Buffer vs Sprout Social
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: Buffer is cheaper — $5/mo vs $79/user/mo.
- How to start: Buffer is from $5/mo, Sprout Social is from $79/user/mo billed annually.
- Where they differ: on what we checked they match — both offer public api, mobile app and sso (saml).
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What Buffer is
What Buffer isBuffer is the simplest and most transparent way to manage your social media presence. It allows you to schedule content across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter from one central dashboard. Designed for small businesses and creators, Buffer focuses on ease of use rather than enterprise bloat. With its 'Grid Planner,' you can design your Instagram aesthetic in advance, while analytics tools show you which posts are driving the most engagement for your brand.
What Sprout Social is
What Sprout Social isSprout Social handles publishing, engagement and reporting for social teams, with a strong emphasis on analytics. Reporting is where it earns the price: cross-network reports are presentable to a client or an executive without rebuilding them in a spreadsheet. For a solo operator who only needs scheduling, that reporting depth is paid-for weight.
Side by side
| Buffer | Sprout Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Marketing | Marketing |
| How to start | $5/moverified | $79/user/moverified |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Yes |
| Visit | Buffer ↗ | Sprout Social ↗ |
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What Buffer is built to do
- Multichannel Scheduling
- Schedule a single piece of content across all your channels simultaneously.
- Instagram Grid Planner
- Plan exactly how your posts will look on your profile before they go live.
- Approval Workflows
- Review and approve posts prepared by team members before they are published.
- Start Page Builder
- Create a stylish 'link in bio' page for your social profiles in minutes.
What Sprout Social is built to do
- Cross-network publishing
- Schedules and queues posts across the major social networks from one calendar.
- Shared social inbox
- Collects mentions and messages from every profile into one queue.
- Presentation-ready reports
- Builds cross-network performance reports for clients and stakeholders.
Choose Buffer if
- Solo creators on Free: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel and 30 days of analytics history
- Freelancers on Essentials at $5 per channel/month ($60/year) with unlimited scheduled posts
- Teams on Team at $10 per channel/month ($120/year) with unlimited team members and branded reports
Skip Buffer if
- You manage many accounts — pricing is per channel, so ten channels on Team is $100/month
- You need more than 10 scheduled posts per channel without paying; that is the free cap
- You want team seats on the cheaper tier: Essentials is a single user account
Choose Sprout Social if
- Social teams that need publishing, inbox and reporting in one seat
- Agencies needing unlimited profiles — that starts at the Professional tier
- Trying it fully: 30-day trial with no card
Skip Sprout Social if
- You are a solo operator or small brand — $79/seat/mo annual ($99 monthly) is agency pricing
- You have more than 5 social profiles: Essentials and Standard both cap at 5, unlimited starts at Professional ($299/seat/mo)
- You need a free tier; there is none
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
Buffer: pros & cons
- User Experience: Very clean, uncluttered UI that avoids unnecessary features.
- Free Start: Offers an exceptionally generous free plan for small accounts.
- Transparency: Known for its honest culture and very clear pricing policy.
- AI Assistant: Uses AI to help you rewrite and optimize captions for different platforms.
- Deep Analytics: May feel too basic for enterprise-level reporting needs.
- Social Listening: Lacks features for monitoring competitor mentions or hashtags.
- Platform Limits: Some platform API restrictions may require manual steps for posting.
Sprout Social: pros & cons
- Reporting is genuinely strong
- Unified inbox across networks
- Good approval and collaboration flow
- Priced per user and expensive
- Some features cost extra on top
- Overkill for one or two accounts
Our verdict on Buffer
A simple, affordable scheduler for teams that do not need a full social suite.
Our verdict on Sprout Social
Buy it for the reporting. If nobody reads the reports, you are paying for the wrong thing.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
Buffer
- Free$0/mo
Free $0: 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel, 1 user, 30-day analytics history
Sprout Social
- Essentials$79/user/mo billed annually
Essentials $79/seat/month annual, $99 monthly, 5 social profiles
- Standard$199/user/mo billed annually
Standard $199/seat/month annual, 5 profiles
- Professional$299/user/mo billed annually
Professional $299/seat/month annual, unlimited profiles
- Advanced$399/user/mo billed annually
Advanced $399/seat/month annual
Buffer vs Sprout Social: common questions
- Is Buffer cheaper than Sprout Social?
- Buffer is the cheaper entry point at $5/mo, against $79/user/mo billed annually for Sprout Social. Both figures come from the vendors' own pricing pages.
- Does Buffer or Sprout Social have a free plan?
- Buffer publishes a free plan (Free), while Sprout Social has no free plan listed.
- What is the difference between Buffer and Sprout Social?
- On the criteria we check, on what we checked they match — both offer public api, mobile app and sso (saml). The table above lists every criterion side by side.