Sprout Social vs. Zoho Social

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Sprout Social
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Sprout 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
Zoho Social
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Zoho Social helps marketers in small to large organizations to grow the social media presence of their brand with actionable insights focused on content and engagement. Zoho Social provides marketers with pre-publishing insights based on the engagement level of previous posts and the activity of their audience. Zoho Social even goes a step ahead to shows users the percentage of their audience that’s likely to see their post now, suggests the next best time to post and lets them schedule…
$10
per month
Pricing
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Editions & Modules
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
Standard
$10
per month
Professional
$25
per month
Agency
$200
per month
Agency Plus
$300
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAdd Ons Users at $10 / user / month Brands $10 / brand / month
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Considered Both Products
Sprout Social
Chose Sprout Social
For my clients who are using Sprout Social over the other available options, it came down to ease of setup and use, the insane quality of customer support, their social reporting, and analysis, influencer identification, social measurement, and engagement, scheduling, and …
Zoho Social
Chose Zoho Social
I have used Sprout Social before which is much more complex than Zoho Social. The functionality is greater but it is a lot more expensive. I think that for Zoho if they were to improve their social listening functions then this would make the platform a lot more attractive to …
Chose Zoho Social
I've tried the free trial of Sprout Social, loomly, and Hootsuite. Sprout had a confusing dash, loomly doesn't post natively to Instagram, and Hootsuite wouldn't start my free trial and kept telling me there was an error. Honestly, I just like Zoho [Social]. It was the easiest …
Chose Zoho Social
I have used Sprout Social in the past, which is a great product in itself and covers almost every aspect that Zoho Social covers in terms of social media channels. However, Sprout Social is really expensive as a sole product, and also doesn't have integrations with other …
Chose Zoho Social
Zoho doesn't offer all of the bells and whistles that you get from Sprout Social but it is a lot cheaper at the same time – I find Sprout to be more intuitive and more comprehensive. I evaluated and considered both tools before going with Zoho, in the end I felt Zoho offered …
Chose Zoho Social

The Analytics are better in Sprout Social, but that comes at a cost.
Chose Zoho Social
Zoho Social is a great social media management tool that allows businesses, and individuals, to manage multiple social media accounts, schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with followers. It competes well with other social media management tools such as Hootsuite, …
Chose Zoho Social
Zoho has the exact same feature but it can be better with AI integration and stock image collection.
Chose Zoho Social
Just was better for my use case than the competition
Chose Zoho Social
They have far more tools than just social, so we thought we would try them and if we liked them we could use the rest of their suite too. Turns out we liked them a lot
Chose Zoho Social
Zoho Social is similar to Buffer in price but you get more channels for the costs, while Buffer allows for Pinterest. Zoho is more difficult to customize posts based on social media channels than Buffer, but easier to schedule posts for all channels at once. Zoho is cheaper …
Chose Zoho Social
I'd tried Zoho initially for enterprise management solutions. After several years of trusted service and their awards in the industry, I gave it a closer look. Many social tools have come and gone or increased prices while downgrading services for the people who helped them …
Chose Zoho Social
We have tried other online social media management platforms such as Hootsuite however Zoho Social is the best platform we've used so far for a number of reasons. We have found it much easier to navigate across the Zoho Social platform and also more useful when it comes to the …
Chose Zoho Social
Sprout is very expensive for what it offers, it could be a great product, but it doesn't offer much more than Zoho does and it is actually harder to use.
Chose Zoho Social
Highly affordable for a small business compared to some of the bigger guys out there. At our stage of business, we don't necessarily need all the features. Zoho Social does just enough to help us grow and manage what we have with a small team.
Chose Zoho Social
It's in another league as far as I'm concerned. One point I forgot to mention was the Canva integration where you can pull designs/creative directly from your account or create a new design within.
Chose Zoho Social
Zoho [Social] doesn't require you to use their scheduling function in order to collect data on posts.
