Marketing professionals will be the first to tell you that any task you put before them can be accomplished by any one of the numerous software solutions on the market. In the same breath, though, they’ll also tell you which software solution is their favorite and why it absolutely destroys the competition, no matter how many features their favorite platform might have in common with other industry leading solutions.
When it comes to social media marketing management platforms, there are few bigger names operating today than Sprout Social and Hootsuite. We thought it might be helpful for the community to learn more about these two powerhouse services by asking marketing professionals which of these platforms they prefer and why, and compare their responses to our own findings.
Why Do You Need a Social Media Management Software
Remember when “social media” was just a Facebook page, and maybe a Twitter account? Today there are dozens of platforms used worldwide. And there is a lot of traffic to keep up with on every platform—the top six social platforms alone boast a user base of more than a billion users each.
Even if your brand only focuses on activity across a limited number of the platforms, that’s still a significant number of social posts, consumer interactions, consumer messages, and other social interactions for even a fully dedicated marketing department to keep up with without the right tools. Social media management software allows individual contributors to engage with platforms as if they are a full department, while agencies and large enterprise operations benefit from the ability to quickly and efficiently manage multiple branded social channels.
In this article we’re going to give our readers the tale of the tape between Sprout Social and Hootsuite, to find out which platform is overall the better solution for marketing professionals seeking an all-in-one social media management solution. We’ve also included an FAQs section at the end of this post to round out our overview.
What is Sprout Social?
Sprout Social is an American company founded in 2010 by Justyn Howard and a team of three other entrepreneurs who gradually guided the company to its IPO in 2019. Over that period, the company launched several tools, such as Bot Builder and Bambu, and acquired the Simply Measured brand in the process.
Sprout Social’s primary product is the social media management software tool that over time evolved into a fully formed end-to-end solution.
- The single interface integrates four primary functions:
- Engagement
- Publishing and scheduling
- Reporting and analytics
- Monitoring and social listening
What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is a privately held Canadian company that started as a Twitter management tool in 2008 founded by Ryan Holmes. It has since expanded into a powerful social media management platform.
Servicing more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies, the tool is used by more than 18 million users to build and maintain customer relationships across social channels.
As the tool has evolved from managing a single social channel to becoming a single interface for managing the whole of your social media footprint, its strongest features are:
- Post creation and scheduling
- Streams management to monitor and follow activity on all of your social channels at a glance
- Robust analytics across a mix of all channels or per channel depending on your needs
- Team management for social campaigns
- Custom content maintained in a content library
Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite Pricing Overview
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Sprout Social |
Hootsuite |
|
Pricing |
Starts at 89 per month for a single user accessing 5 social profiles with access to most tools; Professional access costs $149 per user per month, and larger teams start at $249 on the same terms. |
Starts at $49 per month for a single user with up to 10 social media posts; Teams and agencies scale up to $129 to $599 per month depending on the scope of your social media needs. |
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Free Trial |
Yes, 30-day |
Yes, 30-day individual trial on the Professional Tier |
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Free Options |
No |
Free plan includes 1 user managing 2 social accounts, with only 5 scheduled messages at a time |
The pricing models for social media management platforms are often complex and it’s difficult to parse value. Generally, it’s important to match your plan to your organization’s actual needs. If you only have a single marketing associate handling your social media channels, you don’t need a plan that allows multiple users unless it also gives you access to more social media accounts that are important to your brand. That said, Hootsuite’s plans are somewhat more flexible, the trial allows the user to get a feel for the true user experience, and there is a completely free access level for startups or freelancers to get their start. The advantage in terms of pricing, therefore, goes to Hootsuite.
Comparing Features and Capabilities
Pricing is only meaningful as a metric when considered alongside what features and capabilities each software platform offers at each pricing level. Next, we’ll take a detailed look at each tool’s pros and cons when it comes to functionality.
