12 digital competitive intelligence tools... to keep an eye on your rivals at all times

What's the best competitive intelligence tool?

If you're asking yourself this question, you're already on the right track, and have realized just how crucial it is to regularly monitor the activities of your competitors, and your sector in general, in order to ensure the long-term viability of your business. Your objective? Use this information to stand out from the crowd and stay on course for success.

But there are plenty of solutions to help you do just that.

So, what are the most effective free and paid monitoring tools? To help you do your homework, we've put together a selection of 11 software and applications that address all your competitive intelligence needs. Without further ado, here are all the software products presented in this article, sorted by type.

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Comparative table of the best monitoring tools

In this comparison table, you'll find all the software discussed in this article. All prices have been updated to April 2024.

Before you get started: How to conduct competitive intelligence?

Competitive intelligence and intelligence tools: definition and objectives

Competitive intelligence involves :

• researching all online and network information associated with your competitors ;
• analyzing it to draw valuable lessons and facilitate decision-making.

In today's increasingly competitive business world, it seems essential to set up a recurring monitoring process.

The objectives are many and varied:

• to keep abreast of major developments in your sector and among your competitors;
• detect new ideas and opportunities
• improve your products or services;
• find inspiration for your marketing and communications operations;
• optimize your brand image, etc.

In short, it's all about doing everything you can to make sure you don't find yourself at the end of the line!

In this context, monitoring tools are all the devices (free applications, paid software, etc.) that simplify and automate this web surveillance.

Fundamentals of competitive intelligence

The most common sources of competitive intelligence are :

• Digital channels: using digital tools such as social networks and e-commerce sites to gather information.
• Specialized firms: Working with companies that provide competitor analysis and reports.
• Internal feedback: Exploiting data collected by the company's sales force.

For effective competitive intelligence, you need to clearly identify your sources of information.

The different types of competitive intelligence are as follows:

• Sales intelligence: focuses on customers, suppliers and markets to optimize sales and profits.
• Technology watch: monitors scientific and technical developments to ensure that the company's products and services remain innovative.
• Competitive intelligence incorporates these aspects, but focuses specifically on competitors' actions.
• E-reputation watch: to monitor your brand image on the web.

How do you organize your competitive intelligence?

When starting a competitive intelligence project, beware of spreading yourself too thinly! We recommend that you define your objectives in advance. That way, you'll know exactly what kind of data you're interested in, and which type of competitive intelligence to focus on (sales intelligence, media intelligence, pricing intelligence, technology intelligence, image intelligence, etc.).

At the same time, note that this activity is part of an ongoing process. In other words, to make sure you don't miss any key information, always keep an eye on the web (daily, weekly searches, etc.). And that takes a lot of time...

The good news is that competitive intelligence tools are here to simplify the task. So, without further ado, here's a complete selection for every purpose!

#1 Feedly, the famous RSS feed aggregator

🤔 What for?

To easily track all content relating to your competitors as well as your industry, within a single platform.

💡 How it works

Feedly, the famous RSS feed aggregator, has risen to become one of the best-known information watch tools.

But what exactly is an RSS feed aggregator? In concrete terms, it's a platform that provides you with all the content you're interested in, virtually in real time.

All you have to do is enter the keywords you think are relevant, and Feedly will select and prioritize the associated content.

👍 The benefits

• The ability to follow different types of information (blogs and online magazines, media, YouTube channels).
• Artificial intelligence (Leo) that filters and prioritizes interesting topics for you.
• The ability to share content with your colleagues in just a few clicks.

💰 Pricing

• Free version, up to 100 feeds organized in up to 3 folders.
• Paid version, richer in features, from $6/month.

Feedly

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Boost Your Content Curation with Leading RSS Aggregator

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#2 Flipboard, the "personalized magazine

🤔 What for?

To easily track all content relating to your competitors as well as your industry, within a single platform.

💡 How it works

With this other RSS feed aggregator, create a personalized online magazine, enriched thanks to the type of content you want to follow.

To do so, select themes or hashtags. You can also subscribe directly to a particular media outlet or blog.

Finally, Flipboard also supports social networks: alert when a YouTube video appears, track Twitter hashtags, etc.

👍 The benefits

• User-friendly, magazine-style interface.
• Customizable tool.
• Its social side. You can, for example, follow other members.

💰 Rates

Free monitoring tool.

#3 Google Alerts, to stay on top of the news!

🤔 What for?

To be notified as soon as content of interest to you is published online.

💡 How it works

Google Alerts, as the name suggests, is a free competitive intelligence tool that lets you receive alerts when a relevant topic has just been covered on the internet and in online news.

How does it work? Tell the solution which keywords you want to track. As soon as they appear on a new page or in the Google feed, an e-mail is sent to you. A good way to keep an eye on what's being said about you, your potential competitors and your field of activity.

👍 The benefits

• The power of Google, which indexes millions of pages every day (so you're sure not to miss any important information!).
• Customization: type of results, number of results, frequency of mailings, etc.

💰 Rates

Free monitoring tool.

