by Sprout Social, Inc.Social media management tools
A per-seat social media suite with the Smart Inbox, approvals, bulk scheduling and competitor reports on Professional at $299 per seat billed annually.
A full social team workspace (inbox, approvals, competitor reports and branded reporting) on one seat, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it.
On Professional, one seat covers unlimited profiles, the Smart Inbox for comments and messages, approval workflows, bulk scheduling, competitor reports for Facebook, X and Instagram and report branding, so a team works from one tool from draft to report. Publishing reaches twelve networks, Reddit and Snapchat included. The trust center states a SOC 2 Type 2 audit and ISO/IEC 27001 certification, and the DPA is part of the terms. You pay per seat, with listening and premium analytics as add-ons priced by sales.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Social media management tools: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Sprout Social | Later | Buffer | Hootsuite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedA full social team workspace (inbox, approvals, competitor reports and branded reporting) on one seat, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it. | Worth the priceA visual planner for Instagram, TikTok and six more networks, with approvals and an inbox on a flat plan that costs less than one seat elsewhere. | Worth the priceScheduling for every major network, priced per channel with unlimited team members on Team, and a free plan to start. | Built-in reachPublishing, a shared inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks for every major network in one seat, backed by audited security. |
| Overall score | 6.5 | 7.4Best | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Free option | 30-day free trial | Free plan | Free plan | 14-day free trial |
| Card to start | No card needed | Card required | No card needed | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $79/seat/mo | $18.75/mo | $5/channel/mo | $99/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Flat rate | Tiered | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per seat per month; 5 profiles on Essentials and Standard, unlimited from Professional | Flat plan with Social Sets (one profile per network) and users; extra sets and users as add-ons | Per connected channel per month, lower per channel above 10 | Per user per month; each plan has a social account allowance |
| Free option | No free plan; 30-day trial, no card | Free plan in the help center (1 Social Set, 1 user, 12 posts per profile a month); 14-day trial, card required | Free plan: 3 channels, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts per channel; 14-day Team trial, no card | No free plan; 14-day trial, no card (plans page) |
| Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual) | $897/mo on Professional (3 × $299), computed | $41.25/mo on Growth ($37.50 + 1 extra user at $3.75), computed | $100/mo on Team (10 × $10), computed | $297/mo on Standard (3 × $99), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $399 per seat on Professional ($99 / $249 / $399 / $499 for the four listed plans) | $50 on Growth ($25 / $50 / $110 for the three listed plans) | $12 per channel on Team for channels 1–10 ($6 on Essentials) | $149 per user on Standard ($149 / $299 / $499 for the three listed plans) |
| Networks for publishing | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Reddit, Snapchat | Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube (Shorts), Pinterest, Threads, Snapchat; not X | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube (Shorts), Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Mastodon | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky; Google Business Profile through its app |
| Approval workflows | Professional and up; external approvers on Advanced | Growth and Scale | Team | Advanced ($399 per user, annual) and Enterprise |
| Unified inbox | Smart Inbox for comments and messages from Standard (not on Essentials) | Social Inbox (beta) on Growth: Instagram and Facebook messages and comments, TikTok comments | Community inbox for comments on every plan; no direct messages | Comments and messages on every plan |
| Social listening | Keyword and brand monitoring from Standard; the Listening add-on through sales | Scale: mentions, brand health and competitor benchmarking | Not offered | Quick Search with 7 days of history on Standard; 30 days from Professional |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 audit; ISO/IEC 27001:2013 | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 listed in the trust center (archived copy) | Blog post says "SOC 2 compliant", report type not stated; ISO 27001 not stated | SOC 2 Type II audited annually; ISO 27001:2022 |
| SAML SSO | SAML 2.0; set up through Enterprise or a customer success manager | Legacy Enterprise plan only | Not stated | Enterprise only (priced by sales) |
| DPA | Published and part of the terms | On request by email, with the reasons | Published (linked from the legal page) | Published, with an electronic signature option |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Sprout Social is the most complete team workspace here, with the inbox, approvals, competitor reports and audits on Professional. It is also the most expensive per seat, and listening is priced by sales. | From its public pages, Later is the lowest-cost way here to give a small team approvals and an inbox, priced by Social Sets. Its network list leaves out X, Bluesky and Google Business Profile, and listening starts on Scale. | From its public pages, Buffer is a straightforward publisher priced per channel, with unlimited users, approvals and a free plan. It covers comments but not direct messages, and lists no listening, SSO or certifications. | From its public pages, Hootsuite is a broad suite: ten networks, an inbox, listening and competitor benchmarks on Standard, and an audited security file. Seats are priced per user, and approvals start on Advanced. |
Evidence: Sprout Social: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Later: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Buffer: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Hootsuite: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Review from public pages
Written from Sprout Social's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Sprout Social's pricing page with its plan table and FAQ, the nonprofit pricing page, the trust center, the application security page, the terms, privacy policy, DPA and BAA page, the brand assets page, the API docs, and help center articles on plans, the trial, billing, permissions, SSO, approvals, bulk scheduling, publishing by network, reports, exports and data retention on Oct 16, 2026; we did not sign up, start the trial or call the API. The help center blocks our fetches, so its articles were read through the help center's public article data.
