Sprout Social Alternatives: 6 Options Compared on Price and Features

The best Sprout Social alternatives depend on which part of Sprout you’re replacing. For publishing and a social inbox, Hootsuite is the closest like-for-like tool and Buffer is the cheapest. For brand mention monitoring, Brand24 and Mention focus on listening rather than posting. For enterprise media and social intelligence, Meltwater is quote-based. If you mainly need to know when a review or mention needs a reply, our free platform covers that without per-seat fees.

Every competitor fact below comes from each company’s own pricing page, checked in September 2026. We haven’t used third-party price estimates, and we don’t give star ratings or scores. Prices change often in this category, so check each vendor’s site before you decide.

Why people look for Sprout Social alternatives

Sprout Social is a capable tool, and plenty of teams are happy on it. The reasons people shop around tend to be practical:

• Per-seat cost. As of September 2026, Sprout Social’s plans run from $79 to $399 per seat a month on annual billing. Adding people adds cost quickly.
• Profile limits. Essentials and Standard allow 5 social profiles, and Sprout counts review profiles such as Google Business Profile, Yelp and TripAdvisor toward that limit.
• Listening is extra. Sprout’s Listening product is an add-on from the Standard plan up, with no published price.
• Commitment. Sprout’s terms say annual plans auto-renew, and canceling mid-term doesn’t bring a refund of unused fees.
• More than they need. A solo marketer who only schedules posts may not use the inbox, approvals and reporting that justify Sprout’s price.

Our Sprout Social pricing guide breaks down every plan and term if you want to check whether a cheaper Sprout plan would do.

Sprout Social alternatives at a glance

Tool	Published price (as of September 2026)	Free plan or trial	Main strength
Our free platform (123 Reputation Management)	Free	Free to use	Search result, review and mention alerts with monthly reports
Hootsuite	$99, $199 or $399 per user a month, billed annually; Enterprise custom	14-day free trial, no credit card	Publishing, inbox and basic listening in one tool
Buffer	Free for up to 3 channels; paid plans from $6 per channel a month ($5 on yearly billing)	Free plan; 14-day trial on paid plans	Low-cost scheduling
Brand24	$199 to $599 a month billed annually, or $249 to $699 monthly; Enterprise from $1,499	14-day free trial, no credit card	Brand mention monitoring across social, news and reviews
Mention	Company plan through a demo; price not shown	Free trial offered	Social and web listening with review site coverage
Meltwater	Tailored pricing through sales	No self-serve free trial	Enterprise media monitoring and social listening

The alternatives in detail

1. Our free platform (123 Reputation Management)

This one is ours, so read it with that in mind. It isn’t a social media management tool, and it won’t schedule posts or run a social inbox. What it does: it 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’s free.

Good fit if: you were considering Sprout mainly to keep an eye on reviews and what people say about you, and you’d rather not pay per seat for that.

Not a fit if: you need to publish content, manage social inboxes, send review requests or connect to a CRM. It does none of those, and it has no webchat, payments, listings sync, integrations, AI replies, or broadcast monitoring and press databases either.

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is the most direct swap. As of September 2026, its Standard plan costs $99 per user a month, Professional $199 and Advanced $399, shown “based on annual billing.” Enterprise is custom. Standard manages up to 10 social accounts; Professional and above are unlimited. Every paid plan includes a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and Hootsuite says you won’t be charged automatically when it ends.

Standard includes an inbox, scheduling and a 7-day Quick Search for brand and competitor mentions with sentiment analysis. Listening alerts, 13 months of historical data and advanced data sources are listed only on Enterprise, as is the add-on to monitor brand reviews alongside social mentions. Hootsuite acquired Talkwalker in April 2024, and its full listening product, Lumen by Talkwalker, is for Enterprise customers.

Good fit if: you want Sprout-style publishing and an inbox with more social accounts on the entry plan.

Watch for: review monitoring and listening alerts are Enterprise features. See our Hootsuite vs Sprout Social comparison for a full breakdown.

3. Buffer

Buffer prices by channel rather than by seat. As of September 2026, its Free plan connects up to 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, one user, basic insights with 30 days of history, and a community inbox for replying to comments. Essentials starts at $6 per channel a month on monthly billing ($5 on yearly billing) and adds unlimited scheduled posts and advanced analytics. Team starts at $12 per channel a month ($10 yearly) and adds unlimited team members and access levels. The per-channel rate drops as you add channels.

