Sprout Social gives you publishing, listening, analytics, and customer care under one roof.
On LinkedIn, it helps teams stay consistent, engage prospects, and measure ROI with depth.
And honestly, it works.
That’s why big brands like Chipotle, Zendesk, and Subaru use it.
But here’s the flip side.
It’s expensive. It’s broad. And sometimes, it’s just too much.
Not every founder wants enterprise-level everything. Not every sales team wants to swim through features just to track prospects.
That’s where alternatives come in.
Tools that are leaner. Cheaper. Or hyper-focused on LinkedIn itself.
Let’s explore 13 of them.
If you don’t have time to read the full breakdown above, here’s the quick version.
I’ve compared the 13 Sprout Social alternatives side by side so you can see pricing, best use cases, and where each one stands out.
Tool | Pricing | Best For | What Makes It Stand Out / Opportunities | Where It Falls Short |
---|---|---|---|---|
OutXAI | $39–$249/month | Founders, sales teams, and marketers who live on LinkedIn | 100% LinkedIn focus, job change tracking, AI-powered engagement suggestions | Not multi-platform |
Hootsuite | $99–$249/month | Founders needing one dashboard across all channels | 200+ integrations, paid + organic social in one workflow | Heavy if LinkedIn-only, higher pricing |
Buffer | $5–$12/month | Solo founders, creators, small teams | Simple, affordable scheduling, easy consistency | Limited monitoring, basic reporting |
Brand24 | $149–$999/month | Founders & teams who want deep listening and reputation monitoring | Real-time alerts, sentiment tracking, multi-source coverage | Costly for SMBs, dashboard is heavy |
Zoho Social | $10–$65/month | Startups & SMBs inside the Zoho ecosystem | Budget-friendly, CRM integration, good for lean teams | Analytics weaker, best only if using Zoho |
Agorapulse | $79–$199/month | Agencies & growing teams | Shared inbox, team collaboration, strong reporting | More than solopreneurs need, pricier than basics |
Sendible | $22–$675/month | Agencies managing multiple client brands | White-label reports, client dashboards, scalable workflows | Steeper learning curve, costly at scale |
Mentionlytics | $49–$499/month | Reputation-conscious founders & sales teams | AI-driven insights, competitor alerts, crisis management | Overwhelming dashboard, pricey at higher tiers |
Talkwalker | $1,200–$9,600/year | Global enterprises | Multilingual sentiment, image & logo recognition | Overkill for SMBs, long setup, expensive |
Meltwater | $15,000–$20,000/year | Large enterprises with PR + social needs | PR + social intelligence, journalist database, enterprise-grade monitoring | Extremely expensive, steep learning |
Oktopost | $55–$560/month | B2B companies in regulated industries | Employee advocacy, tailored to B2B compliance | Narrow focus, not SMB-friendly |
Awario | $49–$399/month | Founders and marketers needing competitor + trend monitoring | Brand mention tracking, market research insights | Not LinkedIn-first, reporting can be generic |
Synthesio | $1,200/month | Large consumer brands, international teams | Enterprise listening, strong in Europe, deep consumer research | Expensive, complex, not for SMBs |
If you want broader coverage of all these alternatives, keep reading.
OutXAI is different. It’s not chasing every platform. It’s not pretending to be a jack-of-all-trades. It’s laser-focused on LinkedIn. For B2B founders, sales reps, and marketers, it’s like strapping a radar to your account. You see job changes, prospect movements, and deal signals others miss.
Founders who want early signals on funding, hires, or churn risks.
Sales teams who can’t afford to miss a prospect changing jobs or industries.
Marketers who want smarter engagement without scrolling endlessly.
It bets everything on LinkedIn and wins.
For founders: OutXAI makes LinkedIn a source of growth, not just a posting platform. You’ll spot movements in your market before competitors.
For sales teams: Warm outreach becomes the norm. Timing improves. You’re not guessing anymore you’re intercepting.
For marketers: Engagement scales with AI suggestions. You stay present in feeds without burning hours.
OutXAI isn’t just an alternative. It’s the go-to if LinkedIn is the battlefield where you win deals.
Hootsuite is a veteran. It’s the social media dashboard many teams grew up with. For LinkedIn, it offers scheduling, listening, analytics, and integrations over 200 of them. It’s less about being niche and more about being universal.
✅Free trial, ❌ Freemium
Founders who want one platform for everything, not just LinkedIn.
