Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Which is best for you?
Struggling to keep up with the demands of social media management? You're not alone. With so many tools out there, it can be a real headache trying to find the perfect fit for your team. But fear not, we've got you covered!
In this showdown, we're pitting Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Synup against each other to see which one reigns supreme. These social media powerhouses each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, so strap in as we give you the inside scoop.
We'll start with a quick rundown of what each tool brings to the table, then dive into a no-holds-barred comparison.
Oh and feel free to skip to any part.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup at a Glance
Hootsuite is a social media behemoth, with large-scale social management capabilities, a robust interface, and very helpful trend analysis for social. Although the UI is cluttered and overwhelming, Hootsuite has been a first-recall choice for many enterprises for a long time.
Sprout Social is the big-league player in the social media management game. With enterprise-level features and capabilities, this tool packs a serious punch. It covers all the bases - from post creation and scheduling to social listening and brand monitoring. The only catch? It comes at a premium price point.
On the other hand, Synup Social is the scrappy upstart that's making waves, especially for agencies, resellers, and larger businesses. With AI-powered scheduling automations and a sleek, user-friendly interface, Synup is designed to streamline your social media workflow and boost your revenue.
A Quick Tl;dr
Synup Social Product Overview
Synup Social is a powerful tool for agencies looking to manage the social media presence of their clients and take care of their business. It has built-in AI-powered content creation features that help you get inspired and share content in sync with your brand. You can also white-label the tool and offer it to your clients for day-to-day activities.
Core Features
🏆Centralized dashboard for multi-platform post scheduling, streamlining content distribution. 🏆Broad platform integration (Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Pinterest)
🏆Manage social content for multiple brands, locations, or clients, ensuring messaging consistency.
🏆Leverage AI technology to generate tailored, engaging brand posts, saving time and effort. 🏆Support for paid social ads
🏆Team collaboration with integrated approval workflow
🏆Facebook and Google Business Profile integration
🏆Managed social media posting services for bandwidth-limited teams
🏆Complete white-label software for agencies managing client social media accounts
What’s great
✅Direct updates to Facebook and Google Business Profile listings via Synup
✅Branded social media management for agencies and resellers
✅Agency-focused tools for sales, prospecting, client management, and payments
✅Enhanced local search visibility for multi-location brands
What’s not great
❌Room for improvement in reporting and visualization
❌Limited features for brand mentions and conversations (in development)
Pricing
Synup Social offers a starter plan at $26 monthly, ideal for basic social media management. The professional plan, including sponsored posts and ad support, costs $44 monthly. Agencies and resellers can inquire about bulk pricing for optimized margins.
How to get started with Synup
It’s easy to get your social media posts going within a few minutes through Synup. Sign up for a Synup Social demo and get your account set up. Alternatively, you can self sign up on the platform and upgrade to our paid plan.
Once your dashboard is setup, you can connect your social media handles with Synup in just a few clicks. On the top you’ll see the option to “Add Brand” to your profile.
Enter some details to set up your brand account. This includes basics like name, website, timezone, a shrt bio, logo, and other details. Be careful while picking the timezone of your brand as it will be used to post the content on your social handles.
Once you add a brand account, you can simply start posting. Synup lets you publish directly as well as schedule posts for later.
Hootsuite Product Overview
Who it is best for: Enterprise
Hootsuite is a veteran in the social media management space. With its comprehensive suite of features, the platform allows businesses to schedule posts, analyze performance, and monitor their social presence across multiple channels. As one of the more established tools on the market, Hootsuite has long been a go-to option for social media teams.
Core Features
Customizable analytics reports with powerful visualizations
White-label reporting capabilities for agencies and resellers
AI-powered content generator to spark fresh ideas
Social listening tools to monitor brand mentions and relevant hashtags
Trend analysis across different social platforms
What’s great
✅Highly customizable content and reporting features
✅Excellent customer support
✅Consistently surfacing trending topics and fresh content suggestions
✅Social listening capabilities allow you to stay on top of your brand's online mentions
What’s not great
❌Occasional image quality issues when scheduling posts
❌Site updates can sometimes cause minor scheduling errors
❌Reseller support is very limited
Pricing
Hootsuite doesn’t offer monthly billing plans. The annualized plan start at $99 per month for professional tier. This one is limited to only one user and 10 social accounts. There’s a 30-day free trial available to customers. The next is the team tier which is $249 per month when billed annually. They have also have a custom enterprise pricing plan.
