Hashtag analytics and tracking help you plan and manage effective social media campaigns.
They boost your online reach and let your target customers find your content.
But how do you know which hashtags to use? By using specialized tools to conduct hashtag research.
They give you the inside scoop on trending hashtags, how many people are using them, and which ones might work best for your posts.
This guide explores our seven favorite free hashtag analytics and tracking tools you should try right now.
Why do you need hashtag analytics?
Hashtag analytics give you the data to make smarter decisions and boost your social listening strategy.
They help you find the best hashtags for your marketing campaigns and track post performance.
Here's what they let you do:
- Find tags that your audience uses and join relevant conversations across platforms like Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, and more
- Identify topics and posts that resonate with your customers
- Analyze hashtag performance in real time and find emerging opportunities
- Discover the most influential and active channels that mention a hashtag
How to choose the best hashtag tracking tool?
Let’s unpack what you should consider when selecting a hashtag monitoring tool.
First, check which platforms the tool supports. Even free tools should cover the social networks you use most (think Instagram or X).
Next, look at the data it provides. The best listening tools offer:
- Real-time tracking to catch trends as they happen
- Historical data to analyze past performance
- Notifications for real-time hashtag mentions
- Engagement metrics and other hashtag analytics
- Reporting features
Remember, free tools usually have limitations compared to paid versions. They might restrict the number of hashtags you can track, often offer less detailed analytics, or have caps on daily searches. However, they’re a great starting point when you’re testing the waters.
They can give you valuable insights into hashtag performance and help guide your strategy. And, some tools offer advanced features even on free plans.
The top 7 free hashtag tracking tools you should try
Hashtag tools come in many shapes and sizes. Some focus on monitoring online conversations, while others might be a better option for working with influencers.
Below, we share 15 FREE hashtag tracking tools with recommendations from social media experts.
1.Talkwalker: Best for multimedia hashtag analysis and sentiment monitoring
- This app is 100% free
Talkwalker’s Free Social Search is a free hashtag analyzer that monitors online mentions across social media, news sites, forums, and podcasts.
It covers 186 languages and provides in-depth metrics, including general buzz, engagement, sentiment, and potential reach.
All you need to do is select a trending hashtag (or enter your own) and explore its performance over the last seven days.
But it doesn’t end here.
This free tool also identifies frequently discussed themes related to your hashtag. This helps you find more ideas for various posts in your content plan.
It also generates a list of the top influencers talking about the hashtag. This way, you find potential collaboration opportunities and get inspiration for your content.
Finally, you can compare different hashtags within the same view, add various filters, and choose hashtags that suit you best.
Key features:
- Multi-platform search covering social media, news, forums, and podcasts
- Sentiment analysis to asses public opinion
- Demographic insights showing age, gender, and interests of people mentioning the search terms
- Geographic distribution of mentions displayed on a world map
- Comparison feature for up to four different search terms
- Boolean search operators for creating more specific queries (e.g., using “AND”, “OR”, etc. operators)
Pro tip:
If you’re looking for a more comprehensive analysis, you can try Talkwalker’s Social Media Listening tool.
It covers more data sources (including 30 social networks and 150 million websites) and provides more robust analytics with real-time alerts.
2. StarNgage: Best for Instagram hashtag analysis
- This app offers limited free features
StarNgage offers a free Instagram hashtag search and tracking tool.
It provides hashtag analytics to help marketers improve their social media influencer campaigns.
The tool allows you to search and analyze performance, generating information about hashtag popularity and accounts using it.
For example, it shows the top influencers who posted using your target hashtag.
It also suggests related hashtags to help you expand your search. You can click on each one to explore its performance metrics.
Key features:
- Real-time analytics of Instagram hashtags, including post and video data
- Influencer discovery based on hashtag usage
- Suggestion of related hashtags
- Reports with the top brands and posts using the hashtag
3. Hashtag Tracker by BrandMentions: Best for hashtag monitoring
- This app offers limited free features
BrandMentions offers a free hashtag tracking tool with extensive analytics across multiple social media platforms.
It allows users to monitor and analyze hashtag performance in real time.
The tool searches the entire internet for a specific hashtag, providing insights from social media, news sites, forums, and other online sources.
Enter a hashtag you want to explore, and BrandMentions will generate a detailed report on its usage and impact.
The tool also finds the top influencers by voice share and generates a list of posts mentioning your hashtag.
Key features:
- Real-time monitoring across multiple online platforms
- Detailed metrics, including mentions, reach, interactions, and high-level sentiment analysis
- Trending conversations and word cloud visualization
- Breakdown of mentions by media type (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, YouTube)
- Top influencers and websites using the hashtag
4. Inflact Hashtag Generator: Best for finding Instagram hashtags
- This app offers limited free features
Inflact offers a free hashtag generator tool you can use to create relevant hashtags for your posts.
The tool focuses specifically on Instagram and provides tailored suggestions to improve your content's visibility on the platform.
To use it, simply enter a keyword related to your post.
Inflact will then generate a list of hashtags categorized by frequency and difficulty of ranking.
For example, for the keyword "Formula 1", it suggests hashtags like #formula1 (9.06m posts), #formula1memes (120.24k posts), and #formula12021 (9.57k posts).
You can also click on each hashtag it generates to see additional information such as hashtag difficulty and posts per day (in some cases).
Key features:
- Hashtag generation by keyword, photo, or post URL
- Categorization of hashtags by frequency (Frequent, Average, Rare)
- Difficulty rating for each hashtag (Hard, Medium, Easy)
- Related organic hashtags suggested by Instagram
- Similar hashtags containing related keywords
5. RiteTag: Best for General Hashtag Recommendations
- This app offers limited free features
RiteTag offers a free hashtag suggestion tool.
