XLead found
“We are outgrowing spreadsheets for onboarding - what are you using?”
Buyer-ready threads show up in public communities daily
Find conversations where people are already talking aboutyour product, solution, or competitors
Needle is a web app for founders and GTM teams: run a free search preview from your website without an account, then search many public communities at once with posts ranked for buying intent. Manual run history plus Auto Search for your brand on paid plans.
No signup · preview in about a minute · 3-day trial on paid plans
How it works?
Posts flow in from the communities you pick. Needle scores intent and fit, then shows ranked cards so you know which thread to open on Reddit, X, Hacker News, GitHub, and the rest without tab hopping.
Reddit
X
Hacker News
GitHub
YouTube
Bluesky
Tumblr
Needle
XRedditCompetitor mentioned
“Someone asked whether to pick us or Contender X for a 50-seat rollout next month.”
All that social media noise
Needle picks the best matches
Get conversations about your product & competitors
Example cards rotate through real posts from public communities, sorted so you can see who to reply to first.How is Needle different from manually searching?
Needle searches up to 10 communities in one workflow and shows you real conversations, competitors, and when you're mentioned - without the manual grind. One search across Reddit, HN, GitHub, and the rest instead of hours of jumping between sites.
Hours of manual searching
Jumping between Reddit, Twitter, forums - one by one
Missing the good conversations
Key discussions slip through while you're busy elsewhere
In the dark on competitors
Where they're mentioned, what they're launching - you find out late
Buyer-intent community search
Not social listening. Not a contact database. Ranked public threads where people already compare tools and describe pain.
Intent + fit ranking
Keyword alerts are noisy. Needle ranks threads by buying intent and relevance to your offer.
Manual + Auto Search
Run a one-off query or keep your brand on a schedule - one workflow, not two tools.
Builder communities
Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and more - where buyers compare tools in public.
Trusted by Founders
900+ founders and GTM teams use Needle to rank buyer conversations across public communities - with a 3-day free trial on all plans.
Real
Buyer intent
Conversations from the wild
Faster
Customer discovery
From hours to minutes
900+
Professionals
Using Needle
10000+
Insights
Conversations & analysis
What do others say about Needle?
Founders, writers, and marketers use Needle for customer discovery and validation - here's what they say.
Ayachi Sharma
Content Writer
July 2025
"As a freelance writer, using Needle is a game-changer for validating my ideas in less time. It tracks keyword trends across social media helping me spot what is trending and can help discover potential clients by tapping into real-time conversations online. It has saved me 10+ hours per week compared to manually searching the same things."
Issac Veerla
Business Major, SJSU
June 2025
"Needle made idea validation so much easier. I love how Needle works - it searched 10 curated communities and surfaced the most relevant conversations in one pass. Found 50+ high-intent threads in my first day! In a world flooded with social media noise, this tool really does feel like finding a needle in a haystack."
Cameron Robertson
Founder, VibeQuiz
July 2025
"As a founder building an online gift discovery tool, I am always looking for ways to find and engage with relevant communities. Needle has made this process fast and intuitive. I have already discovered 15+ subreddits that turned out to be perfect fits. I probably wouldn't have found them through Reddit's native search. Basically, using Needle is a smart move for anyone doing audience research or community outreach."
Yash Kedia
SDE 2, Disseqt AI
Feb 2026
"The tools page is genuinely helpful, especially for early-stage founders trying to figure out customer discovery and validation. I liked how everything is organized in one place - it saves a lot of time instead of jumping between random resources online. It's straightforward, practical, and actually useful, which is rare. I found a couple of tools there that I hadn’t come across before, and they’ve already helped me think more clearly about outreach and positioning. This is valuable for anyone trying to get their first real traction."
Ayachi Sharma
Content Writer
July 2025
"As a freelance writer, using Needle is a game-changer for validating my ideas in less time. It tracks keyword trends across social media helping me spot what is trending and can help discover potential clients by tapping into real-time conversations online. It has saved me 10+ hours per week compared to manually searching the same things."
Issac Veerla
Business Major, SJSU
June 2025
"Needle made idea validation so much easier. I love how Needle works - it searched 10 curated communities and surfaced the most relevant conversations in one pass. Found 50+ high-intent threads in my first day! In a world flooded with social media noise, this tool really does feel like finding a needle in a haystack."
Cameron Robertson
Founder, VibeQuiz
July 2025
"As a founder building an online gift discovery tool, I am always looking for ways to find and engage with relevant communities. Needle has made this process fast and intuitive. I have already discovered 15+ subreddits that turned out to be perfect fits. I probably wouldn't have found them through Reddit's native search. Basically, using Needle is a smart move for anyone doing audience research or community outreach."
Yash Kedia
SDE 2, Disseqt AI
Feb 2026
"The tools page is genuinely helpful, especially for early-stage founders trying to figure out customer discovery and validation. I liked how everything is organized in one place - it saves a lot of time instead of jumping between random resources online. It's straightforward, practical, and actually useful, which is rare. I found a couple of tools there that I hadn’t come across before, and they’ve already helped me think more clearly about outreach and positioning. This is valuable for anyone trying to get their first real traction."
Ayachi Sharma
Content Writer
July 2025
"As a freelance writer, using Needle is a game-changer for validating my ideas in less time. It tracks keyword trends across social media helping me spot what is trending and can help discover potential clients by tapping into real-time conversations online. It has saved me 10+ hours per week compared to manually searching the same things."
