Awario vs SproutSocial: Which Is the Right Choice? (2025 review)

Awario and SproutSocial offer distinct approaches to social media monitoring, listening, analytics, and engagement, though they serve different organizational needs and budgets. This analysis draws from verified user experiences, official documentation, and current platform capabilities to help decision-makers select the ideal tool for their specific requirements.

While Awario excels in raw social listening power and competitive analysis, SproutSocial offers a more comprehensive suite of social media listening & management tools. Understanding these fundamental differences is crucial for organizations weighing their options in today’s fast-paced social media landscape.

This comparison explores essential factors, including pricing structures, feature sets, and real-world performance, to provide readers with actionable insights. Whether you’re a small business owner looking for cost-effective solutions or an enterprise manager seeking advanced capabilities, this guide will help you navigate the key differences between these platforms. The following sections break down each aspect in detail, enabling readers to make an informed decision based on their specific needs and circumstances.

Pricing & Plans

Awario and Sprout Social offer distinctly different pricing structures, with Awario providing more affordable entry points for social listening. Awario’s plans start at $29/month for the Starter tier, scaling to $249/month for Enterprise, while Sprout Social’s base plan begins at $199 per seat monthly with social listening available as a substantial add-on at $999/month.

Plans and Billing Flexibility

Awario offers three standard tiers – Starter ($29/month), Pro ($89/month), and Enterprise ($249/month) – with both monthly and annual billing options. Each tier includes progressively more topics, mentions, and team members, with the Enterprise plan featuring unlimited team access. Sprout Social’s structure is seat-based, ranging from $199 to $399 per user monthly, with social listening requiring an additional $999 monthly investment.

Free Trials and Demos

Both platforms provide free trial access, though their approaches differ significantly. Awario offers a free trial of their full platform without requiring a credit card, while Sprout Social provides both a free trial and personalized demos. It’s worth noting that Sprout Social’s trial doesn’t include the social listening add-on, which requires separate discussion with their sales team.

Add-ons and Extra Costs

Awario maintains a straightforward pricing model with no additional add-ons – all features are included within their respective tiers. In contrast, Sprout Social charges $25 per extra social profile and $999 monthly for social listening capabilities. This significant difference in add-on pricing can substantially impact the total cost for organizations requiring comprehensive social listening features.

Payment Options and Billing

Both platforms offer flexible payment methods. Awario accepts credit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, WebMoney, and Alipay, while Sprout Social takes credit cards, PayPal, ACH transfers, wire transfers, and checks. Both providers offer monthly and annual billing cycles, with Sprout Social also providing custom billing arrangements for enterprise clients.

Refund Policies

Both platforms maintain strict no-refund policies. Awario doesn’t provide refunds for unused services regardless of circumstances, while Sprout Social explicitly states they won’t issue refunds or credits for prepaid and unused fees after cancellation.

For organizations primarily seeking social listening capabilities, Awario provides a more cost-effective solution with inclusive features, while Sprout Social might better suit larger enterprises requiring comprehensive social media management tools alongside listening capabilities.

Features

Dashboard & Interface

The Awario dashboard emphasizes real-time monitoring with a clean, data-focused layout that prioritizes mention tracking and sentiment analysis. SproutSocial’s interface takes a more comprehensive approach, featuring customizable widgets and visual analytics that blend social listening with management capabilities.

Alert Configuration

Awario offers two distinct alert types: Standard and Boolean, with straightforward keyword selection, geographic targeting, and source filtering. Their whitelist/blacklist features provide additional refinement options. SproutSocial elevates the alert creation process with AI-assisted query building and pre-built templates for various monitoring scenarios like brand health and competitive analysis. Both platforms support boolean operators, though SproutSocial’s implementation includes unique filters for excluding specific content types like sales listings and cryptocurrency discussions.

Metrics & Analytics

Awario tracks essential engagement metrics including likes, shares, comments, and reach, with a particular strength in sentiment analysis utilizing deep learning models achieving approximately 70% accuracy. SproutSocial’s analytics are more network-specific, offering detailed breakdowns for each platform, including potential impressions and smart categorization. Neither platform provides comprehensive YouTube or Instagram comment tracking.

Data Coverage

Awario monitors major social networks (X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) plus web sources like review sites and forums. SproutSocial matches most of these capabilities but adds unique LinkedIn integration for owned pages. For historical data, SproutSocial shows impressive depth with X coverage dating to the platform’s inception, while Awario limits historical data to web sources only. Both platforms have notable gaps in Instagram historical data.

Reporting Capabilities

Awario provides three main report templates focusing on mentions, comparisons, and influencer analysis, exportable in PDF/CSV formats. SproutSocial offers more extensive reporting options with customizable templates and automated scheduling for weekly or monthly delivery to up to 25 recipients. The platform also includes spike alerts for unusual activity.

