Viral Launch vs Jungle Scout: Which is Better?

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By Ewen Finser

Last Updated on December 8, 2023 by Ewen Finser

Ok, let’s cut to the chase here. By now, I guess you’ve already seen how Amazon sellers operate, and you’d like to get in on the action.

But, fortunately, you don’t want to rush into it. You’d prefer a systematic approach to the whole thing since you’ll ultimately be competing against almost 2 million other sellers.

Now, if you hope to stand a chance, then you certainly have to leverage a solid Amazon research and intelligence tool. One that provides multiple functionalities with accurate analysis. However, the problem is- figuring out the most effective option is not that simple.

In the Amazon circles, you’ve probably heard about a couple of premium research tools like Viral Launch and Jungle Scout. But, it turns out that there are many biased opinions out there when it comes to selecting the best option. 

Bottom Line Up Front Summary: While Viral Launch has some helpful features for generating launch buzz, the more reliable, fully featured and accurate tool is definitely Jungle Scout here. It’s particularly adept at FINDING niches and this alone makes it an essential part of my toolkit.

Main Differences Between Viral Launch vs Jungle Scout

The main differences between Viral Launch and Jungle Scout are:

  • Jungle Scout has more accurate competitor data (in our testing), whereas Viral Launch is less precise
  • Viral Launch has a Chrome app included, whereas Jungle Scout offers a Chrome app as a stand-alone purchase
  • Viral Launch is more expensive, whereas Jungle Scout is the least expensive option to go for
Why Go with Jungle Scout?

Jungle Scout is a great option for both beginners and advanced Amazon sellers. It's user-friendly and has great resources like the Jungle Scout Academy, where you can learn how to get the most out of the software and grow your business.

Try Junglescout first
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

So, here’s the thing. I’ll save you the trouble of testing them out independently. This unbiased review comprehensively compares their primary functions to help you make an informed judgment.

Overview of Viral Launch vs Jungle Scout

Viral Launch

Sourcing, launching, and dominating on Amazon. That’s basically what Viral Launch promises to help you achieve.

How, you ask?

For close to 3 years now, Viral Launch has served Amazon business sellers as a research suite that offers tools for split testing, listing building, keyword management, listing analysis, competitor intelligence, keyword research, market intelligence, and product discovery.

viral launch home page

More specifically, it generates insights about average reviews, average star ratings, seller rank, plus sales estimates. Then it goes beyond that to help sellers discover the most profitable products by arranging everything based on the corresponding profitability scores.

And that’s not all. Viral launch is also handy with market analysis, a function that’s predominantly crucial when you need to manage your products based on the prevalent sales trends.

Interestingly, you also get to find out the number of giveaways you need to win the top product ranking position, in addition to following up on your keywords for PPC bids.

Well, to facilitate all these functionalities, Viral Launch’s database has a log of over 350 million Amazon products. Combine that with its support for 10 different Amazon markets, and you begin to understand why Viral Launch is exceedingly renowned in the first place.

Jungle Scout

Why Go with Jungle Scout?

Jungle Scout is a great option for both beginners and advanced Amazon sellers. It's user-friendly and has great resources like the Jungle Scout Academy, where you can learn how to get the most out of the software and grow your business.

Try Junglescout first
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Jungle Scout has had the privilege of being around one year longer than Viral Launch. Consequently, it has built quite a reputation as a formidable product research tool.

Now, one thing you’ll probably notice right off the bat is that Jungle Scout comes in two separate versions- A web app plus a Chrome extension, each with its own distinctive features.

The Jungle Scout chrome extension, for starters, is principally optimized for the discovery of profitable products (e.g. easy to private label products). You can use it to assess a page on Amazon to reveal details like the Jungle Scout sales estimator and product prices. According to the Jungle Scout team, the Chrome tool is ideal for exploring plus validating product ideas.

The web app, on the other hand, is all about uncovering lucrative products and niches. It goes beyond the standard product discovery features on the extension to provide additional filters for sorting through its extensive database- by product sales, price, and category.

