Prices checked September 2026

Last updated: October 2026

Sprout Social Alternatives: 8 Tools Compared by Price

Sprout Social starts at $199 per seat per month on annual billing (Standard, checked 23 September 2026), so five people on Professional pay $1,495 a month. The short verdict: for a similar suite with a shared inbox, try Agorapulse or Vista Social. For plain scheduling on a budget, Buffer, SocialPilot or Later. To publish from code, n8n or AI agents, Upload-Post, which has a free plan.

See the comparison Try Upload-Post free

Sprout Social alternatives compared

Entry price, how the bill grows, and who each tool suits. Every price is taken from the vendor's own pricing page on the date shown.

Tool	Starts at	How the price grows	Best for	Checked
Sprout Social the reference	$199/seat/mo billed yearly ($249 monthly)	Per seat. 5 profiles on Standard, unlimited from Professional ($299/seat).	Large teams running social customer care	23 Sep 2026
Upload-Post	Free plan, then $24/mo ($16/mo billed yearly)	Per plan, by profiles: 5, 25, 75 or 225. One profile is one account on each of 22 platforms.	Publishing from code, n8n, Make or AI agents; agencies that need white label	Our own pricing
Agorapulse	$79/user/mo billed yearly ($99 monthly)	Per user. 10 social profiles on Standard, Professional and Advanced.	Teams that want a Sprout-style inbox and reports for less	23 Sep 2026
Vista Social	$79/mo ($758 billed yearly)	Per plan, users included: 15 profiles and 2 users, 30 and 4, or 70 and 8.	Agencies that want a full suite at a flat price	23 Sep 2026
Hootsuite	$99/mo (Standard)	Per plan: $99, $199 or $399 a month. Standard covers up to 10 social accounts.	Teams that want another big, established suite	17 Sep 2026
SocialPilot	$30/mo ($25.50/mo billed yearly)	Per plan, accounts and users included: 7/1, 15/3, 25/6 or 50/unlimited.	Budget-conscious agencies with client approvals	23 Sep 2026
Buffer	Free plan, then $5/mo per channel	Per connected channel: $5 on Essentials, $10 on Team.	Solo creators and small teams on a few channels	17 Sep 2026
Later	$18.75/mo billed yearly	Per plan, by "social sets" (one profile per network): 1, 2 or 6 sets.	Visual planning for Instagram and TikTok	17 Sep 2026
Metricool	Free plan, then from €16/mo	Per brand: Starter €16 for 5 brands, Advanced from €43 for 15 brands.	Analytics-led small brands and agencies	17 Sep 2026

Metricool prices in euros; the rest in US dollars. Vendors change prices without notice, so open the linked source before you buy. The dates link to the page each figure was read from.

Which alternative fits you

When to pick each one, and what to watch out for before you switch.

Upload-Post

Free plan, then $24/mo ($16/mo billed yearly)

Pick it if: You publish and schedule, and you want to do it from your own product, an n8n or Make workflow, or an AI agent. The API is on every plan, Free included, and white label starts on Professional at $50/mo ($33 billed yearly).

Watch out for: Focused on publishing and automation through the API, including comment replies and DMs, rather than per-seat customer-care workflows like case management or social listening.

Source: upload-post.com pricing (Our own pricing) · White label · MCP server · n8n guide

Agorapulse

$79/user/mo billed yearly ($99 monthly)

Pick it if: You want the closest thing to Sprout: one inbox for messages and comments on every plan, plus post and inbox assignments and team performance reports from Professional. Standard is $79 per user per month billed yearly, Professional $119 and Advanced $149 ($99, $149 and $199 billed monthly), with a 30-day free trial.

Watch out for: It is still priced per user, so a growing team grows the bill the same way Sprout does. Each self-serve plan is capped at 10 social profiles; unlimited profiles, SSO and custom roles are on the Custom plan.

