Best UGC tracking software in 2026
Viralytics teamUpdated 9 min readOur pick
Below are ten of the most popular UGC and creator-analytics tools in 2026, compared on what they're actually best for, whether they handle creator payouts, and price.
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Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Payout tracking | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viralytics | Brands & agencies tracking paid UGC creators | ✓ Built in (per-platform CPM, base + bonus) | $40/mo (500 videos, unlimited seats) |
| Hiring creators via a marketplace + tracking | ✓ Automated payouts (3% fee) | $99/mo (1,000 videos, 1 seat) | |
| App studios running high-volume UGC | ✓ Automated payouts with 1099s | $150/mo (1 seat) | |
| General short-form video analytics | No | $99/mo (1,000 videos, 1 seat) | |
| Budget TikTok + Instagram tracking | ✓ Spend per creator + CSV export | $22/mo (25 tracked accounts) | |
| Trend discovery & competitor research | No | $15/mo (free tier available) | |
| Influencer discovery at scale | ✓ Built-in payments | ~$199/mo (billed annually) | |
| Managing your own social channels | No | Free plan; paid from ~$22/mo | |
| Free public stat lookups | No | Free; paid from $3.99/mo | |
| TikTok trend discovery | No | $49/mo (credit-based) |
What is UGC tracking?
UGC tracking means automatically collecting every post your creators publish for you — across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — and measuring how each one performs: views, engagement, and what it cost per 1,000 views (CPM). The goal is to answer one question per creator: is what we pay them worth it?
Most teams start in a spreadsheet, pasting view counts from three apps. That breaks past a handful of creators — counts go stale daily, CPM has to be recomputed by hand, and payouts drift out of sync with the posts they cover. UGC tracking software replaces that loop. For the full workflow, see how to track UGC creator performance.
How we evaluated
Tracks creators you don't own
Can it follow external creator handles, not just your brand's accounts?
Cross-platform coverage
TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts in one view.
CPM & payouts
Does it turn views into cost-per-view and what each creator is owed?
Price at program scale
What it costs to track hundreds of videos a month with your whole team.
1.Viralytics
Our pickBest for: Brands & agencies tracking paid UGC creators
Purpose-built for managing a paid UGC program. Connect each creator's handles and Viralytics automatically tracks their posts across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — with per-platform CPM, built-in payout tracking, and a creator-facing portal. Every plan includes unlimited team seats, and there's no percentage taken on creator payouts.
2.viral.app
Best for: Hiring creators via a marketplace + tracking
A broad UGC platform: a creator marketplace where creators apply to your jobs, tracking across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat, competitor tracking, and payouts handled by a merchant-of-record partner. Strong if you want to source creators in the same tool — but Pro includes 1 seat and 10 active creators, and payouts carry a 3% fee.
3.Trackr
Best for: App studios running high-volume UGC
Formerly UGC Trackr. A full UGC ops suite with tracking across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, a creator portal, draft review, automated US payouts with 1099s, and App Store Connect / Stripe attribution. Powerful, but it starts at $150/mo with a single seat.
4.Shortimize
Best for: General short-form video analytics
A solid short-form analytics tool that tracks videos across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, including accounts you don't own. Strong on AI insights, but it has no creator payout tracking or creator portal and starts higher at $99/mo.
5.Sway9
Best for: Budget TikTok + Instagram tracking
A low-cost creator tracker for TikTok and Instagram with automatic CPM and spend, unlimited team members, and multi-brand workspaces. Priced per tracked account (each handle counts) with monthly sync credits. No YouTube yet and no free trial.
6.Viralstat
Best for: Trend discovery & competitor research
Best for discovering viral content and benchmarking channels you don't own across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. It's a research and monitoring tool — no payout or CPM tracking — but cheap to start.
7.Modash
Best for: Influencer discovery at scale
A full influencer-marketing platform with a 350M+ creator database, audience vetting, campaign tracking, and built-in payments. Powerful but pricey — overkill if you already know which creators you pay.
8.Metricool
Best for: Managing your own social channels
An all-in-one scheduling and analytics suite for the accounts you own and connect. Great for publishing and reporting on your own brand channels, but it isn't built to track many external paid creators or compute creator payouts.
10.Virlo
Best for: TikTok trend discovery
Built for finding what's trending and what to make next, with a content studio. A creator/marketer research tool rather than a way to measure the creators you already pay.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best UGC tracking software?
For brands and agencies running paid UGC programs, Viralytics is the best fit — purpose-built to track the creators you pay across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with per-platform CPM, payout tracking, and a creator portal, from $40/mo with unlimited seats. viral.app and Trackr are pricier all-in-one suites that also send payouts (viral.app adds a creator marketplace); Sway9 is a budget TikTok + Instagram tracker; Shortimize is a general short-form analytics tool; Viralstat and Virlo focus on trend discovery; Modash on influencer discovery.
What is UGC tracking?
UGC tracking is automatically collecting every post your creators publish for you — across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — and measuring its views, engagement, and cost per 1,000 views (CPM), so you can see which creators are worth what you pay them without maintaining a spreadsheet.
What should UGC tracking software do?
It should automatically collect your creators' posts across platforms, report views and engagement, calculate CPM (cost per 1,000 views), and ideally track payouts — so you can measure the ROI of a paid UGC program without manual spreadsheets.
How much does UGC tracking software cost?
Dedicated UGC tracking runs from $22/mo (Sway9, TikTok + Instagram only) and $40/mo (Viralytics) to $99/mo (viral.app, Shortimize) and $150/mo (Trackr). Trend-research tools like Viralstat and Virlo start at $15–$49/mo, while full influencer platforms like Modash start around $199/mo.
Keep reading
Track your paid UGC creators in one place
Paste in your creators' handles and Viralytics tracks every post across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube — automatically. Setup takes under 5 minutes.
From $40/mo · Unlimited seats · Cancel anytime
9.Social Blade
Best for: Free public stat lookups
A free public-stats site for follower counts and rough earnings estimates on any account. Useful for quick lookups, but the numbers are estimates and there's no payout tracking, creator portal, or program management.