What is the best free Sprout Social alternative?

Zoho Social is the only tool on this page with a free plan. It covers 1 brand, 6 channels and 1 team member, with no time limit. Sprout Social has no free plan, and its 30-day trial needs no card. Flekh has no free plan, but its 14-day Pro trial needs no card.

Who are Sprout Social's main competitors?

Hootsuite and Agorapulse are Sprout Social's main competitors, because they also combine publishing, inbox, listening and reports. Vista Social, Sendible and Zoho Social compete at lower prices. Flekh competes only on review, approval and publishing of video, not on inbox or listening.

Does Sprout Social have a free trial?

Yes. Sprout Social offers a 30-day free trial, and no credit card is needed. There is no free plan after the trial. The lowest paid plan, Essentials, costs $79 a seat a month, billed yearly, or $99 a seat billed monthly.

Hootsuite vs Sprout Social: which costs less?

Sprout Social costs less at entry level. Sprout Essentials is $79 a seat a month, billed yearly, and Hootsuite Standard is $99 a user a month, billed yearly. But Sprout Essentials has no inbox or listening, and Hootsuite Standard includes both. Sprout Standard, with an inbox, costs $199 a seat.

Is Sprout Social good for agencies?

Sprout Social works for agencies with a large budget, but each team member needs a paid seat. Approval workflows start on Professional at $299 a seat a month, billed yearly. Sendible includes unlimited users on every plan. Flekh never charges for clients or reviewers.

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Sprout Social alternatives

The 6 best Sprout Social alternatives in 2026.

Short answerAgorapulse is the closest match for most teams: inbox, listening and reports at a lower price per user. Zoho Social fits small budgets and has a free plan. Flekh is the best fit only if your slow part is video review and client approval, because it has no inbox or listening.

By Shashank, founder of Flekh · Updated Oct 29, 2026 · 8 min read

Try Flekh free for 14 days See all 6

Pick by situation

The best Sprout Social alternative for your job.

Video approvals before posting

Frame-accurate review; only approved versions get scheduled.

Our pickFlekh 02

Same jobs, lower price

Inbox, listening and reports from $79 a user.

Our pickAgorapulse 03

Listening without add-ons

Standard includes listening and inbox.

Our pickHootsuite 04

Agency paying many seats

Unlimited users and client dashboards on every plan.

Our pickSendible 05

Tiny budget or free

Free plan for 1 brand and 6 channels.

Our pickZoho Social

Key takeaways

Sprout added an Essentials plan in April 2026. It costs $79 a seat a month, billed yearly, but has no shared inbox or listening.
Sprout approval workflows start on Professional. Only Advanced lets up to 3 outside approvers sign off without a Sprout account.
Flekh has no inbox and no listening. It replaces Sprout only for teams whose main work is video review and approval.

How we chose: tools that do the same job as Sprout Social. We checked each price on the vendor's own page on Oct 28, 2026. Flekh is our product, and we list its weak points too.

Sprout Social alternatives compared

6 Sprout Social alternatives, checked Oct 28, 2026
Tool	Best for	Price from	Free plan	Video review	Publishes to social
Flekh · Our product	Small agencies that use Sprout mainly to publish videos their clients approved.	Essential $7 a seat a month, billed monthly. Yearly billing saves 40%.	No · 14-day Pro trial, no card	frame-accurate, with drawings	Yes
Agorapulse	Social teams with up to 10 profiles that live in the inbox.	Standard $79 a user a month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly)	No (retired July 6, 2026) · 30-day trial, no card	none	Yes
Hootsuite	Teams that need listening without buying an add-on.	Standard $99 a user a month, billed yearly, 10 social accounts	No · 14-day trial, no card	none	Yes
Sendible	Agencies that pay for many Sprout seats today.	Core $35 a month flat, billed monthly, 6 profiles	No · 14-day trial, no card to start	none	Yes
Vista Social	Brands that want suite features without per-seat pricing.	Professional $99 a month flat, billed monthly ($950 a year, billed yearly), 15 profiles, 2 users	No · 14-day trial, no card	none	Yes
Zoho Social	Small businesses and teams that already use Zoho CRM.	See zoho.com/social/pricing	Yes · 1 brand, 6 channels, 1 team member	none	Yes

FlekhOur product

Approval before posting

In short: Flekh covers the work before a post: video review, client approval links, tasks and scheduling of the approved version.