It provides instant hashtag recommendations for both images and text across various social media platforms.
The tool analyzes real-time hashtag engagement data to generate actionable insights.
Users can get hashtag recommendations of various kinds—e.g., those that are good for Instagram or for visibility that can be acquired over time.
RiteTag also offers analytics on hashtag performance, helping you select the best options for your campaigns.
Key features:
- Hashtag suggestions for both text and images
- Real-time hashtag engagement data
- Analytics on hashtag performance (unique tweets, hashtag exposure, retweets)
- Compatibility with multiple social media platforms
- Browser extension for easy access
6. Taggbox: Best for UGH hashtag campaigns
- This app offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card required
Taggbox focuses on collecting and leveraging user-generated content (UGC) from hashtag campaigns across different social media platforms.
It offers a 14-day free trial without payment commitment so that you can test it stress-free.
The platform automatically aggregates content from your hashtag campaigns and helps engage your community.
You can collect, moderate, and publish UGC from hashtag campaigns across various marketing channels.
Taggbox also includes features for rights management, allowing you to properly acquire permissions from content creators before using their posts.
And, it offers various analytics features for tracking performance.
Key features:
- Automatic content collection from hashtag campaigns
- Content moderation tools for UGC
- Rights management system for user content
- Performance analytics with sentiment analysis
- Customization options for displaying UGC
7. TweetBinder: Best for X (Twitter) hashtag analysis
- This app offers limited free features
TweetBinder offers a free X (formerly Twitter) hashtag analytics feature that provides quick insights into hashtag performance.
The free version allows you to analyze up to 200 tweets from the last 7 days.
The tool tracks various metrics for X hashtags, accounts, or keywords.
It presents data in clear, easy-to-understand reports that break down engagement and reach.
TweetBinder also provides detailed contributor rankings and sentiment analysis, helping you understand who's driving conversations around your hashtags.
Key features:
- Analysis of up to 200 recent posts on X (Twitter)
- Basic sentiment score tracking
- Contributor rankings and statistics
- Economic value calculation
- Engagement metrics and reach data
Hashtag analytics FAQs
Finally, let’s address some of the most common questions about hashtag analytics and tracking.
How to do hashtag analysis
Any hashtag analysis requires using specialized tools as they help you access real-life hashtag data. For example, they normally provide essential hashtag metrics like reach and engagement.
Here’s how you can use them.
Start by entering a specific hashtag into your chosen platform.
This could be branded hashtags, campaign-specific hashtags, or popular hashtags.
For example, tools like Talkwalker’s Free Search suggest hashtags trending in real time in your target regions.
Next, most hashtag analytics tools will show you key metrics immediately:
- Total mentions and hashtag reach
- Engagement rates (likes, shares, comments)
- Top posts using the hashtag
- Most active users and influencers
- Sentiment
Here’s what it looks like in Talkwalker:
Look at these numbers and estimate whether you’d like to pursue your selected hashatg.
Next, you can examine related hashtags that appear alongside your main tag.
These connections help you discover relevant hashtags and expand your reach.
For example, if you're tracking #bitcoin, you might find related tags like #crypto and #CryptoCommunity frequently used together.
Finally, look at historical data to identify patterns in hashtag performance.
Check when engagement peaks, which days see the most real-time activity, and what types of social media content perform best.
Use all this information to time your posts and adjust your social media strategy.
For example, you could notice that some hashtag perform best with a certain post format or for specific occasions.
Which hashtags to track
Did you know that different types of hashtag monitoring help you achieve various marketing strategy goals?
Here are the main categories of hashtags you can analyze:
- Branded hashtags: Your company's name, slogan, or unique brand identifier as a hashtag helps measure brand awareness. Use brand monitoring to track both positive mentions and potential issues that need addressing.
For example: McDonald’s #ImLovinIt
- Event hashtags: Track conversations around conferences, webinars, or industry gatherings. These help you assess event performance and engage with attendees in real time. Many events generate a lot of social media buzz through dedicated hashtags.
For example: The #HubspotInbound conference
- Campaign hashtags: Monitor the success of your marketing campaign hashtags. These temporary, focused tags help you measure specific campaign goals and understand your audience engagement.
For example: Nike’s #Paris2024 #WinningIsntForEveryone Olympics campaign
- Content hashtags These are industry-standard or topic-based tags that help categorize your social media content. They help you track what type of content resonates with your social media users and discover top influencers in your field.
For example, #TravelTuesday or #ThrowbackThursday
- Trending hashtags: These help you monitor trending topics that are relevant to your industry. It helps you join timely conversations and increase your visibility through participation in broader discussions.
For example, #VictoriasSecretFashionShow after the 2024 show.
Setup effective hashtag analytics
Are you ready to build an effective hashtag strategy? This guide listed the top 7 free hashtag tracking tools to help you get started.
They let you find the right hashtags, implement advanced media monitoring, and create relevant content that reaches the right audience.
All this is an essential part of a data-driven approach to social media analytics.
Make sure to choose tools that:
- Cover the social media platforms of your choice
- Find the top hashtags based on real-time and historical data
- Provide insights on hashtag usage, engagement, and sentiment
- Help you understand the target audience for each hashtag
- Come up with trending topics in a timely manner
You can also take your approach to another level with Talkwalker's Social Listening platform. It lets you track all your social networks and boost performance with real-time alerts.