The best Sprout Social alternative depends on which part of the work you want gone. If your posts already exist, Buffer is a simple per-channel queue, Later is the pick for visual content planning, and Metricool adds reports with a free plan. If design is the slow part, add Canva; if the posts never get written, compare software that makes posts from your website, boomp.net, with a human post service. If your team works in Sprout Social's shared inbox every day, stay, or compare its closest like-for-like competitor, Hootsuite.
We publish this comparison at boomp.net, one of the six options below. We checked each linked official pricing page on October 9, 2026, and did not test every paid plan. Canva's pricing page refused our check, so we list no Canva price.
Who does the work with each alternative
Most people who leave Sprout Social keep one of its jobs and drop the rest, so start with the job you actually do.
| Alternative | Good fit | Work that stays with you |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Finished posts that need a simple queue, including Google Business Profile | Write, design and approve every post |
| Later | Visual planning on one drag-and-drop calendar | Make the media and captions; keep the plan current |
| Metricool | Scheduling with reports, free for one brand | Choose the content and act on the numbers |
| Canva | Designing the images and videos | Choose the message, write the words and schedule the result |
| boomp.net | Posts made from an existing business website | Check facts and approve posts, or publish Packs yourself |
| $99 Social | A human team that makes a set number of posts | Brief the team and review each month's posts |
Test any alternative on one ordinary week, and choose the one that removes your most expensive step.
Prices: compare the unit, not just the number
Sprout Social charges per seat, meaning per person who logs in; most alternatives charge per channel, per brand or per set of profiles. Prices are in US dollars.
Your baseline: Sprout Social Essentials is $79 per seat a month billed annually, or $99 billed monthly, for up to five social profiles. Standard, which adds the consolidated inbox, monitoring and review management, is $199 per seat a month billed annually, or $249 monthly, also for five profiles. Professional ($299) and Advanced ($399) are per seat a month billed annually, with unlimited profiles. Annual billing is paid upfront for the term, and there is a 30-day free trial with no card required, but no free plan.
| Alternative | Published entry price | Unit and what it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Buffer | Free; Essentials $5/month per channel on annual billing ($60 a year) | Per channel. Free: three channels, ten scheduled posts each, one user. Essentials: one user. Team: $120 a year per channel, unlimited team members |
| Later | Starter $18.75/month billed yearly | Per social set: one profile on each of eight networks, one user, 30 posts per profile a month. 14-day trial; a limited Free plan is in Later's help center |
| Metricool | Free; Starter from $25/month on monthly billing | Per brand. Free: one brand, 20 posts a month, no LinkedIn or X. Starter: up to five brands at that price |
| Canva | Price on canva.com | Its pricing page refused our check |
| boomp.net | Packs $9/month; Core $39/month | Packs: ten finished posts to publish yourself. Core: 20 static posts, one carousel and one video, published to connected channels |
| $99 Social | Standard $99/month | Ten posts on one channel; $10 a month for each extra channel |
As example arithmetic, three people on Essentials need three seats, $237 a month at the annual rate; on Buffer's Team plan, three people sharing five channels pay $600 a year.
The separate done-for-you option is $275 a month: the founder of boomp.net reviews and approves your posts. It is not an agency: no ads, replies, photo shoots or strategy calls. Paid plans charge from day one, with no free month or free trial; the ten free posts are the free step.
Which Sprout Social alternative fits your business?
1. Buffer: your posts are ready and need a queue
Buffer prices by channel: Essentials includes one user, and the Team plan adds unlimited team members at $120 a year per channel. Google Business Profile is among its supported channels. Its AI Assistant helps with copy; you still supply the details, photos and approval. Buffer plans.
2. Later: you plan visually
Later is the closest answer if visual content planning is why you are looking. Its Visual Planner, on every plan, lets you drag media or text posts onto one calendar across your platforms. Starter covers one user and one profile on each of eight networks; shared calendars, approvals and a social inbox start on Growth, $37.50 a month billed yearly. Google Business Profile is not on Later's list of supported networks, which matters if local customers find you there. Later organizes the posts; someone still makes them. Later plans.
3. Metricool: you want reports, and maybe a free plan
Metricool combines a planner with analytics and has a genuine free plan, with 30 days of analytics. Starter adds LinkedIn, and its price rises with the number of brands. Google Business Profile is among its connections. Reports help only when someone reads them and changes the next post. Metricool plans.
4. Canva: making the visuals is the slow part
Canva is design software, so it fits when the images and videos are the bottleneck, not the schedule. Sprout Social's and Later's pricing pages both list a Canva connection on every plan, so Canva often sits beside a scheduler rather than replacing one. Check canva.com for current plans. You still choose the message and write the words. Canva pricing.
5. Posts made from your website: boomp.net
This option is software that reads your business website and makes the posts: captions and on-brand images, with carousels and short videos on paid plans. Packs, $9 a month, sends ten finished posts for you to publish; nothing is connected. Core, $39 a month, makes 20 static posts, one carousel and one video and publishes them to your connected channels. On Core you approve each post in the app by default, or you can choose auto approval. You still check the facts and tell us about changes that are not on your website. It does not replace Sprout Social's inbox, monitoring, review tools or reports.
Make ten free posts from your website. Enter your website address and an email; the link arrives by email. No account or card is needed, and the sample does not publish anywhere.
6. A person: you want someone else to own it
$99 Social sells human-made posts: Standard is $99 a month for ten posts on one channel, plus $10 a month for each extra channel. It says it never posts anything you have not approved, and it asks for at least seven days' notice to cancel. If you need someone to answer customers and own the results, that is a hire, a freelancer or an agency with that job written down. $99 Social's published offer.
