The best tools to analyze a competitor's Instagram reels (2026), compared
Which tools show you a rival's reels that really took off, and why. Ten compared on features and pricing, with what our team found when we tested the trackers.
You know who your competitors are. You've scrolled their profiles more times than you'd admit. What you can't see from there is which of their reels actually worked.
The view count on a cover doesn't tell you. The same number can be a big hit for one account and a quiet week for another. To know whether a rival's reel broke out, you need to compare it with what that account usually gets, and then work out what made it different: the hook, the format, the length, the sound.
That's what a good competitor tool does for you. Plenty of tools say they do competitor analysis, but most of them compare accounts, not reels: follower growth, engagement rate, how often someone posts. This guide compares ten tools on the part you actually want, the reels. Our team tested the trackers hands-on. We make one of them, Aubrium, so we show where each number comes from.
The best tool to analyze a competitor's Instagram reels ranks each reel against that account's own usual, not just its views. For creators, Aubrium's Analyse Competitors does this for any public account, shows why the best reels worked and puts your last 12 reels next to theirs. Creadar and CILA are cheaper if you only want to watch accounts you already know. Metricool, Socialinsider and Iconosquare compare accounts in reports, which suits brands and agencies.
What should a competitor tool tell you about their reels?
Four things, and most tools only do one or two of them.
Which reels beat their usual
Not their most-viewed reels: the ones that did far better than that account normally does. People call those outliers.
Why those reels worked
The hook, the format, whether there's a face or text on screen, the sound, the length.
How you compare
How often they post, how long their reels are, and how many people share them, next to your own numbers.
When they post a hit
A heads-up when a new reel of theirs starts taking off, so you see it while it's fresh.
Reel trackers vs analytics dashboards
There are two kinds of tool here, and they answer different questions.
They watch accounts you add and flag the reels that beat each account's usual. Aubrium, Creadar, CILA, Sandcastles, ViralSpot, CreatorHouse and Virlo work this way.
Best for deciding what to post next.They compare accounts in reports: followers, engagement rate, how often they post, top posts. Metricool, Socialinsider and Iconosquare work this way.
Best for reporting to a client or a boss.The dashboards come with strings attached. Metricool only adds professional accounts as Instagram competitors and needs your own account linked through Facebook.9 Iconosquare needs both to be business profiles, and its competitor numbers run to average likes, average comments and most engaging posts, with no views listed.11 Socialinsider shows Reels views side by side, but its help pages mark competitors' Instagram views and reach as estimates.10 None of them says it flags a reel against that account's own usual. You sort their posts by a number and judge for yourself.
How we tested them
Our team studied eight viral reel finders and trackers hands-on in October 2026, next to Aubrium. Sandcastles, ViralSpot, CreatorHouse and Virlo are four of them. We added accounts the way a creator would, read each tool's score for their reels, and checked it against the tool's own rule. In the same study we ran more than 1,300 searches across the finders that have a search box.7
We didn't test Creadar, CILA, Metricool, Socialinsider or Iconosquare hands-on. What we say about them comes from their own sites, read on 4 November 2026.
The 10 tools at a glance
| Tool | Best for | Ranks reels against their usual? | Platforms | Price from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Aubrium | Creators who want to know why a rival's reel worked | Yes: Yes, and why | $49/mo | |
| 2. Creadar | Cheap alerts on rivals you already know | Yes: Yes, at 3× | Instagram, TikTok, Shorts | €18/mo |
| 3. ViralSpot | A low price, with up to 20 rivals | Yes: Yes | $25/mo | |
| 4. Sandcastles | Tracking many channels on three platforms | Yes: Yes | Instagram, TikTok, Shorts | $49/mo |
| 5. CreatorHouse | Transcripts of every rival's video | Partly: Changes with the window | Instagram, TikTok | $39/mo |
| 6. Virlo | Teams tracking creators on three platforms | Yes: Yes | TikTok, Instagram, Shorts | $49/mo |
| 7. CILA | Tracking up to 50 accounts on two platforms | Yes: Yes | Instagram, TikTok | $24/mo |
| 8. Metricool | Scheduling, with competitor reports | No: Sorts by a metric | Instagram and many more | Free plan |
| 9. Socialinsider | Agencies benchmarking brands | No: Side by side | Instagram and five more | $99/mo |
| 10. Iconosquare | Brand reports across networks | No: Averages, no views | Instagram and seven more | €69/mo on Scale, yearly |
The 10 tools, one by one
1. Aubrium
Reel tracker + libraryFrom $49/moBest for: Creators who want to know why a rival's reel worked
Type a creator's handle and Aubrium pulls their recent posts and ranks them against that account's own normal, so you see straight away which reels really worked for them. Then it keeps watching their new reels for 30 days and tells you when one takes off.
