9 Best Sprout Social Alternatives in 2026 (Pricing Checked)

If you want a Sprout Social alternative that works with ChatGPT and Claude, Antwork is built for exactly that: your AI connects to it with OAuth and no API key, reads each account's recent posts, then drafts, schedules and publishes to 14 networks. There are no seats: it is priced per plan by number of connected accounts, and the Free plan covers 2 accounts and 10 posts a month. Metricool, Buffer, Agorapulse and Hootsuite also connect to both; the comparison below shows how each one does it.

Otherwise, the best Sprout Social alternative depends on why you are leaving Sprout. Most people leave for one of four reasons: the per-seat bill as the team grows, paying for a social CRM when they only need scheduling and reports, an agency that cannot pass a seat price to every client, or wanting AI that does the work instead of a feature inside another dashboard.

Below are nine alternatives, sorted by those reasons. Every price and plan limit links to the vendor's own page, checked on 11 November 2026. Where a vendor does not show a number, I say "Not stated" instead of guessing.

Pick by need

• A team suite like Sprout, at a lower seat price: Agorapulse or Hootsuite.
• An agency that wants unlimited users: Sendible, SocialPilot or Vista Social.
• One person or a small team that needs far fewer features: Buffer, Metricool or Later.
• A free plan: Metricool (1 brand, 20 posts a month) or Buffer (3 channels, 10 scheduled posts each).
• Analytics first, on a small budget: Metricool.
• Your AI assistant does the posting, in ChatGPT or Claude, with no seats: Antwork.

What you are comparing against: Sprout Social

Sprout Social's pricing, on annual billing: Essentials at $79 per seat a month ($99 billed monthly) with 5 social profiles; Standard at $199 per seat with 5 profiles; Professional at $299 per seat with unlimited profiles and Enhance Post by AI Assist; Advanced at $399 per seat with Enhance Reply by AI Assist; and a custom Enterprise plan. Every plan includes 100 Trellis AI credits per seat a month. Listening and Premium Analytics are add-ons from Standard up, at a price the page does not state. There is a 30-day free trial, "No credit card required", and no free plan.

The seat is what decides the bill. Three people on Standard is $597 a month; five people on Professional is $1,495 a month, before add-ons.

Sprout also has a ChatGPT connection for asking questions about your Sprout data, such as "Which campaign performed best last quarter?". The page does not say it can create or schedule posts, and it does not mention Claude. The full row-by-row comparison is in Antwork vs Sprout Social.

Sprout Social alternatives that work with ChatGPT and Claude

"Not stated" means the vendor's page does not say, not that the feature is missing. For a deeper look at each server, see the social media MCP servers compared.

The alternatives, one by one

Antwork

Best for: people who already work in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and want the assistant to draft, schedule and publish, instead of paying for seats in a separate dashboard. You add Antwork to your AI app once; after that you ask for posts in the conversation, and the assistant writes them from each account's recent posts. Drafts are saved for your approval, and nothing publishes until you schedule or publish it. Autopilot routines can draft on a rhythm you set.

Pricing: free for 2 accounts and 10 posts a month; Pro is $19 a month or $180 a year for 5 accounts and unlimited posts; Business is $29 a month or $276 a year for 10 accounts; Scale is $39 a month or $372 a year for 30 accounts; Agency is $89 a month or $852 a year for 100 accounts, with client approvals and a private review link per client. No seats, so adding a teammate does not change the bill, and new accounts start with a 7-day Pro trial, no card. It publishes to 14 networks: X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Bluesky, Discord, Mastodon, Telegram, Google Business Profile, and Slack.

In ChatGPT and Claude: you connect it with OAuth and no API key. In ChatGPT it is an official app in the directory, so there is no Developer mode to turn on; in Claude you add it as a custom connector by URL, which works on the Free plan too.

Limitations: no unified inbox for comments and DMs, and no social listening, which are two of Sprout's strongest features. On paid plans it reads and replies to comments one post at a time on X, Mastodon, Bluesky and LinkedIn company pages, and reads YouTube comments. If your team lives in a shared inbox or does customer care on social, stay on a suite. Compare it directly: Antwork vs Sprout Social.

Agorapulse

Best for: teams that want a Sprout-style suite, priced per user, at a lower seat price. Agorapulse's pricing, per user a month: Standard $79 billed yearly ($99 monthly), Professional $119 ($149), Advanced $149 ($199), each with 10 social profiles, and a custom plan. Extra profiles are $10 a month each billed yearly. The trial is 30 days with no credit card, and the FAQ says you can keep a free plan afterwards, without stating its limits.

