyhole has influencer analytics with an audience quality score that distinguishes genuine engagement from inflated follower counts. ForumScout has no influencer analytics feature; its AI capabilities are focused on relevance scoring and drafting reply suggestions rather than evaluating influencer accounts.
Is Keyhole worth evaluating if my team just needs basic brand monitoring in 2026?
Probably not, given the current access model. Keyhole's enterprise-only positioning through Muck Rack makes it a poor fit for teams that just need straightforward keyword or social monitoring without a sales process. ForumScout at $19/month, or a comparably priced self-serve tool, is a faster and cheaper starting point for basic monitoring needs.