Key takeaways
- Sprout Social and Hootsuite both price per seat per month on annual billing, and both start their approval workflows on their upper plans.
- Later prices by social set and user, is visual-planner-led, and does not list X.
- HubSpot's social tool requires Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise, and lists Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, X and YouTube.
- Sprinklr publishes no self-serve price; pricing is by demo request.
- SkedCast is not a like-for-like alternative to any of these: it has no unified social inbox or listening, and is built for publishing at volume.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Later: how is each priced?
The unit matters more than the headline. As shown on each vendor's page on 2026-09-23:
- Sprout Social: per seat per month, with annual billing. Standard $199, Professional $299 and Advanced $399 per seat; a newer Essentials plan at $79 per seat ($99 billed monthly) with 5 social profiles; Enterprise is custom. Standard includes 5 profiles; Professional and Advanced include unlimited profiles. A 30-day free trial, no credit card. Sprout pricing.
- Hootsuite: per user per month, billed annually. Standard $99 (10 social accounts), Professional $199 and Advanced $399 (unlimited accounts), Enterprise custom. A free trial (14 days) with no credit card; trial accounts have daily posting limits and no bulk scheduling. Hootsuite plans.
- Later: per social set (one profile per network), with users listed per plan. Starter from $18.75 a month billed yearly (one set, one user), Growth from $37.50 (two sets, two users), Scale from $82.50 (six sets, four users). A free trial (14 days). Later pricing.
- HubSpot: the social tool is part of Marketing Hub and requires the Professional or Enterprise subscription. Price depends on the Marketing Hub tier and seats; see HubSpot's knowledge base.
- Sprinklr: no self-serve price; its Social product pages route to a "Get pricing and demo" request. Sprinklr Social demo request.
What does each tool centre on?
Read from each vendor's own feature lists:
- Sprout Social: publishing plus a consolidated inbox and collaboration tools, keyword and location monitoring and review management from Standard; message tagging and competitor, tag and paid insights from Professional; API, sentiment in the inbox, helpdesk integrations and team productivity reports from Advanced.
- Hootsuite: scheduling with an inbox and brand and competitor monitoring from Standard; inbox automation, trend forecasting and custom reports from Professional; approvals, message routing and team performance from Advanced; advanced listening, analytics, single sign-on and compliance tools on Enterprise.
- Later: a visual planner with best-time-to-post guidance, link in bio, and (from Growth) approvals, a social inbox and UGC collection.
- HubSpot: composing and publishing social posts and tracking engagement inside the same product as your CRM and marketing tools; it also documents a bulk upload and schedule feature.
- Sprinklr: an enterprise platform whose Social product spans publishing and engagement, listening, advertising and customer care.
Which networks does each support?
From each vendor's own lists (Sprout and Hootsuite list networks in their help and product pages, so check them for your specific need):
- Later: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Snapchat.
- HubSpot: Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, X and YouTube.
- Sprout Social: its support centre lists Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, YouTube, Pinterest and Bluesky.
- Hootsuite: its plans page gives Instagram, X and Facebook Pages as examples of accounts; confirm the full list for the networks you need.
How do their approval workflows compare?
Sprout's Message Approval Workflows are on Professional and Advanced, with external approvers on Advanced only (up to three). Hootsuite's plans page lists content approval under Advanced, and its approval tool page says Super Admins can set up to three layers. Later lists approvals from Growth. See the detailed comparison in how Sprout Social's approval workflow works.
Who should pick which?
Pick Sprout Social or Hootsuite when a unified inbox, listening and team workflows are the point and per-seat pricing is acceptable; compare their inbox, listening and reporting depth on trial, since both offer one. Pick Later when you are a visual, Instagram-and-TikTok-led team that wants a lighter tool. Pick HubSpot's social tool when your team already lives in HubSpot and wants social activity next to campaigns and contacts. Talk to Sprinklr when you need an enterprise platform across publishing, care and listening and are prepared for a sales process.
Where does SkedCast fit?
SkedCast does not compete on the inbox-and-listening axis: SkedCast does not have a unified social inbox for replying to comments and messages. SkedCast does not offer social listening or brand-mention monitoring. It is a publishing-and-analytics tool priced by connected accounts (Solo $15 a month with 10 accounts and 1 seat up to Agency+ $299 with 500 accounts and 40 seats), with 10 platforms, bulk import, client groups and approvals. If your team needs a social inbox, choose one of the suites above; if you mainly publish for many accounts or clients and want to avoid per-seat pricing, compare SkedCast. See Sprout Social alternatives and Hootsuite alternatives.
Sources and how this was checked
Last reviewed 2026-09-23. Every statement about another vendor's product was read from the vendor's own page listed here on that date; where a page did not say something, this article says "not stated" rather than guessing. Vendors change plans and prices without notice, so confirm on their page before you buy. Statements about SkedCast were checked against the product's code and docs.
FAQ
- Is Sprout Social better than Hootsuite?
- Neither is better in every case. Both are per-seat suites with an inbox, monitoring and reporting; Sprout Social lists approval workflows from Professional and Hootsuite from Advanced. The right choice depends on which inbox, listening and reporting features your team actually uses, which a trial of each will show.
- Does HubSpot have a social media scheduler?
- Yes, a social tool inside Marketing Hub, available with the Professional and Enterprise subscriptions per HubSpot's knowledge base. It connects Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, X and YouTube.
- How much does Sprinklr cost?
- Sprinklr does not publish a self-serve price for Sprinklr Social; its pages route to a request for pricing and a demo.
- Which of these is cheapest?
- Later's Starter plan is the lowest entry price among the ones with published prices, but the units differ: Sprout and Hootsuite charge per seat, Later per social set. Model your own team and account count before comparing headline prices.
- Does SkedCast replace Sprout Social or Hootsuite?
- Only if you mainly publish. SkedCast has no unified social inbox or social listening, both of which those suites include. It is priced by connected accounts and built for scheduling at volume across 10 platforms.