Hypefy vs Tubular Labs: Which Is Better? (2026 Comparison)

TL;DR

Hypefy is best for B2C brands seeking an AI-powered, end-to-end influencer marketing platform with no subscription fees, while Tubular Labs is the industry leader for enterprise-grade social video intelligence and cross-platform benchmarking. If you need a more focused tool for tracking short-form UGC and managing content rights, you might also consider ShortsIntel vs Hypefy as a specialized alternative. For more options, browse our Hypefy alternatives guide.

Feature Comparison
Feature
Hypefy
Tubular Labs
Content Discovery
UGC Discovery
4/5
2/5
Brand Mention Detection
3/5
3/5
Untagged Content Detection
2/5
1/5
Video Tracking
Short-Form Video Tracking
3/5
4/5
Creator Management
Creator Analytics
3/5
5/5
Rights Management
3/5
1/5
Intelligence & AI
Competitor Intelligence
2/5
4/5
AI Content Tagging
4/5
5/5
Platform & Integrations
Multi-Platform Support
2/5
4/5
Integrations
2/5
3/5
Reporting & Collaboration
Reporting Dashboards
4/5
4/5
Team Collaboration
3/5
3/5
API Access
2/5
4/5
Usability & Support
Ease of Use
5/5
2/5
Customer Support
5/5
3/5

Feature Deep Dive

When comparing Hypefy and Tubular Labs, the primary distinction lies in their core purpose: Hypefy is an execution-focused influencer marketing platform, whereas Tubular Labs is a data-heavy social listening and analytics engine.

Content Discovery and UGC

Hypefy excels at creator discovery for the purpose of running campaigns. With a database of over 12 million creators, it uses AI to match brands with influencers efficiently. However, its focus is primarily on Instagram and TikTok. Tubular Labs, by contrast, offers the world’s largest social video database with 15 billion videos across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch. While Tubular is excellent for discovering content trends and benchmarking, it is less effective for the actual 'hands-on' discovery of user-generated content (UGC) specifically for brand campaigns compared to execution-led tools. If your priority is deep UGC tracking, you may want to look into a Tubular Labs alternative that focuses on brand mentions.

Video Tracking and Analytics

Tubular Labs is the clear winner for deep analytics. It offers standardized video ratings and tracks 3 billion consumer behavior models, making it indispensable for enterprise media brands like ESPN or the BBC. It classifies content into over 1 million categories using its ContentGraph AI. Hypefy provides solid campaign reporting and bot detection, but it lacks the historical depth and cross-platform unified metrics that Tubular provides. For instance, Hypefy does not support YouTube, which is a major gap for brands focused on long-form or cross-platform video strategy. You can see how this compares in our Archive vs Tubular Labs analysis.

Creator Management

Hypefy is built for the workflow. It includes built-in content approval paths, integrated payment management, and a unique performance-based pricing model that reduces manual work by a claimed 90%. It is designed for brands that want to be hands-off. Tubular Labs, conversely, offers superior creator analytics—including audience demographics and engagement benchmarks—but it has no creator outreach, CRM, or payment tools. It tells you who is performing well, but it doesn't help you hire or pay them. For teams needing a balance of both, exploring ShortsIntel vs Tubular Labs can provide insights into more streamlined tracking solutions.

Usability and Intelligence

Hypefy is often praised for its intuitive, modern user interface, making it accessible for smaller teams or brands without dedicated data scientists. Tubular Labs has a much steeper learning curve due to the sheer volume of data and its split product structure (Intelligence, Viewpoint, DealMaker), which can be confusing for new users. Both use AI extensively, but Hypefy uses it for matching and workflow automation, while Tubular uses it for high-level classification and predictive behavior modeling. If you are comparing these for a specific campaign type, checking Brandwatch vs Hypefy might reveal different strengths in social listening.

