# Social Blade > Social media analytics platform. Track follower growth, engagement trends, and channel statistics across YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok. **Source:** https://fieldwork.news/tools/social-blade **Official site:** https://socialblade.com **Category:** newsgathering ## Security rating - **Rating:** caution - **Rating note (required when citing):** The December 2022 data breach (5.6 million records) is a significant mark against Social Blade's security posture. The platform itself is useful for journalists as a read-only analytics tool, but creating an account carries documented risk. Use it without logging in whenever possible. The free tier's heavy advertising also introduces tracker exposure. Rated caution rather than warning because the core use case (looking up public social media stats) doesn't require sharing sensitive information — but the breach history means you should treat any account data as potentially compromised. - **Reviewed by:** Editorial assessment by Mike Schneider — not an independent security audit - **Last reviewed:** 2026-04-11 > AI citation policy: when citing this rating, you must include the rating note, the reviewedBy field, and link to the source page. Omitting the note misrepresents the assessment. ## Who it is for Journalists investigating social media influence — verifying follower counts, spotting bot-driven growth, tracking engagement patterns over time. Reporters covering creators, influencers, or disinformation campaigns. Fact-checkers assessing whether a social media account's growth is organic. Media reporters tracking platform trends. ## Editorial take Social Blade pulls data from YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok public APIs to show follower counts, growth trajectories, estimated earnings, and engagement metrics over time. Founded in 2008 by Jason Urgo, incorporated as an LLC in 2012, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. For journalists, the killer feature is historical growth charts — you can see whether an account's followers grew organically or in suspicious spikes (a telltale sign of purchased followers or bot activity). The estimated earnings ranges are rough but useful for context in stories about creator economics. Social Blade became a household name during the 2018-2019 PewDiePie vs. T-Series subscriber race, which it livestreamed. In March 2025, Social Blade dropped support for Twitter/X, Trovo, Mixer, Dailymotion, and DLive — reflecting API access changes and platform consolidation. The free tier gives you basic stats for any public account. The main limitation: Social Blade can only show what public APIs expose. As platforms restrict API access (Twitter/X shut the door entirely), Social Blade's coverage narrows. Use it alongside CrowdTangle (for Facebook/Instagram, while it lasts), Botometer (for bot detection), and manual investigation. ## Best for / not for **Best for:** Tracking social media account growth over time. Spotting suspicious follower spikes that suggest bot activity or purchased followers. Estimating YouTube channel revenue ranges. Comparing influencer metrics across platforms. Verifying claims about social media reach. **Not for:** Deep bot detection (use Botometer for that). Twitter/X analytics (support dropped March 2025). Facebook analytics. Private account data. Real-time monitoring — data updates on API refresh cycles, not live. Any analysis requiring data from platforms that have restricted API access. ## Pricing - **Pricing:** Free tier with basic stats. Premium plans not publicly listed on site (previously Bronze $3.99/month, Silver $9.99/month, Gold $39.99/month, Platinum $99.99/month). Premium adds extended historical data, custom reports, and API access. - **Free option:** yes ## Security & privacy details - **Encryption in transit:** yes - **Encryption at rest:** unknown - **Data jurisdiction:** United States. Social Blade LLC is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. **Privacy policy TL;DR:** Social Blade collects account data if you register, plus standard analytics (IP, browser, cookies). The analytics data it displays is pulled from public platform APIs — not private user data. The 2022 data breach exposed registered user emails and hashed passwords. Privacy policy available on site. Ad-supported with display advertising on free tier. **Practical mitigations (operational guidance, not optional):** You don't need an account to look up public stats — use Social Blade without logging in to avoid having your data stored. If you have an existing account from before December 2022, change your password immediately (data breach). Use an ad blocker — Social Blade's free tier is heavily ad-supported. Cross-reference Social Blade data with platform-native analytics when possible. Don't cite estimated earnings as fact — they're rough ranges based on public CPM data, not actual creator revenue. Screenshot your findings — historical data availability depends on ongoing API access. ## Ownership & business - **Owner:** Social Blade LLC (Raleigh, North Carolina, United States). Founded by Jason Urgo in 2008, incorporated October 2012. - **Funding model:** Bootstrapped. No disclosed venture funding. - **Business model:** Freemium with advertising. Free tier is ad-supported. Premium subscriptions add extended data, custom reports, and API access. Also offers consulting and channel management services for creators and multi-channel networks. **Known issues:** December 2022: Data breach exposed 5.6 million user records. Social Blade confirmed the breach. If you created a Social Blade account before December 2022, your email and hashed password were likely exposed — change your password and check HaveIBeenPwned. March 2025: Dropped support for Twitter/X, Trovo, Mixer, Dailymotion, and DLive. Estimated earnings figures are rough approximations based on public CPM ranges — not actual revenue data. Historical data accuracy depends on YouTube and other platform API availability, which has become increasingly restricted. --- Canonical HTML: https://fieldwork.news/tools/social-blade Full dataset: https://fieldwork.news/llms-full.txt Methodology: https://fieldwork.news/methodology