Sprout Social vs Buffer
Sprout Social or Buffer
Sprout Social
Sprout Social, founded in 2010, is a social media management tool designed to help business streamline their social media presence. It offers scheduling posts, managing engagement, a unified social inbox, and team reporting.
Apart from basic features, it also offers robust analytics and reporting features that deliver actionable insights. These insights help businesses understand audience behavior, optimize content strategies, and improve engagement
Other Sprout Social Comparisons
Buffer
Buffer was founded in 2010. Buffer is a social media management tool built to help agencies schedule, publish, analyze, and engage with content across multiple social platforms from one central dashboard. It offers features like customizable posting schedules, draft & approval workflows, and user permissions so teams and clients can collaborate with clarity.
Buffer also provides analytics dashboards and reporting that help agencies track engagement, reach, follower growth, and campaign performance to make data-driven decisions.
Overview
When it comes to managing multiple social media accounts, two platforms that frequently come up in conversations are Sprout Social and Buffer. Both of these tools offer powerful features for scheduling, analytics, and social media management, but they serve slightly different purposes and appeal to different types of users. Whether you’re an individual content creator, a small business, or a large agency, understanding the strengths and limitations of each platform will help you choose the best tool for your needs.
This comparison will break down the core features of Sprout Social and Buffer, drawing from personal experience as well as reviews and insights from reputable sources. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clearer picture of which platform suits your workflow and budget, and whether Sprout Social or Buffer can help you take your social media strategy to the next level.
Buffer vs. Sprout Social: User Rating
| Feature | Sprout Social | Buffer |
| Star Rating (Out of 5) | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Meets Requirements (Out of 10) | 8.5 | 9 |
| Ease of Use (Out of 10) | 8.9 | 9.1 |
| Ease of Setup (Out of 10) | 8.8 | 9.2 |
| Ease of Admin (Out of 10) | 8.8 | 9.7 |
| Quality of Support (Out of 10) | 8.8 | 8.3 |
| Good Partner in Business (Out of 10) | 8.8 | 9.5 |
| Product Direction (% Positive) | 8.8 | 8.1 |
To give you a better understanding of how Sprout Social and Buffer perform in real-world scenarios, let’s take a look at third-party reviews from reputable sources like G2 and Capterra.
Sprout Social receives high marks on G2 for its all-in-one social media management capabilities, especially for businesses and agencies. Buffer also holds strong ratings on G2, where users commend its simplicity and user-friendly interface.
Buffer vs. Sprout Social: Feature Comparison
| Feature | Sprout Social | Buffer |
| Pricing (per month in USD) | $249 | $30 |
| Free Trial | No | Yes |
| Platforms supported | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Youtube, Tik Tok, Shopify, Mastodon | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Youtube, Tik Tok |
| Bulk scheduling | No | Yes |
| RSS feeds | No | Yes |
| Recurring posts | Yes | Yes |
| Social inbox | No | Yes |
| AI content generation | No | Yes |
| Hashtag storage | No | Yes |
| Caption Customization | No | Yes |
| AI images | No | Yes |
| Advanced analytics | Yes | Yes |
| White label reports | No | Yes |
| URL shortener | No | Yes |
| Unlimited workspaces | No | Yes |
| Team management | No | Yes |
| Note on Pricing | – | If you need more than 3 accounts, you’ll need to buy the yearly subscription, which costs double the price. For 5 accounts, the yearly plan is recommended. |
a. Scheduling and Automation
Sprout Social
Sprout Social offers strong scheduling capabilities, allowing users to schedule posts across various platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. The platform includes a feature called ViralPost, which helps optimize post times based on when a brand’s audience is most engaged. This automation tool can be particularly useful for users who want to save time and reach their audience at optimal times without manual intervention. However, Sprout Social doesn’t offer as much flexibility when it comes to content recycling or reusing posts, which can limit automation for users who want to re-share evergreen content without creating new posts each time.
Buffer
Buffer also shines in scheduling and automation, offering seamless scheduling across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. One of Buffer’s standout features is its Pablo tool, which helps users create quick and effective visuals for their posts directly within the app. Buffer also supports post queuing, allowing users to add posts in bulk and let the system automatically share them according to the pre-set schedule. This makes it ideal for content creators and businesses with a steady stream of posts. However, while Buffer’s automation features are solid, it lacks the deeper content recycling and performance-based automation that some users might find beneficial for long-term social media management.
b. Supported Social Media Platforms
Sprout Social
Sprout Social supports a broad range of social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google My Business. This extensive platform support makes it a great choice for businesses that need to manage multiple accounts across various channels.
