Free web
Free source (opens in a new tab)
Month
For: Testing results quality
Limits
- 1 search/day across 6 communities
- 10 results, 5 unlocked
Includes
- 0-100 intent scoring
- One-time brand welcome scan
Research & searchDocumented overviewLast checked Oct 1, 2026
Needle: Pricing, Features & Best Use Cases
Buyer-intent search across Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow and other communities, with intent scoring, brand alerts and AI reply drafts.
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Our take: Choose Needle if you are a founder looking for buyers in Reddit, Hacker News and GitHub threads and want intent scores plus drafted replies.
Main limitation: Free plan allows one search per day with only 5 of 10 results unlocked; reply drafts need a paid plan.
Who should use Needle
Choose Needle if you are a founder looking for buyers in Reddit, Hacker News and GitHub threads and want intent scores plus drafted replies. Based on the vendor's documentation, not on a hands-on test.
Best for: Founders looking for first customers
Also a good fit for
- Indie SaaS and dev-tool marketers
- Small teams doing community-led growth
Consider another tool if free plan limited to 1 search/day with only 5 of 10 results unlocked
Or if
- Reply drafts, exports and scheduled alerts require a paid plan
- X and LinkedIn search only on the $149/mo Scale plan
Needle in the news
Headlines from US outlets, selected automatically — not endorsements. Updated Oct 2, 2026
Needle pricing and usage limits
Prices checked Oct 1, 2026 on the official US pricing page. Official pricing ↗ Prices and limits change often.
Vendor pricing page re-checked automatically 12 days ago: no changes detected.
Free access and trial conditions
Free forever, no card.
7-day trial on Solo and Growth; card collected, $0 today. Scale has none.
Paid plans: what changes as you upgrade
Solo web
$15/mo source (opens in a new tab)
Month
$120 per year billed annually
For: A single founder
Limits
- 5 searches/day, 300/mo
- 8 communities, 1 brand monitor
1 more
- 24-hour lookback
Includes
- 25 reply drafts/day
- Daily alerts in Slack and Google Chat
1 more
- CSV export
Growth web
$49/mo source (opens in a new tab)
Month
$390 per year billed annually
For: Small sales or growth teams
Limits
- 30 searches/day
- 11 communities, 2 brand monitors
1 more
- 7-day lookback
Includes
- 90 reply drafts/day
- Competitor tracking
2 more
- PDF and CSV reports
- Slack, Discord, Notion, webhooks
Scale web
$149/mo source (opens in a new tab)
Month
$1190 per year billed annually
For: Heavy monitoring
Limits
- 150 searches/day
- All 13+ communities incl. X, LinkedIn
1 more
- 30-day lookback
Includes
- 300 reply drafts/day
- Hourly alerts, 3 monitors
1 more
- White-label reports and CRM integrations
What is Needle, and how does it work?
Needle searches community platforms such as Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Bluesky, Mastodon and Product Hunt for conversations where people express buying intent or describe problems. Results are ranked with a 0–100 intent score and link back to the original discussion, and the Scale plan adds X and LinkedIn as sources. Beyond manual search, Needle runs scheduled Auto Search for brand or competitor monitoring and pushes digests to Slack, Google Chat, Discord, Notion or webhooks. Paid plans add AI reply drafts, CSV/PDF exports, longer lookback windows and CRM integrations such as HubSpot and Pipedrive. A free plan allows one search per day.
What you provide and what you get back
You provide
- Search query or product keywords
- Brand name for monitors
- Chosen communities
You get back
- Ranked threads with 0-100 intent score
- AI reply drafts
- CSV or PDF exports
- Alert digests
Where you can use it
- Platforms
- Web
- Account
- Required
- Sources
- 13+ communities
- Search quota
- 1/5/30/150 per day
- Reply drafts
- 25/90/300 per day paid
- Billing
- Dodo Payments
Where Needle is most useful
Scenarios are worked out by our editors from the documentation; the actual result depends on your input and plan.