Sales teams who juggle multiple social networks while tracking LinkedIn leads.
Marketers managing paid and organic social in one place.
For founders: A single control center across all channels. LinkedIn included.
For sales teams: Keep an eye on competitors and mentions, while also watching industry chatter.
For marketers: Paid + organic in one workflow, with reports clients and execs actually like.
Buffer is simplicity. It’s designed for creators, solopreneurs, and small teams. The appeal? Consistency without complexity. If you just want to post, schedule, and keep your brand active on LinkedIn, Buffer nails it.
✅Free trial, ✅Freemium
Founders who want to stay visible without hiring a team.
Sales pros building personal brands to nurture warm leads.
Marketers needing affordable multi-account scheduling.
For founders: A lean way to build presence without burning budget.
For sales teams: Consistent posting makes you show up in prospect feeds.
For marketers: Manage campaigns for clients cheaply, while still delivering performance basics.
Brand24 is listening-first. It scans LinkedIn, blogs, forums, and news sites in real time. The tool is like a radar for mentions—your brand, competitors, or industry trends. On LinkedIn, it ensures you never miss a key conversation.
✅Free trial, ❌ Freemium
Founders who want real-time brand reputation monitoring.
Sales teams spotting warm leads through conversations.
Marketers who need sentiment and trend analysis.
For founders: Track every mention of your brand or competitors before it snowballs.
For sales teams: Engage in conversations when they’re fresh, not stale.
For marketers: Sentiment analysis + campaign tracking gives you a full pulse of the market.
Zoho Social is the budget-friendly, integrated option. It sits neatly inside the Zoho ecosystem—great for businesses already using Zoho CRM or other apps. For LinkedIn, it handles scheduling, reporting, and monitoring in a cost-effective way.
✅Free trial, ✅Freemium
Founders who love all-in-one platforms.
Sales teams already working inside Zoho CRM.
Marketers running lean budgets.
For founders: Plug directly into your existing Zoho stack and track LinkedIn without extra cost.
For sales teams: Seamless CRM connection means better context for prospect engagement.
For marketers: Affordable way to manage campaigns and prove ROI.
Agorapulse is built for agencies and growing teams. It combines scheduling, monitoring, reporting, and a killer inbox feature. On LinkedIn, it makes managing multiple accounts smoother than most.
Founders running agencies or startups managing multiple clients.
Sales teams collaborating across accounts.
Marketers who love detailed reports and clean workflows.
For founders: Grow your agency or consultancy without losing oversight.
For sales teams: Streamline communication with a shared inbox and unified dashboard.
For marketers: Get advanced reports that highlight impact across LinkedIn and beyond.
Sendible focuses on agencies. White-label options, client dashboards, and scalable workflows make it appealing for firms running LinkedIn for others.
✅Free trial, ❌Freemium
Founders of small to mid-sized agencies.
Sales teams managing multiple client brands.
Marketers who need white-label reporting.
For founders: Add value to client services without building tools in-house.
For sales teams: Manage prospect engagement across clients with clarity.
For marketers: Scale reporting without burning hours—clients see branded dashboards.
Mentionlytics is about reputation management. It scans LinkedIn, social platforms, and the web. With AI-driven insights, it helps teams protect brand reputation while spotting new opportunities.
Founders concerned with brand image.
Sales teams who want alerts on competitor activity.
Marketers digging into insights beyond vanity metrics.
For founders: Catch crises before they blow up.
For sales teams: Monitor competitors and swoop in when prospects mention pain points.
For marketers: Use AI insights to refine messaging and campaigns.
Talkwalker is enterprise-grade. It’s a monitoring powerhouse with multilingual sentiment analysis and image recognition. For LinkedIn, it tracks mentions, sentiment, and visual content at scale.
$1,200–$9,600/year.(not official)
Founders of global companies.
Sales teams in multinational environments.
Marketers managing brand reputation across languages.
For founders: Spot global crises early. Protect brand reputation.
For sales teams: Track competitors and customers worldwide.
For marketers: Tap into sentiment across 187+ languages and even logos.
Meltwater combines traditional PR with modern social monitoring. It offers a vast media database, including journalist contacts. On LinkedIn, it integrates monitoring into broader media intelligence.
$15,000–$20,000/year.(not official)
Founders of large enterprises.
Sales teams with complex global accounts.
Marketers handling PR + social.
For founders: Comprehensive view of brand reputation across press + social.
