Syften

1. 1

   You write filters, one per line, in a small query language. A filter can be a keyword, an exact phrase, a domain (matched along with its subdomains and common obfuscations such as example[.]com), or a combination, narrowed with operators: site: to restrict to a subreddit or community, type: to separate posts from comments, title: to match only thread titles, author: and replyto: to follow specific people, lang: to require a language, and NOT to exclude terms. Variables let one definition feed many filters.

2. 2

   Syften scans each source on its own cadence. Reddit and Hacker News are fetched live, Stack Exchange alerts arrive with up to a 15-minute delay, GitHub is scanned hourly for issue, pull request review, and commit comments, podcasts are transcribed and matched within about 15 minutes of an episode's release, and a separate Web product watches public websites, changelogs, directories, and competitors' blogs. X and YouTube run as optional paid add-ons on Standard and PRO.

3. 3

   On Standard and PRO, each match can pass through an AI filter before anyone is notified. You add a per-filter rule written as a plain condition, in the documented form "true if ...; false otherwise", and the model accepts or rejects the match. Rejected matches are not deleted: they stay in the archive and the API with the verdict, the rejection reason, and an NSFW flag, so a misjudged rule can be audited rather than silently losing leads.

4. 4

   Accepted matches go wherever you point them. Email can be immediate, hourly, every six hours, or daily; Slack channels, RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds, the REST API, Zapier, and (on PRO) webhooks and an MCP endpoint are the other routes. Tags on filters decide which destination receives which matches, so a competitor filter can land in a sales channel while a brand filter lands in support.

Flat monthly subscription per account with no seats, tiered by the number of filters, daily result caps, archive depth, and feature access; X and YouTube are paid add-ons.

Value assessment: At $49.95 a month, Standard buys continuous monitoring of every subreddit, Hacker News, Stack Exchange, public Slack communities, GitHub comments, podcasts, and the web, with an AI filter in front of it and Slack delivery, for a whole team. That is less than a single seat of most tools in this category. The value is highest for developer and startup-facing products, where one well-answered recommendation thread can pay for a year, and lowest for anyone whose buyers are not publicly active in these venues. Because there is no enrichment, budget for a contact tool if you intend to reach people off-platform, but for teams that reply in the thread itself, the subscription is the whole cost.

Syften is a signals tool, and a team running it still has 7 neighbouring categories to staff. The pick in each is Lusha for B2B data providers, Smartlead for cold email outreach, Zoho CRM for sales CRM, Dripify for LinkedIn outreach, Make for GTM engineering, Leadberry for website visitor identification and Regie.ai for AI SDR agents, each the leading tool in that category on published criteria.

1. LushaB2B Data Providers · Best Value

   Because

   Syften sends buyers elsewhere for a contactable lead rather than a conversation. Lusha adds useful free tier.

   Benefit

   Lists get built in minutes from filters, rather than bought, scraped, or typed out by hand.

2. SmartleadCold Email Outreach · Best Value

   Because

   Syften lists podcast matches rely on automatic transcription among its limits. Smartlead adds aggressive volume pricing at Pro tier and above.

   Benefit

   Outreach goes out on a schedule and replies land in one place instead of a personal inbox.

3. Zoho CRMSales CRM · Best Value

   Because

   Syften sends buyers elsewhere for signals scored and written into a CRM as tasks without building. Zoho CRM adds built-in telephony, web forms, SMS, and omnichannel.

   Benefit

   Every conversation ends up on a record, so a rep leaving does not take the pipeline with them.

4. DripifyLinkedIn Outreach · Best Value

   Because

   Syften lists no published annual pricing among its limits. Dripify adds effective annual pricing undercuts every serious rival.

   Benefit

   A second channel reaches the people who never open email, without a rep doing it by hand.

5. MakeGTM Engineering · Best Value

   Because

   Syften lists LinkedIn is not a listed source among its limits. Make adds best power-per-dollar in mainstream automation.

   Benefit

   The workflow nobody wanted to buy a whole tool for gets built in an afternoon.

6. LeadberryWebsite Visitor Identification · Best Value

   Because

   Syften lists no enrichment, scoring, or CRM task creation among its limits. Leadberry adds flat unlimited-lead pricing on every paid tier.

   Benefit

   The companies already reading the site become a list, instead of anonymous traffic.

7. Regie.aiAI SDR Agents · Best Value

   Because

   Syften lists x and YouTube cost extra and are unavailable on Entry among its limits. Regie.ai adds why-now signal tracking and account ranking.

   Benefit

   Research, writing and sending happen without a headcount, and the meetings still get booked.

Pairings follow the methodology: the leading tool in each complementary category, chosen on published criteria. Placement cannot be purchased.

Setup time

Minutes to a first alert: register, enter your product name or domain, and the trial shows matching mentions from the last 60 days. A tuned filter set with AI rules and Slack routing is a few hours of iteration spread over the first week.

Learning curve

Low to start, moderate to master. The skill is filter design: scoping by site and type, excluding common false matches, and writing AI accept rules in the documented "true if ...; false otherwise" form. The documentation has worked examples per source and a guide to good filters.

Onboarding

Fully self-serve. Support is by email and an on-site chat widget, and the site openly suggests asking ChatGPT first for general questions. There is no onboarding call on the published plans.

Migration notes

Nothing to import; filters are short text lines that port easily from any other keyword tool. On exit, the API and feeds let you pull recent matches, and the filters themselves are plain text you can copy out. Historical matches beyond your plan's archive window are not retained for you.

Platforms

Web applicationEmail alertsSlackRSS, Atom, and JSON feedsREST JSON APIWebhooksMCP endpoint

API

A JSON API with bearer-token authentication for reading and replacing filters, reading settings and recent matches, linting filters, and searching the archive (PRO, with a shared API and MCP allowance of 1,000,000 fetched items a month). Webhooks and a streamable HTTP MCP endpoint are PRO only; payload formats are documented as not version-locked.

Compliance

No SOC 2 or ISO attestation publishedPaddle acts as merchant of record for billing and tax

Data residency

Not published.

SSO

Not offered on the published plans.

Security notes

Syften reads public posts from the perspective of a logged-out user, so it sees only what any visitor can see. Feed URLs and API keys act as secrets; the documentation tells users to regenerate feed URLs if they leak and to treat the API key used for MCP like a password.

Channels

Email (hello@syften.com)On-site chat widget

Documentation

A single long documentation page covering filter syntax, per-source implementation details and delays, AI filtering, delivery options, the API, webhooks, MCP, and billing FAQs, plus a dated public changelog.

Community

No user forum. The blog publishes filter guides and customer case studies.

Founded

2019

Headquarters

Kraków, Poland

Ownership

Bootstrapped

Founders

Michał Mazurek

Employees

Not disclosed; the about page describes a project led by one founder

Funding

No outside funding; the about page describes Syften as bootstrapped and customer-funded. The founding year is taken from the changelog's first release, dated 28 May 2019.

Syften is the most cost-effective way in this category to hear people ask, in public, for the thing you sell. It covers the developer and startup web more completely than tools several times its price, including Hacker News, Stack Exchange, public Slack communities, GitHub comments, and podcasts, and its filter language and auditable AI rules keep the feed readable. Standard at $49.95 a month, with no seats, is the plan to buy for a small team. What it does not do is just as clear: no LinkedIn, no enrichment, and no CRM tasks, so it suits teams that respond in the conversation rather than teams that want a lead list. If your buyers are publicly active in technical and startup communities, start the free trial, look at the 60 days of backlog it shows on day one, and you will know within an afternoon whether the signal exists for you.

Written by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Awards, when shown, are judged against the published criteria in our methodology.