Exploding Topics vs. Glimpse: In-Depth Comparison for 2026

I've been using Exploding Topics in my marketing work for a long time — well before I ever started contributing to this blog. I've always found Exploding Topics to be a reliable wealth of information and a pioneer in the world of trend spotting.

But there are other trend spotting websites on the market, too, and I wanted to see how some of them stack up against my longtime favorite. In this guide, I'll walk you through the features you can find in Exploding Topics vs. Glimpse — and give you my opinion on which tool is better based on different uses.

Should You Use Exploding Topics or Glimpse for Trend Discovery?

Let's cut to the chase: after reviewing both Exploding Topics and Glimpse at length, I think that Exploding Topics is the best trend tracking tool for most people. Here's why:

• Exploding Topics' emerging trend data comes from multiple sources, including both online searches and traditional media
• The company curates not only lists of trending topics, but products and startups as well — along with data that's relevant to both e-commerce and investor audiences
• Exploding Topics works in any web browser and you don't have to install any Chrome extensions to use the tool.
• All paid Exploding Topics users get access to the full trend database, while Glimpse limits the number of trends per category that some of its paid users can see.
• Exploding Topics costs less and gives you more data access
• Exploding Topics is part of Semrush, so if you decide you need to do deep keyword research, you can easily add on a Semrush plan and get all of your information in one spot

I also think that Exploding Topics makes it easier to spot trends for a very specific job or role, too. Glimpse makes you search through the entire trend list to find products, brands, or companies. When you use Exploding Topics, you can jump right to specific reports that give you essential data. For example:

• E-commerce business owners can keep tabs on popular items across Amazon and TikTok shop using the Trending Products report
• Investors and entrepreneurs can explore other companies' structure and valuation using the Trending Startups report
• Marketers can explore how trends connect to each other using the Meta Trends analysis prepared by Exploding Topics' experts

Let's take a closer look at how specific features offered by Exploding Topics and Glimpse compare to each other.

Exploding Topics vs Glimpse: Similarities and Differences

	Exploding Topics	Glimpse	The best option
User interface	Grid-based arrays of products, trend graphs, and other useful data; paid features are accessible through Semrush	A required Chromium browser extension that adds data and overlays to Google Trends pages	Exploding Topics
Trend data sources	Social channels, Google search, podcasts, traditional media, blogs, and more	Primarily Google search with some added social platform data	Exploding Topics
Search metrics	Shows average Google search volume by month	Shows average Google search volume by month and by search type (images, shopping, etc.)	Glimpse
Social buzz	Covers all major social media platforms and maps popularity across channels using two different types of charts	Covers all major social media platforms and maps popularity across channels in one standard chart	Tie
Product trends	A Trending Products report shows search, social, and sales data all in one view	No dedicated products report, allows users to filter search volume by Google Shopping queries	Exploding Topics
Additional data points and features	Trending startups report, Meta Trends analysis to link topics, key signals including seasonality	Month-by-month seasonality, topic maps, location maps (pulled from Google Trends)	Exploding Topics
Price	Paid plans start at $39 per month for unlimited trend database access	Paid plans start at $71 per month for limited trend database access	Exploding Topics

User Interface

Exploding Topics is an easy-to-use trend spotting platform that lets you access trend data in the way that works best for you.

You can explore trends:

• Through the online Trend Database
• By reading prepared trend reports and Meta Trends graphs
• Via a regular trend newsletter
• Through the Exploding Topics API
• By how popular they are on Amazon

My favorite thing about Exploding Topics is that it lets me quickly look up any interesting topic, trend, or product that I come across. I’m not limited to what’s listed in the newsletter or trend reports.

The trend detail pages provided by Exploding Topics are very detailed and include information about trend trajectory on social media channels. You can even turn on trend forecasting to see expected changes in search interest over time.

Glimpse is an Exploding Topics alternative — a browser extension that re-skins Google Trends. When you first log into Glimpse, you'll be prompted to download the extension. This means that you have to use Glimpse in a Chromium-based browser like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Brave.

Once the extension is installed, you can proceed to Glimpse — and you'll wind up on a Google Trends page that lets you toggle the Glimpse interface on and off.