For each rival you get their posts that did far better than the rest, where they're ahead of you, and their best posts this week. It puts your last 12 reels next to theirs: how often you each post, how long your reels run, your average views and how many people share them. It reads their latest reels and counts what the best ones have in common, like the hook type, the format and how often there's text or a face on screen.
Don't know who to watch? It suggests accounts your size in your niche that are going viral now. And when a rival posts a hit, Make my version turns it into your own script, hooks and caption.
- Pricing
- 40 Sparks a creator for 30 days. Plans from $49 a month include 100 Sparks.1
- Limits
- Any public account with at least 24 posts; up to 100 creators2
- Platforms
- Ranks every reel against the account's own normal
- Shows why the best ones worked
- Your reels side by side with theirs
- Suggests rivals your size, not celebrities
- They're never notified
- Instagram only for now
- Each rival costs Sparks
2. Creadar
Rival trackerFrom €18/moBest for: Cheap alerts on rivals you already know
Creadar watches creators you add on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and flags any video that reaches three times the median of that creator's last 20. Its data refreshes once a day, and it can work inside Claude and ChatGPT on its Creator plan.
It only watches the accounts you give it: its own blog says it has "No keyword search and no account discovery". The entry plan covers 10 creators. We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.
- Pricing
- €18, €35 or €95 a month; Starter is €180 a year8
- Trial
- A one-time preview of 3 accounts, no card, per its blog8
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts
- A clear outlier rule
- A low entry price
- No search and no account discovery
- 10 creators on the entry plan
3. ViralSpot
AI agent + watchlistFrom $25/moBest for: A low price, with up to 20 rivals
ViralSpot tracks up to 20 competitors and shows their best-performing content, each post scored against that account's normal. One plan includes everything, with no credits to run out of, and its AI agent breaks reels down and writes scripts that sound genuinely human.
The catch is the watchlist. Once you fill one of its 20 slots, that slot locks for three days, so you can't swap rivals around while you're working out who to follow. Its suggested accounts for a creator with about 15,000 followers had 1.8 million to 5 million followers, and four of the eight were brands.
- Pricing
- $25 a month, or $20 a month billed yearly3
- Trial
- No trial. 14-day refund on the first payment.
- Platforms
- Low price, no credits
- Human-sounding scripts
- 20 slots, each locked for three days
- Suggests big accounts and brands
4. Sandcastles
Watchlist + global searchFrom $49/moBest for: Tracking many channels on three platforms
Sandcastles is built around a watchlist: up to 150 competitors per workspace on Pro, across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Each video gets an outlier score, its views divided by the median views of that channel's videos from the 90 days before it.
In our test, 7% of those scores were broken, with the score equal to the view count, and sorting by score put those first. Reading a video's breakdown costs a credit each time. Its starter watchlist for a creator with under 1,000 followers held 29 accounts with 279,000 to 4.9 million followers, 10 of them brands.
- Pricing
- $49, $99 or $499 a month. New accounts start on a $5 Starter.4
- Trial
- No free plan. No refunds from Pro up.
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts
- Big watchlists, three platforms
- A clear outlier formula
- Some broken scores
- Breakdowns cost credits
5. CreatorHouse
WatchlistFrom $39/moBest for: Transcripts of every rival's video
CreatorHouse tracks any public Instagram or TikTok account you add, transcribes their videos and pulls out each hook. Its blog says it flags reels at twice or more of the account's median views.5
In our test, that score moved with the time window you picked: the same reel scored 0.5 or 1.6. An account with one post in the window always scored 1.0. And when we tracked a lot of accounts, it stopped loading its feed at about 40.