Is there a free alternative to Sprout Social?
Yes, with limits, and none of them is a full suite. Sprout Social has a 30-day free trial, not a free plan; after the trial, you pick a paid plan. Meta Business Suite is free for Facebook and Instagram (checked October 7, 2026). Buffer's free plan covers three channels with ten scheduled posts per channel; Metricool's covers one brand and 20 posts a month, excluding LinkedIn and X. Hootsuite offers a 14-day trial, not a free plan; Later pairs a 14-day trial with a limited Free plan described in its help center. The free step at boomp.net is a sample, not a plan: ten finished posts made from your website. More options: free social media schedulers.
Sprout Social alternatives for visual content planning
Start with Later, whose drag-and-drop Visual Planner is on every plan. Planoly is another visual planner: its help page lists Starter at $16 a month billed monthly or $14 billed annually, for one workspace and one user, and says X posts are reminder-only. Sprout Social itself lists a collaborative content calendar on every plan, so check whether the calendar you already pay for does the job. More: Later alternatives · Planoly alternative.
When to stay on Sprout Social
Stay when several people share the work of answering customers. Standard adds a consolidated inbox, keyword and location monitoring and review management; Professional adds message approvals and competitor and paid insights; Advanced adds helpdesk integrations and customer care reports. Replacing that with several cheaper tools can mean more logins and more missed messages.
If price is the only problem, check Sprout Social's own Essentials plan first, if you do not need the inbox and review tools that start on Standard. If you need the suite with more profiles at the entry price, compare Hootsuite like for like. Its Standard plan is $99 per user a month billed annually for up to ten social accounts, and its plans page lists a unified inbox and social listening on Standard. Both sell seats, so count your people first: Hootsuite alternatives.
Three example decisions
These are planning examples about hypothetical businesses, not customer results.
A two-person salon schedules finished photos to Instagram and Facebook and rarely opens the inbox. Two Essentials seats are $158 a month at the annual rate, while Meta Business Suite is free for those two networks. Their missing step is scheduling, and a free tool covers it.
A dental group's front desk answers reviews and messages for three offices. That is the work Sprout Social's Standard plan is built for. A cheaper scheduler would push those replies back into each app, so staying, or comparing Hootsuite, is the honest call.
A landscaper has a good website and has not posted in four months. No scheduler fixes that, because there is nothing to schedule. Compare a free sample of finished posts with a human service, then decide who publishes and who approves.
Move from Sprout Social without posting twice
- List what is scheduled. Record each post, profile and date in Sprout Social's calendar and the Sprout Queue, and save the captions and media you want to keep.
- Check your renewal date. Annual billing is paid upfront for the term, so pick a switch date that fits it.
- Give each post one owner. Before the switch date, Sprout Social publishes; after it, the new tool does.
- Test one post. Connect each profile in the new tool, schedule one post after the switch date, and check it on the live account, not only in the app.
- Pause Sprout Social at the switch. Its pricing page lists a pause for all scheduled or queued messages on every plan; use it, or delete the moved posts, before the new tool's first post goes out.
- Hand off replies, then disconnect. Name who answers comments, messages and reviews from now on, save the reports you need, and remove your profiles from Sprout Social.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Sprout Social alternative for a small business?
It depends on the work you want gone. Buffer is a simple queue priced per channel, Later is built for visual planning, Metricool adds reports and a free plan, and Canva covers design. If the posts never get written, compare boomp.net, software that makes posts from your website, with a human post service. Stay on Sprout Social if your team shares its inbox and review tools.
Is there a free alternative to Sprout Social?
Yes, with limits. Meta Business Suite is free for Facebook and Instagram. Buffer's free plan covers three channels with ten scheduled posts per channel. Metricool's free plan covers one brand and 20 posts a month, excluding LinkedIn and X. Sprout Social has a 30-day free trial, not a free plan.
Which Sprout Social alternatives focus on visual content planning?
Later is the closest fit. Its Visual Planner, included on every plan, lets you drag media or text posts onto one calendar, and Starter is $18.75 a month billed yearly. Planoly is another visual planner, from $14 a month billed annually. Canva makes the visuals and connects to both Sprout Social and Later. Prices checked October 9, 2026.
Is Sprout Social good for a small business?
It can be, if several people share the inbox, reviews and reporting. It is priced per seat: Essentials is $79 per seat a month billed annually for five profiles, and Standard, which adds the shared inbox and review management, is $199. A one-person business that mainly schedules posts often pays for features it does not use. Prices checked October 9, 2026.
Does boomp.net replace Sprout Social?
Only for one job: getting the posts made. It is software that reads your business website and makes captions and on-brand images. Packs sends ten finished posts a month for you to publish. Core publishes to connected channels after you approve each post by default. It does not replace Sprout Social's inbox, monitoring, review tools or reports.
How do I switch from Sprout Social without posting twice?
List every post in Sprout Social's calendar and queue, note your renewal date, and pick one switch date. Test one post from the new tool on the live account. At the switch, pause or delete the moved posts in Sprout Social so each post has one owner. Then hand off replies and reviews, save the reports you need, and disconnect.
Compare more tools: Sprout Social vs boomp.net · Hootsuite alternatives · Later alternatives · Planoly alternative · Canva Pro alternative · Buffer alternatives · Loomly alternatives · Plann alternatives · Free social media schedulers · Social media management pricing