Sprout Social General Features and Capabilities
Overall, Sprout Social is known for its customer relationship and communications tools. One of the perks that cannot be overlooked is the platform’s automated response functionality for social channel inboxes. If it weren’t for the account profile limitations per tier and the large number of features gated behind tier upgrades or add-on services, this automation would be enough to set Sprout Social apart from any competitor.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Better customer communication tools |
Unlimited manual posting made less valuable by a hard limit of 10 scheduled posts per day |
|
Automated response to incoming inquiries |
Social profiles across plans limited to 5 to 10 depending upon the tier. Additional profiles available for a cost |
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Analytics, audience demographics, and reporting available for all account tiers |
No TikTok support |
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Limited Instagram and Twitter brand alerts across all plans |
Hootsuite General Features and Capabilities
Hootsuite edges out Sprout Social and other competitors because of the versatility and features built into each paid tier of the program, allowing businesses or agencies of all sizes to find a solution in the brand’s offerings. The program is known especially for its team management functions and provides great access at the Professional level to features most often required by marketing professionals.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Unlimited Scheduling and Posts |
Reporting features for Professional level limited compared to higher tiers and competition; Advanced reporting only available as an add-on to higher tiers |
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Standard Pro plan allows for 10 social profiles; scales to 20 for teams, 35 for business, and 50 for enterprise |
Listening tools gated behind add-ons for Business or Enterprise tiers |
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Customizable reporting at no cost in the Professional tier |
No TikTok support |
Which Platform is Better?
Overall, Hootsuite’s features are broader and provide more flexibility in managing accounts, especially if you have a team of marketing specialists handling social channels. While Sprout Social has tools that give it an advantage in customer relationship management and customer service, it provides less robust experiences for users that are more limited and cost prohibitive; in order to scale the operation, Sprout Social users end up having to pay for more functionality or upgrade to higher account tiers much sooner than Hootsuite users.
It’s important to note that when it comes to social profile management, the two platforms are practically equal, with most modern channels supported. Hootsuite trades off Reddit for Tumblr support, and Sprout Social takes an opposite approach. However, both platforms lose value for their lack of support of TikTok, given the social channel’s popularity with the rapidly growing and increasingly influential Gen Z.
For its depth of features and the ability to truly have access to unlimited scheduling and posting, and to be able to better scale up affordably, Hootsuite edges out Sprout Social.
Third-Party Integrations
A primary driver of value for end-to-end software solutions like these two social media management platforms is the ability of those platforms to integrate with and pass information between other popular business software solutions.
Sprout Social Integrations
Where it has created integrations with outside software platforms, Sprout Social has done a great job in extending functionality. However, the range of services they’ve partnered with is extremely limited, and the most valuable
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Pros |
Cons |
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Core integrations available like Zendesk and Hubspot for help desk support |
Valuable integrations and functionality only accessible behind more expensive and large agency-focused plan tiers. |
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Significantly fewer integrations compared to the competitions |
Hootsuite Integrations
Hootsuite holds the advantage here simply in the volume of integrations they’ve worked to establish. The portfolio of more than 150 partners boosts the value of Hootsuite just through the additional layers of functionality such a wide array of partners add to the core platform.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Over 150 app integrations available |
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Ecommerce, Email Marketing, and Help Desk integrations included |
Which Platform is Better?
Overall, Hootsuite’s features are broader and provide more flexibility in managing accounts, especially if you have a team of marketing specialists handling social channels. While Sprout Social has tools that give it an advantage in customer relationship management and customer service, it provides less robust experiences for users that are more limited and cost prohibitive; in order to scale the operation, Sprout Social users end up having to pay for more functionality or upgrade to higher account tiers much sooner than Hootsuite users.
Hear From Industry Experts
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Ease of Use
When we consider the usability of a software platform, we’re concerned not only with the UX/UI of the service, but also the support users receive throughout their experience and clients. Therefore, we’ll be taking into account the customer service and training resources available for each platform in order to establish which is easier to use.
Sprout Social Ease of Use
The Sprout Social interface makes for a fantastic experience for users, and it’s one of the factors that make the platform a leading social media management tool. While the platform might not offer a live chat, users are satisfied with the phone and email support that is offered.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Phone and email support across all tiers |
No live chat |
|
Online knowledge center |
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Educational courses and webinars |
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Robust dashboard is easy to navigate and use |
Hootsuite Ease of Use
As another leading social media management tool, Hootsuite has a great UI as well, and users have little negative to say about the user experience. The platform has made a curious decision to only offer live chat support for customer service support.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Live chat for support purposes |
No no phone or email support |
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Online knowledge center |
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Educational course and webinars |
|
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Easy to use interface |
Which Platform is Better?