That said, the web app is a suite that comes with a keyword scout, Jungle Scout product database, product tracker, plus niche hunter tools.

Jungle Scout Homepage

While each tool is intrinsically a weapon against competitors, the tracker is particularly outstanding when it comes to that. You can use it to spy on their staff to keep tabs on how they are progressing.

Then as you draw up your counterstrategies, the Keyword Scout provides insights on the best possible keywords for your Amazon PPC campaigns plus product listings.

So, far Jungle Scout has covered nine Amazon markets. Apart from the main US-based version, it supports Spain, Italy, Mexico, India, France, Canada, Germany, and the UK.

Verdict

Before we start digging into the features, it’s evident that Viral Launch and Jungle Scout are targeting the same user demographics. They are both product research tools built for enhancing product discovery, keyword research, competitor intelligence, plus product tracking. And yes, they both offer an array of parameters for filtering their vast product databases.

While their underlying frameworks have a couple of similarities, it turns out that there are several notable differences as well. Consider the extensions, for instance. Viral Launch offers a market intelligence Chrome extension as part of its web app package while Jungle Scout, on the other hand, avails its product discovery Chrome extension through a distinct package.

Another noticeable fact at this level is that Viral Launch supports 10 Amazon countries, and Jungle Scout manages 9.

Fair enough. But, let’s be honest. It’s a bit too early to call the shots on this one. We have to dive deep into the features, then compare them accordingly to be able to pick a winner.

Features

Product Discovery and Validation

Viral Launch

Well, of course, you’d hate to deal with a product that lacks market demand. It’s like flogging a dead horse. Even when you use the big guns for marketing, you’ll still have a hard time selling such an item.

So, Viral Launch has set up a large database that consistently keeps up with Amazon’s data sets to help you not only discover potential products, but also validate the resultant ideas.

How does this work?

Once you log into your web account, you’ll see all the principal functions lined up as menu options on the left panel of your dashboard. Right below “Home” is “Product Discovery” and “Market Intelligence”- they are the two primary sections you should be concerned about when searching for a perfect product to sell.

Now, Viral Launch relies on a well-networked system of sophisticated algorithms, historical sales numbers, and real-time product data across all Amazon categories to generate accurate sales estimates and insights.

With such a dynamic data structure, it’s no surprise that the Product Discovery tool provides multiple approach points. If you’re interested in a specific set of product categories, for instance, the system allows you to tweak the search interface and zero-in on that.

Well, the categories filter is just the first of many. You can also search for suitable products based on parameters like size, sales patterns, review count, monthly sales, and monthly revenue.

In this fashion, you can find the ideal candidates for product sourcing. Side note: I’ve been able to find some very clearly private label products ripe for targeting.

Although that set of criteria would be enough for most sellers, Viral Launch doesn’t stop there. It provides a supplementary series of advanced filters like shipping size tier, organic sales to reviews, review change, total net profit, fulfillment, number of sellers, sales change, average profit margin, review rate, and so forth.

viral launch dashboard

Then you know what? You can combine as many as you want concurrently to specify your criteria exhaustively, and subsequently reveal the most suitable product options.

But, it doesn’t end there. To holistically analyze your opportunities, it’s always a good idea to subject the resultant products through further market screening. The Market Intelligence tool does exactly that and consequently reveals how the respective product markets are faring.

Now, this is where things get a bit interesting. Viral Launch essentially seeks to help you assess your chances of success in a specific niche.

So, the first tab here deals with the product top sellers. It basically shows you a list of product sellers that are performing well in the selected segment. Some of the product details you’ll be able to see right off the bat include rank, brand builder, category, monthly revenue, price, unit margin, etc.

And if you want more insights, you can always click on “Detailed Statistics” to display every last bit of sales information- average review rating, average review count, average price, average revenue, and average sales. In the end, you’ll find out the number of reviews you need to sell well, the monthly sales estimates, plus the required daily giveaways if you intend to have a favorable ranking.

