Costs and pricing
Part of Social listening budget: the four ledgers behind the licence
Social listening hidden costs for UK buyers: billing term, plan caps, VAT, DPIA time and exit
Hidden social listening costs for UK buyers: Brand24 billing and plan figures, 20 per cent VAT, and illustrative pay for the DPIA and exit work.
What to take away
- Brand24's monthly billing costs $600 a year more than annual billing on its two cheapest plans, and $1,200 more on the next two (arithmetic on the listed prices).
- Moving up a plan to get more keywords or mentions adds $100 to $200 a month on annual billing.
- Some features are add-onsBrand24 marks Smart Context Search that way, and Mention sells historical data and API access separately. Those pages show no add-on price, so each is a line to quote.
- VAT at 20 per cent, a data protection assessment and an exit task all sit outside the headline price. In the example below the last two come to £275.38 in staff time.
1. The billing term premium
Brand24 shows two prices for each plan, in US dollars. The table gives both and the twelve-month difference, which is arithmetic on the listed prices. A UK buyer also carries the exchange rate on the payment date.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing, per month | Extra cost of monthly billing over 12 months | Keywords | Mentions a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | $249 | $199 | $600 | 3 | 2K |
| Team | $349 | $299 | $600 | 7 | 10K |
| Pro | $499 | $399 | $1,200 | 12 | 40K |
| Business | $699 | $599 | $1,200 | 25 | 100K |
The cheaper rate is tied to annual billing, so the saving comes with a twelve-month commitment. Ask what happens to unused months if you leave early or the sources you need change.
2. The next plan up
Limits are where the headline price stops. The Individual plan allows 3 keywords, 2K mentions a month and one user. The Team plan allows 7 keywords, 10K mentions and unlimited users, and adds chat support to its feature list.
On annual billing that step is $100 a month, or $1,200 over a year. The step from Team to Pro is another $100 a month, and from Pro to Business it is $200 a month, or $2,400 over a year.
Work out which limit you will hit first and budget for that plan, not the entry one. Test the limit during a trial, using the checks in tool implementation.
3. Add-ons and gated features
A plan name does not tell you everything the service includes. Brand24 marks Smart Context Search as an add-on on its Pro and Business plans. Mention's Company plan does not include historical data access or API access: both are paid add-ons.
Those two items matter for the work, not just the bill. History decides whether you can compare this quarter with last year. An API decides whether results reach your own dashboard.
Ask for the price of each add-on in writing and note whether it is monthly, annual or per use. A supplier comparison on one set of criteria stops add-ons hiding in the gaps, and the vendor due diligence pack lists the documents to request.
4. Seats, usage and tiers
Most plans meter something: keywords, mentions or users. Brand24's Individual plan has one user, while Team onwards lists unlimited users. A second analyst can therefore force an upgrade even if mentions stay low. See pricing models for how seats, usage and add-ons shift risk to the buyer.
5. VAT
The standard VAT rate is 20 per cent. As an illustration, a £1,000 net quote becomes £1,200 gross if the VAT cannot be recovered. Whether it can depends on your VAT registration and on where the supplier invoices from.
Ask the supplier which entity issues the invoice and whether VAT is shown. Keep net charge, VAT, gross cash and recoverable VAT in separate columns. A named UK tax adviser should confirm the treatment before approval.
6. Data protection work and the exit
Check whether a data protection impact assessment is needed, because a listening tool processes people's public posts. Article 35(1) of the UK GDPR requires one where processing is likely to result in a high risk to individuals. The data protection record shows what to file.
When a supplier acts as your processor, the ICO guidance on contracts has a checklist item: the processor must delete or return all personal data at the end of the contract, at the controller's choice. That page is also marked as under review because of the Data (Use and Access) Act.
Budget hours for exports and for checking the deletion, and have a lawyer confirm the current wording.
| Task | Hours (assumed) | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data protection impact assessment | 6 | £19.67 | £118.02 |
| Export and deletion checks | 8 | £19.67 | £157.36 |
| Total | 14 | £275.38 |
The hours are illustrative. The rate is the median hourly pay, excluding overtime, of £19.67 for full-time employees in April 2025. Use your own payroll rate if you have one, and add any lawyer's fee on top.
Before you approve a quote
- Compare monthly and annual billing over twelve months.
- Identify the limit you will hit first and price the plan above it.
- Get every add-on price in writing, with its billing basis.
- Confirm the invoicing entity, the currency and the VAT treatment.
- Decide whether a data protection impact assessment is needed and who writes it.
- Add hours for the assessment, export and deletion evidence, then fill in a budget template.
