Hootsuite vs Sprout Social: Prices, Features and Which to Choose

Hootsuite vs Sprout Social comes down to what you’ll use most. Hootsuite’s entry plan ($99 per user a month, billed annually, as of September 2026) manages up to 10 social accounts and includes a short-range listening search, but review monitoring and listening alerts sit on Enterprise. Sprout Social’s comparable Standard plan ($199 per seat, billed annually) allows 5 profiles but includes review moderation, with Yelp, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot and Glassdoor connections. If reviews matter to you, Sprout covers them on a self-serve plan; if you mainly publish across many accounts, Hootsuite gives you more for the entry price.

This comparison works whichever way you search it, Sprout Social vs Hootsuite or the other way round. Every fact comes from the two companies’ own pricing pages and terms of service, checked in September 2026. Where a company doesn’t state something, we say “not stated” rather than guess. Check both sites for current pricing before you commit.

Quick answer

• Choose Hootsuite if you publish to many social accounts, want the lower entry price for more accounts, and don’t need review management on a self-serve plan.
• Choose Sprout Social if you want reviews in the same inbox as social messages, a longer free trial, or a cheaper publishing-only plan (Essentials).
• Choose neither if what you really need is alerts when a review or mention needs a reply. A free option may cover that (see below).

Hootsuite vs Sprout Social: comparison table

All prices are in US dollars, per user or seat, per month, as of September 2026.

Feature	Hootsuite	Sprout Social
Plans	Standard, Professional, Advanced, Enterprise	Essentials, Standard, Professional, Advanced, Enterprise
Annual billing price	$99, $199, $399; Enterprise custom	$79, $199, $299, $399; Enterprise custom
Monthly billing price	Offered at a higher rate; figures not stated on the page we checked	$99, $249, $399, $499
Free trial	14 days, no credit card	30 days, no credit card
Social accounts on entry plan	10 (Standard); unlimited from Professional	5 (Essentials and Standard); unlimited from Professional
AI credits	100 a month on paid plans	100 a month per seat
Unified social inbox	From Standard	From Standard (not Essentials)
Review management	“Monitor brand reviews” add-on, listed for Enterprise only	Review moderation from Standard; Glassdoor, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot and Yelp from Standard
Listening on self-serve plans	Quick Search: 7 days on Standard, 30 days from Professional; sentiment analysis on all plans	Real-time keyword and brand monitoring from Standard; full Listening is a paid add-on from Standard
Listening alerts	Enterprise only	Message spike alerts from Advanced
Advanced listening	Lumen by Talkwalker, Enterprise only	Listening add-on, price through sales
Post approval workflows	From Advanced	From Professional
Competitor benchmarking	5 competitors on Standard, 20 on Professional	Competitor reports for Facebook, X and Instagram from Professional
Renewal	Self-serve plans auto-renew monthly or annually	Auto-renews; annual price rise capped at 7% unless 60 days’ notice
Cancellation and refunds	Cancel any time; pay for the rest of the term, no refund	Cancel any time; access to end of term, no refund
Nonprofit discount	Yes, on some plans (amount not stated)	Professional $239, Advanced $299, billed annually, for qualifying US 501(c)(3)s

Where Hootsuite is stronger

• More accounts for the entry price. Hootsuite Standard manages up to 10 social accounts. Sprout’s Standard allows 5, and Sprout counts review profiles toward that limit.
• Listening basics on every plan. Every Hootsuite plan includes Quick Search for trending topics, with sentiment analysis and peak detection. Professional adds 30 days of search and trend forecasting.
• Competitor benchmarking from the entry plan. Standard benchmarks 5 competitors; Professional benchmarks 20. Sprout’s competitor reports start at Professional.
• Enterprise-grade listening in the same company. Hootsuite acquired Talkwalker in April 2024, and its Lumen by Talkwalker listening is available to Enterprise customers. Our Talkwalker plan guide covers how it’s priced.
• Automation earlier. DM automations, automated message responses and AI-powered smart replies are on Professional.

Where Sprout Social is stronger

• Reviews on a self-serve plan. Review moderation is included from Standard, with Glassdoor, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot and Yelp connections. At Hootsuite, brand review monitoring is listed as an Enterprise add-on.
• A cheaper publishing-only plan. Essentials, at $79 per seat billed annually, covers scheduling and reporting for up to 5 profiles.
• Longer trial. 30 days against Hootsuite’s 14.
• Approvals sooner. Message approval workflows start at Professional, one tier earlier than Hootsuite.
• Published renewal cap. Sprout’s terms cap annual renewal increases at 7% unless it gives 60 days’ notice. We didn’t find an equivalent cap in Hootsuite’s self-serve terms.
• Published monthly prices. Sprout lists its monthly billing prices. Hootsuite says monthly billing costs more per user but didn’t show the figures in the page data we checked.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

A home services company has one marketer. She posts to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok and Google Business Profile, and the owner wants her to answer Google and Yelp reviews quickly.

• On Hootsuite Standard, six accounts fit within the limit of 10, at $99 a month billed annually. But review monitoring would need Enterprise.
• On Sprout Standard, review moderation is included, but six publishing accounts plus Yelp exceed the 5-profile limit, which pushes her to Professional at $299 a month billed annually.
• A third route: Hootsuite Standard for publishing, and reviews answered directly in Google Business Profile and Yelp’s own business tools, with a free alert tool so nothing is missed.

None of these is wrong. The right answer depends on whether one inbox is worth the price difference to her.

A free option to consider

If you were weighing Hootsuite or Sprout Social mainly to keep watch on reviews and mentions, you may not need either. Our free platform, which is ours, so weigh that, tags every page-one result for your name as positive, neutral or negative; watches for new reviews and mentions and alerts you when one needs a reply; tracks every result as owned pages climb and old ones slip; and reports back every month in plain English. It doesn’t publish posts or run a social inbox, and it doesn’t send review requests or offer webchat, payments, listings sync, integrations, AI replies, or broadcast monitoring and press databases, so it’s not a replacement if publishing is the main job.

Start with a free reputation audit. If you’d like people to handle social monitoring and replies, see our social media reputation management service. For more options, see our Sprout Social alternatives, the full Sprout Social pricing breakdown, and our list of the best social listening tools.

Frequently asked questions

Is Hootsuite or Sprout Social cheaper?

It depends on the plan. As of September 2026, Sprout Social’s Essentials plan is the cheapest entry point at $79 per seat a month billed annually, but it has no inbox. For a plan with an inbox, Hootsuite Standard is $99 per user and Sprout Standard is $199 per seat, both billed annually.

Sprout Social vs Hootsuite: which is better for reviews?

Sprout Social includes review moderation from its Standard plan, with Yelp, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot and Glassdoor connections. Hootsuite lists its brand review monitoring add-on only for Enterprise as of September 2026.

Do Hootsuite and Sprout Social offer free trials?

Yes. Hootsuite offers a 14-day free trial and Sprout Social a 30-day free trial, and neither requires a credit card to start, according to their pricing pages in September 2026.

Which is better for social listening?

On self-serve plans, Hootsuite includes a basic Quick Search with sentiment on every plan, while Sprout includes keyword monitoring from Standard and sells full Listening as an add-on. Hootsuite’s listening alerts and Lumen by Talkwalker are on Enterprise. For listening-only tools, see our best social listening tools list.

Can I cancel Hootsuite or Sprout Social any time?

Both let you cancel, but neither refunds unused fees under their standard terms. Hootsuite’s self-serve terms say you pay for the rest of your plan term. Sprout’s terms say you keep access until the end of the term. Annual plans on both auto-renew, so cancel before the renewal date.