Sprout Social: In-depth Review
Best For:
Pricing:
Top Features
Large businesses, Organizations
Per Month
- Expensive introductory plans.
- Competitive Benchmarking
- No team collaboration without credentials.
- Limited content curation options.
- Bot builder for Automated workflows
- Sprout browser Extension
Individuals, businesses, Agencies
$25
Per Month
- 5 Social Profiles
- 500 Stored Recurring Updates
- 20 Daily Posts Per Account
- 10 Recurring time slots
- 2 Share from RSS feeds
- 2 Shareable Calendars
No credit card required
Sprout Social Comparisons
Sprout Social Features Overview
Sprout Social is a social media management software that serves as a powerful yet expensive solution designed to help brands communicate with their audience, manage their presence and track their performance across multiple social platforms, though newer alternatives like RecurPost offer better value.
Sprout Social comes with comprehensive functionalities that streamline social media management activities, including content scheduling, social listening, Smart Inbox, analytics and reporting, bulk scheduling, team collaboration, competitive benchmarking, and CRM capabilities with bot builder functionality.
This review examines Sprout Social's capabilities to determine whether this social media management tool suits your business needs.
Sprout Social's Listening Tools monitor brand and industry mentions across the social web. These tools track customer opinions, industry trends, and competitive landscapes, enabling proactive engagement and strategic adjustments.
Sprout Social's Social Inbox consolidates all social media interactions into one platform, enabling quick responses and streamlined communication for maintaining an active social media presence.
Sprout Social is Suitable for: Medium and Large Enterprises, Social Media Managers, Freelancers and Consultants, Influencers and Bloggers.
Sprout Social Ratngs
While Sprout Social offers numerous features, newer alternatives like RecurPost have emerged with competitive capabilities. Comparing these tools helps determine which social media management solution best fits your needs.
RecurPost offers advantages over Sprout Social through advanced features and seamless social media account management.
RecurPost provides recurring schedules, AI assistant, best time schedules, and white-label reports that exceed Sprout Social's current offerings, making RecurPost a compelling alternative.
| Feature | Sprout Social | RecurPost |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Quality of Support (Out of 10) | 8.8 | 8.3 |
| Product Direction (Out of 10) | 8.8 | 8.1 |
| Pricing per month (5 accounts) | $199 | $25 |
Sprout Social Reviews
Positive Reviews
I work in marketing and report to professionals who don’t have as much marketing expertise as me. Having a dashboard view of the social media statistics really helps me explain and analyze the significance of changes.
~ Tara C. (Capterra link)
We most like the ability to manage multiple accounts easily. We manage over 20 social media accounts across several platforms using Sprout Social and we have always found it very intuitive and easy to use. Adding new accounts is easy and there are several features that add value to the product that we use regularly.
~ Greg A. (Capterra link)
The snippet of information is beautiful. A very specific utility for finding specific information is the export to pdf capability, which is really nice. It is non-commercialized and adds value to my research and observations of air currents. Anyone who is at the forefront of their community is making a great effort to look like the real thing, rather than simply trying to get individuals to sign up for their internet course. One of the first things I perceived about Sprout was its reliability of the publishing module. I haven’t stopped utilizing it in the sixteen+ months I’ve been utilizing it, and it’s straightforward to navigate to update scheduled posts I’ve made.
~ Kelly S. (Capterra link)
I have been using Sprout Social to manage my social media presence for quite some time now and I can honestly say that it has been an absolute pleasure. The dashboard is extremely user-friendly and intuitive, and the features are laid out in a very logical way. It’s easy to manage multiple accounts and the reporting features are great. Highly recommend!
~ Dieudonné K. (Capterra link)
I’ve been using Sprout Social for a couple of months now and I’m really impressed with the features and the ease of use. The interface is intuitive and there are plenty of features to help manage and monitor your social media accounts. Scheduling posts is really easy and the analytics provide great insights for improving your social media strategies.
~ Yasmeen Y. (Capterra link)
Negative Reviews
Just about everything else. The data is often inconsistent and incorrect. They will tell you that they’re just tapping the APIs, which is a nice way of pointing the finger, but it’s also telling us we may as well just go straight to the source and bypass these problems. We’re spending way too much time cross-checking the data we get from Sprout, which really means we’re the dummies for bothering with this in the first place.
