Head to head

Sprout Social vs Vista Social

vs

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

Vista Social packs a lot into one tool: scheduling to a dozen networks, a unified inbox with DM automations, listening, review management, competitor analysis, and a link-in-bio page. It used to be the cheap option, but it dropped its free plan and reset pricing higher, so the entry is now $79 a month.

From
$64 /mo
Free plan

Bottom line

Sprout Social and Vista Social both cover the basics; the right one comes down to how you post. Sprout Social is the stronger pick for Businesses running social as a core function; choose Vista Social for Agencies and teams that want publishing, listening, and review management in one tool.

Features compared

FeatureSprout SocialVista Social
AI captionsYesYes
Basic analyticsYesYes
Advanced reportsYesYes
Bulk uploadYesYes
Evergreen recyclingNoPartial
Team rolesYesYes
ApprovalsYesYes
Link in bioYesYes

Platforms compared

NetworkSprout SocialVista Social
InstagramAutoAuto
FacebookAutoAuto
X (Twitter)AutoAuto
LinkedInAutoAuto
TikTokAutoAuto
PinterestAutoAuto
YouTubeAutoAuto
ThreadsAutoAuto
BlueskyAutoAuto
Google BusinessNoAuto
RedditAutoAuto
SnapchatAutoAuto

Pricing

Sprout Social

Essentials

$99 per user / mo

$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

$249 per user / mo

$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
$399 per user / mo

$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

$499 per user / mo

$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

Custom
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.

Vista Social

Professional

$79 /mo

$64/mo billed annually

Seats
3
Accounts
15
Scheduled posts
Unlimited
  • $79/mo, $64 on annual ($758/yr)
  • 15 social profiles, 3 users
  • Planning, engagement, reports, listening (own profiles), review management
  • Vista Page link-in-bio, DM automations, 2,500 AI credits/mo

Advanced

Popular
$149 /mo

$120/mo billed annually

Seats
6
Accounts
30
Scheduled posts
Unlimited
  • $149/mo, $120 on annual ($1,430/yr)
  • 30 social profiles, 6 users
  • Adds advanced workflows and reporting, Zapier/Make/MCP integrations
  • Advanced DM automations and Vista Page, 10,000 AI credits/mo

Scale

$349 /mo

$304/mo billed annually

Seats
10
Accounts
70
Scheduled posts
Unlimited
  • $349/mo, $304 on annual ($3,638/yr)
  • 70 social profiles, 10 users
  • Adds white-label setup, client profile connect, unlimited AI assistant

Enterprise

Custom
Seats
Unlimited
Accounts
Unlimited
Scheduled posts
Unlimited
  • Custom pricing, unlimited profiles and users
  • Sentiment detection, premium analytics, brand safety and compliance
  • Dedicated account manager, custom integrations, SSO, data migration
  • Flat, quota-bundled plans: each tier bundles a set number of social profiles and users, and you move up a plan as you grow rather than buying one profile at a time. Extra users run about $3.75 a month each, and extra profiles are available on the higher tiers.
  • X (Twitter) is a paid add-on at $29 a month on every plan (publishing, boosting, automations, and analytics), because of X's API pricing.
  • Social listening is free for your own profiles; listening across social, web, and news is a $75-a-month add-on. Employee Advocacy is a separate $199-a-month add-on for 25 employees.
  • There's no free plan (Vista Social dropped its old free tier and cheaper Standard plan when it revamped pricing); the way in is a 14-day trial, no card required.
  • Annual billing is about 20% cheaper: Professional works out to $64 a month, Advanced $120, Scale $304.
  • DM automation contacts are capped per plan (10,000 / 25,000 / 100,000), and the AI assistant is credit-limited (2,500 / 10,000 / unlimited a month).
  • Prices are USD, read off the live pricing page by toggling monthly and yearly and cross-checked against current third-party listings.

Pros and cons

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

Vista Social

  • Broad by design: publishing, inbox, listening, reviews, and reporting together
  • Wide network list, including Reddit, Snapchat, and Google Business
  • Built-in link-in-bio, DM automations, and AI for copy and images
  • Strong agency features on Scale: white label and client connect
  • No free plan anymore, and the entry price jumped to $79 a month
  • X, deeper listening, and employee advocacy are paid add-ons
  • AI and DM automations are capped per plan
  • A lot of tool to learn if you only need basic scheduling

Sprout Social vs Vista Social: FAQ

Is Sprout Social or Vista Social cheaper?
Vista Social is cheaper to start, from $64 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 Sprout Social or Vista Social have a free plan?
Neither has a free plan. You get a free trial to test things, then you pay.
Which is better, Sprout Social or Vista Social?
Sprout Social is the stronger pick for businesses running social as a core function, while Vista Social is the better fit for agencies and teams that want publishing, listening, and review management in one tool. We don't score them; the right call comes down to how you post.