7 Best Trend Forecasting Websites & Companies (2024)

Most trend platforms show you what's currently trending.

But if you want to see what's about to trend, you need a trend forecasting tool.

In this post, we review the top trend forecasting websites to help you select the best option for your use case.

1. Exploding Topics: Best For Identifying Emerging Trends in Fashion & Technology

We’ve found that many trend forecasting websites are either too too basic (like Google Trends) or they’re overly complex and designed exclusively for enterprise companies (like WGSN).

So we built Exploding Topics to solve this problem.

Exploding Topics is easy to use, and each trend is supported by reliable data and relevant to entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders.

Here’s a closer look at some of our top features:

Trending Topics

First, you can sort by industry to find topics that are most relevant to you.

Then, Exploding Topics gives you a list of topics relevant to that category. Each graph represents the Google search volume of each topic, and you can sort by growth rate (exploding, regular, and peaked) and timeframe (Google search volume from the past three months to 15 years).

To make this data actionable, you can either export all of the trend data, or click “Track Topic” and create (or add it to) a Project. That way, you track the trend's growth over time:

Trend Forecasting

You can also see a 12-month forecast for any trend in our database:

Our forecasting model uses a deep learning model based on millions of data points. 

You can even sort any of the 750k+ trends that we track by future growth:

That way, you can stay one step ahead of what's likely to happen in your industry. 

Trending Products

Most product research tools show you products that are currently trending – which isn’t very helpful for trend forecasting.

That’s why we use Google Search volume trend data to identify trending products, as this allows you to see product search volume growth over a longer time horizon and make more accurate forecasts.

You can also filter products by growth status, category, BSR (best seller rating), monthly sales, price, revenue, and review stars.

If you click on any product, you’ll be able to see more details about that product as well as related products, related trending topics, and even a breakdown of the product’s popularity on different social media channels:

Trending Startups

The Trending Startups database also uses Google Search volume for the brand query to identify trending startups. You can then filter by category, total funding, number of employees, last funding round, founded date, and location.

We’ve found that Google Search volume trend data is a great way to estimate the growth of a startup, because brand queries often reflect customer demand trends.

You can then click on any startup and see its trend data as well as other related startups, trending topics, and how it’s trending on different social media platforms.

You can also save startups to Projects or export the data for further analysis.

How We Gather Data

We mentioned that a key differentiator of Exploding Topics is its data quality.

While we have humans verify each trend for business relevancy, trends are initially identified and qualified based on consumer interest data.

The graphic below provides an overview of the process:

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Find trending topics relevant to business and view the historical Google Search volume of each one, which social channels it’s growing on, and other related trends. Find trending startups based on brand query Google Search volume. View funding information, employee headcount, and more. Find trending products based on Google search volume. View revenue, price, reviews, monthly sales, and more. Track trends in the Projects dashboard. Track as many trends as you wish.
Who is it For?	Entrepreneurs and business leaders tracking emerging trends. Investors researching new markets and startups to invest in. Ecommerce owners and professionals looking for the next new business trends.
Pros	Trends supported by quality data. We strive to show emerging trends with long-term growth potential rather than fads, so we use historical Google search volume to track trend growth for an extended period of time to qualify trends. Ease of use – Rather than providing raw data, Exploding Topics cleans it for your and then serves you the identified trends. It’s also super easy to see related trends. Take action and track trends – Once you identify a trend, you can easily track it inside the dashboard to monitor growth. Trend freshness – Trend data is updated constantly. For example, product and startup trend data is updated daily.
Cons	You won’t find current peaking trends or news – It’s designed for identifying emerging trends rather than peaking trends or fads. There isn’t an option to talk to a research consultant – Exploding Topics is a forecasting website rather than an agency. This makes it more affordable than most enterprise tools.
Free Plan?	Yes – There is a free version of the Trends Database.

Pricing

You can browse thousands of topics with limitless searches for free, though Exploding Topics also has pro plans for those who want more advanced features:

2. Google Trends: Best For Identifying Current Trending Topics

Google Trends lets you search any keyword and view a graph of its historical search volume to identify its trend growth.

You can compare terms and filter trend data by country, category, and search type (web, image, YouTube, etc.).

