- You can only see public numbers for another account. That is enough: followers, posting cadence, views, likes, comments, captions, hashtags and the topics they rank for.
- Use the last fifteen posts, not the greatest hits, and take the median rather than the average.
- Read twenty comments on each account's top video. Comments tell you what the format asks the audience to do, which no view count shows.
- Finish on the typed searches with demand that neither competitor covers. In car detailing, "car detailing business" had 665,799 searches in the week to 19 Sep and no matched videos.
A TikTok competitor analysis works out what the accounts beating you are doing from what TikTok shows in public. Everything it uses is public: followers, posting cadence, views, captions, hashtags, comments and the searches they rank for. In our worked example, one car-detailing account posted half as often as its rival, yet its last 15 posts drew a median of 638,800 views against 14,200, about 45 times more.
You cannot see anyone else's analytics dashboard, and you do not need to. Below is the five-step method run on two public car-detailing accounts, @g.t.detailing and @wddetailing, then a filled-in template, a blank one, and one prompt that runs the whole thing.
What can you see about a TikTok competitor, and what can't you?
Every number below is public. Anyone can read it off the app; the only work is collecting it.
What you cannot get for another account: watch time, retention curves, follower demographics, traffic sources, or anything from TikTok Studio. Tools that claim "competitor analytics" are reading the same public numbers you can, then doing the arithmetic. That is a real service, and it is worth knowing that is all it is.
How do you run a TikTok competitor analysis in five steps?
1. Find the accounts that compete for your searches, not your vibe
Search TikTok's creator search for your niche phrase and sort by size. For car detailing, the two biggest English-language accounts that came back were @g.t.detailing (Gabe Tyler, 3.8M followers) and @wddetailing (WD Detailing, 2.7M followers). Pick two. Three is a spreadsheet; two is an argument you can settle.
2. Size them up before you look at any video
| Public number | @g.t.detailing | @wddetailing |
|---|---|---|
| Followers | 3,800,000 | 2,700,000 |
| Videos posted, all time | 1,187 | 695 |
| Total likes | 50,000,000 | 48,300,000 |
| Likes per video, lifetime | ~42,100 | ~69,500 |
| Accounts followed | 630 | 1 |
| Joined | March 2020 | March 2020 |
Public TikTok profiles · 19 Sep
Same start month, same order of magnitude in likes, and one account got there with 492 fewer videos. That gap is the whole story of this comparison and it shows up before you watch anything.
3. Read their last fifteen posts, not their best ones
Everyone's greatest hits look impressive. What you want is the current run rate, because that is what you are competing with this month.
| Last 15 posts | @g.t.detailing | @wddetailing |
|---|---|---|
| Period covered | 25 Jul to 16 Sep 2026 | 4 Jun to 8 Sep 2026 |
| Posting cadence | One every 3.5 days | One every 6.4 days |
| Median views | 14,200 | 638,800 |
| Views, best of the fifteen | 110,700 | 5,100,000 |
| Views, worst of the fifteen | 1,861 | 77,500 |
| Views, biggest video ever found | 22,359,572 | 34,417,928 |
Public TikTok post lists and video search · 19 Sep
WD Detailing posts half as often and its median video gets 45 times the views. The captions point to one likely reason. WD runs one repeatable story: "UNDRIFTED Nissan 240SX Left Sitting Since 1996!", "1963 Split Window Corvette Found ABANDONED in Barn!", "$300,000 Ferrari Found ABANDONED in Garage!". A found object, a number, a rescue. The recent @g.t.detailing posts are mostly product clips: "This wheel barrel brush works so good", "Look how good this air vac tool is on carpet!".
The hashtags say the same thing. All fifteen of WD's recent posts carry an identical five-tag block, and 15 of its 19 best-performing videos add #wddetailing and #barnfind, so the brand name and the format name both become search terms. Gabe Tyler's tags change post to post (#cardetailing on 11 of the last 15, #autodetailing on 5, #detailingtools on 4) and the big videos lean on #detailing, #fyp and #asmr, which are categories anyone can enter.
4. Read twenty comments on one top video each
Comments tell you what the format asks the audience to do, which is something no view count shows.
On WD's 5.1M-view neighbour video, the top comments are requests and gratitude: "Can you help me with my car bro" with 27,416 likes, "I really appreciate what you guys have done for me" with 26,152, then "Ouuu hahah me next!" and "Yo mine needs fixed too". People are applying.