With the platforms so evenly matched across UI/UX and each having a significant library of learning resources available to their user base, the only major differentiation between the two platforms is customer support. With Sprout Social offering phone and email support to all tiers of service, we consider the advantage goes to Sprout Social in this situation over Hootsuite.
Which Platform is Better?
With the platforms so evenly matched across UI/UX and each having a significant library of learning resources available to their user base, the only major differentiation between the two platforms is customer support. With Sprout Social offering phone and email support to all tiers of service, we consider the advantage goes to Sprout Social in this situation over Hootsuite.
Analytics
We covered analytics and reporting in a general sense under the features and capabilities section above, but with big data being a driving force of social media marketing strategies, we wanted to dig deeper into the pros and cons of each platform’s approach to data tracking and how they feed that information back to the user.
Sprout Social Analytics
Sprout Social has a slight advantage in that it does provide some level of analytics access across all plans, but a lack of customizability in reporting and data makes it difficult to consider the platform as having a true advantage. Much of the negatives around analytics for Sprout Social revolve around important analytics being gated behind add-ons or more expensive higher tiers.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Relevant analytics available across all plans |
Advanced analytics are an added feature |
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Competitor Analysis gated by plan tier |
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Customized reports are an add-on |
Hootsuite Analytics
Like its competition in this comparison, Hootsuite’s detractors often reference the platform gating important analytic information behind higher-paid tiers as a significant mark against the platform. The one advantage Hootsuite does offer that Sprout Social does not is giving users at all levels the ability to access customizable reporting.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Offers customized reporting without additional fees |
Ad analytics and audience demographics are only available through add-on |
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Professional tier provides basic data analytics |
Competitor analysis only available through add-on. |
Which Platform is Better?
A common community consensus is that the two platforms are fairly equal in their analytics access and capabilities, with Hootsuite gaining a slight advantage by allowing users to build customized reports.
Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite Expert Reviews
To further compare Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite, we corresponded directly with the industry experts themselves. We asked them which tool they prefer to use and why it’s the social media management platform they opt for. The responses that we received reinforced the analysis to this point, in that the two platforms are considered to be very similarly matched. The overall community response had a greater emphasis on Sprout Social as their favorite option. We’ve included some key quotes from respondents to give our readers insight into what the user experience feels like.
Users Who Prefer Sprout Social
“We had a number of social media clients and were looking to add more. So we needed a platform that could allow a number of departments to access the platform, and accommodate numerous social profiles for numerous clients — and that would grow with us. We found that the analytics we receive from Sprout measure the KPIs we need and that our clients look for so we can make sound decisions.”
—Jennifer Leavens, Digital Producer & Social Media Specialist, Coalition Technologies
“Out of these two platforms, Sprout offers a superior user experience. The platform is intuitive and easy to use. It gives businesses and agencies the power to understand and track metrics on a simple reporting page. Hootsuite I find is quite clunky in its functionality. It offers comparable reports and services but not the same type of experience. It is like visiting a website that is not responsive. Given how much they charge they could do a better job designing the platform.”
—Sheldon Semmler, Founder and CEO, Display Digital Marketing
“I use Sprout Social every day for various clients. The best-time-to-post feature is incredibly helpful to get the most reach out of your content, and the reporting, listening and other functions allow you to see your progress in real-time and make any pivots necessary to course correct.”
—Michelle Kauk, Founder & President, Mode Public Affairs
“When you log onto the dashboard, the first thing you notice is analytics. This is significant because it provides near-real-time snapshots and aggregate patterns that assist you in better understanding your audience. This is what I call ‘throughput analytics,’ since it tells you what’s going on with your social engagement activity at any given time. By integrating Sprout Social with Google Analytics, you can better understand the value of social media activities in terms of driving visitors and sales.”
—Matt Weidle, Business Development Manager, Buyer’s Guide
“Social Sprout offers an extra feature – its Social CRM, which lets us record interaction history for every social media account that follows us or we follow. This information has been very helpful for salespeople by increasing alignment between Marketing and Sales.”