Clicking on the Market Trends tab then reveals exactly how the specific niche market has been behaving. Viral Launch has broken down the figures to display a visual graph for quick and easy interpretation.

The Average Price Trend graph, for example, will help you track the comparative changes in prices over a specific period. Viral Launch then applies pretty much the same methodology for the corresponding Average Review Count Trend graph.

Viral Launch graph

The most important element here, however, is the Estimated Sales Trend graph, which plots the predicted sales pattern.

Ultimately, Viral Launch cumulatively assesses all the relevant product variables to generate summarized indicators through the VL Analysis tab. You consequently get to know the possible monthly sales range, the estimated number of reviews you need to sell well, plus the overall product idea score.

Now, the product idea score is basically a nutshell of everything. Viral Launch awards up to five stars according to your potential success with the product selection. That said, it’s worth noting that the Market Intelligence functionalities are also available on the Viral Launch Chrome extension.

Viral Launch chrome extension

Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout is just as straightforward as Viral Launch when it comes to product discovery and validation. As a matter of fact, its product search window is almost identical to Viral Launch’s.

Now, here’s the thing. Searching for products on Jungle Scout begins at the Product Database section. As its name suggests, it’s the chief access point to Amazon’s extensive database of products.

In essence, Jungle Scout is capable of crawling through the entire product framework, assessing thousands of listings in micro-seconds to subsequently generate relevant product ideas. And to help you sort through the results, it comes with powerful filtering capabilities and an array of crucial parameters.

At the top, you get the same categories we’ve seen on Viral Launch. This is where you get to specify the specific product categories you’re interested in. And in case you’re planning to go international, you’ll be pleased that the system even allows you to shift between various Amazon markets.

To personalize the results further, you can specify the product tier and type of sellers, plus play around with advanced filters like the desired weight, rating, review, revenue, sales, rank, and price ranges.

Jungle Scout Database Filter Options

Well, I’d say the whole process is quite simple. But, it seems that when comparing Jungle Scout, it felt they could do better. So, they introduced a much simpler product discovery tool through their Chrome extension.

The good thing about it is that it’s conveniently accessible as you’re surfing on Amazon. You can run a direct search from the extension window when you come across anything that interests you. And you can bet it’ll immediately generate a list of the top sellers, complete with their product brand, price, category, rank, sales numbers, revenue, rating, plus reviews.

Then to give you a brief insight into the corresponding market trends, everything is summarized accordingly at the top. The extension displays the number of average reviews, average price, average sales rank, plus the average monthly sales figures.

From that alone, you should be able to make a reasonable judgment. But then again, Jungle Scout goes ahead to handle that part too by awarding your product search a relevant opportunity score- based on the historical sales data.

Jungle Scout Pro

Sadly, that’s all there is to the Chrome extension. It can’t match up to the web app’s powerful filters. Plus, it’s pretty unfortunate that Jungle Scout offers the Chrome extension as a separately priced tool.

Moving on, if you want to conduct comprehensive market research tools on Jungle Scout, you’re going to have to rely on its Niche Hunter. It’s optimized for analyzing opportunities based on various relevant market factors like the average prices and sales numbers, plus product listing and competition parameters.

When you click on the tab, you’ll notice that it’s strikingly similar to the Product Database. You get several filters for specifying the ranges you’d be interested in, plus marketplace options for choosing the specific Amazon country.

However, I decided to run my search without specifying any parameter. And the corresponding results showed the average prices in the leading product niches, accompanied by their respective categories, the average number of units sold, level of competition, product listing quality score, plus opportunity score.

Jungle Scout Find Products

Well, I guess the average price and the average number of units sold would be self-explanatory. But, interestingly, it turns out there’s an important disclaimer. Apparently, the figures displayed do not exhaustively reflect all the products. They only show the averages of the top 10 products listings.

