CoSchedule vs Sprout Social (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, CoSchedule and Sprout Social share a 2.2 GPA, and only CoSchedule has a free plan.
Checked Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
CoSchedule grades higher on value for money. Sprout Social grades higher on features. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
CoSchedule
Marketing calendar with social scheduling, inbox and AI drafting
Sprout Social
Social media management with a shared inbox, listening and reports
Which one is for you
Pick CoSchedule if
- Fits if you are a solo marketer who wants a calendar and scheduling in one tool
- Works for small teams and agencies needing approvals and client calendars
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 1 profile and 15 posts at a time
- Pricey if you post to X: those profiles are $16 a month each, outside the base count
- Watch out: extra profiles are $5 a month and extra Professional seats $29
- Watch out: Starter allows one user and Professional at most three; Suite is sold through sales
Pick Sprout Social if
- Fits if your social team handles customer questions as much as posts
- Works for companies tying social to Salesforce, Zendesk or HubSpot, at $199 a seat or more
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're a small business: $79 a seat gets no inbox, and the plan with one is $199 a seat
- Tight if you have more than 5 profiles, since unlimited starts at Professional, $299 a seat
- Not for you if you want listening or Premium Analytics included, as both are paid add-ons
- Watch out: the API and help desk integrations need Advanced at $399 a seat a month billed yearly
- Skip it if you want a free plan: there's a 30-day trial, and monthly billing runs $99 to $499 a seat
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACoScheduleFair | 2.2GPASprout SocialFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$29 a month on annual billing, the category middle, for 1 user and 3 profiles. Professional is $49 for 2 users. | DEssentials is $79 a seat a month billed yearly and covers 5 profiles, so two people pay $158 a month and three $237. That's in this category's dearest tenth, from $99. And that plan has no inbox: Standard, which does, is $199 a seat. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree plan: 15 scheduled posts at a time on 1 profile, plus a 14-day trial of any paid plan. You'll hit that cap. | CNo free plan, but a 30-day trial with no card needed, twice the usual 14 days here. |
| Features | CCalendar, requeue, analytics, inbox and approvals. The inbox on Starter covers Facebook and Instagram only. | BPublishing to 11 networks including Reddit and Snapchat, an inbox that pulls in messages, reviews and WhatsApp, approvals, competitor and paid reports, and an API. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job; listening is an add-on. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. A calendar to build, and profiles to connect. | CIts iPhone and iPad app averages 4.2 from about 1,300 ratings, and the full suite takes some setting up across profiles, inbox rules and reports. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Mailchimp, HubSpot, Canva, Zapier, WordPress and Google Analytics on the list. | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Canva, Slack, Shopify and Tableau, and the Sprout API on Advanced. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | a marketing calendar with social scheduling | customer care on social for bigger teams |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: CoSchedule and Sprout Social. How we grade
Price against what you get
CoSchedule starts at $29 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Sprout Social starts at $79 a month for each person and scores 2.7.
Sprout Social scores higher, and starts $50 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other social media schedulers on the chart, 9 score higher than CoSchedule for less, and 3 score higher than Sprout Social for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- CoSchedule also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| CoSchedule | Sprout Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly) | $79 per seat / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Schedule up to 15 posts at a time on 1 social profile. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of any paid plan | 30-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | CoSchedule | Sprout Social, Inc. |
| Price read from | coschedule.com | sproutsocial.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
CoSchedule
- X profiles are billed separately at $16 per profile a month and are not included in the base profile count.
- Extra social profiles cost $5 a month each, and extra Professional seats $29 a month.
- Starter allows one user, and Professional allows at most three.
- Suite is sold through sales, and its price is custom.
Sprout Social
- There is no free plan, and every seat is charged at the plan's full rate, from $79 a month on Essentials to $399 on Advanced, billed annually.
- Essentials and Standard stop at 5 social profiles; unlimited profiles start at Professional.
