What is social listening and why is it valuable?

Social listening monitors social media for mentions of a brand, competitors, industry topics, and sentiment — going beyond the brand's own posts to understand what consumers are saying across the entire social web. Sprout Social's listening features provide market intelligence for brand management, competitive analysis, and crisis detection, adding strategic value beyond basic post scheduling.

Why did Sprout Social focus on enterprise while Hootsuite stayed SMB?

Sprout Social made a strategic decision to move upmarket to enterprise customers who pay higher average contract values and have better retention than SMBs. Enterprise social media teams need sophisticated analytics, custom reporting, approval workflows, and dedicated support that justify higher pricing. Hootsuite's broader freemium model captured SMB volume but at lower margins and higher churn.

What is social media API access and why does it matter for these platforms?

Social media management tools access platform APIs to schedule posts, read comments and mentions, and pull performance data. When Twitter/X significantly restricted API access in 2023 (raising prices and limiting functionality), it affected social media management platforms that relied on Twitter data. Changes in platform API policies can restrict what social media management software can do.

brimindinvest.com / compare / sprout-social-vs-hootsuiteLIVE

SPT

Sprout Social, Inc. · Technology - Social Media Management

$6.55

-2.53% this month

VERSUS

⟷

COMPARE

HOOT

Hootsuite (Private) · Technology - Social Media Management

N/A

N/A this month

Scoreboard verdict

Across AI score, momentum, valuation, upside, operating margin

SPT

0

HOOT

0

MIXED SETUP

Comparison scoreboard

MIXED SETUP

AI Score

SPT 23.1

HOOT N/A

1Y Return

SPT -67.36%

HOOT N/A

Fwd P/E

SPT 5.49

HOOT N/A

Target Up.

SPT +45.04%

HOOT N/A

Op. Margin

SPT N/A

HOOT N/A

Metrics last refreshed: 6/20/2026

Quick take

SPT vs HOOT Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside

SPT (Sprout Social) is the leading publicly traded social media management platform focused on enterprise and mid-market analytics and engagement, while Hootsuite is a private company — the original social media management tool now competing primarily in SMB but not available for public market investment. Sprout Social is the primary publicly traded option for social media management software exposure.

SPT vs HOOT covers the social media management software comparison with Sprout Social as the publicly traded enterprise-focused platform and Hootsuite as the established but private SMB-and-enterprise tool.

Live analysis · updated 6/20/2026

SPT and HOOT are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.

Normalized 1Y performance

SPT

HOOT

Not enough data to chart yet.

Recent returns

SPT

HOOT

Analyst price targets & sentiment

SPT · 10 analysts

Price target range

analyst low$6.00
analyst high$14.00
analyst mean$9.50
current price$6.55

+45.0% upside to analyst mean

HOOT

Price target data unavailable

N/A

Who should consider this stock?

SPT may suit investors who:

→Want enterprise social media management software exposure through Sprout Social's analytics-and-engagement-focused platform
→Value Sprout's enterprise account growth and high-ACV customer base as improving revenue quality and retention
→See AI-powered social listening and analytics as expanding Sprout's value proposition beyond basic scheduling tools

Hootsuite is not publicly traded:

→Hootsuite is a private company and cannot be directly invested in through public markets
→For public social media management software investment, Sprout Social (SPT) is the primary option
→Consider HubSpot (HUBS) which includes social media management as part of its broader CRM and marketing suite

Performance & AI score

Metric	SPT	HOOT
AI score	23.1	N/A
AI rank	#3740	N/A
Latest close	$6.55	N/A
1M return	-2.53%	N/A
6M return	-40.62%	N/A
1Y return	-67.36%	N/A

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)

How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?

Period	SPT	HOOT
1Y ago	$3.26K (-67.4%) started 2025-06-18	N/A
5Y ago	$735.21 (-92.6%) started 2021-06-18	N/A
10Y ago	$3.95K (-60.5%) started 2019-12-13	N/A

Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.