And that formula is carried forward to the next fields. The competition section, for example, calculates the comparative amount of rivalry you should expect based on the number of reviews left on the top 10 products. Jungle Scout typically awards a score of between 1 and 10, with 10 being the most competitive.

The listing quality score, on the other hand, is crucial for comparing the ease of penetrating the top 10 product listings in your interest niches. Jungle Scout establishes a relative score after evaluating the principal listing optimization factors like keywords and images. The lower the LQS, therefore, the faster you’ll be able to rank your product well.

And to summarize everything, Jungle Scout tools eventually awards a conclusive opportunity score for each interest niche. 1 pretty much translates to low market demand while 10 means there’s a great potential of generating good returns.

Verdict

Viral Launch and Jungle Scout have powerful product ideas research engines that crawl through the entire Amazon database. Viral Launch’s Product Discovery and Jungle Scout’s Product Database serve the same purpose- they dig deep into everything to display the most promising product options, depending on the parameters you specify.

And for market analysis, Viral Launch provides the Market Intelligence tool while Jungle Scout comes with the Niche Hunter. Although the latter is fairly effective at identifying promising niche opportunities, it can’t match the depth that Viral Launch’s Market Intelligence carries in some markets. Viral Launch generates more details about various product markets to help users make more strategic decisions.

Keyword Research

Viral Launch

Although you have the Product Discovery and Market Intelligence tools, Viral Launch’s keyword research function would still be a decent resource for evaluating the sales potential of various product segments. Observing the monthly search volume of various keywords should help you get an idea of the buyers’ interests and the corresponding demand levels.

Fair enough. However, the Keyword Research tool on the left panel has a greater purpose. It was built to help users discover the most relevant keywords for optimizing their product pages.

And the process is fairly straightforward. Just click on that menu option, type your product’s primary keyword on the field, and hit Search. Viral Launch will then do the digging for you and subsequently produce a collection of keywords related to your search term- accompanied by critical info particulars.

Right at the uppermost section of the display, you’ll be able to access data pertaining to the precise cumulative search volume, the sum of the unique words, plus the number of search results generated. And in case you’d like to refer to all that later, Viral Launch allows you to pin the specific search keyword for quick access.

Another important thing you can do at this point, of course, is tweaking category filters to specify your area of interest. Whatever you choose, you can be certain that Viral Launch will generate all the important sales analytics.

Apart from the Exact Search Volume, you’ll see attributes like the Suggested CPC Bid, Broad Search Volume, Opportunity Score, Priority Score, plus Relevancy Score.

Viral Launch keyword research

Now, the Relevancy Score, for starters, is a grade between 0 and 1,000 that specifies the comparative importance of each keyword to the principal term. Viral Launch calculates and awards this based on various market relevancy aspects.

While the corresponding Priority Score might seem to be closely related to that, it’s actually a very different parameter. Instead of market relevancy, Viral Launch evaluates and establishes an indicative 0-1,000 figure based on various search volume indicators.

And speaking of which, you can find out the precise number of times sellers search the keywords each month from the Exact Search Volume. The Broad Search Volume, on the other hand, goes beyond the keywords to count even their complementary phrases.

Combined, all these indicators eventually help Viral Launch award a relevant Opportunity Score of 0-1,000. It basically translates to a keyword’s comparative prospects of ranking well among the top products. In other words, the lower the score, the higher the number of products leveraging the term, and the lower its relative search volume.

That said, if you’re thinking about running a sponsored ad on Amazon, you should also pay attention to the Suggested CPC Bid. It’ll give you crucial insights into the potential ad costs and level of competition for each keyword.

Jungle Scout

Just like Viral Launch, Jungle Scout is, admittedly, one heck of a keyword master. And the job is mainly handled by the Keyword Scout tool, which is accessed through the Keywords tab.