Source: agorapulse.com/pricing (23 Sep 2026) · Upload-Post vs Agorapulse

Hootsuite

$99/mo (Standard)

Pick it if: You want a full social media management suite with a long track record, and a lower entry point than Sprout: Standard is $99/mo for up to 10 social accounts, Professional $199/mo and Advanced $399/mo. Annual billing lowers the rate.

Watch out for: Hootsuite does not publish account limits for Professional or Advanced in its pricing FAQ, and Enterprise has no public price. Check the live plans page for the features you need.

Source: hootsuite.com/plans (17 Sep 2026) · Hootsuite pricing · Upload-Post vs Hootsuite

SocialPilot

$30/mo ($25.50/mo billed yearly)

Pick it if: You manage clients and want a flat price with users included. Essentials is $30/mo (7 accounts, 1 user), Standard $50/mo (15 accounts, 3 users), Premium $100/mo (25 accounts, 6 users, client approval, white label reports) and Ultimate $200/mo (50 accounts, unlimited users). 15% off on yearly billing, 14-day free trial.

Watch out for: API access is listed on the Enterprise plan, which is quoted by sales. The social inbox is listed from Standard up, and Essentials is a single-user plan.

Source: socialpilot.co/plans (23 Sep 2026) · Upload-Post vs SocialPilot

Buffer

Free plan, then $5/mo per channel

Pick it if: You are one person or a small team on a handful of channels and want a clean scheduler. There is a Free plan, Essentials is $5/mo per channel and Team is $10/mo per channel with unlimited team members and approval workflows.

Watch out for: Every channel multiplies the price: 10 channels on Team is $100/mo. The API has request caps: 3,000 a month on Free, 7,500 on Essentials, 15,000 on Team.

Source: buffer.com/pricing (17 Sep 2026) · Buffer pricing · Upload-Post vs Buffer

Later

$18.75/mo billed yearly

Pick it if: Your work is visual: grid planning, link in bio, UGC collection. Starter is $18.75/mo, Growth $37.50/mo (with social inbox and approvals) and Scale $82.50/mo, all billed yearly, with a 14-day free trial.

Watch out for: Those are yearly rates; month to month costs more. Posts are capped per profile: 30 a month on Starter, 180 on Growth, unlimited only on Scale.

Source: later.com/pricing (17 Sep 2026) · Later pricing · Upload-Post vs Later

Metricool

Free plan, then from €16/mo

Pick it if: Reporting and competitor tracking matter more than an inbox, and your budget is small. The Free plan covers 1 brand, Starter runs from €16/mo and Advanced from €43/mo, with up to 24% off on yearly billing.

Watch out for: Prices are in euros and grow with the number of brands. LinkedIn is not on Free, X is an add-on on Starter, and the Metricool API only comes with Advanced.

Source: metricool.com/pricing (17 Sep 2026) · Metricool pricing · Upload-Post vs Metricool

We also compare Upload-Post with Sendible , Zoho Social , Loomly , Publer , SocialBee , Mixpost .

Why Upload-Post is on this list

It is not a Sprout clone. It is the publishing layer on its own, priced by profiles instead of people.

API first, on every plan

One REST call publishes a video or post to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Threads, Pinterest, Reddit, Bluesky and more: 22 platforms in total. The API is on the Free plan too, not locked to a top tier.

The social media API

White label for agencies

Your clients connect their accounts on a page with your branding, and you post for them from your own tool. White label comes with Professional at $50/mo ($33 billed yearly), with 25 profiles.

How white label works

MCP server for AI agents

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP client and let the agent publish, schedule and analyze posts for you, in plain language.

Upload-Post MCP server

n8n and Make built in

There is an official n8n node and a Make module, plus ready-made templates, so a content pipeline can run without writing code.

n8n templates

Same team of 5	Billed yearly	Billed monthly	Profiles	API
Sprout Social Professional, 5 seats	$1,495/mo	$1,995/mo	Unlimited	Not included (Advanced only)
Sprout Social Advanced, 5 seats	$1,995/mo	$2,495/mo	Unlimited	Included
Upload-Post Advanced, 5 seats	$118/mo	$147/mo	75 (one account per platform each)	Included, on every plan

Not a like-for-like product: Sprout's per-seat price bundles a shared inbox, listening options and customer care tools, while Upload-Post is priced as a publishing and automation API. Sprout figures from sproutsocial.com/pricing, 23 September 2026.

