Overview
What Is Buffer Used For?
Buffer is most popularly known as a free social media management tool for small businesses and agencies to centralize all their activities into one space. It does a good job at offering some basic social media management capabilities for free. However, it may not be the ideal platform for advanced social media management capabilities.
It still does a decent job at brings multiple social media platforms, accounts, and pages together so marketers can manage them all from the tool without using each native platform.
Buffer has a streamlined user interface that is so easy to master that it takes no time at all for users to learn and wield it like pros. The simple yet powerful dashboard is one of the main USPs of the tool.
Buffer is one of the social media marketing tools that are considered to be affordable for small businesses. Despite that, it integrates all the major social platforms and then some. The list includes Facebook, Google Business Profile, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, Shopify, and Mastodon.
Buffer has more than adequate content management capabilities, like creating and scheduling to be automatically published on several social channels. They can as easily reschedule or edit their pre-planned posts before publishing. Start page maker is a unique feature of Buffer that lets users create landing pages to showcase their businesses without the hassle of having to make a whole website.
What Is Sprout Social Used For?
Sprout Social is an advanced social media management platform for marketers and businesses to create and maintain an effective social media presence for themselves or their clients. It offers a complete social media management solution and is capable to taking care of every aspect of the social media marketing-related needs of a business efficiently.
It comes with highly effective scheduling and publishing capabilities, along with advanced analytics and team workflow functionalities to make social media management a breeze for businesses and agencies.
Sprout Social is best known for its strong social listening and monitoring feature. Its competitor analysis abilities also take it ahead in the race from its alternatives.
Sprout Social also supports some of the major social media channels, allowing users to connect multiple accounts to it and manage them from a single dashboard. These include Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.
Best Suitable for
Buffer
Start with $60
Freelancer, Small Business, Agency
SproutSocial
Start with $249
Small Business, Enterprise, Agencies
SocialPilot
Start with $30
SMBs, Agencies, Multi-Location Brands
At a Glance
Firstly, Buffer and Sprout Social must be analyzed according to the user experience they provide to their clientele. Whether they are easy to get started with and the sort of customer assistance they give. Users themselves have rated both tools, and we have drawn results accordingly.
To begin with, the overall ratings received by these tools are equal, which is surprising because they are different in many aspects, such as their price range and the customers they have because of that.
However, Buffer is ahead of Sprout Social by a slight margin in the ease of setup and ease of usage. But the case is reversed regarding the quality of customer support. Here, Sprout Social is marginally better rated than Buffer.
So, it is quite clear that when Buffer vs Sprout Social are compared based on user ratings, they are almost similarly liked and preferred by their audience. Here are all the exact scores both tools got, and along with them are the scores of SocialPilot so that an effective comparison can be made.
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Buffer |
SproutSocial |
SocialPilot |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Reviews | 962 | 2131 | 741 |
| Overall Star Rating | |||
| Ease of Use | |||
| Quality of Support | |||
| Ease of Setup | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial |
Quick Comparison
Here, we’ll compare both tools with respect to all the primary features and qualities that are asked of a social media marketing tool. These factors can’t be missed when classifying the perfect tool for a marketer’s needs.
Buffer is recognized in the market as an affordable social media tool that can be customized according to the client’s needs. Compared to Buffer, Sprout Social is quite costly, and its agency-level plan charges more than four times as much as the former tool. However, where Buffer allows an unlimited number of team members to work from the same profile, SproutSocial only grants access to a single user. To add team members, one has to pay surcharges per head.
Buffer excludes YouTube, which is a big disadvantage when it comes to social platform integrations. Other Buffer alternatives, including Sprout Social, do provide YouTube scheduling. But it lacks Google Business Profile, which is a noticeable gap in its capabilities as businesses need to have a good presence on this platform. Not having this puts Sprout Social behind.
Note: White-label solutions are one of the most important features for social media management tools to have. This helps them provide an optimally branded experience and, in the case of agencies, give the same experience to their clients. Surprisingly, Buffer nor Sprout Social has this capability. However, you can go to SocialPilot, an equally competent social media management tool, to access white-label solutions and much more. And it costs way lesser than Sprout Social.
