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Hootsuite vs. Sprout Social: Get ahead with the best social media tool

With over 15 years as the industry leader, Hootsuite still reigns supreme as the best social media management tool. Lower prices, user-friendly publishing tools, and incomparable analytics are a few of the reasons why social media managers consistently rank Hootsuite number one.

Transparent graphic showing the Hootsuite dashboard with Owly holding a trophy and analytics graph

Spoiler alert: There is no Hootsuite alternative. Here's why.

Feature

Hootsuite

Sprout Social

Price

Starts at $99

Starts at $249

Avg. cost per user seat

$110

$332

Total customers

25 million

30,000

Platforms

decorative

decorative

Integrations

100+

26

Zapier integration (lets you connect 5,000+ apps)

Yes

No

Google My Business integration

Yes

No

Scheduling and publishing

Facebook ads

Yes***

No

Instagram ads

Yes***

No

LinkedIn ads

Yes***

No

X (Twitter)

Yes

Yes

Threads

Yes (Beta)

No

Calendar view

Yes

Yes

Instagram posts

Yes

Yes

Instagram carousels

Yes

Yes

Instagram Stories

Yes

Yes

Instagram Reels

Yes

Yes

Facebook posts

Yes

Yes

Facebook group posts

Yes

Yes

TikToks

Yes

Yes

LinkedIn page posts

Yes

Yes

LinkedIn personal profile posts

Yes

Yes

Pinterest Pins

Yes

Yes

Pinterest boards

Yes

Yes

YouTube videos

Yes

Yes

Google Business Profile Updates

Yes**

Yes

Meta Threads

Yes (Beta)

No

Analytics and reporting

Recommended time to publish based on goal

Yes

No

Paid and organic reporting

Yes

Yes

Competitive benchmarking

Yes

Yes

Customizable reports

Yes

Yes

Report templates

Yes

Yes

White-label reports

Yes 

Yes

Web analytics integration

Yes*

Yes

Social ROI analysis

Yes*

No

Link shortener

Yes

with integration

Content creation

AI caption writer

Yes

Yes

AI content idea generator

Yes

No

Canva

Yes

with integration

Post templates

Yes

No

Hashtag generator

Yes

No

Photo editor

Yes

Yes

Content suggestions for reposting/content curation

Yes

Yes

Automated link tracking

Yes

Yes

Social listening

Social listening

Yes*

with add-on

Hashtag and mention monitoring

Yes*

Yes

Sentiment analysis

Yes*

Yes

Advertising

Facebook ads

Yes

No

Instagram ads

Yes

No

LinkedIn ads

Yes

No

Boost Instagram posts

Yes

No

Boost LinkedIn posts

Yes

No

Boost Facebook posts

Yes

Yes

Ad campaign management

Yes***

Yes

Employee advocacy

Employee advocacy

Yes*

Yes

Messaging and customer service

Agent availability

Yes*

No

Unified inbox for all comments and DMs

Yes

Yes

Message spike alerts

Yes*

Yes

Message prioritization

Yes

Yes

Saved and suggested replies

Yes*

Yes

Business hours

Yes*

Yes

Message tags and topics

Yes*

Yes

Auto-resolve conversations

Yes*

Yes

Auto-responder

Yes*

Yes

Team performance metrics

Yes*

Yes

Chatbot support

Yes*

Twitter and Facebook only

Collaboration

Project management integrations

Yes

No

Roles and permissions

Yes

Yes

Assign posts to team members

Yes

Yes

Approval workflows

Yes***

Yes

Give feedback on drafts

Yes

Yes

Export content calendar for stakeholders

Yes

Yes

Shopping

Social commerce integrations

7

3

Shoppable Instagram posts

Yes*

Yes

Artificial intelligence (AI)

AI caption writer

Yes

Yes

AI copywriter

Yes

Yes

AI hashtag generator

Yes

No

Chatbot integration

Yes

Twitter and Facebook only

Work-life balance

Save difficult comments for later

Yes

No

Global publishing pause

Yes

Yes

Creator tools

Fourstarzz integration

Yes

No

Insense integration

Yes

No

Track influencer trends

Yes*

No

One centralized inbox to communicate with influencers across platforms

Yes

Yes

Manage Twitter lists

Yes

Yes

Content curation and user-generated content (UGC)

Collect the best customer content from social media and clear the rights 

Yes**

No

Streams to follow and reshare relevant content

Yes

Yes

Compliance

Safeguards to prevent accidental publishing

Yes

No

Option to add publishing security with Proofpoint

Yes

No

Multi-factor authentication

Yes

Yes

Single sign-on

Yes*

Yes

Access permission

Yes

Yes

Strategy guidance

In-app Social Score to help you improve in real-time

Yes

No

Exclusive live social media coaching sessions

Yes

No

Webinars

Yes

Yes

Platform certification training

Yes

Yes


*available with add-on **available with free integration ***enterprise only


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What we do better


If you’re in the market for a Sprout Social alternative that gives you more but costs less, you’ll love Hootsuite.