Much of the stuff here is seemingly matches what Viral Launch offers. Running a search, for example, is as simple as typing the chief keyword, selecting the categories plus Amazon marketplace, and voila! You’ll then get the related keywords along with their Exact Match Search Volume, Broad Search Volume, Recommended Giveaway, HSA Bid, Exact PPC Bid, Broad PPC Bid, and Ease to Rank indicators.

Jungle Scout Keyword Research

Well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Exact Match Search Volume and Broad Search Volume are pretty much the same attributes on Viral Launch. Quite simply, the number of monthly searches for the precise keyword and its phrase variants respectively.

However, it’s worth noting that Jungle Scout is slightly more generous than Viral Launch when it comes to the paid ad details. It breaks down the numbers to show not only the PPC bid costs for the precise keywords, but also their corresponding broad term bids, and the headline search ads bids (HSA Bid).

That said, one of the parameters you might not be able to figure out right off the bat is Recommended Giveaway. Jungle Scout uses this to inform you about the number of products that you might have to “giveaway” on a daily basis for one to two weeks- if you intend to hack the top 3 ranking positions.

But what’s the point of that in the first place?

Ok, by now, it’s pretty obvious that you need good product reviews to progressively attract buyers. But then again, and rather ironically, you need buyers to get those solid reviews. It’s more or less like the chicken-and-egg puzzle.

So, to break off from the limbo, you might consider launching aggressively with giveaways to boost your product’s popularity. And that can be in form of coupons or possibly selling your stuff at steep discounts. Jungle Scout’s Recommended Giveaways gives you an idea of the numbers you should aim for.

Now, moving on, Jungle Scout concludes by analyzing everything cumulatively to award each keyword an Ease To Rank score of 0-100. The higher the figure, the easier you’ll be able to attain a favorable product ranking with the specific term.

Verdict

Viral Launch and Jungle Scout come with strikingly similar keyword research tools. The search procedure itself is pleasantly straightforward on both, and the consequent results are established after analyzing related keyword terms.

The bulk of the accompanying attributes also apply to both Jungle Scout and Viral Launch. In addition to the precise monthly search volume, you get to find out the broad search volume, relevancy score, PPC bid cost, plus the cumulative ranking opportunity score through either of the services.

However, while Viral Launch includes an extra Priority Score attribute, Jungle Scout goes beyond the standard PPC Bid Cost to feature HSA Bid and Broad PPC Bid costs. And that places Jungle Scout slightly ahead of its counterpart in keyword research.

Why Go with Jungle Scout?

Jungle Scout is a great option for both beginners and advanced Amazon sellers. It's user-friendly and has great resources like the Jungle Scout Academy, where you can learn how to get the most out of the software and grow your business.

Try Junglescout first
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Pricing

Viral Launch Pricing Plans

Beginners Research Kit- $59 per month billed monthly, or $49.17 per month billed annually.

  • 24/7 Customer support
  • 3 tracked competitors
  • Product idea score
  • Product discovery
  • Market intelligence

Pro Seller- $99 per month billed monthly, or $82.50 per month billed annually.

  • 24/7 Customer support
  • 30 Hourly keyword rank and ad tracking
  • 2,000 Daily keyword rank and ad tracking
  • 50 Listing analysis
  • Listing builder
  • Keyword research
  • 3 tracked competitors
  • Product idea score
  • Product discovery
  • Market intelligence

Brand Builder- $149 per month billed monthly, or $124.17 per month billed annually.

  • 24/7 Customer support
  • 100 Hourly keyword rank and ad tracking
  • 5,000 Daily keyword rank and ad tracking
  • 100 Listing analysis
  • Listing builder
  • Keyword research
  • 100 tracked competitors
  • Product idea score
  • Product discovery
  • Market intelligence

Data Hunter- $399 per month billed monthly, or $332.50 per month billed annually.

