If you’re reading this, you clearly understand the importance of influencer marketing campaigns for your brand’s success.
However, you’ve probably stumbled upon one of the biggest challenges of this marketing strategy: influencer discovery.
After all, finding a person who aligns with your brand’s values, audience demographics, and campaign goals, is not easy.
In addition, manually searching for influencers on multiple social media platforms is very time-consuming and inefficient.
Plus, you risk running into influencers with fake followers and low engagement rates.
Good influencer marketing tools can help you overcome these challenges and discover the best influencers for your campaigns.
Of course, there are many such tools out there, so you should look for one that best suits your needs.
To help you do that, we’ve compiled a list of 12 powerful influencer search tools for DTC brands.
Let’s take a look.
Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of March 28, 2024.
Best Influencer Search Tools: Comparison Table (With Ratings & Pricing)
Influencer marketing tools can make your life a lot easier.
With their large influencer databases and advanced search filters, they help you find social media influencers in no time.
However, each influencer marketing platform comes with its own features and prices.
So, you should first make sure that it’s right for your business and that you can afford it.
And if you still have doubts, you can opt for influencer marketing tools that offer trial periods. So, you can see for yourself if the software is right for your brand or not.
Now, check out our comparison table to start narrowing down your search for the right influencer search tool.
As you can see, you’ve got lots of great options.
But let’s see which one would suit you best by use case.
Best Influencer Search Tool by Use Case
First things first, every influencer marketing software program is designed with a certain goal and target audience in mind.
So, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.
That’s why you should assess the use case if you want to find the right one for your brand.
Here are the specific use cases of our 12 influencer search tools:
- Insense – Best for finding quality Instagram influencers and TikTok influencers, sourcing UGC, managing influencer campaigns, and running whitelisted ads on Meta and TikTok for DTC and e-commerce brands in any industry.
- Upfluence – Best for influencer discovery through e-commerce integrations.
- Collabstr – Best for finding Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube influencers for brands in the fashion, health, beauty, food and beverage industries.
- Heepsy – Best for finding Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok influencers around the world.
- HypeAuditor – Best for large businesses with big marketing budgets that need detailed influencer reports, tracking, and trends.
- BuzzSumo – Best for conducting comprehensive content research to identify trends, understand your audience, and monitor your brand.
- Later – Best for finding content creators and social media management on Meta, TikTok, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest.
- Klear – Best for e-commerce teams looking to scale their influencer marketing strategy.
- NinjaOutreach – Best for YouTube and Instagram influencer discovery and finding SEO bloggers.
- GRIN – Best for influencer analysis and comparison and e-commerce integration.
- Traackr – Best for global organizations that want to scale global influencer marketing programs.
- #paid – Best for large businesses with big budgets looking for creators.
Wanna find out more?
Keep reading.
Tool #1: Insense
Insense is an all-in-one influencer marketing platform for both big and small DTC and e-commerce brands.
Insense allows you to find the best influencer collaborations, source unique creative assets, and seamlessly launch and manage influencer marketing campaigns at scale.
G2 Rating
4.5 / 5
What we love
What our clients love most about Insense is that it’s very easy to use.
So, you don’t have to be a marketing specialist to find relevant influencers, source UGC, and create successful campaigns.
Our clients also enjoy a large database of high-quality, vetted creators and an extremely helpful and proactive support team.
Downsides to consider
Even though Insense offers dynamic pricing solutions, some users still consider it a bit pricey.
Best for
DTC businesses, Amazon brands, and growth agencies that want to collaborate with micro-influencers for UGC, organic posting, and whitelisted ads on Instagram and TikTok Spark Ads.
Top Features
- Creator Marketplace. The creator discovery tool offers advanced search filters that enable you to find the best creators in a matter of minutes.
You can search by industry, location, demographics, follower count, engagement rate, and price.
- Campaign management. Insense offers a centralized campaign dashboard that makes it easy to launch and manage unlimited campaigns simultaneously.
- Relationship management. Insense is one of the top influencer relationship management platforms.
Through the Direct Chat feature, you can effectively communicate with all your creators, nurturing lasting relationships.
Also, you can use short-term campaigns to find the best influencers for long-term partnerships.
- Performance. This feature offers an intuitive data visualization dashboard that helps you monitor your campaign performance and track platform spending.
Pricing
Dynamic pricing plans start at $550/month.
Tool #2: Upfluence
Upfluence is an influencer marketing platform dedicated to e-commerce businesses.
It offers influencer discovery and influencer analytics tools and e-commerce and marketing integrations.
G2 Rating
4.5 / 5
What we love
After trying Upfluence ourselves, we found the influencer gifting feature most useful because it allows you to seamlessly launch product-seeding campaigns.
Downsides to consider
Because of its many features and plugins, it can be a bit overwhelming at first and it takes a while to learn how to use it.
Best for
E-commerce businesses that want to hand out free products, create promo codes, monitor sales, and manage commissions.
