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7 Top Conductor Alternatives & Competitors (2024)

by Josh Howarth
December 22, 2023

Conductor is a marketing tool that makes it easy to find trending topics, evaluate competitors' websites, and plan your sales or marketing strategy.

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If you don't need all of Conductor's features—or want a similar product at a different price point—then it's worth taking a look at these seven top alternatives.

1. Exploding Topics: Best For Trend Spotting

Exploding Topics is a trend spotting and online listening tool.

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We use a mix of AI technology and human data analysis to identify the top trends being discussed across the internet, including on webpages, forums, social media platforms, and more.

This information—including the top channels for each trend—is added to our database daily, so you've always got the most up-to-date details about:

  • Top trending topics across social media and the web
  • Which channels are seeing the largest spike in conversations about a topic
  • How topics influence and relate to each other
  • How the popularity of a given topic has fluctuated over the past 15 years
  • Whether a topic is currently of interest, about to decline, or about to explode in popularity

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You can also use our platform to uncover information about the top startups and e-commerce products that are of interest to your audience—perfect for competitor analysis or planning your next launch.

With an Exploding Topics Pro account, you'll get access to our complete trend and reports library as well a dashboard for monitoring the trends that are most important to you.

How Much Does Exploding Topics Cost?

Exploding Topics is free to use. You can browse a portion of our database without ever creating an account.

To unlock premium features, you'll need to select a paid Exploding Topics Pro plan. Options start at $39 per month (billed annually), and your first seven days are only $1.

Exploding Topics vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Exploding Topics Conductor
Starting price Free Custom quotes
Unique features Trend forecasting, trending products and startups, meta trends analysis, API access Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for Marketers in need of the most up-to-date trend data across multiple channels. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research.

2. Semrush: Best For Keyword Research

Semrush is a search engine optimization (SEO) platform.

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It offers many of the content and technical SEO features available in Conductor, such as:

  • Keyword research
  • Competitor research
  • Site health analysis
  • Rank tracking
  • Content analysis
  • Content brief creation

You also get a lot of additional functionality with your Semrush plan, including these features:

  • Complete domain overviews
  • In-depth traffic analytics
  • Backlink gap analysis and auditing tools
  • Link building tools
  • Site auditing tools
  • Trend analysis
  • Local SEO tools
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) ad metrics

If you're drawn to Conductor's SEO tools, then a platform like Semrush will likely give you more of what you need, and potentially at a better price point.

Having access to the full Semrush toolset can help you increase your online visibility in multiple ways—great for fast-moving marketing initiatives that may evolve over time.

How Much Does Semrush Cost?

You can use a limited number of Semrush features—such as the domain overview and keyword research tools—for free. To remove usage limits and unlock more features, you'll need a paid plan.

Options start at $129.95 per month or $108.33 per month when billed annually.

Semrush vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Semrush Conductor
Starting price Free Custom quotes
Unique features On-page and local SEO tools, site auditing, backlink analysis, paid ad tools Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for Website owners in need of a complete tool for both SEO and PPC campaigns. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research.

4. Clearscope: Best For Content Brief Creation

Clearscope is a semantic keyword and content scoring tool.

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When you plug a topic into Clearscope, the tool scans related search engine results pages (SERPs) and identifies the following:

  • Top SERP results for that keyword
  • How competing content is structured
  • Important keywords that are associated with the main topic
  • Potential resources to view and link to while writing
  • The quality, represented as a letter grade, of competing content in the SERPs

As you write, Clearscope counts the keywords you're using and assigns a real-time quality score to your text as well. You can type directly in the Clearscope web editor, or use a Google Docs integration.

If you need a basic, top-level content evaluation tool for your work, Conductor will work—especially if you like the platform's other features. It doesn't use the same letter grade scoring system as Clearscope, but Conductor does provide primary and semantic keyword suggestions.

For in-depth analysis and management of a large content library, though, you'll want to give Clearscope a try.

How Much Does Clearscope Cost?

Clearscope plans start at $199 per month and include an unlimited number of user seats—great for sharing with team members.

Clearscope vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Clearscope Conductor
Starting price $199 per month Custom quotes
Unique features Content scoring, semantic keyword lists, content inventory management Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for Content marketing teams with a high production volume. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research.

4. Buzzsumo: Best For Competitor Content Analysis

Buzzsumo is a content marketing platform and brand monitoring tool.

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Like Conductor, Buzzsumo offers a way for its users to evaluate competitor content. You can assess what is most popular across different channels and audiences.

Conductor's content analysis features are designed to help you create competing content, as well as briefs for writers. Buzzsumo, on the other hand, is more focused on helping you identify high-performing, evergreen content topics.

Buzzsumo's features include:

  • A content ideas database, complete with keyword and channel popularity insights
  • Metrics about the performance of five billion articles published online
  • Up to five years of historical content performance data
  • Influencer discovery tools
  • Tools to help you monitor keywords, brand mentions, and competitor activity

If you want a tool to help you get ideas, plan campaigns, and find influencers to create user-generated content (UGC), then Buzzsumo is a good choice.

