What is Mention: everything you need to know about the free AI caption generator

Mention screenshot
(Image credit: Mention)

Mention offers an online toolkit of free social media generators. These make it easy to create posts, captions and bios for different platforms in just a few clicks.

Built on GPT-3.5, the web-based generators let you enter a short description of the topic, select a tone of voice for the post then hit a button.

The simplicity of Mention’s tools is both a benefit and a drawback, depending on who’s using it. Here’s everything you need to know.

This article was correct as of March 2025. AI tools are updated regularly and it is possible that some features have changed since this article was written. Some features may also only be available in certain countries.

What is Mention?

Mention is primarily a social media listening tool. It can track discussions and trends around pretty much any topic, by analyzing vast amounts of real-time data. Mention launched in 2012 and has grown to become a popular solution for monitoring band awareness worldwide.

Its content generators are very much a side product. By offering them for free, Mention is adding value for existing customers, while also marketing itself to new users who might one day make use of its paid services.

Mention’s free AI tools are essentially web-based integrations of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model. They are intended for users who don’t have experience with AI chatbots. Fronted by a simple interface, the tools make it easy to create captions, posts and bios for the major social media platforms.

What can you use Mention for?

Mention’s free content generators can be used to create posts, captions and user bios for six of the biggest social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, X and LinkedIn.

Each tool uses the same basic structure. You enter a simple description of your topic (or yourself, for a bio). You then select from one of a dozen 'tone of voice' options, which cover everything from casual and conversational to professional, inspirational and sarcastic. Hit the button and the generator will use OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model to produce a caption that you can copy.

Whatever tone you choose, output length and structure is optimized for the specific platform that you’ve chosen. LinkedIn posts are longer than Instagram captions, for example. The tools also use emojis liberally and generate hashtags where relevant.

Mention screenshot.

(Image credit: Mention)

What can’t you use Mention for?

Because they are designed as simple tools, Mention’s AI generators are subject to a number of limitations. They don’t offer anywhere near the same level of control as a fully-featured chatbot such as ChatGPT. You’re limited to 12 tones of voice, for example, which can’t be customized to match your brand style. You also can’t specify a style of writing, such as first-person or third-person.

Similarly, Mention states that topic descriptions should be just “a few words” in length. As a result, generated content tends to be generalized. Users have limited control over the inclusion of specific details in posts and captions. There’s also no option to disable emojis.

Crucially for some users, Mention’s AI tools don’t allow you to upload images as prompts. Chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini are much more powerful: they can analyze the contents of image files and generate social posts to match.

How much does Mention cost?

Mention’s AI-powered social media caption generators are completely free to use.

Mention’s other services, including topic monitoring and sentiment tracking, are provided as part of paid plans. These start at $41 (around £33 / AU$65) per month for the Solo tier, rising to $83 (around £66 / AU$131) per month for the Pro tier and $149 (around £120 / AU$235) per month for the Pro Plus tier. Mention also offers enterprise pricing.

Where can you use Mention?

Motion’s social media generators can be accessed via your web browser. You can try each tool using the links below.

Is Mention any good?

We’ve spent limited time testing Mention’s social media content generators. In our experience, they are a basic entry-point into generative AI for uninitiated users. With a simple interface, they make it foolproof for anyone to describe a topic, choose a tone of voice and generate content to match. As free tools to create generic posts or provide inspiration, they do the job.

For anyone familiar with AI chatbots, though, Mention’s AI tools are incredibly basic. In essence, they run restricted prompts through GPT-3.5, offering none of the granular control available when you interact directly with ChatGPT. The inability to create a series of posts in line with an established strategy or brand guide, or to upload images, seriously limits the usefulness of the tools for social media professionals.

Use Mention if...

You want quick caption suggestions

With a foolproof web interface, Motion’s caption tools make it quick and easy to generate content for social media, simply by entering a topic and choosing a tone of voice.

You need platform-specific posts

Mention has dedicated generators for all of the major social media platforms, from LinkedIn to Instagram. Each optimizes the structure and length of generated content to suit the relevant channel

Don't use Mention if...

You want granular prompt control

While you can specify a topic and select tone of voice from a drop-down list, Motion’s post generators don’t allow you to fine-tune prompts or add custom instructions.

You want in-depth social assistance

Mention’s generators are simple, surface-level tools for easily creating one-off content. They can’t process images, create social strategies or caption a series of posts on a chosen theme.

Also consider

  • ChatGPT is a powerful AI chatbot that can a whole range of natural language queries. Mention’s caption generators are built on ChatGPT’s free model, but you’ll get deeper control of prompts, tone of voice and content by interacting with ChatGPT directly. It can also go much further, generating everything from social strategies to branding copy. You can upload images, too.
  • Gemini is an alternative AI chatbot developed by Google. Like ChatGPT, it can be accessed for free and is capable of fielding all manner of queries through its conversational interface. That includes requests for social media content. It can also analyze the contents of uploaded images and generate suitable captions.

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Christian Rowlands
TechRadar contributor

Formerly News Editor at Stuff, Chris now writes about tech from his tropical office. Sidetracked by sustainable stuff, he’s also keen on cameras, classic cars and any gear that gets better with age.

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