Top Features
- Influencer search. Allows you to find potential influencers in your customer base.
- Analyze influencers. Lets you monitor your influencers’ numbers to identify the most fruitful partnerships.
- Influencer gifting. Enables influencers to choose the free products they want and allows you to ship them to them in one click.
- E-commerce integrations. You can link your influencer marketing campaigns with Shopify, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, and WooCommerce.
Pricing
Custom pricing based on the features you choose.
Tool #3: Collabstr
Collabstr is an influencer marketplace that’s perfect for small businesses.
It helps you discover Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and UGC influencers for your brand.
G2 Rating
Not enough reviews for a G2 rating.
What we love
This is basically a free tool that you can use to search for vetted influencers.
Downsides to consider
The biggest downside is that it doesn’t offer any campaign management and monitoring features.
Best for
Small businesses with limited budgets.
Top Features
- Influencer search. Allows you to sift through thousands of vetted influencers.
- Instant chat. Lets you reach out and stay in touch with influencers.
- Receive content. You’ll receive the UGC directly on the platform.
- Secure purchase. The platform holds your money until you approve the content you receive.
Pricing
No up-front costs, only a 15% transaction fee.
Tool #4: Heepsy
Heepsy is a good influencer search tool for global collaborations.
It offers detailed influencer analytics reports that allow you to make data-driven decisions.
G2 Rating
4.4 / 5
What we love
Its influencer fraud detection capability.
Downsides to consider
Limited integration options with other marketing platforms and can be a bit pricey for small businesses.
Best for
Brands and agencies looking for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok influencers around the world.
Top Features
- Influencer search. It allows you to filter your search by various criteria, including a targeted audience determined by AI.
- Influencer statistics. Offers in-depth insights into influencers’ engagement rates, growth trends, and follower demographics.
- Influencer management. Heepsy offers a user-friendly CRM for influencer marketing.
- Shopify integration. Allows you to create tailored campaigns based on your Shopify product catalog.
Pricing
Starting at $65.
Tool #5: HypeAuditor
HypeAuditor is a SaaS company offering complex solutions for large businesses.
It offers a comprehensive set of tools for analyzing influencer profiles on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X/Twitter, and Twitch.
G2 Rating
4.6 / 5
What we love
Advanced influencer analysis capabilities that allow you to spot brand ambassadors, fake followers, and trending influencer profiles.
Downsides to consider
Too expensive for smaller businesses.
Also, some clients note that HypeAuditor is not very user-friendly.
Best for
Large businesses that need to and can invest in complex influencer analytics.
Top Features
- Influencer discovery. Lets you identify the right collaborators by industry-specific hashtags and growth rate.
- Influencer analysis. Helps you find the right influencers using AI technologies, fraud-detection systems, and the influencer’s audience demographics.
- Creator management. It allows you to process contracts and payments processing and customize workflows.
- Campaign management. You can choose to approve the content before posting or let your creators publish independently.
Pricing
Custom pricing based on your specific needs.
Tool #6: BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is an all-in-one content marketing tool.
It helps you find both social media influencers and high-quality bloggers.
G2 Rating
4.5 / 5
What we love
The content research feature that helps you find trending content for your niche.
Downsides to consider
It focuses on English content, so if you want to expand your brand’s reach to non-English-speaking countries, you should look for other influencer search tools.
Best for
Businesses that want to research content and find content creators for their social media accounts and blogs.
Top Features
- Content discovery. Helps you discover relevant keywords, trending topics, and user questions.
- Content research. Allows you to identify the most popular content by analyzing articles and social posts.
- Find influencers. Enables you to identify influencers with engaged audiences and genuine authority.
- Monitoring. This feature monitors industry updates, brand mentions, and competitors.
Pricing
Starting at $199/month.
Tool #7: Later
Later is a social media marketing and commerce platform.
It helps businesses manage their entire social media strategy in one place.
G2 Rating
4.5 / 5
What we love
The post-scheduling feature, including best times to post suggestions, is very helpful and saves a lot of time.
Downsides to consider
Some clients dislike the limited analytics functionality.
Best for
Businesses looking for a social media management solution for Meta, TikTok, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest.
Top Features
- Find influencers. This feature offers 20 search filters for finding relevant influencers by demographics.
- Manage influencers. Helps you stay in touch with your creators and customize your workflow.
- Influencer campaigns. Lets you scale content output, collect reviews, and survey influencers.
- Influencer analytics. Allows you to measure the impact of your campaigns in real time.
Pricing
Starting at $16.67/month.
Tool #8: Klear
Klear is a comprehensive influencer marketing platform.
It lets you discover and collaborate with influencers and measure campaign impact.
G2 Rating
4.2 / 5
What we love
You can easily customize your campaign briefs even with content mood boards.
Downsides to consider
Some users are not very happy that you cannot find micro-influencers on this platform.
Best for
Small businesses and e-commerce brands interested in scaling their influencer marketing strategy.
