Sprout Social is a well-known social media tool, especially with those who don’t mind paying more for their social media insights. In offering a variety of features including analytics, publishing, monitoring, and community management, Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media tool that many rely upon. 

However, when looking over what Sprout Social has to offer, one thing immediately stands out: The pricing. For many, the main question is whether paying such a high price for this tool is worth it?

In this article, we will discuss why many may be looking for an alternative to Sprout Social that offers many some of the same features, gives you a little bit more, and all comes at a lower price. 

Why should you consider Alternatives to Sprout Social: When More Expensive Really Isn’t Better

It comes as no surprise that even though Sprout Social has created a loyal user base for itself due to the advanced features it offers and the flexibility it provides for those doing in-depth social media research. However, next to all these notable features, it’s important to explore alternative options that might better suit specific business needs. When looking more deeply into what the tool offers, and what it costs, some may begin to see some significant drawbacks to using Sprout Social.

Below, we will highlight some of these drawbacks to help you decide if Sprout Social really is the right social media tool for you.

Expensive!

Let’s face it, Sprout Social is expensive, and the prices can be prohibitive, especially for freelancers and other small businesses. While there are some advantages when it comes to the high-quality analytics you get from Sprout Social, it is not a tool for those looking for a deal on a social media tool. Moreover, similar to some other products, Sprout Social hides some features that are only accessible with its higher-priced plans, which can dramatically raise your monthly costs if you need one or more of those features unexpectedly, even if you don’t need other features in a particular plan.

Limits on Competitor Analysis: Restricting Trackable Profiles

Publishing Restrictions: No Posting Stories or Carousels 

There are many different content types and being able to schedule posts of all types of content is crucial for social media managers. Therefore, these publishing features are an essential feature. Not being able to post certain types of content with Sprout Social is problematic, since this requests manual posting of this type of content. For this reason, it is no surprise that one of the complaints from some users of Sprout Social is the inability to schedule stories or carousels in the tool, which limits the use of these content types unless the user does this manually.

Alternatives to Sprout Social

While Sprout Social is used by many, it may be worthwhile to learn more about some alternatives to it. There are some sprout social competitors who provide a similar product, albeit with some key differences and a cheaper price. By exploring these alternatives, businesses can discover the perfect fit for their social media management requirements, empowering them to enhance their online presence, engage with their audience effectively, and achieve their marketing goals.

Fanpage Karma: No Restrictions on Competitor Analysis

For many companies and agencies, Fanpage Karma represents the ideal Sprout Social alternative. This is because Fanpage Karma provides a wide range of competitor analysis and publishing options that does not limit the amount of profiles you can analyze.

Benefits include:

✅ Unlimited profiles and dashboards included in the price

✅ Easy to share reporting and dashboards with those internally and externally

✅  Great publishing features: Posting Stories, carousels, flexible approval process with external people etc

✅ Fair transparent pricing with no hidden costs

✅ Automated reporting and community management capabilities

Buffer: Get Basic Features for Free

Buffer is a sprout social free alternative that you can reliably use for publishing posts and simple analysis of your campaigns. This is especially useful for small companies with only a limited social media presence who simply want a tool that can help them with simple tasks. However, Buffer can only be counted as a sprout social alternative that is free if you don’t require advanced features. This is because many additional features, especially related to analysis, require a paid subscription. So if you are not expecting more than the bare minimum, be advised that your costs can quickly grow.

Hootsuite: When you need a bit more than the Basics

If you need more than just the basics features that Buffer would offer, then Hootsuite may be of interest to you. Hootsuite provides the full-spectrum of features and functionalities that social media managers may need in their work. However, this comes at a steep price and you will also be limited with the overall number of profiles and competitors you can analyze according to the pricing plan that you choose. For this reason, Hootsuite may only be suitable for those looking for a social media tool that provides a lot of functionality but where you don’t need to analyze many profiles.

Sprinklr: If you are looking for a specialized tool

While Sprinklr is less well-known than some of the other tools mentioned above, it does excel in some areas, mostly notably social listening. If a strong social listening is a need for your business, then Sprinklr provides a robust offering in this area. The pricing for the tool is high and there are limits to the number of profiles you can track depending on the plan, which may give some businesses a pause when considering this option.