Last Updated: October 6th, 2026
What Is BuzzSumo?
BuzzSumo is an influencer marketing tool designed to help marketers, content creators, and brands identify, analyze, and connect with influencers to amplify their content and campaigns. Let’s check out BuzzSumo review to see how this tool can help.
However, before getting to this comprehensive review, let’s have a quick overview of this company:
- BuzzSumo was launched in 2014.
- The company is headquartered in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom.
- The founders are Henley Wing, James Blackwell, and Stephen Walsh.
- In 2017, Brandwatch acquired BuzzSumo.
- In 2021, a media intelligence company named Cision acquired Brandwatch and BuzzSumo for $450 million.
BuzzSumo started its mission as a content research tool to help content writers, bloggers, and SEO professionals find the most engaging topics.
Now, it’s a widely used content marketing platform with continuous product development and growth throughout its history. However, to determine whether this platform is worth trying, it’s essential to check BuzzSumo reviews, features, and pricing.
BuzzSumo Review 2026: Pricing, Features and the Best Alternatives
If you’re considering using BuzzSumo as your go-to tool, we recommend you read the BuzzSumo review first so that you can make an informed decision.
BuzzSumo Features
In order to better understand whether BuzzSumo is the right tool for your business, you should have a clear understanding of the features and services they offer.
So, without further ado, here are the key features of BuzzSumo:
1. Content Discovery
As a creator, knowing the latest trends in your industry is essential to grow your online visibility. BuzzSumo offers a content discovery tool that enables you to uncover popular keywords and content ideas that can boost engagement. Using a keyword discovery tool, you can explore search trends and cost-per-click for various keywords and gain insights into keyword performance.
2. Content Research
By using BuzzSumo’s content research tool, you can scan billions of articles and social posts by filtering them based on content type over the past 5 years. You can also use the backlink tool to find out which websites are linking to your competitors.
3. Influencer Discovery
Buzzsumo claims to have a database of 3 million creators across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.
You can search for relevant creators within your niche using specific keywords, save them to lists, and preview their profiles on social media.
While BuzzSumo’s influencer search has improved, especially with platform filters and TikTok-specific tools, its filtering options may still be more limited. It tends to suggest accounts that have used the keywords as hashtags.
So, you may see many results for accounts with less than 1k followers and who are not even creators. Moreover, BuzzSumo’s influencer database is not opt-in, and the influencers are not manually vetted, meaning you can’t be sure whether they’re active, authentic, or open to collaboration.
To make things more challenging, BuzzSumo doesn’t offer in-app messaging or campaign tools, so you have to contact influencers manually using external platforms. Essentially, while it helps you find potential names, it doesn’t support outreach or campaign execution.
As you can see, Buzzsumo is not a great option for influencer discovery. But what alternative can you try?
Ainfluencer is the best Buzzsumo alternative, and it has lots of helpful tools for running successful influencer marketing campaigns. Using this tool, you can discover over 5M active Instagram and TikTok creators with more than 20 advanced filters and an AI-powered search tool. You can preview their account insights, past collaborations, and engagement metrics and chat with them inside the app.
How to Find Influencers on Buzzsumo?
To discover creators on BuzzSumo, you should take the following steps:
- Go to the “Find Influencers” tab.
- Enter a keyword related to your niche (e.g., skincare, gaming).
- Use filters to narrow results by platform, category, or metrics.
- Click on profiles to view details such as follower count, engagement rate, and top shared content.
- Use the “Who Shared” tool to discover influencers sharing your competitors’ content.
Finding influencers is not a free feature on BuzzSumo. However, the platform allows you to check this feature using the free trial.
4. Monitoring
Using this tool, you can monitor brand mentions and see what people are saying about your products online. This way, you can access customer reviews and respond to them in time.
BuzzSumo Pricing
BuzzSumo is not a free influencer marketing platform, and its pricing structure is considered to be expensive.
BuzzSumo has four plans and no free tier. The free plan was withdrawn on 14 February 2023 and replaced by a 7 day trial that does not ask for a card. Prices read 6 October 2026.
