Hootsuite vs Sprout Social: Social OS Apps or Add-On Modules
Hootsuite now sells its platform as Social OS, four apps tied together by the Wisdom AI agent: Perch for planning and publishing, Nest for customer care, Lumen for listening and Parliament for employee advocacy. The deeper pieces, listening powered by Talkwalker with 13 months of history and Parliament itself, come with the Enterprise plan. Sprout Social is built around its Smart Inbox, which merges comments, DMs and mentions into one stream with collision alerts. It sells listening and premium analytics as add-ons from its Standard plan, where employee advocacy also becomes available, and its influencer product can be bought with no Sprout plan at all.
Hootsuite
Best for: Brand and agency social teams that publish, answer messages and monitor conversations across many networks, with approvals before posts go out.
Sprout Social
Best for: Brand and customer care teams handling high volumes of social messages who need inbox workflows connected to a CRM or helpdesk.
| At a glance | Hootsuite | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $99 per user/mo (annual billing) | $79 per seat/mo (annual billing) |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Market Signal | 68 / 100 | 70 / 100 |
| Built for | Small Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise | Small Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, API | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Founded | 2008 | 2010 |
Choose Hootsuite if...
you manage more than five profiles on an entry plan, or want employee advocacy and Talkwalker listening bundled into one Enterprise contract.
Choose Sprout Social if...
your care team works from a shared inbox and needs collision alerts plus helpdesk and CRM links such as Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Dimension | Hootsuite | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| Customer care inbox | Comparable | Comparable |
| Social listening | Comparable | Comparable |
| Employee advocacy | Comparable | Comparable |
| Influencer marketing | Stronger here | |
| Profiles on entry plans | Stronger here | |
| AI assistant | Comparable | Comparable |
We name a winner for each dimension and never one overall winner. The right pick depends on which of these matters most for your use case.
Plans and Pricing Side by Side
Hootsuite
From $99 per user/mo (annual billing) · Free trial
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (mo) | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Not listed | $99 |
|
| Professional | Not listed | $199 |
|
| Advanced | Not listed | $399 |
|
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Checked October 13, 2026 on Hootsuite's pricing page.
Sprout Social
From $79 per seat/mo (annual billing) · Free trial
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (mo) | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $99 | $79 |
|
| Standard | Not listed | $199 |
|
| Professional | Not listed | $299 |
|
| Advanced | Not listed | $399 |
|
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Checked October 13, 2026 on Sprout Social's pricing page.
Annual columns show the monthly cost when billed yearly. Vendors change prices often, so confirm on their site before you buy.
Market Signal Compared
| Score (0 to 100) | Hootsuite | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| Market Signal | 68 | 70 |
| Market strength | 74 | 72 |
| Momentum | 50 | 63 |
| Traffic strength | 70 | 71 |
| Search visibility | 72 | 71 |
| Authority | 76 | 74 |
| Brand and market presence | 82 | 76 |
| Data confidence | Medium | Medium |
Market Signal measures each product's online footprint and momentum from Ahrefs and Semrush data, scored against other tools in its category (Social Media (29 tracked)). It shows market presence, which is not the same as product quality. Data through September 2026. How the score works
Integrations and Support
Both connect with: Salesforce
| Hootsuite | Sprout Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Integrations only one lists | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, monday.com | Tableau, Microsoft Dynamics, Slack, Shopify, Zendesk, Google Analytics, Canva |
| Support | Help center, Community forum, Live chat | Help center, Community forum, Phone, Email, Live chat |
| Languages | French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese |
| Headquarters | Not listed | Chicago, United States |
From each vendor's integrations and support pages. Lists show notable integrations, not every connector.
Other Tools to Consider
If neither Hootsuite nor Sprout Social fits, these are the closest alternatives we list, ordered by Overall Score.
Buffer
Social media scheduler with a comment inbox, analytics and a link-in-bio page, billed per channel.
Agorapulse
Social media management suite for publishing, unified inbox and listening.
Later
Social scheduling and analytics suite with Link in Bio pages and a separate influencer offering.
Sprinklr
Unified customer-experience platform spanning social, insights and marketing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is social listening included, or is it an extra?⌄
On Hootsuite, every plan can monitor brand mentions across Facebook, X, Bluesky, YouTube, Quora, news sites, blogs and forums. Enterprise adds Talkwalker-powered listening that reaches Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest and Twitch, with 13 months of history. Sprout sells Listening as a separate add-on available from its Standard plan.
Which one connects to our helpdesk or CRM?⌄
Sprout lists helpdesk connections for Zendesk, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce Agentforce Service, plus Tableau for reporting. Its API and helpdesk integrations start on the Advanced plan. Hootsuite's Enterprise page mentions a Salesforce integration and compliance tools such as Proofpoint, alongside its own Nest care app.
How long are the trials, and is there a free plan?⌄
Neither has a free plan. Hootsuite offers a 14-day free trial, and Sprout Social offers 30 days with no credit card required. Both show annual billing by default on their pricing pages and also offer monthly billing, so check the toggle before comparing what each seat will cost.
Can we manage reviews alongside social messages?⌄
Sprout pulls reviews from Google Play, the Apple App Store, Facebook Page reviews, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor and Yelp into its workflow, with review management listed on the Standard plan. Hootsuite's Enterprise plan page also lists review management tools next to its social inbox features.
Written by SEM Solutions Editorial Team
Last updated October 13, 2026