Why Look into Sprout Social Competitors?

There’s no doubt about it. Sprout Social is one of the more expensive social media management tools on the market. Just take a peek at its per-seat pricing model. It starts at $199/user/month. Yikes.

Some users are disappointed that high prices block their key features, like:

• Sentiment analysis
• Third-party integrations
• Custom reporting

These features are hidden behind the more expensive subscription tiers.

Plus, others have expressed their frustrations about multiple limitations. For instance, not being able to add alt-texts or subtweet existing tweets.

Standout Features

That said, Sprout Social remains one of the most popular SMM tools in the market. And these features have made it a standout:

• Using AI to improve send times, messages, content, copy, etc.
• Being able to automate workflows, replies, link tracking, etc.
• Being able to manage unlimited social profiles!
• Analyze trends for keywords and hashtags.
• Access to premium analytics.

Pricing Plans: Sprout Social has four pricing plans:

• Standard: $199/user/month
• Professional: $299/user/month
• Advanced: $399/user/month
• Custom: Request a quote

10 Best Sprout Social Competitors

Here are the ten best Sprout Social competitors to try instead.

1. Sotrender

Looking for a social media management tool for Instagram and Facebook? Sotrender sets itself apart from the competition by providing strategic research and consultation.

With the help of AI, unlock SMM attributes like influencer marketing, benchmarks, trends, etc.

Standout Features

• Its reporting and benchmarking features are incredible‌ — ‌you get a bird’s eye view of competition, audience, and metrics, all at the same time.

• It helps you keep track of your social inbox and social accounts and allows you to pinpoint user sentiments.

• Its latest release — Ads Optimization — is a game changer for anyone who wants to get the most out of Meta ads and advertising budget. This AI-driven extension helps achieve better results with the unchanged budget by providing automatic recommendations for new ad settings. 

• The solution is extremely intuitive and easy to use, with affordable pricing options.

Pricing Plans: Four plans are available:

• Starter: $59/month
• Growth: $110/month
• Premium: $195/month
• Ultimate: $331/month 

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite and Sprout Social have similar capabilities and features. However, for a social media management platform, Hootsuite’s pricing is much more affordable.

Standout Features

• It allows you to schedule content with automated post scheduling. Figure out optimal post times. Find your social platform’s impact through analytics and insights.

• It’s OwlyWriter AI will create captions and generate ideas for you. You can even use its AI to manage your inbox and stay organized, too.

• You can analyze audience sentiments through its social listening feature.

• You can integrate Hootsuite with 100+ tools.

Pricing Plans: Hootsuite has three subscription tiers for social media teams:

• Professional: $99/month
• Team: $249/month
• Enterprise: Request a quote

3. Zoho Social

Sprout Social is best suited to mid and large-sized businesses. Zoho Social caters to all business types and sizes. The former has a heavy list of features. The latter has five concrete features it chooses to focus on.

Standout Features

Zoho’s five features are:

• Schedule (through which you can curate and publish your entire content calendar);

• Inbox (which helps you manage your inbox‌ — ‌you can even use its AI to create workflows/messages on your behalf);

• Monitor (this enables you to track your mentions and keywords);

• Collaborate (which helps you collaborate and set permissions for team members);

• Analyze (this allows you to analyze your social profile).

Pricing Plans: Zoho’s plans begin at $10/month. The highest pricing plan goes up to $330/month. In total, it offers five subscription tiers:

• Standard: $10/month
• Professional: $30/month
• Premium: $40/month
• Agency: $230/month
• Agency Plus: $330/month

4. Sprinklr

Sprinklr and Sprout Social are both standout SMM platforms. However, Sprinklr, another Sprout Social competitor, focuses on enterprise customers, which makes it more scalable and customizable.

Standout Features

• The platform allows you to create localized campaigns for distributed marketing.

• You can use its AI to create and schedule posts, manage compliance, approve workflows, etc.

• Sprinklr’s Social offering can be combined with its other offerings. Marketing Insights and Customer Service are two examples. These features help you manage your social platforms from end-to-end touchpoints.

Pricing Plans: Sprinklr Social has two subscription models:

• Self Serve: $299/seat/month
• Enterprise: Request a custom quote

5. Agorapulse

Truthfully, there’s hardly any difference between Agorapulse and Sprout Social. The only difference is pricing. This Sprout Social competitor targets fewer social platforms, so keep that in mind.

Standout Features

• The solution is geared toward the eCommerce ideal customer profile (ICP). It offers features like product tagging, bulk actions, and Google Analytics integration.

• You can measure the ROI of your campaigns with the help of platform-based performance insights.

• It also has advanced features like an AI-writing tool, a link-in-bio tool, etc.

Pricing Plans: In addition to a free plan, Agorapulse offers four more subscriptions:

• Standard: $49/user/month
• Professional: $79/user/month
• Advanced: $119/user/month
• Custom: Request a quote

6. Buffer

Buffer and Sprout Social look plenty similar at first glance. However, they’re quite different. How? The clients they cater to. The pricing they offer. And the advanced features they offer.

