Blog / Digital Marketing

8 Best Sprout Social Alternatives: Tried & Tested in 2026

Updated: January 30, 2026

19 min read

As we enter 2026, it’s a great time to re-evaluate your social media management platform, its features, and how well it supports modern marketing needs. Staying competitive requires more from tools than just post-scheduling.

In this guide, we review the best Sprout Social alternatives for teams managing multiple brands, individuals, social media marketers, and enterprises that need advanced analytics, team collaboration, and multi-client workflows.

Tool	Best For	Key Differentiator	Pricing
Brand24	Agencies, mid-sized businesses, marketing teams, and enterprises	Social listening–first tool: real-time brand monitoring, sentiment analysis, AI mentions (LLMs), flexible pricing, easy multi-brand monitoring	From ~$149/mo (varies by keywords/mention volume) — 14-day free trial
Brandwatch	Large enterprises & data-driven organizations	Consumer intelligence focus, global data coverage, advanced analytics, historical trends	Enterprise pricing (custom) — Demo available
Hootsuite	Small teams to enterprises managing multiple social accounts	Broad platform support, scheduling, reporting, engagement tools, scalability	$159/mo (Professional) — 30-day free trial
Agorapulse	Agencies & teams managing multiple clients	Strong unified inbox, approval workflows, collaboration, and robust reporting	From ~$79/mo — 30-day free trial
Planable	Content marketing teams & agencies	Content collaboration, approvals, and visual planning (publishing-focused)	From ~$33/user/mo — Free plan available
Buffer	Individuals & small businesses	Simple scheduling, clean UI, easy content publishing	From ~$5/5/channel/mo — Free plan available
RecurPost	Small teams focused on evergreen content	Content recycling, automation tools, and evergreen scheduling	From ~$9/mo — 14-day free trial
Zoho Social	SMBs & Zoho ecosystem users	Affordable social management with CRM integration	From ~$10/mo — 15-day free trial (free plan available)

Top Sprout Social alternatives:

Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management platform that enables brands to plan, publish, engage with, and analyze their social media activities from a single dashboard.

Because it combines two major capabilities in one platform, discussions around Sprout Social alternatives are often best broken into two categories: 

1. tools for social listening
2. tools for social media management

As teams grow, budgets shift, and expectations increase, many marketers start exploring Sprout Social alternatives that better align with their workflows, scalability needs, or pricing preferences.

Let’s check them out!

Best Sprout Social alternatives for social listening:

Brand24

Brand24 is a powerful media monitoring tool with advanced sentiment analysis. It collects brand mentions in real time, tracks key metrics related to brand awareness, and social media performance. To help marketing teams understand online conversations through advanced social media listening.

One of Brand24’s newest and most innovative directions, which I really like, is AI mentions monitoring. It tracks brand visibility within content generated by large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini.

Key features

• Advanced social media listening and sentiment analysis
• AI-powered features such as Brand Assistant and AI topic analysis
• AI mentions monitoring
• Demographic insights into who is talking about your brand

Monitored sources:

• Major social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Reddit, Telegram, Twitch, and Bluesky
• News sites, blogs, podcasts, video platforms, forums, newsletters, review sites

Best for: 

• Brand24 is best for medium to large enterprises focused on comprehensive media monitoring, brand awareness, and consumer intelligence.

Strengths

• Excellent customer support 
• Multiple users and team collaboration features
• Automation tools for alerts, reports, and workflows

What could be better

• Lack of social media management and scheduling features
• Lack of historical data

“This one’s solid for tracking social mentions in real time. It gives sentiment analysis and some decent analytics. Probably one of the better values if you want something more serious without going full enterprise.”

Reddit

Brand24 vs Sprout Social 

Category	Brand24	Sprout Social
Best for	Medium to enterprise businesses are focused on in-depth analytics	Mid-sized to enterprise teams focused on social media management
Key strengths	Social listening&sentiment analysis, AI features, key social media and AI visibility metrics, real-time alerts, flexible pricing, and reporting features	Publishing and scheduling, unified inbox, reporting, approval workflows, and team collaboration

Brandwatch

Brandwatch is a social media listening and consumer intelligence platform built mainly for enterprise marketing teams. It analyzes large volumes of online conversations across social media, news sites, blogs, and forums to uncover trends, sentiment, and audience insights at scale.

Compared to Sprout Social, Brandwatch focuses much more on strategic analysis and research rather than daily social media management.

