Hootsuite vs Sprout Social

Updated October 2026 · AppBreakup editorial

Hootsuite

A veteran all-in-one platform for scheduling, social inbox, listening and team reporting.

Paid

Visit Hootsuite Hootsuite profile

Sprout Social

A polished social media suite known for its unified inbox, reporting and team workflows.

Paid

Visit Sprout Social Sprout Social profile

The short answer

Hootsuite and Sprout Social are both premium social media suites for teams. Hootsuite suits agencies and marketing departments that want broad coverage, listening and a large app directory under one plan. Sprout Social suits in-house brand and customer care teams that live in a shared inbox and need polished reports. The biggest difference is pricing structure: Hootsuite charges per plan, Sprout charges per seat, which favours Sprout for very small teams and Hootsuite as teams grow.

Hootsuite or Sprout Social: our take

Both combine scheduling, a unified inbox, analytics and approvals. Hootsuite, around since 2008, emphasises breadth: publishing, inbox, analytics and social listening in one dashboard, a long list of integrations through its app directory, and top-tier extras such as competitor benchmarking, advanced listening, employee advocacy and SSO. Its interface is busier than newer tools. Sprout Social is built around its Smart Inbox, which gathers comments, mentions and messages from every network with tagging, assignment and collision detection so two people don't reply to the same message. Reviewers consistently rate its interface and reports highly, and new team members tend to learn it quickly. Listening, employee advocacy and influencer marketing are paid add-ons rather than included features.

Hootsuite starts at $99 per month (Standard), with the Advanced plan at $399 per month, and offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card. Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat/month (Essentials, billed annually), with its Standard plan at $199 per seat/month, and offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card. Because Sprout's price multiplies with every seat, a team of five can pay much more than with plan-based tools, especially once add-ons are included. Neither has a free plan. Both run in the browser with iOS and Android apps.

Choose Sprout Social if social media is a customer-facing channel for your company, response handling across a team is the daily job, and leadership expects clear, presentation-ready reporting. Choose Hootsuite if you want listening and integrations included in the same vendor relationship, manage many accounts as an agency, or want costs that don't scale strictly per seat. Solo users and very small budgets are better served by a simpler scheduler than by either.

Choose Hootsuite if…

Marketing teams and agencies wanting publishing, inbox and listening from one established vendor
Covers publishing, inbox, analytics and listening in one tool
Large app directory and integrations

Choose Sprout Social if…

In-house brand and customer care teams that need a strong shared inbox and reports
Excellent unified inbox with assignment and tagging
Clear, presentation-ready analytics

What is Hootsuite?

Hootsuite has been around since 2008 and remains one of the best-known names in social media management. It brings publishing, a unified inbox for comments and messages, analytics, social listening and team approvals into one dashboard, and it connects to a long list of business tools through its app directory. Larger plans add competitor benchmarking, advanced listening, employee advocacy and SSO, which is why marketing departments and agencies often standardise on it. The downside is price: there is no free plan any more, entry plans sit well above simpler schedulers, and many teams only use a fraction of the features. The interface has improved but still feels busier than newer tools. Pricing is per user per month across Standard, Advanced and Enterprise tiers, with a free trial and no card required to start. It runs in the browser with iOS and Android apps. It suits teams that want one established vendor covering most social work, and that have the budget for it.

What is Sprout Social?

Sprout Social is a premium social media management platform used heavily by in-house brand teams. Its core is a unified Smart Inbox that pulls comments, mentions and messages from every connected network into one stream, with tagging, assignment and collision detection so teams don't reply twice. Around that it offers scheduling with approval workflows, a shared content calendar, detailed and presentation-ready reports, and optional add-ons for social listening, employee advocacy and influencer marketing. Reviewers consistently rate the interface and reporting highly. The catch is cost: pricing is per seat per month and climbs steeply, and features like listening are sold separately, so a team of five can pay many times what a simple scheduler costs. There is no free plan, only a free trial. It runs in the browser with iOS and Android apps. It fits companies that treat social as a customer-facing channel and need reliable reporting for stakeholders, rather than solo creators watching their budget.

Side by side

Attribute	Hootsuite	Sprout Social
Pricing	Paid	Paid
Open source	No	No
Self-hostable	No	No
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Best for	Marketing teams and agencies wanting publishing, inbox and listening from one established vendor	In-house brand and customer care teams that need a strong shared inbox and reports
Status	Active	Active

Verified facts, compared

Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.

Fact	Hootsuite	Sprout Social
Starting price	$99 per month (Standard)	$79 per seat/month (Essentials, billed annually)
Free trial	14 days, no credit card	30 days, no credit card