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Kaito alternatives for crypto research: 4 tools tested

By NAUT Research · · 6 min read

4 Kaito alternatives crypto research tools checked on their own pages, 13 November 2026

NAUT tested 4 Kaito alternatives for tracking crypto projects on X: Santiment, Blockworks Intel, Cookie3 and LunarCrush, each scored on its own website as read on 13 November 2026. NAUT tracks 10,593 live company pages, and 10,020 of them carry an X handle on NAUT's record, a figure reported here outside the score.

How this test was run: NAUT published this test, and NAUT sells its own crypto data, so read it with that in mind. The 4 criteria below are a free plan or trial, a stated price, X or KOL tracking, and watchlists. Every scored fact about a rival comes from that rival's own page, read on 13 November 2026; none of those pages shows a date of its own. Research checked 13 claims: 7 are used, and 6 were left out (4 LunarCrush price and API lines not matched to the page word for word, and 2 Kaito claims that did not hold). A follow-up check of the Blockworks Intel product page is also used. NAUT tried 8 vendor sites. 4 gave no usable price: tokeninsight.com returned HTTP 403 to NAUT's fetch, nansen.ai/pricing returned HTTP 404, app.cookie.fun did not respond, and kaito.ai loaded but showed no price on the pages NAUT read. Anything behind a login or a paid plan is marked "not tested". Santiment has no NAUT page yet, so it is named without a link.

Which Kaito alternatives did NAUT test, and how did they score?

Blockworks Intel met 3 of the 4 criteria on its own pages, Santiment met 2, Cookie3 met 1, and LunarCrush and Kaito were not scored. The 4 criteria for these crypto research tools: a free plan or trial, a stated price, X or KOL tracking, and watchlists.

Tool Free way in Price on its page
Intel Free tier not tested
Santiment Free plan (30-day data lag), 14-day Sanbase trial Pro $529 a year, Max $2,700 a year, billed monthly
not tested not tested
left out left out
(benchmark) not tested not tested
Tool X or KOL tracking Watchlists Met
Intel Mindshare and sentiment across X Free 1, Pro unlimited 3 of 4
Santiment not named on its page not tested 2 of 4
KOL intelligence not tested 1 of 4
left out left out not scored
(benchmark) not tested not tested not scored

The tables are ranked by criteria met on the vendor's own page, ties in alphabetical order. "Not tested" means the page NAUT read did not cover that criterion or kept it behind a login, so it says nothing about whether the tool has it. LunarCrush's pricing page loaded, but the price lines NAUT read came from a summary of the page and were not matched to its text word for word, so all 4 cells are left out.

What does each Kaito alternative offer a deal maker?

Santiment (no NAUT page yet, X handle @SantimentData). Its pricing page says: "Try Sanbase free for 14 days and get full access to all our products and features". The free plan carries a "30-day lag in Sanbase", and the paid tiers read "$529 / year, billed monthly" for Pro and "$2700 / year, billed monthly" for Max.

Intel. messari.io/pricing now redirects to app.blockworks.com/pricing, which compares a Free and a Pro tier. Free allows 1 watchlist and Pro allows unlimited watchlists. The Pro price was not part of this test. Its product page at blockworks.com/products/intel names X tracking: "Mindshare and sentiment across X, by asset and narrative".

. Its site lists KOL intelligence and user analytics, and tells projects to "Analyze your project's KOL campaign performance." Cookie3's own page names KOL campaign tracking, Blockworks Intel's names X tracking, and Santiment's page names neither. NAUT also holds a separate row, Cookie DAO, whose app at app.cookie.fun did not respond to NAUT's fetch.

. NAUT's description calls it a social intelligence platform that turns social media data into insights for investors. Its own page was read, and its figures are left out as described above.

, the benchmark. NAUT's description lists Kaito Pro, Kaito Yaps and Kaito Connect, with $KAITO as the platform's token. Its X bio, on @KaitoAI, calls it an intelligence and financial markets platform for the attention economy. Nansen was on the list too, but its pricing URL returned HTTP 404, so it is not tested.

