Sprout Social alternatives, and what they cost you.
The best Sprout Social alternatives in 2026 are Agorapulse from about $99 a user for teams that need the inbox and reporting, Hootsuite from $99 a user as the closest mainstream swap, Metricool from $20 a month for agencies priced by brand, and Buffer or Publer from about $5 for teams that mainly need publishing. Sprout Social runs $79 to $399 per seat, so every one of these is a large saving and every one gives something up.
Prices were read from each company's own pricing page on 5 September 2026, and every entry links to its source. This page is honest about the case for staying, because for some teams that is the right answer.
By PostivaPublished Prices checked 5 September 2026
The short version
- Sprout Social is $79 to $399 per seat per month. Everything on this list is cheaper, most of it dramatically.
- What you usually give up is reporting depth and approval workflow, in that order.
- Agencies leaving over seat costs should look at brand-priced tools first, which means Metricool.
- If client reporting is what you are paying for, most of this list will disappoint you. That is worth knowing before you migrate.
What you keep and what you lose, at a glance
Sprout Social is in the first column so the losses are visible in one pass. Most of this table looks closer than it is, because a tick does not measure depth and depth is what a Sprout Social seat is actually buying.
Agorapulse is the only column that matches it on every row. Everything to the right of it trades something away, and the entries above say what.
Sprout Social
- Starts at
- $79 / seat
- Billed by
- Seat
- Free planNo
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingYes
- Comment and message inboxYes
- Approval or client reviewYes
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Agorapulse
- Starts at
- $99 / user
- Billed by
- User
- Free planNo
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingYes
- Comment and message inboxYes
- Approval or client reviewYes
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Hootsuite
- Starts at
- $99 / user
- Billed by
- User
- Free planNo
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingYes
- Comment and message inboxYes
- Approval or client reviewYes
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Metricool
- Starts at
- Free, then $20
- Billed by
- Brand count
- Free planYes
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingYes
- Comment and message inboxPartly
- Approval or client reviewPartly
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Postiva
Ours- Starts at
- $15 / month
- Billed by
- Team
- Free planNo
- Publishes to the platformsNo
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingNo
- Comment and message inboxNo
- Approval or client reviewYes
- Writes the posts from a source you give itYes
- Exports finished carousel slidesYes
Later
- Starts at
- Free, then $25
- Billed by
- Plan, plus add-ons
- Free planYes
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingPartly
- Comment and message inboxPartly
- Approval or client reviewPartly
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Buffer
- Starts at
- Free, then $5
- Billed by
- Channel
- Free planYes
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingPartly
- Comment and message inboxPartly
- Approval or client reviewPartly
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Publer
- Starts at
- Free, then $5
- Billed by
- Social account
- Free planYes
- Publishes to the platformsYes
- Scheduling calendarYes
- Analytics and reportingPartly
- Comment and message inboxPartly
- Approval or client reviewPartly
- Writes the posts from a source you give itNo
- Exports finished carousel slidesNo
Marked from each company's own feature and pricing pages on 5 September 2026. A tick means the vendor presents it as included at or above the plan in the Starts at row, a half tick means it ships but is limited next to the specialists here or sits behind a higher tier, and a cross means it is not offered. Feature sets move; confirm anything you are about to buy on the vendor's own page.
Seven alternatives, with the trade-off named.
Ordered from closest replacement to biggest saving. Every figure links to the page it came from.
Agorapulse
- Best for
- Keeping the inbox and the reporting while dropping the seat price.
- Price
- From about $99 per user, per month
- Free plan
- No free plan. Free trial.
Agorapulse is the closest thing on this list to what a Sprout Social seat buys: a genuine unified inbox, approval workflows, and reporting an agency can put in front of a client. It is also priced per user, so it reduces the bill rather than changing the model. For teams whose complaint was the invoice rather than the tool, that may not be far enough.
How the bill works
Per-user pricing across Standard, Professional, Advanced, and a custom tier, so a three-person team pays three times the headline.