Best for	Small agencies that use Sprout mainly to publish videos their clients approved.
Price from	Essential $7 a seat a month, billed monthly. Yearly billing saves 40%.
Free plan	No · 14-day Pro trial, no card
Video review	frame-accurate, with drawings
Publishes to social	Yes · Instagram, Facebook Pages, YouTube, LinkedIn, X (TikTok, Threads, Pinterest coming)

Pros

One tag links a file, its tasks and its posts. Results filter by tag.
A seat costs $7 or $12 a month, billed monthly.
Clients approve with no account on every plan.
Comments mark a timestamp or a region of the frame.

Cons

No social inbox, no listening and no competitor reports.
Fewer networks: no Reddit, Snapchat or Bluesky, and Threads is not live.
Few public reviews, because Flekh launched in 2026.

Choose it ifyour Sprout seats mostly wait on client approvals for videos.

Skip it ifyour team answers messages and runs listening every day.

Need a social inbox or listening? Flekh does not have it yet. Tell Shashank, the founder, what you need →

Agorapulse

Closest like-for-like

In short: Agorapulse covers publishing, inbox, listening and reports, as Sprout does, at a lower price per user.

Best for	Social teams with up to 10 profiles that live in the inbox.
Price from	Standard $79 a user a month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly)
Free plan	No (retired July 6, 2026) · 30-day trial, no card
Video review	none
Publishes to social	Yes · Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business, TikTok, Bluesky, Reddit

Pros

Inbox and reports on the entry plan; Sprout Essentials has no inbox.
Professional, with approvals, costs $119 a user a month, billed yearly.
Publishes to Google Business, which Sprout's integrations page does not list.

Cons

Ten social profiles on every self-serve plan.
Free plan retired on July 6, 2026.
TrustRadius reviewers find reporting hard to read at times.

Choose it ifyou want Sprout's core jobs at a lower price per user.

Skip it ifyou need unlimited profiles without a custom plan.

Hootsuite

Suite with listening

In short: Hootsuite is a per-user suite that puts inbox, listening and analytics in its Standard plan.

Best for	Teams that need listening without buying an add-on.
Price from	Standard $99 a user a month, billed yearly, 10 social accounts
Free plan	No · 14-day trial, no card
Video review	none
Publishes to social	Yes · Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky

Pros

Listening and inbox in the Standard plan.
Bluesky publishing on all paid plans.
No card for the 14-day trial.

Cons

Approvals only on Advanced, up to $399 a user a month.
G2 reviewers often tag it as expensive.
Monthly billing prices are not published.

Choose it iflistening matters and you do not want Sprout's listening add-on.

Skip it ifyou need approvals on a mid-price plan.

Sendible

Agency workspaces

In short: Sendible prices by workspace, not by seat, and gives clients dashboards to preview and approve posts.

Best for	Agencies that pay for many Sprout seats today.
Price from	Core $35 a month flat, billed monthly, 6 profiles
Free plan	No · 14-day trial, no card to start
Video review	none
Publishes to social	Yes · Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, WordPress

Pros

Unlimited users, so no cost per seat.
White label on Elite and Enterprise.
Client Connect avoids shared passwords.

Cons

G2 reviewers report LinkedIn posts that do not publish on time.
Branded reports and content libraries start on Premium.
A G2 reviewer sees room to improve reporting.

Choose it ifseat costs are your largest Sprout expense.

Skip it ifyou rely on Sprout's competitor and paid reports.

Flat-price suite

In short: Vista Social sells a flat-price suite with publishing, inbox and review management, plus listening as an add-on.

Best for	Brands that want suite features without per-seat pricing.
Price from	Professional $99 a month flat, billed monthly ($950 a year, billed yearly), 15 profiles, 2 users
Free plan	No · 14-day trial, no card
Video review	none
Publishes to social	Yes · Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (paid add-on), YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business, Reddit, Snapchat, Tumblr

Pros

Flat plan price includes 15 profiles.
Clients approve by link with no account, on every plan.
Publishes to Reddit, Snapchat and Tumblr.

Cons

Full listening costs $75 a month extra.
Prices rose 25 to 34% in September 2026.
Two users on Professional; more users need a higher plan.