Finding early customers from community conversations
- Who
- Founders hunting first customers
- You provide
- Problem keywords
- Expected result
- Ranked threads with links to the original posts
- Plan needed
- Free for 1 search/day; Solo for more
- Limitation
- Free unlocks 5 of 10 results source (opens in a new tab)
Validating a startup idea against trending problems
- Who
- Startups validating an idea
- You provide
- Topic of interest
- Expected result
- Trending complaints from several communities
- Plan needed
- Solo or higher
- Limitation
- Lookback is 24 hours on Solo source (opens in a new tab)
Monitoring brand and competitor mentions
- Who
- Marketers monitoring a brand
- You provide
- Brand and competitor names
- Expected result
- Scheduled digests pushed to Slack, Discord or webhooks
- Plan needed
- Growth for competitors
- Limitation
- Hourly alerts only on Scale source (opens in a new tab)
Needle features and their limits
Multi-platform search across 13+ communities
Searches Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Bluesky, Mastodon, Product Hunt and more. Finds conversations in one place.
0–100 buying-intent scoring and sentiment filters
Scores each thread 0-100 for buying intent and filters by sentiment. Prioritizes leads.
Scheduled Auto Search brand monitors with chat alerts
Runs scheduled searches for brand or competitors and pushes digests to chat tools. Catches mentions without manual searching.
AI reply drafts (paid plans)
Drafts replies to found threads. Speeds up outreach.
Needle: strengths and limits
Reasons to choose Needle
- Free plan needs no credit card No card needed to evaluate it. documented source (opens in a new tab)
- 7-day free trial on Solo and Growth You can test paid features before billing. documented source (opens in a new tab)
- Detailed plans-and-limits documentation Limits are public and exact. documented source (opens in a new tab)
- Annual billing discounted 33% Annual saves about four months. documented source (opens in a new tab)
Check before paying for Needle
- Free plan limited to 1 search/day with only 5 of 10 results unlocked Few results per day to judge fit. documented source (opens in a new tab)
- Reply drafts, exports and scheduled alerts require a paid plan Free users cannot automate monitoring or reply. documented source (opens in a new tab)
- X and LinkedIn search only on the $149/mo Scale plan Cross-platform coverage costs $149 per month. documented source (opens in a new tab)
- Scale plan has no free trial You must commit without a trial. documented source (opens in a new tab)
How to use Needle for finding buyer-intent conversations
Set up Needle
- Sign up free; no card.
- Describe your product or enter a keyword.
- Pick communities to search.
- Optionally create a brand monitor (paid).
Example: finding buyer-intent conversations
- Search for a problem phrase your product solves.
- Sort by intent score.
- Open top threads at the source.
- Generate a reply draft and edit it.
Review and export the result
- Open each thread to confirm intent.
- Check daily search quota used.
Teams complaining about slow invoice reconciliation and asking for a tool
Needle integrations and API
Native integrations and export formats
Export: CSV, PDF
API access and separate billing
Needle has no public API in its official documentation. No public API in fetched pages.
Privacy, data use and commercial rights
Summarized from the vendor's current policies; this is not legal advice and a vendor's badge is not an independent audit.
How your inputs and outputs are handled
Searches public community posts.
Needle alternatives by need
"Better suited" is based on documented features and pricing, not on a head-to-head test.
Perplexity: better suited to
Notion AI: better suited to
Zapier: better suited to
Make: better suited to
| Alternative | When to choose it | Pricing | Limitation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | — | — | Compare | |
| Notion AI | — | — | ||
| Zapier | — | — | ||
| Make | — | — |
Explore Needle further
Tools and guides near Needle
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Guides and comparisons
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Needle FAQ
Is there a free plan?
Yes: one ranked search per day across six communities, 10 results with 5 unlocked, no card. source (opens in a new tab)
How does the trial work?
Solo and Growth have a 7-day trial; a card is collected but $0 is billed until day 7 ends. source (opens in a new tab)
How much does annual billing save?
33% off, about four months free. source (opens in a new tab)
Which plan includes X and LinkedIn?
Only Scale at $149 per month. source (opens in a new tab)
Which communities are scanned?
Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Mastodon, Bluesky and Product Hunt on all plans. source (opens in a new tab)
Sources and review methodology
Official sources and verification dates
- Multi-Platform Buyer Intent Search | Needle homepage · checked Oct 1, 2026
- Needle Pricing - Solo, Growth & Scale Plans for Founders | Needle homepage · checked Oct 1, 2026
- Plans and Limits | Needle Documentation homepage · checked Oct 1, 2026
Not verified: data retention; AI model used; privacy terms.
How we documented and maintain this page
Every fact about Needle above comes from the 3 official pages listed here, last compared on Oct 1, 2026; we have not run Needle ourselves, so it has no editorial score. How we check and re-check pages.
Article updated Oct 10, 2026; prices checked Oct 1, 2026. Outbound links to vendors are plain links; we do not earn commissions. How we review · Report an error