Issac Veerla
Business Major, SJSU
June 2025
"Needle made idea validation so much easier. I love how Needle works - it searched 10 curated communities and surfaced the most relevant conversations in one pass. Found 50+ high-intent threads in my first day! In a world flooded with social media noise, this tool really does feel like finding a needle in a haystack."
Cameron Robertson
Founder, VibeQuiz
July 2025
"As a founder building an online gift discovery tool, I am always looking for ways to find and engage with relevant communities. Needle has made this process fast and intuitive. I have already discovered 15+ subreddits that turned out to be perfect fits. I probably wouldn't have found them through Reddit's native search. Basically, using Needle is a smart move for anyone doing audience research or community outreach."
Yash Kedia
SDE 2, Disseqt AI
Feb 2026
"The tools page is genuinely helpful, especially for early-stage founders trying to figure out customer discovery and validation. I liked how everything is organized in one place - it saves a lot of time instead of jumping between random resources online. It's straightforward, practical, and actually useful, which is rare. I found a couple of tools there that I hadn’t come across before, and they’ve already helped me think more clearly about outreach and positioning. This is valuable for anyone trying to get their first real traction."
3-day free trial on all plans
What does Needle cost?
Paid plans from $15/mo. 3-day free trial on all plans. Annual billing saves two months.
Solo
$15
/mo
Less than one hour of your time per month: 5 intent-ranked searches a day, welcome-grade Auto Search, and reply drafts.
- 5 intent-ranked searches per day
- 7 communities in one workflow
- Auto Search + AI reply drafts
Growth
$49
/mo
Export proof for investors and run 7-day searches when launches spike - plus competitor signals and Slack digests.
- 30 searches/day · exports (PDF & CSV)
- 7-day search window · competitor signals
- Slack, Discord & Google Chat digests
Scale
$149
/mo
When discovery is your full-time job: top limits, X included, white-label exports, and concierge support.
- 150 searches/day · highest limits
- X (Twitter) + full platform set
- White-label reports & concierge support
Compare full plan specs · Cancel anytime. Estimate time saved
Featured Articles
Guides on customer discovery, validation, and growth - from our blog.
Featured
Hacker News Playbook for Founders: Show HN, Ask HN, and Customer Discovery
How to use HN for launches, technical discussions, and finding early adopters - timing, etiquette, and how to turn threads into real conversations.
Apr 6, 2026Read more
FeaturedIndie Hackers & Product Hunt: A Practical Early-Traction Map for Builders
Where each community wins, what to ship first, and how to use public-thread research before and after a launch - without confusing vanity metrics for traction.
Apr 6, 2026Read more
FeaturedStack Overflow & GitHub for Product Research: What Devtool Founders Should Mine
How issues, workarounds, and “any tool for…” threads inform roadmap and positioning - plus how to search both alongside Reddit and HN.
Apr 6, 2026Read more
Featuredllms.txt, AI Crawlers, and GEO: A Practical Guide for Startup Sites
What to put in llms.txt, how AI crawlers interact with robots.txt, and how to validate your setup - plus how this ties to AI search visibility and Needle’s GEO analyzer.
Apr 5, 2026Read more
FeaturedStartup Site Health Checklist: SSL, Meta, OG, Sitemap & AI Crawlers
A practical pre-launch and post-launch checklist for founders - TLS, meta tags, Open Graph, favicons, sitemaps, and llms.txt - plus free tools to verify each step.
Apr 5, 2026Read more
FeaturedBest Customer Discovery Tools for Reddit & Hacker News (Bootstrapped SaaS 2026)
Compare the best tools to find customers on Reddit and Hacker News. Needle and alternatives for bootstrapped SaaS founders - multi-platform search, intent scoring, pricing models, and where each tool wins.
Mar 11, 2026Read more
Free - no subscription required
List your product on the Needle Directory
Free listing for verified startups and tools, community upvotes, and a backlink once approved. Sign in to submit your listing.
Frequently asked questions
How Needle compares to manual search, what you can try before subscribing, which platforms we cover, and how we handle your data. Plans and limits are on Pricing; more on the full FAQ page.
How is Needle different from manually checking each community?
Instead of opening Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and other sites one by one, Needle Search runs across the communities your plan includes in one workflow. Results are ranked with intent and sentiment so you open threads where people compare tools, ask for recommendations, or describe urgent pain - not just keyword mentions.
What can I try before I subscribe?
On the homepage you can run a conversation preview from your website (no account). After signup and brand onboarding, Needle runs a one-time welcome scan on Auto Search - a 7-day snapshot on a sample of communities. Manual search and recurring Auto Search unlock when you start a paid plan trial or subscription. Trending Problems has a public preview. Free tools need no account at useneedle.net/tools. A standard Directory listing does not require Search. See Pricing for plans and trial terms.
Which communities and platforms does Needle search?
Needle searches many public communities - for example Reddit, Stack Overflow, Hacker News, YouTube, GitHub, Tumblr, X, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Lobsters - depending on your plan. The full platform matrix and run limits are on Pricing.
Is my data private?
We analyze public conversations. Your account, searches, Auto Search results, and brand settings are treated as yours; we do not sell your data or use it for third-party ad targeting. See the Privacy policy.
Free - no subscription required
Not ready? Grab the free playbook.
The proven guide to getting your first users from Reddit.
67 indie hackers have grabbed it so far.
Find your next 100 customers
Paste your site for a free search preview-no account. Then search 10 communities at once, ranked for buying intent.
