{ "title": "Sprout Social Alternatives 2027: 13 Paid, Free & Open-Source", "url": "https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/sprout-social/", "summary": "The best Sprout Social alternatives in 2027 are Hootsuite (best overall, $99/user/mo), Buffer (best free plan) and Postiz (best open source, AGPL-3.0). Sprout Social itself starts at $79/seat/mo billed yearly. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 10 Nov 2026; 10 more are compared below, including 1 with a free plan and 4 open source.", "tool": { "name": "Sprout Social", "starting_price": "$79/seat/mo billed yearly", "free_plan": "No", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://sproutsocial.com/pricing/" }, "task": "Social media scheduler / manager", "prices_checked": "2026-11-10", "date_modified": "2026-11-13", "alternatives": [ { "name": "Hootsuite", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$99/user/mo", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Teams wanting unlimited accounts at higher tiers", "difference": "Standard starts at $99 per user with 10 accounts and a 14-day trial; Professional and Advanced list unlimited social accounts, and an AI assistant called Wisdom sits in every plan.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://www.hootsuite.com/plans", "website": "https://www.hootsuite.com", "zekai_score": 8.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/hootsuite/" }, { "name": "Buffer", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$5/channel/mo", "free_plan_limit": "Up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user", "best_for": "Small brands starting without budget", "difference": "Bills $5 per channel monthly rather than per seat, and its free plan allows 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel and 1 user.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://buffer.com/pricing", "website": "https://buffer.com", "zekai_score": 9.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/buffer/" }, { "name": "SocialPilot", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$20/mo", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Agencies wanting low cost per account", "difference": "Plans start at $20 monthly for 5 accounts and 1 user; Standard raises that to 10 accounts and 3 users for $40, with a 14-day no-card trial.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://www.socialpilot.co/pricing", "website": "https://www.socialpilot.co" }, { "name": "Agorapulse", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$79/user/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Teams prioritising inbox and review handling", "difference": "Offers Standard, Professional and Advanced at $79, $119 and $149 per user billed yearly, each capped at 10 social profiles per user.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://www.agorapulse.com/pricing/", "website": "https://www.agorapulse.com", "zekai_score": 7.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/agorapulse/" }, { "name": "Later", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$18.75/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Visual content calendars for Instagram and TikTok", "difference": "Starter costs $18.75 monthly billed yearly for 1 social set of 8 profiles and 30 posts per profile each month, with a 14-day trial.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://later.com/pricing/", "website": "https://later.com", "zekai_score": 8.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/later/" }, { "name": "Publer", "type": "Free", "starting_price": "Free plan; paid price not published", "free_plan_limit": "3 social accounts (not X), 10 scheduled posts per account, 25 drafts", "best_for": "Freelancers needing a free scheduling tier", "difference": "Its free plan keeps 3 accounts (X excluded), 10 scheduled posts per account and 25 drafts; paid tiers scale through an account slider with each 10th account free.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://publer.com/pricing", "website": "https://publer.com", "zekai_score": 7.9, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/publer/" }, { "name": "ContentStudio", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$19/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Agencies running many client workspaces", "difference": "Standard gives 5 social accounts in 1 workspace for $19 billed yearly; Agency Unlimited removes workspace and user limits and starts at 25 accounts.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://contentstudio.io/pricing", "website": "https://contentstudio.io", "zekai_score": 8.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/contentstudio/" }, { "name": "FeedHive", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$15/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Creators who want AI-assisted drafting", "difference": "Creator costs $15 monthly billed yearly for 4 social accounts, while Agency reaches 500 accounts and 100 workspaces for $239 on yearly billing.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://www.feedhive.com/pricing", "website": "https://www.feedhive.com", "zekai_score": 7.2, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/feedhive/" }, { "name": "Postiz", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "$29/mo (hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "AGPL-3.0", "best_for": "Self-hosted scheduling with agent integrations", "difference": "Schedules to many networks from one AGPL codebase with a calendar, AI helpers and agent integrations; running it yourself needs Postgres, Redis and a developer app for each network you connect.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://postiz.com/pricing", "website": "https://postiz.com", "repository": "https://github.com/gitroomhq/postiz-app", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/postiz-app/", "commercial_use": "Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.", "runs_on": "Docker host with Postgres, Redis and media storage.", "setup": "moderate: Docker plus a developer app and keys for each network.", "github_stars": 41530, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-13", "last_release": "2026-11-13", "zekai_score": 7.9, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/postiz-app/" }, { "name": "Mixpost", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "$299 one-time (hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT (Lite edition)", "best_for": "Self-hosted Laravel publishing app", "difference": "Lite is MIT and free, built on Laravel; the inbox, extra networks and team features are in Pro, a $299 one-time licence per domain, so it is open core rather than fully free.", "price_checked": "2026-11-10", "pricing_url": "https://mixpost.app/pricing", "website": "https://mixpost.app", "repository": "https://github.com/inovector/mixpost", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/mixpost/", "commercial_use": "Yes for Lite (MIT); Pro and Enterprise need paid licences.", "runs_on": "A PHP or Docker server with a public domain.", "setup": "moderate: Docker, manual PHP or Laravel install; networks need their own app keys.", "github_stars": 3930, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-03-16", "last_release": "2026-03-16", "zekai_score": 6.