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HootSuite vs Sprout Social comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

HootSuite
Ranking in Social CRM
3rd
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
3rd
Ranking in Social Media Analytics Software
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sprout Social
Ranking in Social CRM
6th
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
5th
Ranking in Social Media Analytics Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
AI Customer Experience Personalization (112th), AI Content Creation (66th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of HootSuite is 8.4%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sprout Social is 7.8%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Social CRM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HootSuite8.4%
Sprout Social7.8%
Other83.8%
Social CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Gabriel  Waweru - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Unilever Inc.
Centralized social media workflows have improved collaboration, insights, and customer response
HootSuite offers several valuable features that include an intuitive user interface, which makes it very easy for new users. It also provides a better understanding of what customers want with analytics and gathers those insights into actionable reports, which helps make data-driven decisions easy. Additionally, HootSuite manages and maintains our social presence from anywhere at any time with the HootSuite mobile app. I rely on all of these features, as they are very strategic and helpful in my organization. HootSuite turns real-time data into strategic insights by monitoring mentions of a brand, key industry topics, and competitors. HootSuite supports team collaboration by assigning tasks, managing approvals, and monitoring team performance. HootSuite has positively impacted my organization by streamlining how we manage multiple content on various social platforms, saving considerable time. It has helped us achieve 40% to 50% time savings in content operations, a 25% increase in engagement due to consistent posting, and improved lead response due to improved response time. I measure the time savings through content operation metrics. The 25% increase in engagement resulted from consistent posting on social platforms. HootSuite has also helped us with centralized reporting across different social media channels, enabling us to make data-driven decisions easily.
Joyce Mayor - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Procter & Gamble
Unified social workflows have transformed reporting, listening, and engagement across channels
The best features Sprout Social offers are exceptional reporting capabilities and an intuitive user interface. I have several colleagues who use it to create posts, and the training takes about five minutes, especially for new users. Excellent customer service and a great social listening tool stand out as well. Aggregating mentions, quickly assessing the competitive landscape by channel, and excellent and highly responsive customer service are key strengths. I love the Sprout Social link feature to connect Instagram users with the URLs I am directing them to, and the flexibility to schedule across platforms in bulk or individually at optimal post times is valuable.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"HootSuite is an easy way to get social media posts out, as you're able to upload and schedule posts in the future, which saves time and allows for the continuity of having the same post across various platforms."
"If you are into social media marketing or any other digital media, then you should have knowledge of HootSuite because it is the industry standard that has been helping industry professionals."
"Hootsuite feels like an all-in-one tool; I can publish content on Hootsuite and then answer comments, which is what I do for my customers."
"HootSuite has positively impacted our organization by helping us increase our engagement on LinkedIn by fifteen percent and unlock more engagement on social platforms where we were not expecting to see the movement."
"Customer Service: Great. Technical Support: Good."
"HootSuite has an AI engine to suggest trending topics related to our business. The engine works really well and comes up with excellent suggestions for more posts."
"Hootsuite feels like an all-in-one tool; I can publish content on Hootsuite and then answer comments, which is what I do for my customers."
"HootSuite has been truly useful and helpful in my organization because impressions have increased, there has been an increase in traffic, scheduling has become simpler, and approvals have been excellent."
"Sprout Social has made a huge positive impact on my organization by centralizing social media efforts in a way that the central university relations team can have a better view on what's happening across the university to report off of, as well as creating more of a community space around social media marketing and best practices."
"Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by helping support steady follower growth through consistent posting, improving efficiency with easy content planning and scheduling, and enabling us to track everything, which is something we could not do before."
"Switching to Sprout Social saved our business and helped us achieve all we needed to achieve."
"Sprout Social has saved us a lot of time, provided the convenience of a single login to multiple socials, and requires less time for training, making it very easy to use and start using it."
"One of the biggest advantages of Sprout Social is its user-friendly dashboard and clear visual reports, which make it easy to interpret data and present insights to clients."
"Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by facilitating seamless content planning and publishing, allowing us to engage with our clients and the public with well-timed and relevant posts."
"Sprout Social is the best; it is very good, actually, because I have used Intercom and Zendesk, but when I look at the different software I have used as a customer service agent, I would go for Sprout Social as it is more complete and easy to navigate."
"Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by saving us time and effort."
 

Cons

"Before choosing HootSuite, I evaluated the sales team, which is acceptable, but I need the legal team, the finance team, and integration about the pipeline, which is not very good."
"Last I checked, you can't schedule Twitter threads where each tweet is a reply to a previous tweet."
"The company should reduce the pricing to make it easier for companies to deploy to larger social teams."
"HootSuite could be improved by enhancing its ability to create Reels in the platform."
"I advise against using Hootsuite."
"An area where HootSuite can be improved is the limitation in approving posts, scheduling posts, or reviewing analytics, as those features feel hard to use on a mobile device."
"Last I checked, you can't schedule Twitter threads where each tweet is a reply to a previous tweet."
"The pricing would be great if it were free. It costs $99 per month, which is quite expensive."
"Sprout Social could be improved in several areas. The user interface could be more user-friendly and intuitive for new users."
"Sprout Social can be improved as it lacks native support for every social network."
"I sometimes find it difficult to drill down into deeper analytics when using Sprout Social."
"Sprout Social can be improved because the user experience of having hundreds of channels to navigate can be quite fiddly, especially when trying to bulk post."
"Additionally, it does not always support high-quality images or videos, and it is difficult to figure out how to get them into the platform."
"There were definitely a lot of issues with billing regarding how Sprout Social bills, and that actually is my biggest issue with the platform."
"I wish the ability to tag other Facebook pages was a reality with Sprout Social."
"I believe technical support must be improved in Sprout Social."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​I have only used the free versions.​"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
9%
Retailer
7%
Media Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HootSuite?
I really wish HootSuite automatically saved drafts. It frequently disconnects from accounts, and I am unsure if this occurs when the internet connection is weak. I would like to see improvements in...
What is your primary use case for HootSuite?
Having a variety of social accounts and needing to post across them is the primary use case for HootSuite, and it works really well for this purpose. The analytics feature is incredibly useful to h...
What advice do you have for others considering HootSuite?
For others looking into using HootSuite, I advise that it is well suited for any size of organization that is looking to schedule posts. It can handle accounts for multiple social media platforms o...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sprout Social?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that Sprout Social delivers good value for the price, making it very cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Sprout Social?
I wish the ability to tag other Facebook pages was a reality with Sprout Social. I think a partnership with unavailable platforms like Nextdoor would be a great improvement for my experience with S...
What is your primary use case for Sprout Social?
My main use case for Sprout Social is social media scheduling, posting, and analytic reports, as it is a helpful tool with comprehensive reporting on social media accounts, detailing the campaign's...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Vega, TicketLeap, Radio Italia, The PureMatter Agency, Kiva, The Vancouver Canucks
Hyatt, Stanford University, Coldwell Banker, Razorfish, UPS, Box, Zipcar, PepsiCo, YogurtLand, Dove, TechSmith
Find out what your peers are saying about HootSuite vs. Sprout Social and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.