When Sprout Social is the better choice

Sprout is expensive because it does a lot. If these describe your team, switching may cost you more than it saves.

Several people answer customers from one social inbox, and you need case management, reply collision detection, saved replies and helpdesk integrations.
You need approval chains with clients: Sprout lists external approval workflows on Advanced.
Security reviews are part of buying software: advanced permissions from Professional, IP whitelisting on Advanced, SSO setup on Enterprise.
Leadership expects ready-made reports on competitors, paid social, team productivity and customer care.
You are already on Sprout, your team knows it, and the per-seat cost is a small line in a large budget. Switching has a cost too.

Sprout Social pricing in short

Per seat, per month, read on sproutsocial.com/pricing on 23 September 2026. The full breakdown, with add-ons and team costs, is on our Sprout Social pricing page.

Plan	Billed yearly	Billed monthly	Social profiles
Essentials	$79	$99	Up to 5
Standard	$199	$249	5
Professional	$299	$399	Unlimited
Advanced	$399	$499	Unlimited
Enterprise	Custom, after a demo		Unlimited

Annual billing is paid upfront for the whole term. 30-day free trial, no credit card. Premium Analytics, Listening and Employee Advocacy are add-ons with no public price.

Sprout Social alternatives FAQ

What is the best Sprout Social alternative?

It depends on what you use Sprout for. For a similar all-in-one suite with inbox and approvals, look at Agorapulse (per user, from $79/mo billed yearly) or Vista Social (flat plans with users included, from $79/mo). For publishing and scheduling on a budget, Buffer, SocialPilot or Later. For publishing from code, n8n or AI agents, Upload-Post.

What is the cheapest alternative to Sprout Social?

Buffer, Metricool and Upload-Post all have free plans with limits. On paid plans, Buffer starts at $5/mo per channel, Upload-Post Basic at $16/mo billed yearly ($24 monthly) with unlimited uploads and 5 profiles, and Later Starter at $18.75/mo billed yearly. Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat on Essentials and $199 per seat on Standard, billed yearly.

Is there a free alternative to Sprout Social?

Yes. Upload-Post Free gives 10 uploads a month, 2 profiles and API access with no card. Buffer Free covers 1 user with a community inbox and 3,000 API requests a month. Metricool Free covers 1 brand and 20 scheduled posts a month, without LinkedIn or X. Sprout itself has no free plan, only a 30-day trial.

Which Sprout Social alternatives have a social inbox?

Agorapulse (on every plan), Vista Social, SocialPilot from Standard, Later from Growth, and Buffer’s community inbox. Upload-Post is built for a different job: publishing and scheduling through an API, with comment replies and DMs available programmatically, so it works alongside whichever inbox your team already uses.

Which Sprout Social alternative is best for agencies?

For a suite, SocialPilot adds client approval and white label reports on Premium at $100/mo, and Vista Social includes white label setup on Scale at $349/mo. If the agency posts for clients from its own tool or automation, Upload-Post has white label connect pages from Professional at $50/mo ($33 billed yearly) and the API on every plan.

Does Sprout Social have an API?

Yes, but only on Advanced, at $399 per seat per month billed yearly or $499 month to month, checked on 23 September 2026. Standard and Professional do not list it. On Upload-Post the posting API comes with every plan, Free included.

Why is Sprout Social so expensive?

Because it charges per seat and it bundles a lot: inbox, case management, approvals, reporting, and add-ons like listening. Five people on Professional cost $1,495 a month on annual billing, paid upfront for the year. If you only use the publishing part, you pay for the rest anyway.

Test the API before paying anything

The Free plan is a real plan, not a trial: 10 uploads a month, 2 profiles and API access to 22 platforms, with no credit card. TikTok posting needs a paid plan.

Create free account Read the API docs