Sprout Social
The Trade Desk
| Feature | Sprout Social | The Trade Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $249/mo | Contact sales |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.4 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | enterprise, agencies, marketing-teams, brand-managers | media-buyers, agencies, enterprise-advertisers, programmatic-teams |
| Founded | 2010 | 2009 |
| Publishing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Social Inbox | ✓ | ✗ |
| Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Social Listening | ✓ | ✗ |
| Advocacy | ✓ | ✗ |
| Chatbots | ✓ | ✗ |
| Review Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Programmatic Buying | ✗ | ✓ |
| Connected Tv | ✗ | ✓ |
| Audio Ads | ✗ | ✓ |
| Data Marketplace | ✗ | ✓ |
| Attribution | ✗ | ✓ |
| Identity Graph | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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 Trade Desk Pros
- Best-in-class DSP technology
- Excellent CTV capabilities
- Strong data marketplace
- Transparent pricing
✗ The Trade Desk Cons
- Enterprise minimum spend
- Requires programmatic expertise
- Complex for beginners
The Verdict
Sprout Social is built for enterprise and agencies, with a focus on publishing and social-inbox. The Trade Desk targets media buyers and agencies and leads with programmatic-buying and connected-tv.
The Trade Desk uses custom enterprise pricing, while Sprout Social starts at $249/mo — a tangible advantage for teams with a fixed budget.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
Feature-wise, Sprout Social offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while The Trade Desk 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.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.