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Seats | What the tier adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content Creation | $199 | $159 | 1 | Content discovery and brand monitoring. One seat only. |
| PR & Comms | $299 | $239 | 5 | Adds the journalist and media database. |
| Suite | $499 | $399 | 10 | First tier with YouTube analysis, influencer discovery and 5 years of historical data. |
| Enterprise | Not sold monthly | $999 ($11,988/yr) | 30 | 50 alerts and support. Annual contract only. |
Yearly billing is about 20% cheaper on the three tiers that offer it, which most write-ups leave out because they quote the monthly figure. Content Creation is $1,908 a year rather than $2,388.
The seat ladder decides your bill, not the headline price. The entry plan is one seat. Not one seat plus a per seat rate, one seat. A second person means $299 a month, and that tier jumps straight to five seats whether you need them or not. Count your users before comparing BuzzSumo with anything else.
If you came here for influencer discovery, the real entry price is $499. Influencer search and YouTube analysis both start at Suite, not at the $199 tier. That is three times the headline price and it is the most common misreading of this price list. Searches themselves are unlimited on every tier, so the old daily cap is no longer the constraint. The constraint is which features your tier can reach at all.
Ainfluencer is an all-in-one free influencer marketing platform that provides everything you need to manage influencer-based campaigns in one place. Using this FREE tool, you can discover influencers, view their detailed account insights, chat with them, and run and manage campaigns
If you want to run an influencer marketing campaign, join Ainfluencer for free and start your journey.
Is BuzzSumo Worth the Price?
It is worth it if content and PR are the job: trend tracking, finding what gets shared, monitoring a brand across the web and working a journalist list. That is what BuzzSumo is built for and what its reviewers consistently praise.
It is poor value if you are buying it mainly to find creators, because you are paying from $499 a month for a feature that specialist platforms do better and cheaper. For that job, Ainfluencer is free, and the GRIN and HypeAuditor entry tiers both sit well below BuzzSumo’s influencer tier.
Buzzsumo Reviews: What Do Customers Say?
BuzzSumo is well reviewed, and unusually for this category the two main platforms agree with each other. Scores are as each platform reports them, read 6 October 2026.
| Source | Score | Reviews | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| G2 | 4.5 out of 5 | 107 | 71% five star, 26% four star, 2% three star |
| Capterra | 4.5 out of 5 | 146 | 93% positive, 6% neutral, 1% negative |
The distribution matters more than the average. Almost the entire G2 sample sits at four or five stars and the one star tail is effectively absent, which is rare. The complaints below are not from people who felt cheated. They are from people who like the tool and think it costs too much, which is a different signal and an easier one to act on.
What reviewers praise is consistent: content research, trend discovery and brand monitoring. Here is what they say in their own words.
This user explains that they had a hard time finding relevant and trending content because BuzzSumo’s content search isn’t always accurate.
One of the most important disadvantages of this tool is its high price. Businesses have a certain budget for their marketing efforts, and most of them won’t be able to spend a huge amount on platforms such as Buzzsumo.
Here’s an unhappy user highlighting this issue on G2:
In addition to all that, there are reports that show the influencer discovery feature is not as functional as users expect it to be. And, the influencer database is not that extensive compared to similar tools. Let’s take a look:
What the negative reviews actually say
| Complaint | What reviewers describe | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|
| Price against the value | The most frequently cited drawback on G2, and it comes mainly from small businesses and freelancers rather than from enterprise accounts. | Price the yearly figure, not the monthly one, and check whether the tier you need is really the entry tier. Most of this complaint is people who bought at $199 and found the feature they wanted starts at $499. |
| Feature limits inside a paid plan | Reviewers note that some of the strongest capabilities, full historical data and backlink data among them, are limited rather than absent, so the tool looks more capable in a demo than in a cheap plan. | Ask which tier carries the data window you need. Five years of history starts at Suite. |
| Content search accuracy | Some users report difficulty surfacing genuinely relevant trending content, with results that are popular but off topic. | Test three of your own real topics during the 7 day trial rather than broad terms, which always look impressive. |
| Influencer discovery depth | Reported as weaker than the content tools, with a creator database smaller than platforms built for it. This is the complaint most relevant to brands arriving from an influencer marketing search. | If creators are the job, treat BuzzSumo’s discovery as a bonus rather than the reason to buy. |
| No free plan | Removed in February 2023. Long-time users still reference it and some third-party write-ups still list it. | The 7 day trial needs no card. That is the whole of the free access now available. |
The honest read: BuzzSumo’s reviews describe a tool that does its core job well and charges confidently for it. Nearly every complaint traces to the same root, which is that the tier you can afford may not be the tier with the feature you came for. That is a buying problem rather than a product problem, and it is solved by reading the seat ladder before the feature list.