The pricing page lists four seat prices: $79, $199, $299 and $399 a month on annual terms, or $99, $249, $399 and $499 month to month. Essentials, new in 2026, is publishing-focused and leaves out the Smart Inbox and approvals. Unlimited profiles start on Professional; on Essentials and Standard, extra profiles can be bought, but their price is not published.
Some points need a question to Sprout. Listening, Premium Analytics and Employee Advocacy are add-ons with no published price. Pages differ on how SSO is set up, on which plans can be trialled and on how long data is kept after an account closes.
Professional includes the message approval workflow, bulk scheduling of up to 350 messages, competitor reports for Facebook, X and Instagram, report branding and unlimited profiles.
vs Hootsuite: Hootsuite puts approvals and branded reports on Advanced; Later keeps competitor benchmarking on Scale.
Comments and messages from connected networks, reviews and keyword monitoring in one inbox, with full conversation history from Professional.
vs Buffer: Buffer’s community inbox handles comments only.
Publishing reaches twelve networks, including Reddit, Snapchat, Bluesky and Google Business Profile.
A SOC 2 Type 2 audit, ISO/IEC 27001 and 27701, two-step verification enforced by email by default with optional authenticator apps, and a DPA that forms part of the terms.
vs Buffer: Buffer and Sendible state no SOC 2 Type II report on their own pages.
For 3 users and 10 profiles the first plan that fits is Professional at 3 × $299 = $897 a month on annual terms, paid upfront for the year.
Workaround: Standard (3 × $199) could cost less if extra profiles are cheap, but their price is not published; ask sales.
Keyword and brand monitoring is in the Smart Inbox from Standard, but the Listening add-on has no published price and is bought through an account manager.
The help center says Advanced users can access the API, and custom user roles are an Advanced feature.
Workaround: Profile-level access restrictions are on every plan, and advanced publishing permissions on Professional.
Annual plans renew automatically and prepaid fees are not refunded; downgrades of a paid plan go through the success team and apply at the next contract cycle.
Workaround: Month-to-month prices are published for every self-serve plan.
Sprout Social bills per seat, and each plan sets a profile allowance. For our scenario, 3 users with 10 profiles need Professional, the first plan with unlimited profiles: 3 × $299 = $897 a month on annual terms ($10,764 a year, paid upfront), or $1,197 month to month (computed), before tax. Standard at 3 × $199 = $597 a month includes 5 profiles, and the price of 5 more is not published. Listening, Premium Analytics and Employee Advocacy add on through sales; Trellis Plus AI is $28 per user a month on annual terms. US nonprofits get Professional at $239 per seat with at least 2 seats on annual terms.
Reports export to PDF and the post performance report to CSV; Smart Inbox messages export to CSV on every plan, and audit logs and user permissions to CSV. Scheduled posts cannot be exported (the account-merge article says they must be rescheduled by hand). The API is on Advanced. The help center says data is deleted 90 days after an account closes; the terms allow removal within 30 days.
From its public pages, Sprout Social is the most complete team workspace here, with the inbox, approvals, competitor reports and audits on Professional. It is also the most expensive per seat, and listening is priced by sales.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per seat per month; 5 profiles on Essentials and Standard, unlimited from Professional |
| Free option | No free plan; 30-day trial, no card |
| Reference scenario (3 users, 10 profiles, annual) | $897/mo on Professional (3 × $299), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $399 per seat on Professional ($99 / $249 / $399 / $499 for the four listed plans) |
| Networks for publishing | Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Reddit, Snapchat |
| Approval workflows | Professional and up; external approvers on Advanced |
| Unified inbox | Smart Inbox for comments and messages from Standard (not on Essentials) |
| Social listening | Keyword and brand monitoring from Standard; the Listening add-on through sales |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 audit; ISO/IEC 27001:2013 |
| SAML SSO | SAML 2.0; set up through Enterprise or a customer success manager |
| DPA | Published and part of the terms |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Sprout Social yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Sprout Social yet.
Sprout Social lists 5 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Essentials (billed annually), costs $79/seat/mo.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: sproutsocial.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
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.
