Overview
What Is Sprout Social Used For?
Sprout Social is a versatile social media management platform that allows users to schedule and publish content on various social media platforms. The tool’s clean UI contributes to its user-friendly interface that allows you to monitor and analyze performance from a single dashboard.
Unlike other Sprout Social Alternatives, it supports various networks, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram. It also enables you to manage reviews on Google My Business and Facebook. You can also leverage its analytics capabilities to gain data-driven performance insights.
Sprout Social comes packed with social listening capabilities and helps you to maintain your brand image. Its inboxing capabilities provide an overview of all your social interactions. You can also integrate a range of apps, including Google Analytics, Tabula, Salesforce Cloud Intelligence, etc.
What Is Later Used For?
Later is a social media management tool that helps you plan, schedule, and publish content on various social media platforms. It is a visual first tool that comes with a user-friendly interface.
It is a visual first tool with a visual content planner, letting users preview and organize their content on a calendar while ensuring a consistent and visually appealing feed. Additionally, it provides analytics and insights to track post performance and optimize content strategy accordingly.
Besides scheduling and publishing content, Later offers other functionalities like scheduling Instagram Stories, user-generated content curation, and the ability to search and repost content from other accounts.
Later has a free plan with basic features and paid plans that include more advanced features and increased scheduling capacity. Although some eminent Later alternatives enjoy their fair share of popularity, for now, let’s see how Later vs. Sprout social compare against each other.
Best Suitable for
SproutSocial
Start with $249
Small Business, Enterprise, Agencies
Later
Start with $25
Influencers, Small Business
SocialPilot
Start with $30
SMBs, Agencies, Multi-Location Brands
At a Glance
It can be tough to tweak the differences when comparing two options offering the same functionality. If you compare Sprout social vs. Later, certain factors may come into play in deciding what works best for you.
Sprout Social is more popular than Later and is suitable for agency and enterprise-level customers. It is well-liked for its usability, ease of setup, and reporting capabilities. However, all this comes with expensive pricing plans that may not fit your budget and marketing needs.
On the other hand, Later is much preferred by influencers and small businesses for its fair share of features needed for social media management. It is a tool loved for its content planning and scheduling capabilities. With its visual first interface, you can plan out your calendar in the most convenient way and analyze its performance.
Note: Compared to Later or Sprout Social, SocialPilot may be a more favorable choice due to its user-friendly interface and strong analytical features. It serves as a viable Sprout Social alternative and even offers content suggestions at an affordable price suitable for small and large businesses.
Let us take a look at the user ratings of Sprout Social vs. Later and see how it compares to SocialPilot.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Reviews | 2131 | 283 | 741 |
| Overall Star Rating | |||
| Ease of Use | |||
| Quality of Support | |||
| Ease of Setup | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
Quick Comparison
So, now that we know what Sprout Social and Later are ideal for let’s compare the two in terms of essential features offered at their respective price points.
Sprout Social offers a fair share of publishing, analytics, inboxing, and collaboration capabilities for its high-priced agency plan that will cost you $499 per month. It also allows competitor tracking and offers a content library that Later fails to offer.
Later charges you six times less than Sprout Social, with only $80 per month, making it a good option for marketers and small businesses.
When it comes to language support, both Sprout Social and Later provide support for various languages. However, both tools fail to offer robust support as they provide only Email and chat support.
Note: Interestingly SocialPilot stands out to be a more beneficial alternative with its affordable pricing and capabilities. SocialPilot offers everything from a content library to robust customer support. To be more transparent about its support capabilities, SocialPilot backs its customers with a dedicated support team that addresses customer queries via email, chat, phone, and FAQs support. They take their customers very seriously and even address customer queries on social media platforms.
For a concise overview of the functionalities and constraints of Sprout Social vs. Later, along with SocialPilot, here’s a detailed comparison of the three tools.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Miss to Compare | |||
| Minimum Pricing | $249/Month | $25/Month | $30/Month |
| Number of Accounts | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| Number of Team Members | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Core Capabilities | |||
| Scheduling & Publishing |
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| Analytics |
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| Inbox |
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| Collaboration |
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| Competitor Tracking |
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| Whitelabel |
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| Localization | English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Support | Priority Email & Chat Support | Email & Live Chat | Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone |
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
Reviews
Positive
- Sprout Social's "Optimal Times" feature offers a guide for scheduling posts. It provides five options for the best time of day to post and rates them from 1-5, enabling the user to make an informed decision while still retaining flexibility in their scheduling.
- You can streamline social media conversations with Sprout Social's unified message inbox, allowing you to view and respond to messages from multiple networks and searches all in one convenient place.