—Ryan Stewart, Founder, Webris
“We use Sprout Social at our agency and prefer it over Hootsuite because of one feature: competitor analysis reporting. For Facebook and Instagram, you can track competitors and receive comparison reports. I have contacted several companies and found Sprout the only software to do this. It is important because it retains clients. By seeing how many followers similar accounts get in the same time frame, you can manage expectations. This benchmarking means fewer headaches and happier clients.”
—James Oliver, Director, Evolved Toaster
“I would choose Sprout Social since it is a comprehensive platform that allows social media marketing teams to create and schedule social posts. The ‘Messages Tab’ displays user interaction, such as comments and tweets. Users can view all of their social network feeds in one place using the ‘Feeds tab.’ They can then add Twitter lists and their home feed to their account, as well as engage with the content by responding, retweeting, sending direct messages, and more.”
—Jeroen van Gils, Managing Director, Lifi.co
“There’s very little to choose between these two platforms in terms of functionality. However, Sprout Social has something Hootsuite doesn’t: a phone number! If I’ve got a problem, I can get on the phone immediately and talk to a human being. For a business owner like myself, this is vital. If I’m launching a new product or promotion and something goes wrong – we need to fix it immediately. Getting a human on the line is crucial to do that.” —Rick Hoskins, Founder, Filter King
Users Who Prefer Hootsuite
“We use Hootsuite to track analytics and schedule social media posts for clients. It is also a great way to organize clients and their platforms.”
—Camille Sapiera, Digital Marketing Specialist, 2Leaf
“We prefer Hootsuite. The ease of use, and overall UI/UX of the platform, as well as the overall toolset, make it the best platform overall.”
—Blake Nolan, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Storm Brain
“I consider Hootsuite to be slightly better than Sprout Social with regards to publishing social media posts, understanding audience analytics, and listening to your market. Overall, Hootsuite offers better value per use, more integrations, and just as great social media management.”
—Paul Sherman, Chief Marketing Officer, Olive
“The dashboard, which is organized into a multi-column, customizable style, is one of Hootsuite’s most distinctive features. Each social network has its tab, and inside each tab, different streams can be created that are specific to the account in question. Hootsuite makes the most sense if you operate a mid-to-large business and can afford the price of your reports or want to swiftly monitor many streams on one screen.”
—Michael Robinson, Security Expert, Cheap SSL Security
“Hootsuite delivers detailed reports for actions on your social media profiles which is exactly what we expect from social media management software. This is where Hootsuite wins the battle for me. It can be time-consuming to learn Hootsuite in the beginning but it is definitely worth it.” —Brian Kelleher, Founder, Killer Guitar Rigs
“Having used both over a number of years the main benefit in choosing Hootsuite over SproutSocial is the usability of the CRM side of the platform. Whilst SproutSocial is a quality tool, the more adaptable functionality of Hootsuite’s collaboration features means that our staff can easily dual-manage accounts with clarity and effectiveness.”
—Connor Hewson, Managing Director, Assured Marketing
“Hootsuite is very cost-effective, especially for small businesses and freelancers. I love utilizing their Streams and the Analytics are easy to read. Hootsuite has a great layout and is truly a one-stop-shop for managing multiple social media channels and accounts.”
—Margaret H. Geiger, Owner & Founder, Twelve31 Media, LLC
The Overall Winner
We want to be clear that in this comparison, we are assessing two of the top-tier social media management tools on the market today. These platforms are extremely popular and very powerful and effective tools that help marketing professionals effectively manage the execution of their multimedia strategy. They are fairly evenly matched in a general sense, and it took digging into each of the elements discussed above to determine where the actual competitive advantage lies in the comparison. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the summary chart to see which of these platforms came out on top.
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Sprout Social |
Hootsuite |
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Pricing |
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✅ |
|
Features and Capabilities |
|
✅ |
|
Third-Party Integrations |
|
✅ |
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Ease of Use |
✅ |
|
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Analytics |
|
✅ |
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Community Opinion |
✅ |
|
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The Overall Winner |
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✅ |
In every factor that we analyzed in this study, Hootsuite was able to edge out Sprout Social with the exceptions of Ease of Use and Community Opinion. We also found that Sprout Social outperformed Hootsuite in managing client expectations and customer engagement through the platform. The community feedback leaned in favor of Sprout Social as the preferred tool. However, ultimately, we are giving Hootsuite the title of the Ultimate Social Media Management Software Solutions.
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