Sprout Social Product Overview
Who it is best for: Entreprise
Sprout Social is tailored for large teams handling multiple projects at an enterprise level. This platform offers an extensive array of tools, covering everything from content creation to influencer marketing. While it boasts powerful features, its pricing may not be ideal for those seeking a basic scheduling tool.
Core Features
Cross-platform content scheduling
User-friendly calendar interface for post management
Automated sharing across major social networks
Built-in team communication system
Flexible scheduling options
In-depth analytics tools
What’s great
✅Multi-tiered approval process ideal for agencies and large organizations
✅AI-powered optimal posting time recommendations
✅Unified platform for streamlined social media management
✅Ensures brand consistency across all social channels
✅Offers data-driven insights for strategy refinement
What’s not great
❌Expensive for small businesses and teams
❌Limited text formatting capabilities
❌Lacks significant agency partner support for business growth
Pricing
Sprout provides a 30-day free trial. The standard plan begins at $249 monthly (billed monthly), excluding AI features. It's a premium-priced tool. Agencies need to inquire about custom pricing based on client numbers.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Post Scheduling
With Synup Social, you can plan and publish content across multiple platforms at once. The tool lets you customize each post's format and text for different networks. Need content ideas? Synup's AI-powered generator creates posts and captions effortlessly. Unlike some competitors, Synup integrates Unsplash and Giphy for easy media access. You have the flexibility to post immediately, schedule for later, or save drafts for review. We also have a handy best-time-to-post tool.
With Hootsuite, you can view organic, paid, published, and scheduled posts in either calendar or list format, enabling comprehensive campaign planning and gap identification. Real-time collaboration tools enhance team coordination, while the bulk scheduler allows for simultaneous scheduling of up to 350 posts, streamlining large-scale content management. Also, one more thing that’s very helpful is that Hootsuite offers the flexibility to quickly suspend scheduled posts in response to unforeseen events or potential crises
Sprout Social supports bulk scheduling and CSV uploads, allowing teams to plan content at scale. Collaboration is seamless with built-in drafts and approval workflows, facilitating team coordination and quality control. The platform also includes a convenient asset library for easy access to media files, while mobile app support enables on-the-go management.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Content Planning
Synup Social offers a dynamic calendar for planning your social media content in advance. You can view your posts in calendar, feed, or list format. Unlike Hootsuite and Sprout, Synup allows you to share this calendar with your team or clients, improving collaboration. The platform includes useful content filters to quickly sort posts based on different criteria. Synup also features a practical approval system, adding an extra layer of teamwork and feedback to your content process.
Hootsuite streamlines your content planning with a collaborative workflow that maintains brand consistency and reduces communication overhead. Their trend-tracking and social listening tools provide valuable insights into audience engagement, allowing you to identify hot topics within your industry.
Sprout on the other hand consolidates all scheduled messages in one convenient location, streamlining the planning process. To enhance usability, it includes filtered views, allowing you to sort and focus on specific types of content. A standout feature is Sprout's multi-level approval system, which accommodates various stakeholders including agency teams, directors, and clients.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Analytics
Synup Social comes with some pretty comprehensive analytics tools that let you take a good look at your social media presence, both past and current. You can keep tabs on your follower count and other engagement stuff like posts, likes, comments, and clicks. It's actually quite straightforward to put together comparison reports, which you can download if you need to. We’ve also cooked up our own metric called the Engagement Score, which aims to give you a quick snapshot of how you're doing on social media overall. It's a neat feature that can help you get a sense of your performance at a glance.
Hootsuite's Advanced Analytics shows which campaigns drive leads and conversions best. It combines organic, paid, and web metrics in one dashboard. You can compare your performance against competitors and get reports on optimal posting times to boost engagement, reach, or sales.
Overall, Hootsuite seems to put a lot of emphasis on data-driven decision-making for social media strategy.
