# MarketHQ vs OpenScout

Updated October 2026

OpenScout is the closest functional analog to MarketHQ we have found: it watches Reddit, tracks whether AI answers name you, and sells to startups. The two products then split on what they do about the gap. Every OpenScout fact below was read off OpenScout's own site on 8 October 2026.

## Quick answer

MarketHQ covers Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters and blogs on every plan, with Reddit and social networks on paid plans, while OpenScout's site now describes Reddit tracking only. Both tools track whether AI answers name your brand. Choose OpenScout if you want Reddit posts drafted and published for you. Choose MarketHQ if your team writes its own replies and needs more than Reddit in scope.

- OpenScout Starter is $69 a month; MarketHQ Lite is $29 a month.
- OpenScout's site describes Reddit tracking only. It does not list Hacker News, GitHub or Stack Overflow.
- OpenScout publishes for you. MarketHQ hands the work back to your team with a plan attached.

## Why choose MarketHQ instead of OpenScout?

MarketHQ covers Hacker News, GitHub and Stack Overflow, which OpenScout's site does not list, and hands the gap analysis back to your own team rather than posting from external accounts.

Both tools track whether AI answers name your brand. The difference is what happens next. OpenScout drafts and publishes content from its own warmed accounts; MarketHQ surfaces the thread, the argument and the gap, and your team replies from its own name and account.

Every paid MarketHQ plan from Lite at $29 includes API keys, MCP access, a Slack daily digest, gap analysis with an action plan, and competitor page-change monitoring. OpenScout lists its API and MCP connectors on the $199 Autopilot tier. Lite and Startup add a four-day free trial; Growth is subscribe-only.

Choose OpenScout if your team needs the content written and published for it. Choose MarketHQ if you want the intelligence and your team's own voice in every reply.

## What sources does MarketHQ cover?

Every plan: Hacker News, GitHub, RSS, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Perplexity, 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
- 4-day trial on Lite and Startup, charged on day 4
- Free one-time check, no account needed

## OpenScout values read from OpenScout's own site on 8 October 2026.

| Feature | MarketHQ | OpenScout |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Communities covered | Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters and RSS on every tier; Reddit and other social and web sources are paid | Reddit only, matched against your keywords and chosen subreddits |
| GitHub and Stack Overflow | Both covered as first-class sources | Neither appears on the site; nor do Hacker News, Dev.to or Lobsters |
| Entry paid price | Lite, $29 a month | Starter, $69 a month, shown against a struck-through $89 |
| Free plan | No free plan; a 4-day trial on Lite and Startup, charged on day 4 | None listed; the plans are Starter, Autopilot and Custom |
| Trial | 4 days free on Lite and Startup | 3 days free with Autopilot-level access, no credit card |
| What the entry tier limits | Tracking capacity only; every paid tier has the same features | Starter: 10 keywords, 10 subreddits, and no access to the Content Engine |
| Slack, API and MCP | Slack daily digest on every plan; API and MCP on every paid plan from Lite up | "Slack, MCP/API connectors" listed on Autopilot at $199 a month, not on Starter |
| AI-answer visibility | Weekly check of how AI assistants answer buying questions in your category, on paid plans | AI-Cited Posts tracking on both plans, with competitor share of voice across cited threads |
| Who writes and posts | We surface the thread and the argument; your team writes and posts | Content Engine writes 90 posts a month on Autopilot, published from OpenScout's own warmed-up Reddit accounts |
| Competitor page-change monitoring | Included on paid plans | Not listed on the site |
| Gap analysis and action plans | What buyers ask for that you lack, and what to do about it, on paid plans | Not listed; the stated outputs are scored mentions, reply drafts and a content calendar |

## What is OpenScout?

OpenScout is a Reddit-first growth service that finds the threads AI answers are built from, scores mentions for buying intent, and drafts or publishes the content meant to change those answers.

It watches Reddit against your keywords and chosen subreddits, and scores every mention from 0 to 100 on product fit and readiness to buy, with low scores held back from the dashboard. Its AI Visibility view records which threads Google and AI cite for buyer questions and how often each rival is named inside them.

Pricing on the monthly view is Starter at $69 a month, shown against a struck-through $89, and Autopilot at $199, plus a Custom tier for agencies. A yearly toggle advertises 30% off. Starter is 10 keywords and 10 subreddits with no Content Engine. Autopilot doubles both, adds Slack and MCP/API connectors, and includes 90 posts a month published from OpenScout's own Reddit accounts.

## What is MarketHQ?

MarketHQ is market intelligence for brands: it watches communities, news, social and AI answers about you and your competitors, then explains what the mentions mean and what your team should do next.

The sources are Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters and RSS on every tier, with Reddit and other paid social and web lanes on top. Weekly AI-answer visibility tracking, gap analysis with an action plan and competitor page-change monitoring are on paid plans; a Slack daily digest and a chat interface instead of a dashboard are on every tier.

MarketHQ has no free plan. Lite $29, Startup $99, Growth $199/mo, with a four-day trial on Lite and Startup, charged on day 4. Tiers differ by tracking capacity only, so an API key and an MCP endpoint come with every paid plan from Lite up.