In ChatGPT and Claude: its MCP connector is free for Agorapulse users and signs in with OAuth. It needs a paid Claude or ChatGPT plan, and it "can create drafts, but it does not publish or schedule content" (guide).

Limitations: still priced per user, so it scales with headcount like Sprout, just from a lower base.

Hootsuite

Best for: enterprises that want an established all-in-one suite and can live with per-user pricing. Hootsuite's plans, billed yearly: Standard from $99 per user a month with 10 social accounts, Professional from $199 and Advanced from $399, both with unlimited accounts, each with a 14-day trial. Monthly prices are not stated on the page.

In ChatGPT and Claude: its MCP page says it connects through "pre-built connectors", and you sign in with your Hootsuite workspace. The plans that include it are not stated.

Limitations: no free plan, and above Standard the seat price matches Sprout's. See Hootsuite alternatives and Antwork vs Hootsuite.

Sendible

Best for: agencies that want to stop paying per person. Sendible's pricing page lists unlimited users on every plan, with Core at 6 social profiles, Plus at 18, Premium at 42, Elite at 90 and Enterprise at 300, and a 14-day trial with no card. On its own Sprout comparison, Plus is $84 a month billed yearly ($99 monthly), with client approvals, and Premium is $169 a month billed yearly.

Limitations: Core, at $35 a month ($29.75 billed yearly), covers 6 profiles, so most agencies land on Plus at $99 ($84.15 billed yearly). No free plan.

SocialPilot

Best for: small agencies that want many accounts on one flat bill. On SocialPilot's own Sprout comparison: Essentials $30 a month for 7 accounts and 1 user, Standard $50 for 15 accounts and 3 users, Premium $100 for 25 accounts and 6 users with white-label reports, Ultimate $200 for 50 accounts and unlimited users. Billed yearly, they are $25.50, $42.50, $85 and $170.

Limitations: no free plan, only a trial. The same figures are on its plans page, though it can show local currency depending on where you open it.

Vista Social

Best for: agencies that want a full suite with more profiles per plan. Vista Social's pricing: Professional with 15 profiles and 2 users, Advanced with 30 and 3, Scale with 70 and 4, Enterprise unlimited. A 14-day trial with no credit card, and 20% off billed yearly. It lists MCP to "Connect your favorite AI tools" and says you can use it from Claude and ChatGPT.

Limitations: the pricing page did not show plan prices when I checked, so they are not stated here. X publishing is an add-on at $29 a month per profile.

Metricool

Best for: analytics on a small budget, and agencies that think in brands. Pricing scales by number of brands: Starter from $20 a month for 5 brands to $36 for 10, Advanced from $53 for 15 brands to $159 for 50, billed yearly ($25, $45, $67 and $210 billed monthly). Advanced adds team and client management and a post approval system.

Free plan: 1 brand and up to 20 scheduled posts a month. Its MCP works on every plan, Free included (requirements).

Limitations: no social CRM or shared inbox on the scale of Sprout's. Antwork vs Metricool.

Buffer

Best for: one person or a small team posting to a few channels. Buffer's pricing: a free plan for 3 channels with 10 scheduled posts per channel; Essentials at $5 per channel a month ($60 a year) with 1 user; Team at $10 per channel a month ($120 a year) with unlimited team members; a 14-day trial. Its MCP is "included on every plan, including Free".

Limitations: per-channel billing adds up as channels grow, and it has none of Sprout's listening or CRM. Buffer alternatives and Antwork vs Buffer.

Later

Best for: visual, Instagram- and TikTok-first planning for a small team. Later's pricing, billed yearly: Starter $18.75 a month for 1 social set (8 profiles) and 1 user, Growth $37.50 for 2 sets (16 profiles) and 2 users, Scale $82.50 for 6 sets (48 profiles) and 4 users.

Limitations: no free plan (a 14-day trial), and the pricing page shows yearly-billed prices only.

When to stay on Sprout Social

Sprout Social is still one of the strongest suites for a team that does customer care on social: its Smart Inbox, listening and reporting are what you pay the seat for. If your team uses them every day, a cheaper scheduler will not replace them. The alternatives above win when the seats outnumber the people who need that inbox, when you mostly need scheduling and reports, or when you want an AI assistant to do the drafting and scheduling for you.