- Pricing
- $39 a month, $97 a year, or $14.99 a week5
- Trial
- 3 days
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok
- Transcripts and hooks
- Unlimited tracking on every plan
- Scores change with the window
- Slowed down with many accounts
6. Virlo
AI search + trackingFrom $49/moBest for: Teams tracking creators on three platforms
Virlo follows any creator you add, checks their accounts on a schedule and tells you when one of their videos breaks out. It covers TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, and it's built for teams.
Tracking costs credits: 15 a day for each creator, from a monthly allowance. On Instagram, it was weaker in our test: most of the reels its research agents collected had fewer views than the account has followers, and only 4% of its Instagram results showed a region.
- Pricing
- $49 or $199 a month. Enterprise from $499.6
- Trial
- 7 days; no refunds after the trial ends
- Platforms
- TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts
- Breakout alerts across three platforms
- Seats for teams
- Tracking eats credits daily
- Weaker on Instagram
7. CILA
WatchlistFrom $24/moBest for: Tracking up to 50 accounts on Instagram and TikTok
CILA tracks any public creator or brand account you add on Instagram and TikTok, and compares each post with that account's usual performance to pick out the outliers. You sort accounts into lists by brand, client or niche, and its Creator plan updates them daily.
Like the other watchlists, it only knows the accounts you give it. We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.
- Pricing
- $24 a month, $12 for the first month; Business is $48 for 250 accounts12
- Trial
- No free plan or trial on its site; a 7-day money-back guarantee
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok
- Outliers against each account's usual
- Lists by client or niche
- Only the accounts you add
- No free plan or trial
8. Metricool
Scheduler + analyticsFreeBest for: Scheduling, with competitor reports
Metricool is a scheduler first, with analytics and a competitor view. Its free plan analyses 5 competitor profiles, and Starter up to 100 per network, with their posts sorted by whatever metric you pick.
For Instagram, you can only add professional accounts as competitors, and your own has to be linked through Facebook. It doesn't flag which reel beat an account's usual; you sort and judge. We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.
- Pricing
- A free plan; Starter from $25 a month, or $20 billed yearly, before VAT9
- Trial
- Free plan, no card
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and more
- 5 competitors on the free plan, 100 on Starter
- A good scheduler
- Professional accounts only
- No outlier score
9. Socialinsider
Analytics and benchmarksFrom $99/moBest for: Agencies benchmarking brands
Socialinsider compares your accounts with your competitors' side by side, across six networks: engagement rate, reach, Reels views and posting habits, with automated reports for clients.
Its entry plan's 20 accounts are shared between yours and your competitors'. Its help pages mark competitors' Instagram reach and views as estimates, and its engagement formula for Instagram counts likes and comments only. We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.
- Pricing
- $99, $149 or $239 a month; Adapt is $82 a month billed yearly10
- Trial
- 14 days, no card
- Platforms
- Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube
- Side-by-side benchmarks
- Client-ready reports
- Competitors' views and reach are estimates
- Competitors share your 20-account limit
10. Iconosquare
Analytics and reportsFrom €9/moBest for: Brand reports across networks
Iconosquare is an analytics-first social media manager across eight networks, with scheduling and listening. Competitor tracking comes on its Scale plan, and keeps 90 days of history.
Both your account and your competitors' must be Instagram business profiles. Its competitor numbers run from posts published to average likes, average comments and most engaging posts; views and plays aren't on the list. We didn't test it hands-on; this comes from its own site.
- Pricing
- From €9 a month billed yearly; competitors on Scale, €69 a month billed yearly. Prices vary by region.11
- Trial
- 14 days, no card; a free plan without competitors
- Platforms
- Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and four more
- Strong reports
- A scheduler included
- Competitors only on Scale
- Business profiles only, no views listed
How do you analyze a competitor's reels by hand?
You can do the core of it with a phone and a notes app, the same way you'd find outlier reels in any niche. It's slow, but it's how you learn what the tools are doing.
Note their usual
Open their Reels tab and write down the views on the last 12 reels, leaving out pinned ones. The middle number is their usual.
Find the outliers
Any reel at three times their usual or more broke out for them.
Break each one down
The first line, what's on screen in the first second, the format, the length, the sound.
Look for the pattern
If three of their outliers share a format or a kind of hook, that's what their audience wants.