How big is each company's following on X?

X followers on NAUT's record, read 13 November 2026
  1. Blockworks493347
  2. Kaito409142
  3. Nansen355349
  4. Cookie3354008
  5. LunarCrush303500
  6. Cookie DAO188039

Blockworks leads the 6 NAUT rows with 493,347 followers and Kaito follows with 409,142; Santiment has no NAUT row, so it is not in the chart.

Who can you contact at these Kaito alternatives?

NAUT's record holds 8 people rows linked to Kaito, Blockworks, Cookie3 and Cookie DAO. 5 are shown below, and a company page may also list other team members. 2 rows linked to Kaito are left out because neither person appears on Kaito's own NAUT page, and 1 row at Cookie DAO is left out because its stored name looks cut short.

Person Role Telegram
Co-Founder, yes
Co-Founder, no
Head of Content, yes
Co-Founder & CTO, no
COO, yes

All 5 have LinkedIn on file at NAUT, 3 have Telegram, and none has an email on file. Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.

What NAUT's X data adds, outside the score

This part covers crypto twitter analytics from the other side: who sits behind a handle.

A social research tool shows who is drawing attention. A deal maker then needs the next step: which company is behind a handle, and who to talk to there. NAUT's data shows, as of 13 November 2026:

  • 10,593 live company pages, 10,020 with an X handle and 8,811 with an X follower count.
  • 8,981 people with an X handle on their NAUT page.
  • Company pages can list team members, and NAUT's record links the 5 people above to 3 of these companies.

NAUT is not part of the score, because NAUT ran the test.

What this tells a BD team or a founder

  • To try a research tool for free, start with Santiment's free plan or the Blockworks Intel Free tier; both are stated on their own pages.
  • To track attention on X, the Blockworks Intel and Cookie3 pages each name 1 form of it (X mindshare, KOL campaigns); Santiment's page names neither.
  • To reach the people behind a project you spotted on X, open its NAUT page and its team list.
From an X handle to a meeting
  1. Spot the projectUse a tool such as Cookie3's KOL intelligence to see which campaigns draw attention.
  2. Find its company pageSearch the handle on NAUT, where 10,020 company pages carry one.
  3. Pick the right personOpen the team list, for example the 3 Blockworks people above.
  4. Choose a channelEach person page says which channels NAUT has on file, such as Telegram for 3 of the 5 above.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto contact data accuracy: 86 of 100 X handles, 0 suspended and Messari alternatives: 3 tools tested on 113 crypto rounds.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes: GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/blockworks with Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY returns Blockworks' company record with its team, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/search?q=cookie returns matching projects and people, up to 12 of each. Each data or search call costs 5 credits, and the Essential plan is $49 a month for 3,000 credits (docs, pricing). Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan: start a 7-day trial.

Kaito alternatives FAQ

What is the best alternative to Kaito for tracking crypto projects on X?

Of the 4 Kaito alternatives NAUT tested on 13 November 2026, Blockworks Intel met 3 of 4 criteria on its own pages, Santiment met 2 and Cookie3 met 1. The Blockworks Intel page names X tracking and the Cookie3 page names KOL campaign tracking; Santiment's page names neither, and LunarCrush was not scored.

Is there a free Kaito AI alternative?

Santiment's pricing page, read 13 November 2026, shows a free plan with a 30-day data lag and a 14-day Sanbase trial. Blockworks Intel's pricing page shows a Free tier with 1 watchlist.

How much does Santiment cost?

Santiment's own pricing page, read 13 November 2026, lists Sanbase Pro at $529 a year and Sanbase Max at $2,700 a year, both billed monthly.

Where can I find the people behind these Kaito alternatives, and their contact channels?

NAUT has person pages for the 5 people at Blockworks, Cookie3 and Cookie DAO shown in this article, as of 13 November 2026: all with LinkedIn on file and 3 with Telegram, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/blockworks returns Blockworks' team. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan: start a 7-day trial.

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