Choose it ifyou want a suite like Sprout for a small team at a flat price.

Skip it ifyou need more than 4 users below Enterprise.

Budget, with a free plan

In short: Zoho Social (by Zoho Corporation) is a low-cost scheduling and monitoring tool with a free plan and agency editions.

Best for	Small businesses and teams that already use Zoho CRM.
Price from	See zoho.com/social/pricing
Free plan	Yes · 1 brand, 6 channels, 1 team member
Video review	none
Publishes to social	Yes · Facebook Pages, Instagram Business, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, Google Business Profile, Mastodon, Snapchat

Pros

Free plan with no time limit.
Fifteen-day trial with no card.
Agency plans include free client logins.

Cons

Capterra reviewers call analytics limited, with CSV-only exports.
Capterra reviewers note a big price jump to Agency plans.
Approvals start on the Premium plan.

Choose it ifyou need a Sprout Social alternative for one small brand.

Skip it ifdeep reports are why you chose Sprout.

How to switch from Sprout Social to Flekh

Day 1
Start the 14-day Flekh Pro trial. No card is needed.
Day 2
Keep Sprout for inbox and reports. Move only video posts that wait for client approval.
Day 3
Connect Instagram, Facebook Pages, YouTube, LinkedIn and X.
Day 4
Send clients Flekh approval links. They need no Sprout seat and no Flekh seat.
Day 5
After one month, check how many Sprout seats you still need at renewal.

Questions

What is the best free Sprout Social alternative?: Zoho Social is the only tool on this page with a free plan. It covers 1 brand, 6 channels and 1 team member, with no time limit. Sprout Social has no free plan, and its 30-day trial needs no card. Flekh has no free plan, but its 14-day Pro trial needs no card.
Who are Sprout Social's main competitors?: Hootsuite and Agorapulse are Sprout Social's main competitors, because they also combine publishing, inbox, listening and reports. Vista Social, Sendible and Zoho Social compete at lower prices. Flekh competes only on review, approval and publishing of video, not on inbox or listening.
Does Sprout Social have a free trial?: Yes. Sprout Social offers a 30-day free trial, and no credit card is needed. There is no free plan after the trial. The lowest paid plan, Essentials, costs $79 a seat a month, billed yearly, or $99 a seat billed monthly.
Hootsuite vs Sprout Social: which costs less?: Sprout Social costs less at entry level. Sprout Essentials is $79 a seat a month, billed yearly, and Hootsuite Standard is $99 a user a month, billed yearly. But Sprout Essentials has no inbox or listening, and Hootsuite Standard includes both. Sprout Standard, with an inbox, costs $199 a seat.
Is Sprout Social good for agencies?: Sprout Social works for agencies with a large budget, but each team member needs a paid seat. Approval workflows start on Professional at $299 a seat a month, billed yearly. Sendible includes unlimited users on every plan. Flekh never charges for clients or reviewers.

Sources

https://sproutsocial.com/pricing/, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://sproutsocial.com/integrations/, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://support.sproutsocial.com/hc/en-us/articles/205974715, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://usagepricing.com/blueprint/activity/sprout-social-2026-04-10-packaging, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.g2.com/products/sprout-social/reviews, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.agorapulse.com/pricing/, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://support.agorapulse.com/en/articles/8762514-what-do-i-get-with-the-free-plan-what-are-the-limits, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.trustradius.com/products/agorapulse/reviews, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.hootsuite.com/plans, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.hootsuite.com/bluesky, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.g2.com/products/hootsuite/reviews, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.sendible.com/pricing, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://pricingsaas.com/companies/sendible, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://recurpost.com/social-media-tools/sendible, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.g2.com/products/sendible/reviews, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://vistasocial.com/pricing/, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://support.vistasocial.com/hc/en-us/articles/18158890067355-Shared-Calendar-Reviewing-content-without-logging-in, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://pricingsaas.com/companies/vistasocial, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.zoho.com/social/pricing.html, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.capterra.com/p/159351/Zoho-Social/pricing/, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://www.capterra.com/p/159351/Zoho-Social/reviews/, checked Oct 28, 2026
https://flekh.com/pricing, checked Oct 28, 2026

Flekh is our product. Every other fact on this page comes from the vendor's own page or a named source, with the date we checked.