Pricing Comparison
Plan Details
Hypefy
Tubular Labs
Pricing Model
Usage Based
Custom
Free Tier
Free Trial14 days
Pricing Tiers
Entry Tier
Campaign-Based$0/moor $0/yr
Plus$1,500/mo
Mid Tier
Premium$3,500/mo
Top Tier
EnterpriseCustom
Annual Cost (5-Person Team)*$0$18,000
Hidden Costs
  • Percentage fee on campaign spend (exact percentage not publicly disclosed)
  • May cost more than subscription models for frequent/large campaigns
  • Competitive with agency rates of 20-30%
  • Seat-based pricing — each additional user adds cost
  • API access (Direct Connect) may be premium-tier only
  • Viewpoint add-on for broader teams beyond core seats
  • +2 more

* Annual cost calculated using entry tier pricing. Per-seat pricing multiplied by 5 users. Actual costs may vary based on specific plan and usage.

Pricing Analysis

The pricing models of Hypefy and Tubular Labs could not be more different, reflecting their different target audiences.

Hypefy uses a usage-based, campaign-driven model. There are no monthly subscription fees and no annual commitments. Instead, brands pay a percentage fee on their campaign spend (typically competitive with the 20-30% rates charged by agencies). This makes it highly attractive for brands running seasonal or quarterly campaigns who want to avoid overhead. For a 5-person team spending $100,000 on influencers annually, Hypefy might cost approximately $20,000–$30,000 in fees, with no additional 'per seat' costs.

Tubular Labs is an enterprise-level investment. It does not offer public pricing, but its known tiers start at $1,500/month for 'Plus' and $3,500/month for 'Premium.' Crucially, Tubular uses seat-based pricing, meaning each additional user adds to the cost. For a 5-person team on the Plus plan, the annual cost would start at $18,000 but would likely exceed $25,000 once additional seats and potential API access are factored in.

Total Cost of Ownership Comparison (Annual):

  • Small/Occasional Campaigns: Hypefy is significantly cheaper as there is $0 cost when not running campaigns.
  • Large Enterprise Teams: Tubular Labs is a massive fixed cost but provides data that can drive millions in ad revenue. For these users, the high price is a business intelligence expense rather than a marketing tool cost.

If these price points are too high for your current stage, you can find more budget-friendly options in our all ShortsIntel comparisons section, or specifically by looking at Collabstr vs Hypefy.

Who Is Each Product Best For?

Hypefy

AI-powered end-to-end influencer campaign management with performance-based pricing

Best For

  • Brands wanting hands-off influencer marketing
  • Companies avoiding subscription commitments
  • Teams running occasional campaigns (quarterly, seasonal)
  • Brands preferring AI-automated influencer selection
  • Companies expanding into international markets
  • Teams needing built-in payment processing

Not Ideal For

  • Brands running frequent, high-volume campaigns
  • Teams wanting long-term creator relationships
  • Companies needing YouTube/YouTube Shorts coverage
  • Brands wanting predictable monthly costs
  • Teams requiring deep analytics and benchmarking
  • Enterprise brands needing extensive integrations
Tubular Labs

Social video intelligence and analytics platform — cross-platform video measurement, creator benchmarking, audience insights, and trending content discovery across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch

Best For

  • Enterprise media companies needing cross-platform video measurement
  • Broadcasters and publishers benchmarking video performance at scale
  • Brands requiring audience intelligence across social video platforms
  • Agencies comparing creator performance across 40M+ accounts
  • Market research teams analyzing video content trends and categories
  • Ad sales teams using video data to inform partnership decisions

Not Ideal For

  • Small businesses and individual creators (enterprise pricing)
  • Teams needing UGC tracking and content rights management
  • Brands focused specifically on short-form video analytics
  • Companies wanting transparent, self-serve pricing
  • Teams needing quick setup without enterprise onboarding
  • Organizations requiring text-based social listening beyond video
Use Case Analysis

Choose Hypefy if...

You are a B2C brand that wants to run influencer campaigns without the burden of a monthly subscription. It is ideal for teams that need to automate the 'grunt work' of matching, payments, and approvals and prefer a pay-as-you-go model. It’s also a great fit if you are primarily focused on TikTok and Instagram and want a tool that is easy to pick up and use immediately. You can check out more similar tools on our Browse all alternatives page.

