Sprout Social alternatives in 2026 for small businesses that pay per seat
Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat a month billed yearly, and its two lower plans stop at five profiles. What Sprout does well, what you give up by leaving, and what Agorapulse, Hootsuite, Buffer, Metricool, and eksis cost a two-person team.
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Sprout Social charges per seat, bills its main plans yearly, and caps its two lower plans at five social profiles. For a marketing team that lives in its inbox and reports to leadership every month, that can be worth it. For a small business with two people and a handful of accounts, the bill is often what starts the search for something else.
eksis makes a social media scheduler, so weigh this accordingly. This guide starts with what Sprout does well, so you know what you would give up, then compares five alternatives using prices from each company's own pricing page, read on October 24, 2026. Check the vendor's page before you decide, since prices change.
The short answer
- Decide first which Sprout feature you actually use every week. The answer narrows the list more than price does.
- If you rely on a shared inbox, review replies, and reports, Agorapulse and Hootsuite are the closest replacements, both priced per user.
- If you mostly schedule and check analytics, Buffer, Metricool, and eksis cost far less for a team of two or three.
- Keep Sprout if you need social listening, review management across Google, Yelp, and Glassdoor, LinkedIn Company Page publishing, WhatsApp, or CRM and help desk integrations. Most cheaper tools cover only some of these.
- Sprout's main plans renew yearly, so check your renewal date and export the reports you want to keep before it.
What Sprout Social does well
Sprout is built for teams that handle a lot of conversations. Standard and above include its consolidated inbox, keyword and location monitoring, and review management. Its help center lists reviews from Google My Business, Glassdoor, Yelp, Facebook, the Google Play Store, and the Apple App Store, each location counting as a profile.
It connects to X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn (Company Pages and personal profiles), Instagram business profiles, Pinterest, YouTube brand accounts, Bluesky, Threads, WhatsApp, and Trustpilot. It integrates with Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics 365, HubSpot Service Hub, Salesforce, Shopify, Canva, Slack, and others. Professional adds competitor, tag, and paid insights, and Advanced adds the Sprout API, helpdesk integrations, and sentiment in the inbox.
If your team answers hundreds of messages a week, reports on paid and organic results together, or works inside Salesforce, Sprout covers that in one place, and the alternatives below each cover part of it.
Sprout Social's prices on October 24, 2026
| Plan | Price per seat per month | Billing | Social profiles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $79 | Yearly ($99 billed monthly) | 5 |
| Standard | $199 | Yearly | 5 |
| Professional | $299 | Yearly | Unlimited |
| Advanced | $399 | Yearly | Unlimited |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Unlimited |
The pricing page says "Annual billing" next to the trial offer and lists a monthly rate only for Essentials. Premium Analytics and Listening are sold as add-ons on Standard and above. Every seat includes 100 monthly AI agent credits.
Why small teams leave
Three things in that table push small businesses away:
- A second person doubles the bill. Two seats on Standard come to $398 a month, or $4,776 a year.
- Essentials and Standard stop at five profiles. A sixth account means Professional, at $299 per seat.
- The main plans are billed for a year at a time, which is a large upfront payment for a small business.
The alternatives at a glance
Prices are in US dollars from each vendor's own page on October 24, 2026.
| Tool | How it charges | Entry price | Profiles on entry plan | Team members on entry plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agorapulse | Per user | Standard: $79 per user a month yearly, $99 monthly | 10 | 1 per seat bought |
| Hootsuite | Per user | Standard: $99 per user a month, billed yearly | 10 | 1 per seat bought |
| Buffer | Per channel | Team: $12 per channel a month, $10 billed yearly | Pay per channel | Unlimited |
| Metricool | Per brand | Advanced (first plan with team members): $67 a month, $53 billed yearly, for up to 15 brands | 1 per network per brand | Unlimited |
| eksis | Per workspace | Starter: $4 a month, $40 a year | 20 | 2 seats |
What a two-person team pays in a year
Take a small business with two people posting to five profiles: Instagram, a Facebook Page, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. Using yearly billing wherever it is offered:
| Tool and plan | How it adds up | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Sprout Social Standard | $199 x 2 seats x 12 | $4,776 |
| Hootsuite Standard | $99 x 2 users x 12 | $2,376 |
| Sprout Social Essentials | $79 x 2 seats x 12 | $1,896 |
| Agorapulse Standard | $79 x 2 users x 12 | $1,896 |
| Metricool Advanced | $53 x 12 (one brand covers all five) | $636 |
| Buffer Team | $10 x 5 channels x 12 | $600 |
| eksis Starter | $40 a year (2 seats included) | $40 |
The plans are not equal. Sprout Standard includes review management and listening tools that the cheaper options do not, and the next sections say what each one leaves out.
The alternatives in detail
Agorapulse
Agorapulse is the closest match to Sprout's inbox-first way of working, at a lower per-user rate. Every plan includes its social inbox, comment moderation, Google reviews moderation, white-label reports, and a mobile app. Professional ($119 per user yearly) adds link in bio, post and inbox assignments, ad comment moderation, and simple approvals. Advanced ($149 per user yearly) adds saved replies, bulk scheduling, publishing queues, and competitor benchmarking. Standard, Professional, and Advanced each include 10 social profiles, and X publishing is sold as an add-on (X Lite or X Plus).