Key features

• Enterprise-level social media listening
• Consumer and audience insights
• AI-driven sentiment and topic analysis
• Historical data and competitive benchmarking

Monitored sources:

• Full firehose access to Twitter/X, Reddit, Tumblr, Facebook/Instagram (via API), and Bluesky.
• News sites, blogs, podcasts, video platforms, forums, newsletters, and review sites

Best for: 

• Brandwatch is best for enterprise-level consumer intelligence and brand reputation management.

Strengths

• Very advanced analytics features
• Broad data coverage across the web
• Ideal for global brands and large-scale research

What could be better

• Lack of calendar scheduling and daily management 
• Less intuitive interface
• Plans focused on only enterprises 

Brandwatch vs Sprout Social

Category	Brandwatch	Sprout Social
Best for	Large enterprises and data-driven organizations	Social media marketers managing day-to-day workflows
Key strengths	Deep consumer intelligence, advanced analytics, historical data analysis, and global data coverage	Content publishing, social inbox, performance reporting, and collaboration features

Best Sprout Social alternatives for social media management:

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media tool for marketers of all sizes. It streamlines social media management tasks, from scheduling posts and managing a unified inbox to tracking performance, all from a single dashboard.

Hootsuite no longer offers a free plan in its main packages, but it does provide a 30-day free trial that lets marketing teams test the features before deciding to purchase.

Key features

• Social media scheduling and publishing across major platforms
• Unified inbox for messages, mentions, and engagement
• AI features for writing and content ideas

Best for

• Businesses, agencies, and teams managing social accounts that need a feature for publishing, engagement, and reporting.

Strengths

• Broad functionality covering publishing and engagement tools
• Content creation support with AI assistance
• Built-in media library for managing visual assets

What do you like best about Hootsuite?
The smart inbox, easy publishing, and competitor insights.

What do you dislike about Hootsuite?
The inbox doesn’t have the same capabilities as Sprout Social for blocking users and deleting comments.

G2.com

Hootsuite vs Sprout Social

Category	Hootsuite	Sprout Social
Best for	Teams of all sizes need broad scheduling and workflow tools	Mid-sized to enterprise teams focused on publishing and engagement
Key strengths	Multi-network scheduling, performance tracking, unified inbox, workflow tools	Publishing, unified social inbox, reporting, and approval workflows

Agorapulse

Agorapulse is another tool focused on making inbox management, publishing, reporting, and team workflows simple and efficient. It’s often compared to Sprout Social because it covers similar use cases while being more cost-efficient.

Agorapulse helps marketing teams manage social media campaigns, respond to engagement quickly, and collaborate internally without the steep learning curve that often comes with larger platforms.

Key features

• Unified social inbox for comments, messages, and ad replies
• Social media scheduling and publishing calendar
• Analytics and reporting for performance tracking
• Built-in collaboration and approval workflows

Best for

• Agencies and marketing teams managing multiple clients who want structured workflows and strong engagement tools

Strengths

• Very intuitive interface with powerful inbox management
• Integrations with tools like Canva, Google Analytics, Slack, and CRM systems
• Often more affordable than Sprout Social 

What do you like best about Agorapulse?
I like that Agorapulse has a social media management suite included in the base packages, without too many add-ons or hidden fees. All of the features are easy to use, the interface is very friendly, and it has almost all that we need across scheduling, publishing, inbox, listening, and reporting. I’ve worked in the social media space over the past 8 years, and have used a variety of social media management software, including Sprout Social, Falcon.ai, Later, Buffer, Hootsuite, and more. I would recommend Agorapulse if you are working on a small team, are on a budget and want basic features (nothing too advanced)[..]

G2.com

What do you dislike about Agorapulse?
I wish Agorapulse’s social listening capabilities were more robust for Instagram, including the ability to have greater filtering and exclusion options, such as removing posts for specific countries, posts that use specific words, and posts in different languages other than English. 

G2.com

Agorapulse vs Sprout Social

Category	Agorapulse	Sprout Social
Best for	Agencies and growing teams focused on engagement and workflows	Mid-sized to enterprise teams needing a full suite
Key strengths	Unified inbox, team workflows, bulk scheduling, reporting	Publishing, scheduling, analytics, and team collaboration

Planable

Planable is a social media collaboration and content planning tool that puts teamwork, approvals, and content quality at the center of the workflow. Unlike Sprout Social, Planable focuses less on analytics and more on content creation and collaboration.