Sprout Social shines with its in-depth insights and polished reporting. It offers client audits and competitive analysis features. For convenience, you can schedule custom frequency reports. These tools help you dive deep into your social media performance and present findings effectively.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: AI automation
Synup Social features a library of AI-generated post ideas tailored to your brand and industry. You can configure settings with categories, hashtags, and competitor info to streamline content ideation. This makes creating relevant social content much easier.
Hootsuite’s very own OwlyWriter AI generates engaging captions, hashtags, and holiday content from short descriptions or URLs. It can create content ideas from prompts and write full posts. The tool also allows bulk scheduling, essentially functioning as an automated content team.
Sprout Social offers AI-generated captions with adjustable tones for posts. AI integration extends beyond content creation to customer support, social listening, and analytics. This provides a comprehensive AI-assisted approach to social media management across various functions.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Supported Platforms
Synup Social supports Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Also manages Google Business Profile and Facebook listings. Integrates with Synup's local platform for wider business info distribution across 80+ directories.
Hootsuite helps you post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, WhatsApp, and Threads (in beta). It’s the most comprehensive network of three tools. Provides a wide range of major social media platform integrations for comprehensive management. But doesn’t help you manage your listings or Google profile.
Sprout Social offers support for LinkedIn, Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and Threads. It also integrates with CRM and customer support tools, but doesn't manage Google Business Profile.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Reseller Support
Synup Social is designed specifically for agencies and resellers. Offers white-labeling, centralized client access management, and comprehensive agency operation solutions including sales, client, and payment management tools.
Hootsuite doesn’t have any note-worthy reseller support capabilities. It has a robust platform that agencies can collaborate with, but there is no additional support in terms of selling, client management, revenue generation, or more.
Sprout Social provides strong features for agencies managing client social media, with excellent collaborative tools and high-quality client reporting. However, it's less focused on driving revenue for agency partners.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Which Should You Choose?
Depends on what type of business you run
For enterprise customers, Sprout Social and Hootsuite make for a good choice. Both have extensive features adjacent to Social, along with integrations that are well suited for enterprise customers.
For SMB businesses, Synup Social is great. Sprout and Hootsuite are simply too expensive for smaller businesses. Many customers often end up using only 30% of the features they pay for. Synup Social is a better value for money, with features competing with the other platforms.
For agencies and resellers, Synup hands down is the best choice. Synup offers a sweet spot in terms of bulk pricing for social media management clients, leading to better margins for your agency. The platform also offers a host of client management and sales enablement tools to agencies to grow their revenue consistently.
To sum up
When selecting a social media tool, evaluate your specific business needs and social media goals. List essential features such as scheduling and content planning, then compare tools based on their price-to-value ratio.
Consider both current and potential future social platforms you'll use. For multi-location businesses, prioritize solutions that can manage Google Business Profile updates and other listings. This approach ensures you choose a tool that aligns with your strategy and offers room for growth.
Sprout Social vs Hootsuite vs Synup: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sprout better than Hootsuite?
Sprout Social and Hootsuite are both robust social media management platforms, but their suitability depends on specific needs. Sprout Social generally offers more advanced analytics and team collaboration features, making it better for larger enterprises and agencies. Hootsuite, on the other hand, may be more suitable for smaller teams or businesses due to its simpler interface and more affordable pricing tiers.
What is better than Sprout Social?
While Sprout Social is a comprehensive tool, alternatives like Synup offer unique advantages. Synup stands out for its focus on local SEO and reputation management alongside social media features. It's particularly beneficial for multi-location businesses or those prioritizing local search visibility. Other alternatives like Buffer or Agorapulse might be better for specific use cases, offering simpler interfaces or more affordable pricing for smaller teams.
What's the best alternative to Hootsuite?
The best Hootsuite alternative depends on the user's needs. For agencies managing multiple clients, Synup is an excellent choice due to its comprehensive local SEO and social media management features. For large enterprises requiring advanced analytics and team collaboration, Sprout Social is a top alternative. Smaller businesses or those needing a simpler tool might consider Synup, Buffer, or Later as more budget-friendly options with user-friendly interfaces.
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