Sprout Social Pricing: Compare Hootsuite and Buffer

Sprout Social starts at $79 per seat per month on annual billing for its Essentials plan and rises to $399 per seat per month for Advanced, with Enterprise priced on request. The company shows its prices in US dollars, even when the page is opened from Ireland. Here is how those figures compare with Hootsuite and Buffer for a small Irish team.

Sprout Social cost: the tiers in plain English#

Take the example of Bríd, who runs a small interiors and gift shop in Kilkenny, and posts to Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest herself. Her question is the one most small Irish teams ask: what does each tool charge, and what do you get for that money?

Sprout Social says its pricing is per seat and that nearly all plans come with a free 30-day trial (Sprout Social). Hootsuite shows its plans in euro, based on annual billing, with applicable taxes excluded and a free 14-day trial (Hootsuite). Buffer charges per channel, with a free plan and a free 14-day trial (Buffer).

Official list prices as seen from Ireland at the time of writing, October 2026, annual billing, taxes and VAT not included.

Reading the Sprout Social rows from the top, Essentials is the entry tier and covers up to five social profiles. Its monthly-billing price is higher than the yearly one shown in the table. Standard also covers five profiles, so its higher price buys extra features rather than extra accounts.

Professional is the first tier with no profile limit, which suits a business running several brands. Advanced sits above it, and Enterprise is quoted on request, so a larger team has to ask for a figure.

For Bríd, three profiles fit inside the Essentials limit. Standard would add cost without adding a profile she needs today.

One condition catches small teams: every person who logs in needs their own seat (One named person who can log in to the tool.), so a second pair of hands doubles the cheapest plan. Extra features such as Premium Analytics are sold separately (Sprout Social).

Watch out: Sprout Social and Buffer quote in US dollars, so the amount taken from an Irish card can differ from the list price. The checkout page shows the final currency, charge and any VAT.

Hootsuite pricing vs Sprout Social#

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Bríd’s part-time helper sometimes answers messages, and that one detail changes which plan makes sense. Both tools charge for each person who needs a login, so the two behave the same way at checkout. The difference is the currency on the screen.

Hootsuite’s rows in the table above are in euro, while Sprout Social’s are in US dollars. That matters for an Irish business. The euro figure is the one that appears on an Irish invoice. The dollar figure depends on the exchange rate on the day the card is charged.

Neither list can be lined up against the other without an exchange rate, so compare within each currency. Within Hootsuite, Standard is the entry tier for a smaller number of accounts. Professional removes the account limit and adds automated inbox replies and workflow (A set of automatic steps that move work along.) tools. Advanced adds content approval (A check by a manager before a post goes live.) steps and automatic message routing.

For a one-person team, both tools do the job, and the choice comes down to price and currency. For a two-person team sharing an inbox, the middle Hootsuite tiers and the higher Sprout Social tiers are the ones worth pricing up.

A low cost social media scheduler: Buffer#

If the budget is the deciding factor for Bríd, Buffer is the tool to look at first. It is a scheduler (Software that queues posts to publish at set times.) priced by channel rather than by person, so a second pair of hands costs nothing extra on the paid plans.

The free row in the table covers a few channels, a monthly cap on scheduled posts and one user. That is often enough for one person posting to two or three profiles. Essentials removes the posting cap for a single user, and Team adds unlimited team members, access levels and approval steps.

Buffer is a good fit when one or two people post and nobody needs a shared inbox. It is a poor fit when the business answers customer questions in several inboxes every day, because that work needs assignment and replies rather than scheduling alone.

Note: A free plan or a free trial is the cheapest way to test a posting routine before paying for a year.

What a year costs for a small Irish team#

Monthly prices are easy to read, but most owners want the yearly figure before they sign anything. The totals below are simple arithmetic from the list prices above on annual billing, not a quote.

Simple arithmetic from the official list prices above, October 2026, taxes and VAT not included.

Which social media management platform fits a small Irish business?#

With the yearly figures in front of them, most owners find the decision is about how the business works. One person posting needs a scheduler and nothing more. A team that answers messages needs a shared inbox, so two people do not reply to the same customer. Approval steps matter when several people post for one brand, because someone must check the wording and the offer before it goes live.

Bríd sits in the first group: one main poster, occasional help and three profiles.

Tip: Start on the cheapest plan that covers your profiles and the people who log in, then move up only when a limit blocks real work.

If she later pays to promote posts on Facebook or Instagram, that budget sits outside the tool subscription and is planned as paid advertising.

How Baikou’s team runs social lead campaigns in practice#

Baikou’s team runs Facebook and Instagram lead-form campaigns for a business selling in several countries. Each country gets its own creatives, its own offer and its own enquiry form, and an SMS check filters out junk enquiries.

Automations built in Make then move every enquiry into the CRM, where an AI assistant drafts the follow-up and a person approves it before it goes out. The lesson for choosing a tool is simple: scheduling posts is the small part, and what happens to each message and enquiry after a post goes live decides whether social media pays for itself.

Putting a social media platform to work in an Irish business#

Choosing a plan is the easy part, because the real work starts after the subscription is paid. The tool has to connect to what the business already uses, including the CRM (Software that stores customer details, calls and sales notes.), the website and any online shop.

Small teams usually work through the same jobs:

• Move the old content calendar out of a spreadsheet and into the tool.
• Connect each social profile once and check who holds the permissions.
• Set the approval step and name the person who signs off a post.
• Train the two or three people who will post, and write the routine down.
• Agree who answers messages and how quickly.

Awkward cases take longer. A business with two brands or several locations may need separate profiles, or separate workspaces, so the reporting stays readable. Off-the-shelf tools also handle some formats poorly, such as long text posts or complicated competitions. Those often need to be scheduled by hand.

It is also worth asking where the vendor stores data and how it handles personal data. Customer messages usually contain personal data, so the answer matters before the tool goes live.

Set-up work like this is where an outside pair of hands can help, and it is the kind of work covered by paid social services, from connecting accounts to training the people who post each week. The Local Enterprise Office Grow Digital Voucher may part-fund new off-the-shelf software subscriptions along with their set-up and training.

What to do next#

For a small Irish team, the choice comes down to three answers: how many people log in, how many profiles you manage, and whether anyone needs a shared inbox. Write those answers down, then match them to the plan that fits in the currency you are happy to be billed in. Check the checkout page for the final charge and any VAT before committing to a year. Baikou helps Irish businesses with paid social and the set-up behind it, so the accounts, approvals and reporting are in place from the start (Baikou).

FAQ#