## Which tool covers the sources a growing brand needs?

MarketHQ: OpenScout's site now describes Reddit tracking only, and mentions Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev.to and Lobsters nowhere.

For a brand whose buyers talk in technical communities, that is the deciding row. A GitHub issue comparing you to a competitor or a Stack Overflow answer recommending someone else's SDK is a stronger buying signal than a passing Reddit comment, and OpenScout's site lists neither.

OpenScout is built around subreddit selection and goes deeper on Reddit than on anything else, with intent scoring and reply drafts per thread. If your category is argued out almost entirely on Reddit, that focus fits.

## Do both tools track whether AI assistants recommend you?

Yes, and this is the closest the two products get. Both report whether AI answers name your brand or a competitor.

OpenScout records which threads Google and AI cite for buyer questions, shows competitor share of voice across them, and offers a one-click reply draft. Tracking volume is a tier feature.

MarketHQ checks weekly how assistants answer buying questions in your category, then feeds the result into a gap analysis: what buyers keep asking for that you lack, and what to do about it.

## Should a service post on your behalf?

That is the real decision between these two, and it is a judgement call rather than a feature row.

OpenScout's Autopilot plan publishes from its own warmed-up Reddit accounts with a stated rule of no links. That removes the slowest part of community marketing: getting anyone to write the post at all.

MarketHQ does not post anything. We surface the thread, the gap, and your team replies from its own account. Slower, yes, but the credibility accrues to a name a buyer can check.

## Where does OpenScout beat MarketHQ?

OpenScout wins on writing and publishing content for you. Choose MarketHQ when your team writes its own replies and needs GitHub and Stack Overflow in scope.

Its Content Engine produces posts from warmed accounts. Nothing in MarketHQ replaces that: we surface threads worth answering; your team writes them.

MarketHQ wins on sources OpenScout's site does not list (Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev.to, Lobsters, and X and LinkedIn on paid plans), a Slack digest, gap analysis, and weekly AI-answer visibility from Lite at $29. MarketHQ has no free plan: its trial needs a card and runs 4 days before charging.

- Choose OpenScout if you want content written and published from warmed accounts, with no one at your team needing to post.
- Choose OpenScout if intent scoring from 0 to 100 with low scores hidden is the triage model you want.
- Choose OpenScout if a 3-day trial with Autopilot-level access and no credit card is how you want to start.

## What does a month on each tool look like?

OpenScout fills a calendar; MarketHQ fills a shortlist with reasons attached. The numbers below are illustrative, not measured.

Say you sell a managed vector database and track your name, two competitors and "embedding storage". On OpenScout Starter that is four of ten keywords across ten subreddits: scored mentions, reply drafts and the AI-cited thread list. Publishing stays your job until you move to Autopilot.

On MarketHQ Lite the same keywords pull GitHub issues and Stack Overflow answers, arrive as one Slack digest with comparisons separated from support questions, and include a weekly read on how assistants answer "which vector database should I use". The output is a plan, not a queue of drafts.

## FAQ

### How much does OpenScout cost?

OpenScout lists Starter at $69 a month, shown against a struck-through $89, and Autopilot at $199, plus a Custom tier priced on a call. A yearly toggle advertises 30% off. Those were the monthly figures on its pricing section on 8 October 2026.

### Does OpenScout monitor GitHub or Stack Overflow?

MarketHQ covers GitHub, Stack Overflow, Dev.to and Lobsters alongside Hacker News and RSS on every tier, plus Reddit on paid plans. OpenScout's site describes Reddit tracking only.

### Does OpenScout have a free plan?

MarketHQ has no free plan either: it offers a four-day trial on Lite and Startup, charged on day 4. OpenScout lists no free plan as of October 2026; it offers a three-day free trial with Autopilot-level access and no credit card.

### Which one tracks AI-answer visibility?

MarketHQ checks weekly how assistants answer buying questions in your category and feeds the result into a gap analysis and an action plan on paid plans. OpenScout tracks which threads Google and AI cite and who is named, with competitor share of voice.

### Can I use either tool from a script or an agent?

Yes, at a price. OpenScout lists Slack and MCP/API connectors on its Autopilot plan at $199 a month, not on Starter. MarketHQ includes an API key and an MCP endpoint on every paid tier from Lite at $29 up.

## Related

- [OpenScout alternatives](https://markethq.ai/alternatives/openscout-alternatives) — the wider field if OpenScout is one of several tools you are weighing
- [MarketHQ vs Syften](https://markethq.ai/compare/markethq-vs-syften) — the same decision against a pure monitoring tool rather than a posting service
- [Track mentions on Hacker News, GitHub and Reddit](https://markethq.ai/use-cases/track-mentions-hacker-news-github-reddit) — how the job runs end to end once the tool is chosen
- [Otterly alternatives](https://markethq.ai/alternatives/otterly-alternatives) — the AI-visibility half of this comparison, judged on its own
- [All comparisons](https://markethq.ai/compare) — every head-to-head we verified
- [Pricing](https://markethq.ai/pricing) — what the four MarketHQ tiers cost

## Sources

- OpenScout home page, features and pricing: https://openscout.so/ (verified 2026-10-08)