Reddit keyword alerts that find buyers, not just mentions

What to track (it is not mainly your brand name)

Brand alerts tell you when people talk about you. Customer-finding alerts tell you when someone is about to choose a tool like yours. For the second job, track the phrases buyers type:

• Recommendation requests: “looking for a <category>”, “recommend a <category> tool”, “what do you use for <job>”.
• Competitor switching: “alternative to <competitor>”, “<competitor> too expensive”, “moving off <competitor>”.
• Problem phrases your product solves, written the way a frustrated user would write them.
• Your brand and domain, so you can answer questions and support issues quickly.

Keep each phrase short, roughly 2–4 words. Long exact phrases rarely match anything. The free Buyer Keyword Generator at /tools/buyer-keyword-generator turns a product description into starter phrases.

Option 1: check Reddit search by hand

Reddit’s own search can sort results by “New” and limit them to the past day or week. Saving a handful of searches and checking them every morning costs nothing and is a good way to learn which phrases surface real buyers. It does not scale past a few keywords, and nothing tells you when a new match appears. Reddit has also announced it will stop supporting RSS feeds on November 13, 2026, so home-made alerts built on Reddit RSS feeds should not be relied on.

Option 2: a keyword alert service

Dedicated alert services watch Reddit for you and send matches by email or to your team chat. Two well-known examples, with details from their own sites as of Nov 2026:

• F5Bot: a free plan with email alerts for Reddit, Hacker News and Lobsters. Paid plans add more keywords and filtering: Silver is $12.99/month (20 keywords, for individual non-commercial use) and Gold is $49.99/month (200 keywords, RSS and JSON feeds, AI filtering, Slack and Discord).
• Syften: paid plans from $29.95/month covering Reddit, Hacker News and many other communities, with Slack, email, RSS, API and webhook delivery. AI filtering and Slack start on the $49.95/month Standard plan.

These are good at catching every mention fast. You still decide which matches are worth answering. See F5Bot vs Syften at /f5bot-vs-syften for a side-by-side comparison.

Option 3: intent-ranked alerts

If your goal is customers rather than mentions, the useful question is not “did my keyword appear?” but “is this person shopping?”. LeadPerch searches recent Reddit posts for your phrases (plus Hacker News, and X on paid plans), scores each match for buying intent from 0 to 100 with a one-line reason, and drafts a disclosed reply for strong leads. You get a daily email digest, or Slack, Discord and webhook alerts on Pro and Agency. LeadPerch refreshes once a day rather than in real time, so pick an alert service instead if you need minute-by-minute brand monitoring.

How to cut alert noise

• Prefer buyer phrases over single words. “crm” matches everything; “looking for a crm” matches shoppers.
• Add exclusions for common false positives (job posts, unrelated meanings of your brand name).
• Review the first week of matches before narrowing anything, so you do not filter out real buyers.
• Drop keywords that only ever match launches, hiring posts or people promoting their own products.
• Rank by intent and answer the top few each day instead of trying to answer everything.

What to do when an alert fires

Open the thread, read the subreddit rules, and answer the actual question first. If your product genuinely fits, mention it and say plainly that you built it. Never paste the same reply across threads or use multiple accounts. Reddit marketing without getting banned at /guides/reddit-marketing-without-getting-banned covers this in detail.

FAQ

Related guides

• How to find customers on Reddit →
• Reddit marketing without getting banned →
• How to find beta users →
• Hacker News lead generation →
• Best subreddits for SaaS marketing →
• Reddit keyword alerts →
• Export your GummySearch data →
• F5Bot alternative →
• Syften alternative →