Guide

How much does social media evidence capture cost?

Reviewed 2026-11-01

Short answer

As of November 2026, published prices run from free (screenshots, platform exports, web archives) to $2,097 a year for Forensic OSINT's Elite Assisted Capture, and enterprise tools are quote-only. Social Media Evidence starts at $19 per account, one-time; Hunchly Classic costs USD 169 a year; and Page Vault On Demand starts at $349 per social media profile.

Social media evidence tools use four pricing models: one-time fees per account, annual subscriptions, per-project service fees and enterprise quotes. Only some vendors publish prices. The figures below were taken from vendor websites on November 1, 2026. Check them before you buy, because prices and plans change.

Published prices

Tool	Model	Published price	Source
Social Media Evidence	One-time, per account	From $19 per account, with 30-day access	Homepage
Hunchly	Annual subscription	Free plan; Classic USD 169 or EUR 149 a year	Pricing page
Forensic OSINT	Subscription	Free plan (100 captures and 3 video downloads a year); Elite Assisted Capture $2,097 a year	Pricing page
Page Vault On Demand	Per project	Social media profiles from $349; websites from $199; video projects from $299; documents from $199	Pricing page
Page Vault browser software	Annual contract	Not published	Pricing page

Quote-only tools

These vendors do not publish prices: WebPreserver and Pagefreezer Social Discovery (both Pagefreezer), Paliscope Build, Maltego Evidence (Maltego Organization plan only), Hanzo Chronicle, Smarsh, CivicPlus Social Media Archiving (free trial offered), Magnet Axiom (free trial offered) and Cellebrite. Expect a demo or a sales conversation before you see a number.

Free methods

Screenshots, screen recordings, the platforms' own data exports, the Wayback Machine, archive.today and Webrecorder's ArchiveWeb.page cost nothing. Their limits are set out on our homepage under free methods and their limits: no hashes, exports that only cover your own account, or public archives anyone can see. They are a reasonable first step, especially for self-represented litigants, but they do not record integrity the way a capture tool does.

Comparing the models

One-time per account

Social Media Evidence charges once for each social media account archived, priced by how much content the account has, with the exact price shown before payment and no subscription. The headline figure is "from $19"; the homepage does not put a currency code next to it and offers a currency selector (AUD, USD, GBP, EUR and NZD). Its site also states a full money-back guarantee. This model is cheapest when a matter turns on a small number of TikTok or Instagram accounts.

Annual subscriptions

Hunchly and Forensic OSINT sell plans to individual investigators, each with a free plan. A subscription suits someone capturing every week across many sites. Hunchly Classic is USD 169 a year; Forensic OSINT lists Elite Assisted Capture at $2,097 a year for new yearly subscriptions and shows its other plans on its pricing page.

Per-project service

Page Vault On Demand prices each project, starting at $349 for social media profiles. You pay more per item, but you are paying for staff time, and you can add an affidavit. Page Vault says its system keeps you out of the chain of custody, and its pricing page says quotes are always free.

Enterprise quotes

Compliance archives (Smarsh, Hanzo Chronicle, CivicPlus) and forensic suites (Magnet Axiom, Cellebrite) are priced for organizations with ongoing record-keeping or forensic workloads. If you only need to preserve one person's posts, they are the wrong product whatever the price. If you do need one, ask for a trial first; CivicPlus and Magnet both offer free trials.

What drives the price

Volume. The number of accounts, pages or videos. Social Media Evidence prices each account by how much content it holds; Page Vault On Demand quotes per project.
Seats. Subscriptions are often sold as per-user licenses, so a team pays more than a solo investigator.
Who does the work. A staffed service costs more per item than software you run yourself.
Deployment. On-premises and air-gapped installs, such as Paliscope Build, involve your own servers and IT time.
Integrity extras. Affidavits, signed reports and expert evidence can be priced separately.

What you get at each level

Spend	Typical option	Integrity you get
Free	Screenshots, platform exports, public web archives	None beyond what is visible, or the platform export file itself
Free plan	Hunchly Free, Forensic OSINT Free	Logged hashes or signed captures; Forensic OSINT's free plan has yearly caps
From $19 per account	Social Media Evidence	SHA-256 per file and UTC server timestamps, for TikTok and Instagram
From $349 per project	Page Vault On Demand	SHA-256 hashes and metadata, with affidavits available
Annual subscription or quote	Hunchly Classic, Forensic OSINT paid plans, WebPreserver	Hashes, signatures and reports, depending on the tool

Costs beyond the price tag

Staff time. Watching hours of video costs more than most software. Transcripts and search, as in Social Media Evidence, cut review time; one capture per post, as in most browser tools, adds it.
Updates. Accounts keep posting. Social Media Evidence can re-run an archive and download only the new content; with browser tools you capture new posts one by one.
Affidavits and testimony. Page Vault lists affidavits as an option, included on some browser plans. Social Media Evidence says its team can give expert evidence on its method if a court requires it. Ask what either costs before you need it.
Hardware and IT. Pagefreezer Social Discovery needs a 64-bit Windows 10 machine with 16GB of RAM; Paliscope Build runs on your own servers.
Training. OSINT platforms reward practice. A simple per-account tool needs little.

Worked examples

These use only published prices and leave out tax.

One TikTok account in a custody matter: Social Media Evidence from $19, one-time; or a free screen recording, without a hash.
A private investigator capturing public pages every week: Hunchly Classic at USD 169 a year, or Forensic OSINT's free plan to start.
A law firm that wants a vendor to collect a Facebook profile and provide an affidavit: Page Vault On Demand, from $349 plus the affidavit.
A bank archiving its advisers' LinkedIn posts: Smarsh or Hanzo Chronicle, by quote.

Questions to ask before you pay

What exactly does the price cover: one account, one project, one user or one year?
Which hash algorithm is used, and where do the timestamps come from?
What export or report will I get, and can the other side open it?
How long is the data kept after my access ends?
Are affidavits, expert evidence or archive updates charged separately?
Is there a free plan, trial or refund if it does not capture what I need?

Further reading: Social Media Evidence's buyer's guide to social media evidence tools.

Questions and answers

Q.What is the cheapest social media evidence tool?

A.Free methods cost nothing but record no hash. Among paid tools with published prices, Social Media Evidence starts lowest at $19 per account, one-time, for TikTok and Instagram. Hunchly and Forensic OSINT both offer free plans.

Q.Why don't some vendors publish prices?

A.Enterprise vendors such as Pagefreezer, Smarsh and Cellebrite price by quote, usually after a demo. Ask for the total first-year cost, including setup, training and any capture limits.

Q.Is a subscription or a one-time payment better?

A.If you capture every week across many sites, a subscription usually works out better. If you need one or two accounts for a single matter, a one-time fee per account avoids paying for a year you will not use.

Q.Which currency are these prices in?

A.As shown on vendor sites: Hunchly lists USD and EUR; Page Vault and Forensic OSINT show "$" without a currency code; Social Media Evidence shows "from $19" with a currency selector. Confirm the currency at checkout.