Collaboration & AI Features

SproutSocial shines with robust collaboration tools including approval workflows and case management. Their AI capabilities extend to content summarization, optimal posting times, and smart categorization. Awario’s collaborative features are more basic, limited to role management, though they maintain strong sentiment analysis through their deep learning models.

Final Analysis

Awario excels in pure social listening with powerful sentiment analysis and comprehensive web monitoring. SproutSocial offers a more complete social media management suite with superior reporting and collaboration features, making it particularly valuable for larger teams needing extensive workflow management capabilities.

Customer Service

Awario’s Customer Support Infrastructure

Awario provides a well-organized help center with 13 comprehensive categories covering technical aspects, account management, and advanced features like Boolean search. The support system operates through live chat and a contact form, though specific response times aren’t publicly disclosed. Their Learning Center offers detailed tutorials, and the help documentation is available exclusively in English.

While Awario assigns account managers to clients, they’ve streamlined their self-service resources with practical categories like “Questions That Keep You Up at Night” and “Social Media Wiki.” However, the limited language support and communication channels may pose challenges for international users needing immediate assistance.

Key Takeaway: Awario’s support structure is best suited for English-speaking users who prefer self-service documentation and don’t require round-the-clock live assistance.

SproutSocial’s Customer Support Framework

SproutSocial offers 24-hour support Monday through Friday via multiple channels, including live chat, phone support, and ticket systems. Their help center encompasses 17 detailed categories, with particular emphasis on platform-specific guidance for major social networks and specialized features like AI automation. Though primarily in English, the site leverages Google Translation to serve international users.

The platform’s training resources include pre-recorded webinars and comprehensive product guides, complemented by dedicated account manager support. Their documentation stands out with specialized sections like “Sprout Solves It” and detailed integration guides for tools like Salesforce Service Cloud.

Key Takeaway: SproutSocial’s support system is ideally structured for enterprise clients requiring round-the-clock professional assistance and extensive platform-specific guidance.

Customer testimonials

Awario User Reviews

Based on 87 total reviews across G2 (40 reviews, 3.9/5) and Capterra (47 reviews, 4.3/5), Awario maintains a solid blended rating of 4.12/5. Here’s what users are saying:

“I love Awario’s simplicity, ease of creating reports, and speed. It’s daily reports are helpful to give you a quick birds-eye view. There are really lots of powerful and key features for the price.” However, some users express frustration: “Even if you add specific keywords, it yields irrelevant outcomes. The statistics provided are way off compared to the actual ones from the platform. The customer service sucks. We were asking nicely about something, and I have never encountered such reply.”

Sprout Social User Reviews

Sprout Social boasts an impressive 4,411 total reviews across G2 (3,818 reviews, 4.4/5) and Capterra (593 reviews, 4.4/5), maintaining a consistent blended rating of 4.4/5. Users share their experiences:

“Sprout has everything you could possibly need from a social scheduling and reporting tool. It’s fully fleshed out with so much opportunity. It helps both our social media specialist but also our brand campaign initiatives and we can pull reports for specific campaigns or topics.” On the flip side: “Our onboarding was horrendous. It took over 2 months to schedule the meetings, and our rep changed in the middle without notice or much communication.”

The testimonials reveal that while Awario offers simplicity and good value for basic social monitoring needs, it struggles with accuracy and customer support. Sprout Social emerges as a more comprehensive solution with robust features, though its complex nature can lead to challenging onboarding experiences.

SproutSocial vs Awario: Final verdict

Awario stands out with its sophisticated Boolean search capabilities and competitive pricing, making it ideal for brands requiring detailed boolean-based monitoring without breaking the bank. SproutSocial excels in its comprehensive social media management suite and intuitive reporting interface, though it comes at a premium price point that may strain smaller marketing budgets. Both tools deliver reliable social listening capabilities, but they diverge significantly in their approach to data presentation and depth of analysis.

The key trade-offs are notable – Awario’s interface can feel dated and requires a steeper learning curve, while SproutSocial’s higher pricing tiers may put advanced features out of reach for growing businesses. Additionally, Awario limits historical data access, and SproutSocial’s social listening features are bundled with their broader suite, which may not suit organizations seeking a dedicated monitoring solution.

For teams seeking an alternative that balances advanced monitoring capabilities with cost-effectiveness, Mention offers comprehensive social listening with 82% sentiment accuracy and up to 2 years of historical data access. Experience Mention’s real-time monitoring across a billion sources with a free trial, or schedule a demo to explore their extensive reporting options and TikTok tracking capabilities.