The F5Bot alternative that actually finds you customers
F5Bot is a solid free tool — but it sends every match without any filtering. RadarScout adds AI intent scoring so you only see Reddit mentions from people who are actually ready to buy.
Free plan forever · No credit card required
F5Bot
Tells you when you’re mentioned
RadarScout
Tells you when someone wants to buy
The problem with F5Bot: too much noise
F5Bot was built in 2014 as a free personal project. It does exactly what it promises — it watches Reddit and emails you every time your keyword appears. The problem is every time. No filtering, no scoring, no way to tell a curious lurker from someone ready to hand over their credit card.
If you track a broad keyword like “project management software” or “best CRM”, you can easily receive hundreds of alerts a week. Most of them are people complaining, debating, or just mentioning the topic in passing. Wading through all of that to find one real lead is exhausting — and most teams simply stop checking.
There’s also the alert delay. F5Bot typically sends digests on an hourly or multi-hour schedule. On Reddit, conversations move fast. By the time you see the alert, the thread is already buried and the window to reply helpfully has closed.
Why teams leave F5Bot
How RadarScout is different
Built for founders and marketers who need signal, not noise. Every match is scored and summarized by AI before it reaches you.
AI intent scoring
Every Reddit mention is scored 1–10 for purchase intent using Claude AI. A post asking "what's the best CRM for a 10-person startup?" scores a 9. A post saying "CRM is a weird acronym" scores a 1. You see both — but you know which to respond to first.
Real-time alerts (< 60s)
Our crawler watches r/all continuously. You get an alert within 60 seconds of a match — not an hour later. On Reddit, speed matters. The first thoughtful reply in a thread gets seen by thousands; the reply posted three hours later gets none.
AI reply drafts
When you spot a high-intent lead, RadarScout can draft a Reddit reply on your behalf — one that leads with genuine value and naturally mentions your product. Copy it, tweak it, and post. The whole process takes under a minute.
F5Bot vs RadarScout — side by side
Common questions
Can I import my existing F5Bot keywords?
You can add all your keywords manually in a few minutes — just type them into the RadarScout dashboard one by one. There's no bulk import tool yet, but most users have fewer than 20 keywords and set them up in under two minutes.
Is there a free tier like F5Bot?
Yes. RadarScout has a free plan that lets you monitor 3 keywords forever with no credit card required. The free plan includes real-time alerts. AI intent scoring and reply drafts are Pro features.
Does RadarScout monitor Hacker News too?
Reddit only for now — we cover r/all (all subreddits). Hacker News support is on the roadmap. For most use cases, Reddit has significantly more relevant conversations than HN.
How does the AI scoring actually work?
When a keyword match is found, we send the post title and excerpt to Claude AI with a prompt asking it to score purchase intent 1–10 and write a one-sentence summary. The score and summary appear in your dashboard so you can instantly see which matches are worth your attention.
Switch from F5Bot in 2 minutes
Free plan forever. No credit card. Your keywords are live in under 2 minutes.