Who it suits: a team that answers comments, messages, and Google reviews every day and wants that to stay in one place. The trial is 30 days with no card.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite's Standard plan, at $99 per user a month billed yearly, covers 10 social accounts with unlimited scheduling, one inbox for messages, brand and competitor monitoring, and AI post and image generation. Professional ($199) removes the account limit and adds inbox automation and custom reports. Approvals and message assignment sit on Advanced ($399). Hootsuite says monthly billing is available at a higher per-user rate, and the trial is 14 days without a card.
Who it suits: a team that wants monitoring and listening close to Sprout's, and can work without approvals or pay for Advanced.
Buffer
Buffer bills per channel, not per person. Team costs $12 per channel a month for the first ten ($10 billed yearly) and includes unlimited team members, approval workflows, access levels, branded reports, and a community inbox for comments on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, X, TikTok, Google Business Profile, YouTube, and Mastodon. It publishes to LinkedIn Pages and profiles.
Who it suits: a team that mostly schedules and replies to comments and wants to add colleagues without adding cost. It has no listening or review management.
Metricool
Metricool prices by brand, where one brand holds one profile per network. Team members, roles, post approval, the Data Studio connector, and the API start on Advanced: $67 a month for up to 15 brands, or $53 billed yearly. Starter ($25 a month for up to 5 brands) has no team members. X is an add-on at $10 a month per connected account.
Who it suits: a business or small agency that wants strong analytics, competitor tracking, and reports for several brands, with a small team.
eksis
eksis prices per workspace, not per seat or channel. Starter is $4 a month and includes 20 social accounts, 2 seats, unlimited scheduled posts, an inbox for comments and DMs, comment and DM automations, full Analytics, and internal approvals. Premium is $15 a month for 3 workspaces, 75 accounts, and 10 seats. Agency is $39 a month for 10 workspaces, 200 accounts, 30 seats, and read-only client report links.
What it does not do, compared with Sprout:
- No social listening, keyword monitoring, or review management. The Inbox does not handle Google reviews.
- LinkedIn publishing goes to a personal profile only. There is no LinkedIn Company Page publishing and no LinkedIn statistics, because LinkedIn shares those only with apps approved for its Community Management API.
- No WhatsApp, Trustpilot, or CRM integrations. There is a public REST API on paid plans and an MCP server for AI assistants on every plan.
- Direct messages in the Inbox come from Instagram and Facebook. TikTok and Pinterest comments are not available in eksis.
- Posting to X uses X credits: 15 a month on Starter, 1 per plain post and 13 per post with a link.
Who it suits: a small business or creator team that needs scheduling, an inbox for Instagram and Facebook, and analytics, and does not use listening or reviews.
How to choose
- List what your team did in Sprout last month: scheduling, inbox replies, review replies, reports, listening. Anything nobody touched does not need a replacement.
- Count the people who need their own login, and the profiles. Per-user tools reward small teams; per-channel tools reward few accounts.
- Check network coverage for the accounts you post to most, including LinkedIn Company Pages, WhatsApp, and review sites.
- Run a two-week trial with your real accounts before your Sprout renewal date, and export the Sprout reports you want to keep.
Do this in eksis
- Create a free workspace and set the time zone under Settings > General > Time zone.
- Connect your accounts, then invite your colleague under Settings > Members with Invite member. Pick a role: Contributor writes posts that wait in Awaiting approval, and Editor can approve and publish. Approvals start on Starter.
- Click Create post, choose the channels, and adjust each channel's tab. Click Schedule to pick a time, or Save draft.
- Answer comments and Instagram and Facebook messages in Inbox, and set keyword replies in Automations.
- Open Analytics for post performance, audience growth, and Best hours to post. Choose Export to download CSV or an Excel workbook. On Agency, Share report creates a read-only link for a client.
See every plan on eksis pricing, what LinkedIn supports on the LinkedIn integration page, and our guide to a light post approval workflow.
Sources
- Sprout Social: Pricing
- Sprout Social Help Center: What social profiles can I connect to Sprout?
- Agorapulse: Pricing
- Hootsuite: Plans
- Buffer: Pricing
- Buffer: Pricing (machine-readable version)
- Metricool: Pricing
- eksis: Pricing
- eksis docs: Team and roles
- eksis docs: Analytics
All were read on October 24, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Sprout Social cost in 2026?
On October 24, 2026, Sprout's pricing page listed Essentials at $79 per seat a month billed yearly ($99 monthly), Standard at $199, Professional at $299, and Advanced at $399 per seat a month, with Enterprise on custom pricing. Essentials and Standard include 5 social profiles.
Does Sprout Social have a free plan?
Its pricing page lists no free plan. It offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card.
What is the closest alternative to Sprout Social for customer care?
Agorapulse is the closest on inbox and review handling: every plan includes its social inbox and Google reviews moderation, priced per user from $79 a month billed yearly. Hootsuite is the other per-user option with monitoring built in.
Can I replace Sprout Social with a scheduler?
If your team mainly plans and publishes posts and reads analytics, yes. If you answer reviews, use listening, or connect Sprout to a CRM, a scheduler will not cover those, and you would need a second tool or a per-user platform like Agorapulse or Hootsuite.
Does eksis publish to LinkedIn Company Pages?
No. eksis publishes text, photo, and video posts to a personal LinkedIn profile only, and has no LinkedIn statistics. If Company Page publishing matters, Sprout's help center and Buffer's pricing page both list LinkedIn Pages.
