BuzzStream vs LinkSwapy (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick BuzzStream: it is first in our ranking of link building tools, and they share a 2.2 GPA.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
BuzzStream grades higher on features. LinkSwapy grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BuzzStream
Outreach CRM for link building and digital PR
LinkSwapy
Link partnership CRM with return-link tracking and backlink checks
Which one is for you
Pick BuzzStream if
- Fits if you pitch journalists or bloggers and need every past conversation kept on file
- Works for teams sharing prospect lists who must not pitch the same contact twice
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you send pitches in bulk, as Starter has no bulk sends, automated follow-ups or reports
- Pricey if you need the API, which is only on Professional at $424 a month and Custom
- Watch out: contacts count against your limit until deleted, and archiving a project frees none
- Not for you if you want a trial without payment details, as the first charge comes on day 15
- Pricey if you want AI-built media lists, as ListIQ is a separate subscription from $24 a month
Pick LinkSwapy if
- Fits if you exchange links with many partners and need to see who owes what
- Works for agencies that report links added, lost and recovered to clients
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you need daily checks or white-label reports, which start at Agency at $299 a month
- Watch out: site metrics cost credits ($29 for 500 checks) unless you bring your own Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or DataForSEO key
- Pricey if your team grows, as extra seats are $19 a month each
- Not for you if you need the API or single sign-on, which come only with the sales-priced Scale plan
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only a 14-day trial
How we grade them
| 2.2GPABuzzStreamFair | 2.2GPALinkSwapyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $49 a month for 1 user and 500 contacts, right in the middle of what this category charges. Bulk sending and automated follow-ups need Growth at $174 a month for 3 users, and the API needs Professional at $424. | CStarter is $49 a month for 300 monitored links, the middle of what link building tools charge. Site metrics cost extra credits ($29 for 500 checks) unless you bring your own Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or DataForSEO key. |
| Free plan and trial | DNo free plan. The 14-day trial takes its first charge on day 15 unless you cancel, so it starts with your payment details. | CNo free plan, but a 14-day trial with Growth features and no card. The vendor points very small accounts to its free templates and calculators instead. |
| Features | BContact discovery, pitch templates with open and reply tracking, follow-ups, a shared record of every conversation, a Chrome extension and link monitoring. It covers the whole outreach job, though Starter leaves out bulk sends, auto follow-ups and reports. | CA supplier CRM, deal types from reciprocal to paid, a who-owes-what balance, checks of status, anchor, rel and redirects, a recovery queue and client reports. It does the partnership job fully, but that's a smaller job, with no prospect search of its own. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. The Chrome extension adds prospects from any page, but you still connect your mailbox, set up projects and build templates before the first pitch goes out. | CNo rating on record. You import supplier lists, log deals and maybe connect an SEO data key before it all adds up, so there's setup before it pays off. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb plus a Chrome extension, with Gmail, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Exchange, Ahrefs and Hunter. There's an API on Professional and Custom. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb only, but it connects to Slack, Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz and DataForSEO. API access, SSO and SCIM come only with the sales-priced Scale plan. |
| Best for | keeping outreach conversations in one place | managing link partners and who owes a link |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: BuzzStream and LinkSwapy. How we grade
Price against what you get
BuzzStream starts at $49 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. LinkSwapy starts at $49 a month and scores 2.3.
BuzzStream scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other link building tools on the chart, none scores higher than BuzzStream for less, and 1 scores higher than LinkSwapy for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- LinkSwapy also covers backlink analysis.
At a glance
| BuzzStream | LinkSwapy | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $49 per month, billed monthly | $49 per month for 300 monitored links, billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial; the first charge is taken on day 15 unless you cancel | 14-day free trial with Growth plan features, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | BuzzStream | LinkSwapy |
| Price read from | buzzstream.com | linkswapy.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
BuzzStream
- Starter is one user without bulk sends, automated follow-ups or reports; those start at Growth for $174 a month.
- The API is limited to Professional and Custom plans.
- Contacts count against the plan limit until deleted from the database; archiving a project does not free any.
- ListIQ, BuzzStream's AI tool for building media lists, is a separate subscription from $24 a month.
LinkSwapy
- Domain rating, traffic and referring-domain lookups use credits ($29 for 500 checks) unless you connect your own Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or DataForSEO key.