What it does well
- Inbox and social CRM close to Sprout Social in practice.
- Approval workflows built for client review.
- Reporting that stands up in a client meeting.
What you give up
- Still per-user, so team growth still multiplies the bill.
- Most expensive option on this list alongside Hootsuite.
- No free tier.
Hootsuite
- Best for
- A mainstream swap with a large support and integration ecosystem.
- Price
- $99, $199, or $399 per user, per month
- Free plan
- No free plan. 30-day trial.
Hootsuite is the default alternative for enterprises, and the entry tier at $99 a user sits below Sprout Social Standard at $199. The reporting is not as strong, which is the main thing a Sprout Social customer notices, and it is also per-user, so the structural problem is unchanged.
How the bill works
Billed per user. Three seats on Standard is $297 a month, not $99. Enterprise is quote-only.
What it does well
- Standard at $99 a user undercuts Sprout Social Standard.
- Large integration ecosystem and plenty of institutional familiarity.
- Full inbox and approval controls at the upper tiers.
What you give up
- Reporting is the step down Sprout Social users feel most.
- Per-user pricing, and no free tier.
- Add-ons for listening and advanced analytics.
Metricool
- Best for
- Agencies bleeding money on seats for people who only review.
- Price
- Free, or from $20 per month
- Free plan
- Yes, for one brand.
Metricool is the biggest structural change on this list, because it prices by brand rather than by seat. An agency with six people and eight clients pays for the clients, which is usually a fraction of eight Sprout Social seats. Analytics are the strongest of the affordable options, though not at Sprout Social level.
How the bill works
Priced by how many brands you manage. Starter is $20 a month billed annually and $25 monthly; the tiers climb with brand count rather than with features.
What it does well
- Brand-count pricing removes the seat multiplier entirely.
- Best analytics of the affordable tools here.
- Free tier for one brand, so you can test it properly.
What you give up
- Inbox is much lighter than Sprout Social or Agorapulse.
- Reports are good but not client-presentation polished out of the box.
- Brand tiers jump rather than scale smoothly.
Postiva
Our product- Best for
- Teams whose Sprout Social seat is mostly used for producing and approving content.
- Price
- $15, $29, or $79 per month
- Free plan
- No free tier. 14-day trial, no card.
Postiva is ours, so treat this row accordingly. It replaces one slice of what a Sprout Social seat does, not the whole thing: Postiva does not publish to any platform. It writes and renders the content, and you post it. What it covers is producing the content and getting it approved, including client approval links, platform-native copy from one source, and finished carousel slides. Teams pair it with a cheap scheduler and drop the expensive seats.
How the bill works
Billed per team, not per seat and not per channel. The plan sets how much you generate each month, not which features you can open.
What it does well
- Per-team pricing, so reviewers and approvers cost nothing.
- Client approval links without an enterprise tier.
- Produces finished carousel images and a LinkedIn PDF, not just copy.
What you give up
- No publishing, no inbox, no listening, no analytics.
- Replaces part of the workflow, so you still need something to post with.
- No free tier, only a 14-day trial without a card.
Later
- Best for
- Brands whose social presence is mostly visual and mostly Instagram.
- Price
- Free, or from $25 per month
- Free plan
- Yes, with limits.
Later is a large step down in reporting and inbox from Sprout Social, and a large step up in visual planning. For a consumer brand where the Instagram grid is the point, that trade can be worth it. For a B2B team on LinkedIn it usually is not.
How the bill works
Starter is $25 billed monthly and $18.75 billed annually. Extra users, extra social sets, and extra AI credits are all separate line items.
What it does well
- Visual planner and grid preview are the best here.
- Free tier available.
- Much cheaper than any Sprout Social seat.
What you give up
- Reporting is a long way below Sprout Social.
- Add-ons for users, social sets, and credits inflate the base price.
- Weak fit outside Instagram-led work.
Buffer
- Best for
- Dropping to publishing only, and spending the savings elsewhere.
- Price
- Free, or from $5 per channel, per month
- Free plan
- Yes, up to 3 channels.
