When it comes to social media management tools Sprout Social and HootSuite are the two biggest names. Choosing between the two can be a difficult choice to make, but there are features you can look at to ensure you get the best tool suitable for your brand.
Both Sprout Social and HootSuite may seem like suitable tools for you off the bat. But of course, there are differences when you start to consider how well you can manage your brand on social media with these tools. So what do you need to look at to decide?
Deciding where to go sprout social or HootSuite will require a look at the features each social media management tool offers. Not just the features, but how much you need those features for your brand.
In this Sprout Social vs HootSuite comparison article, we will take a closer look at the two social media management platforms and how well they can transform your social media marketing efforts.
Let’s take a look at how the two compare to each other.
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Sprout Social Vs Hootsuite: Overview
Overall, Sprout Social and Hootsuite are two of the top social media management platforms out there. Each has its own strengths, but they also share a lot in common. Both offer robust features for scheduling posts, tracking progress, analyzing data, and more.
If you're looking for a comprehensive tool that helps you manage all your social media accounts from one place and do it effectively, then either could be an excellent choice for you. But, when taking a closer look at the two there are some clear differences and preferences between users of the two platforms.
With Sprout Social having a simpler user interface than HootSuite, its user interface has a modern feel to it. On top of the popular social media platforms the two social media management tools support, they differ with Sprout Social enter grating with Facebook messenger and HootSuite on WordPress.
HootSuite has over a hundred integrations compared to only a few for sprout social. Sprout Social’s reporting features are way ahead compared to HootSuite. They offer you a wider range of reporting features for competitive social media marketing strategies
Let’s take a closer look at the features offered by the two platforms
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite: Pricing
Both Sprout Social and HootSuite offer plans for individuals as well as teams — including free options. Each platform also has some paid options that enable you to do things like add more users or receive additional features like analytics.
When choosing between Sprout Social and HootSuite, however, you should pay attention to the differences in product offerings. Though both of these social media management tools are excellent options for business owners, they're more suited to different types of businesses and have different pricing structures.
Sprout Social is a more focused product in terms of how it lets users manage their accounts on different networks. For example, unlike Hootsuite's free plan that allows you to use up to three social networks (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) at once with an unlimited number of posts per month.
Sprout Social offers up to five social networks with no maximum number of posts per month available through its $99/month on the standard Plan. Sprout Social offers a 30 day free trial for all plans no credit card required. They don't have limits on managed connection. On top of that, you can also add more social accounts if you're willing to pay for them individually in addition to your main account.
Additionally, if you choose this plan over Hootsuite's basic option ($49 /month). Hootsuite also offers a 30 day free trial on all plans. But you will have to add your payment details to for your next billing cycle.
Pricing will vary based on how many accounts you want to connect to the tool and how many users need access to the dashboard.
Sprout Social vs HootSuite: Key Feature
Social media Tool
Sprout Social
HootSuite
Ease of use (User Interface)
Sprout social offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface that looks modern, it's easy to find what you are looking for.
Hootsuite’s user interface is difficult to navigate, not everything is in one place. You have to create a dashboard for each stream you manage.
Social Media Integrations
Sprout Social supports all major social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram) It also supports posting on Facebook Messenger
Hootsuite supports all major social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram). In addition, it supports youtube and WordPress
Scheduling and Publishing
With Sprout Social, you can publish and schedule content as well as add your first comment on Instagram posts.
With HootSuite, you can also publish and schedule content. It also helps you easily engage on content that wasn’t created within the management tool.
Social reporting
Sprout Offers a wider range of reporting tools. It also helps when it comes to creating a competitive social media strategy.
With HootSuite you can track performance and audience sentiment. This is great for monitoring brand reputation online.
Apps and Integrations
A few integrations compared to Hootsuite.
Offers over 100 integrations available on their app directory.
Support
Great support through live chat, email, and call.
Great support through live chat, email, and call.
Price
Sprout Social’s standard plan goes for $99 with a 30day free trial. (no credit card required)
HootSuite offers a 3o day free trial and their basic plan goes for $49
Let's take a close look at the features of both social media management tools.
Ease of Use
The user interface is an important factor in choosing the best platform to work with, after all, you wouldn’t want to be worked up learning a new tool. Sprout Social wins on ease of use, it’s simply the better platform to work on.
Getting started with Sprout Social is pretty simple compared to many other tools. Sprout Social is easy to use, particularly for social media newbies.
The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, so you won’t have any trouble getting started with the tool. That said, if you find yourself struggling with your first few posts or tweets or want to learn more about how Sprout Social works in general, there are plenty of educational resources available on their website. You can also reach out directly through email or phone calls if needed.
In addition to its simple setup process, Sprout Social offers several features that make it stand out from HootSuite.
Hootsuite on the other hand can get tricky to work with as you have to create a new dashboard for every stream you are monitoring. At first, it may seem like a useful tool, but as you increase the number of accounts you manage it can feel cluttered.
Social Media Integration
Both Sprout Social and HootSuite integrate with most of the major social networks, enabling you to manage at least your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest in one go.
Hootsuite excels with YouTube publishing and management when compared to Sprout. Sprout Social lets you post to Facebook messenger and is great for managing Instagram engagement. Hootsuite also allows you to post to WordPress.