Here are all the essential features of Sprout Social and Buffer compared side by side with SocialPilot for a frame of reference.
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Buffer |
SproutSocial |
SocialPilot |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Can't Miss to Compare | |||
| Minimum Pricing | $60/Month | $249/Month | $30/Month |
| Number of Accounts | 10 | 5 | 10 |
| Number of Team Members | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Number of Posts that Can Be Scheduled | 2000 | 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 & Spanish | English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish | German, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Support | FAQs, How-To-Guides, Video Tutorials, Social Media Support & Email Support | Priority Email & Chat Support | Email, Chat, Social Media, Phone |
| Learn More | Learn More | 14 Days Trial | |
Reviews
Positive
- Buffer also offers a convenient feature where users can create a new page with the help of free templates, providing a jumpstart to their content creation process.
- Buffer is known for its highly helpful customer support team, who are both quick and responsive in addressing users' inquiries and concerns.
- With Buffer, users have the ability to monitor and analyze customer responses from multiple social media platforms in a single, centralized location, facilitating a better understanding of their audience.
Negative
- One potential drawback of Buffer is that its analytics capabilities are limited. Users have noted that the platform should offer a more in-depth analysis of each post's performance and engagement levels.
- Buffer currently only supports traditional social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest but does not yet include newly emerging and famous platforms like Parler, Gettr, and MeWe.
- Buffer requires you to have the app installed in order to receive reminders to publish Instagram posts manually at a designated time, as scheduling posts directly on Instagram is not possible.
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's integration of analytical functions provides a comprehensive approach to monitoring the performance of campaigns, publications, and social media listening. It offers a professional way to track and measure success, making it a valuable tool for businesses to optimize their social media strategies.
Negative
- The lack of customization options for social media messages across multiple channels can frustrate users. The current system for replying to comments within the app is seen as inadequate, causing a hindrance to efficient engagement with followers.
- The inability to automatically tag all comments under a post when tagged at a later time is a major disadvantage. It requires users to manually go back and tag each comment, which can be a time-consuming and a tedious process.
- The chat support feature of Sprout Social is unsatisfactory, as responses often get redirected to email, and it can take up to a day to receive a reply. It can result in a slow and inconvenient experience for users who require prompt assistance.
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 constantly keeps updating itself by keeping a keen eye on customer suggestions and dynamic needs of social media channels. This way, the platform, backed by features that users require, is able to fulfill every demand a marketer may have.
- 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.
Negative
- Although the Bitly integration is convenient, you'd like to see all these features built natively within SocialPilot or have automated workflows that create UTM links for all campaigns and other variables.
- 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
Under this section, we will dissect the paid subscription plans of both the tools in question to see who offers a better deal to their customers.
Both tools have four plans. Buffer offers a free plan with nominal features for starters. In contrast, Sprout Social’s price for the starting pack costs a whopping $249. But we will discuss the most popular and subscribed plans for both tools.
Buffer’s Agency plan is its highest-priced, at $120 monthly. This plan grants the user to connect ten social accounts to the tool and access to an unlimited number of team members to work together. To add more than ten social accounts, the user has to pay $6 per account.
To talk about Sprout Social’s agency-level plan, called the Advanced plan, costs way more than Buffer. At the rate of $499 per month, the tool gives access to only a single user, and for each extra user the account owner adds, they are charged an additional $349 per month. However, there is no limit to the number of social accounts the account owner can connect to the tool.
When comparing pricing against usage, Buffer gives a more feasible deal than Sprout Social as the latter charges an unreasonably high amount for each extra user. In contrast, Buffer costs a minimal surcharge to add an extra social account.
