Sprout Social is an excellent product — the inbox, the reporting and the approval workflows are genuinely best-in-class, and we don’t compete with any of it. It is also priced per seat. Competitor reports need the Professional tier at $399 a seat, so five people is $1,995 a month — and those reports cover Facebook, X and Instagram only. ScoutRival is $149 for five seats, and it watches the competitor’s website too.
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…and the work still arrives as a recommendation.
To get competitor reports out of Sprout you need the Professional plan — $399 per seat, per month. A five-person team is $1,995 a month, or $1,495 if you prepay the year.
And what those reports cover, in Sprout’s own words, is your competitors’ Facebook Pages, X profiles and Instagram profiles. Not LinkedIn. Not YouTube. And not their website — the place they actually publish their pricing, their case studies and the guide that’s about to outrank you.
ScoutRival is $149 for five seats and five brands, watches six of each rival’s channels including their site, and at 7am it tells you what moved and what to do about it — with the work already drafted.
A recommendation is a to-do. A draft is done work.
Sprout publishes and schedules across every network, and it does it properly. We don’t schedule social at all — so if that’s the job, keep Sprout and pair us with it.
What Sprout doesn’t do is write the 1,000–5,000-word article that answers the question your customer types before they call — with the answer block AI engines quote and the FAQ schema Google reads.
ScoutRival writes it from the gap it found in your rival’s content, and publishes it to your WordPress in one click.
A 27-check SEO audit of your own site, graded A–F. And a check of whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini name you when someone asks who to call. Sprout does neither — its analytics are about your social performance, which is a different question.
Both included from $29. Sprout’s Listening and Premium Analytics are separate add-ons with no published price — the button says “Schedule a demo.” Checked July 2026.
Sprout is priced per seat, and competitor reports start at Professional. Compared like-for-like against ScoutRival Agency — five seats, five brands, $149 — at monthly billing, July 2026.
And per their own terms, the plan auto-renews, cancelling needs 30 days’ notice, and prepaid fees are non-refundable.
Every price read from Sprout Social's own pricing pages in July 2026, and linked so you can check us.
| ScoutRival | Sprout Social | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | ||
| Cost for a 5-person team | $149 Flat. 5 brands too. | $1,995 Professional × 5 seats, monthly |
| Cheapest tier with competitor reports | $29 | $399 Per seat, per month |
| Money-back guarantee | 14 days, all paid plans | Their terms: prepaid fees non-refundable (§5.1.1) |
| Notice period to cancel | None | 30 days Before the term ends (§5.1.3) |
| It watches | ||
| A competitor’s website & blog | Daily | |
| Networks in their competitor reports | 6 + founder LinkedIn | 3 Facebook, X and Instagram only |
| A daily brief telling you what to do | 7am, every morning | Trellis synthesises social trends |
| It creates & ships | ||
| Social posts written for you | ||
| Long-form SEO articles | 1k–5k words | |
| Publishes to WordPress | One click | |
| Schedules & posts to social | Keep Sprout for this | Best in class |
| It measures | ||
| 27-check SEO audit of your site | A–F, fix cards | |
| AI-search visibility | 4 engines, from $29 | |
| Where Sprout wins | ||
| Unified inbox & customer care | The reason most people buy it | |
| Approval workflows & team reporting | ||
| Review management | We don’t do reviews | Across 8+ sites |
Prices read from Sprout Social's own public pricing pages in July 2026 (source). They change — check theirs. Sprout Social is a trademark of its owner. ScoutRival is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by them. Spot something stale or unfair? Tell us and we'll correct it — including if you work there.
You have someone whose job this is.
Their data is the best there is. If that's your situation, it's the better buy — and we'd rather you knew now than after the refund.
Nobody there does marketing full-time.
For five people, on the tier that includes competitor reports — yes. Sprout is priced per seat, and competitor reports start at Professional, at $399 per seat per month (their page shows $299 if you prepay the year). Five seats is 3 × $399 + 2 × $399 = $1,995 a month. ScoutRival Agency is $149 flat, for five seats and five brands. Read from their own pricing page in July 2026.
Two things. The networks: in Sprout’s own words, the reports benchmark your competitors’ Facebook Pages, X profiles and Instagram profiles — so no LinkedIn, no YouTube, and no website. And the output: they’re reports. ScoutRival watches the rival’s site too, and instead of a chart it hands you a verdict and a drafted article.
No — and be careful here, because there’s a claim floating around the internet that it does. That’s a different company. Sprout’s AI is Trellis, AI Assist and optimal send times; there is no LLM-visibility product on their site. ScoutRival checks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini from $29.
For a solo owner or a small team who bought Sprout for the intelligence — yes, and for a fraction of the price. For anyone who bought it for the inbox, the scheduling and the approvals — no, and we won’t pretend. We don’t schedule social at all. The honest pairing is ScoutRival for what to say, and a scheduler to say it.
Worth reading their terms before you commit. Sprout’s subscription auto-renews, cancelling requires notice at least thirty days before the end of your term (§5.1.3), and prepaid, unused fees are not refunded (§5.1.1). ScoutRival is month to month with a 14-day money-back guarantee on every paid plan.
Most people shortlist two or three. Here's what else lands on the list next to Sprout Social — what each one costs, and where each one stops.
Priced per person, from $99 a seat, with no free plan. Three people on its Professional tier is $597 a month — and it still won’t write your article.
The best scheduler there is, and we can’t schedule at all. What it has never done — by design — is tell you what to post. Run both: $29 with Buffer’s free plan.
Cheaper than us — $25 for five brands — and better at scheduling. But it can’t see a competitor’s website at all: its web analytics needs a tracking code on the site.
A superb social publisher — and we can’t schedule at all. Its competitor report covers Facebook and Instagram only, and watching anything else costs $75 a topic.
Same $29 entry, unlimited AI posts, and a 30-day refund. Its “competitor analysis” compares Facebook follower counts — that is the entire feature.
The best on-page optimizer there is — and its entry plan tracks zero AI prompts, in their own words. The advertised $49 is the annual rate; month to month it’s $59.
We've researched all 35 — prices, limits and where each one stops. See every comparison →
Add your website, name a competitor, and go to bed. Your first brief lands tomorrow morning — with the article already written.