It’s a helpful tool if you already know the topic you want to research. However, the drawback of Google Trends is that it doesn't generally show you related trends. 

Nevertheless, it’s a free tool and provides reliable data.

There is also a new Trending Now feature that allows you to see current trending news, though this content is usually related to pop culture and politics rather than business trends. In addition, looking at current trending topics isn't very useful for forecasting.

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Type in any keyword and view a graph of its historical Google Search volume as well as related searches. Compare multiple keywords in a single graph. See current trending news in different countries.
Who is it For?	Entrepreneurs and business leaders that already know of a topic and want to check how its Google Search volume is trending. Marketers looking for current trending news and topics to incorporate in newsletters and marketing campaigns. Investors who want to stay up to date with the current economic climate.
Pros	Trend data is high quality as it is based on historical Google Search – a global set of unbiased data. Free – There isn’t a paid plan. Trend tracking – Once you identify a trend, you can easily track it inside the dashboard to monitor growth.
Cons	Lack of actionable next-steps – While you can export trends, there isn’t an intuitive method to track trends you find. Instead, you’ll have to continuously refer back to Google Trends and manually update your spreadsheet. You can’t identify emerging trends – You must type in the keyword yourself. This means you won’t discover new trends and can only analyze trends that you already know exist.
Free Plan?	Yes – Google Trends is entirely free.

Pricing

Google Trends is free.

3. Glimpse: Best For Expanded Google Trends Insights

If you're already using Google Trends, Glimpse's "Google Trends Supercharged" is a Chrome extension that can help you extract more detailed insights from Google Trends.

To discover new trends, you can either sort by category or type in a keyword. When you find an interesting trend, you can track it in the dashboard.

It also has a section similar to a keyword research tool that provides "People Also Searched For" queries, related questions, attributes, and brands related to that keyword.

However, Google Trends Supercharged does not offer any features that show trending products or trending startups. It also doesn't have anyone/anything (human or AI) filtering trends for relevancy. Therefore, you may have to sift through a lot of noise to find trends that are relevant to business use cases.

You can use the Chrome extension for free, though the downside is that it only offers one free trend report and ten free trend searches per month. Then, you have to upgrade to the $49 per month plan.

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Type in any keyword and view a graph of its historical Google Search volume as well as related searches. Compare multiple keywords in a single graph. See current trending news in different countries.
Who is it For?	Entrepreneurs and business leaders who are already using Google Trends and want more related trends. Marketers and SEO professionals doing keyword research.
Pros	It uses reliable data as it sits on top of Google Trends and uses Google search volume data. Easily extract more insights from Google Trends like People Also Search For, attributes, and related brands. It offers some free trends before you have to upgrade.
Cons	Lacks trending product and startup data – You can find trending keywords, but there isn’t a specific dashboard for trending products or startups with detailed information helpful to ecommerce owners or entrepreneurs/investors. Limited data – Glimpse offers a free version, though it’s very limited. For example, you only get 10 searches per month. Not all trends are relevant to business use cases as it’s just using generic data from Google Trends. This means you might have to sift through data to differentiate signal from noise.
Free Plan?	Yes – They offer ten free monthly trend searches and one free trend report.

Pricing

4. Trend Hunter: Best For Identifying Current Trending B2C Topics

Trend Hunter is a trend platform and consultancy service primarily serving major retail companies like Starbucks, Walmart, and Red Bull.

They offer a variety of different products and services, including:

• Trend Database: A collection of crowdsourced trends spanning various industries (primarily B2C).
• Trend Reports: Trend Hunter publishes one free general trend report, and users can order custom reports.
• Custom Research and Consulting: You can hire their team to do custom research on an industry, product, or trend for you.
• Live Events: Trend Hunter's team also offers private keynotes and training sessions.
• Newsletters: Trend Hunter sends a free newsletter that contains information on the latest trending topics and updates from the Trend Hunter platform.

The Trends Database is perhaps the most popular and widely used aspect of Trend Hunter. While it has thousands of trends, most are physical products. In addition, all trends are crowdsourced and ranked based on freshness (how recently they were identified and added to the database), popularity (the engagement they receive from Trend Hunter users), and activity (how recently people interacted with the page).