Put yours beside it
How often you post, how long your reels run, and whether your hooks look anything like theirs.
The weak spot of doing it by hand is scale: ten rivals is 120 numbers, and you have to do it again next week.
Which one is right for you?
| If you… | Pick |
|---|---|
| post on Instagramand want to know why a rival's reel worked | Aubrium |
| want rivals your sizesuggested for you | Aubrium |
| only want alertson accounts you already know | Creadar, CILA or ViralSpot |
| track rivals on TikTok and YouTubetoo | Sandcastles or Virlo |
| need transcriptsof everything they post | CreatorHouse |
| report on brandsto clients | Socialinsider or Iconosquare |
| need a schedulerwith competitor reports | Metricool |
Questions people ask
What are the best tools to analyze competitors' Instagram reels?
For creators, Aubrium: it ranks each of a rival's reels against that account's normal and shows why the best ones worked. Creadar and CILA watch accounts you add for less, and Sandcastles and Virlo do the same across TikTok and YouTube.
Can I see how many views a competitor's reel got?
Yes. Views show on public reels in an account's Reels tab. What a tool adds is context: how that number compares with the account's usual, so you can tell a breakout from an ordinary post.
Do competitors know when I track them?
Not in Aubrium: they're never notified, and nobody else can see who you track.
Can I analyze competitors without a business account?
With the reel trackers, yes: Aubrium, Creadar and CILA add any public account by its handle, and Aubrium never asks for your password. Analytics dashboards are stricter. Metricool only adds professional accounts as Instagram competitors and needs your own account linked through Facebook, and Iconosquare needs both to be business profiles.
How many competitors can I track?
In Aubrium, up to 100. Metricool allows 5 on its free plan and up to 100 per network on Starter. ViralSpot allows 20, CILA 50 on its Creator plan, Creadar 10 on Starter and Sandcastles 150 per workspace on Pro. CreatorHouse has no cap.
How do I spy on a competitor's Instagram reels?
You don't need anything sneaky. Open their Reels tab, note their usual views, and look for the reels at several times that. A tracker does the sums for you, and the better ones show you why those reels worked.
How we did this
Our team studied the trackers hands-on in October 2026, using each the way a creator would: adding accounts, reading each tool's score for their reels and checking it against the tool's own rule. The findings on Sandcastles, ViralSpot, CreatorHouse and Virlo come from that study. Creadar, CILA, Metricool, Socialinsider and Iconosquare weren't tested hands-on; what we say about them comes from their own sites.
Prices and limits are from each tool's own site, read on 4 November 2026. Apps change; if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and move the date. And yes, Aubrium makes this page.
Sources
- Aubrium pricingaubrium.com · Plans, and "Track a rival: 40 Sparks / 30 days". Read 4 November 2026.
- Analyse Competitorsaubrium.com · What you get for each creator; who you can add; up to 100. Read 4 November 2026.
- ViralSpot pricingviralspot.ai · Price and refund. Read 4 November 2026.
- Sandcastles planshelp.sandcastles.ai · Plans, the $5 Starter and watchlist caps. Read 4 November 2026.
- CreatorHouse pricingcreatorhouse.app · Plans and trial; and its blog: it "flags reels at 2x or more of the account's median views". Read 4 November 2026.
- Virlo pricingvirlo.ai · Plans, tracking credits, the trial. Read 4 November 2026.
- We ran 1,300+ searches in 8 viral reel findersAubrium · Our team's hands-on study, October 2026. Read 4 November 2026.
- Best Instagram competitor analysis tools in 2026Creadar · Its own prices, the 3-account preview, its 3× rule, "No keyword search and no account discovery". Read 4 November 2026.
- Adding competitors in MetricoolMetricool help · Professional accounts only; your account linked through Facebook; 5 free, 100 per network; and its pricing. Read 4 November 2026.
- Socialinsider app limitationsSocialinsider help · Competitors' reach and views estimated; the engagement formula; and its pricing. Read 4 November 2026.
- Competitor data in IconosquareIconosquare help · The metrics tracked; business profiles only; and its plans. Read 4 November 2026.
- CILAcila.app · What it tracks, prices, the 7-day money-back guarantee. Read 4 November 2026.
Changelog
- First version.
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