F5Bot Review
Know within minutes when your brand gets mentioned on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters
F5Bot is one of the best free tools available for anyone who needs to stay on top of Reddit and Hacker News mentions. The free tier is genuinely useful, not crippled, and covers the fundamentals for solo founders, indie developers, and small teams. Paid plans unlock AI semantic search, Slack and Discord routing, and a proper REST API. It has been running reliably since 2017, which matters more than it sounds for a monitoring tool. The main limitation is that it only covers Reddit, HN, and Lobsters, so it is not a replacement for broader web monitoring platforms.
Pros and cons
- Free tier is genuinely functional with no credit card required
- AI semantic alerts on the Ultra plan let you describe intent rather than match exact keywords
- Delivers email notifications within minutes of a new mention
- Slack, Discord, RSS, and JSON feed integrations available on paid plans
- REST API on Ultra plan allows full programmatic access
- Only monitors Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters, no broader web or social coverage
- AI semantic alerts are gated to the most expensive paid tier
- No sentiment analysis or conversation context scoring
- Free plan limits on keyword volume mean growing teams will hit the ceiling quickly
What is F5Bot?
F5Bot is a keyword monitoring service that watches Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters for mentions of the terms you specify and sends you an alert within minutes. It has been running since 2017 and is used by over 300,000 daily alerts worth of professionals across PR, marketing, and indie software development.
The setup takes under a minute. You create an account, add your keywords (brand name, product name, competitor names, topic terms), and F5Bot handles the rest. When a new post or comment matches your keywords, you get an email. Paid plans add routing to Slack and Discord, RSS and JSON feeds for workflow integration, and a REST API for teams that want to pull mention data programmatically.
The standout feature on the Ultra tier is AI semantic alerting. Instead of exact keyword matching, you describe what you are looking for in natural language, and the AI evaluates every new post against your description. This significantly reduces noise and catches mentions that keyword matching would miss entirely.
Core features
Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters Monitoring
F5Bot monitors all three platforms continuously, covering posts and comments across every subreddit. You can track as many keywords as your plan allows, and alerts arrive within minutes of a new mention going live. No manual searching, no delayed digests unless you prefer them.
AI Semantic Alerts
Available on the Ultra plan, semantic alerts let you describe what you want to find in plain language rather than exact keyword strings. The AI evaluates new posts against your description, which is particularly useful for catching mentions of product categories, pain points, or competitor comparisons that users phrase in unpredictable ways.
Advanced Filtering
Beyond basic keyword matching, F5Bot lets you filter by subreddit, require co-occurring terms, and exclude noise terms. Power and Ultra plans unlock the full filter set, which makes the difference between useful signal and an inbox full of irrelevant hits.
Slack and Discord Integration
Route alerts directly into team channels via webhooks. This is available on the Ultra plan and turns F5Bot from a solo monitoring tool into something a whole team can respond from without leaving their communication stack.
RSS, JSON, and REST API Access
Power plan users get RSS and JSON feeds for integrating alerts into existing tools. Ultra unlocks the full REST API and webhook delivery, enabling developers to pipe mention data into custom dashboards, CRMs, or automated response workflows.
Pricing
| Feature | Free $0 | Power $14.17/mo | Ultra $58.33/mo | Enterprise Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keyword alerts | Basic | More keywords | Thousands | Custom |
| Platforms covered | Reddit, HN, Lobsters | Reddit, HN, Lobsters | Reddit, HN, Lobsters | Reddit, HN, Lobsters |
| Email notifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced filtering | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| RSS & JSON feeds | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scheduled email delivery | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI semantic alerts | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| REST API & webhooks | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slack & Discord | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Who it is for
The free tier is tailor-made for bootstrapped builders who need to catch every Reddit and HN mention of their product without spending money on monitoring tools.
Small to mid-size teams that want fast brand mention alerts without the complexity or cost of enterprise social listening platforms. Power and Ultra plans add the team routing and filtering needed for shared workflows.
The REST API and webhook delivery on the Ultra plan make F5Bot a practical data source for teams building their own monitoring dashboards or feeding mention data into CRMs and alert systems.
Verdict
F5Bot earns its reputation as the go-to free tool for Reddit and Hacker News monitoring. The free tier is genuinely useful, the paid tiers add meaningful features rather than artificial limits, and nine years of uptime means you can trust it will actually deliver alerts. The only honest limitation is scope: if you need to monitor beyond these three platforms, you need something else.
Frequently asked questions
Is F5Bot really free?
Yes. The free plan requires no credit card and monitors Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters with email alerts. Paid plans unlock more keywords, advanced filtering, RSS feeds, and the REST API.
How fast are F5Bot alerts?
F5Bot typically delivers alerts within minutes of a new post or comment matching your keywords. The platforms are crawled continuously, not on a delayed schedule.
Does F5Bot monitor Twitter, LinkedIn, or other social platforms?
No. F5Bot only covers Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters. If you need broader web or social monitoring, you will need to combine it with another tool.
What are AI semantic alerts and when do I need them?
AI semantic alerts let you describe what you want to find in natural language instead of exact keyword strings. They are useful when people mention your category or competitors in roundabout ways that keyword matching misses. Available on the Ultra plan.
Can I use F5Bot to find leads on Reddit?
Yes. Many users track buying intent phrases ("looking for a tool that does X", "alternatives to Y") to find threads where they can authentically engage. Just ensure any engagement follows subreddit rules and adds genuine value.