Heepsy vs Lefty: Which Is Better? (2026 Comparison)
Heepsy is the superior choice for small-to-mid-sized brands seeking an affordable, filter-heavy influencer discovery tool, while Lefty is a premium powerhouse built specifically for luxury and fashion brands requiring deep Earned Media Value (EMV) analytics. If you need budget-friendly search, look at Heepsy alternatives; for high-end campaign management, explore Lefty alternatives.
| Feature | Heepsy | Lefty |
|---|---|---|
| Content Discovery | ||
UGC Discovery | 3/5 | 3/5 |
Brand Mention Detection | 2/5 | 3/5 |
Untagged Content Detection | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Video Tracking | ||
Short-Form Video Tracking | 3/5 | 4/5 |
| Creator Management | ||
Creator Analytics | 4/5 | 4/5 |
Rights Management | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Intelligence & AI | ||
Competitor Intelligence | 2/5 | 4/5 |
AI Content Tagging | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Platform & Integrations | ||
Multi-Platform Support | 3/5 | 4/5 |
Integrations | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Reporting & Collaboration | ||
Reporting Dashboards | 3/5 | 4/5 |
Team Collaboration | 3/5 | 4/5 |
API Access | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Usability & Support | ||
Ease of Use | 5/5 | 3/5 |
Customer Support | 3/5 | 4/5 |
Feature Deep Dive
When comparing Heepsy and Lefty, the distinction lies in their core philosophy: Heepsy is a discovery engine, while Lefty is a relationship and impact platform.
Influencer Discovery and Database Quality
Heepsy boasts a massive database of over 11 million influencers. Its strength lies in its granular search filters, allowing users to drill down by location, engagement, and even authenticity scores to detect fake followers. However, some users note that the database contains outdated profiles. In contrast, Lefty has a smaller, more curated index of roughly 1 million influencers. Lefty famously purged 5 million lower-quality profiles to ensure data integrity, making it much more reliable for high-stakes luxury campaigns. If you are comparing these for pure discovery, you might also want to see how they stack up in our ShortsIntel vs Heepsy analysis.
Analytics and Reporting
Lefty is the clear winner for performance metrics, particularly for the fashion and beauty verticals. It provides comprehensive EMV (Earned Media Value) calculations and can track Instagram Stories—a feature missing from Heepsy. However, Lefty has a surprising limitation: you cannot search for influencers based on audience demographics, even though that data is visible once a profile is found. Heepsy, meanwhile, offers robust demographic search (age, gender, location) on its higher tiers, though its reporting is more basic compared to Lefty’s plain-language campaign insights. For those needing advanced reporting across multiple clients, an Critical Mention vs Lefty comparison might be relevant.
Social Platform Coverage
Both platforms cover the big players—Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Heepsy adds Twitch to its roster, while Lefty focuses heavily on the visual aesthetic of Instagram and TikTok to serve its core fashion audience. If your strategy is heavily dependent on identifying untagged content or specific video trends that these platforms might miss, check out Archive vs Heepsy for a different perspective on content collection.
Usability and Integrations
Heepsy is widely praised for its intuitive, user-friendly interface that allows beginners to find influencers in minutes. It also offers a Shopify integration for sales tracking on its Advanced plan. Lefty’s UI is more complex, with numerous tabs and buttons that may require a steeper learning curve, though it compensates with dedicated account managers on higher tiers. If you find both too complex, you can browse all alternatives to find a simpler workflow.
| Plan Details | Heepsy | Lefty |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Flat Rate | Flat Rate |
| Free Tier | ||
| Free Trial | ||
| Pricing Tiers | ||
| Entry Tier | Free$0/moor $0/yr | Standard€590/mo |
| Mid Tier | Starter$89/moor $828/yr | Pro€990/mo |
| Top Tier | Plus$249/moor $2,388/yr | Premium€1,690/mo |
| Annual Cost (5-Person Team)* | $0 | $7,080 |
| Hidden Costs |
|
|
* Annual cost calculated using entry tier pricing. Per-seat pricing multiplied by 5 users. Actual costs may vary based on specific plan and usage.
The pricing gap between Heepsy and Lefty is significant, reflecting their different target markets. Heepsy is built for the budget-conscious, starting at $89/month (or $69/month billed annually). For a team of five people, Heepsy’s Advanced plan at $369/month is the likely choice, as it includes the necessary demographic data and Shopify integrations.
Lefty, on the other hand, starts at $590/month for its Standard tier and quickly climbs to $3,490/month for Enterprise. For a 5-person team, you would likely need the Pro ($990/month) or Premium ($1,690/month) tiers to ensure everyone has access without the frequent disconnection issues reported by multi-user teams. Furthermore, Lefty charges extra for competitive analytics reports (up to €1,000 for US data), which can significantly drive up the total cost of ownership.