It’s especially popular with content marketing teams and agencies that need clear approval workflows and visual content planning.

Key features

• Collaborative post creation with comments and discussions
• Visual content calendar and approval workflows
• Multiple planning views: feed, calendar, grid, and list
• Easy sharing with clients and stakeholders for feedback

Best for

• Agencies and content teams that prioritize collaboration, approvals, and visual planning.

Strengths

• Extremely intuitive for team-based workflows
• Strong approval and feedback system
• Great for managing content calendars across multiple brands and major social platforms

What do you like best about Planable?
Planable has become an essential part of my workflow as a freelance digital marketer. The Campaigns feature is a standout as it pulls every piece of a campaign into one clear, strategic view and makes reporting simple with built-in analytics. Scheduling content, collaborating with clients, and getting approvals is fast and intuitive, and the visual editor keeps everything organized. This is especially handy given Planable enables me to share and get approval for content outside of social media, including blog content, emails and newsletters, press releases, and more. Overall, Planable works for my current use case.

G2.com

What do you dislike about Planable?
Planable generally doesn’t include deep social listening or advanced sentiment monitoring (tracking mentions across the web), which some larger enterprises might want. 

G2.com

Planable vs Sprout Social

Category	Planable	Sprout Social
Best for	Teams focused on collaboration and approvals	Teams needing analytics-heavy management
Key strengths	Collaborative planning, content approvals, and visual calendars	Publishing, inbox, analytics, team workflows

Buffer

Buffer is a social media scheduling tool that focuses on scheduling posts, managing basic publishing workflows, and tracking simple performance metrics without unnecessary complexity.

Buffer is often chosen by small businesses, solo marketers, and teams that want to maintain a consistent social media presence without enterprise-level features. Especially because it offers a free basic plan.

Key features

• Schedule and publish posts across multiple social media platforms
• Simple queue and drag-and-drop scheduling
• Basic analytics for engagement and clicks

Best for

• Individuals and small businesses looking for simple social media scheduling and publishing

Strengths

• Very easy to use with minimal setup
• Affordable pricing and a free plan are available
• Ideal for straightforward posting workflows

What do you like best about Buffer?
I like the simplicity of Buffer. It is very intuitive and easy to set-up and use.
You can schedule your posts frome Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus and even Pintrest. There is no way you feel lots why using Buffer. Moreover, Buffer’s content strategy is a great way to help the uninitiated.

G2.com

What do you dislike about Buffer?
There are obvious drawbacks on Buffer. The reporting feature is not as complete as what you’ll find on Sprout Social and Zoho Social.

G2.com

Buffer vs Sprout Social

Category	Buffer	Sprout Social
Best for	Small teams and individuals	Teams managing complex workflows
Key strengths	Simplicity, affordable scheduling, clean UI	Unified inbox, advanced analytics, collaboration

RecurPost

RecurPost is a social media management and scheduling platform that focuses on automation and recurring content. Its main goal is to help teams keep social media accounts active by recycling evergreen content and reducing manual work.

Although not as popular as some of the larger platforms, RecurPost appeals to users who prioritize content repurposing and automated scheduling without breaking the bank.

Key features

• Bulk scheduling and publishing across major networks
• Text & image editors
• URL shortener

Best for

• Small businesses, solo creators, and agencies that want to automate posting and maintain consistency with Resonate prices

Strengths

• Strong automation tools for recurring content
• Saves time by reducing manual scheduling
• Good fit for long-term content strategies

What do you like best about Recur Post?
the pricing is one of best I’ve seen in the industry, most of the other similar services offering social media scheduling usually costs hefty price but I see Recur post to be one of the most affordable ones out there. there is a free plan available that’s limited to 3 accounts which is more than enough for small-scale companies but if you need more you can always go for the premium plan. the best thing about this service is the number of social media sites supported by it, it includes Instagram, facebook, google plus, Linkedin and Twitter. […]

G2.com

What do you dislike about Recur Post?
I think the analytics need improvement with more follower insights. some of the posts i’ve tried to post based on the “best time to post” performed poorly than other posts so i don’t recommend them if you’re onto some niche which is specific to some demographics.