Buffer
Buffer supports the core platforms of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. While it doesn’t support as many platforms as Sprout Social, Buffer still covers the most popular social media channels.
c. Analytics and Reporting
Sprout Social
Sprout Social offers detailed analytics and customizable reports that help businesses track engagement, follower growth, and the success of individual posts. One feature I particularly liked was the ability to create custom reports and download them in different formats (CSV, PDF, etc.), which was extremely useful for client presentations. If you need in-depth insights into the performance of your social media strategy, Sprout Social’s reporting features are second to none.
Buffer
Buffer also provides analytics, but it’s much more streamlined than Sprout Social. It tracks metrics like engagement, reach, and clicks, but doesn’t offer the same level of detail or customization. For individual users and small businesses, Buffer’s basic analytics are sufficient, but larger businesses or agencies may find the lack of advanced reporting to be a limitation.
d. User Interface and Experience
Sprout Social
Sprout Social’s interface is sleek and user-friendly, but it can feel overwhelming at first, especially with all the features it offers. The layout is organized well, and the dashboard is highly customizable, allowing you to focus on the metrics that matter most. However, the complexity of the platform may require a learning curve for beginners, especially those who are just starting with social media management.
Buffer
Buffer is known for its simplicity and clean interface. From my experience, it’s incredibly easy to navigate, even for beginners. The scheduling tool is intuitive, and the dashboard is straightforward. For users who don’t need a complex platform but want to schedule posts and track basic performance, Buffer offers a great experience without the overwhelm that some other tools can bring.
Pricing Comparison
Sprout Social’s pricing is geared toward businesses and teams, with more expensive plans offering advanced features like team collaboration, social media listening, and in-depth analytics. For larger teams or businesses managing multiple social media accounts, Sprout Social’s Professional or Advanced plans provide robust tools to scale your social media strategy.
Buffer’s pricing is more accessible for small businesses or individuals, with its Essentials Plan offering great value for personal use or small teams. The Team Plan allows for easier collaboration and supports more profiles, while the Agency Plan caters to agencies managing multiple accounts at a larger scale.
Pros and Cons of Using Buffer:
Pros
- Robust analytics and reporting
- Unified Social Inbox
Cons
- Limited customized report generation.
- Occasional delays or glitches in publishing or handling content for multiple accounts.
Pros and Cons of Using Sprout Social:
Pros
- AI caption generator from prompt
- Generates customised and branded reports
Cons
- No AI image generator
- Custom access and permissions only for enterprise-level plans.
Conclusion: Sprout Social vs Buffer
In summary, Sprout Social is the better option for businesses, agencies, and teams looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one social media management platform with in-depth analytics, social listening, and collaboration features. It is best suited for users who need advanced reporting tools and team collaboration capabilities.
On the other hand, Buffer is ideal for small businesses, solo entrepreneurs, and content creators who prefer a simple, cost-effective platform for scheduling, content planning, and basic analytics. Its user-friendly interface and flexible pricing make it a great choice for individuals or small teams who don’t need all the bells and whistles of Sprout Social.
While both Sprout Social and Buffer are excellent choices, another great tool to consider is RecurPost. After testing both platforms, I found that RecurPost offers the best of both worlds—a balance of powerful automation, multi-platform support, and a more affordable pricing structure. Whether you’re managing a few accounts or multiple social channels, RecurPost is a more budget-friendly option that doesn’t sacrifice key features like scheduling, analytics, and content automation.
Why RecurPost Stands Out?
RecurPost shines for many users because it combines strong scheduling and content recycling tools with affordability and ease of use. It enables brands to create evergreen content libraries, featuring posts that remain relevant over time, and automatically repost high-performing content, thereby reducing the need to continually develop new content. RecurPost with AI support for content suggestions and “best times to post”, plus features like social inbox (for managing messages/comments from various platforms in one place), RecurPost helps social media teams save time while keeping engagement high.
Compared to Sprout Social, RecurPost offers many similar core features (calendar, scheduling, collaboration) but often at a lower cost, and it includes content recycling and more flexible evergreen content tools that Sprout lacks. Compared to Buffer, RecurPost tends to provide more automation and deeper recycling