Here are the pricing plans for Sprout Social vs Buffer, along with SocialPilot, listed for an effective comparison. It is a cost-effective tool and a very good alternative to Sprout Social.
|
Buffer |
SproutSocial |
SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
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Free
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Standard
$249/per month
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Professional
$30/per month
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Essential
$6/per channel
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Professional
$399/per month
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Small Team
$50/per month
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Team
$12/per channel
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Advanced
$499/per month
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Agency
$100/per month
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Agency
$120/per channel
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Enterprise
Custom
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Agency+
$200/per month
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14 Days Free Trial
No Credit Card Required
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30 Days Free Trial
No 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
Content scheduling is the first capability that comes to mind when thinking about social media marketing tools. And this sometimes is the sole reason for marketers to subscribe to such tools, with other features coming as added perks. So let’s see how the contenders are faring regarding scheduling and publishing abilities.
Buffer and Sprout Social are quite capable in their basic content scheduling and publishing features, such as setting up advanced posting queues, visual content support, platform-specific customization, personalized posting on multiple platforms, cloud storage, bulk scheduling, and in-app integrations. They even have browser extensions that let users schedule posts in a matter of minutes.
However, let us talk about the differences in their capabilities in scheduling. Let us address some of them.
Buffer’s advanced Facebook scheduling features are somewhat limited as it does not let users schedule Facebook reels, carousel posts, and first comments with posts from it. Audience targeting and boost posting, which are pretty important features for Facebook marketing tools, are also absent in Buffer. Sprout Social, on the other hand, fills all of these gaps.
Note: SocialPilot is a very effective social media tool with expertise in Facebook scheduling, unlike Buffer. It seamlessly schedules all forms of content, be it text, multiple images, carousel posts, or even first comments, along with their respective posts. It can also target audiences for specific posts and schedule boosted posts. Even though Sprout Social also does these things, SocialPilot charges a fraction of what the former tool does. This makes it a great Buffer alternative as both tools are in the same price range.
Regarding Instagram, Buffer does not support story scheduling, and Sprout Social does not have reel scheduling capability. There are many more differences in the scheduling features of the tools being compared. Here are all of them listed, Sprout Social vs Buffer, and alongside is SocialPilot for added reference.
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Buffer |
SproutSocial |
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
Analytics are roadmaps for marketers to monitor where their strategies are taking their social media presence and whether they need to recalibrate. So we have gone through all the significant analytical capabilities of Sprout Social and Buffer.
Both tools offer insightful metrics if we go by page and then content performance. Be it image posts, reels, stories, or the multiple business pages the user has connected to the tools, they cover them all.
Both of them generate reports in PDF formats, which the users can download to utilize or send to relevant stakeholders. However, these reports can’t be directly emailed to others or scheduled to be sent from Buffer as opposed to Sprout Social, which can automate the sending of reports.
Here is a tabular representation of all the analytical features to compare Sprout Social vs Buffer, side by side with SocialPilot for better understanding.
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Buffer |
SproutSocial |
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
Social listening and inboxing are very important when it comes to managing a brand’s online reputation or establishing oneself as a customer-centric business. So it’s important to shuffle through these features while comparing Sprout Social and Buffer.
Where social listening in Buffer is absent, it’s one of the strongest capabilities of Sprout Social. On Buffer, users can only reply to Facebook and Instagram comments, but on Sprout Social, one can track keywords and mentions as well as monitor messages left on one’s social pages.
The real-time listening capabilities in Sprout Social are so efficient that it can monitor all the major social networks and online forums for the terms the users have set up to be monitored. This makes the tool a formidable competitor to other Sprout Social alternatives.
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Buffer |
SproutSocial |
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
When the social media side of a business is being managed, the involvement of a team with different roles is a given. So the social media tool they use should be equipped to handle multiple users and have appropriate team workflows to avoid confusion and make their jobs easier.
And when compared, Buffer and Sprout Social have perfect team collaboration capabilities, distinctive roles for members, permission-based access, and collaboration abilities for content creation.
But an important point worth mentioning is that in Buffer’s agency plan, an unlimited number of users and clients can be onboarded to work together, and although the same is true for Sprout Social, it charges high rates for each user one adds.
Here are all the team and client collaboration capabilities users get with both the tools, Buffer vs Sprout Social. SocialPilot has been included for a better frame of reference.
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Buffer |
SproutSocial |
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 |