On Gabe Tyler's 110,700-view disaster detail, the top comments are reactions: "how does it even get this bad", "imagine what the house looks like", "I hope you charged 22,000". People are judging the car, not asking for anything.
Both work. They do different jobs. One format produces inbound leads and one produces reach, and if you are pitching this account as a business you need to say which you are buying. There is more on pulling comments in bulk in the comment export guide.
5. Find the search topics neither of them covers
This is the step most competitor tools skip, and it is the only one that hands you a to-do list. Search TikTok's own Creator Search Insights data for the niche, in the app or at tiktok.com/csi, and look for typed searches with demand and no matched videos.
| Typed search | Searches, last 7 days | Videos matched |
|---|---|---|
| car detailing business | 665,799 | 0 |
| tools for car detailing | 233,623 | 0 |
| how to be a car detailer | 129,761 | 0 |
| Car Detail | 49,604 | 0 |
What the counts measure: TikTok search volume. TikTok's own search counts · week to 19 Sep
The same pull returned 16 records like "car detailing before and after results", which are topic groups TikTok generates, each with a figure that pools many related searches. We leave them out of the table. A group with no videos, such as "car detailing and wash kits", hints at a theme worth a video; it is not a count of people typing that phrase.
Gabe Tyler has been posting tool videos for weeks and TikTok has matched none of them to tools for car detailing, a search typed 233,623 times in the week to 19 September; a caption or on-screen text that says the phrase is worth testing. Nobody is answering how to be a car detailer either, and that is 129,761 searches a week from people weighing it as a career, the audience that buys courses.
That is the deliverable from a competitor analysis. Not "post more". A short list of phrases with demand behind them that your two biggest rivals have left on the table. The content gap guide explains why a video count of zero happens even in a crowded niche.
What does a filled-in competitor analysis template look like?
This is the whole analysis on one sheet. Copy the rows; the sources are all public.
| Row | @g.t.detailing | @wddetailing |
|---|---|---|
| Followers | 3.8M | 2.7M |
| Videos / total likes | 1,187 / 50M | 695 / 48.3M |
| Cadence now | One post every 3.5 days | One post every 6.4 days |
| Median views, last 15 | 14,200 | 638,800 |
| Format | Tool and product clips, job footage | Repeated rescue story: abandoned vehicle, first wash in N years |
| Hook | Product demo in the first second | Named car + a number in the caption |
| Hashtags | Varies: #cardetailing, #autodetailing, #detailingtools | Fixed five-tag block, plus #wddetailing and #barnfind on the big ones |
| Bio and CTA | Location, "Tools & Products I use" | Booking email, product bundle link |
| Comment theme | Reaction and disgust at the car | Requests: "me next", "can you help me" |
| Search topics held | Generic detailing and ASMR categories | Own brand name as a search term |
| Open for you | car detailing business (665,799 searches in 7 days), tools for car detailing (233,623), how to be a car detailer (129,761). All with 0 videos matched | |
The blank template
| Row | Competitor A | Competitor B |
|---|---|---|
| Followers | From the profile | From the profile |
| Videos / total likes | Divide for likes per video | Divide for likes per video |
| Cadence now | Date range of last 15 posts ÷ 15 | Same |
| Median views, last 15 | Median, not average | Median, not average |
| Format | What repeats across the 15 | What repeats across the 15 |
| Hook | First line of the caption, first second on screen | Same |
| Hashtags | Branded or generic? | Branded or generic? |
| Bio and CTA | What they ask for | What they ask for |
| Comment theme | Top 20 comments on their best video | Same |
| Search topics held | Topics their videos are matched to | Same |
| Open for you | Topics in the niche with demand and few or no matched videos | |
Can you run the whole analysis in one prompt?
Collecting this by hand is about an hour of scrolling and screenshotting per competitor. With TokConnect it is one message, and the numbers come back as a table you can paste into a deck.
Ask TokConnect:
Run a TikTok competitor analysis for the [your niche] niche. 1) Find the two biggest English-language accounts with creator search. 2) Pull both profiles: followers, video count, total likes, likes per video. 3) Pull each one's last 15 posts and give me their posting cadence, median views and what format repeats. 4) Pull 20 comments on each account's top video and summarise the themes. 5) Search TikTok topics for the niche and list every typed search with search volume but fewer than 100 matched videos, leaving out TikTok's generated topic groups. Finish with a table comparing the two accounts and the searches neither is covering.