  • 24/7 Customer support
  • 300 Hourly keyword rank and ad tracking
  • 15,000 Daily keyword rank and ad tracking
  • 250 Listing analysis
  • Listing builder
  • Keyword research
  • 250 tracked competitors
  • Product idea score
  • Product discovery
  • Market intelligence

viral launch pricing graph

Jungle Scout Pricing Plans

Web App

Start-Up Plan$39 per month billed monthly, or $25 per month billed annually.

  • Keyword Scout
  • Product Tracker
  • Product Database
  • Track up to 40 products
  • 1 user

Standard Plan$69 per month billed monthly, or $40 per month billed annually.

  • Niche Hunter
  • Keyword Scout
  • Product Tracker
  • Product Database
  • Track up to 80 products
  • Up to 3 users

Business Plan$99 per month billed monthly, or $50 per month billed annually.

  • Niche Hunter
  • Keyword Scout
  • Product Tracker
  • Product Database
  • Track up to 150 products
  • Up to 6 Users

Jungle Scout pricing table

Chrome Extensions

Chrome Extension Lite$97 annually.

  • Category and seller ranking
  • Rating and review tracking
  • Monthly sales and revenue

Chrome Extension Pro$197 annually.

  • Product opportunity score
  • FBA fee estimator
  • Product profit calculator
  • Web app integration
  • Category and seller ranking
  • Rating and review tracking
  • Monthly sales and revenue

chrome extensions pro pricing

 

Final Verdict: Jungle Scout or Viral Launch?

Both Viral Launch and Jungle Scout are fairly competitive in terms of core features. While there are some things to like about Viral Launch, Jungle Scout has really deepened and strengthened their feature-set over the last few years, while Viral Launch hasn’t iterated quite as much. 

In terms of HUNTING for niches, Jungle Scout is best in class, hands down. This niche hunting capability alone makes Jungle Scout a must have for me, even though I also subscribe to other tools. 

It’s also worth noting that while Jungle Scout offers its chrome extension separately, Viral Launch has integrated its extension with the standard packages.

On paper this is an advantage for Viral Launch, but I actually prefer paying for exactly what I need, when I need it with Jungle Scout. Some people love the chrome extension and use it every day, others could care less and stick to the dashboard.

Bottom Line Summary: While Viral Launch has some helpful features for generating launch buzz, the more reliable, fully featured and accurate tool is definitely Jungle Scout here.

Why Go with Jungle Scout?

Jungle Scout is a great option for both beginners and advanced Amazon sellers. It's user-friendly and has great resources like the Jungle Scout Academy, where you can learn how to get the most out of the software and grow your business.

Try Junglescout first
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

FAQs

Question: What is Jungle Scout and what is used for?

Answer: Jungle Scout is a platform that creates plans to help you sell more items and also helps you predict how the sales will go with a certain product on your page. It is basically linked with Amazon and helps you find more products you want to sell, it can find different suppliers on the same item, and it will help you get reviews from the buyers by sending them a request for leaving a review.

Question: Who is Jungle Scout for?

Answer: Jungle Scout is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses as it comes with a pretty great price, considering it does all the job for you and gives you all kinds of reports on how your business is going.

Question: Is Viral Launch free?

Answer: Viral Launch is not free, but you can try it for 14 days without leaving any credit card details, and then continue and select a plan, in case you are happy with the outcome.

Question: What is Viral Launch used for?

Answer: Viral Launch is market intelligence software that provides analytics of products on Amazon, and helps you create a business strategy by finding you profitable products you can re-sell and can see what is trendy, what other people sell the most, and so much more to help you increase sales.

Question: Is Viral Launch Better Than Jungle Scout?

Answer: Yes, Viral Launch is better than Jungle Scout because it provides more in-depth product recovery and also offers more data mining and market insights.

Summary of Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

So, which of these do you think you’d be willing to try out first? Mind sharing why?

Why Go with Jungle Scout?

Jungle Scout is a great option for both beginners and advanced Amazon sellers. It's user-friendly and has great resources like the Jungle Scout Academy, where you can learn how to get the most out of the software and grow your business.

Try Junglescout first
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

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