Meta Ads Manager
Sprout Social
| Feature | Meta Ads Manager | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free only | From $249/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.1 / 5 | 4.4 / 5 |
| Best For | ecommerce-brands, agencies, small-businesses, d2c-brands | enterprise, agencies, marketing-teams, brand-managers |
| Founded | 2007 | 2010 |
| Audience Targeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ad Creative Tools | ✓ | ✗ |
| A B Testing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Conversion Tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Retargeting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Lookalike Audiences | ✓ | ✗ |
| Publishing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Social Inbox | ✗ | ✓ |
| Analytics | ✗ | ✓ |
| Social Listening | ✗ | ✓ |
| Advocacy | ✗ | ✓ |
| Chatbots | ✗ | ✓ |
| Review Management | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Meta Ads Manager Pros
- Massive global audience reach
- Advanced audience targeting
- Multiple ad formats
- Strong retargeting capabilities
✗ Meta Ads Manager Cons
- Increasingly expensive CPMs
- Privacy changes reduced targeting
- Complex interface for beginners
✓ Sprout Social Pros
- Best-in-class social analytics and reporting
- Unified inbox across all platforms
- Social listening for brand monitoring
- Excellent customer support
✗ Sprout Social Cons
- Very expensive — starts at $249/month
- Additional profiles cost extra
- Overkill for small businesses
The Verdict
Meta Ads Manager is built for ecommerce brands and agencies, with a focus on audience-targeting and ad-creative-tools. Sprout Social targets enterprise and agencies and leads with publishing and social-inbox.
Meta Ads Manager uses custom enterprise pricing, while Sprout Social starts at $249/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Meta Ads Manager has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Sprout Social requires a paid subscription from day one.
Sprout Social edges out on user ratings (4.4 vs 4.1). While both are well-regarded, that gap reflects real differences in user satisfaction worth considering.
Feature-wise, Sprout Social offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Meta Ads Manager takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
Both tools are a solid fit for agencies — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
Bottom line: Sprout Social has a slight overall edge — but if massive global audience reach matters most to you, Meta Ads Manager may still be the right call.