Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

Both Jungle Scout and Viral Launch are well-known, data-driven platforms designed to help businesses grow and sell on Amazon — but which tool do sellers prefer?

Amazon sellers often land on a favorite based on criteria like data accuracy, seller support, and the quality and breadth of features. They want to use the tools that will best help them predict and achieve success, keep up with Amazon’s ever-changing marketplace, and resolve any bumps that may pop up along the way.

We’ll walk you through the main features of these two seller software solutions and provide transparent, side-by-side comparisons.

At Jungle Scout, we believe in our product so strongly that we use it to manage our own FBA businesses. We’re here to provide the facts on how seller software compares — so sellers can make the best decision on which one to use. 

Data Accuracy: Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

Amazon sellers know the value of accurate data when making business decisions. In fact, over one-third of sellers cite having the necessary tools and information as vital to success on Amazon.

Jungle Scout is an all-in-one Amazon business management platform. It has the longest-running history of data aggregation and analysis among its competitors, and data accuracy lies at the heart of its operations. Jungle Scout developers work to ensure that every decision a seller makes is informed by real-time Amazon marketplace behavior and guided by the industry’s leading insights.

The proof is in the numbers: regular case studies show Jungle Scout consistently leading other tools in terms of data accuracy.

This chart indicates various platforms’ data accuracy as a calculation of their overall error percentage (for more information, view our in-depth case study).

The closer to 100%, the better — elevating Jungle Scout to #1 for most accurate data.

How do these results relate to real-life financial risk? Let’s consider an example of how data accuracy should factor into product research.

Jungle Scout’s data accuracy:

In our hypothetical scenario, we’ve come up with an exciting product to sell on Amazon. Jungle Scout’s estimated sales data shows us that the product represents a profitable opportunity. But before we go ahead and order a bunch of inventory, we want to understand our investment risk — after all, no product is guaranteed to succeed on Amazon.  

Our imaginary product is estimated to sell about 500 units per month. We locate a supplier in China who can make 1500 units for $5 a pop — bringing us to a $7,500 bill for three months of inventory. In an ideal world, all 1500 units will sell, and we’ll make a nice return on our investment — but we want to consider the chance that they don’t.

A helpful way to examine this risk is to consider the cost of inventory versus Jungle Scout’s data accuracy error margin — that is, the percent chance that the sales estimates for our potential product are all wrong, and we’ll end up losing money by listing it. 

Put simply, we’ll subtract Jungle Scout’s data accuracy from 100% (100% representing the best-case scenario: all units sold). 

With Jungle Scout, we have a 15.9% margin of error (100% minus 84.1%), or a 15.9% chance that estimated sales were incorrect, and won’t even sell enough units to break even on the cost of inventory. That’s a roughly 1-in-7 chance that we’ll end up $7,500 in the hole — plus all the time and money spent arranging with the supplier, creating the listing, and running marketing campaigns—with leftover inventory of an unsuccessful product. 

Listing any product on Amazon carries a risk of failure. But there’s considerably higher risk if we rely on Viral Launch’s data than if we use Jungle Scout, as we’ll see below. 

Viral Launch’s accuracy:

Viral Launch’s margin of error is higher than Jungle Scout’s — 20.7% to be exact. 

An estimate that’s a couple of percentage points lower than Jungle Scout’s estimation doesn’t sound like a big deal—until you consider the amount of money this difference represents. Using Viral Launch’s data puts you at more financial risk than with Jungle Scout. This is especially important as sellers buy more inventory. 

Advantage: Jungle Scout

While Viral Launch is older than Jungle Scout by about a year, the latter is more established with Amazon sellers and offers better data accuracy. Jungle Scout’s models keep improving, which matters as entrepreneurs put their own bootstrapped funds on the line. 

Relying on Viral Launch’s data involves taking on more risk. This difference could mean fewer sales, increased business costs, and inventory left sitting indefinitely.

 

Features: Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

In order for your Amazon business to thrive, you need to have the right tools for the job. Let’s see how Jungle Scout’s features compare to Viral Launch’s in terms of both quantity and quality.

Advantage: Jungle Scout

While Viral Launch has features Jungle Scout does not have, such as PPC automation and listing split testing, Jungle Scout offers more robust support for every aspect of selling on Amazon, from product research to business management. For instance, Jungle Scout tools allow sellers to search products by keyword, sync their operations with Seller Central, and track their inventory shipments, whereas Viral Launch does not.

Jungle Scout also offers its users a wide range of education and training materials (Viral Launch does not feature unrestricted video guides, courses, or case studies).

Overall, Jungle Scout has more (and more complete) features and capabilities than Viral Launch.