For sales teams: Leverage media data for strategic account moves.
For marketers: Full campaign tracking across traditional and social media.
Oktopost is designed for B2B. Especially regulated industries—tech, finance, healthcare. It shines in employee advocacy, helping staff share company content on LinkedIn.
Founders of B2B companies.
Sales teams in regulated industries.
Marketers building employee advocacy programs.
For founders: Amplify company voice through your employees.
For sales teams: Use advocacy to warm up pipelines.
For marketers: Measure employee-driven reach and conversions.
Awario is a web monitoring tool that tracks brand mentions across social, blogs, and the wider web. On LinkedIn, it helps track competitor conversations and brand visibility.
Founders needing visibility on competitors.
Sales teams scouting conversations at scale.
Marketers running research-heavy campaigns.
For founders: Keep a constant pulse on your market.
For sales teams: Spot decision-makers when they engage in industry chatter.
For marketers: Analyze trends and competitor moves to guide campaigns.
Synthesio is an enterprise solution for consumer intelligence. Strongest in Europe, it’s built for deep listening and market research. On LinkedIn, it brings advanced analytics and monitoring to global brands.
$1,200/month.(not official)
Founders of large consumer brands.
Sales teams in international markets.
Marketers focused on global sentiment.
For founders: Understand consumer shifts across regions.
For sales teams: Get deep insights on prospect behavior.
For marketers: Leverage data for global campaign design.
OutXAI doesn’t try to be everywhere. It doesn’t waste time chasing platforms where B2B deals rarely happen. It’s built for one thing and one thing only: LinkedIn. The platform where decisions are made, where networks move, where pipelines are born.
For founders, that’s gold. Because growth is about timing. Spotting opportunities before the market. OutXAI tracks job changes, funding updates, and prospect movements that signal the next conversation. You don’t get lost in dashboards—you just see what matters.
For sales teams, it’s a weapon. No more cold, random outreach. You know when a prospect changes jobs. You know when they’re active. You step in with context and relevance. That’s not luck—it’s leverage.
For marketers, it’s scale without burnout. Staying visible on LinkedIn is exhausting. Commenting. Engaging. Posting. OutXAI flips that. AI-powered suggestions help you engage smarter. You look present without spending every waking hour online.
And here’s the kicker.
OutXAI is affordable. Transparent pricing that doesn’t scare off small teams. Yet sharp enough to deliver insights that even enterprise platforms can’t.
Sprout Social may be the giant. But giants are slow. Giants are expensive. Giants try to be everything.
OutXAI is different. Lean. Focused. Relentless.
If LinkedIn is where your business wins, OutXAI isn’t just an alternative. It’s the upgrade.
1. What is OutXAI?
OutXAI is a LinkedIn-focused social listening and engagement platform. It helps founders, sales teams, and marketers track job changes, prospect movements, and deal signals directly on LinkedIn.
2. How is OutXAI different from Sprout Social?
Sprout Social covers many platforms. OutXAI bets everything on LinkedIn. That means sharper insights, less noise, and tools built specifically for B2B growth on LinkedIn.
3. Who should use OutXAI?
It’s best for founders who want early market signals, sales teams who rely on timing, and marketers who need scalable engagement without drowning in manual work.
4. What does OutXAI cost?
Pricing starts at $39/month and goes up to $249/month, depending on your needs. Transparent. Predictable. No bloated enterprise quotes.
5. Does OutXAI offer a free trial?
Yes. OutXAI gives you a free trial so you can test its features before committing. No credit card surprises.
6. Is there a freemium version?
Yes. OutXAI offers a freemium plan with limited access. Great for small teams or founders who want to try before scaling up.
7. What makes OutXAI special for LinkedIn monitoring?
It tracks job changes inside your ICP, generates AI-powered comments to keep you visible, and focuses 100% on LinkedIn. That’s its edge.
8. Can OutXAI help with sales prospecting?
Absolutely. It acts like a radar. You’ll know when prospects switch jobs, get promoted, or make moves—giving you the perfect timing for outreach.
9. How does OutXAI help marketers?
It reduces manual effort. AI suggestions keep you active in feeds, while monitoring tools help track trends and competitor moves—all within LinkedIn.
10. Why should I pick OutXAI over bigger platforms?
Because it’s lean, affordable, and laser-focused. You’re not paying for features you’ll never use. If LinkedIn is your battlefield, OutXAI is your weapon.