What Are BuzzSumo Pros And Cons?
Now that you have read the BuzzSumo reviews, here is the balance of what it does well and where it falls short, with the pricing reality included rather than left to a separate section.
Pros
- Best in class content discovery. Finding what gets shared, by topic, is what BuzzSumo is known for and its reviews back it up.
- Strong brand and keyword monitoring across the web and social, which is why PR teams keep it.
- Journalist and media database from the PR and Comms tier, genuinely useful for outreach.
- Unlimited searches on every tier. The old daily cap is gone.
- Clean, learnable interface. Reviewers rarely complain about usability, which is not true of most tools at this price.
- 7 day trial with no card required.
- 4.5 out of 5 on both G2 and Capterra across 253 reviews between them, with almost no one star tail.
Cons
- No free plan since February 2023. Trial only.
- The entry plan is a single seat. A second user costs $299 a month, not a seat fee.
- Influencer discovery starts at $499, not at the advertised $199.
- YouTube analysis also starts at $499.
- Influencer database is shallower than platforms built around creators.
- No in-app messaging with creators and no campaign management, so it researches but runs nothing.
- Historical data is tiered. Five years of it starts at Suite.
- Enterprise is annual only.
Read as one list, every con is about scope or price and none is about quality. BuzzSumo is a content research tool that also has an influencer feature, and most of the disappointment in its reviews comes from people who bought it the other way round.
BuzzSumo vs Ahrefs: Which Should You Use?
This is the comparison people search for most often alongside BuzzSumo, and the two are less interchangeable than they look. The split decides in one sentence: BuzzSumo tells you what gets shared, Ahrefs tells you what gets linked.
| BuzzSumo | Ahrefs Content Explorer | |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | What content is being shared, and by whom | What content earns links and ranks |
| Signal it is built on | Social engagement across Facebook, X, Pinterest and Reddit | Backlinks and search data from an index of roughly 18.5 billion pages |
| Entry price for this feature | $199 a month, Content Creation | $249 a month, the Standard plan |
| Cheaper plans | Nothing below $199 | Starter at $29 and Lite at $129 exist but do not include Content Explorer |
| Influencer and PR tools | Yes, including a journalist database | No |
| Keyword and rank tracking | No | Yes, it is the rest of the product |
The pricing trap worth knowing. Ahrefs looks cheaper if you compare its $29 Starter plan with BuzzSumo’s $199. Content Explorer, the part that competes with BuzzSumo, is not on Starter or on the $129 Lite plan. It begins on Standard at $249, which makes Ahrefs the more expensive of the two for this specific job, not the cheaper one.
Choose BuzzSumo if PR, influencer outreach and social amplification drive your work and you need to know which angles travel and who carries them. Choose Ahrefs if link building and rankings are the priority and content research is one job among several. Choose neither if what you want is to find creators and run campaigns with them, because both are research tools and neither negotiates, messages, contracts or pays a creator.
Ainfluencer: Best BuzzSumo Alternative
While BuzzSumo provides some helpful features to stay updated with the latest industry trends, it’s not a great option for connecting with influencers. The influencer discovery tool is limited, with few filters and no campaign creation feature. Here’s a better alternative.
Here’s a list of Ainfluencer’s Features
- Free to Use: No platform fees for brands—access all features at no cost.