Standout Features

• Buffer has an extensive template library. You can leverage it for all use cases.

• You can also create posts and copies with its AI assistant. Build customizable landing pages at no cost. Perfect for social media managers.

• This tool allows you to work with unlimited clients and team members. Plus, you can access multiple social platforms.

Pricing Plans: Buffer offers custom pricing based on the number of social media accounts. However, it does have four subscription types:

• Free: $0/month
• Essentials: $6/month
• Team: $12/month 
• Agency: $120/month

7. Emplifi.io

Sprout Social specializes solely in social media management. Meanwhile, Emplifi extends its services to encompass tailored solutions. Some of these solutions include social media, commerce, and customer care professionals.

Standout Features 

• You can use Emplifi to manage your socials. You can also manage influencer campaigns. Stay on top of your brand’s reputation. Track user-generated content and velocity/visibility.

• The tool also gives you visibility into industry benchmarks and customer sentiments.

• Its AI can create social copies and hashtags. You can also customize tone preferences and emoji usage.

Pricing Plans: Emplifi has four pricing plans: 

• Essentials
• Standard
• Business
• Enterprise

The annual price of the Essentials plan is $2,400. The remaining plans require you to contact the sales team.

8. HubSpot

Sprout Social’s primary function is social media management. Well, HubSpot, another Sprout Social competitor, is an all-in-one tool for inbound marketing.

Standout Features

• It provides reporting and analysis of all marketing channels. You get access to social media, emails, and ad campaign reports.

• Like other tools, you can use it to schedule posts and monitor all activities and mentions (as well as access other free solutions!).

• It allows to integrate with multiple platforms and apps.

Pricing Plans: HubSpot’s pricing differs based on its product offerings. Its marketing-focused plan is divided into two categories‌ — ‌for businesses and for individuals.

The former’s pricing begins at $800/month, and the latter’s paid subscription begins at $15/seat/month.

9. Later

Unlike Sprout Social, Later targets small businesses, individuals, and creatives. The goal is to help them create, publish, and distribute visually appealing posts. Give yourself a leg up on even the best social media marketers.

Standout Features

• Later allows you to curate content for all platforms that have a focus on visuals. So, think of TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

• It helps you create content, find UGC posts, write captions and hashtags, edit visuals, and more.

• You can even use its link-in-bio tool to create bios for your landing pages and social platforms.

Pricing Plans: This social media tool has four subscription plans‌:

• Starter: $16.67/month
• Growth: $30/month
• Advanced: $53.33/month
• Agency: $133.33/month

10. Iconosquare

Like Later, this Sprout Social competitor is a solution geared towards small businesses and creatives. Iconosquare helps them publish content. But that’s not it. This tool provides them with simple tips and tricks to grow their social media following.

Standout Features

• You can use Iconosquare to check for brand mentions. For example, the health and weight loss brand Form uses Iconosquare to schedule social media posts like this one from Kim. These first-hand testimonials and reviews show the life-changing benefits of pairing highly qualified physicians and dieticians with the latest science and technology.

• This platform also allows you to publish posts. Access analytics in a breeze. And collaborate with team members.

• You can even leverage its extensive resource library. This includes free tools (e.g., social audit tools), studies, and guides.

Pricing Plans: Pricing is based on the number of social channels you use. The base price for subscription tiers is as follows:

• Single Plan: $49/month
• Teams Plan: $79/month
• Custom Plan: Request a quote

Quick Tools to Enhance Your Social Posts

There’s no denying these tools can help you elevate your social media presence.

However, there are a few other tools we’d recommend adding to your tech stack. Are you ready to add a little zing to your social presence?

• Brandmentions: A free tool that helps you track hashtags from around the web. This includes the sentiments behind them and the top influencers using them.

• Canva: Again, a free tool that you can use to create visuals for different social media platforms.

• Lovo.ai: Create more engaging content for social media by adding voiceovers with an AI voice generator. The process is simple and seamless. Once your content batch is ready, schedule it to be posted throughout the week using a tool like Sprout Social.

• Animoto: This solution will help you create videos for different use cases. You can create different formats thanks to multiple templates at no cost.

• Uniqode : Helps you create QR Codes that can be placed on social media profiles or posts that lead followers to exclusive content or promotions. This can help brands drive more engagement and followers on their social media platforms.

• Hightouch: A Reverse ETL tool that syncs data from your data warehouse to your marketing tools. Enabling personalized and data-driven marketing strategies, better audience segmentation, and improved campaign performance.

How to Choose the Right Sprout Social Competitor For You

We discussed many tools in this list‌. Some of these have made a market for themselves by being the most affordable. Or they cater to a niche subset of consumers. They might even offer unique features.

However, the best Sprout Social competitor for your organization will depend on your own requirements.

If you need to create targeted and personalized social media content that your audience can relate to, Sotrender has your back. We specialize in providing data-driven reporting and insights about your customers and competitors.

To see if it might be the tool for you, why not opt for a free 14-day trial? It’s time to step up your social media strategy.