Good fit if: you mainly schedule posts and want the lowest cost, including a genuinely free option.

Watch for: Buffer’s pricing page doesn’t list social listening or review management, so it replaces Sprout’s publishing side only.

4. Brand24

Brand24 is a monitoring tool, not a publishing tool. As of September 2026, its plans are Individual ($199 a month billed annually, $249 monthly), Team ($299 or $349), Pro ($399 or $499) and Business ($599 or $699), with Enterprise from $1,499 a month billed annually. Plans are limited by keywords and monthly mentions: Individual tracks 3 keywords and 2,000 mentions, Business 25 keywords and 100,000 mentions. There’s a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

Every plan covers Facebook, Instagram, X, news, blogs and Reddit, with sentiment analysis and storm alerts. Review sites are listed as a source from the Pro plan up, and podcasts from Business. Brand24’s FAQ describes a 30-day money-back guarantee, excluding custom plans and negotiated deals.

Good fit if: you need to track mentions and sentiment, and you’ll post and reply natively or in another tool.

Watch for: review coverage starts at Pro. Our Brand24 pricing guide covers the plans and terms.

5. Mention

Mention sells one Company plan through a demo. Its pricing page doesn’t display a price, though it says paying yearly gets you 2 months free. The plan covers real-time tracking on Facebook, Instagram, X, Reddit, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube, plus news, blogs and forums, and monitors 75+ review sites including Google, Facebook, Trustpilot, Amazon and Glassdoor. Boolean search, sentiment analysis, share of voice, and Slack and Zapier integrations are listed. Historical data and API access are paid add-ons.

Good fit if: review site monitoring alongside social listening is the priority.

Watch for: Mention says it’s phasing out its Publish and Respond features and recommends Agorapulse for publishing and replying, so it won’t replace Sprout’s publishing tools on its own. Our look at how Mention prices its plan has more.

6. Meltwater

Meltwater lists Starter, Pro, Enterprise and Agency plans, all through “Contact Sales.” Its pricing page says pricing is tailored to the modules, sources, regions, users and contract terms you choose, and that it “does not offer a self-serve free trial.” It covers media monitoring and social listening, and may charge a one-time onboarding fee for complex setups, as stated in its FAQ.

Good fit if: you’re a larger organization that wants news, broadcast and social monitoring together, with account support.

Watch for: no published prices and no self-serve trial, so budget time for a sales process.

How to choose a Sprout Social alternative

1. Name the job Sprout was doing. Publishing, customer care inbox, listening, or reporting. Most alternatives are strong at one or two of these, not all four.
2. Count seats and channels. Hootsuite and Sprout price per user. Buffer prices per channel. Brand24 prices by keywords and mentions. The cheapest tool depends on your shape.
3. Check where review monitoring lives. On Sprout it starts at Standard. On Hootsuite it’s an Enterprise add-on. On Brand24 it starts at Pro. Mention includes 75+ review sites.
4. Read the renewal terms before the trial ends. Auto-renewal and no-refund clauses are common. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you sign.
5. Run two trials side by side. Set up the same brand keywords in both and compare what each one catches over two weeks.

For more on setting up monitoring, see our guides to social listening and tracking brand mentions. If you’d rather hand the work to people, our social media reputation management service covers monitoring and replies.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest alternative to Sprout Social?

For publishing, Buffer has a free plan for up to 3 channels, and paid plans start at $6 per channel a month as of September 2026. For review and mention alerts, our free platform costs nothing. Check each tool’s site for current pricing.

Is Hootsuite cheaper than Sprout Social?

At list prices, partly. As of September 2026, Hootsuite starts at $99 per user a month billed annually, while Sprout Social’s Essentials plan is $79 and Standard is $199. Hootsuite’s Standard allows 10 social accounts compared with 5 on Sprout’s Standard. Compare features, not just the entry price.

Which Sprout Social alternative is best for social listening?

Brand24, Mention and Meltwater are all built around listening. Brand24 publishes its prices and offers a 14-day trial. Mention and Meltwater price through sales. Hootsuite’s advanced listening is on its Enterprise plan.

Is there a free Sprout Social alternative?

Yes, for parts of it. Buffer’s free plan covers basic scheduling for up to 3 channels. Our free platform covers review and mention alerts and search result tracking. No free tool we checked replaces all of Sprout Social’s publishing, inbox and reporting together.