#4 Mention, the complete information tracking software

🤔 What for?

To easily track key information circulating on the web.

💡 How it works

Mention is another tool designed for tracking news on the web, based on pre-selected keywords. Thanks to its advanced settings, you can refine your search: integrate multiple queries, exclude certain ones, etc.

What's the difference with Google Alerts? The software, especially in its paid version, offers a wide range of functions and information sources, as well as a high degree of automation. Enough to satisfy companies with high competitive intelligence requirements.

👍 The benefits

• Different alert levels available to address all your needs (basic alert, combination of keywords and Boolean operators, full customization of watch, etc.).
• Conversation monitoring to examine everything that's being said on a specific topic.
• Numerous sources of information: news sites, forums, blogs, online review platforms, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

💰 Pricing

• Free version, for testing the solution.
• Paid version, richer in features, from €29/month/user.

Mention

+200 reviews

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The social listening tool for your company

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#5 Monibrand, to monitor the use of your brand name

🤔 What for?

To monitor your brand and your competitors' use of it on Google Ads.

💡 How it works

Monibrand's search engine competitive intelligence software operates as part of a Google Ads strategy. Its objective? To protect you from brand squatting.

More concretely, you determine the keywords and countries to be monitored, then Monibrand locates and analyzes competitors positioned on these keywords in real time. In other words, you spot unscrupulous companies using your own brand name to position themselves as part of their paid search.

But the tool doesn't stop there. Once these competitors have been identified, an automatic notification system is triggered to ask them to remove the ads in question.

👍 The benefits

• Support from a team of legal experts to facilitate the process.
• Advertisers are prioritized according to their importance and the consequences of their actions.
• Geolocalized targeting by city or region.

💰 Rates

From €490 for 100 keywords.

Monibrand

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#6 Similarweb, the web traffic analysis tool

🤔 What for?

To retrieve traffic data from sites all over the world, then analyze it.

💡 How it works

With Similarweb, you keep an eye on your competitors' site traffic as well as their SEO, SEA or social media performance. Then you compare them to your own. This is where the power of the tool lies: allowing you to compare two sites, to detect new trends and examine your own competitiveness in relation to the global market.

A wide range of data can be analyzed, from traffic sources to engagement rates on the various marketing channels. For SEO experts, find out which keywords drive the most traffic to competitor sites.

👍 The benefits

• The functional richness of the tool and the many marketing channels supported.
• Interactive dashboards that optimize the management of collected data.
• The many online resources available to help you get to grips with and use the tool.

💰 Pricing

• Free version, for testing the solution.
• Paid version, richer in features. Prices on request.

SimilarWeb Pro

+200 reviews

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Comprehensive Market Analysis for Insightful Decisions

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#7 SEMrush, the all-in-1 visibility marketing software

🤔 What for?

To analyze online visibility across all marketing and communications channels.

💡 How it works

SEMrush is a comprehensive business intelligence tool, with a wide range of features for SEO, PPC and social network marketing.

Among them, discover 5 tools for analyzing your competitors, thanks to which you'll be able to track, among other things:

• their traffic,
• the performance of their Ads, marketing, SEO and social media strategies.

SEMrush is similar to Similarweb, as described above. However, some experts consider it to be more comprehensive, particularly for activities requiring a specialized approach and in-depth audits.

👍 The benefits

• The solution's wide range of functions and power.
• Some of the most reliable data on the market, updated daily.
• Upgradeable software, regularly enhanced with new features.

💰 Pricing

From $119.95/month for the Pro offer.

SEMrush

+200 reviews

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Boost Your SEO Game with Advanced Tools

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#8 Ahrefs, the all-in-one toolbox for SEOs

🤔 What for?

To conduct a comprehensive SEO analysis and keep a close eye on backlinks, which is essential for understanding and improving your site's visibility and online positioning.

💡 How it works

Ahrefs is a tool specialized in backlink analysis and SEO auditing. Its features allow you to perform detailed site audits, track keyword rankings, and explore your competitors' link profiles. Here's what you can do with Ahrefs:

• Track the quality and quantity of backlinks.
• Analyze the keywords for which your competitors rank highly.
• Receive notifications of new and lost backlinks.

Ahrefs is often compared to SEMrush for its rich functionality, although it's particularly renowned for its link mining and sharp SEO analysis.

👍 The benefits

• One of the largest backlink databases on the market.
• Frequent data updates for consistently accurate information.
• Comprehensive site audit tool to help identify and correct SEO problems.

💰 Rates

From $99/month for the basic package.

#9 Spy-Commerce, to spy on your competitors' prices

🤔 What for?

To analyze at a glance the rates charged by your competitors.

💡 How it works

Let's switch gears a bit with this price monitoring software. Its promise? Compare your prices with those of your competitors, in just a few clicks.

All you have to do is define your competitors, and Spy-Commerce will retrieve your catalog and theirs, compare them, and then send you alerts according to the frequency and criteria you've configured beforehand. A great way to stay competitive!

👍 The benefits

• A margin gain calculator to increase your prices while remaining cheaper than the competition.
• An automated product matching system based on the criteria you define.