The HootSuite platform is great if you are running a YouTube channel or you want to manage your blog and your YouTube channel in one place. Sprout social’s Facebook messenger tool is a great feature if you are a brand in need of messaging is a key need in your social media presence.
Both platforms offer some great features and depending on your need each can be a clear winner. Hootsuite wins if you have a YouTube channel and want to manage it in one place with your WordPress blog. Sprout social wins if you need for managing your messaging communications for Facebook and Instagram.
Social Media Scheduling and Publishing
When comparing Sprout Social vs Hootsuite post scheduling features, they both have some great publishing features. With both platforms, you can schedule different types of content like images, text, and video and also have a preview of how the content will appear on different social media platforms.
However, we see that both these tools excel in this department. They both offer exceptional and basic features you need for scheduling and publishing management. Sprout Social allows users to schedule posts up to 6 months in advance. Hootsuite, on the other hand, only allows users to schedule posts up to 1 month in advance.
Sprout Social also has a 15-minute scheduling feature that is not available on Hootsuite. On both social media management platforms, you manage your content within a content calendar which is great for scheduling.
The other feature that makes the two platforms great is you can monitor social mentions, social shares, and retweets. This is great because you can engage with your audience when they decide to talk about your brand.
Sprout Social makes it easy to manage your inbox with social inbox, with it everything is in one stream. Hootsuite however separates each social stream. Where they match is that they have to stand out features.
Hootsuite allows you to manage your engagement within their dashboard whether you posted on HootSuite or not. This is useful because it gives one place to manage your social media presence including your blog.
With Sprout Social, you can post your first comment together with your image, or video. This allows you to add more hashtags to improve your content reach within the platform.
Both platforms offer agencies the ease of managing their client social media accounts.
Value for Money
While Sprout Social might mean investing more than HootSuite does, it’s also a more focused product. If you want to use one tool for managing your social media accounts and publishing content, both Sprout Social and HootSuite can do it.
But if you need something more focused on scheduling posts or managing multiple profiles from one dashboard for example, then Sprout Social is worth checking out.
On the other hand, if you're looking for something that can handle every single aspect of running your social media presence from analytics tracking to community engagement then HootSuite is worth considering. This tool provides an all-inclusive solution that lets you manage all aspects of your online marketing strategy in one place.
They both give you value for the amount you are investing on the platforms because you can archive more by managing your social media in one place.
Social Media Reporting and Monitoring
When you are running a social media campaign, you will need to report on your social media efforts and progress. So, when choosing between the two social media tools, you will have to consider their reporting features.
At the end of the day, you don’t want reporting to take more time than needed from your money-making activities. The Hootsuite reporting feature gives you data on every platform connected to HootSuite. This includes data from posts that were not published through HootSuite. You can also find sentiment reporting which gives you a feel of how your audience feels about your brand.
That means monitoring neutral, positive, and negative messages coming to your account. This feature is great for improving or keeping your brand reputation in a positive light. With HootSuite you get a view of your social media performance through reports you can export to PDF. If you are looking for more advanced reporting features, you have to upgrade your plan.
Sprout Social helps you track what is happening on both business pages and groups. You can monitor mentions by hashtags and terms related to your business to engage with your audience. For instance, if you are in the travel and leisure business, you might want to monitor what people are saying relating to places they like to visit, the hotels they love and the activities they are interested in doing.
Sprout Social offers better social reporting because they give you more reports that can help you make better business decisions. With sprout social, you can track anything from the audience, publishing behavior, and video performance, to creating your custom reports.
Apps and Integrations
HootSuite will also give you access to more app integrations with over 100 apps available in their app store. This can be an additional factor in your decision because it’s always great to have other tools available when you need them.
Sprout Social features integrations with google analytics, and Zendesk which can give you great social media analytics and help you offer great customer support. HootSuite on the other hand beats sprout because of its app directory, they offer team collaboration tools like slack which can help you manage team communications in one place.
If you are using social media to drive sales to your business, HootSuite can be helpful. This is because they also have an inbuilt CRM to manage social media engagement.
Customer Support
You should also consider aspects like customer support and pricing when deliberating which software is right for you. Given that both are popular platforms that offer quite similar services, the deciding factor may come down to customer support.
Both Sprout Social and HootSuite offer customer support via email, live chat, and telephone. They also both have extensive help sections on their sites with articles, FAQs, videos, and tutorials that can answer most questions you might have about the software.
If you want to get deeper into understanding the two platforms and being a certified expert, you can take sprout certification courses or HootSuite certification.
Which Social Media Management Tool is Best for you?
Depending on your business needs, either tool may be suitable for your brand. Considering features and pricing here is how you can make your pick
If you're a small business, it's best to go with HootSuite. The tool gives you access to all of the most important social networks and has an intuitive interface for scheduling posts and measuring your results. You can also set up individual profiles for each of your employees, making it easy to manage different accounts from just one place.
If you have a larger team or are managing multiple brands, Sprout Social is the better choice because it offers more robust features that reflect diverse workflows within different departments like marketing and PR.
The tool allows users to create separate lists based on departmental needs so that they can easily view what’s being done across teams without cluttering their newsfeeds with irrelevant information. To learn more about Sprout Social, start a 30day free trial or see our detailed Sprout Social review.
