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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
4th
Ranking in Social Media Analytics Software
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sprout Social
Ranking in Social CRM
2nd
Ranking in Social Media Management Solutions
2nd
Ranking in Social Media Analytics Software
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
AI Customer Experience Personalization (10th), AI Content Creation (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Social CRM category, the mindshare of HootSuite is 10.3%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sprout Social is 8.4%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Social CRM Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sprout Social8.4%
HootSuite10.3%
Other81.3%
Social CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Calin Balaita - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engineer at Wärtsilä
Consistent scheduling has amplified our global branding and simplified weekly content sharing
HootSuite does a good job at what it does, and I didn't have any issues with it. If I had to think about one thing that could make my experience even better, the interface on the iOS version could be a bit smoother and things could be more visible, but other than that, it works fine.
Mirella Karpiesiuk - PeerSpot reviewer
Social Engagement Manager at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Centralized social channels have transformed daily engagement and reporting workflows
Regarding how Sprout Social can be improved, these are very minor areas. Sometimes we have this metric called action rate, which reflects how fast a message has been touched in Sprout Social, whether that is the message being tagged, responded to, or closed out. Apparently, we cannot get a 100% action rate because some responses come in that are auto-replied to, and that action rate misses that. I think this is one thing that can be improved: figuring out how to count those auto-responded messages. This is a niche area. Outside of that, I do not have much advice for improvements in Sprout Social; I truly think it is a hub of value and provides a lot for us. The user interface is great; it is super friendly. For someone who has never touched it before, I knew where everything was and maneuvered through it within a week of using it. The integrations are seamless with all of our social media accounts: Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and all of that. We can also export data and PDF files, which helps us with other projects. I see very minimal improvements needed on my end; I think it is a very valuable program that we use.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HootSuite has positively impacted my organization by making it easy for us to post our socials without having to add staff."
"It has a social media presence outside of the hours people are able to devote to an organization."
"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."
"One of the best things about HootSuite is their clear UX design that is easy to navigate around the platform, and also to see the social media calendar of the clients, so we can see on which channel which post is going when and how the posts look."
"I love the usability of HootSuite, and it is easy to learn; that is one of the great things."
"HootSuite has positively impacted my organization by offering the possibility to connect everything in one platform, all the social channels, import the assets, and create the copies."
"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 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."
"I have definitely seen a return on investment with Sprout Social, as it has led to time savings, improved efficiency, and financial returns since not everything had to be manually posted."
"We would not be able to do it without Sprout Social, and it is very easy to use; the user interface is very friendly and intuitive."
"Sprout Social impacts my organization positively by allowing me to gauge the sentiment around different topics and helping me to stay on top of my social media growth and reporting."
"My main use case for Sprout Social is enterprise-level social media management and analytics, and I use it for all my social media operations, from publishing, customer care, and social listening through one channel."
"Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to streamline the scheduling of content, get ahead of everything so we can focus on the present, and pivot when necessary based on what is happening or not happening."
"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 our organization by aligning with our team goals and being very efficient at scheduling, publishing, and pulling analytics."
"Sprout Social has positively impacted my organization by providing me with reporting capabilities and allowing me to assess how my posts are performing."
 

Cons

"Sometimes we received emails that due to some reasons, posts were not shared automatically. This was also one of the reasons why we left HootSuite."
"The biggest improvement area for us in HootSuite would be pricing and scales because it does scale quite quickly once we have a few more social profiles or team members added."
"There are a few issues with it being somewhat glitchy and the timeline not showing up consistently as of recently, but overall, it is a great product."
"I advise against using Hootsuite."
"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."
"I think HootSuite can be improved with a better user interface."
"HootSuite has a solid platform for social media publishing and monitoring, but I think it could be improved with more advanced analytics, deeper AI-powered insights and summaries, or more customizable reporting."
"Sometimes the suggestions or the content suggestions that the OwlyWriter AI gives are not up to the mark that we want."
"My advice to others considering Sprout Social is that I believe it is a good platform to use temporarily for some clients, but it does not scale well for growth."
"I know Sprout Social is expensive; it is on the higher side."
"Realistically, I find the pricing quite high."
"AI tool reliability and accuracy is a significant concern."
"Sprout Social could be improved by being able to schedule out Stories, which is a current limitation."
"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."
"It is not perfect. Sometimes its information or its syncing to platforms is clunky, so you end up having slightly wrong information or data."
"Maybe trying to figure out the reason why sometimes the engagement could be less when posted through Sprout Social rather than manually."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​I have only used the free versions.​"
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
University
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Media Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
17%
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HootSuite?
In terms of branding and brand mentions, it would be useful if we could use multiple sources to pull data from, which would be more helpful. Reporting would be somewhat more helpful if we were able...
What is your primary use case for HootSuite?
My main use case for HootSuite is scheduling social media posts and managing all our social and content calendars in a central location. We mainly use HootSuite to schedule our posts by bulk produc...
What advice do you have for others considering HootSuite?
HootSuite serves the purpose of what it is designed for. However, sometimes the admin dashboard and the backend panel can be a bit slow and clunky, so it could improve in terms of speed and managin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sprout Social?
We do not mind the setup cost because the organization provides whatever we are asking for, and we are just working on it. We do not know much about pricing and setup costs as we have a separate te...
What needs improvement with Sprout Social?
For me, I am open to suggestions, but currently, I do not think that it needs improvement or anything that needs to be changed or anything that needs to be added. For me, it is perfect at the moment.
What is your primary use case for Sprout Social?
The main use for Sprout Social in my field is that I sum up all the brands of the agency in it, and I take the comments, take the messages, and reply to the community messages. This is the main and...
 

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: July 2026.
906,852 professionals have used our research since 2012.