Grow your brand fast with better performance tracking

Build customized analytics reports right out of the box. No need to pay for advanced analytics add-ons to get the information you need. Plus, Hootsuite will tell you the exact best time to publish content based on the goal you set — extend reach, build awareness, increase engagement, or drive traffic. Sprout’s timing recommendations are more generic and not as likely to help you succeed.

Graphic depicting Hootsuite's analytics tools, including when to publish, engagement rate, and brand awareness graph

Boost engagement with world-class publishing tools

Hootsuite comes with a ton of easy-to-use content curation and publishing tools that you won’t find elsewhere. Write clear captions in seconds with the help of an AI caption writer built into your dashboard. Boost your chances of going viral with an automated hashtag generator and attractive post templates.

Transparent graphic depicting the Hootsuite dashboard with Composer, hashtag suggestions, and content ideas

Stay on top of trends with superior social listening

Instantly analyze millions of real-time conversations about your brand online. With Hootsuite, you get a year’s worth of search data, alerts that notify you when people are talking about your brand, and flexible search options. With Sprout, you’ll only be able to see 30 days of search data with no alerts to keep you in the loop.

Graphic depicting Hootsuite's social listening platform with graphs, word cloud, and StreamsGraphic depicting Hootsuite's dashboard with social listening graph and word cloud
Hootsuite was the original social media manager, and it's managed to stay on top a decade later because they're innovative, and at the same time, simplistic enough to make it easy for a small business to manage their social media marketing. Sprout also does a great job but at a higher price.
Rob Gokee
Compose

Frequently Asked Questions

Hootsuite beats Sprout Social across the board. It can help you grow your business online faster with easier publishing to all your channels. 

The best part about Hootsuite? You can complete the same tasks in fewer clicks compared to the competition. Publish and track social media ads alongside organic posts from the same dashboard. 

Plus, Hootsuite improves your strategy with smarter social media analytics. It tells you the best time to post based on the unique goal you set. Get recommendations on when to post to extend reach, build awareness, increase engagement, or drive traffic.

Over a hundred integrations — including project management and social commerce apps — bring all your tools to one tab. Time-savers like Canva, post templates, and a hashtag generator are built-in.

No. You’ll pay a flat rate for Hootsuite Professional, Team, and Business and get up to five user seats with no extra fee. Sprout charges up to $349 per month per additional user. Hootsuite’s team plans support between three and five users, while Sprout’s support only one.

Compare plans

Hootsuite has the best social listening tools for any size business. Every Hootsuite plan includes customizable streams you can use to listen in on key conversations. Track mentions, hashtags, and conversations about your brand or industry. 

Need advanced social listening capabilities? Add Hootsuite Insights, powered by Brandwatch. See total mentions, mentions over time, sentiment, emotions, demographics, and more with Insights.

Get deeper and more accurate customer insights with the most advanced social listening tool available. Hootsuite Insights shows you a year's worth of search data and will notify you during key moments of online chatter.

Hootsuite Amplify — the original employee advocacy platform — is the best of the bunch. We hear time and time again that Amplify is easier to use and more powerful than any competitor’s version.

Amplify lets you set up your team to share relevant, on-brand content to send your message further. Quickly boost reach and engagement by tapping into your team's personal network.

Learn more

Hootsuite has the best social media analytics tools, period. Boost engagement by learning the best time to post based on your audience and goals. Plus, see your top-performing posts and how your ads are performing.

Want to know how you stack up to the competition? Hootsuite provides industry benchmarking and competitive analysis. Compare performance against similar brands and industry leaders to take your message further.

One more thing! Hootsuite’s analytics are more customizable than the competition. Compare custom time frames, create attractive custom reports, and white-label reports as needed. Note: Sprout charges extra fees to access many of these features.

See why Hootsuite beats the competition every time

Still weighing your options? Visit our comparison tables to get a feature-by-feature breakdown of why Hootsuite is the best.

Why sprout when you can blossom? See for yourself why Hootsuite is still the best social media management tool.