Sprout Social review 2024: Features, pricing, pros and cons

Our Verdict

Our Verdict

Sprout Social is a robust social media management platform designed for businesses and marketing agencies. It offers a suite of tools to help users manage their social media presence effectively, including monitoring, engagement, scheduling, and analytics.

Pros

• Advanced features available on higher tiers
• Excellent user interface
• Reliable analytics and reporting
• Sprout Social has extensive experience in the industry

Cons

• Costs increase significantly for higher tiers
• Limited features on the basic edition

4.6

Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting price

$199 per month

Free trial

30 days

Analytics and reports

Yes

How Sprout Social works?

Sprout Social is an intuitive and extensive social media management platform. To get started, new users must link their social media accounts to Sprout Social. Once connected, users can access their social inbox to consolidate messages from all linked accounts, schedule and publish posts, assign tasks, utilize social listening tools, monitor reviews, and generate reports.

Sprout Social features

Sprout Social is a comprehensive platform offering a range of tools for efficient management of multiple social media accounts. While many platforms integrate with major networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Sprout Social extends its connectivity to TikTok, Pinterest, WhatsApp, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Smart Inbox

Its features include the Smart Inbox for managing and responding to messages from various platforms, helping businesses save time and maintain responsiveness across channels.

Content planning and publishing

The content calendar in Sprout Social is highly intuitive, facilitating the drafting, scheduling, and publishing of social media content with ease. It allows users to view all scheduled posts across multiple platforms in a centralized location. Unlike many lower-cost or free social media management tools, Sprout Social enables direct publishing from its calendar, eliminating the manual process of posting content on individual social networks.

Reviews Management

Another notable feature is Sprout Social's reviews management tool, which allows businesses to connect and monitor reviews from platforms like the Apple App Store, Facebook, Google My Business, Tripadvisor, Glassdoor, and Yelp. Similar to the advantages of the smart inbox, this tool is invaluable for businesses seeking to efficiently manage reviews and ratings across major review sites. It enables businesses to stay informed about customer feedback and respond promptly, enhancing customer retention and attracting new customers.

Tasks

The tasks feature in Sprout Social enables users to assign and manage tasks efficiently among team members. For instance, if a message in the inbox requires attention from a specific team member, it can be easily assigned as a task. Notifications can be set up to ensure tasks are never overlooked, making it ideal for teams managing social media collaboratively. However, for businesses where social media management is handled by a single individual, this feature may not be as beneficial.

What makes Sprout Social unique?

Sprout Social stands out with its Social Listening tool, which enables users to uncover valuable insights into audience conversations. This tool aids businesses in crafting more targeted and strategic content that resonates with their audience. It also serves as an ideation tool, offering inspiration for content creation and topic exploration.

Sprout Social pricing and plans

Standard

Sprout Social's entry-level plan, priced at $249 per month with an additional $199 per month per user, supports up to five social profiles. It includes essential features like the social inbox, content calendar, post scheduling, reviews management, task assignments, and social CRM. However, it lacks workflow customizations and optimized social posting.

Professional

The midrange Professional plan costs $399 per month, with additional users charged at $299 per month each. Unlike the Standard plan, it allows unlimited social profile connections. It offers additional features such as optimized post timing, message tagging, and trend analysis for Twitter. This plan is aimed at large businesses and social media marketing agencies managing multiple clients.

Advanced

The top-tier Advanced plan is priced at $499 per month, with an additional $349 per month per user. It includes all features from the Professional plan, unlimited social profiles, and advanced functionalities like CSAT and NPS surveys for user feedback, automated link tracking for traffic analysis, inbox rules, and chatbots for Twitter and Facebook. This plan is well-suited for social media marketing agencies but may be less suitable for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Sprout Social setup

Creating a new account with Sprout Social is a straightforward process. Begin by visiting the Sprout Social website and clicking on the "Start your free trial" button located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You'll then need to enter your name, email address, and create a password. Afterward, you'll be guided to connect your social media accounts.

For instance, connecting an Instagram account requires ensuring it's set up as a business account, that you are the admin, and that it's linked to your Facebook business page. While Sprout Social provides essential information on these requirements, it doesn't offer step-by-step guidance for making account adjustments. Therefore, if your accounts aren't initially configured correctly, setting them up can be somewhat challenging.

User-friendliness of Sprout Social

Despite Sprout Social offering a wide range of features, it remains highly user-friendly with a minimal learning curve. The platform effectively guides users through setup with helpful prompts. However, it's important to note that while Sprout Social enhances team skills, it doesn't replace the need for social media-savvy staff with marketing expertise. Businesses still require capable personnel to maximize social media marketing effectiveness, akin to what a dedicated social media marketing agency provides.

Sprout Social customer service and support

Support is accessible around the clock on weekdays via live chat, phone, and ticket submission. However, the platform doesn't display the support phone number directly in the user dashboard, limiting users to contacting support through live chat or by submitting a ticket. Although support is typically knowledgeable and supportive, it can be slightly inconvenient that users need to provide their name and email address even when accessing live chat from the user dashboard. In cases of technical issues, support may request remote access to the account, offering a swift resolution process.

Security

Sprout Social includes several integrated security features to ensure user accounts and data remain secure. For instance, it offers the ability to grant temporary account access when users require assistance from support. Additionally, users can enable two-step verification for enhanced security measures.

Comparing Sprout Social with other platforms:

• Zoho Social offers a budget-friendly alternative to Sprout Social, starting at $10 per month with annual billing for up to nine social channels. While feature-rich, it lacks centralized social inbox, social listening, and post time optimization found in Sprout Social, making it ideal for small businesses focusing on social media management.
• Buffer provides a robust free plan allowing scheduling of up to 30 posts per month across three social channels. Paid plans start at $5 per month per channel, making it affordable for businesses seeking simple social media scheduling and management. Buffer caters more towards individual business needs compared to the agency-focused features of Sprout Social.
• Hootsuite starts at $99 per month annually, supporting up to 10 accounts and unlimited posts. While more affordable than Sprout Social's entry-level plan at $249 per month, Hootsuite's higher-tier plans can be pricier, making Sprout Social a better value for agencies looking for comprehensive social media management solutions.

Who benefits the most from using Sprout Social?

Sprout Social serves two primary user groups effectively. Firstly, it is ideal for businesses heavily reliant on social media for marketing and advertising, seeking a unified platform to monitor and manage all social channels centrally. Secondly, it caters well to marketing agencies offering social media management, providing features for campaign management, advertising, and account optimization.

In our view, Sprout Social is a top-tier platform, albeit at a premium price point that reflects its comprehensive features. This cost may be prohibitive for many small businesses operating on tighter budgets. Additionally, it may not offer significant value for businesses with smaller social media followings or those in industries less suited to social media engagement. For instance, while beneficial for clothing brands, it might not be as suitable for manufacturing companies.