Social media management tools · Comparison
Hootsuite vs Sprout Social vs Buffer: Buffer and Hootsuite 6.6, Sprout Social 6.5; 3 users and 10 profiles cost $100 to $897
We read the pricing, trust, legal and help center pages of three social media management tools on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What 3 users and 10 profiles cost, where approvals, the inbox and listening sit, and who should pick which.
On this page9 sections
On six indicators read from each vendor's public pages, Buffer and Hootsuite both score 6.6 out of 10 and Sprout Social scores 6.5. For our reference scenario, 3 users managing 10 social profiles on the cheapest plan that covers them, billed annually, Buffer Team comes to $100 a month, Hootsuite Standard to $297 and Sprout Social Professional to $897. Buffer stands out for unlimited team members, approvals and a free plan; Hootsuite for listening, competitor benchmarks and an inbox on its entry plan; Sprout Social for the most complete team workflow on one plan, with approvals, bulk scheduling, competitor reports and branded reports on Professional.
All three are in the Good band and arrive there differently: Buffer through price and publishing, Hootsuite and Sprout Social through engagement features and security documents. The scores measure what the public pages commit to, not how posts perform or how fast a team replies, and we did not sign up for any of them.
At a glance
| Hootsuite | Sprout Social | Buffer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Publishing, inbox, listening and benchmarks in one seat | A full team workspace from draft to report | Scheduling priced per channel, unlimited users on Team |
| Billing unit | Per user | Per seat | Per channel |
| Free option | 14-day trial, no card | 30-day trial, no card | Free plan (3 channels); 14-day trial, no card |
| Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual) | $297 on Standard, computed | $897 on Professional, computed | $100 on Team, computed |
| Approval workflows | Advanced ($399 per user) | Professional ($299 per seat) | Team |
| Inbox | Comments and messages, every plan | Comments and messages, from Standard | Comments only, every plan |
| Social listening | Quick Search on Standard | Keyword monitoring from Standard; Listening add-on through sales | Not offered |
| SOC 2 Type II / ISO 27001 | Both | Both | Neither stated on a trust page |
| SAML SSO | Enterprise | Through Enterprise or a success manager | Not stated |
| Score (public pages) | 6.6 Good | 6.5 Good | 6.6 Good |
What the public pages show
Hootsuite sells per user. Standard ($99 a month on annual terms) covers 10 social accounts with publishing to ten networks, bulk scheduling, an inbox for comments and messages, 7-day listening searches, benchmarks for 5 competitors and 100 AI credits a month. Professional ($199) and Advanced ($399) remove the account cap; approvals and branded reports start on Advanced, and SAML SSO on Enterprise.
Sprout Social sells per seat. Essentials ($79) and Standard ($199) include 5 profiles; Professional ($299) and Advanced ($399) are unlimited. The Smart Inbox starts on Standard; approvals, bulk scheduling, competitor reports and report branding on Professional; the API and custom roles on Advanced. Listening and Premium Analytics are add-ons priced through sales.
Buffer prices per connected channel. Essentials ($5 a channel a month billed yearly) is for one user; Team ($10) adds unlimited team members, access levels, approval workflows and branded reports. Every plan, Free included, has the AI Assistant, a community inbox for comments and bulk upload from a CSV.
Strengths and things to know
Hootsuite. Strengths: listening and competitor benchmarks on the entry plan; an inbox for comments and messages on every plan; all ten networks we count; an annual SOC 2 Type II audit, ISO 27001:2022 and a DPA that can be signed online. Things to know: every seat costs the plan price; approvals need Advanced; SSO is on Enterprise; and the plans page says the trial is not charged automatically while the terms and account FAQ describe a charge when it ends.
Sprout Social. Strengths: approvals, bulk scheduling, competitor reports and branded reports on one plan; twelve networks including Reddit and Snapchat; SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 in its trust center. Things to know: the highest seat prices of the three; unlimited profiles start on Professional and extra profiles have no published price; the Listening add-on is priced by sales; and pages differ on how SSO is set up.