G2.com

RecurPost vs Sprout Social

Category	RecurPost	Sprout Social
Best for	Automation-focused teams	Full management and analytics teams
Key strengths	Evergreen content, automation, bulk scheduling	Publishing, unified inbox, analytics

Zoho Social

Zoho Social is a full social management platform designed to help brands schedule posts, monitor engagement, and analyze performance from one dashboard. Zoho Social allows teams to track how audiences respond to posts in real time and manage interactions across multiple social media channels efficiently.

It integrates especially well with other Zoho tools, including Zoho CRM and Google Business Profile, which makes it a strong choice for businesses already using the Zoho ecosystem. 

Key features

• Social media scheduling, bulk uploads, and content calendar
• Real-time monitoring of mentions, keywords, and hashtags
• Analytics and custom reports for performance tracking
• Smart scheduling (SmartQ) and integrations with CRM and Canva

Best for

• Small to medium businesses and agencies looking for affordable social media management

Strengths

• Strong value for money with a free plan available
• Unified dashboard for publishing, engagement, and basis analytics
• Good option for teams already using the Zoho ecosystem

What do you like best about Zoho Social?
I like that Zoho Social makes it so easy to manage multiple brands in one place. The scheduling is simple, the collaboration tools keep our team organized, and the reporting gives us clear insights without a lot of extra work. It’s really user-friendly and affordable compared to other platforms.

G2.com

What do you dislike about Zoho Social?
The main thing I dislike is that the analytics could be more detailed. Compared to tools like Sprout Social, the data feels a bit basic. Also, having more AI-driven recommendations or smarter insights would make it easier to fine-tune our strategy without so much manual analysis.

G2.com

Zoho Social vs Sprout Social

Category	Zoho Social	Sprout Social
Best for	SMBs, agencies, Zoho users	Mid-sized to enterprise teams
Key strengths	Affordable publishing, analytics, unified dashboards	In-depth analytics, collaboration, unified inbox

FAQ

What is Sprout Social?

Sprout Social is a social media management platform that helps brands plan, publish, engage, and analyze their social media efforts from one place. It’s used by many social media marketers, agencies, and enterprise teams because it combines social media publishing, unified inbox tools, and basic social listening.

While Sprout Social is a powerful solution, it’s important to note that many advanced features are limited to higher-priced plans. This can be a challenge for smaller teams or growing businesses, especially those looking for deeper sentiment analysis and customer intelligence capabilities.

What Does Sprout Social Do?

Sprout Social helps teams manage the full social media workflow, including:

• Social media scheduling and publishing across major networks
• A unified inbox for comments and messages
• Analytics and reporting for social media performance and custom reports
• Social listening and competitor tracking (usually in higher tiers)
• Team collaboration features like approval workflows and roles

It’s designed as an all-in-one solution for brands that need to manage social accounts, coordinate teams, and track campaign performance.

But here’s the key: many of Sprout Social’s advanced features are add-ons or reserved for expensive plans, which leads marketers to explore alternatives that deliver similar capabilities at a better value.

Why Do People Switch from Sprout Social?

The most common reason people switch from Sprout Social is cost.

Sprout Social’s plans start around $199 per month per user, and the basic plan covers only a limited number of social media accounts. Essential features marketers want, like bulk scheduling, advanced analytics features, or deeper social listening features, are only available in higher-cost tiers.

That means teams end up paying significantly more, even when they only need a subset of Sprout Social’s capabilities. For growing teams or small businesses managing multiple brands or multiple clients, that cost can quickly become too expensive.

“Hi – I’m looking for some help.
I am paying a fortune for Sprout Social. The tools are great and help me stay organized across a dozen accounts and nearly 40 individual channels across Meta, TikTok, X, and more. However, the analytics are just not reliable, and I’m wondering if there is a better tool out there?”

Reddit

Other reasons teams look for Sprout Social competitors include:

• A dashboard that’s not always intuitive for new users
• Issues with  cancelling subscriptions
• Mixed experiences with customer support
• Feature tiers that are harder to navigate

Many marketers prefer alternatives that offer clearer pricing, better social listening, and fewer barriers to entry.

What are the Core Features of Sprout Social?

Sprout Social’s key capabilities include:

• Social media publishing and scheduling
• Unified social inbox for engagement
• Performance analytics and reporting
• Team collaboration tools (approvals, roles, tasks)
• Social listening and competitor tracking (higher tier)

But remember, features like bulk scheduling, inbox automation, message spike alerts, custom reports, or advanced listening often require enterprise-level plans.

Is Sprout Social a Specialized Social Listening Tool?

Not exactly.

