--- title: "F5Bot Review 2026: Free Reddit Alerts, Limits & Alternatives" description: "F5Bot sends free real-time Reddit keyword alerts (plus Hacker News and Lobsters). Our tested review: exact pricing, where it stops, and what to use when you outgrow alert-only monitoring." url: https://oneup.today/reviews/f5bot --- Review # F5Bot Review 2026: Free Reddit Alerts, Limits and Alternatives F5Bot is the classic free keyword monitor for Reddit, Hacker News and Lobsters. It is excellent at one job. Here is an honest look at what it does, and what it does not. 4.2 / 5Updated July 19, 2026 ## How F5Bot scores - Monitoring4.5 - Ease of use4.5 - Value (free tier)4.5 - Outreach1.5 - Channel coverage3.5 ## F5Bot at a glance Platforms Reddit, Hacker News, Lobsters Core job Keyword alerts Outreach No (manual) Free tier Yes Paid tiers Power $14.17/mo, Ultra $58.33/mo Extras RSS, JSON, API, webhooks (paid) Key takeaway F5Bot is a free keyword-alert tool: it emails you within minutes when your terms appear on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters, with paid Power ($14.17/mo) and Ultra ($58.33/mo) tiers adding more keywords, feeds, AI semantic alerts, and an API. It is the best free mention monitor going. Just know what it is: a listening tool, not a lead-gen tool. It tells you something happened; turning that into a customer is entirely on you. ## What is F5Bot? F5Bot (f5bot.com) is a free keyword-alert service. You give it keywords, and it emails you within minutes whenever those words appear on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters. It is one of the simplest, most reliable mention monitors on the internet, and it has been a staple for founders and marketers for years. ## How F5Bot works Add your keywords, confirm your email, and the alerts start. The free tier covers email notifications with basic filtering. Paid plans add capacity and integrations: Power, at $14.17/mo billed annually, adds more keywords, advanced filtering, and RSS and JSON feeds; Ultra, at $58.33/mo billed annually, adds thousands of keywords, AI semantic alerts, a REST API, webhooks, and Slack and Discord delivery. ## Where F5Bot shines It is free, it is fast, and it covers Hacker News and Lobsters alongside Reddit, which most Reddit-specific tools do not. For brand monitoring and competitor alerts, it is hard to beat. ## The honest catch F5Bot stops at the alert. It does not judge whether the person is a real buyer, draft a reply, or track anything to revenue. It matches the literal keyword (Ultra adds AI semantic matching), not buyer intent. In our [study of 5,756 Reddit conversations](https://oneup.today/reddit-dm-benchmarks), the reply rate came from personalized outreach to high-intent posts, the step F5Bot leaves entirely to you. ## What F5Bot does well - +Genuinely free for basic keyword alerts - +Fast email notifications, within minutes - +Covers Hacker News and Lobsters too - +RSS, JSON, API, and webhooks on paid tiers ## Where it falls short - \-Alerts only, no outreach or replies - \-Keyword match, not buyer-intent scoring - \-You do all the work after the alert - \-Not built to convert leads to customers The verdict F5Bot is the best free mention monitor going, and the paid tiers are fairly priced for power users who want feeds and an API. Just be clear on what it is: a listening tool, not a lead-generation tool. It tells you a mention happened; deciding if it is a buyer, writing the message, and following up are all on you. ![OneUp Today](https://oneup.today/assets/logo.webp) Should you consider OneUp Today? If the manual outreach after each alert is your real bottleneck, OneUp Today picks up where F5Bot stops: it scores buyer intent, drafts the DM or reply in your voice for you to approve, and tracks each conversation to paid, across Reddit, X, and LinkedIn, from $19/mo. [See how OneUp Today works](https://oneup.today/marketing)[Full comparison: OneUp Today vs F5Bot →](https://oneup.today/vs/f5bot) ## Frequently Asked Questions Is F5Bot free? Yes. F5Bot offers a free tier with keyword alerts across Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters. Paid plans, Power at $14.17/mo and Ultra at $58.33/mo (billed annually), add more keywords, advanced filtering, AI semantic alerts, feeds, and API access. Is F5Bot good for lead generation? It is good for the first step, knowing when a relevant keyword appears. But F5Bot only alerts you; it does not score buyer intent or help with outreach. For lead generation that includes drafting and sending, a tool like OneUp Today or LeadsFromURL is a better fit. What does F5Bot not do? F5Bot does not draft replies or DMs, post anything, score buyer intent, or track conversations to revenue. It is a monitoring tool. Those outreach steps are left entirely to you. What is the best F5Bot alternative? If you want to act on mentions rather than just receive them, OneUp Today scores intent and drafts the outreach you approve. See our full list of F5Bot alternatives for monitoring and lead-gen options. ## Related reading [OneUp Today vs F5Bot](https://oneup.today/vs/f5bot)[F5Bot Alternatives](https://oneup.today/f5bot-alternatives)[Best Reddit Lead Generation Tools](https://oneup.today/best-reddit-lead-generation-tools)[Best Reddit Monitoring Tools](https://oneup.today/best-reddit-monitoring-tools)[Redreach Review](https://oneup.today/reviews/redreach)[Promotee Review](https://oneup.today/reviews/promotee) ## Find customers on Reddit, the safe way OneUp Today finds high-intent posts, drafts the outreach you approve, and tracks it to paid. Start free. [Get started free](https://oneup.today/pricing)