As a reviewer focused on social media management tools, I look for platforms that balance powerful features with ease of use. Having reviewed the public presentations of Closely and Brand24 extensively, I can help you understand which tool fits your specific workflow—and where a more streamlined alternative like PostFlow might be a better fit for creators who prioritize fast content creation.

Emilia Morosini, Chief Content Strategist at PostFlow

Closely

  • Platform: LinkedIn and Email
  • Best For: Outbound sales and prospecting
  • Strength: Multichannel automation with CRM sync
  • Users: Not specified

Starting at $29/month

Brand24

  • Platform: 25M+ online sources (social, news, blogs, etc.)
  • Best For: Brand monitoring and crisis detection
  • Strength: Real-time AI sentiment and insights
  • Users: 4000+ brands

Starting at $149/month

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At a Glance

Platform Support

Feature Closely Brand24
LinkedIn Automation Safe sequences with human-like behavior and limits Monitoring only, no automation
Email Outreach Multichannel campaigns with unlimited accounts Not supported
Social Media Monitoring Limited to LinkedIn DMs and emails 25M+ sources including social, news, blogs, forums, podcasts, reviews
News and Blog Coverage Not supported Real-time monitoring across 108 languages
Review Sites and Forums Not supported Comprehensive coverage for reputation tracking

Automation & Outreach

Feature Closely Brand24
Multichannel Campaigns Combine LinkedIn steps and email steps No automation capabilities
AI Personalization For DMs, InMails, and emails AI for analysis, not outreach
Data Enrichment Verified emails and phones from LinkedIn No enrichment features
Unified Inbox For LinkedIn DMs, InMails, and emails No inbox, focus on monitoring
Automated Alerts Analytics-based, not real-time alerts Storm alerts, push notifications, email alerts

AI Features

Feature Closely Brand24
Sales AI Agents Lead research, qualification, scoring, web research Not applicable
Sentiment Analysis Not supported AI-powered across mentions
Emotion and Topic Analysis Not supported Deep AI insights in 108 languages
AI Insights and Events Detection AI for personalization only AI Events, Brand Assistant, Topics

Integrations

Feature Closely Brand24
CRM Integrations Deep with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, GoHighLevel No CRM focus
Slack and Teams Not specified Real-time collaboration integrations
API Access Webhooks and CRM APIs Optional API with additional fee
White-label Platform For agencies with custom domain White-labeled reports only

Analytics & Reporting

Feature Closely Brand24
Outreach Analytics Across campaigns, sequences, teams Not applicable
Reach and Engagement Metrics Limited to outreach Comprehensive with presence score, AVE, influencer analysis
Automated Reports Advanced analytics but manual Daily/weekly reports, exports to Excel/PDF/PowerPoint
Hashtag Tracking Not supported Reach and volume metrics for campaigns
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Pricing Comparison

Closely starts at $29/month (annual) for LinkedIn/email automation, offering scalable tiers for sales teams. Brand24 starts at $149/month (annual) for social listening, with higher tiers unlocking advanced AI and real-time features. Closely provides better value for outbound sales, while Brand24's pricing suits monitoring needs but may be steep for small teams.

Closely

Starter Annual

$29/month

Solo users or small teams starting with outbound

  • 1 LinkedIn account
  • Unlimited email accounts
  • 1 sender (1 LinkedIn + 1 email)
  • White-label included
  • Outreach automation and multichannel campaigns

Growth Annual

$87/month

Growing teams needing more accounts and credits

  • 3 LinkedIn accounts
  • Unlimited email accounts
  • 1 sender per account
  • White-label included
  • Bonus 3,000 credits/month (emails, phones, AI personalizations)

Essential Annual

$145/month

Mid-sized teams with advanced needs

  • 5 LinkedIn accounts
  • Unlimited email accounts
  • 1 sender per account
  • White-label included
  • Bonus 5,000 credits/month

Custom

Custom

Large teams or enterprises

  • Custom LinkedIn accounts
  • Unlimited emails
  • Custom credits
  • Unlimited campaigns
  • Conditional builder, smart inbox, team management
  • CRM integrations, webhooks
  • Advanced white-label

White-label Unlimited

$999/month

Agencies with multiple clients

  • Unlimited seats
  • Full customization (logo, domain)
  • Client portal, branded reporting
  • No per-seat fees or caps

Brand24

Individual (Annual)

$149/month

Solo users or small brands with basic monitoring

  • 3 keywords
  • 2,000 mentions/month
  • 1 user
  • Updates every 12 hours
  • AI Sentiment Analysis
  • Core sources (social, news, blogs, forums, reviews)

Team (Annual)

$249/month

Small teams needing more volume

  • 7 keywords
  • 10,000 mentions/month
  • Unlimited users
  • Updates every hour
  • Priority support
  • AI Sentiment Analysis

Pro (Annual)