- Sprout Social has many features you need, including custom UTM tracking of assets for accurate reporting and tracking.
Negative
- Users have reported frustration with team conversations on posts waiting for approval, as they tend to disappear when edits are made on the post. It makes it challenging to keep track of the conversation and ensure that all team members are on the same page.
- Tagging other companies and profiles in posts on Sprout Social can be problematic, with frequent bugs and glitches making the process cumbersome and unreliable.
- The add-ons offered by Sprout Social are priced excessively high and often do not function properly, causing frustration and dissatisfaction among users. It can result in a poor experience.
Positive
- Later's ability to monitor all forms of communication, including direct messaging and comments, offers complete oversight and improves overall communication management.
- The integration of a suggested hashtag feature in Later saves a significant amount of time during the publishing process on Instagram, providing a convenient and efficient solution for hashtags.
- The monthly layout feature in Later offers a well-defined preview of upcoming posts for the month, providing a helpful tool for organized content planning.
Negative
- Later lacks integration with Shopify or Etsy. To tag a product, the user must manually schedule the post, copy and paste the information, add the product tag, then save the changes, making the process more time-consuming and complicated.
- The free plan of Later restricts the user's ability to view the calendar, with a limited range of only a few weeks in the past.
- Carousel posts with multiple images can’t be published directly with this tool. The user must access Later, initiate the post and save the images to their phone before they can be published.
Positive
- You get a social media calendar screen in SocialPilot, which gives a bird-eye view of all the scheduled content as well as create and schedule new content from. You can also change the publishing time and date of any queued posts right from the calendar and reschedule it.
- SocialPilot's interface is easy to use. Unlike other tools, it doesn't require a learning curve hence users get used to it pretty quickly.
- Users get to see how each and every post would look on the social platform it is meant for even before it is published. The newly designed SocialPilot dashboard generates a preview of the post with all the content and customizations, before scheduling it. This gives insights as to how the customer would see the post content.
Negative
- Some users have reported receiving error messages with scheduled posts. However, they acknowledge that this issue is not unique to SocialPilot and is also present in other social posting platforms. It is simply a minor inconvenience at times.
- Users have expressed a desire for more information on setting up accounts and configurations for approvals. Some have struggled with this aspect and had to face challenges in figuring it out.
- One disadvantage of SocialPilot not offering a social listening feature is that it may not be the best choice for businesses or individuals who require comprehensive social media monitoring and analysis.
Pricing
The price of two similar products often significantly impacts which one we will choose in the end. So, let’s make a fair assessment by comparing the prices of Later vs. Sprout social to determine which one provides a better pricing advantage.
Sprout Social offers four price plans, whereas Later offers only three. Sprout’s standard plan will cost you $249 per month, which is way more expensive than Later, which charges only $18 for its starter plan.
As stated, Sprout Social’s agency plan costs you $499 per month for only one team member and charges $349 extra for every additional team member. On the other hand, Later charges only $80 while allowing a team capacity of six members. However, Later fails to offer many advanced features crucial for high-end customers.
Overall, Sprout can be a choice for agency and enterprise-level customers, but it is definitely a high-priced tool.
Note: Unlike Sprout Social or Later, SocialPilot is a fairly priced tool with better features and functionality. It offers a better team member capacity without additional cost and comes loaded with advanced capabilities crucial for social media management.
To offer you a comprehensive view, here’s a comparison of the pricing structures for various subscription plans provided by Sprout Social vs. Later and SocialPilot.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
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Standard
$249/per month
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Starter
$25/per month
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Professional
$30/per month
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Professional
$399/per month
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Growth
$45/per month
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Small Team
$50/per month
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Advanced
$499/per month
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Advanced
$80/per month
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Agency
$100/per month
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Enterprise
Custom
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Agency
$200/per month
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Agency+
$200/per month
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30 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
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14 Days Free Trial
Credit Card Required
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14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
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| Learn More | Learn More | Start Your free Trial |
In-depth Scheduling and Publishing Capabilities Comparison
Planning your content calendar and making sure that it goes live at the right time is crucial for the success of your social media campaigns. With that being said, let’s compare Sprout Social vs. Later to find the right choice for strengthening your content planning and publishing initiatives.
Both Sprout social and Later allow smart and advanced queueing, post customization, and personalized posting capabilities. However, Sprout Social doesn’t offer hashtag suggestions and a media editor, unlike Later.
When it comes to integrations, Sprout allows integrations with platforms like Hubspot, Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, Marketo, Woocommerce, and Microsoft dynamic 365.
On the other hand, Later only allows integration with Shopify, Mailchimp, and Unsplash. Later also fails to offer post preview and Canva integration capability.
