Split the job
Research: Reddit search filtered to the last month, the sub's wiki, and whatever audience tool you still trust. Write down the five phrases people use and the three subs that repeat them. That replaces most of what a dashboard was for.
Action: Karmy takes those subs and phrases, scores new threads, and drafts the comment in Telegram. F5Bot, if you keep it, covers exact brand mentions and Hacker News. They are not substitutes for each other.
What we would not do
Sign up for four reply bots and let them post. The account will look automated because it is. One voice, one account, a cap on comments per day. The GummySearch alternative landing page is the short argument for Karmy. This page is the split.
What people actually used it for
The job was a map. You typed an audience, you saw pain words, you saw which subs talked about them, and you left with a list. That job is still real. A dashboard is one way to do it. An afternoon in Reddit search, filtered to the past month, plus the sub's rules and top posts, is another. Most founders need the list once, then they need a way to hear about new posts. They keep paying for the map because the watch was never a separate decision.
If your notes from that research are gone, rebuild the list before you buy a reply tool. Five phrases, three subs, the karma number in the rules. Write it on one page. That page replaces the part of a research product you open twice and then forget. It does not replace the morning ping.
Three replacements, for three jobs
Research, free: Reddit search, the wiki of the sub, and the top posts of the month. Slow, and enough to choose the rooms. Research, paid: whatever audience tool you still trust, used for a week, then cancelled if the list stopped changing. Action: Karmy on those subs, intent score, draft in Telegram, a human or a karmito posting only when the thread is alive. Alerts for a rare brand string, including off Reddit: something like F5Bot, which will not rank the threads and will not write the comment.
Running four reply bots on one account is not a stack. It is how you get removed. One voice, one account, a cap on comments per day. The short landing page argues for Karmy alone. This page is the split, including the case where Karmy is the wrong first purchase because you do not yet know the subs.
People also ask for a free replacement that still draws the audience map. There is not a perfect one. Search plus the sub's own top posts will give you the phrases. It will not cluster them into a chart. If you need the chart for a stakeholder, use a paid research tool for a month and export the list. Do not keep it forever out of habit. The list goes stale when the subs do, which is a few times a year, not every morning.
A two-week switch
Week one, no new software. Rebuild the phrase list by hand and comment ten times with no link. Count visits. Week two, turn on one mission in Karmy aimed at the phrases that already sent a visit. Keep the exact-match brand alert if you had one. Turn off anything that posts without you seeing it. At the end of week two you know whether the visits continued. If they did not, the list was wrong, and another subscription will not fix a wrong list.