Top Features
- Find influencers. Helps you search for TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube influencers.
- Influencer analytics. Using an AI algorithm, Klear analyzes dozens of metrics so you know who you’re working with.
- Manage relationships. The in-app communication feature helps you stay connected with your collaborators.
- Measure campaigns. It allows you to get campaign reports on ROI and best-performing posts.
Pricing
Custom pricing for small teams, e-commerce, and enterprises.
Tool #9: NinjaOutreach
NinjaOutreach is a blogger and influencer marketing outreach software.
It helps sole traders and small businesses boost brand awareness and reach.
G2 Rating
4.0 / 5
What we love
The all-in-one link-building software that can help boost your search engine rankings.
Downsides to consider
Even though its lowest pricing plan is meant for sole traders, it’s still a bit pricey for them.
Best for
Small businesses looking for SEO bloggers and YouTube and Instagram influencers.
Top Features
- Find Instagram influencers. Lets you filter your search by industry, location, number of followers, and engagement rate.
- Find YouTube influencers. Apart from the above search filters, you can also narrow down your search by the number of videos posted per week.
- Influencer marketing agency. Enables agencies to test and improve their outreach campaigns to boost conversions.
- Blogger outreach tool. Lets you automate mass email outreach to reach more leads in less time.
Pricing
Starting at $49/month for individuals and higher for professionals and businesses.
Tool #10: GRIN
GRIN is a great influencer marketing platform for e-commerce and large businesses.
It helps businesses find the right content creators and manage their content and collaborations.
G2 Rating
4.6 / 5
What we love
The integration with multiple e-commerce platforms.
Downsides to consider
Some of the more advanced functionalities can be a bit difficult to use until you learn more about them.
Best for
E-commerce brands that want to conduct influencer analysis and comparison.
Top Features
- Discovery suite. It allows you to look for on-demand and always-on creators.
- Content management. Helps you store all the content in one place and track its performance.
- Reporting and analytics. Gives you access to real-time data about your campaigns.
- Relationship management. Makes communication easier by letting you integrate with your email provider and Slack.
Pricing
Custom pricing based on your needs.
Note: Wanna know how Insense compares to GRIN? Head over to our full comparison guide.
Tool #11: Traackr
Traackr is a great choice for global organizations.
It helps global brands gain more visibility and build awareness and engagement.
G2 Rating
4.3 / 5
What we love
It offers lookalike recommendations based on similar audience demographics or content.
Downsides to consider
Despite its many great features, some clients complain that the software is slow at times and that the fee calculator feature doesn’t always work.
Best for
Global organizations that need to thoroughly vet influencers and measure influencer marketing success.
Top Features
- Find influencers. Allows you to filter your search based on socio-demographic criteria and offers recommendations.
- Influencer analytics. This feature enables you to vet potential influencers based on their credentials, personal info, audience, past collaborations, and more.
- Recruit and onboard. Lets you attract new talent through branded recruitment pages.
- Improve spend efficiency. By tracking your campaign costs and analyzing performance, it helps you optimize your investments.
Pricing
Customized pricing based on your needs.
Tool #12: #paid
#paid is a creator marketplace for large businesses.
This platform targets both creators and large businesses looking for collaborations.
G2 Rating
4.7 / 5
What we love
Creators pitch campaign ideas to brands instead of the other way around.
Downsides to consider
Multiple users say that this software is not mobile-friendly.
Best for
Big brands that want to connect with vetted content creators.
Top Features
- Creator network. Enables you to choose from 150+ creator categories.
- Campaign strategy and management. Allows you to approve the concepts and content and work with a team of experts.
- Analytics and reporting. Enables you to compare your campaign results with industry benchmarks.
- Automated workflows. Gives you access to standardized pricing so you don’t have to negotiate, and lets you automate payments.
Pricing
Custom pricing based on your needs.
Looking for an Influencer Search Tool?
Clearly, there are lots of great influencer search tools to choose from.
However, before making a decision, you should consider the use case, additional features, and pricing.
These criteria will help you choose the best influencer marketing tool for your brand.
Now, if you want to see if Insense is the right choice for you, just book a demo.
We’d love to hear from you!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some of the most common questions you might have;
Q1. How do I search for influencers?
You can search for influencers manually on social media platforms and Google or automatically using influencer search tools.
Q2. Why should I use an influencer search tool?
Influencer search tools help you find influencers in a matter of minutes and choose the right ones for your brand using advanced search filters.
Q3. How do I find Instagram influencers?
You can find Instagram influencers manually using the Explore option on the Insta platform and niche-specific hashtags or automatically using influencer search tools.
Q4. What are the top influencer search platforms for small businesses?
Some of the top influencer search platforms for small businesses include Collabstr, Later, Klear, and NinjaOutreach.
Q5. How can I identify top influencers in a specific niche?
You can identify top influencers in a specific niche using trending industry hashtags, checking out competitor collaborations, identifying fans among your followers, or using influencer search tools.
