# MarketHQ vs Mention: is a B2C listening suite the right fit for a developer-tool company?

Updated September 2026

Mention is a social listening and media monitoring tool built for marketers, agencies, and founders tracking brand mentions across social media, the web, and review sites. For an API, infrastructure, or DX product company trying to track GitHub issues, Hacker News threads, and AI-answer visibility, the fit is different, and as of September 2026, Mention doesn't even publish a self-serve price to weigh against it. That gap matters because of how developer research actually happens. A developer comparing infrastructure providers is less likely to file a support ticket than to open a GitHub issue, ask a question on Stack Overflow, or type a comparison prompt into an AI assistant. A monitoring tool built to watch consumer social media and reviews sees none of that.

## Quick answer

MarketHQ tracks GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, Stack Overflow and Dev.to as core sources, adds paid lanes for X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, YouTube, Quora and the web, and turns those signals into gap analysis and action plans—at a self-serve price you can see today. Choose Mention if you run a consumer or B2C brand that wants broad social and review coverage through an enterprise contract.

- Mention's own pages don't name GitHub, Hacker News, or Stack Overflow as tracked sources.
- Mention gates its price behind a demo request; MarketHQ starts at $29/month, self-serve.
- Mention doesn't track AI-answer visibility: whether ChatGPT or Claude recommend a product.
- MarketHQ turns developer-community and AI-visibility gaps into concrete action plans.

## Why choose MarketHQ instead of Mention?

MarketHQ is built for developer-tool teams that need technical community intelligence and AI-answer visibility, with a price you can see before you talk to anyone.

Mention gates its price behind a demo request and is built for marketers and agencies tracking consumer brands across social, web and 75+ review sites. MarketHQ covers developer-native sources: GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters and RSS, plus paid lanes for X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, YouTube, Quora and the public web when you need them.

Beyond sources, the output shape is different. MarketHQ sends a grouped Slack daily digest, drafts replies from your product's technical strengths, runs gap analysis with a concrete action plan, and checks weekly whether AI assistants name you when a developer asks for a tool in your category.

Choose Mention if all you want is a broad B2C social and review listening contract. Choose MarketHQ if you want developer-community intelligence and AI-answer visibility on a self-serve plan starting at $29/month.

## What sources does MarketHQ cover?

Free: Hacker News, GitHub, RSS, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters. Paid plans add Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Quora, Web, Perplexity, Product Hunt, Broader web crawl, Bluesky.

- Grouped Slack daily digest
- Drafted replies from your own strengths
- Gap analysis and action plans
- Weekly AI-answer visibility (paid plans)
- Chat over your own evidence
- API and MCP on every paid plan
- Flat capacity pricing, tiers differ by tracking volume only
- 7-day trial for $0.99 on paid plans
- Free tier with no card and no end date

## Mention values read from Mention's own site on 13 September 2026.

| Feature | MarketHQ | Mention |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Starting price | Free: Lite $29, Startup $99, Growth $199/mo | Not published: gated “Starting at $” figure behind a form |
| Free trial | 7 days for $0.99 on paid plans | Offered, trial length not stated |
| Built for | API, infrastructure & DX product companies | Marketers, agencies, founders & enterprises (B2C brands) |
| Developer sources (GitHub, HN, Reddit, SO, Dev.to) | Yes, plus Lobsters and RSS | Reddit only: no GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, or Dev.to |
| Social/web sources | Yes: X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, YouTube, news & blogs | Yes: social platforms, web/news/blogs, 75+ review sites |
| AI-answer visibility tracking | Yes, weekly across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini | No |
| Gap analysis and action plans | Yes, core to the product | Not published |
| Competitor page-change monitoring | Yes, on paid plans | Not published |
| Slack digest | Yes, daily | Not published |
| Setup time | Self-serve signup, minutes | Sales demo before a price is shown |
| Best fit | API/infra/DX teams tracking developer mindshare and AI visibility | Consumer/B2C brands wanting broad social and review coverage |

## What does Mention cost as of September 2026?

As of September 2026, Mention's pricing page lists a single plan called Company, described as a "complete media monitoring solution ... tailored to your organization's specific monitoring needs and scale."

The price is shown only as "Starting at $/month, billed yearly" with the actual figure gated behind a form. There's no public self-serve number. A "Start a free trial" button is offered, though the page doesn't state the trial length.

In practice, that's an enterprise, contact-sales model: you talk to someone before you see a number, and the plan is sized to "your organization's specific monitoring needs." That's a different buying motion from a $29/month self-serve signup you can start today.

Because the figure is gated, there's no way to weigh Mention's cost against a flat, capacity-based plan without first handing a sales team your details: the opposite of the fast, transparent pricing developer-tool buyers expect from the tools they actually adopt.

## Who is Mention built for?

Mention's own site names its audience as marketers, agencies, founders, small businesses, and enterprises tracking mentions across Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, and YouTube, plus web (news, blogs, forums) and 75+ review sites including Google, Trustpilot, Amazon, and Glassdoor.

That's solid coverage for a brand or PR team watching consumer sentiment.

