The F5Bot alternative for founders who stopped opening the alerts
F5Bot emails you every time your keyword appears. SignalSeek reads the thread first, scores it for whether a reply is worth writing, drops the rest, and hands you a draft. Reddit only. You post by hand.
- Swap an inbox of keyword hits for a short list of scored threads
- Start from a reply written for that thread, not from a blank box
- Run your campaigns from a Claude chat. An MCP connector is not mentioned on f5bot.com
- SignalSeek never posts to Reddit. Not on any plan
Start here
What F5Bot is, and what it is good at
F5Bot is a keyword alerter. You give it words, and it emails you when those words appear on Reddit, Hacker News or Lobsters, in posts and in comments. It has run since 2017, and the free tier is genuinely free: 5 keywords, 20 alerts a day, alerts within two hours. Paid tiers add faster alerts, keyword filtering flags, RSS and JSON feeds, Slack and Discord delivery, AI filtering on Gold, and an API with webhooks on Platinum. For a lot of founders it is the correct tool at the correct price.
SignalSeek does not try to be a cheaper F5Bot. It does a narrower job on one site and adds the two steps F5Bot leaves to you: deciding whether the thread is worth answering, and writing the answer.
Scale
F5Bot says it delivers 430,000+ alerts daily. SignalSeek is a new product and publishes no comparable number, so there is nothing honest to put beside that figure.
Side by side
Where each tool actually wins
The last column names the winner of each row. F5Bot takes more of them than SignalSeek does.
| F5Bot | SignalSeek | Wins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sites monitored | Reddit, Hacker News and Lobsters. Posts and comments | Reddit only. Posts and comments | F5Bot |
| What you set up | A keyword list you write and maintain | A description of your product. SignalSeek generates the search terms, the subreddits and the reply persona | SignalSeek |
| What you receive | Every mention of a keyword you track | Only the matches that clear two scored thresholds, each with the evidence behind it | SignalSeek |
| AI filtering and scoring | AI filtering on Gold ($49.99/mo). The first $10/month of token usage is included, then billed by usage | On every plan. Opportunity quality and reply-worthiness, defaults 0.8 and 0.7, adjustable per campaign | SignalSeek |
| Reply drafts | Not mentioned on f5bot.com | A reply written for that thread. A guardrail scan and an AI judge check it, and a failed draft is never shown | SignalSeek |
| Replies on your behalf | Not mentioned on f5bot.com | Never. You write from your own account, by hand | Neither |
| Delivery channels | Email on every tier. One Slack or Discord integration on Gold, three on Platinum | Digest email and the SignalSeek dashboard | F5Bot |
| API and feeds | RSS and JSON feeds on Gold. API and webhooks on Platinum | None. The Claude connector is the only programmatic surface today | F5Bot |
| MCP connector | Not mentioned on f5bot.com | Claude connector, in Claude on the web and in Claude Desktop. Campaigns, matches and drafts. Claude reads, you post | SignalSeek |
| Alert speed | Free within 2 hours. Silver within 5 minutes. Gold and above instant or scheduled | Every campaign runs on a 15 minute interval by default | F5Bot |
| Volume limits | Free 5 keywords and 20 alerts a day. Silver 20 and 100. Gold 200 and 5,000. Platinum 300 keywords | No keyword list to cap. You describe the product and SignalSeek writes the terms | Neither |
| Free tier | $0. 5 keywords, 20 alerts a day, alerts within 2 hours, no keyword filtering flags, and the emails carry ads | Free during the beta. Paid plans return at launch | F5Bot |
| Paid price | Silver $9.99/mo · Gold $49.99/mo · Platinum $214.99/mo · Diamond from $500/mo, custom | Free during the beta. Paid plans return at launch | F5Bot |
Scroll the table sideways to read every column.
Be honest
Pick F5Bot if
You want a free tier
F5Bot's free tier is real and it is enough for a lot of people. SignalSeek has no permanent free plan.
You watch Hacker News or Lobsters
SignalSeek reads Reddit and nothing else. If your buyers argue on Hacker News or Lobsters, F5Bot covers ground SignalSeek does not.
You want alerts in Slack, a feed, or an API
Gold ($49.99/mo) gives you RSS and JSON feeds plus one Slack or Discord integration. Platinum ($214.99/mo) adds an API and webhooks. SignalSeek delivers to email and to its own dashboard.
The other side
Pick SignalSeek if
You stopped opening the alert emails
A keyword hit is not a lead. SignalSeek scores each post and comment for opportunity quality and reply-worthiness, and drops what fails the gate.
The writing is the bottleneck, not the finding
Every surfaced match arrives with a reply written for that thread. A guardrail scan and an AI judge check it. A draft that fails those checks is never shown to you.
You do not want to maintain a keyword list
You describe the product. SignalSeek generates the search terms, the subreddits and the reply persona.
You want comments, not only posts
SignalSeek reads both, and it scores a comment with its thread in view rather than on its own.
You want to drive it from Claude
Add the SignalSeek connector in Claude on the web or in Claude Desktop, then work with your campaigns in a chat. Claude reads your matches and the drafted replies too, and Claude never posts. An MCP connector is not mentioned on f5bot.com.
You want a tool that cannot reply for you
SignalSeek never writes to Reddit, on any plan. The reply leaves your hands, not a bot's.
A third option
Or use both
They are not the same shape of tool, so running both is reasonable and not wasteful.
F5Bot covers the sites SignalSeek does not
Point it at Hacker News and Lobsters, and at any brand-name keyword where you want every single mention with no filter in between.
SignalSeek covers Reddit depth
Let it generate the subreddits and the search terms, score what comes back, and hand you the drafts.
Keep the jobs separate
Use F5Bot as your tripwire: your product name, your domain, your own username. Use SignalSeek for the problem-shaped conversations where nobody mentions you at all.
Both are read-only
Neither one writes to Reddit for you, so the reply is yours either way.
Q.01Is SignalSeek just F5Bot with AI on top?
No. F5Bot matches keywords on three sites and emails you the hits. SignalSeek uses keyword matching only as a pre-filter, then runs an AI analysis that scores the thread and drops most of what the pre-filter caught, then writes a reply for what survives. Different job, one site.
Q.02Can I import my F5Bot keywords?
No, and you would not want to. SignalSeek generates its own search terms and subreddits from a description of your product. A keyword list tuned for an unfiltered alerter is tuned for a different job.
Q.03Does SignalSeek post to Reddit for me?
No. There is no such feature on any plan and no way to connect a Reddit account. You open the thread and write from your own account, with whatever edits you want.
Q.04Why is SignalSeek more expensive than F5Bot's free tier?
Because it does more per match and the AI work costs money. F5Bot's free tier delivers keyword hits. SignalSeek scores every survivor and writes a checked reply draft for each one it surfaces. If keyword hits are what you need, F5Bot's free tier is the better deal and this page will not argue with that.
Q.05Does SignalSeek watch Hacker News?
No. Reddit only, posts and comments. F5Bot is the right tool for Hacker News and Lobsters.
Q.06Can F5Bot talk to Claude?
An MCP connector is not mentioned on f5bot.com. SignalSeek publishes one, so you can work with your campaigns from a Claude chat on the web or in Claude Desktop. Claude reads your matches and the drafted replies too. Claude never posts.
Stop reading alerts. Start reading scored threads with the reply already drafted
Reddit only. Two quality gates on every draft. SignalSeek never writes to Reddit.
F5Bot facts checked on 2026-09-18 at f5bot.com and f5bot.com/tiers. F5Bot is not affiliated with SignalSeek. Tell us if something changed.