Head to head
Feedly vs Sprout Social
Last updated 4 June 2026
Feedly isn't a social media scheduler at all. It's a content-discovery and monitoring tool, an RSS reader with AI on top, that social media managers use to find and track content. To actually schedule, you pair it with a real scheduler.
- From
- $6 /mo
- Free plan
Sprout Social is the high-end suite: publishing, a shared inbox, listening, and reporting that goes deep, sold by the seat and priced for businesses with a budget. There's no free plan; the cut-down Essentials tier is $79 a seat each month on annual billing, and the main plans start at $199.
- From
- $79 per user / mo
- Free plan
Bottom line
Feedly is the pick for social media managers who need a steady stream of content ideas, and it's the only one of the two with a free plan. Sprout Social fits businesses running social as a core function better, and it reaches Instagram and TikTok among others, which Feedly doesn't.
Feedly starts cheaper, $6 a month against $79 per user / mo for Sprout Social. They bill on different units, so the real gap depends on how much you run. Sprout Social adds AI captions that Feedly leaves out.
Key differences
Where the two actually diverge, before the full tables.
- Feedly has a free plan; Sprout Social doesn't, though it offers a 30-day trial.
- Feedly starts at $6 a month, Sprout Social at $79 per user / mo.
- Feedly posts to 3 networks, Sprout Social to 11.
- Only Sprout Social reaches Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky, Reddit, and Snapchat.
- Sprout Social has AI captions; Feedly doesn't.
- Sprout Social has content calendar; Feedly doesn't.
- Sprout Social has auto-publish; Feedly doesn't.
Features compared
| Feature | Feedly | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| AI captions | No | Yes |
| Basic analytics | Not assessed | Yes |
| Advanced reports | Not assessed | Yes |
| Bulk upload | Not assessed | Yes |
| Evergreen recycling | Not assessed | No |
| Team roles | Not assessed | Yes |
| Approvals | Not assessed | Yes |
| Link in bio | Not assessed | Yes |
Platforms compared
| Network | Feedly | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| No | Auto | |
| Analytics | Auto | |
| X (Twitter) | Analytics | Auto |
| Analytics | Auto | |
| TikTok | No | Auto |
| No | Auto | |
| YouTube | No | Auto |
| Threads | No | Auto |
| Bluesky | No | Auto |
| No | Auto | |
| Snapchat | No | Auto |
Pricing
Headline prices are for a single unit. Here is the real monthly cost as each tool scales, costed on its own unit so the two stay honest.
Free plan available.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $6/mo
Whole-plan price; it doesn't scale per unit.
No free plan; 30-day trial.
- 1 seat
- $99/mo~$79/mo annual
- 3 seatsTypical
- $297/mo~$237/mo annual
Cheapest plan: Essentials.
Feedly
Free
- Seats
- 1
- Up to 100 sources, organised into feeds
- No Feedly AI
- Read and organise content
Pro
$6/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- $6.99/mo, $6 on annual ($72/yr)
- Up to 1,000 sources, search, notes, and highlights
- Share to X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Buffer, and Hootsuite
Pro+
Popular$8.25/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- $12.99/mo, $8.25 on annual ($99/yr)
- Adds Feedly AI (Leo): AI feeds, deduplication, prioritisation
- Up to 2,500 sources, 75 newsletter slots, RSS Builder
Enterprise
- Seats
- Unlimited
- From about $1,600/mo, for team market and threat intelligence
- Shared boards, team AI feeds, integrations
- Feedly is a content reader and discovery tool, not a social scheduler. It does not schedule or auto-publish social posts; it surfaces content you can then share manually or push into a scheduler like Buffer or Hootsuite (often via Zapier), which means paying for two tools.
- Plans: a free tier (100 sources), Pro at $6 a month on annual billing, Pro+ at $8.25 (adds Feedly AI / Leo), and an Enterprise market-intelligence plan from around $1,600 a month.
- Prices are USD from current listings.
