How to Set Up F5Bot Keyword Monitoring Alerts

Updated

F5Bot sends you an email when your chosen keywords appear in a new post or comment on Reddit, Hacker News, or Lobsters. Setup takes three steps — create a free account with just an email address, add your keywords, and wait for alerts — and the site says you can be up and running in under a minute. No credit card or payment information is required to sign up.

Before You Start

You only need two things:

  • An email address you check regularly (this is where alerts arrive).
  • A list of keywords — brand names, product names, or topics you want to track. Think about the exact phrases people would type when discussing you, and note any common misspellings or variants worth including.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create your free account

Sign up with just an email address. No credit card or payment information is needed. The site's signup flow is at the top of the homepage ("Sign Up Free").

Expected result: You have an account tied to your email, ready to accept keywords.

2. Add your keywords

Enter the brand names, products, or topics you want to track. F5Bot monitors all three platforms at once — Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters — and tracks mentions across posts and comments in every subreddit.

Expected result: Your keywords are saved and monitoring begins.

3. Receive alerts

When a keyword appears in a new post or comment, F5Bot emails you. The site says it monitors every few minutes, so alerts arrive shortly after a mention is posted.

Expected result: An email alert containing the mention and a link to view it on the source platform (for example, "View on Reddit →").

Verify It's Working

The simplest check is to post a test mention containing one of your keywords in a low-traffic community, or wait for a real mention to appear. If no alert arrives, confirm that:

  • Your keyword is spelled exactly as it appears in posts (matching is keyword-based by default).
  • The mention is a new post or comment — F5Bot alerts on new content, not edits to old content.
  • Your email provider isn't filtering F5Bot messages into spam.

Tightening Your Alerts

Once the basics work, F5Bot offers ways to cut noise:

Feature What it does When to use it
Advanced filtering Narrow by subreddit, exclude unwanted terms, require co-occurring keywords Your keyword is a common word that triggers too many irrelevant alerts
AI filtering Describe what you're looking for in natural language and let AI evaluate each new discussion You want concept-level matches beyond exact keywords
Slack & Discord integration Route alerts into team channels via webhooks A team, not one person, should see mentions
RSS, JSON & API access Pull alerts into existing tools and workflows You want mentions in a dashboard or automation
Flexible email delivery Instant alerts, batched on a delay, or a daily digest at times you choose High-volume keywords that would otherwise flood your inbox

Common Stumbling Points

  • Too many alerts on generic keywords. Start with specific brand or product names, then broaden only if you're missing conversations.
  • Expecting coverage beyond the three platforms. F5Bot monitors Reddit, Hacker News, and Lobsters — not the wider web.
  • Assuming alerts are instant by default. Delivery timing is configurable; if timeliness matters, choose instant delivery rather than a digest.

What You Get

F5Bot has run since 2017 and reports delivering 430,000+ alerts daily. Beyond brand monitoring, the same setup supports competitor tracking, lead generation (finding people actively asking for what you offer), and tracking shares of your blog posts, open-source tools, or press coverage. The site also publishes guides if you want use-case-specific advice.