--- title: "Pulse Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra" description: "With the help of Capterra, learn about Pulse Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Marketing Planning products and more." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/195253/Pulse/" page_type: "product" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-09-30" --- # Pulse Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on September 30, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[FAQs](#faqs)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) Pulse ## What is Pulse? Allows marketers to accurately analyze and benchmark every competitor in their industry across 15 different search marketing KPIs. ## What is Pulse used for? [Competitive Intelligence](https://www.capterra.com/competitive-intelligence-software/)[Marketing Planning](https://www.capterra.com/marketing-planning-software/)[PPC](https://www.capterra.com/ppc-software/) Top alternative Featured Overall rating Based on 10 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive \- Neutral \- Negative \- Starting price $19 Per Feature, Per Month Free trial available Includes Free Version Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Do you work for Pulse?[Manage this product listing](https://www.g2.com/products/pulse-by-directive-consulting/claim_requests/new?auto=true) ## Compare with a popular alternative Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status. ### Pulse 4.4 (10) VS. [4.6 (6,134)](https://www.capterra.com/p/147657/monday-com/reviews/) Starting Price $19 Per Feature, Per Month Starting Price $9 Per User, Per Month Free Trial Free Version Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version Ease Of Use 4.8 (10) Ease Of Use 4.5 (10,766) Value For Money 4.7 (9) Value For Money 4.3 (8,565) Customer Service 4.5 (10) Customer Service 4.4 (7,716) ## Pulse alternatives Highest Rated [4.7 (837)](https://www.capterra.com/p/153508/Omnisend/reviews/) Starting price $16.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 98% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.7 (21)](https://www.capterra.com/p/163298/Visual-Visitor/reviews/) Starting price $149.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 95% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Wix](https://www.capterra.com/p/169007/Wix/) [4.4 (10,819)](https://www.capterra.com/p/169007/Wix/reviews/) Starting price $17.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 88% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/169007/Wix/) [Semrush](https://www.capterra.com/p/151962/SEMrush/) [4.6 (2,330)](https://www.capterra.com/p/151962/SEMrush/reviews/) Starting price $139.95 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 96% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/151962/SEMrush/) ## FAQs about Pulse Overview ### Which roles and teams benefit most from Pulse? Pulse is most used by SEO, digital marketing, and content teams for tracking search performance, guiding content priorities, and supporting growth campaigns. Marketing consultants and agency leaders use it to assess client visibility, while founders, general managers, data specialists, and software engineers review performance data to inform business and website decisions. Answer based on 10 reviews Overview ### What company size and specific industries is Pulse built for? Pulse is designed for in-house and agency marketers of all company sizes who need tools for competitive research, benchmarking, and analysis. It fits marketing teams across industries that want to compare performance, track competitors, and review market positioning, rather than businesses in a single sector. Features and Usability ### What are the key features of Pulse? Pulse offers geotargeting and search marketing, along with campaign management, campaign analytics, and keyword tracking. It also includes audit management, benchmarking, competitive analysis, and budgeting/forecasting. Reporting features cover customizable reports, dashboards, data visualization, web traffic reporting, website analytics, and trend analysis. Getting Started and Support ### What training and onboarding options does Pulse offer? Pulse provides documentation for teams that need written reference material during setup and day-to-day use. This format supports self-paced review of product features, configuration steps, and common procedures, giving users a resource they can consult as needed. Getting Started and Support ### What customer support options does Pulse offer? Pulse provides email/help desk, FAQ/forum, knowledge base, phone support, and 24/7 live rep support. These channels give users several ways to get help, though no reviewer feedback is available here to describe response speed, agent helpfulness, or common support frustrations. ## Features AI summary Based on 570 Marketing Planning reviews According to Capterra reviewers, these are the features buyers prioritize most when evaluating marketing planning software: - **Workflow Management** (**74%** of reviewers rated this feature as critical) - **Commenting/Notes** (**74%**) - **Task Management** (**72%**) Pulse is positioned around other marketing planning capabilities rather than these commonly prioritized features. Its feature set is geared toward supporting planning workflows in different ways, giving teams a structured environment to organize marketing work and keep activities moving across campaigns and initiatives. Budgeting/Forecasting 5.0 (1) 0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Create budgets based on historical data and future projections Campaign Analytics 5.0 (1) 0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Track and interpret campaign performance metrics Campaign Management 5.0 (1) 0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Create a collection of marketing actions to complete specific goals and plan and analyze campaign results Reporting/Analytics 5.0 (1) 0.00% of 1 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important View and track pertinent metrics to find patterns and gain insights from data Benchmarking Compare key metrics for the business against prominent players in the industry Budget Management Forecast, allocate funds, organize financial resources and report & analyze project's income and expenditure Pulse 17 features ### All Features - Benchmarking: Compare key metrics for the business against prominent players in the industry - Budget Management: Forecast, allocate funds, organize financial resources and report & analyze project's income and expenditure - Budgeting/Forecasting: Create budgets based on historical data and future projections - Campaign Analytics: Track and interpret campaign performance metrics - Campaign Management: Create a collection of marketing actions to complete specific goals and plan and analyze campaign results - Competitive Analysis: Evaluating strengths and weaknesses of companies with the same target audience - Customizable Reports: Alter the layout and content of reports - Data Import/Export: Import and export data to and from software applications - Data Visualization: Graphical representation of data - Geotargeting: Geographic location of visitors determines behavior of the software - Keyword Tracking: Track and monitor a specific set of keywords - Reporting/Analytics: View and track pertinent metrics to find patterns and gain insights from data - Roadmapping: Identifying desired outcomes and important milestones and creating a plan on how to achieve them - Spend Management: Track the amount of money spent on a certain product or with a certain supplier - Trend Analysis: Review data from past periods to reveal recurring tendencies and predict future performance - Visual Analytics: Interact with data visualization elements, such as charts and graphs, to drill down into data - Web Traffic Reporting: Collect and analyze traffic data about website visitors --- Get Advice We can help you find the software with the features you need. Features 4.3 (10) 4.3 Based on 10 reviews ## Pricing Value for money 4.7 (9) Free Trial Free Version Basic $19.00 Per Feature,Per Month Value for money 4.7 (9) 4.7 Based on 9 reviews Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs. ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 4.5 (10) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 4.5 (10) 4.5 Based on 10 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.4 Based on 10 reviews Filter by rating Counts reflect reviews available in this feed. 5(6) 4(2) 3(2) 2(0) 1(0) Mentioned topic Recent reviews first, then most helpful Younes B. Full Time Translator Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "A useful tool for the market research in the digital sphere " 3.0 Overall Rating 3.0 3.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 December 17, 2019 I am very interested in the market research tools, so I give Pulse a try and I didn't regret, except its not-so-complete dataset of companies, the platform give me a lot of useful insights and makes me throw the guess-work for ever! Pros The product tour that is face you when you are using the tool in the first time, I found it very useful and informative. the other thing is the minimalism in UX that is let you navigate the platform (that contains a more than one tool for market research purposes) very easily. Cons Pulse is a new product so its database doesn't contain a lot of companies I were looking for especially those companies in EU zone and MENA. SE Software Engineer Software Engineer Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "10/10 Would Reccomend" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 April 13, 2021 The best software you can get for the price. Pros It is quick to learn to use, extremely, helpful, and easy to work with. Cons Almost none, actually. Other than the slight inconvenience of having to restart the software every now and then, its perfectly fine. DM Digital Marketing & Growth Digital Marketing & Growth Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Lots of other options out there-- my advice would be to steer away" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 2.0 2.0 Likelihood to Recommend 5/10 December 19, 2019 Pros I was on the free trial and did not enjoy anything. Cons I don't believe this Directive Consulting is on track to innovate. Something like SpyFu has been around for much longer and is constantly improving. SC Senior Content Writer Senior Content Writer Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "It makes my work simple" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 December 19, 2019 Pros The ease of use. Almost everyone can get familiar with Pulse within minutes and start using it. For me Pulse is cheap, and a better way to organize my work. Cons For now, I am satisfied, so none! But it needs to add a few functionalities in order to improve the overall flow. Brendan H. SEO Director Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Love their scoring model" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 December 19, 2019 Pros I appreciate the sheer amount of data they have available (over 25,000 companies) Cons Right now, it's updated monthly, versus daily or weekly. It's still great data, and I assume this frequency will increase in the future. Christopher P. Chief Data Scientist Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Directive Pulse - Good First Start" 3.0 Overall Rating 3.0 3.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 5/10 December 16, 2019 Pros Pulse has a straightforward interface for identifying influencers. Easy to use, easy to understand. Cons Inaccurate for larger companies and domains within a vertical. For example, in assessing Amazon's AI capabilities, it pulls in statistics for the entirety of Amazon.com, which is wildly inaccurate. GM General manager General manager Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "The best software " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 January 7, 2020 My experience was very great and smooth Pros The flexibility and smoothness Light and quick Cons Nothing specially I liked the whole software MC Marketing Consultant Marketing Consultant Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Benchmarking for my Industry" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 October 16, 2019 I like the platform. It is easy to use, I find it handy in my reporting, and customer support has been good. Pros Showing what competitors are doing is always the best way to get buy in from my clients. With this tool I can show my clients what the benchmarks are for SEO and PPC spend in order to get them to buy in more to my strategy. Cons Desktop experience is good, but they still need to work on their mobile experience. SE SEO SEO Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Not a bad product, but needs elaboration" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 5/10 December 19, 2019 Pros Hard to find use cases that can help explain why you had to buy this product from superiors to bring value that exceeds the cost. Cons Not much. Needs some use cases that can explain why it was worth the purchase FO Founder Founder Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Good app for competition analysis" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 December 16, 2019 Trying to understand industry benchmarks and competitor performance. Pros level of details made available and the insights presented is fantastic Cons WIsh there was more data available about the companies. The ability to add custom company would be a nice add-on. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/195253/Pulse/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.