Choose Tubular Labs if...

You are an enterprise media company, broadcaster, or large-scale agency that requires deep social video intelligence. If you need to benchmark your performance against global competitors across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch, Tubular is the gold standard. It is for those who need data to inform high-level strategy and ad sales rather than someone looking to manage individual influencer contracts. If this sounds like you, you might also be interested in a Tubular Labs alternative for specific niche markets.

Neither might be right if...

You are specifically looking to track short-form video UGC (User Generated Content) that may not be tagged or hashtagged. Neither tool is specifically optimized for 'social listening' of untagged video content at a mid-market price point. If you need to monitor how customers are naturally talking about your brand in Reels or Shorts and want to manage the usage rights for that content, you should compare any two tools to see if a specialized UGC tracker fits your workflow better.

Consider a Third Option

ShortsIntel
Recommended

Scale creator marketing with data, not grunt work.

While Hypefy handles campaign execution and Tubular Labs handles enterprise video data, many brands find themselves stuck in the middle: they have plenty of organic UGC happening on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, but no way to track it effectively without manual 'grunt work.'

This is where ShortsIntel serves as a powerful third option. Unlike Hypefy, which focuses on paid influencer management, or Tubular, which focuses on high-level video metrics, ShortsIntel is purpose-built for short-form video social listening and UGC tracking.

Why consider ShortsIntel?

  • Detect Untagged Content: ShortsIntel claims to find 30% more content by detecting brand mentions even when creators forget to tag your account.
  • Automated Rights Management: Unlike Tubular, which has no rights management, or Hypefy, which focuses on campaign creators, ShortsIntel has a 'magic-link' system to get legal usage rights from organic creators in seconds.
  • Affordable for Growth Teams: With plans starting at $99/month, it is much more accessible than Tubular Labs’ $1,500/month entry point, as seen in our ShortsIntel vs Tubular Labs comparison.
  • AI Content Analysis: It analyzes videos frame-by-frame to identify winning trends and visual elements, helping you build a high-performing ad creative library.

If you find Hypefy too focused on paid campaigns and Tubular Labs too expensive or complex, ShortsIntel offers a specialized middle ground for short-form video. You can see how it stacks up against other leaders in our ShortsIntel vs Brandwatch or ShortsIntel vs Archive guides.

Why Choose ShortsIntel

  • Purpose-built for short-form video (TikTok, Reels, Shorts) unlike general social listening tools
  • Detects untagged content that competitors miss (claims 30% more coverage)
  • AI-powered content tagging analyzes videos frame-by-frame for format, visual elements, and trends
  • Automated rights management with magic-link consent system and audit trails

Best For

DTC/B2C brands running UGC creator campaigns
Marketing teams drowning in content but starving for insights
Brands needing to track creators who forget hashtags or tags
Teams wanting to build a library of ad creatives from UGC

Starting at $99/mo

7-day free trial

Try ShortsIntel Free

Full Comparison: All Three Options

Feature Comparison
Feature
Hypefy
Tubular Labs
ShortsIntel
Recommended
Content Discovery
UGC Discovery
4/5
2/5
5/5
Brand Mention Detection
3/5
3/5
5/5
Untagged Content Detection
2/5
1/5
5/5
Video Tracking
Short-Form Video Tracking
3/5
4/5
5/5
Creator Management
Creator Analytics
3/5
5/5
4/5
Rights Management
3/5
1/5
5/5
Intelligence & AI
Competitor Intelligence
2/5
4/5
4/5
AI Content Tagging
4/5
5/5
5/5
Platform & Integrations
Multi-Platform Support
2/5
4/5
4/5
Integrations
2/5
3/5
3/5
Reporting & Collaboration
Reporting Dashboards
4/5
4/5
4/5
Team Collaboration
3/5
3/5
3/5
API Access
2/5
4/5
3/5
Usability & Support
Ease of Use
5/5
2/5
4/5
Customer Support
5/5
3/5
4/5

Frequently Asked Questions

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Track UGC, discover creators, and monitor brand mentions across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts.

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Last updated: January 30, 2026