~ Mike P. (Capterra link)
Quite a lot. Lack of customer service. Unclear billing. Hidden fees beyond subscription plan. On-going fees and recurring costs with no clear indication of what these are for.
~ Sinead M. (Capterra link)
It is 10 times easier to use Facebook and Instagrams native tool for handling comments. A response that would normally take 5 seconds on FB and IG would take 5 times longer on Sprout. There were many glitches in the software that made it unusable as well. The support and onboarding were not helpful at all. I reached out multiple times and never got responses until I said I was going to cancel, and even then they couldn’t help. And of course they locked me into a full year contract and after 3 weeks we wanted to cancel but they wouldn’t help us at all.
~ Daniel L. (Capterra link)
The platform is very difficult to use we do not understand how to put the product online sometimes, there are even advertisements that do not go away automatically.
~ Liv S. (Capterra link)
In my opinion, this entire system could be updated. The time it takes to complete simple tasks, for instance, rescheduling multiple posts is staggering mostly because there isn’t a drag and drop feature. Changes to the calendar should appear in real time instead of having to click between multiple pages to see drafts, dates, etc. Drafts disappearing from the Sprout Social calendar when they haven’t been scheduled is also an issue–they should just go into a “drafts folder” when that happens. Direct publishing to Instagram for videos is a huge issue. Every video published from Sprout has a black box present on the feed when the post goes live meaning that we have to manually fix it every time. Sometimes hidden tags do not show up on Instagram. The permissions levels do not make sense therefore the app that it meant to tell you when posts fail in real time doesn’t actually work.
~ Abigail A. (Capterra link)
Sprout Social pros and cons
Pros
- CRM Capabilities: Sprout Social includes Customer Relationship Management features for creating detailed customer profiles. This integration enables personalized marketing strategies and enhances customer engagement through insights into past interactions and social media behavior.
- Smart Inbox: Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox aggregates messages from various platforms while filtering and tagging conversations for streamlined management. Users can prioritize responses and handle high interaction volumes efficiently.
- Bot Builder for Automated Workflows: Sprout Social provides a bot builder tool for creating custom chatbots for Facebook and Twitter. These bots automate customer service processes, provide instant responses to common inquiries, and route complex issues to human agents.
- ViralPost Algorithm: The platform’s ViralPost feature analyzes audience engagement patterns and determines optimal posting times. This feature ensures posts achieve maximum reach and engagement based on audience habits.
Cons
- Price Point for Advanced Features: Accessing Sprout Social’s full suite of advanced tools requires higher-tier plans that come at premium prices, potentially cost-prohibitive for some businesses.
- Complex Interface in Advanced Modules: Users may find the interface overwhelming when using complex features like CRM integration or analytics dashboards. The extensive functionality requires a learning curve beyond basic social media tasks.
- Integration Limits: Sprout Social has limitations in integrating with lesser-known or industry-specific platforms, creating drawbacks for businesses relying on these specialized tools.
- Response Time for Support: Users report slower customer support response times during technical issues or peak periods, affecting problem resolution and user experience.
Sprout Social Pricing
Sprout Social costs $199 per month for the Standard plan, with pricing plans that include Professional at $299 monthly, Advanced at $399 monthly, and Enterprise with custom pricing to cater to different needs and budgets.
The ‘Standard’ plan, which is the most basic offering, costs $199 per month. It provides the core features required for social media management but is limited in terms of advanced capabilities.
Next is the ‘Professional’ plan priced at $299 per month. This plan offers additional features like competitive reports for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and added customer care tools, which can be beneficial for growing businesses that need to track their performance against their competitors and engage more deeply with their customer base.
Their ‘Advanced’ plan, costing $399 per month, offers all the features of the Professional plan with some extras. These include message spike alerts for sudden increases in message volume and a digital asset and content library, which are beneficial for larger businesses or agencies handling multiple accounts.
