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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Later Social

    Score7.4 out of 10
    N/ALater (formerly Latergramme) in Vancouver offers an Instagram focused social media marketing platform, which supports the planning and scheduling of content to Instagram, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

    $25

    per month

    Sprout Social

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/ASprout Social provides social media management, marketing, customer care, data and intelligence, and employee advocacy solutions for brands and agencies, including Ticketmaster, Chipotle, Grubhub, Subaru, and Zendesk. Sprout’s platform is used to simplify social publishing, engagement, reviews, analytics and listening for customers. Sprout also provides customer success and technical support, to deliver consistent value to all users. Any organization, regardless of size or industry, receives…

    $249

    per month per user

    Syncapse

    N/AN/ASyncapse is a social media management solution built around features such as audience segmentation and analytics for key business performance indicators.N/A
    Pricing
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Editions & Modules
    Starter
    $25
    per month
    Growth
    $50
    per month
    Scale
    $100
    per month
    Enterprise
    Contact Sales
    Essentials
    $79 per seat/per month annual / $99 per seat/per month monthly
    Standard
    $199 annual / $249 monthly
    per user/per month
    Professional
    $299 annual / $399 monthly
    per user/per month
    Advanced
    $399 annual / $499 monthly
    per user/per month
    Free Trial
    Free
    for 30 days
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Free Trial
    YesYesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details33% discount available for annual subscription.——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Considered Multiple Products
    Later
    Chose Later Social
    Sprout Social is a great tool, however, the price for a smaller company like ours was prohibitive. Later doesn't have LinkedIn support the way Sprout Social does, however Later does have unique product offerings for Instagram that ultimately set them apart for our team. We've …
    Incentivized
    Chose Later Social
    Later is very affordable and kind of a hidden gem. While Sprout Social provides analytics that Later doesn't have, that's not a feature we were looking for. Multiple users do not cost extra money and the number of posts you get based on your plan is more than enough even if you …
    Incentivized
    Chose Later Social
    Later is hands-down the best platform I have used for planning and scheduling content.
    Incentivized
    Chose Later Social
    As a social media manager I find that Buffer, Hootsuite and Sproutsocial are superior to all features available on Later.
    Incentivized
    Sprout Social
    Chose Sprout Social
    I will admit that I have not used Hootsuite, however, I do think if you have more then 40 or so accounts they might be able to handle that more. I have used Later Social & Buffer and I find Sprout Social easier to use and less clunky UI. Later & Buffer do work, but I used both …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout Social scheduling and analytics capabilities as well as the internal conversations and assignment features are what put it above the rest.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    We started this agency using Later and switched to Iconosqaure because we needed more in-depth reporting. We switched from Iconosquare to Sprout Social because of the continuous scheduling bugs/issues we were having with our account and our terrible experience with their …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout Social is able to do all + more than the other platforms mentioned. And the user dashboard is easy on the eyes. Again, I'd like to add that Sprout Social puts an effort into their support team which makes it much more appealing to use the platform overall.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    I have to say, I hated how old school Loomly and Hootsuite software seemed to have. With using Loomly, it took a lot of clicks to get a simple task completed. Hootsuite was on a trial basis, and I just didn't like the usability. Loomly was great for the analytics, but …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout is easier to use than competitors.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout Social is the most robust and reliable of all platforms I've tried by far.