- AI-Powered Search: Instantly find influencers on Instagram and TikTok.
- Advanced Filters: Search by age, gender, location, niche, budget, engagement rate, and more.
- Detailed Influencer Profiles: View account insights, engagement metrics, and past collaborations.
- In-App Chat: Message, negotiate, and invite influencers to your campaigns directly.
- Campaign Management: Create, manage, and run unlimited campaigns.
- Escrow Payment System: Funds are held securely until both parties complete the deal.
- Secure Payments: Make safe transactions through the platform.
- Performance Tracking: Monitor campaign results in real time
| Features | Buzzsumo | Ainfluencer |
|---|---|---|
| Database of Influencers | 3M | +5M |
| Filtering | Basic Filters | AI-powered search engine/
More than 20 filters |
| Pricing Options | $499 - $999/mo | Free |
| Influencer Search | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | TikTok, Facebook, Twitter,YouTube |
Instagram, TikTok, YouTube |
| Number of Invitations | N/A | Unlimited |
| Number of Campaigns | N/A | Unlimited |
| Campaign Management | Yes | Yes |
| Detailed Insights | No | Yes |
| Shopify Integration | No | Yes |
Other BuzzSumo Alternatives
Are you looking for similar tools to manage your online relations and work with influencers? Here are some of the safe BuzzSumo alternatives.
One of the BuzzSumo alternatives that provides similar features to monitor your market and brand mentions is Meltwater.
Using this tool, you have access to features such as consumer intelligence, media relations, influencer discovery, social listening and analytics, and sales intelligence. However, it’s not free, and you need to contact them for your customized plan.
Read Meltwater (Klear) Reviews.
2. Upfluence
If you like to find creators across different social media platforms, Upfluence is one of the BuzzSumo alternatives that can help you. Upfluence provides a database of over 4M influencers across Amazon, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitch, and WordPress.
Read Upfluence Reviews.
3. Heepsy
Heepsy gives access to Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube influencers and includes audience authenticity analysis, so you can detect fake followers and engagement rates.
Unlike BuzzSumo, which doesn’t provide influencer vetting or audience quality scores, Heepsy helps ensure your campaigns reach real people. It’s also more budget-friendly, offering affordable monthly plans that are accessible for startups.
Read Heepsy Reviews.
4. Modash
Modash focuses on data accuracy and predictive performance metrics. You can filter influencers by location, followers, engagement rate, and audience demographics, with real-time Instagram and TikTok data.
Unlike BuzzSumo, Modash is specifically designed for influencer marketing, not content trends, and provides higher-quality filtering and outreach support for scalable influencer programs.
Read Modash Reviews.
5. Brandwatch
Brandwatch is a decent BuzzSumo alternative for brands that need advanced social listening, sentiment analysis, and competitive intelligence.
Unlike BuzzSumo, which primarily focuses on content performance and influencer identification, Brandwatch provides more in-depth audience analytics, customizable dashboards, and predictive insights.
Read Brandwatch Reviews.
Conclusion
According to our BuzzSumo review, it offers a range of valuable features for those looking to delve into influencer marketing and content analysis. Its content search, trend analysis, social media monitoring, and influencer discovery tools can provide essential insights for businesses and individuals.
However, the pricing structure of BuzzSumo is relatively high, making it less accessible for smaller businesses.
Real user reviews highlight some limitations of BuzzSumo, including inaccuracies in content search, high pricing, and a limited influencer database. These factors may cause potential users to reconsider whether it’s the right fit for their needs.
FAQs
BuzzSumo is a tool for content research and social media analysis, helping brands and agencies find popular content, track competitor performance, and discover influential trends and influencers in their niche.
No, BuzzSumo is not free. While it offers a limited free trial, access to its full features requires a paid subscription, which can be quite costly, especially for small businesses or startups.
If you are looking for a safe and free tool to run social media campaigns with the help of influencers, you can’t find a better option than Ainfluencer. Using this tool, you can discover creators, chat with them, set up campaigns invite influencers, and monitor results.