💰 Prices

Prices on request.

Spycommerce

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Enhance Your E-commerce with Spycommerce Analytics

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#10 Talkwalker, #1 in social listening and conversational intelligence

🤔 What for?

To analyze everything that's being said on the web and social networks.

💡 How it works

Talkwalker is positioned as a comprehensive tool for real-time analysis of consumer data as well as conversations. This is why it's known as conversational intelligence.

More precisely, it offers different modules. Talkwalker Analytics focuses on social listening, detecting everything that's being said on the web about a specific topic. Talkwalker Social Search is more geared towards social networks, and allows you to follow a competitor or a hashtag. As for Talkwalker Alerts, available free of charge, it's similar to Google Alert and alerts you when a brand is mentioned.

Complete, we tell you!

👍 The benefits

• The most powerful conversational monitoring tool on the market.
• Detection and analysis of visual mentions - perfect for social networks like Instagram!
• The quality and reliability of the data collected and analyzed.

💰 Pricing

• Free version, for testing the solution.
• Paid version, richer in features. Prices on request.

Talkwalker

+200 reviews

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Enhance Social Media Monitoring with Deep Insight Tools

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#11 Visibrain, the real-time intelligence platform

🤔 What for?

To help brands and organizations protect their brand image and manage their influence.

💡 How it works

Visibrain is monitoring software that enables companies to analyze and understand their online presence, as well as that of their market, sector and competitors.

With this tool, you follow conversations in real time on social networks, blogs and online media. Creating a monitoring topic is as easy as a few clicks! The technology developed by Visibrain and its advanced filtering and sorting system enable information from social networks to be processed and transformed into actionable insights.

👍 The benefits

• real-time monitoring of your online presence and that of your sector (social networks, blogs and online media),
• identify influencers who match your needs
• alerts by SMS, email, Slack or Telegram to be notified as soon as news or buzz emerges on your topics (brand, sector, competitors, etc.).

💰 Rates

Prices on request.

#12 Wappalyzer, the technology watch extension

🤔 What for?

To discover the technologies exploited by your competitors.

💡 How it works

When we talk about competitive intelligence, we often talk about price, traffic, communication strategy. But there's another key point that will help you stand out from the crowd: technology.

That's what the Wappalyzer extension for Chrome is for, the technology watch tool that identifies the devices used by the sites monitored, then classifies them by category: development solutions, e-commerce platforms, analysis software...

Enough to steal good ideas from your competitors whose sites perform best!

👍 The benefits

• An alert system to keep you informed of developments.
• An extension that's easy to install and use.

💰 Rates

Free competitive intelligence tool.

Traditional competitive intelligence tools

It's important to have the right digital tools for competitive intelligence. But let's not forget the basics either. Traditional competitive intelligence tools include methodologies and models that enable decision-makers to make strategic choices:

• PESTEL analysis, to assess the external factors influencing the company
• SWOT analysis, which focuses on both external and internal factors
• Porter's 5 Forces, which focuses on a company's competitiveness within an industry.

And let's not forget more modern tools, such as dynamic benchmarking and sentiment analysis. All of which will be greatly facilitated by the aforementioned tools.

How can I evaluate the effectiveness of my competitive intelligence?

Once you've got the right tools, you also need to be able to assess whether your competitive intelligence is bearing fruit. Let's take a look at how.

Define clear objectives

Before diving into the data, determine what you want to achieve from your competitive intelligence. Your objectives might include:

• Identifying competitors' strategies.
• Anticipating market trends.
• Detect innovation opportunities.

Use performance indicators (KPIs)

KPIs help you quantify the success of your intelligence. Consider the following:

• Media coverage: frequency of mentions of competitors in relation to your company.
• Reactivity: speed of your response to competitors' actions.
• Impact on decisions: influence of information gathered on strategic decisions.
• ROI: comparing the benefits of strategic adjustments with the costs of monitoring.

Check information quality

Make sure that the data you collect is :

• Current: it must be recent to guarantee its relevance.
• Precise: specific details needed for fine-tuned analysis.
• Diversified: from different sources for a complete perspective.

Evaluate strategic impact

The effectiveness of your intelligence is also reflected in its impact on your strategy:

• Anticipation: ability to anticipate and respond to competitors' movements.
• Innovation: adapting trends and innovations observed among competitors.
• Market positioning: adjustments to offerings based on competitors' strengths and weaknesses.

Measure internal user satisfaction

The opinion of those who use the results of market intelligence on a daily basis is crucial. Their satisfaction may indicate:

• The usefulness of the information in their work.
• Adjustments needed to improve data collection and analysis.

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The final word

You now know which competitive intelligence tools will help you stand out in your market, and how to use them.

As we've seen, there are lots of them out there, and they all meet specific needs. What's more, while some are completely or partially free of charge, others require you to put your money where your mouth is.

The key to efficient, cost-effective competitive intelligence is to define your objectives in advance. This will enable you to select the most relevant tools, the ones that will keep you on track in this increasingly fluid world.