    It is not the best in scheduling and content strategy, but does a very adequate job and is worth it for the proper data and tracking in dashboards.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    I think Sprout Social is probably top-tier and designed for agencies or social media content freelancers who need to spend a lot of time analyzing and strategizing content. For basic scheduling functions, it’s probably too powerful (like using a rocket to drive to the grocery …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    I think Sprout Social is the most advanced of all these scheduling tools, it can handle the largest accounts and makes scheduling and responding to posts easy. it's the most expensive of these four (with meta for business free) but it's a you get what you pay for situation. I …
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout Social has more features and is the most advanced social media platform. It may cost more, but it's worth it.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    It is much more affordable. The analytics are much more robust. The scheduling function, AI capabilities, and listening are better. The website's interface is easy to use.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout Social has everything each of these platforms have individually but put all in one. Sprout doesn't split everything up, it is easy to use and helps my team keep everything in one platform. Sprout also doesn't fail posts like Hootsuite did which made us switch.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Sprout Social's message management is what sets it apart from other scheduling tools for me.
    Incentivized
    Chose Sprout Social
    Hootsuite, Gremln, Spredfast
    LookSmart
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    93%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    94%
    Would buy again
    106 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    93 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    14 Answers
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    108 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    11 Answers
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    86 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    92 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Publishing
    Comparison of Publishing features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    8.7
    2 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Sprout Social
    8.2
    145 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Content planning and scheduling10.02 Ratings9.2145 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content optimization8.12 Ratings8.2126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow management8.02 Ratings8.4126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audience targeting00 Ratings7.2110 Ratings00 Ratings
    Channel coverage/integration
    Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    9.0
    2 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Sprout Social
    8.4
    144 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Twitter7.02 Ratings8.8126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Facebook8.92 Ratings8.7143 Ratings00 Ratings
    LinkedIn8.72 Ratings8.6130 Ratings00 Ratings
    Instagram10.02 Ratings8.6132 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pinterest10.01 Ratings8.246 Ratings00 Ratings
    YouTube9.62 Ratings8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Google+00 Ratings7.846 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting/analytics
    Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    4.0
    1 Ratings
    64% below category average
    Sprout Social
    8.2
    146 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Campaign success analytics4.01 Ratings8.6138 Ratings00 Ratings
    Real-time tracking00 Ratings8.1134 Ratings00 Ratings
    Competitor analysis00 Ratings7.8120 Ratings00 Ratings
    Account management
    Comparison of Account management features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    6.3
    2 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Sprout Social
    8.0
    138 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Mobile access6.32 Ratings7.3124 Ratings00 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions & privileges00 Ratings8.7132 Ratings00 Ratings
    Listening/monitoring
    Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    -
    Ratings
    Sprout Social
    7.2
    114 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings6.980 Ratings00 Ratings
    Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings7.196 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sentiment analysis00 Ratings7.077 Ratings00 Ratings
    Broad channel coverage00 Ratings8.090 Ratings00 Ratings
    Engagement
    Comparison of Engagement features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    -
    Ratings
    Sprout Social
    7.9
    132 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings7.687 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customer interaction histories00 Ratings8.1116 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bulk actions00 Ratings8.1115 Ratings00 Ratings
    Marketing
    Comparison of Marketing features of Later Social and Sprout Social and Syncapse
    Feature
    Later Social
    -
    Ratings
    Sprout Social
    7.1
    96 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Syncapse
    -
    Ratings
    Lead generation00 Ratings6.869 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content marketing00 Ratings8.192 Ratings00 Ratings
    Paid media management00 Ratings6.23 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings7.24 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Small Businesses
    Sendible
    Score7.1 out of 10
    Sendible
    Score7.1 out of 10
    Sendible
    Score7.1 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Emplifi
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Emplifi
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Emplifi
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Salesforce Marketing Cloud Social Studio (discontinued)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (17 ratings)
    8.4
    (203 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.2
    (67 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.5
    (130 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.7
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (7 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (9 ratings)
    1.8
    (39 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (12 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.1
    (42 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Later SocialSprout SocialSyncapse
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Later
    The free version is more than enough for personal use. But if you have a small business or if you're trying to grow your brand, it's better to use one of the premium plans. It's worth it. Later is especially useful if you manage multiple accounts for multiple brands/companies because you'll be managing everything with just one tool
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    Sprout is typically the first platform that comes to mind when I think of social media content scheduling/platform management/social media management. However, Sprout is very pricey, and I don’t think there’s an obvious standout element that helps differentiate it from other scheduling platforms. For organizations with only a few social media profiles, I’d be more likely to recommend lower-cost or free platforms as opposed to Sprout. I’d probably only recommend Sprout for organizations with dozens or hundreds of social media accounts
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Pros
    Later
    • Later's easy upload feature (drag and drop) is incredibly helpful, especially for multiple images and videos.
    • The drag and drop option for scheduling content is easy, and images and videos load rather quickly depending on size.
