Exploding Topics vs Spate (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Exploding Topics grades higher than Spate: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Exploding Topics grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Exploding Topics
Database of rising topics, products and startups, by search growth
Free plan · from $39/mo
Which one is for you
Pick Exploding Topics if
- Fits if you pick content topics and want ones whose searches are still climbing
- Works for sellers and investors looking for products, markets and startups that are starting to rise
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want forecasts, trending startups or CSV export, which start at $99 a month
- Skip it if you need keyword volumes and difficulty for pages you're writing now
- Not for you if you'd rather not have a Semrush account, as Pro runs through one
- Watch out: the pricing page doesn't say how prices are billed, and a vendor blog says $39 is the yearly rate
- Watch out: TikTok Insights is a separate add-on with no price shown
Pick Spate if
- Fits if you plan products for a beauty, wellness or food and beverage brand
- Works for an R&D or marketing team that wants to know which ingredients are rising
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want keywords for your website, as it's a consumer trend tool, not an SEO keyword tool
- Not for you if your market isn't beauty, wellness or food and beverage, as that's what its coverage is built around
- Watch out: no prices are published, and the site's pricing link goes back to the home page
- Tight if you want to try it on your own, as the free trial is arranged through a demo and its length isn't stated
- Watch out: the 72% prediction accuracy is Spate's own figure, and the API is for Enterprise customers only
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAExploding TopicsFair | 1.8GPASpateWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CEntrepreneur is $39 a month for 100 tracked trends, at the dearer end of this category, and the page doesn't say how it's billed. Forecasts, trending startups and CSV export need Investor at $99. Treendly's Pro is $99 a year. | CNo price is published, and the site's pricing link leads back to the home page, so the price is only given on a sales call after a demo. That leaves nothing to weigh against its trend-tool rivals. |
| Free plan and trial | CYou can browse trending topics, startups and websites on the public site with part of each trend's data, no account needed. Every Pro plan has a 7-day trial, and the listing doesn't say whether a card is needed. | DNo free plan. The home page mentions a free trial, but it's arranged by booking a demo, and its length isn't stated. |
| Features | CA database it puts at 1.1 million+ topics with growth over up to 15 years, tracking with alerts, deep-dive analyses and Meta Trends. It does trend spotting fully, but that's a smaller job than keyword research, and forecasting starts at $99. | CTrend forecasts it puts at 72% accurate, the ingredients and concerns behind a trend, brand benchmarking, top TikTok and Instagram posts, gaps in a market, an AI assistant and alerts. It does trend research fully, but only for beauty, wellness and food and beverage. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. Pro runs as an app inside Semrush, so signing in and starting a trial go through a Semrush account before you see the full data. | CNo rating on record. You get in through a demo, and then there are forecasts, benchmarks, alerts and reports to learn your way round. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. There's an API, a Zapier integration with six actions, and routes through n8n and Make. | CWeb only, with no desktop or phone app and no integrations on record. The API is for Enterprise customers only. |
| Best for | spotting rising topics before they get crowded | consumer trend forecasts for beauty and food brands |
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: Exploding Topics and Spate. How we grade
Where they differ
- Spate also covers reports.
In commonWebKeyword research
At a glance
| Exploding Topics | Spate | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $39 per month for 100 tracked trends (billing basis not shown) | Not published |
| Free plan | Trending topics, startups and websites can be browsed on the site without an account, with part of each trend's data; the full data needs Pro. | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of every Pro plan | Free trial mentioned on the homepage, arranged by booking a demo; length not stated |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Semrush Inc. | Spate, Inc. |
| Price read from | explodingtopics.com | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Exploding Topics
- The pricing page shows monthly figures without saying how they are billed; a vendor blog post says $39 is the annual-billing rate.
- Trend forecasting, trending startups and CSV export start at the $99 Investor plan.
- Pro runs as an app inside Semrush: signing in and starting a trial go through a Semrush account.
- TikTok Insights is a separate add-on, and its price is not shown on the pricing page.
Spate
- No prices are published; access is sold after a demo, and the site's pricing link leads back to the homepage.
- Its coverage is built around beauty and personal care, wellness, and food and beverage.
- It is a market research tool for consumer trends, not an SEO keyword tool for a website.
Key features
Exploding Topics
- Trends database
- Pro opens a database the vendor puts at 1.1 million+ markets, products and topics, each with search volume and growth over windows of 3 months to 15 years.
- Trend tracking and analyses
- Track 100, 500 or 2,000 trends by plan and get alerts, and run 10 to 500 deep-dive analyses with search metrics and channel-level data.
- Meta Trends
- Groups related topics into larger shifts in areas such as tech, DTC, marketing, SaaS, healthcare, fitness and fashion.
- Trend forecasting
- Investor and Business plans show a machine-learning forecast of where a trend's interest is likely to go over the next year.
- Trending products and startups
- Lists consumer products on the rise on every Pro plan, and fast-growing startups from Investor up. A TikTok Insights add-on tracks products gaining views on TikTok.
- API and automations
- An Exploding Topics API feeds trend data into other tools, with a Zapier integration offering six actions and an n8n workflow route.
Spate
- Trend prediction
- Forecasts where a trend is heading from current consumer data; Spate puts its prediction accuracy at 72%.
- Growth drivers
- Breaks a trend down into the ingredients, benefits and concerns behind it.
- Competitive benchmarking
- Tracks brands' performance, engagement and positioning against one another.
- Top social content
- Shows the most popular posts and videos for a trend across TikTok and Instagram.
- Whitespace opportunities
- Points to gaps in a market where demand is growing but few products exist.
- AI assistant and alerts
- Answers questions in plain language, builds reports and sends custom alerts. Enterprise customers can also pull the data through an API.
Plans
Exploding Topics
Free$0
Browse trending topics, startups and top websites on the public site, plus a set of free SEO tools.
Entrepreneur$39
per month for 100 tracked trends, billing basis not shown
10 trend analyses, the trends database, trending products, Meta Trends and channel breakdowns.
Investor$99
per month for 500 tracked trends, billing basis not shown
100 trend analyses, plus trending startups, trend forecasting and CSV export.
Business$249
per month for 2,000 tracked trends, billing basis not shown
500 trend analyses, everything in Investor, and trend reports.
Spate
Pricing could not be confirmed. See spate.nyc.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Exploding Topics or Spate?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Exploding Topics starts at $39 per month for 100 tracked trends (billing basis not shown), and Spate has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Exploding Topics or Spate?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Exploding Topics has a free plan. Spate does not, though it has a free trial.
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.