- It's included here because social media managers use it to find and monitor content, not because it publishes.
Sprout Social
Essentials
$79/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 5
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $79 per seat/mo on annual, $99 monthly
- Up to 5 social profiles
- Publishing, calendar, and the Smart Inbox
- Profile and post-level reporting
Standard
$199/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 5
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $199 per seat/mo on annual, $249 monthly
- Up to 5 social profiles
- Smart Inbox, review management, and tasks
- Unlocks paid add-ons: Listening, Premium Analytics, Advocacy
Professional
Popular$299/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $299 per seat/mo on annual, $399 monthly
- Unlimited social profiles
- Competitor, tag, and paid reporting
- Message tagging and scheduling for optimal send times
Advanced
$399/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $399 per seat/mo on annual, $499 monthly
- Unlimited social profiles
- Chatbots, automated workflows, and helpdesk integrations
- AI-enhanced replies, message spike alerts, and the Sprout API
Enterprise
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Custom pricing
- SSO and advanced security
- Premium Listening, Advocacy, and Influencer Marketing add-ons
- Dedicated support and professional services
- Priced per seat: the headline rate is for one user and multiplies by everyone you add. Sprout charges every extra seat at the same plan rate, with no volume discount.
- No free plan. There's a 30-day trial with no card required.
- Annual billing is paid upfront and is cheaper per seat than monthly: Essentials $79 vs $99, Standard $199 vs $249, Professional $299 vs $399, Advanced $399 vs $499.
- Premium Analytics, Listening, and Employee Advocacy are paid add-ons on Standard and up, quoted on request, so the real bill runs higher than the seat price.
- Prices are USD list, read off the live pricing page (which renders in USD here); the monthly figures come from the billing FAQ on that page.
What it really costs
Sprout Social charges per seat, so the headline price is for one. Here is the monthly cost as you connect more, with the 3-seat row marked as a realistic setup.
| seats | Essentials | Standard | Professional | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $99/mo | $249/mo | $399/mo | $499/mo |
| 3Typical | $297/mo | $747/mo | $1197/mo | $1497/mo |
| 5 | $495/mo | $1245/mo | $1995/mo | $2495/mo |
| 10 | $990/mo | $2490/mo | $3990/mo | $4990/mo |
| 25 | $2475/mo | $6225/mo | $9975/mo | $12475/mo |
| 50 | $4950/mo | $12450/mo | $19950/mo | $24950/mo |
Monthly billing.
Pros and cons
Feedly
- Best-in-class content discovery and RSS aggregation
- Feedly AI filters, deduplicates, and prioritises sources
- Strong monitoring and market intelligence on higher tiers
- Cheap Pro and Pro+ plans, plus a free tier
- Not a scheduler: no publishing, calendar, or auto-posting
- Needs a separate tool (and often Zapier) to actually post
- Enterprise market intelligence is expensive
- Social 'sharing' is manual, one article at a time
Sprout Social
- Polished, deep platform: inbox, listening, and reporting together
- Strong analytics and presentation-ready reports
- Wide network list, including Reddit, Bluesky, and Snapchat
- Genuinely good for customer care and approval-heavy teams
- Expensive, and per-seat pricing has no volume discount
- No free plan, and the main plans start at $199 a seat each month
- Listening, Premium Analytics, and Advocacy cost extra on top
- Overkill if you only schedule a few accounts
Feedly vs Sprout Social: FAQ
- Is Feedly or Sprout Social cheaper?
- Feedly is cheaper to start, from $6 against $79 for Sprout Social. The unit each one charges by differs, so the real bill depends on how many channels or seats you run.
- Does Feedly or Sprout Social have a free plan?
- Feedly has a free plan; Sprout Social does not, though it offers a 30-day trial.
- Which is better, Feedly or Sprout Social?
- Feedly is the stronger pick for social media managers who need a steady stream of content ideas, while Sprout Social is the better fit for businesses running social as a core function. We don't score them; the right call comes down to how you post.