$299/month

Professional teams with AI insights

  • 12 keywords
  • 40,000 mentions/month
  • Unlimited users
  • Real-time updates
  • Lightning Search
  • AI Events Detection, Brand Assistant
  • AI Insights for 2 projects

Business (Annual)

$499/month

Businesses handling larger scale

  • 25 keywords
  • 100,000 mentions/month
  • Unlimited users
  • Real-time updates
  • AI Insights for 5 projects
  • All Pro features

Enterprise

from $999/month

Large organizations with custom needs

  • Custom keywords and mentions
  • Unlimited users
  • Unlimited AI Insights
  • All features including API
Want simpler pricing? PostFlow offers straightforward plans focused on fast post creation. Try out now

Feature Deep Dive

Outreach & Automation Capabilities

Closely

Strengths
  • LinkedIn sequences with safe limits and human-like behavior
  • Multichannel campaigns blending LinkedIn and email
  • AI personalization for messages and emails
  • Sales AI Agents for lead qualification and research
  • Data enrichment from LinkedIn exports and events
Workflow

Build prospect list → Enrich data → Create personalized sequence → Launch multichannel campaign → Monitor unified inbox

Brand24

Strengths
  • No outreach automation
  • Focus on monitoring rather than sending messages
Workflow

N/A

Closely is purpose-built for automated outbound sales with LinkedIn and email integration, making it ideal for prospecting. Brand24 lacks any automation, focusing instead on passive listening. For active outreach, Closely dominates; for observation, Brand24 is irrelevant here.

Closely multichannel campaign builder

Monitoring & Listening

Closely

Strengths
  • Unified inbox for replies only
  • Limited to LinkedIn and email interactions
Limitations
  • No broad social or web monitoring
  • No sentiment or trend analysis beyond outreach

Brand24

Strengths
  • Real-time tracking of 25M+ sources
  • AI sentiment, emotion, topic analysis in 108 languages
  • Hashtag tracking, influencer analysis
  • Advanced filtering with Boolean search
Workflow

Set keywords/projects → Monitor mentions in real-time → Analyze sentiment and trends → Receive alerts on spikes

Brand24 excels in comprehensive, AI-driven monitoring across vast sources, perfect for reputation management. Closely offers basic reply management but no proactive listening. Choose Brand24 for broad visibility; Closely for interaction handling in sales.

Brand24 real-time mention dashboard
Brand24 AI sentiment analysis

AI Capabilities

Closely

Strengths
  • AI for personalization in outreach
  • Sales AI Agents for research and scoring
  • AI-driven lead qualification
Limitations
  • AI focused on sales automation, not analysis

Brand24

Strengths
  • Sentiment, emotion, topic analysis
  • AI Insights, Events Detection, Brand Assistant
  • AI Topics for trend understanding
Limitations
  • No sales-specific AI

Both leverage AI, but Closely's is outbound-oriented for personalization and lead handling, while Brand24's is inbound for deep analysis of mentions. Sales teams benefit from Closely's AI; PR/marketing from Brand24's.

Closely Sales AI Agents

Analytics & Reporting

Closely

Strengths
  • Advanced outreach analytics for campaigns and teams
  • CRM attribution for pipeline tracking
Limitations
  • Focused on sales metrics, no broad engagement reach

Brand24

Strengths
  • Reach, engagement, presence score, AVE, influencer metrics
  • Automated daily/weekly reports with white-label options
  • Exports and QuickShare links
Limitations
  • No sales-specific attribution

Closely provides sales-focused analytics tied to CRM, ideal for measuring outreach ROI. Brand24 offers rich, multi-source monitoring analytics for brand health. For sales pipelines, Closely wins; for reputation metrics, Brand24.

Closely outreach analytics
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Use Case Comparison

Outbound Sales Team

Closely 🏆

Excellent

Multichannel automation, AI personalization, and CRM integrations streamline prospecting and lead qualification.

Best Plan: Growth Annual ($87/month)

Score: 10/10

Brand24

Poor

No automation or outreach; monitoring doesn't support active selling.

Best Plan: Not suitable

Score: 1/10

PR Professional Managing Reputation

Closely

Fair

Limited monitoring; useful only for LinkedIn replies in outreach.

Best Plan: Starter Annual ($29/month)

Score: 4/10

Brand24 🏆

Excellent

Real-time alerts, sentiment analysis, and crisis detection protect brand image across sources.

Best Plan: Pro Annual ($299/month)

Score: 10/10

Marketing Agency Handling Multiple Clients

Closely

Good

White-label platform and unlimited seats for agencies offering lead gen services.

Best Plan: White-label Unlimited ($999/month)

Score: 8/10

Brand24 🏆

Excellent

Unlimited users, white-labeled reports, and multi-project support for client monitoring.

Best Plan: Business Annual ($499/month)

Score: 9/10

B2B Founder Scaling Prospecting

Closely 🏆

Excellent

AI agents, enrichment, and multichannel without needing an SDR team.