Lastly, Sprout Social also provides an ‘Enterprise’ plan with custom pricing. This option is tailored for large organizations or agencies with specific needs that cannot be met by the standard plans. The Enterprise plan offers more advanced tools and customized solutions, with the price determined based on the specific requirements of the business.
Sprout Social Features
Social Listening
Sprout Social monitors brand mentions across platforms, tracks specific keywords, and observes competitor activities. This monitoring identifies engagement opportunities, measures brand sentiment, and tracks industry trends. The feature enhances brand reputation through responsive engagement.
Analytics and Reporting
Sprout Social delivers analytics tools providing actionable insights into social media performance. Reports show audience engagement, post success, and campaign effectiveness. These data-driven insights inform content strategy, refine marketing tactics, and measure ROI.
Bulk Scheduling
Sprout Social’s Bulk Scheduling feature enables uploading and scheduling multiple posts simultaneously via CSV files. Users can plan weeks or months of content in advance, maintaining consistent engagement across platforms. This feature serves large campaigns and multi-channel teams while saving time.
Helpdesk Integration:
Sprout Social integrates with helpdesk services like Zendesk, converting social media customer support issues into support tickets. This creates seamless transitions from social interactions to formal customer service processes.
Team Collaboration
Sprout Social’s team collaboration tools support businesses using team-based social media management. Features include task assignments, approval workflows for content consistency, and shared content calendars for team synchronization. These tools streamline social media management processes.
Response Rate and Time Analysis
Sprout Social analyzes how quickly and effectively teams respond to customer messages. This analysis identifies bottlenecks, streamlines response processes, and improves customer service quality.
Competitive Benchmarking
Sprout Social compares your social performance directly against competitors. The tool measures follower growth, engagement rates, and content success, allowing strategy adjustments to maintain competitive advantage.
Content Library and Digital Asset Management
The Advanced plan includes centralized storage for managing digital assets, including images, videos, and posts. This centralization provides easy access to resources and streamlines content planning, creation, and publishing processes.
Compare the Best Sprout Social Alternatives: Sprout Social vs. Buffer | Sprout Social Vs. Coschedule
Conclusion
Sprout Social offers robust functionalities, but its pricing creates barriers for many users. RecurPost provides affordable pricing with numerous features, delivering greater value per investment dollar.
RecurPost automatically recycles evergreen content, maximizing post lifespan and visibility without manual rescheduling, which ensures continuous audience engagement.
Apart from these, RecurPost proves itself as a better alternative for Sprout Social because of its user-friendly interface and extensive range of social platform coverage.
With RecurPost, you’re not just managing your social media but efficiently running your online presence. Consider RecurPost as your ultimate social media management tool and the perfect Sprout Social alternative!
Interested in a comparison between Sprout Social and Loomly? Check out our in-depth review to discover the differences and choose the right platform for your social media management needs.
Get a firsthand feel of RecurPost’s capabilities by utilizing its free trial. This trial period allows you to assess its features, providing you with a genuine understanding of its offerings!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What social media platforms does Sprout Social support?
Sprout Social supports scheduling posts on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok.
2. Is Sprout Social worth it?
Sprout Social offers useful features, but there are more cost-effective social media management tools available, particularly for medium to large enterprises. Agencies can find cheaper alternatives, such as RecurPost, which fills the gaps at comparatively lower costs.
3. Does Sprout Social have a free plan?
No, Sprout Social features pricing plans start from $249 per month. You can obtain a 30-day free trial.
4. What are the limitations of Sprout Social?
The limitations of Sprout Social include its higher cost compared to similar tools, a learning curve due to extensive features, limited customization options for reports and dashboards, absence of a free plan, and the need for an upgrade to access more comprehensive functionalities.
5. Which are the best Sprout Social alternatives?
If you’re looking for the best Sprout Social alternatives, look no further than RecurPost. It offers affordable pricing and the convenience of managing multiple social media accounts in one dashboard. You can take the free trial to experience its features.
6. How much does Sprout Social cost?
Sprout Social pricing starts at around $249 per month for the Standard plan. Pricing increases based on features, users, and plan type.
7. What is Sprout Social used for?
Sprout Social is a social media management tool used for scheduling posts, monitoring engagement, analyzing performance, and managing multiple social media accounts in one place.