This trend qualification process means that:

1. Trends in the database will be new (thanks to the freshness score) and, therefore, might be fads rather than sustainable long-term trends. If you're forecasting, short-term data can be problematic.
2. While trends may be popular with the Trend Hunter audience, that particular audience might not be an accurate estimation of how your ideal audience reacts to the trend. This is why it's better for mass retail products than niche or B2B products.

In addition, the other products and services they offer are likely out of the budget range for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups.

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Search for trends in the Trend Hunter database, which primarily show B2C trends and fads that recently became popular. Order custom trend reports tailored to your business needs. Read the newsletter to stay up to date with the latest trending topics (mainly products). Hire their team to do keynote presentations and train your team.
Who is it For?	Large Retailers and food and beverage brands that need to stay up-to-date with the latest consumer trends. Marketers who need to stay up to date with the latest popular products and topics that their audience might be interested in.
Pros	Easily identify new products and filter by very specific categories (babies, celeb products, etc.) to stay up to date with the latest consumer trends. The custom trend reports have a fast turnaround time and give your team unique insights unavailable to your competitors. Book a consultation with a trend research expert if you need one on one assistance (though this is more of an enterprise offering).
Cons	Trends are mainly B2C focused, meaning B2B entrepreneurs, investors, and marketers will find fewer relevant trends. Trend data quality isn't ideal for many businesses as most of the data is based on the Trend Hunter audience's engagement, which may not be an accurate representation of a B2B audience's interests. Trend data is short term rather than long term focused as they incorporate a freshness metric into trend quality scores. Most trend services are priced for enterprise customers and unaffordable for basic trend forecasting research.
Free Plan?	Yes – They offer one free report and you can browse the trend database for free.

Pricing

5. Trends by HubSpot: Best For Discovering Community Identified Business Trends

Trends By HubSpot is a community of entrepreneurs and marketers who enjoy brainstorming business ideas. While it has a few trend reports, a list of about 1,000 trends, and plenty of founder stories, the main value of the product is the community itself.

The community has plenty of eight and even nine figure founders, and the Facebook group is quite active.

They also have events over Zoom, and some members meet up in person.

However, it doesn't offer a comprehensive, searchable trend database. In addition, the team selects the trends for the few reports available. While they certainly employ knowledgeable staff and each report is supported with quality trend data, it's easy for humans to overlook under-the-radar trends or inaccurately predict a trend's future potential.

If your goal is to connect with other entrepreneurs and maybe even find a co-founder, Trends by HubSpot is a great resource. However, it isn't one of the more comprehensive trend forecasting tools available.

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Brainstorm business ideas and trends in the Facebook community and read reports curated by staff. Attend online events to hear from world class entrepreneurs to hear their opinions on future business trends. Read the newsletter to stay up to date with trends the team finds interesting.
Who is it For?	Entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses or stay up to date with the latest trending markets. Investors who want to learn about new market trends and discover interesting startups.
Pros	Connect with world class entrepreneurs and hear their unfiltered thoughts on various business trends. The trend reports offer detailed analysis (market reports, traffic search volume, sales data, etc.) of the business trends their employees find interesting. They offer great content on exclusive founder stories that are both inspiring and useful.
Cons	There isn’t a comprehensive, searchable trends database, and there are only a handful of trend reports. The trends that do have reports are selected based on the employee’s opinions and while they include quality, supporting data, it’s easy for a human to overlook an under-the-radar trend. Value derived correlates directly with the effort you put into networking with other community members. So if you don’t contribute and engage in discussions, you’ll probably see a much lower ROI.
Free Plan?	No – You can sign up for their newsletter, but it is a paid community and there is no free plan.

Pricing

Trends by HubSpot is free. 

6. CB Insights: Best For Tracking Tech Funding Trends

CB Insights is a platform that provides funding and trend data for tech companies.

Investors and founders primarily use it to track key growth metrics of competitors and general market trends.

You can sort the company database by category and view various funding metrics, like funding rounds, total funding amounts, and top investors. It also shows metrics like employee headcount, key executive hires, and other valuable growth signals.

The market analytics and visualizations are also helpful as they provide insights on broader market trends, like total industry funding, TAM, and other investment activity.