Best Plan: Essential Annual ($145/month)

Score: 9/10

Brand24

Poor

Monitoring helps awareness but not direct prospecting.

Best Plan: Not suitable

Score: 3/10

Small Business Monitoring Brand Awareness

Closely

Poor

No broad monitoring; focused on outbound.

Best Plan: Not suitable

Score: 2/10

Brand24 🏆

Good

Affordable entry for basic keyword tracking and sentiment.

Best Plan: Individual Annual ($149/month)

Score: 8/10

Sales Leader Needing Outreach Analytics

Closely 🏆

Excellent

Team analytics, CRM sync, and campaign tracking for attribution.

Best Plan: Custom

Score: 10/10

Brand24

Fair

General analytics but no sales-specific metrics.

Best Plan: Team Annual ($249/month)

Score: 5/10

Global Enterprise PR Team

Closely

Fair

Useful for LinkedIn outreach but lacks global monitoring.

Best Plan: Custom

Score: 5/10

Brand24 🏆

Excellent

Multi-language support, unlimited insights, and custom scale for worldwide coverage.

Best Plan: Enterprise (from $999/month)

Score: 10/10

Agency Offering Lead Generation Services

Closely 🏆

Excellent

White-label, unlimited clients, and sales tools for outbound services.

Best Plan: White-label Unlimited ($999/month)

Score: 10/10

Brand24

Good

White-labeled reports for monitoring services but no lead gen.

Best Plan: Business Annual ($499/month)

Score: 7/10

Marketer Measuring Campaign Impact

Closely

Good

Analytics for LinkedIn/email campaigns but limited to outbound.

Best Plan: Growth Annual ($87/month)

Score: 7/10

Brand24 🏆

Excellent

Hashtag tracking, reach metrics, and AI insights for full campaign visibility.

Best Plan: Pro Annual ($299/month)

Score: 9/10

Solo Sales Prospector

Closely 🏆

Excellent

Affordable starter with unlimited emails and AI for individual outreach.

Best Plan: Starter Annual ($29/month)

Score: 9/10

Brand24

Poor

High price and monitoring focus not suited for solo sales.

Best Plan: Not suitable

Score: 2/10

Crisis Management Team

Closely

Poor

No real-time alerts or broad source monitoring.

Best Plan: Not suitable

Score: 1/10

Brand24 🏆

Excellent

Storm alerts and real-time detection for fast response.

Best Plan: Business Annual ($499/month)

Score: 10/10

Multichannel Marketer Including LinkedIn

Closely 🏆

Good

Strong for LinkedIn/email but no social listening.

Best Plan: Essential Annual ($145/month)

Score: 7/10

Brand24

Fair

Excellent listening but no multichannel sending.

Best Plan: Team Annual ($249/month)

Score: 6/10

Still deciding? PostFlow offers a simple, focused approach to LinkedIn content creation. Try out now

Pros and Cons

Closely

Pros

  • Comprehensive LinkedIn/email automation with safe limits
  • AI personalization and sales agents for efficient outreach
  • Deep CRM integrations for seamless lead syncing
  • Unified inbox simplifies reply management
  • White-label for agencies with flexible scaling
  • Strong analytics for campaign and team performance
  • Affordable annual pricing with unlimited emails

Cons

  • Complex interface for basic users
  • Best for structured outbound, not casual use
  • Higher pricing for solo users vs lightweight tools
  • Onboarding time for advanced features
  • No content creation or broad social monitoring
  • Credit-based system for enrichment/AI

Brand24

Pros

  • Extensive real-time monitoring across 25M+ sources
  • Powerful AI for sentiment, emotions, and trend detection
  • Rich analytics including reach, AVE, and influencers
  • Automated alerts and reports for quick response
  • Unlimited users and white-labeled exports
  • Multi-language support for global brands
  • Mobile app and collaboration integrations

Cons

  • High entry pricing for small teams
  • Advanced AI locked to higher tiers
  • Mention limits require careful management
  • Complex for simple monitoring needs
  • API access adds extra costs
  • No automation or outreach capabilities
Want the best of both worlds? Try PostFlow for fast content creation without the complexity. Try out now

Final Verdict

Closely and Brand24 target different ends of the social media spectrum: Closely for proactive sales automation on LinkedIn/email, and Brand24 for reactive brand monitoring across the web. Closely drives pipeline through outreach, while Brand24 safeguards reputation through listening. They complement rather than compete directly.

Select Closely for sales-driven automation and lead gen on LinkedIn/email. Opt for Brand24 if reputation monitoring and social listening are core. For teams doing both, integrate them: use Closely to outreach and Brand24 to track resulting mentions.

Overall Scores

Closely

4.5 / 5.0

Lead Generation: 10/10

Agency Features: 9/10

Brand24

4.6 / 5.0

Lead Generation: 2/10

Agency Features: 9/10

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