Here's what it looks like with Glimpse turned on:

And with Glimpse turned off:

Leaving Glimpse turned on gives you an Exploding-Topics style trend browsing interface, though some of the trends will be blurred based on the type of plan you have.

The Glimpse trend detail interface is very Google Trends-esque, though I do like the addition of a seasonality analysis that's broken down by month.

Trend Data Sources

Exploding Topics gathers data from a variety of sources, including:

• Social media
• Search engines
• Online forums and communities
• News articles
• Blogs
• E-commerce websites
• Podcasts

They run this quantifiable trend data through their own machine learning models to analyze historical trends, develop forecasts, and spot what's about to explode in popularity. Exploding Topics' methodology isn't entirely computer-driven, though — there are human data analysis experts who review trend findings, filter out fads, and provide qualitative insights.

Glimpse pulls a lot of its data from Google Trends but supplements these metrics with information from social media channels and other online sources. Like Exploding Topics, Glimpse reviews their data to remove unnecessary noise and create forecasts.

The extra data that Glimpse gathers applies to single trend analysis. If you try to do a trend comparison, you'll be redirected to the standard Google Trends interface.

Search Metrics

Both Exploding Topics and Glimpse also let you see the search volume associated with specific trends.

Exploding Topics displays search volume as a single number in the corner of every trend graph, and you can view past search levels by hovering over the points on the line graph.

Glimpse shows you current keyword volume and how much it's changed in recent months. You can also change the graph to show you volume for different types of searches, such as image searches, Google Shopping searches, and more.

Social Buzz

Of course, Google search isn't the only way that products and topics gain traction — social media trends are a big driver of interest and sales. You can find data about topic performance on social media when using both Exploding Topics and Glimpse.

Exploding Topics illustrates trend popularity across social media channels using two distinct graphs. You can also see a summary of key indicators, including seasonality (though not as detailed in Glimpse) alongside the social network breakdown.

If you're using Exploding Topics to research e-commerce trends, you can see additional insights about TikTok performance as well.

Glimpse shows social channel interest in a similar format to Exploding Topics, with longer bars representing more interest in the topic on a given platform.

Product Trends

Exploding Topics allows you to look up single products, browse brands and products by category, or focus on only sellable goods using the Trending Products database.

You also can easily click through to see any product detail page and read an expert analysis of what the product is and what trends it's linked to.

I like that Exploding Topics offers this standalone Trending Products report, as it allows me to hone in on product performance across TikTok and Amazon — even if I'm not planning on selling through those platforms, it gives me an idea of what consumers are interested in.

Glimpse doesn't offer dedicated product reports like Exploding Topics. To see e-commerce product trends, you'll need to browse through the trends in your target industry and pick out products from other topics.

Once you find products, you can then adjust the Glimpse trend data page to show you Google Shopping volume instead of overall search volume.

Price

Exploding Topics has a generous free tier that lets you subscribe to newsletters and browse many of the trends on the website for free, no login required. If you want to see full trend detail pages, product reports, Meta Trends graphs, and more, you'll need to subscribe to Exploding Topics Pro. Plans start at $39 per month.

Glimpse allows free users to look up 10 terms per month, though many of the trends in Glimpse's industry list are blurred out until you upgrade. Paid plans start at $71 per month when billed annually.

Here's how the entry-level paid tier on each plan compares; all listed limits reset monthly unless otherwise noted:

	Exploding Topics	Glimpse
Plan name	Entrepreneur	Pro
Monthly cost	$39	$71 (billed annually)
Access to the full trend database?	Yes	No — you can only see 12 trends per category
Channel popularity breakdowns per trend?	Yes	Yes
Number of tracked trends	100	25
Number of on-demand trend searches	10	100
Data exports?	No	Yes, 10
Additional features	Trending products report, Meta Trends analysis reports	People-also-search data, Google Sheets integration, 24 trend alerts

Try the Best Trend Spotting Tool for Free

My advice? Google Trends is already free, and you don't need to pay for an overlay to explore its data further. Instead, sign up for a free seven-day trial of Exploding Topics and get a sense for how they leverage multi-channel data and expert insights to help you identify new trends in your niche.