Sprout Social vs Buffer Comparison

I really like how intuitive Sprout Social's user interface is. The Smart Inbox is a great feature, as is the Sprout Queue. I like that I can view scheduled messages in list or calendar form. RSS feeds make finding content easy, and the content suggestions tool is useful (and improving).

It's a bit expensive compared to tools like Buffer or HootSuite's free / Pro plan. That said, it's certainly more robust than Buffer, and a better user experience than Hootsuite. I've also had occasional issues with accounts getting disconnected and posts failing to send.

I appreciate the ease of use for new and seasoned users alike. The analytics are helpful, too.

The pricing - you can get the same level of access and features for less with other less clean options.

I liked how I could answer comments from all the platforms we had connected in one place. Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

It's extremely expensive for how many errors occur. The customer service techs are very friendly and should get a 10 for being agreeable and understanding of angry customers however​ they rarely are able to fix problems.​

Our team has used a variety of social media scheduling platforms, including Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and others, and Sprout Social is by far our favorite for many reasons. • As an agency with hundreds of profiles, Sprout Social makes multiple account management a breeze. • The scheduling browser is very easy to use. • It offers ideal posting times to help you optimize reach and engagement. •...

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I won't beat around the bush. It's pricey. Very pricey. If you're a freelancer or not using social media daily, it may not be worth the investment. If you're an agency working with multiple clients or if social media is part of your daily routine, a scheduling software that offers everything Sprout Social offers is well worth it.

The Digital Asset Library The Analytics feature The RSS feature can serve as a social media content generation tool. Easy UI

The pricing is rather steep. There are other SM managers with more powerful features which could prove to be a better substitute to Sprout Social. MavSocial has a better Asset Library feature, SMHack provides just as detailed analytics, Swift social has powerful RSS feature, and Hootsuite is cheaper, has an automatic scheduling function, as well as one of the easiest SM Managers to use due to the numerous tutorials online and it's inbuilt mini-tutorial.

If you're a single user with one social media account per platform, Buffer is a great free tool. It allows you to schedule to various platforms, and it allows you to easily view your posts for the month at a glance, unlike Hootsuite which only offers the ability to view one week's worth of posts at a time.

If you are working for an agency or handling multiple accounts, especially Instagram accounts, Buffer does not offer the same ease of use or features as Sprout Social and other platforms. If you can afford to splurge on Sprout Social, go for it.

Buffer is great for simpler social media accounts that don't require advanced features and functionality from a Gain or Sprout Social. Price is reasonable.

The lack of features makes the software prohibitive for agencies and marketing leaders that are trying to operate at a high level across several accounts.

Easy to use and implement. Basically just connect your social accounts and you can get to it. I prefer it much more to hubspot social, or other platforms I've used like Sprout.

Hard to post videos and it would be nice if you could see all mentions on a feed, like twitter mentions and LinkedIn @'s.

Our team likes Buffer. We recently switch from Sprout Social. We like the ability to schedule drafts and then the ability to have posts approved by certain members of the team.

For me at least, it takes a bit to understand the UI.

So far this has been a great tool. We switched from Sprout because Buffer's pricing was much better (although they do not have near the features of Sprout).

We'd love to see more analytics and support has sometimes been slow.

Hi, there, thank you for giving Buffer a go! If you are up for sharing, it'll be great to hear what analytics feature you would like to see. Also, you might find it helpful to know that we are building a new social media analytics product (which is in closed beta right now): https://buffer.com/analyze.

I've done social media marketing consulting for 3-4 years now and I will always suggest Buffer to my small business clients. The platform is so straightforward it would take the most non-technology savvy person to get lost on it. The free platform works flawlessly and lets you connect quite a few of your social accounts, and I have never had a problem with the mobile app - and come to think of it I'm pretty sure I only use the mobile app for scheduling when I create my own content. If you're not sure which social scheduler to use when you're just first starting out, please consider Buffer. Their team is on top of its game when creating content for its users and keeping their community up to date on the latest Instagram API changes and Facebook algorithms. This platform is the real deal.

This platform is great if you're the sole owner of your social platforms, but when you need to move to a bigger team I would consider upgrading to something more robust like Sprout Social. I really don't have many bad things to say about Buffer besides that its fairly simplistic, but honestly that simplicity is what attracts so many small business owners to the platform. If you have 3-4 social accounts and post fairly regularly on a weekly basis, Buffer is a great product for you.

Buffer is an amazing, easy-to-use scheduling software. Our company switched from Sprout to Buffer and have had zero regrets.

Buffer, at first, was a little difficult to navigate. But not nearly as daunting as Sprout. After discovering where all the tools are, you're set. And it's amazing!

Hi, Paige, thanks for giving Buffer a go and sharing this review! If you're up for sharing, I would love to hear what was difficult to find/do when you first started using Buffer. I know it can be hard to describe such things so no worries if not! -Alfred

Easy to use for basic social media management.

Needs more meat to the functionality to have it compare to some of the bigger platforms like Hootsuite and Sprout.

