Comparison
Heepsy alternative: how CollabScout compares with Heepsy's free plan
Heepsy and CollabScout are both free to start, but they do different jobs. Heepsy is a database of creators on four networks, with audience data, and its free plan gives you 500 results and 10 full profiles a month. CollabScout is a free Chrome extension that finds small Instagram creators live, from accounts you choose, with no monthly cap, and then sends your messages from your own account.
John Steward Miles GomezSoftware engineer. I build CollabScout.
What you get for $0
| Heepsy, free plan | CollabScout | |
|---|---|---|
| Search results | 500 a month | No monthly cap |
| Full profiles | 10 advanced profiles a month | Every profile it checks |
| Projects | 1 | As many lists and campaigns as you like |
| How you search | AI search in plain words, lookalikes, 30+ filters | Example accounts, through Instagram's own suggestions, checked against your category |
| Networks | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn | |
| Audience data | In its advanced profiles | No |
| Outreach | Email, on paid plans | Instagram messages from your own account, each one previewed |
| Where your lists live | Your Heepsy account | Your browser |
Where Heepsy is ahead
- Four networks. Heepsy covers TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn as well as Instagram.
- Instant search. You describe what you want and get results straight away from its index, which Heepsy puts at 20M+ creators. AI search is on the free plan too.
- Audience checks. Heepsy says its profiles show genuine versus suspicious followers, unusual growth, and demographics by location, age and interests, plus engagement rates and estimated collaboration costs. CollabScout has none of that.
- Campaign tools. Its paid plans add a CRM with templates, automated follow-ups and conversation tracking.
Where CollabScout is ahead
- No monthly allowance. It keeps finding creators every day you run it, and opens every profile it checks. Ten full profiles a month is a sample; this is a steady supply.
- Small and local accounts. It searches live from your examples rather than an index, with no follower minimum, so the café with 600 followers or the hobby baker with 900 can turn up.
- Your idea of a good fit. 43 ready-made categories you can read and edit, including one for everyday people who aren't creators at all. Every match shows the words that made it a match.
- It sends the messages, on Instagram, where small creators actually answer. From your own account, one every 4 to 12 minutes and up to 20 a day to start, with each person's exact message shown before anything goes.
- Your lists stay on your computer. There's no account to create and no server.
How long it takes, typically: Instagram's suggestions for your examples appear within a minute or two, and about a dozen profiles are checked in the first ten minutes. After that it works through a few dozen a day, on purpose.
When Heepsy is worth paying for
Heepsy lists Starter at $69 a month billed yearly, or $89 billed monthly, and it adds 300 outreach emails a month. Plus is $149 ($199 monthly) and Advanced is $229 ($299 monthly).
That money buys real things if you run campaigns on TikTok and YouTube, need audience checks before you pay a creator, or want a whole team working in one tool. If you mostly want small Instagram creators and a way to message them, you can skip it.
Using both
They fit together well. Use Heepsy's free search to see who's out there across networks, then take the Instagram accounts you liked and give them to CollabScout: as examples, to find more like them, or as a list to message straight away.
Questions
Is Heepsy free?
Heepsy has a free plan: 500 search results and 10 advanced profiles a month, one project, and its AI, lookalike and text search with 30+ filters. Paid plans start at $69 a month, billed yearly.
Can CollabScout replace Heepsy?
For finding small Instagram creators and messaging them, yes, and for free. For TikTok, YouTube or LinkedIn, audience data, or email outreach, no.
Does CollabScout check for fake followers?
No. It judges whether a profile fits your category from what's on it: bio, name, links, recent captions and hashtags. For audience checks, Heepsy's advanced profiles are the right tool.
Sources
All read on 18 October 2026:
- Heepsy pricing: plans, the free plan's limits, networks and outreach emails.
- Heepsy's home page: index size, audience data, search and CRM features.
Software engineer. I build CollabScout. How I check the facts on these pages.