If you're looking for a more guided, step-by-step content briefing and writing process, then you'll want to stick with another Conductor competitor like Clearscope or Semrush.

How Much Does Buzzsumo Cost?

Buzzsumo plans start at $199 per month or $159 per month when billed annually. The price increases based on the number of features and user seats that you require.

Buzzsumo vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Buzzsumo Conductor
Starting price $159 per month, billed annually Custom quotes
Unique features Content performance analyzer, influencer discovery tool, brand monitoring Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for Content and PR teams in need of a way to monitor content and brand mentions at once. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research.

5. Talkwalker: Best For Audience Insights

Talkwalker is a consumer intelligence platform and social listening tool.

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While Conductor lets you see information about how many people interact with your website content, Talkwalker takes these audience insights further.

Talkwalker's toolkit makes it possible for users to:

  • Scan for brand mentions across social media and the web
  • Monitor media mentions
  • Evaluate and track competing content online
  • Research your target audiences
  • Find new audiences that may be interested in what you offer
  • Integrate support ticket data to assess real customer sentiment
  • Track patterns that lead to conversions

As a result, it's great for marketing teams that are focused on creating both website and social media content—especially when trying to guide audiences through a conversion funnel.

If you'd like to see content and customer insights at the same time, then Talkwalker will likely be a better choice than Conductor.

How Much Does Talkwalker Cost?

Talkwalker offers a variety of plans based on different feature combinations—but they don't publish pricing publicly.

If you're interested in using Talkwalker, you'll need to get in touch with the company for a price quote.

Talkwalker vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Talkwalker Conductor
Starting price Custom quotes Custom quotes
Unique features Conversion analysis, support ticket integration, audience discovery tools Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for Digital marketing teams optimizing their website and social media sales funnels. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research.

6. Yoast: Best For WordPress Content Optimization

Yoast is an SEO tool that integrates with WordPress or Shopify websites.

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If you're interested in using Conductor to monitor and update aspects of your on-page SEO, such as content titles and meta descriptions, Yoast may be a more affordable alternative.

Once you add the Yoast plugin to your site, you can:

  • Quickly assess the technical health of your top-performing content pages
  • Scan for and redirect dead links that may frustrate website visitors
  • Get automatic content suggestions as you update your site
  • Add structured data to your site for better SEO performance
  • Manage your robots.txt and sitemap files

Yoast also integrates with Semrush. Using the two tools in tandem can help you get an even more complete picture of your site health, performance, and SEO opportunities.

How Much Does Yoast Cost?

WordPress users can install Yoast for free and use a portion of the plugin's features. A premium plan is required to unlock Yoast's full capability, and costs $99 per year. The tool is available for both WordPress.com sites as well as those using open source WordPress.org.

Unfortunately, there isn't a free version of the Yoast plugin for Shopify sites. If you use Shopify, you'll need to subscribe to a paid plan for $19 per month.

Yoast vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Yoast Conductor
Starting price $0 to $19 per month Custom quotes
Unique features Robots.txt and sitemap management, redirect tool, automatic content suggestions Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for WordPress and Shopify users working to improve on-page experiences. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research.

7. Nightwatch: Best For Rank Tracking

Nightwatch is a rank tracking tool.

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Conductor—along with several of its competitors, like Semrush—offers a rank tracking feature. This is useful for seeing the long-term impact of your content marketing efforts.

However, if you don't need a full slate of content optimization or SEO tools, then Nightwatch is a nice choice. It acts as a standalone rank tracking platform, and offers features like:

  • Location-based rank tracking across more than 107,000 regions worldwide
  • Side-by-side search engine comparisons (Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo)
  • Keyword discovery tools
  • Robust filtering and segmentation tools to create custom report views
  • Site auditing tools to watch for potential performance issues
  • Report automation

Interestingly, Nightwatch also includes a feature that allows its users to track how often their content surfaces as a source in large language model (LLM) responses.

How Much Does Nightwatch Cost?

Nightwatch plans start at $39 per month or $32 per month when billed annually. This plan allows you to track up to 250 keywords, 50 websites, and five competitors.

Plan price increases based on your usage and feature needs.

Nightwatch vs. Conductor: At a Glance

Nightwatch Conductor
Starting price $32 per month, billed annually Custom quotes
Unique features LLM rank tracking, DuckDuckGo rank tracking Customer loyalty and behavior analysis, contact database, content optimization tool
Useful for Marketing teams targeting inclusion in AI chat responses. Sales and marketing teams that conduct a high volume of competitor research

Conclusion

Conductor offers a nice mix of features—but depending on your marketing goals, you may find that a Conductor competitor goes even deeper and provides more of the data you need.

And, with several of the tools on this list offering free or scalable plans, you can easily combine tools to build the perfect blend of insights for your needs.

  • To improve your keyword usage, try Semrush and Yoast.
  • When planning your marketing strategy, try Exploding Topics and Semrush.
  • To plan and track your campaigns at the same time, try Exploding Topics and Nightwatch.

Whether you opt for Conductor or one of its alternatives, access to a tool that helps you find keywords and optimize your website is a smart move for ongoing marketing success.