- The Sprout API and help desk integrations need Advanced at $399 per seat / month, billed annually.
- Listening and Premium Analytics are paid add-ons from Standard, and Trellis Plus (1,000 AI credits a seat) is $28 per seat a month billed annually, $35 monthly.
Key features
CoSchedule
- Drag-and-drop calendar
- Posts and campaigns sit on one calendar; moving a campaign's launch date moves its social schedule with it.
- ReQueue
- Reshares chosen evergreen posts to fill gaps in the schedule and repeats recurring promotions.
- Social inbox
- Comments, mentions and DMs in one place, with saved replies and AI-drafted replies. Starter covers Facebook and Instagram, Professional covers nine networks.
- Analytics and reports
- Social reports on all plans, with AI insights, custom dashboards, scheduled and white-label reports on Professional.
- AI assistants
- A social assistant and a campaign assistant, both unlimited on paid plans, with brand voice profiles on Suite.
- Agency tools
- Professional adds client calendars, white labeling and message approvals for teams that publish for several brands.
Sprout Social
- Publishing calendar
- Posts for Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky, Reddit and Snapchat are planned on one calendar, with optimal send times.
- Smart Inbox
- Messages, comments, Messenger and WhatsApp conversations and reviews arrive in one inbox, with tagging from Professional and sentiment on Advanced.
- Approvals and collaboration
- Message approval workflows, calendar notes and a shared asset library, with calendars that can be shared with people outside the account for sign-off.
- Reports and competitor insights
- Profile and post reports on every plan; competitor, tag and paid reports from Professional; team productivity and customer care reports on Advanced.
- Trellis AI agent
- Each seat gets 100 Trellis credits a month for questions about social data. Trellis Plus costs $28 per user a month billed annually ($35 monthly).
- Add-ons
- Listening, Premium Analytics and Employee Advocacy are sold separately on Standard and up, and influencer marketing is a separate product.
Plans
CoSchedule
Free$0
Up to 15 scheduled posts at a time on 1 social profile.
Starter$29
per month for 1 user, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
1 user seat, 3 social profiles ($5 a month for each extra), unlimited scheduling, ReQueue, analytics and a Facebook and Instagram inbox.
Professional$49
per month for 2 users, billed annually ($59 billed monthly)
2 seats (up to 3, extra seat $29 a month), 5 profiles, a 9-network inbox, approvals, client calendars and white-label reports.
SuiteCustom
Custom seats and profiles, team permissions, campaign planning, SSO and AI brand voice. Custom plans start at $69 a month.
Sprout Social
Essentials$79
per seat / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
Publishing for up to 5 social profiles, optimal send times, profile and post reports, and 100 Trellis AI credits a month.
Standard$199
per seat / month, billed annually ($249 billed monthly)
5 social profiles, the consolidated inbox, collaboration tools, keyword and location monitoring, and review management.
Professional$299
per seat / month, billed annually ($399 billed monthly)
Unlimited social profiles, message tagging, competitor, tag and paid insights, and AI post enhancement.
Advanced$399
per seat / month, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
AI reply help, inbox sentiment, the Sprout API, help desk integrations, team productivity and customer care reports, and spike alerts.
EnterpriseCustom
A tailored plan with white-glove onboarding, single sign-on setup and priority support.
Ways to pay less
CoSchedule
No public discounts listed.
Sprout Social
- Annual discount
About 20% off with annual billing
Paying for a year up front brings Standard to $199 a seat a month from $249, Professional to $299 from $399 and Advanced to $399 from $499.
- Nonprofit
Nonprofit pricing on Professional and Advanced
US nonprofits that commit to at least two seats on an annual plan pay $239 a seat a month for Professional and $299 for Advanced.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, CoSchedule or Sprout Social?
As of Nov 12, 2026, CoSchedule starts at $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly), and Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, CoSchedule or Sprout Social?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only CoSchedule has a free plan. Sprout Social does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do CoSchedule and Sprout Social run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Sprout Social lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.