Buffer. Strengths: unlimited team members on Team; approvals on the cheapest team plan; a permanent free plan; ten networks plus Mastodon. Things to know: the inbox handles comments, not direct messages; there is no listening or competitor benchmarking; YouTube is Shorts only; and no trust page lists certifications, with SOC 2 mentioned only in a blog post without the report type.
Pricing reality
Reference scenario: 3 users managing 10 social profiles on the cheapest plan that covers them, billed annually, at US list prices before tax, with published add-ons for extra users or profiles.
| Service | Plan | Monthly cost | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Team | $100 | Computed: 10 channels × $10; users are unlimited on Team |
| Hootsuite | Standard | $297 | Computed: 3 users × $99; Standard includes 10 social accounts |
| Sprout Social | Professional | $897 | Computed: 3 seats × $299; Standard includes 5 profiles and extra profiles have no published price |
Month to month, the same setups cost $120 on Buffer, $447 on Hootsuite and $1,197 on Sprout Social (computed). The features you need move the number more than the entry price. With approval workflows, Buffer stays at $100 and Sprout Social at $897, while Hootsuite needs Advanced at 3 × $399 = $1,197 a month (computed, annual terms). Adding people changes the picture too: a fourth person adds nothing on Buffer Team, $99 on Hootsuite Standard and $299 on Sprout Social Professional each month.
How we scored them
Every product in this category is scored on the same six indicators, read from the vendor's own pricing, trust, legal, help center and developer pages, with fixed formulas. The overall score is the plain mean. Our methodology page explains how these scores work.
| Indicator | Hootsuite | Sprout Social | Buffer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing clarity | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Free plan and trial | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Price for 3 users, 10 profiles | 4.6 | 2.2 | 7 |
| Networks and publishing | 8.8 | 10 | 10 |
| Engagement and reporting | 9 | 10 | 4 |
| Security and team controls | 8 | 8.6 | 3.5 |
| Overall | 6.6 | 6.5 | 6.6 |
Pricing clarity loses a point for each price a page leaves out or each pair of pages that disagree: four for each of the three, and Sprout Social one more because the price of extra profiles is not published. Buffer leads on price and the free plan, and trails on engagement and security, where the pages show no direct messages, listening, SSO or certifications. Sprout Social scores highest on features and security but lowest on the scenario price.
Also in this category
Later scores 7.4, the highest here: 3 users and 10 profiles cost $41.25 a month on Growth with one extra user (computed, annual), with approvals and an inbox for Instagram and Facebook messages, but it no longer publishes to X and does not support Bluesky or Google Business Profile. Sendible scores 5.3: unlimited users on every plan and 12 profiles for $59.75 a month on Core with an extra workspace (computed, annual), while its pages state no SOC 2, ISO 27001 or two-factor sign-in.
Who should choose which
- Choose Buffer if several people plan, approve and publish and you do not want to pay per seat, or you want to start free. Look elsewhere if you need direct messages, listening or a certified vendor.
- Choose Hootsuite if you want listening, competitor benchmarks and an inbox with messages from the entry plan, and 10 accounts cover your brand. Look elsewhere if you need approvals below $399 per user.
- Choose Sprout Social if your team answers customers on social and reports to stakeholders, and wants approvals, competitor reports and audited security in one plan. Look elsewhere if you need many seats on a small budget.
Bottom line
From public pages alone, Buffer and Hootsuite tie at 6.6 and Sprout Social follows at 6.5. Buffer is the low-cost publisher with unlimited users and approvals; Hootsuite adds listening, benchmarks and an inbox with messages at $99 per user; Sprout Social puts the most complete workflow on Professional at $299 per seat. Compare the plan that has the approvals, inbox, listening or SSO you need, not the entry price.
How we checked
We read the vendors' pricing pages and plan tables, trust and security pages, legal terms and DPAs, help center articles and developer docs on Oct 16, 2026. Hootsuite's plans page fills in prices by script, so we used the US dollar price feed that page loads; Sprout Social's help center blocks our fetches, so its articles were read through the help center's public article data. We did not sign up, start a trial or call an API. Facts the pages did not state, such as the price of Sprout Social's extra profiles or the type of Buffer's SOC 2 report, are left out rather than guessed. Every figure is on the vendors' pages as of that date or, where marked, computed from them.