Note: If you are seeking a Later or Sprout Social alternative immune from the above-stated shortcomings, SocialPilot can be a choice. SocialPilot offers affordable pricing options and all crucial scheduling and publishing features. It supports in-app integrations with various apps and provides a robust media editor and URL shortener.
Let’s compare Sprout Social vs. Later with SocialPilot to know how these three compare against each other in terms of all their scheduling and publishing features.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
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| Smart & Advanced Queueing |
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| Customize Post for Each Platform |
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| Post Preview |
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| Canva Integration |
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| Unsplash Integration |
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| Slack Integration |
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| URL Shortener |
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| Visual Post Support (Image, Video, GIF) |
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| UTM Parameters |
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| Cloud Storage |
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| Hashtag Suggestions |
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| Advance Publishing Capabilities | |||
| Save Draft Posts |
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| AI Assistant |
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| Watermark on Images |
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| Bulk Scheduling |
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| Content Curation |
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| Auto publishing from RSS |
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| Social media calendar |
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| Mobile App |
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| Browser Extension |
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| Advance Facebook Publishing Capabilities | |||
| Reel Scheduling |
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| Support Album Posts |
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| Support Carousel Posts |
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| Alternate Text on Image |
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| Support Facebook First Comment |
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| Audience Targeting |
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| Boost Post Scheduling |
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| Support Mention and Hashtags |
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| Advance Twitter Publishing Capabilities | |||
| Location Tagging |
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| Support Mention and Hashtags |
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| Support Multiple Image Posts |
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| Threads Scheduling |
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| Advance Instagram Publishing Capabilities | |||
| Reel Scheduling |
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| Story Scheduling |
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| Tag Profiles on Images |
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| Location Tagging |
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| Support Instagram First Comment |
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| Instagram Grid |
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| Advance LinkedIn Publishing Capabilities | |||
| Audience Targeting |
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| Support LinkedIn First Comment |
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| Advance YouTube Publishing Capabilities | |||
| #shorts Scheduling |
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| Mention of Other Youtube Accounts |
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| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
In-depth Analytics Capability Comparison
Social media analytics is of paramount importance to hit your social marketing goals. So, let’s compare Sprout social vs. Later for analytics capabilities.
Considering sprout social’s pricing, there is no surprise that it offers all essential analytics capabilities. Later, on the other hand, does a fair job of providing basic analytics features. However, Later falls short for not offering downloadable white-label reports and a custom report builder.
Note: One strong Spout Social alternative that offers all advanced analytics capabilities at a fairly affordable price is SocialPilot. SocialPilot serves for all advanced analytics features and still remains a pocket-friendly option that provides all social media management capabilities.
To know all your options, check out the table below for all the analytics features offered by Later vs. Sprout Social compared to SocialPilot.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
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| Whitelabel Downloadable Report in PDF Format |
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| Email PDF Report to Client |
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| Auto Schedule Report with Team and Client |
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| Custom Report Builder |
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| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
In-depth Inbox/Listening Capability Comparison
When comparing Sprout Social and Later’s inboxing and listening capabilities, Sprout Social stands out as a superior option. Sprout Social allows you to leverage real-time listening while enabling you to raise support tickets, reply to messages, visitor posts, questions, reviews, etc.
In contrast, Later does not allow real-time listening and deprives you of replying to questions, reviews, and visitor posts.
Note: If you are weighing your options in terms of social listening and inboxing capabilities, SocialPilot is a Sprout Social alternative that offers a complete set of listening and inbox capability at a much more affordable price.
Check out the table below to compare all the inboxing and social listening capabilities offered by Sprout Social, Later, and SocialPilot.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
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| Can Reply Message |
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| Can Reply Questions and Reviews |
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| Can Reply on Visitor Posts |
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| Real-Time Social Listening |
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| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
In-depth Social Media Collaboration Capability Comparison
Collaboration capability is key for agencies and big businesses to maintain a proper workflow for teams and manage all their clients’ projects.
Both tools allow multi-user collaboration, content approval workflows, and easy access management. However, Sprout Social’s agency plan charges you a total of $499 with a single-user capacity and charges an additional sum of $349 for every additional member.
On the other hand, Later allows six team members with its advanced plan, which will cost you $80 per month. The only limitation with later is that it doesn’t offer free unlimited client onboarding.
To add more value to this comparison, we have made a side-by-side comparison of Sprout Social vs. Later and SocialPilot.
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SproutSocial |
Later |
SocialPilot |
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| Free Unlimited Client Onboarding |
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| Per Post Multi-User Collaboration |
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| Access Management |
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| Content Approval Workflow |
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| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