    • Captions can be saved if there are posts or common phrases that repeated and shared out from the content.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    • Social Scheduling: Sprout Social makes it easier than any platform I've used to schedule posts with each, and to batch-schedule the same post to run on multiple dates. The scheduling platform is intuitive and easy to understand.
    • Social Reporting: With just a few clicks of the button, you can easily export reports that are easy for both social media experts and complete novices to understand. I like how you can get a report within 60 seconds or so if needed.
    • Customer Service/Help: Whenever I've had a question, both my Sprout Social rep and the Help Center have been extremely easy to contact and quick to reply. Problems are solved very fast and it's made easy to understand.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Cons
    Later
    • I wish I could edit the look and feel of my pictures within Later a little easier. There are standard filters, but for brand sake, I need everything to be consistent.
    • I wish there was a direct integration with things like Canva and Lightroom to make uploading and editing my images seamless.
    • The biggest thing I wish Later did was allowing a better threshold for the free accounts. All of the helpful and useful features are for paid only (video posts, multi-image posts, analytics, etc). I can't justify the cost for just a few posts a month. I end up doing all of the video and multi-image posts manually, which lately has me questioning the benefit of Later's free version as a small business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    • I would like for Personal Instagram Accounts to be able to integrate with Sprout Social's Employee Advocacy platform. You are able to connect personally accounts to Sprout Social itself, which is great, but for employee re-sharing internal stories, this is not possible unless it is with a Business Instagram account.
    • I would like for the left hand tool bar to be more user friendly. There are so many tools and settings that are available, and I would like for it to be simplified in a way that makes it less cluttered.
    • An improvement can be made with the Sprout Social Mobile App. The user friendliness of the app does not allow as much autonomy as the regular webpage.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Likelihood to Renew
    Later
    No answers on this topic
    Sprout Social
    Sprout Social is the best platform out there for social-media management, and now that I have all my clients using Sprout Social, it would be sort of silly for me to walk away format at this juncture. The only cloud on the horizon would be if Salesforce bought it (as has been rumored) and put it inside its walled garden.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Later
    The desktop site is almost perfect, I love it. I love that I can drag and drop, I love that I can easily and quickly switch to analytics and switching profiles... love the ease of link in bio. so great!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    Sprout Social is straightforward to use - built for anyone regardless of tech experience to be able to navigate. It integrates pretty seamlessly to the native platforms and brings a lot of things together to make a seamlessly experience for seasoned social media managers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Later
    No answers on this topic
    Sprout Social
    Uptime was OK, but given the fact that we are in Europe, there were some specific problems: They tended to take the system down for maintenance during the night in the US, which was during our workday. This was definitely problematic and hard to explain to our clients.
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Later
    No answers on this topic
    Sprout Social
    It is quick to post, however you have to refresh the page every time you add a new scheduled item.
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Later
    Later are not just a software tool, they also provide marketing advice, tips, and tutorials via their blog. I’ve only had to reach out to them for help a few times and have found them to respond much faster than other tools in their category. I receive weekly emails with updates, marketing tips and invites to online events. I look forward to their emails as I’ve learned a lot of things that I’ve been able to actually implement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    The chat and online resources are great. The managers are too. They go through account reps pretty fast. Also, not a lot of onboarding once a product or service is sold. The ticket request system is terrible, they have too many people switching off roles, they take a long time to get back to you and don't plan on anything being fixed over a weekend - even if you have a problem. Their customer service via tickets is the worst.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Later
    No answers on this topic
    Sprout Social
    Their training is good, but the promotion of it is even better. I don't need or have the time for training, but I was always happy to know it was there. They did a great job sending updates out and making me aware when there was a new feature that I may want training for. As for the training I never used it, so I can't comment on that
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Later
    No answers on this topic
    Sprout Social
    Make sure you do it all the way. Do not break it into phases. Pour yourself a coffee, start it in the morning and you'll be done before you finish that coffee.
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Later
    I went with Later for the lower cost subscription. The Hootsuite copy features is missed, but Later has hashtag suggestions which is nice. I really need something to post across multiple platforms. I also needed the ability to schedule more than the 5 free scheduled posts offered by Hootsuite. Later has been working great for what I need it to do to support my small event promotion business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    We started this agency using Later and switched to Iconosqaure because we needed more in-depth reporting. We switched from Iconosquare to Sprout Social because of the continuous scheduling bugs/issues we were having with our account and our terrible experience with their Customer Service team. We are planning to close our Sprout Social account and move to HeyOrca because of cost, ease of use, and the basic scheduling features Sprout Social doesn't offer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Later
    • Increased social media involvement - Since utilizing Later and another social media scheduling tool, we have seen our growth rise as much as 12% in just a few months. This includes followers, likes, and engagement. This is huge for us since social media is a great way to generate new customers and increase brand awareness.
    • Easier reporting - Analytics tools on most of the big three (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) are pretty limited. Later is a great way to take a look at our Analytics, and it makes it easy to understand the numbers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Sprout Social
    • One positive impact has been a huge time saver for our team. Where we once had multiple systems and delays from producing content to approval to publishing, now everything is seamless.
    • Another positive impact is streamlining the onboarding process for new team members. Sprout Social is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy to study even for someone completely new to social media.
    • One negative impact has been the time it takes to wade through irrelevant social listening posts. The filtering is not effective enough to eliminate the noise.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    LookSmart
    No answers on this topic
    ScreenShots

    Sprout Social Screenshots

    Screenshot of Sprout’s social media publishing tools, used to schedule and post messages to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn simultaneously from a single Compose window.