The platform also offers plenty of other features, like connecting directly with leaders inside the platform, easy report generation, and a trend newsletter.

If you need more advanced help, you can also book a call with one of their research analysts.

It is an enterprise platform and third parties report that pricing starts at about $25,000 per year.

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Track funding, hiring, and other critical growth metrics to monitor competitor and general industry trends. Generate reports and read their curated research reports to stay up to date with trends. Talk to one of their analysts to learn more about a particular market.
Who is it For?	Entrepreneurs that want to analyze market trends to assess new business opportunities. Investors who want to know about the best markets to invest in and who competing investors are funding. Business executives that want to keep tabs on their competitors’ growth and activity.
Pros	Access to high quality trend data (funding, hiring, etc.) that is sourced from publicly available data, private sources, and through their network of executives and investors. Easy report generation to present data to stakeholders, investors, and executives. Access to analysts who can provide deeper trend insights through one on one consultations.
Cons	It focuses primarily on the B2B tech companies, and doesn’t offer a lot of trend information on B2C and D2C industries. It is primarily an enterprise offering and therefore isn’t designed for solo entrepreneurs and small businesses doing basic market research.
Free Plan?	No – You can sign up for their newsletter for free, but the platform is paid.

Pricing

CB Insights doesn’t publicly list its pricing though it is an enterprise product.

7. WGSN: Best For Advanced Fashion Trend Forecasting

WGSN is primarily a trend forecasting agency for consumer brands, though they also have some trend forecasting resources available through their website.

Their customers are predominantly brands in the fashion industry, though they also serve clients in the food & beverage, interior design, and consumer tech sectors.

WGSN's main product for fashion designers and brands is the TrendCurve+ product, which uses AI to gather consumer insights from social media, as well as shelf and fashion show data to create forecasts. They claim it has a 90+% accuracy in predicting the next key silhouettes, prints, colors, and design patterns.

The other main product that WGSN offers is the Barometer, which is a daily brand tracking product that gives you an overview of your performance in comparison to your competitors.

This report provides data from various consumers across the US, UK, and Germany, as well as insights from over 17,000 monthly interviews and survey responses from over 200 fashion brands and retailers.

The reports and forecasts are quite detailed and include the raw data along with expert industry analysis.

WGSN also offers a database of images from catwalks and Coloro and Pantone libraries to build out color palettes.

If you want more assistance, you can also schedule a one-on-one consultation with one of their analysts, and they also offer live events and webinars with more trend insights. They have offices across the globe, from New York and Los Angeles to London and Paris, so you can always talk to someone about trends in your target market.

Overview

How to Use it For Trend Forecasting	Read their forecasting reports to identify fashion and other consumer trends. Browse the database to identify trends for the upcoming fashion season. Attend webinars and live events to connect with other fashion brands. Book one on one calls with research analysts for more detailed expert insights.
Who is it For?	Fashion brands that need to forecast consumer trends for the upcoming season(s). Consumer markets such as food and beverage and other retailers that need to predict future consumer demand.
Pros	High quality, up-to-date data based on one on one interviews, daily consumer surveys, and surveys from some of the largest retailers. Their sample size of data is also quite large, which increases the accuracy of their forecasts. Focus on fashion trends, with detailed data based on colors, patterns, and silhouettes. Offers consulting for brands that want more personalized assistance with product development.
Cons	It focuses primarily on fashion and consumer brands, and therefore isn’t a great solution for B2B companies. Its pricing is primarily for larger retailers and therefore isn’t ideal for smaller businesses and basic market research.
Free Plan?	No – The platform doesn’t offer a free plan

Pricing

While WGSN does not offer pricing information, it is a premium product geared more towards enterprise brands and isn’t designed for smaller businesses.

Start The Trend Forecasting Process Today

There are plenty of tools to forecast future trends, but we couldn't find a tool tailored to forecasting business trends (both B2B and B2C) that offered reliable data without an enterprise price tag. We also didn't want to spend time combing through endless reports to uncover key trends.

That's why we built Exploding Topics.

Exploding Topics makes it easy to uncover upcoming trends in seconds, and each trend is backed by reliable data and manually reviewed by an analyst.

You can try Exploding Topics for $1 today to see if it's the best trend forecasting solution for your needs.