Buffer does not pretend to be a Sprout Social replacement and should not be evaluated as one. What it does is publish reliably at a fraction of the price, with a free tier for three channels. Teams that audit their Sprout Social usage and find they mostly schedule posts often land here.
How the bill works
Billed per connected channel, not per person. Essentials is $5 a channel billed yearly and $6 monthly; Team is $10 a channel yearly. The per-channel rate drops above 10 channels.
What it does well
- Enormous cost reduction, from hundreds a seat to single figures a channel.
- Free tier for three channels.
- Simple enough that adoption is not a project.
What you give up
- No meaningful inbox, listening, or client reporting.
- Per-channel billing bites at high account counts.
- You will feel the reporting loss immediately if clients read reports.
Publer
- Best for
- The lowest possible bill when publishing is genuinely all that is needed.
- Price
- Free, or from $5 per month
- Free plan
- Yes, with limits.
Publer is the cheapest paid option in this comparison, with bulk scheduling and recycling included low in the range. Like Buffer, it is a publishing tool rather than a social management platform, so the gap against Sprout Social is wide and obvious. The $5 is one social account rather than a plan, and the reporting you would be leaving Sprout Social for is on the Business tier, so price it at your real account count before treating it as a like-for-like saving.
How the bill works
The $5 buys one social account, not a plan with everything in it. Publer bills per social account, and it works out at roughly $4 an account on Professional and $7 on Business, so five accounts is $20 or $35 a month. Teammates are charged separately again, yearly billing takes 20 percent off, and VAT is added on top.
What it does well
- Lowest paid starting price here.
- Bulk scheduling and post recycling included early.
- Free tier underneath.
What you give up
- Billed per social account, so the $5 headline is one account and five is $20.
- Reporting is basic, and it is Business-tier only.
- Nothing resembling Sprout Social’s inbox or listening.
The comparison in one table
Starting prices and, more usefully, what each tool bills you for. Sprout Social is included as the baseline you are measuring against.
Sprout Social
- Starts at
- $79 / seat
- Billed by
- Seat
- Free tier
- No
Agorapulse
- Starts at
- $99 / month
- Billed by
- User
- Free tier
- No
Hootsuite
- Starts at
- $99 / month
- Billed by
- User
- Free tier
- No
Metricool
- Starts at
- $20 / month
- Billed by
- Brand count
- Free tier
- Yes, 1 brand
Later
- Starts at
- $25 / month
- Billed by
- Plan, plus add-ons
- Free tier
- Yes
Postiva (ours)
- Starts at
- $15 / month
- Billed by
- Team
- Free tier
- No, 14-day trial
Buffer
- Starts at
- Free, then $5
- Billed by
- Channel
- Free tier
- Yes, 3 channels
Publer
- Starts at
- $5 / month
- Billed by
- Social account
- Free tier
- Yes
Read from each company's own pricing page on 5 September 2026. Sprout Social and Metricool headline their annual rate; monthly billing costs more. The Publer and Buffer figures are one account or channel, not a whole plan: five of either is $20 and $30 a month.
What you give up, ranked by how much it hurts
Nothing on this list matches Sprout Social feature for feature at a fraction of the price, and any page claiming otherwise is selling something. The useful question is which losses you will notice.
- Reporting depth. The most-felt loss, and the hardest to work around if clients read the reports.
- Approval workflow. Recoverable, but usually by changing how the team works rather than by a setting.
- Unified inbox. Only Agorapulse comes close. Everything else is a real step down.
- Social listening. Largely absent below the enterprise tier anywhere.
- Publishing itself. Not a loss. Every tool here does it, and most do it well.
When you should stay on Sprout Social
Three situations. If your reports are part of what a client is paying for, the reporting is the product and cutting it costs you more than the seat. If message volume is high enough that the inbox is a full-time job, the alternatives will not hold it. If your approval chain has compliance attached, the permission model is doing real work.
Outside those three, the seat cost is usually buying capability that nobody on the team opens. The honest test is to audit a month of actual usage before you renew, then read this list again.