Agorapulse vs Sprout Social Comparison 2026
Agorapulse gives every plan the shared inbox, comments and messages in one queue a team can assign and close, from $79 a user a month with a free tier behind it. Sprout Social starts higher at $99 a seat and keeps its consolidated inbox off the entry plan entirely, only arriving on the $199 Standard tier alongside review management and listening. Both charge per person, so the question is whether the extra $120 a seat buys enough reporting and listening depth to matter, or whether Agorapulse's cheaper inbox already covers the job.
At a glance
- Agorapulse starts cheaper, at $79.
- Only Agorapulse has a free tier.
Side by side
Agorapulse | Sprout Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $79 | From $99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier (they differ) | Yes | No |
| Billing | Not stated | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | 30 days | 30 days |
Agorapulse
One inbox for every comment and message
Agorapulse treats the social inbox as the main job and scheduling as the thing you do around it. Comments, ad comments, mentions and messages land in one queue that can be assigned, answered and closed, which is the difference between a team of two and a person with eleven tabs open. Reporting is the other half, and it is built to be sent to somebody who did not do the work. Pricing is per user, so the size of the team is what decides the bill.
Only on this side
- Covers dm & comment automation
- Works with X
Sprout Social
The heavyweight, priced per seat
Sprout Social is what a social team buys when the job has stopped being scheduling and become inbox triage, approvals, listening and reporting somebody outside the team will read. The consolidated inbox and the review management are the parts creators with a manager tend to notice first. Everything is priced per seat, which is the fact that decides whether it belongs in a one-person setup: a second person doubles the bill.
Why people weigh these two
- Sprout Social instead of Agorapulse
- Sprout Social is the heavyweight version of the same team inbox and reporting, also priced per seat, starting higher at $99 after a trial.
- Agorapulse instead of Sprout Social
- Agorapulse builds the same consolidated inbox for comments and messages, with a free tier to try before its $79 plan, where Sprout Social's per-seat plans start with no free option.
Which one should you pick
Choose Agorapulse if the job is a small team answering comments and messages without paying Sprout Social's $199-a-seat price for the same kind of consolidated inbox. Standard is $79 a user a month, and the free tier keeps working after the 30-day trial, so a two- or three-person team can run the whole workflow for less than one Sprout Social seat.
Choose Sprout Social if social has become customer service and somebody outside the team reads the report. The entry tier starts at $99 a seat a month for five profiles, but the consolidated inbox, review management and listening do not appear until Standard at $199. Multiply that by every seat that needs a login before deciding, because a solo creator is not who this is priced for.
Common questions
- Which one includes the shared inbox on its cheapest plan?
- Agorapulse. Its Standard plan at $79 per user a month already includes the full comment and message queue. Sprout Social holds its consolidated inbox back from the entry plan, and it does not appear until Standard at $199 per seat.
- Does either one have a free plan?
- Agorapulse does, and it keeps working once the 30-day trial ends. Sprout Social has no free plan, only a 30-day trial with no card required, after which its entry tier starts at $99 per seat a month.
- Which is cheaper for a solo creator?
- Agorapulse, by a wide margin, since one person can run its free plan indefinitely. Sprout Social's five-profile entry tier still costs $99 a month for one seat, and a solo creator is not who that pricing is built for.
- What does Sprout Social offer that Agorapulse does not?
- Reporting built for somebody outside the team to read, plus review management, listening and, on the higher tiers, competitor insight and sentiment. None of that appears until Standard at $199 per seat, well above Agorapulse's $79 entry price.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.