 

User Experience: Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

Jungle Scout and Viral Launch each have their own unique interfaces and user experiences, though both tools offer intuitive navigation. 

Here’s how the two compare for product research. 

Jungle Scout’s Product Database:

With Jungle Scout’s Product Database, users can apply a variety of filters to quickly view potential products with specific desired criteria. 

Once you hit search, the page populates with hundreds of products users can dig into deeper. As you scroll through the search results, Product Database will display filtered criteria as well as show you the exact criteria you are searching for as well as net price, fees, and other metrics.

Jungle Scout also shows products’ seasonal performance, so sellers can choose a product that performs well year-round.

Adding potential products from the Database to Product Tracker allows sellers to track their performance over time, narrowing the viable opportunities from the pack.

Jungle Scout shows units sold over time, so sellers can track a product’s success.

As you can see, the Jungle Scout interface is simple and straightforward. 

Viral Launch’s Product Discovery:

With its advanced filtering capability, Viral Launch’s Product Discovery has a similar look and feel to Helium 10’s Black Box. 

Users can select from a range of filters to refine a product search by initial investment cost, sales pattern, price change, and review change.

Within the search results, Viral Launch will show a product’s Best Seller Rank, monthly sales, revenue, and other metrics. Users also have the option to open a particular product in the Market Intelligence tool to view market trends, seasonality, and product idea score.

Advantage: Both

User experience between Jungle Scout and Viral Launch comes down to personal preference. Both offer search filters, insights into historical sales performance, and an estimate of a given product’s viability on Amazon.

 

Expertise & Experience: Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

Jungle Scout was made by sellers, for sellers — and was the first tool of its kind of hit the market. Its CEO, Greg Mercer, achieved 8-figure sales on Amazon and created Jungle Scout to help other entrepreneurs build their own successful ecommerce businesses. Named Best Amazon Expert in 2017, he has since been honored as a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2019, 2020) and as a Top 50 SaaS CEO by The Software Report (2019, 2020). 

Greg grew Jungle Scout from a one-person operation in 2015 to a large team of engineers, customer success specialists, and Amazon experts, many of whom run Amazon businesses of their own. 

The Jungle Scout team regularly displays their skills to a live audience through the recurring Million Dollar Case Study, in which they research, source, and launch new products on Amazon, walking viewers through every step in starting out with FBA. To date, MDCS has generated over $1 million in sales, with all proceeds donated to charity.

By contrast, information on Viral Launch’s team is difficult to find — though it appears that its founder was not an experienced Amazon seller at startup. It’s unclear whether the Viral Launch ranks include other Amazon sellers who develop features and customer resources with personal ecommerce experience, as with Jungle Scout.

Advantage: Both

Jungle Scout appears to have a leg up on Viral Launch in terms of its team’s experience selling on Amazon and resulting ecommerce expertise — though this could perhaps be chalked up to a lack of communication. Since we don’t know for sure, we’ll respectfully call it a tie.

 

Support & Resources: Jungle Scout vs Viral Launch

Jungle Scout’s Customer Support team includes expert Amazon sellers and regularly receives top reviews online. Support is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to answer any question a seller may have, whether related to products, software updates, or Amazon’s ever-changing policies. Overall, its support team gives sellers all the information they need to launch and grow their businesses. 

In addition to the support team’s Help Center resources, Jungle Scout also offers its users access to the Academy, a comprehensive library of training materials covering every step of the seller journey. Within Academy, users can browse hundreds of informative videos and other educational content on how to maximize Jungle Scout’s tools and succeed on Amazon. 

Jungle Scout also shares regularly updated seller guides, Amazon-related news, and data reports on ecommerce and consumer behavior, global trade, and Amazon seller trends. Other resources include the following: 

• The biggest free library of Amazon selling content and in-depth videos
• Tried and tested tips from real Amazon sellers in exclusive, bite-sized tutorials
• Step-by-step case studies
• Live onboarding training
• Tool Tip Tuesdays for product feature deep dives
• Regular webinars

Viral Launch offers two free courses that don’t require you to sign up to view: How to Sell on Amazon and Amazon PPC Playbook. While we can’t speak on the quality of the courses, as we have not taken them, any resource that offers tips on running an Amazon business is a win in our book. 

Advantage: Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout offers more in-depth training content suitable for sellers of all levels. Everyone has access to nearly all of its game-changing educational content, whether they’re paying Jungle Scout users or not.

 

Customer Ratings: Jungle Scout or Viral Launch

Customers prefer Jungle Scout to Viral Launch. Don’t just take our word for it — look at what real users of both platforms have to say. 

Trustpilot, a third-party review platform, hosts plenty of testimonials from customers of both Jungle Scout and Viral Launch.