- Starter checks links only weekly and allows 2 projects; daily checks and white-label reports start at Agency, $299 a month.
- Extra seats cost $19 a month each, and API access and single sign-on come only with the sales-priced Scale plan.
- There is no free plan; the vendor points very small accounts to its free templates and calculators instead.
Key features
BuzzStream
- Prospect research
- Search the BuzzStream Discovery database of writers and sites, find contact details, and see publisher and influencer metrics before you pitch.
- Pitch emails and follow-ups
- Templates and open, click and reply tracking on every plan; bulk sends, scheduling and automated follow-ups start at Growth.
- Outreach CRM
- Keeps every conversation with a site or person in one record, shared across projects, so a team does not pitch the same contact twice.
- BuzzMarker Chrome extension
- Adds a site or person to a project, looks up contact details and starts outreach from whatever page you are on.
- Link monitoring
- Watches the links you have won for changes: 1,000 links on Starter, 25,000 on Growth and 100,000 on Professional.
- Reports
- Growth adds email, project and link reports; Professional adds team performance reporting and unlimited report customization.
LinkSwapy
- Supplier domain CRM
- One record per supplier site with SEO metrics, niche, contacts, a quality score and the team's notes. CSV imports merge with existing records instead of duplicating them.
- Link deals and return links
- Log each deal by type, such as reciprocal, three-way, link insertion, guest post or paid, and see per partner who has given and who still owes a link.
- Backlink monitoring
- Checks each placement for status, presence, anchor, rel attribute, noindex, canonical and redirects: weekly on Starter, every 3 days on Growth, daily on Agency.
- Lost link recovery
- Removed or nofollowed links drop into a recovery queue with the supplier's contact attached and a pre-filled outreach email.
- Bulk domain checker
- Qualify up to 10,000 prospect domains in one upload with a composite score, listed with the Agency plan.
- Client reports
- PDF reports of added, lost and recovered links built from monitoring data, plus CSV exports. White-label reports come with Agency and Scale.
Plans
BuzzStream
Starter$49
per month
1 user, 500 contacts, 30 prospecting searches, 50 Discovery results per search and 1,000 links monitored.
Growth$174
per month for up to 3 users, $58 per extra user
25,000 contacts, 250 searches, bulk sending, automated follow-ups, reports, the Ahrefs integration and 25,000 links monitored.
Professional$424
per month for up to 6 users, $70 per extra user
100,000 contacts, 1,000 searches, team performance reports, the API, a dedicated account manager and 100,000 links monitored.
Custom$999
per month and up
12 or more users, 300,000+ contacts and 4,000+ searches, with an implementation plan and onboarding for new team members.
LinkSwapy
Starter$49
per month for 300 monitored links, billed monthly
1 user, 2 projects, 500 supplier domains, weekly backlink checks, CSV import, basic reports and manual outreach tracking.
Growth$149
per month for 2,000 monitored links, billed monthly
5 users, 10 projects, 2,000 supplier domains, checks every 3 days, return-link tracking and balance dashboard, email templates and Slack alerts.
Agency$299
per month for 8,000 monitored links, billed monthly
10 users, unlimited projects, daily checks, the bulk domain checker, client reporting, white-label reports and team activity logs.
Scale$599
per month and up
Custom users, projects, links and check frequency, plus API access, SSO and SCIM, your own SEO API keys and dedicated onboarding. Through sales.
Ways to pay less
BuzzStream
- Annual discount
One month free when paying 12 months ahead
BuzzStream's pricing FAQ says paying for 12 months in advance gives one month free, arranged by emailing customer service after signing up.
LinkSwapy
- Annual discount
Discount for annual billing
LinkSwapy's pricing FAQ says annual billing is discounted, without stating the amount, and that annual plans get a prorated refund on the unused part.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, BuzzStream or LinkSwapy?
As of Oct 23, 2026, they start at the same price. BuzzStream starts at $49 per month, billed monthly, and LinkSwapy starts at $49 per month for 300 monitored links, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, BuzzStream or LinkSwapy?
As of Oct 23, 2026, neither BuzzStream nor LinkSwapy has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
Which platforms do BuzzStream and LinkSwapy run on?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only BuzzStream lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.