Compare Competitors

Compare against puts up to five competitor accounts next to your own channel on Reports. You see each account’s average results, how they split by format, pillar and audience, and their latest posts, side by side.

Use it to see where you’re ahead, where you’re behind, and what competitors post that works for them.

Competitors come from your brand’s Discover sources. Only social accounts you’ve marked as a competitor can be picked. See Discover Sources.

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Make sure at least one competitor is tracked. Open your brand’s Discover tab, add the account and tick Mark as competitor.
2. Wait for the next daily update, so the account has posts.
3. Open Reports and pick your channel with Select a Channel.
4. Next to Compare against, click + Add competitor.
5. Tick one or more competitors. Click outside the list to close it.
6. Read Overview on average. Your column is first, marked You.

Example: a bakery compares its Instagram with two cafés nearby over Last 30 Days. Its engagement rate is 3.4%, theirs are 2.1% and 4.0%. The 4.0% café gets the Top tag.

Add and remove competitors

1. Pick your own channel first. Until you do, + Add competitor is greyed out (Select a channel first).
2. Click + Add competitor.
3. Type in Search tracked competitors to find one, or scroll the Tracked competitors list.
4. Tick a competitor to add it. Tick it again to remove it.

Each competitor you add appears as a chip next to Compare against, with its own color. Click × on a chip to remove it.

Up to five at a time. Once five are picked, + Add competitor is greyed out. Remove one to add another.

Saving the view. The competitors are part of the page address, and of a saved report when you save it. See Saved Reports and Notes.

Where competitors come from

The list shows every active (not paused) social account on your brand’s Discover tab that’s marked as a competitor.

• Any platform Discover watches can be a competitor: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn or Facebook.
• Websites, web searches and Reddit don’t appear. Only social accounts can be compared.
• If you have no competitors, hovering over + Add competitor shows No competitors tracked yet. Add one in Discover Sources.

To add one, see Watch social media accounts. Competitors count toward your plan’s Discover source limit.

How fresh the numbers are. Competitor posts are read once a day, like your own. A new competitor has no posts until the next daily update. See How Discover Updates.

Reading the comparison

When at least one competitor is added, the sections below AI Insights change to side-by-side tables. Each account gets a column, with your own first.

Overview on average

• Each column shows the account’s name and how many posts it had in your dates.
• Each row is one number: Engagement rate, Likes, Comments, Views, Shares or Saves.
• Under each value is the change from the period before, like +12% or −8%.
• Top marks the highest value in the row.

Performance by content type, Performance by pillar and Performance by audience

• Each row is a format, one of your pillars, or one of your audiences.
• Each cell shows the engagement rate, its change, and the number of posts.
• Click a row to see the other numbers for that row.
• — means the account had no posts in that row.
• No matched data for this breakdown yet means no posts could be grouped.

Posts across compared accounts

This replaces the Posts Table. It lists up to 100 of the latest posts from each account in your dates, newest first. The Account column shows whose post it is. Click a caption to open the post.

Performance by Content Idea is hidden while you compare. It’s about your own content ideas, so it has nothing to compare. Remove all competitors to see it again.

What public data only means for a comparison

Orsa can only see a competitor’s public numbers: what anyone can see on their profile. It never sees their Reach, private stats or ads.

What that means:

• Competitors are always public data only. Their engagement rate is likes, comments and shares divided by followers. For YouTube, it’s likes and comments divided by views.
• Only shared numbers are shown. A row appears only if every account in the comparison has that number. Instagram doesn’t make shares or saves public, so comparing with an Instagram account hides Shares and Saves.
• Reach never appears in a comparison.
• A Public data only badge appears above the tables when every account in the comparison uses public data.

If you’ve uploaded a Meta CSV. While you compare, your own column also uses public numbers only, so every engagement rate is worked out the same way, from followers. Your Reach-based numbers are back in Reports when you remove all competitors.

For the formulas, see How Metrics Are Calculated.

Restricted accounts. If a competitor’s public data couldn’t be fully collected, a warning icon shows next to its name. The banner says Following accounts have inaccurate data: and lists them. Hover over the icon for details.

How competitor posts get your pillars and audiences

Competitors don’t use your pillars, so Orsa matches their posts to your pillars and audiences with AI. That’s why the pillar table says competitor posts matched to your pillars.

• Posts the AI can’t match land in Other.
• A thin pillar row for a competitor may mean their posts didn’t match well, not that they skip the topic.

See Performance Breakdowns.

AI Insights for a comparison

Save the report with competitors picked, then generate AI Insights. You get a competitor comparison instead of the usual analysis:

• Competitive Position, with ↑ Gaining, ↓ Losing or → Stable.
• Content Type Comparison, Pillar Comparison and Audience Comparison.
• Competitor Playbook: tactics competitors repeat, marked Cross-validated when two or more competitors do it.
• Whitespace Opportunities: topics or formats few accounts do well.
• Recommendations: Double Down On, Adopt From Competitors and Differentiate By.

In the AI comparison, your own channel also uses public numbers only, so everyone is measured the same way.

See AI Insights.

Ideas for comparing competitors

Check your format mix. Compare Performance by content type over Last 90 Days.

Example: a gym sees two rival gyms get their best engagement from reels, while its own best is carousels. It keeps carousels and tests one extra reel a week.

Find a topic gap. Look for a pillar where competitors have few posts but good engagement.

Example: a dental clinic’s Kids’ dental care pillar has 1 post from each rival clinic, both with high engagement. The clinic plans a three-part series.

Spot a competitor’s best post. In Posts across compared accounts, click the Engagement Rate header to put the best posts first.

Example: a boutique sees a rival’s “try-on” reel has the highest rate. It plans its own try-on reel for next month.

Keep a weekly watch. Save a report with your top competitors and Last 30 Days, then open it every Monday.

Example: a café saves Us vs. 3 cafés and adds a note each week on what changed.

Tips for the best results

• Pick competitors your size. Engagement rate divides by followers. Very large accounts often have lower rates, so like-for-like comparisons are more useful.
• Compare on the same platform when you can. More numbers are shared, and the formulas match.
• Use 30 days or longer. A competitor with 3 posts can swing a lot.
• Look at post counts. A Top tag on 2 posts means less than on 20.
• Read rates, not raw counts. A big account always has more likes. The engagement rate is the fairer number.
• Mark competitors carefully in Discover. Only accounts marked as competitors appear in the list.

Common questions

Why is + Add competitor greyed out? Either no channel is picked, you already have five competitors, or no competitors are tracked. Pick a channel, remove one, or add a competitor in Discover Sources.

Why isn’t my competitor in the list? It isn’t marked as a competitor. Open your brand’s Discover tab and click Mark Competitor on the account. Websites and Reddit can’t be compared.

Why does my competitor show 0 posts? A newly added account has no posts until the next daily update. The account must also be public, and the username spelled right. See How Discover Updates.

Why can’t I see Reach, Saves or Shares? The comparison only shows numbers every account has publicly. Reach is never public. Instagram doesn’t make saves or shares public.

Where did Performance by Content Idea go? It’s hidden while you compare. Remove all competitors to bring it back.

Is my engagement rate worked out the same way as my competitors’? Yes. While you compare, everyone, including you, uses public numbers. The AI comparison does the same.

Can I compare two of my own channels? No. You compare one of your channels with competitor accounts.

Can I compare more than five competitors? No. Five is the limit, so the columns stay readable. Save a second report for another group.

Can I see a competitor’s private numbers? No. Orsa only sees what’s public on their profile.