Trustpilot rating: Jungle Scout 

4.5 stars, 1,936 reviews

Recent comments for Jungle Scout: 

• “I was very impressed by the prompt and efficient service I received from Jungle Scout, and I am happy to recommend their services to others.” — Magnus N
• “Trustful company and always takes care for customers! happy to deal with them! “— Bob
• “Very useful tool for running automated review requests and campaigns. The feedback provided about sales is also very appreciated. Great stuff!” — Customer
• “Thank you jungle scout provide us as a torch light 🙏❤️❤️ “— Mohammad S.

Trustpilot rating: Viral Launch 

3.7 stars, 155 reviews

Recent comments for Viral Launch:

• “At first I tried the MI extension, basically don’t give you anything. I decided to upgrade to beginner plan. The link cut after I sent payment. I can’t log in and my money is already taken. Since the beginning I have trouble just to log in.. The support told me to do hard refresh on my browser, which I did. The problem persists. Use other!” — Theresya
• “I had an inquiry about billing so I sent a message to the instant chat which claims to “reply in minutes”. I waited hours and still no reply and I even saw that my messages were seen. I got fed up and sent another message and after another hour someone finally replied and said that they contacted the billing department and is waiting to hear back from them about my inquiry. After more hours have went by, there still have been no responses/follow up/progress whatsoever.” — Jenny L.
• “I got some good feed back but I ask about another question with a screen shot but no answer . I needed to know couple of more things but no response. So I just work around it . Oh well” — Neelesh
• “I’m getting the best of support. Drew has been quite responsive to my inquiries giving me prompt support whenever I run into hitches in the use of the tool. So far so good.” — Arierhi

Advantage: Jungle Scout

As you can see, Jungle Scout is the clear winner amongst sellers in terms of overall rating, and number of reviews, and customer sentiment.

 

Affordability: Jungle Scout or Viral Launch

Both platforms offer feature bundle options at different price points to suit sellers’ specific business needs.

Pricing plans: Jungle Scout

Basic – $49/month – Extension & limited access to Product Research tools, Product Tracker (3 ASINs) Historical Product Tracking (1 month), Historical Keyword Tracking (1 month), Unlimited access to Review Requests, 24/7 Customer support. 

Suite – $69/month – Basic Plan + Product Tracker (150 ASINs), Historical Product Tracking (3 months), Historical Keyword Tracking (1 year), access to Advanced Seller tools (3,500 Keywords in Rank Tracker & 15k emails/month).

Professional – $129/month – Suite Plan + Product Tracker (1,000 ASINS), Historical Product Tracking (6 months), Historical Keyword Tracking (2 years), access to Advanced Seller tools (5,000 Keywords in Rank Tracker & 100k emails/month).

Pricing plans: Viral Launch

Essentials – ($69/month) Amazon product filtering, keyword search volume, browser extension, advice & guidance, global data

Pro – ($99/month) All features from Essentials plus use metrics like monthly revenue, historical sales and price trends; competitor monitoring; SEO & listing optimization, rank tracking alerts, listing health analysis 

Pro Plus Ads – ($199/month) All features from Pro plus robust Amazon advertising platform, detailed advertising analytics and data, create & customize your own automations, 24/7 campaign monitoring & adjustments, organic + PPC keyword tracking

Advantage: Jungle Scout

It’s clear from the feature comparison section of this analysis that users get more bang for their buck with Jungle Scout, regardless of which package they choose. 

Amazon sellers should factor in the cost of a subscription-based seller software as they plan their businesses — and should feel more confident investing in the platform that is both more affordable and more comprehensive.

 

Other stuff?

Both Jungle Scout and Viral Launch offer its users benefits above and beyond their seller software. 

Weekly podcast episodes: Viral Launch has their own Amazon seller podcast called Follow the Data.

Philanthropy: Jungle Scout has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars from its Million Dollar Case Study to charities including Doctors without Borders and Pencils of Promise. 

Seller communities: Both Jungle Scout and Viral Launch host exclusive seller communities on Facebook. Virtual seller communities are great places for beginner and experienced entrepreneurs to learn from each other.

 

In conclusion…

…you decide!

Whether you consider features, customer support, or pricing most important, you have the power to choose the seller platform that best suits your business needs. Or try both—Jungle Scout offers a money-back guarantee. 

We certainly hope you decide to join the 400,000 sellers who have trusted Jungle Scout to help launch their ecommerce businesses. If not, be sure to take advantage of our free content, resources, videos, and community. We’re confident you’ll find everything you need to know to find success on Amazon.

Are you a Viral Launch user looking to switch to Jungle Scout? Follow our step-by-step guide to seamlessly transfer your operations to the industry’s best tools.