Valuation & upside potential

Metric	SPT	HOOT
Market cap	$393.69M	N/A
Trailing P/E	N/A	N/A
Forward P/E	5.49	N/A
Price/Sales	0.84	N/A
EV/Revenue	0.77	N/A
Analyst target	$9.50	N/A
Target upside	+45.04%	N/A

Growth, profitability & risk

Metric	SPT	HOOT
Revenue growth	11.20%	N/A
Earnings growth	N/A	N/A
EPS growth	N/A	N/A
FCF margin	+21.68%	N/A
Operating margin	N/A	N/A
Profit margin	-8.18%	N/A
ROIC proxy	-19.69%	N/A
Return on equity	-19.69%	N/A
Dividend yield	0.00%	N/A
Beta	0.99	N/A
Debt/equity	21.63	N/A
Current ratio	0.95	N/A
Quick ratio	0.76	N/A

Drawdown & downside risk

Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.

1Y risk snapshot

SPT max drawdown76.46%

HOOT max drawdownN/A

SPT max wkly drop20.08%

HOOT max wkly dropN/A

5Y risk snapshot

SPT max drawdown96.54%

HOOT max drawdownN/A

SPT max wkly drop46.30%

HOOT max wkly dropN/A

10Y risk snapshot

SPT max drawdown96.54%

HOOT max drawdownN/A

SPT max wkly drop46.30%

HOOT max wkly dropN/A

Performance metrics by period

Period	Metric	SPT	HOOT
1Y	Growth	-67.36%	N/A
	CAGR	-67.39%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	-1.71	N/A
	Max drawdown	76.46%	N/A
	Max daily drop	11.35%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	20.08%	N/A
5Y	Growth	-92.65%	N/A
	CAGR	-40.67%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	-0.49	N/A
	Max drawdown	96.54%	N/A
	Max daily drop	40.15%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	46.30%	N/A
10Y	Growth	-60.54%	N/A
	CAGR	-13.31%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	0.09	N/A
	Max drawdown	96.54%	N/A
	Max daily drop	40.15%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	46.30%	N/A

Business comparison

Category	SPT	HOOT
Company	Sprout Social, Inc.	Hootsuite (Private)
Sector	Technology - Social Media Management	Technology - Social Media Management
Industry	N/A	N/A
Core business	Sprout Social provides a social media management platform for enterprise and mid-market businesses, offering scheduling, social listening, analytics, and customer care tools across major social networks with a focus on customer engagement and deep analytics.	Hootsuite provides social media management software for scheduling, monitoring, and analyzing social media activity across networks, serving businesses from SMBs to enterprise — it is one of the oldest and most established social media management platforms but is currently private.
Investor focus	Investors track Sprout Social's ARR growth, enterprise customer count (>$10K ARR accounts), net revenue retention, and the AI-powered features driving upsells in the competitive social media management market.	Hootsuite is a private company and not publicly traded — investors looking for public social media management exposure should focus on Sprout Social (SPT) as the primary publicly traded option in this category.

SPT strengths

→Enterprise-focused positioning with robust analytics and reporting differentiates Sprout from SMB tools — enterprise contracts have higher ACV and better retention
→Social listening and sentiment analysis capabilities provide marketing intelligence beyond scheduling, adding strategic value
→AI-powered features including social content assistance and predictive analytics expand the platform's value proposition

HOOT strengths

→One of the most established social media management brands with a large global user base built over more than a decade
→Broad integration with social networks and marketing platforms provides extensive functionality for users across skill levels
→SMB market penetration is very strong — Hootsuite has historically been the default choice for small business social media management

Risks to watch — SPT

→Social media management is a competitive market with Hootsuite, HubSpot Social, and native platform scheduling tools all competing for budget
→Sprout Social has faced significant customer churn pressure and revenue growth deceleration as the post-COVID marketing software spending environment tightened
→Platform monetization depends on continued social network API access — changes by Twitter/X, Meta, or LinkedIn affect Sprout's data capabilities

Risks to watch — HOOT

→Hootsuite is not publicly traded — this analysis covers the public market landscape where Sprout Social is the primary option
→Hootsuite has faced challenges maintaining its market position as Sprout Social moved upmarket and native platform tools improved
→Private company financials are not disclosed, making direct financial comparison difficult

Frequently asked questions

Social media management platforms allow businesses to schedule posts, monitor mentions, respond to comments, and analyze performance across multiple social networks (Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok) from a single dashboard. Rather than logging into each platform separately, social media managers use tools like Sprout Social to manage all channels efficiently.

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SPT

+2.8%BUY

HOOT

+1.1%HOLD

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