We are using Buffer Pro Plan about a year. Buffer helps to manage all our company social media account in one console. In the Pro plan, we are eligible to add a Facebook page, Facebook Group, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn Page, LinkedIn Profile, Google Plus, Google Plus Profile, Pinterest accounts. Buffer saved our time to manage our company social media accounts. The main reason we are using Buffer is to schedule the post. Yes, Buffer has post scheduling options. For Pro Plan, we can Schedule up to 100 posts. We can able to create the short link of our URL with UTM while posting.

- Only we can add 8 social media profile for the Pro plan. - Pro Plan doesn't have Advanced social analytics.

Hi, Saravanan, thank you for your review and feedback. If you are up for sharing, I would love to hear what analytics feature you would love to have in the Pro plan. -Alfred

* Ease to schedule posts in social media via Buffer. * Provided analytics about the posts published and will find the optimal time for posting. * Easy to collaborate tools which can be used by social media team managing companies accounts. * Approvals process to censor or filter out the outgoing content. * Easy account management instead of sharing passwords of social media accounts.

* Little expensive just to manage the social media accounts. * Limit on the scheduled posts and social media accounts- Can be a pain point if company manages many product/org level social media accounts.

Lots of features and great company culture. The stand-alone app plus the browser extension make scheduling social media posts easy in any situation.

Instagram still won't let third -party apps post for you, so (as with any social media scheduler), Buffer only sends a reminder about IG posts, and you have to post them yourself. They've cleverly made it as easy as possible though.

Very good to schedule messages, drag and drop makes it so easy. Browser extension.

Very basic analytics. Social Media monitoring.

Super easy user-friendly clean interface, integration with the most popular widely used social media networks,

It's too simple for a social media geeks who want more of control and more analysis to their social media metrics

Buffer invented the concept of a social "queue" and Chrome extension they've become the clear leader in the social publishing space. They are also a great resource and thought leader on the strategy side of things.

I mainly use their calendar view, which still has some major bugs and will mess up every so often and they haven't been addressed still since it launched. I wish they were better able to aggregate the social accounts for analytics I know they're working on a new analytics platform currently, though.

Buffer makes it easy to schedule posts to various social media platforms and offers some platforms of integration.

There are many other social media platforms that offer a more robust social media channel monitoring in addition to scheduling and analyzing data.

Free account: - Social networks include: Twitter, Facebook (profile, page, or group), Google+ (profile or page), LinkedIn (profile or page), and Instagram - User-friendly interface - Simple analytics dashboard - Offers to optimize your update schedule (Optimal Timing Tool) - Offers an easy image creation tool (Pablo) - Offers a browser extension & a mobile app for easier sharing (Power Scheduler)

Free account: - Social networks lack: Pinterest, LinkedIn group - Not a social monitoring tool - Limited to 10 updates in your Scheduler - Does not include RSS Feed, calendar

Does the job for me to publish updates on my social media channels. It supports video too, so that's a huge win for me.

Doesn't re-buffer old social media updates. I want to keep my social media feed active, but I can't seem to find that feature in Buffer.

Easy to use, schedule and publish social media posts.

Copying settings between social media accounts could be better

its super easy to schedule my social media posts

it should allow more social networks to be added

We are able to easily manage all of our clients social media accounts and schedule posts months in advance. Buffer also offers some reporting and engagement features that we use on a limited basis for certain clients. The ability to collaborate and approve posts from within the platform is critical for our business need.

Buffer is definitely not a good solution for companies that need advanced social media features but it is the perfect low-cost solution for scheduling social media posts.

I liked Buffer. It's a pretty user-friendly tool and easy to use. It's quite easy to connect your social networks to it for managing pages and profiles. It has a pretty simple and easy-to-understand user interface, which makes it easy to learn. It takes into account popular social networks, which is already a good thing. Posts and post schedules are also quite easy to do with Buffer. The real strength of Buffer lies in the statistical data. We get detailed and comprehensive data on the reach of our publications. It is good to note that Buffer allows team collaboration, very useful to have your profiles and pages managed by an agency. Buffer is a nice tool to use

- Not support all social networks- Not take into account personal Facebook profiles- Limitation on the number of posts that can be scheduled in advance for some social networks

What I like most about Buffer is it is easier to use than some of the other social media management sites. Scheduling posts are very easy and you can post to Pinterest! Overall, I really like Buffer.

What I like least about Buffer is the options are limited with the free version and other social media management sites support more social media sites than Buffer.

Buffer is an easy, fast and free social sharing tool for many of your social network accounts. Probably the easiest tool for social sharing, I like buffer because it's simple, easy, it has the minimum options we need for a fast and quality or social sharing for personal or business need. When we want it simple, it's Buffer !!

The free version has only 3 social profiles. I would prefer to have 4 or 5 free profiles and more limitations on scheduling posts. But free version is great too !

Easy to use. I use it to schedule all my social media posts every week. Great time saver.

Sometimes it logs me out of my social media profiles.

I can schedule months of IG post ahead of time.

I wish buffer had better social listening capabilities like hootsuite.

Hi, Hasin, thank you so much for using Buffer and leaving a review for us. In case it's helpful to know, we have been working on a social media listening and engagement tool, Buffer Reply. Here's a bit more information: https://buffer.com/reply/. -Alfred