Chose Zoho Social
We either trialed, did extensive research on these other products or talked to people who use them. Some of them may have better analytics and targeting than Zoho for large enterprises, but we are not a large enterprise. We are also a B2B company so we are less concerned about …
Chose Zoho Social
Absolutely positive - all in one place to plan and post and analyse all my online content. Interactive medium, easy to use and easy to manage. This is all that any social media manager may ever want and look for. This is truly amazing! I highly recommend it to the ones who are …
Chose Zoho Social
When it comes to pricing vs. features, there's no contest, Zoho wins hands down
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
7.4
53 Ratings
3% below category average
Zoho Social
8.3
347 Ratings
8% above category average
Boolean keyword searches6.939 Ratings00 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam7.143 Ratings00 Ratings
Sentiment analysis7.224 Ratings8.0245 Ratings
Broad channel coverage8.434 Ratings8.7341 Ratings
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
4.9
57 Ratings
48% below category average
Zoho Social
8.4
416 Ratings
5% above category average
Content planning and scheduling7.157 Ratings9.2414 Ratings
Audience targeting3.048 Ratings7.7293 Ratings
Content optimization3.449 Ratings8.4342 Ratings
Workflow management6.052 Ratings00 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
6.0
55 Ratings
30% below category average
Zoho Social
8.3
337 Ratings
2% above category average
Automated routing and prioritization2.725 Ratings8.0286 Ratings
Customer interaction histories7.951 Ratings8.5318 Ratings
Bulk actions7.546 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
4.7
39 Ratings
50% below category average
Zoho Social
8.3
294 Ratings
6% above category average
Lead generation2.331 Ratings8.0217 Ratings
Content marketing2.935 Ratings8.6286 Ratings
Paid media management6.23 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions7.24 Ratings00 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
7.5
59 Ratings
13% below category average
Zoho Social
9.1
408 Ratings
6% above category average
Twitter7.757 Ratings9.3363 Ratings
Facebook6.359 Ratings9.0400 Ratings
LinkedIn8.352 Ratings9.2358 Ratings
Google+7.721 Ratings8.9230 Ratings
Instagram7.349 Ratings9.2330 Ratings
Pinterest7.214 Ratings00 Ratings
YouTube8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
5.9
58 Ratings
29% below category average
Zoho Social
7.8
336 Ratings
1% below category average
Campaign success analytics4.154 Ratings7.8334 Ratings
Real-time tracking6.655 Ratings00 Ratings
Competitor analysis7.047 Ratings7.8203 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Sprout Social
7.6
58 Ratings
7% below category average
Zoho Social
8.9
363 Ratings
9% above category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges7.755 Ratings8.5271 Ratings
Mobile access7.651 Ratings9.3346 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Small Businesses
Publer
Publer
Score 9.7 out of 10
Publer
Publer
Score 9.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Likelihood to Recommend
7.6
(115 ratings)
9.3
(421 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(62 ratings)
8.0
(12 ratings)
Usability
7.1
(42 ratings)
9.4
(250 ratings)
Availability
7.7
(8 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(7 ratings)
8.2
(3 ratings)
Support Rating
5.2
(37 ratings)
9.3
(220 ratings)
Online Training
7.3
(3 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(11 ratings)
8.3
(5 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.3
(2 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
3.6
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Sprout SocialZoho Social
Likelihood to Recommend
Sprout Social
Sprout [Social] is great for small businesses, small agencies and those who need a platform but don't want to spend a fortune. If you need multiple user log-in's, the cost will add up. This is great to share a log-in for different people to use or add one or two users
Read full review
Zoho
Zoho Social is well suited for content creators, social media marketers, business owners and anyone who is customer facing in the business. It's great to stay on top of how each platform is doing analytics wise, and have an in depth view of each platform's engagement. It's also well suited for beginners or people who have some experience in understanding the analytics part of social media marketing.
Read full review
Pros
Sprout Social
  • The Landscape system that Sprout Social offers allows me to modify all the images that I want to publish on my social networks. This service allows me to modify the size of the image, add filters, modify the colors and much more, it is a very important tool to be able to have a better presentation of the images that we use in our publications on social networks.
  • It offers me a perfect statistical system where I can consult all kinds of movements that have occurred in all my social networks, I can see statistics individually or generally. The statistics allow me to see group reports, participation, information on audience movement on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and also allow me to view the activity that has occurred in my account.
  • Sprout Social allows me to view a record in real time that shows me all the movements that my social networks are having by my employees. As Director of the Marketing Sector, this is a very important role, as I can know what actions my employees are taking to improve marketing with social networks.
Read full review
Zoho
  • Content sharing to all our social media accounts at one place
  • Warning about platform specific issues, also giving choice not to include problematic platforms
  • Showing statistics of our shares as a table so that we can understand about the impact of our specific posts.
Read full review
Cons
Sprout Social
  • I'd love to see more robust tag reporting capabilities, but they mentioned that this is something in the pipeline for improvement.
  • I wish it was easier to batch content and shift it to approval or draft mode. Sometimes clients can change their mind and moving through each post individually can be a bit time consuming. This is a very minor thing.
  • I'd love to see more customization options come to its reporting feature so we can insert graphics. Currently it supports the insertion of text only.
Read full review
Zoho
  • I wanted to use the ability to have Zoho queue the posts, but I wanted to choose the start time of the first post for a few days in the future and I did not find an easy way to set that.