In terms of annual spend for a mid-sized team, Heepsy would cost roughly $4,428/year, while Lefty Pro would exceed $11,880/year plus any additional reporting fees. For brands that find these prices steep, comparing ShortsIntel vs Lefty can reveal more specialized, cost-effective options for video-heavy campaigns. You can also compare any two tools to see how these prices align with other market leaders.
Who Is Each Product Best For?
Influencer discovery and analytics platform for finding and vetting social media influencers
Best For
- Small to mid-sized businesses and startups
- Marketing agencies managing multiple campaigns
- D2C/eCommerce brands (especially Shopify)
- Entrepreneurs testing influencer marketing
- Budget-conscious SMBs wanting basic influencer search
Not Ideal For
- Enterprise teams needing advanced features
- B2B brands
- Brands needing micro-influencers (<5K followers)
- Users requiring AI-powered automation
- Teams needing deep analytics and reporting
All-in-one influencer marketing platform for fashion, luxury, and beauty brands with robust analytics and streamlined workflows
Best For
- Fashion, luxury, and beauty brands
- Mid-market to enterprise companies
- Teams needing competitive benchmarking
- Brands requiring EMV calculations
- Agencies managing multiple influencer campaigns
- Companies wanting dedicated account management
Not Ideal For
- Small businesses or startups on tight budgets
- Teams needing audience demographic search
- Brands requiring real-time competitive analytics
- Companies wanting pay-as-you-go pricing
- Teams needing Shopify integration (recently added)
- Brands focused on non-fashion/beauty verticals
Choose Heepsy if...
You are a small to mid-sized business, a D2C startup, or a marketing agency that needs to find and vet influencers quickly and affordably. It is ideal for those who prioritize audience demographic filters and want a low-risk entry point into influencer marketing. If Heepsy sounds like your speed, see our Heepsy alternative page for similar tools.
Choose Lefty if...
You are a fashion, luxury, or beauty brand with a significant budget. Lefty is perfect for enterprise teams that need to calculate EMV, track Instagram Stories, and require a high-quality, curated database. It is the gold standard for prestige brands like Louis Vuitton or Sephora. If you are in this category, you may also want to evaluate a Lefty alternative to ensure you're getting the best enterprise features.
Neither might be right if...
You are primarily focused on short-form video (TikTok/Reels/Shorts) and need to track content that doesn't explicitly tag your brand. Both Heepsy and Lefty struggle with detecting untagged brand mentions in video audio or visual elements. Additionally, if you need automated usage rights management to turn creator content into ads, neither tool specializes in that workflow. In these cases, checking all ShortsIntel comparisons could lead you to a more specialized solution.
Consider a Third Option
Scale creator marketing with data, not grunt work.
While Heepsy and Lefty focus on the 'who' of influencer marketing, ShortsIntel focuses on the 'what.' If your strategy revolves around TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, ShortsIntel offers a specialized approach that neither of the bigger platforms provides.
ShortsIntel is a video social listening and UGC tracking tool designed specifically for the era of short-form video. Unlike Heepsy, which relies on influencer databases, or Lefty, which tracks campaign performance through tags, ShortsIntel uses AI to monitor 100% of the content related to your brand—including the 30% of videos where creators forget to tag you or use your hashtag.
Key advantages of ShortsIntel over Heepsy and Lefty:
- Untagged Detection: Find every mention of your brand, even in video audio or background visuals.
- AI Content Tagging: Automatically analyze video frames to identify trends and visual elements without manual grunt work.
- Automated Rights Management: Use a 'magic-link' system to get legal consent for using UGC in your ads, a feature both Heepsy and Lefty lack in a robust capacity.
- Affordability: Starting at $99/month, it provides enterprise-level video intelligence at a fraction of Lefty’s cost.
If you find yourself drowning in content but starving for actual insights, or if you are tired of missing out on organic UGC, consider looking at ShortsIntel vs Brandwatch or our head-to-head ShortsIntel vs Heepsy comparison. For brands looking to scale their ad creative library, ShortsIntel is often the better Archive alternative for short-form video tracking.
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
Starting at $99/mo
7-day free trial
Full Comparison: All Three Options
| Feature | Heepsy | Lefty | ShortsIntel Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Discovery | |||
UGC Discovery | 3/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 |
Brand Mention Detection | 2/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 |
Untagged Content Detection | 2/5 | 2/5 | 5/5 |
| Video Tracking | |||
Short-Form Video Tracking | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| Creator Management | |||
Creator Analytics | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
Rights Management | 2/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 |
| Intelligence & AI | |||
Competitor Intelligence | 2/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
AI Content Tagging | 3/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 |
| Platform & Integrations | |||
Multi-Platform Support | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
Integrations | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Reporting & Collaboration | |||
Reporting Dashboards | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
Team Collaboration | 3/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 |
API Access | 2/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Usability & Support | |||
Ease of Use | 5/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 |
Customer Support | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to try ShortsIntel?
Track UGC, discover creators, and monitor brand mentions across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts.
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Last updated: January 28, 2026