Brand24 vs. SproutSocial: Which Is the Right Choice? (2025 review)

Social listening tools have become essential for businesses seeking to understand their online presence and engage meaningfully with their audience. Brand24 and SproutSocial stand out as leading solutions in this space, each offering unique approaches to social media monitoring and analytics.

Using real-world examples and objective metrics, we’ll explore how Brand24’s focused social listening capabilities measure against SproutSocial’s comprehensive social media management suite.

You’ll discover which platform better aligns with your organization’s specific needs, whether you’re prioritizing cost-effectiveness, feature depth, or ease of use. Our analysis covers everything from data source coverage and reporting capabilities to user interface design and customer support responsiveness.

Pricing & Plans

Core Pricing & Billing Models

Brand24’s pricing starts at $149/month for the Individual plan, while Sprout Social begins at $199/seat/month for their Standard plan. Brand24 offers four distinct tiers scaling up to $499/month for Enterprise, with all plans including social listening capabilities. In contrast, Sprout Social’s core plans focus on social media management, requiring a separate $999/month add-on for social listening functionality.

Free Trial Experience & Demos

Both platforms offer free trials, but their approaches differ significantly. Brand24 provides a trial period with full feature access, though without demo support. Sprout Social offers both a free trial and guided demos, allowing potential customers to thoroughly evaluate the platform with expert assistance.

Feature Limitations & User Access

Brand24’s plans are differentiated by keyword limits and mention volumes, ranging from 3 keywords and 2,000 monthly mentions (Individual) to 25 keywords and 100,000 mentions (Enterprise). Sprout Social’s per-seat pricing model means costs scale with team size, while their social listening add-on starts at $999/month regardless of plan level.

Add-ons & Extra Costs

Brand24’s primary add-on is API access at $99. Sprout Social charges $25 per additional social profile and $999/month for social listening capabilities. This significant price difference for social listening features makes Brand24 more cost-effective for organizations primarily needing monitoring capabilities.

Payment Flexibility & Methods

Brand24 accepts standard payment methods including bank transfers and credit cards. Sprout Social offers more payment options, including check, wire transfer, ACH, credit cards, and PayPal, providing greater flexibility for enterprise clients.

Refund Policies

Brand24 offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, providing a safety net for new customers. Sprout Social maintains a strict no-refund policy for cancelled subscriptions during active terms, requiring careful consideration before committing to longer billing cycles.

For organizations prioritizing social listening capabilities, Brand24 offers a more cost-effective solution with integrated features across all plans, while Sprout Social’s comprehensive social media management tools with optional listening features better suit larger teams needing extensive management capabilities.

Features

Dashboard & Interface

Brand24’s dashboard emphasizes real-time mention monitoring with a clean, straightforward layout. The interface prioritizes quick access to mentions and sentiment tracking. SproutSocial’s dashboard takes a more comprehensive approach, featuring detailed analytics visualizations and social media management tools integrated into a single view.

Alert Creation & Setup

Brand24 offers a streamlined two-step alert creation process focusing on keywords and language selection. While simple to use, it requires additional configuration for keyword refinement after initial setup. SproutSocial provides AI-assisted query building with pre-made templates for various monitoring scenarios. The platform supports advanced boolean operators and specific noise exclusion, though mention population takes 3-5 minutes.

Data Sources & Coverage

Brand24’s coverage spans across three tiers: Individual (X, Facebook, Instagram, news, forums), Team (LinkedIn, Medium, Quora, YouTube, TikTok), and Enterprise (podcasts). Historical data extends to 30 days across 24 supported languages. SproutSocial focuses primarily on major social networks and web sources, offering extensive historical data varying by platform – from Twitter’s complete history to 30 days for Reddit. LinkedIn monitoring is restricted to owned pages, and Instagram coverage excludes comments.

Analytics & Metrics

Brand24 tracks comprehensive engagement metrics including sentiment, influence scores, and social engagement across all monitored platforms. The tool offers location-based filtering and customizable tagging systems. SproutSocial provides detailed network-specific analytics, particularly strong in Twitter analytics, with advanced demographic tracking and technology usage insights. Both platforms offer sentiment analysis, though Brand24 claims a 95% accuracy rate while SproutSocial’s accuracy remains undisclosed.