Sprout Social is primarily a social media management platform. While it does include social listening features, they are usually offered as add-ons or within higher pricing tiers.

What do you like best about Sprout Social?
Sprout offers everything a Social Media Manager needs to launch campaigns, track post performance, and responding to customers online. It’s easy to understand if you’re new to the platform as its functions are really intuitive. I also love that there are AI features to help with drafting content and translating messages and your responses for users who may prefer to communicate in a different language. Sharing stats, posts, reports, etc. with colleagues who are not Sprout users is also very easy by setting up email alerts or sharing unique links that are available to everyone (even if they don’t have a Sprout seat). [..]

G2.com

What do you dislike about Sprout Social?
The listening function within Sprout isn’t as powerful as other tools that specialize in social listening. It’s a nice supplement to our existing listening tool, but couldn’t replace it. The bot feature is serviceable for now during our team’s off-hours and weekends, but would like to see more sophisticated capabilities in the future to make it feel like our customers are speaking to a more human-like bot.

G2.com

Its social listening focus tends to be limited to major social networks. If you want to track brand visibility across the broader web, blogs, forums, news, review sites, podcast transcripts, or AI-generated content, Sprout Social can be insufficient or costly.

That’s why many teams explore Sprout Social alternatives that provide deep listening and brand monitoring as a core feature rather than an expensive add-on.

Is Social Listening a Core Feature of Sprout Social or an Extra Paid Add-on?

This is an essential difference.

Sprout Social’s base plans focus on publishing, engagement, and analytics. The most advanced social listening capabilities are not included in the entry tier. You typically need to upgrade or buy optional modules. 

In contrast, a listening-first tool like Brand24 includes core social listening and monitoring features in its standard plans.

Is Sprout Social a Cost-Effective Tool?

It depends on your needs.

If your focus is day-to-day post scheduling, engagement, and team collaboration, Sprout Social can be effective, but only if you fit its pricing structure and can justify paying per user plus add-ons.

For many marketing teams, especially those managing multiple social accounts, multiple clients, or seeking brand monitoring and advanced analytics, Sprout Social can be expensive relative to the value it delivers.

Sprout Social does offer a free trial, but pricing is per user, and advanced listening and analytics typically require higher tiers.

Is Sprout Social Cost-Effective for Social Listening?

Generally, no.

Buying Sprout Social just for social listening often means paying for a full social media management platform plus the listening module, when a specialized tool can provide deeper social listening and brand awareness tracking for less.

This is where Sprout Social alternatives like Brand24 shine:

• Brand24 builds advanced social listening and sentiment analysis into its core plans
• It tracks mentions across social media platforms and the broader web
• It includes AI mentions monitoring (e.g., ChatGPT/Gemini visibility)
• Its pricing is flexible, not per user, and more predictable

Social listening tools for B2B companies?

Short answer: You’ll probably need a small stack, not one magic tool.

For LinkedIn, I’ve had the best luck with Sales Navigator + saved searches using “posted content keywords” on ICP leads/accounts, then turning on alerts. Pair that with a page monitor like Distill.io or Visualping watching a logged‑in LI search URL and pushing updates into Slack/Teams every 10–15 minutes. If you’re willing to get a bit scrappy, Phantombuster or Apify flows into Zapier/Make can scrape those same searches and dump posts into a spreadsheet or CRM for reps to triage. For broader listening, I’ve tried Brandwatch, Meltwater, and Sprout; they’re strong, but like you said, priced and tuned more for B2C and PR teams. Lighter stuff like Mention or Awario can cover web/Twitter/news, while I’ve ended up relying on Brand24 plus Pulse Reddit monitoring to catch niche B2B threads, product complaints, and intent topics you’d never see on LinkedIn.

Reddit

Why Brand24 is a Good Sprout Social Alternative

Many teams choose Brand24 when they focused on:

• Advanced social listening features are included by default
• Broader monitoring across social platforms, blogs, news, forums, and review sites
• Affordable plans that don’t scale up per user
• Insights that support social media strategy, reputation management, and audience behavior tracking
• A tool that complements or replaces Sprout Social’s listening without forcing an all-in-one subscription

Other strong Sprout Social rivals exist too (Hootsuite, Agorapulse, Planable, Buffer, RecurPost, Zoho Social), but Brand24 stands out when brand awareness tracking, sentiment analysis, and monitoring multiple brands or campaigns are priorities, when others focus on daily management.