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/mixpost/" }, { "name": "TryPost", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "AGPL-3.0", "best_for": "Self-hosted scheduler driven by AI agents", "difference": "Exposes an MCP server with 80+ tools and a REST API so AI agents can draft, queue and publish posts, and its self-hosted build carries every feature of the cloud product.", "website": "https://trypost.it", "repository": "https://github.com/trypostit/trypost", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/trypost/", "commercial_use": "Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.", "runs_on": "A web server running PHP 8.2 or newer with Laravel 13.", "setup": "moderate: Laravel application; follow its documentation to set up and connect networks.", "github_stars": 860, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-13", "last_release": "2026-11-01", "zekai_score": 7, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/trypost/" }, { "name": "OpenPost", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "AGPL-3.0", "best_for": "Scheduling plus image and video editing", "difference": "Bundles an image editor, video editor and workflow canvas with scheduling, and runs from a single Docker container with SQLite by default; it lists 16 networks including Mastodon, Bluesky and PeerTube.", "website": "https://openpo.st", "repository": "https://github.com/getopenpost/openpost", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/openpost/", "commercial_use": "Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.", "runs_on": "Docker Compose; the default setup is one container with SQLite.", "setup": "moderate: One container, but each network needs its own app credentials.", "github_stars": 907, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-13", "last_release": "2026-11-13", "zekai_score": 7.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/openpost/" }, { "name": "Socioboard", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "GPL-3.0-or-later", "best_for": "Older open GPL multi-network social platform", "difference": "Older codebase that supports nine networks with analytics and reporting, but needs Node.js microservices, a PHP front end, MongoDB and MySQL, and its licence header dates from 2014-2021.", "website": "https://socioboard.com", "repository": "https://github.com/socioboard/Socioboard-5.0", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/socioboard/", "commercial_use": "Yes; GPL-3.0 means sharing source if you distribute modified versions.", "runs_on": "Server with Node.js 14+, PHP front end, MongoDB, MySQL and PM2.", "setup": "hard: Several Node microservices plus PHP, MongoDB and MySQL, per its install guide.", "github_stars": 1530, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-08-17", "last_release": "2024-01-16", "zekai_score": 6, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/socioboard/" } ], "faq": [ { "q": "What is the best alternative to Sprout Social in 2027?", "a": "Hootsuite is the best overall Sprout Social alternative on this page ($99/user/mo). For no cost, Buffer has a free plan (Up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user). To self-host, Postiz is open source (AGPL-3.0)." }, { "q": "Is there a free version of Sprout Social?", "a": "No. Sprout Social has no free plan; paid plans start at $79/seat/mo billed yearly, checked on 10 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "Is there a 100% free alternative to Sprout Social?", "a": "Yes. Postiz, Mixpost, TryPost, OpenPost, Socioboard are open source and free to self-host. Buffer, Publer have a free plan with limits, shown in the table." }, { "q": "What is cheaper than Sprout Social?", "a": "SocialPilot starts at $20/mo, against $79/seat/mo billed yearly for Sprout Social, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 10 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "How much do Sprout Social alternatives cost for a team of 5?", "a": "If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 10 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Buffer $25/mo, FeedHive $75/mo, Later $93.75/mo, against Sprout Social $395/mo for Sprout Social. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size." }, { "q": "Which is better, Hootsuite or Sprout Social?", "a": "Standard starts at $99 per user with 10 accounts and a 14-day trial; Professional and Advanced list unlimited social accounts, and an AI assistant called Wisdom sits in every plan. Choose Hootsuite if you want unlimited accounts at the Professional tier and one AI assistant across all plans. Stay with Sprout Social if you prefer Sprout's 30-day no-card trial and its seat-based Essentials plan at $79 billed yearly." }, { "q": "Why are people leaving Sprout Social?", "a": "The documented reasons are: Essentials is $79 per seat a month billed yearly or $99 billed monthly; Standard, Professional and Advanced are listed only on annual billing at $199, $299 and $399 per seat (10 Nov 2026); Trellis Plus, the larger AI credit pack (1,000 credits per seat), is a paid add-on at $28 per seat monthly on annual billing or $35 billed monthly; 100 credits are included on all plans (10 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above." }, { "q": "What is better than Sprout Social?", "a": "No single tool is better for every team. Hootsuite lists unlimited accounts at higher tiers, Agorapulse focuses on the inbox, and Buffer suits simple scheduling." } ], "publisher": "Zekai (zekaiwork.com) — independently reviewed; prices read on vendor pages on the dates shown.", "licence": "Free to quote with a link to https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/sprout-social/. Bulk copying or republishing the dataset is not permitted." }