Two things to keep accurate in the write-up. Public view counts are what TikTok displays now, not a verified impression figure, and a median from fifteen posts is a snapshot of a season, not a trend. Say so in the deck and you will never have to walk a number back.
The prompt covers all five steps, including the open searches. Pick an analytics suite such as Sprout Social or Exolyt if you need a competitor's follower history over months.
What you do with the gaps is the next job: the content strategy guide turns them into a weekly schedule, and creator search covers finding accounts to work with rather than beat. Agencies can drop this analysis into a client pitch (how to win TikTok clients with search data) or a recurring review with the TikTok audit template. If your team already reports competitors in Sprout Social, here is what search data adds.
How we got these numbers
Everything was pulled through TokConnect's MCP server on 19 September 2026: account search for "car detailing", profile and recent posts (15 posts) for each account, video search sorted by most liked for each brand name, comments (20) on one top video per account, and topic search for "car detailing". Followers and likes are TikTok's public, rounded figures; views are what TikTok displayed that day; medians are across the 15 posts.
Search counts are TikTok's global 7-day "search popularity" from Creator Search Insights. We list typed searches only and leave out TikTok's topic groups: a record is a group if its 7-day figure is 5 million or more, or 1 million or more with the week's first reading under 5% of its last, or it sits in TikTok's Featured Content. Sixteen of the 20 records were groups. Fifteen posts is a season, not a trend, and nothing here shows either account's private analytics. Data: car detailing snapshot.
Key statistics
On 19 September 2026, @wddetailing's last 15 TikTok posts had a median of 638,800 views, against 14,200 for @g.t.detailing's last 15, about 45 times more.
@wddetailing posted one TikTok every 6.4 days across its last 15 posts (4 June to 8 September 2026), while @g.t.detailing posted one every 3.5 days (25 July to 16 September 2026).
"car detailing business" was searched 665,799 times on TikTok in the week to 19 Sep, and TikTok matched 0 videos to it.
All 5 statistics
"tools for car detailing" was searched 233,623 times on TikTok in the week to 19 Sep with 0 videos matched, although one of the two leading detailing accounts was posting tool videos that month.
"how to be a car detailer" was searched 129,761 times on TikTok in the week to 19 Sep, and TikTok matched 0 videos to it.
Frequently asked questions
How do you do a competitor analysis on TikTok?
Pick the two accounts winning the searches you want, then compare five things from public data: size (followers, videos, likes), the last 15 posts (cadence and median views), format and hashtags, 20 comments on each top video, and the searches neither covers. In our 19 September 2026 example, one car-detailing account's last 15 posts had a median of 638,800 views against 14,200 for its rival, posting half as often.
Is there a way to see TikTok Analytics?
For your own account, yes: Profile → TikTok Studio → Analytics in the app, or tiktok.com/tiktokstudio on a computer, with views, traffic sources, audience and follower data. For anyone else's account, no. You get the public numbers only, which is what every competitor analysis in this guide is built from. The analytics tools guide covers what each product can and cannot see.
Is there a free TikTok competitor analysis template?
The one on this page is free and needs no signup: eleven rows covering size, cadence, median views, format, hook, hashtags, bio, comment themes and the search topics each competitor holds. Copy the blank version into a doc or a spreadsheet. Everything it asks for is public data you can collect by hand, or in one go with the prompt on this page.
What should a TikTok competitor analysis include?
Eleven rows cover it: followers, videos and total likes, current posting cadence, median views on the last 15 posts, the repeating format, the hook, hashtags, bio and call to action, comment themes, the search topics each account holds, and the searches open for you. The last row matters most: in car detailing, "how to be a car detailer" had 129,761 searches in the week to 19 Sep and no matched videos.
Who are TikTok's main competitors?
As a platform, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are the ones that matter for short video, with Snapchat Spotlight behind them. That is a different question from who competes with you on TikTok, which is what this guide is about: the two or three accounts winning the searches you want.
Sources and data
- @g.t.detailing on TikTok
- @wddetailing on TikTok
- Creator Search Insights (TikTok Help Center)
- Creator Search Insights on desktop (tiktok.com/csi, login required)
- How TikTok recommends content (TikTok Help Center)
- Exolyt: brand comparison feature
- Sprout Social pricing (checked 5 October 2026)
- Car detailing account and topic data pulled 19 September 2026 (snapshot)
