Sked Social vs Sprout Social
We give Sked Social and Sprout Social the same GPA: 2.2 out of 4.0. Sked Social 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.
Sked Social
Social media scheduler for teams that need approvals and reports
Sprout Social
Social media management with a shared inbox, listening and reports
How we grade them
| 2.2GPASked SocialFair | 2.2GPASprout SocialFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGrow is $690 a year, about $58 a month, for 6 profiles and 3 users, so a team of two or three pays that. It sits right on this category's $58 dearer-quarter line, the top of the ordinary range. Approvals cost more, on Accelerate. | 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 | CNo free plan, but a 14-day trial with no card needed. The account pauses when it ends unless you pick a plan. | CNo free plan, but a 30-day trial with no card needed, twice the usual 14 days here. That's time to run a whole month of posts through it. |
| Features | CAuto-publishing to eight channels, a planner and queue, an inbox on every plan, dashboards, listening and AI captions. The gaps it shows: Threads and Snapchat only go out by notification, and Grow has no approvals, just two fixed post statuses. | 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 | CThere's no App Store rating on record for us to go by, and you'll connect profiles and set up content pillars and the inbox first. So it gets the ordinary grade. | 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, iPhone and Android, with Canva, Google Drive, Dropbox, Frontify, Notion, Asana, Trello and OneDrive, plus an MCP server. No desktop app, which an A needs. | 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 | brand teams that need sign-off | 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: Sked Social and Sprout Social. How we grade
Price against what you get
Sked Social starts at $58 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 $21 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other social media schedulers on the chart, 8 score higher than Sked Social 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
- Sked Social starts at $58 per month for up to 6 social profiles, billed annually ($69 monthly). Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly).
At a glance
| Sked Social | Sprout Social | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $58 per month for up to 6 social profiles, billed annually ($69 monthly) | $79 per seat / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial, no credit card required; the account pauses if no plan is chosen | 30-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Sked Social | Sprout Social, Inc. |
| Price read from | skedsocial.com | sproutsocial.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Sked Social
- Brand teams that need sign-off before anything is posted
- Agencies collecting client approval without client logins
- Multi-location businesses posting to Google Business Profile
Sprout Social
- Marketing teams that handle social customer care in the same tool
- Brands that want competitor and paid reporting beside publishing
- Companies connecting social to Salesforce, Zendesk or HubSpot
Worth knowing
Sked Social
- There is no free plan; after the 14-day trial the account pauses until a plan is chosen.
- Approvals, PDF and Excel exports and the custom report builder need Accelerate at $166 a month billed yearly.
- Grow is fixed at 3 users; extra users are sold only on Accelerate, at $15 a month ($150 a year) each.
- Extra social profiles cost $8 a month each on Grow and $10 a month each on Accelerate.
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 on top of the plan price, available from Standard.
Key features
Sked Social
- Publishing to ten channels
- Auto-publishes to Instagram, including Stories with link stickers, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, X and Google Business Profile. Threads and Snapchat can go out by notification.
- Visual planner and posting queue
- A calendar planner, automatic posting queue, bulk scheduling, campaigns and content pillars, and an ideas board that can pull tasks from Notion, Asana or Trello.
- Approvals and review portals
- Accelerate adds internal and multi-step external approvals, with portals and calendar previews that clients can review without logging in. Grow has two fixed post statuses.
- Shared inbox
- DMs, comments and mentions from every channel in one inbox on every plan, with quick replies, team tagging, Google review replies and Meta ad comment moderation.
- Analytics and listening
- Live dashboards for organic and paid Meta results on every plan. Accelerate adds a custom report builder, PDF and Excel exports, and brand sentiment and keyword trends.
- AI captions and MCP
- AI reads a brand's site and past posts to draft captions and ideas in its voice, and the Sked Social MCP lets an AI agent work inside the workspace.
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
Sked Social
Grow$58
per month for up to 6 social profiles, billed annually ($69 monthly)
3 users, unlimited scheduling, AI captions, the shared inbox, live dashboards and 5 tracked competitors. Billed as $690 a year.
Accelerate$166
per month for up to 10 social profiles, billed annually ($199 monthly)
6 users, internal and external approvals, no-login review portals, PDF and Excel exports, custom reports and 20 competitors. Billed as $1,990 a year.
Custom$249
per month and up, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
Quoted to the team through sales: more profiles and users, a dedicated success manager, invoice billing and security reviews.
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
Sked Social
- Annual discount
Save 17% with annual billing
Grow costs $690 a year instead of $69 a month, and Accelerate $1,990 a year instead of $199 a month.
- Nonprofit
Program for registered nonprofits
The pricing FAQ says Sked Social runs a program for registered nonprofits and partners with some universities; terms are given on request.
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.