  • I wish there were a box with a cheat sheet of the sizes that each social media platform allows for it's video and pictures in the dialogue box for posting so I can be sure to choose appropriate content.
  • I do think it's a bit expensive, especially for my needs, but I like the ease of use. I will continue to do what I can to get this service discounted until I can no longer afford it.
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Likelihood to Renew
Sprout Social
While I am currently no longer working with the company in which I was employed and utilized Sprout Social, I do know that the company is still utilizing Sprout Social on a daily basis and I do not foresee a time when the subscription would be cancelled.
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Zoho
Zoho Social is the BEST! I have found the perfect solution to social media marketing! It is extremely affordable and I highly recommend it! Create a post once and post it to 5 or more social media platforms! LOVE IT!! :)
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Usability
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is extremely user-friendly. The publishing feature is easy to use, and provides previews of what your content will look like once posted. I also love the calendar view where you can view all posts you have scheduled for the month. The collaborative nature of the platform makes working directly in Sprout Social with clients a breeze, and we are seeing our content get approved much faster.
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Zoho
A bit of repetition from previous screens but ultimately I wrote down what success looked like for me if I was to choose a social media tool, and how that would positively impact my business. From assessing all the tools out there, I also had a matrix of what tool offered what functionality. Once I had both reports prepared, I had a top 3 which matched the needs I had from a tool, and, for me, Zoho Social stood out head and shoulders above the competition
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Reliability and Availability
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.
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Zoho
We've never had a problem with availability
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Performance
Sprout Social
It is quick to post, however you have to refresh the page every time you add a new scheduled item.
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Zoho
Excellent performance for what it does. No problem downloading pages on the desktop or mobile. It integrates well with other Zoho products. Outside of Zoho? Forget it.
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Support Rating
Sprout Social
Sprout Social's customer support is extremely prompt and always helpful. Not only do they provide quick and useful service, but the representatives follow up multiple times to ensure that the issue is fully address and/or completely resolved. The overall experience is exemplary; very few other companies provide comparable service.
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Zoho
I rate the customer support as outstanding. The assistance provided by the support team has been consistently prompt, knowledgeable, and attentive to our needs. Whenever we've encountered issues or had questions, they have swiftly addressed them, guiding us through solutions and ensuring a smooth experience. Their dedication to resolving concerns reflects their commitment to customer satisfaction, and I am thoroughly impressed with the level of support we have received.
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Online Training
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
Zoho
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
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.
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Zoho
You can use Zoho Social out of the box so there weren't any implementation issues.
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Alternatives Considered
Sprout Social
I used Buffer previous to Sprout Social for two years. It was a good solution as we were getting a handle on scheduling content. It was the first real tool we had for this. But we outgrew it and they began removing features that were critical to our workflow, such as the RSS Feed. While their 50% off policy for non-profits was very helpful, once we started adding up the cost to use features like Replies and Analytics, we discovered that our needs were simply too robust for Buffer to handle. Sprout Social was the solution suggested by all our peers and we've been very happy with it ever since.
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Zoho
Zoho Social is a great social media management tool that allows businesses, and individuals, to manage multiple social media accounts, schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with followers. It competes well with other social media management tools such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, Agora Pulse, and Hubspot. Zoho Social stands out for its integration capabilities with other Zoho applications and affordability for small to medium-sized businesses. Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, and businesses should evaluate them based on their specific needs and goals. The biggest fallacy for Zoho is its restriction on scheduling tools on the free plan who have social and personal needs. I believe this can be circumvented by Zoho periodically making an advertisement to one's feed.
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Scalability
Sprout Social
No answers on this topic
Zoho
We're a small organization so we haven't needed to deploy across multiple departments or sites.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Sprout Social
  • Sprout has given insights to lead our creative refreshes every quarter. As we have a healthy budget on paid social, it is crucial to understand the type of creative that works best.
  • Sprout has the ability to send notifications based on certain types of messages received. This is crucial for social media teams who don't have 24/7 coverage but need to be notified of urgent matters.
  • Sprout has saved me hours of time as I no longer pull analytics natively from each social platform. The generated reports give me a look at all of the platforms and can be customized.
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Zoho
  • Zoho Social allows me to "see" my messaging planning weeks into the future. I can create themes for a week or month and easily see how it performs.
  • Having all my social accounts in one place saves me time.
  • It is too early for any ROI from Zoho but the amount of content I am putting out has increased by at least 400%.
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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.

Zoho Social Screenshots

Screenshot of AnalyticsScreenshot of CollaborationScreenshot of Create-PublishScreenshot of InboxScreenshot of Monitor-SearchScreenshot of Social-Media-Marketing