Reporting Capabilities

Brand24 delivers flexible reporting options including emails, PDFs, Excel exports, and infographics, with daily or weekly scheduling options. Reports include mention summaries, reach metrics, and influential profiles. SproutSocial offers customizable report templates focusing on cross-network analysis and competitor comparisons. The platform allows PDF exports shared with up to 25 recipients and CSV exports containing up to 10,000 mentions.

AI & Collaboration Features

Brand24 incorporates AI for sentiment analysis, emotion detection, and anomaly identification, with basic Slack integration for team collaboration. SproutSocial emphasizes workflow management with message approval systems and case management. The platform includes AI-powered features like ViralPost timing optimization and smart categorization, though collaboration tools focus primarily on internal team communication.

Brand24 excels in comprehensive mention monitoring with straightforward setup, while SproutSocial stands out for its detailed social media analytics and team workflow capabilities. Brand24 offers broader source coverage, while SproutSocial provides deeper historical data access for specific platforms.

Customer Service

Brand24 Customer Service Efficiency

Brand24’s help center offers comprehensive coverage through 171 articles spanning 12 key categories, with content available in both English and Polish. Their support structure combines email and live chat assistance, though specific response times aren’t publicly disclosed. The platform enhances user onboarding through webinars, dedicated account setup assistance, and product training sessions, while Enterprise clients benefit from personalized account manager support.

Sprout Social Customer Service Efficiency

Sprout Social maintains an extensive knowledge base covering 18 categories, focusing heavily on platform-specific guidance for major social networks and core functionalities. While the help center is primarily in English, users can access content in other languages through Google Translation. They’ve established a robust 24-hour support system operating Monday through Friday, offering multiple contact channels including live chat, phone support, and ticket submissions.

In comparing both platforms, Brand24 stands out for bilingual native support and straightforward self-service resources, making it ideal for businesses needing focused social monitoring assistance. Sprout Social excels with its round-the-clock support availability and broader channel coverage, better serving global teams managing complex social media operations. Both platforms reserve account manager services for higher-tier plans, though Sprout Social’s multi-channel support options offer more accessibility for immediate issue resolution.

Customer testimonials

Brand24 Customer Reviews

Brand24 maintains strong user satisfaction with a combined rating of 4.64/5 across 490 total reviews from G2 (4.6/5 from 294 reviews) and Capterra (4.7/5 from 196 reviews). Users have shared diverse experiences with the platform. “The software is easy to use, they have decent guides and help docs, and the support is stellar. A very good app for tracking mentions. Lots of filters to hone in on the results that matter,” notes Doug L., a President. However, the same user points out a limitation: “I wish there were a ‘pause account’ option. We only use it when a client requires this specific service which is somewhat infrequent, so I wind up cancelling and reopening once or twice per year.”

Sprout Social Customer Reviews

Sprout Social demonstrates substantial market presence with 4,411 total reviews and a combined rating of 4.40/5, aggregating scores from G2 (4.4/5 from 3,818 reviews) and Capterra (4.4/5 from 593 reviews). Brand Manager Alyssa L. praises the platform: “Sprout has everything you could possibly need from a social scheduling and reporting tool… It helps both our social media specialist but also our brand campaign initiatives and we can pull reports for specific campaigns or topics.” However, she also highlights onboarding challenges: “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 reviews suggest Brand24 excels in user-friendliness and customer support but lacks flexibility in subscription management, while Sprout Social offers comprehensive features and reporting capabilities but struggles with consistent onboarding experiences.

SproutSocial vs Brand24: Final verdict

Brand24 and SproutSocial each bring distinct advantages to the social listening landscape. Brand24 excels with its intuitive interface and competitive pricing, making it ideal for small to medium businesses seeking straightforward monitoring capabilities. SproutSocial stands out with its comprehensive social media management suite and advanced analytics, perfectly suited for larger organizations requiring extensive reporting and team collaboration features.

However, both tools have notable limitations. Brand24’s historical data access is restricted to 12 months, while SproutSocial’s higher price point may strain smaller marketing budgets. Additionally, Brand24’s sentiment analysis accuracy can be inconsistent across different languages, and SproutSocial’s learning curve might challenge teams seeking immediate implementation.

For teams requiring extended historical data analysis, superior sentiment accuracy, or more cost-effective solutions, Mention offers a compelling alternative. With its 82% sentiment accuracy, extensive historical data spanning two years, and comprehensive coverage across over 1 billion sources, Mention bridges crucial gaps. Start a free trial to experience Mention’s robust monitoring capabilities, or schedule a demo to explore how their advanced features can complement your social listening strategy.