Developer-tool companies tend to have a narrower, more technical set of questions:

None of that is a knock on Mention's product. Coverage across 75+ review sites and a billion tracked sources is a lot of reach for a consumer or B2C brand. It's a mismatch of market rather than quality: the sources, the language patterns, and the buying motion are all built around a different kind of company.

- Developer community signal: knowing when a developer asks "what's the best API for X" or compares your SDK to a competitor's in a GitHub issue, an HN thread, or r/webdev, not tracking every consumer brand mention across news and reviews.
- Technical sources: GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, and Stack Overflow, where builders actually evaluate infrastructure and API tools.
- AI-answer visibility: whether ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity name your product when a developer asks for a recommendation.
- Action over dashboards: evidence-backed replies, gap analysis, and a concrete action plan, not another mentions feed to interpret on your own.

## Where does Mention fall short for developer-tool companies?

Two blind spots matter most: the developer communities where builders actually compare tools, and whether AI engines name a product at all.

Put together, those two blind spots mean a developer-tool company relying on Mention alone would see plenty of consumer-style mentions and still miss the two things that actually move deals: a GitHub issue where a competitor gets named, and an AI answer where your product doesn't.

- Developer communities: Mention's own feature list (social platforms, web/news, and review sites) doesn't name GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, or Dev.to anywhere. Those are exactly the places developers compare API and infrastructure products, and they sit outside Mention's stated coverage.
- AI-answer visibility: developers increasingly ask an AI assistant "what's the best tool for X" before they search or browse a forum. Mention, like other social listening tools, tracks what people say publicly after the fact. It doesn't track what AI engines say when a developer asks for a recommendation in the first place. MarketHQ tracks both: developer-community mentions across GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters, and RSS plus paid lanes for X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, YouTube, Quora and the web, alongside weekly AI-visibility measurement across the major assistants.

## Which should a developer-tool company choose: MarketHQ or Mention?

Choose Mention for broad enterprise-contract social and review coverage aimed at consumer brands; choose MarketHQ for developer-community and AI-answer intelligence you can start using the same day.

Both serve real needs. Mention is a reasonable pick for consumer brands that want broad social and review coverage through an enterprise contract. MarketHQ is built for developer-tool companies that need developer-community and AI-answer intelligence they can start using the same day.

- Choose MarketHQ if you're an API, infrastructure, or DX product company that needs developer-community signal from GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, and Stack Overflow.
- Choose MarketHQ if you want AI-visibility measured weekly, not left unmeasured.
- Choose MarketHQ if you want gap analysis and action plans, not just a mentions feed.
- Choose MarketHQ if you'd rather start today on a self-serve plan than book a demo to see a price.

## Where does Mention win?

Mention wins on broad consumer social and review coverage under an enterprise contract. Choose MarketHQ when you need GitHub, Hacker News and a self-serve price today.

Review-site breadth and a negotiated Company plan fit consumer brands with a procurement process.

MarketHQ wins for developer-tool teams: GitHub, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, Slack digest, gap analysis and weekly AI-answer visibility, published prices from free through Lite at $29.

- Choose Mention if all you want is broad social and review coverage across dozens of channels for a consumer brand.
- Choose Mention if all you want is a single enterprise contract your procurement team negotiates directly.
- Choose Mention if all you want is crisis or reputation monitoring across mainstream social media and news.

## FAQ

### Does Mention publish pricing?

As of September 2026, Mention's pricing page lists one plan, called Company, with the price shown only as a gated "Starting at $" figure behind a form. No self-serve number is public. Check Mention's official site for current terms.

### Does Mention track GitHub, Hacker News, or Stack Overflow?

Not on Mention's own pages, which name consumer social, web and 75+ review sites. MarketHQ covers GitHub, Hacker News and Stack Overflow on every tier including free, plus Dev.to, Lobsters and RSS.

### Does Mention track AI visibility?

No. Mention tracks public mentions after the fact. MarketHQ checks weekly whether assistants name you for buying questions in your category, on paid plans, and turns gaps into an action plan.

### Who should choose MarketHQ over Mention?

API, infrastructure, and DX product companies that need developer-community monitoring (GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, Stack Overflow) and weekly AI-visibility tracking, plus gap analysis and action plans, without an enterprise sales process.

## Related

- [AI visibility for developer-tool companies](https://markethq.ai/use-cases/for-ai-visibility) — how the AI-answer side works, in more depth
- [Developer community monitoring](https://markethq.ai/use-cases/developer-community-monitoring) — the workflow this comparison points back to
- [MarketHQ vs Brandwatch](https://markethq.ai/compare/markethq-vs-brandwatch) — the same demo-gated-pricing trade-off against a bigger enterprise suite
- [All comparisons](https://markethq.ai/compare) — every head-to-head we verified
- [Pricing](https://markethq.ai/pricing) — what the four tiers cost

## Sources

- Mention pricing: https://mention.com/en/pricing/ (verified 2026-09-13)
- Mention home page: https://mention.com/en/ (verified 2026-09-13)