Heylerts vs Google Alerts
Google Alerts is free, familiar, and unreliable. It monitors a single source — Google Search — and frequently misses mentions that happen on Reddit, Hacker News, blogs, and smaller sites. Heylerts monitors six sources and catches what Google Alerts cannot.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Heylerts | Google Alerts |
|---|---|---|
| Sources monitored | 6 (Brave, Reddit, HN, Google News, NewsAPI, SerpAPI) | 1 (Google Search only) |
| Reddit monitoring | ✓ | — |
| Hacker News monitoring | ✓ | — |
| PageRank scores | ✓ | — |
| Website logos | ✓ | — |
| Daily trend charts | ✓ | — |
| CSV export | ✓ | — |
| Email digests | ✓ (daily or weekly) | ✓ (daily or as-it-happens) |
| Team collaboration | ✓ (up to 200 users) | — |
| Deduplication | ✓ (SHA-256 content hash) | — |
| Dashboard | ✓ (web app) | — (email only) |
| Scan frequency | Up to 12x/day | Unknown / inconsistent |
| Free tier | ✓ (2 alerts, 5 sources) | ✓ (unlimited alerts, 1 source) |
| Paid plans | From $79/year | Free only |
The problem with Google Alerts
Google Alerts was launched in 2003 as a simple notification tool: enter a keyword, get an email when Google indexes a new page matching that keyword. Over 20 years later, the tool has barely changed — and its reliability has degraded significantly.
It only monitors Google Search
Google Alerts has a single data source: Google's web index. It does not query Reddit, Hacker News, or any other platform directly. If a mention exists on a page that Google has not yet crawled — or has decided not to index — you will never see it. This is a fundamental limitation, not a bug.
It misses mentions frequently
Multiple independent studies and user reports confirm that Google Alerts misses a large percentage of brand mentions. Common blind spots include Reddit comments, Hacker News discussions, newly published blog posts, niche directories, and forum threads. Even pages that are indexed by Google sometimes fail to trigger an alert.
No analytics or context
Google Alerts sends you a bare email with a list of links. There is no dashboard, no trend analysis, no Domain Authority scores, no way to export data, and no team features. If you want to understand patterns in your mentions over time, you are on your own.
How Heylerts solves these problems
Six sources instead of one
Heylerts queries six independent sources: Brave Search (independent web index), Reddit (direct search), Hacker News (Algolia API), Google News, NewsAPI (150,000+ sources), and Google via SerpAPI (Starter plan and above). Each source catches mentions the others miss.
Real-time Reddit and Hacker News monitoring
Reddit and Hacker News are where people actually discuss products and brands. A mention in a popular Reddit thread or HN comment can drive thousands of visitors. Heylerts catches these within hours — Google Alerts may never catch them at all.
PageRank enrichment
Not all mentions are equal. A mention on TechCrunch matters more than one on an unknown blog. Heylerts shows you the Open PageRank score for every mentioning domain, so you can prioritize high-authority mentions for outreach and link building.
Dashboard with trend charts
The Heylerts dashboard shows your mentions in a filterable list with website logos, source labels, snippets, and domain scores. A 30-day trend chart visualizes your mention volume over time, making it easy to spot spikes from launches, press coverage, or viral posts.
Deduplication
When the same article appears across multiple sources, Google Alerts may show it multiple times. Heylerts deduplicates mentions using a SHA-256 hash of the normalized URL and title, so each mention appears exactly once.
When Google Alerts is enough
Google Alerts is fine if you have a casual interest in whether your name appears on Google and do not need reliability, analytics, or coverage beyond Google's index. It costs nothing and takes 30 seconds to set up.
But if you are a founder, marketer, or team that depends on knowing what people say about your brand — and knowing quickly — Google Alerts leaves too many gaps. Heylerts was built to fill them.
Pricing
Google Alerts is free with significant limitations. Heylerts offers a free plan with 2 alerts and 5 sources that already outperforms Google Alerts in coverage. Paid plans start at $79/year (Starter: 10 alerts, 3 users, all 6 sources) and scale to $599/year (Business: 250 alerts, 200 users, 12x daily scanning).
Try Heylerts free — 2 alerts, 5 sources, no credit card required. See what Google Alerts has been missing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Alerts free?
Yes, Google Alerts is completely free. However, it only monitors Google Search results and frequently misses mentions on Reddit, Hacker News, blogs, and smaller sites. Heylerts has a free tier (2 alerts) that monitors 5 sources, giving you significantly better coverage at no cost.
Why does Google Alerts miss so many mentions?
Google Alerts relies solely on Google's web index and its alerting pipeline, which is a side project within Google — not a core product. It does not monitor Reddit, Hacker News, or other platforms directly. Many pages take days or weeks to appear in Google's index, and some never do. Heylerts queries each source directly via their APIs, catching mentions within hours.
Can I replace Google Alerts with Heylerts?
Yes. Heylerts covers everything Google Alerts does (via Google search results through SerpAPI on paid plans) plus five additional sources. Most users find that the free Heylerts plan with Brave Search, Reddit, Hacker News, Google News, and NewsAPI catches more mentions than Google Alerts ever did.
How much does Heylerts cost compared to Google Alerts?
Google Alerts is free but limited to one source. Heylerts offers a free plan with 2 alerts and 5 sources. Paid plans start at $79/year (Starter) for 10 alerts with all 6 sources including SerpAPI Google results, up to $599/year (Business) for 250 alerts with 12x daily scanning.
Does Heylerts work for non-English mentions?
Heylerts searches for exact keyword matches across all sources. If your keyword appears in non-English content, it will be found. The sources (Brave Search, Reddit, Hacker News, Google News, NewsAPI, SerpAPI) all index content in multiple languages.