Social media management
Sprout Social vs Zoho Social compared on 23 fields
- Sprout Social score
- 54/100 (7 of 7 criteria)
- Zoho Social score
- 89/100 (6 of 7 criteria)
- Fields won by Sprout Social
- 1 of 10
- Fields won by Zoho Social
- 4 of 10
Sprout Social
Zoho Social
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Sprout Social and Zoho Social are both social media management tools. We compared them on 23 fields read from each vendor's own pages.
On the social media management tools scorecard Sprout Social scores 54/100 (7 of 7 criteria) and Zoho Social 89/100 (6 of 7 criteria) (ranks 43 and 8 in the category).
Of the 10 fields with a clear rule (lower price, higher count, yes over no), Sprout Social wins 1, Zoho Social wins 4 and 5 are ties.
Zoho Social scores clearly higher on verified features, cost per connected account and free plan or trial.
Side by side
| Field | Sprout Social | Zoho Social | Winner and basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (billed monthly) | $99/month | ✓ $10/month | Zoho Social |
| Same plan, per month billed annually | $79/month | ✓ $10/month | Zoho Social |
| Free plan | No | ✓ Yes | Zoho Social |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Trial length (days) | ✓ 30 | 15 | Sprout Social |
| Accounts on the free plan | – | 6 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Platforms supported | 7 | ✓ 14 | Zoho Social |
| Public API | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Bulk scheduling (CSV or multi-post) | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Calendar view | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| First-comment scheduling | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Direct auto-publishing | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Recurring posts | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Media library | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Post and account analytics | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Best-time-to-post suggestions | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Approval workflows | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| User roles and permissions | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Separate client workspaces | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Unified social inbox | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Link tracking (UTM / short links) | – | Yes | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Social listening | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Competitor analytics | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Sources: Sprout Social pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026; Zoho Social pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026. Each feature value links its own source on the tool's page.
Scorecard, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Weight | Sprout Social | Zoho Social |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | 43$99/month per seat billed monthly on Essentials; $79/month billed annually on Essentials (scored on the monthly price) | 80$10/month billed annually on Standard; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices) |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | 60Free trial (30 days), no free plan | 100Free plan (Free) |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | 844 of 5 plans have a public price (1 "contact sales") | 1004 of 4 plans have a public price |
| Verified features | 15% | 455 of 21 tracked features verified: post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, unified social inbox, social listening, competitor analytics | 10014 of 21 tracked features verified: bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, media library, post and account analytics, best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, link tracking (utm / short links), social listening |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | 100public API | – |
| Platform coverage | 10% | 707 of 15 tracked platforms supported | 10014 of 15 tracked platforms supported |
| Cost per connected account | 15% | 14$39.60 per connected account per month on Essentials (5 accounts, 2 users, billed monthly) | 67$8 per connected account per month on Premium (5 accounts, 2 users, billed annually) |
| Total score | 100% | 54/100 (7 of 7 criteria) | 89/100 (6 of 7 criteria) |
Sprout Social plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $99 | $79 | per user |
|
| Standard | $199 | Not stated | per user |
|
| Professional | $299 | Not stated | per user |
|
| Advanced | $399 | Not stated | per user |
|
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Not stated | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
Zoho Social plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | Not stated |
|
| Standard | Not offered | $10 | Not stated |
|
| Professional | Not offered | $30 | Not stated |
|
| Premium | Not offered | $40 | Not stated |
|
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
How we picked
Every one of these social media management tools is scored by the same 7 criteria (scorecard v2). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to social media management tools. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other social media management tools on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $9/month or less = 100, $599 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $6/month or less = 100, $79 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 21 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (posting queue, bulk scheduling (csv or multi-post), calendar view, first-comment scheduling, direct auto-publishing, recurring posts, media library, ai caption assistant, post and account analytics, report exports (pdf/csv), best-time-to-post suggestions, approval workflows, user roles and permissions, separate client workspaces, unified social inbox, white-label reports, link tracking (utm / short links), content repurposing, ugc collection, social listening, competitor analytics). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 11 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Platform coverage | 10% | Category | How many of the 15 social platforms we track the vendor says the tool supports.Linear: platforms / 10 x 100, capped at 100. No verified platform list = not scored. |
| Cost per connected account | 15% | Category | Monthly price per connected account on the cheapest paid plan that allows at least 5 social accounts and 2 users.Log scale: $3 per account or less = 100, $60 or more = 0. Plans that do not state an account limit are not used. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
Is Sprout Social cheaper than Zoho Social?
Zoho Social starts lower: $10 per month billed yearly on the Standard plan, against $99 per user per month billed monthly ($79 billed yearly) on the Essentials plan for Sprout Social. Check the unit: per-user and per-account prices scale differently.
Do Sprout Social and Zoho Social have free plans?
Zoho Social has a free plan; Sprout Social does not.
Which supports more social platforms, Sprout Social or Zoho Social?
Zoho Social supports 14 platforms, Sprout Social 7.
Which is better, Sprout Social or Zoho Social?
On our scorecard Zoho Social scores higher (89/100 (6 of 7 criteria) vs 54/100 (7 of 7 criteria)). The score weighs every criterion the same way for every tool; check the rows above for the ones that matter to you.