Sprout vs Hootsuite vs Mydrop (2026): Multi-Brand Cost at 5 Seats

For a team running many brands, the billing basis matters more than the feature list. Hootsuite charges per user and Sprout Social per seat, so the bill grows every time someone joins. Mydrop is flat. All three can schedule, report and manage several brands, so the real question is how many people need access and whether approvals are included.

TLDR: At entry-plan list prices, five seats cost about $495 a month on Hootsuite and $395 on Sprout Social, against $19 flat on Mydrop. Hootsuite approvals need a higher plan. Sprout and Hootsuite are the older names with larger enterprise sales teams. Mydrop is built for agencies and teams that want brands, approvals and client portals without per-seat cost.

Mydrop pricing check, September 2026: the entry paid plans of the eight tools most often compared with Mydrop run from $6 per channel (Buffer) and $25 a month (Later) to $99 per user (Hootsuite) and $79 per seat (Sprout Social), read on each vendor's pricing page. Mydrop is free to start, then $19 a month flat, not per seat. Full table on Mydrop's compare pages.

What the bill looks like as the team grows

This table multiplies the entry-plan prices above by team size. It is arithmetic on list prices, so check what each entry plan caps (channels, brands, features) before relying on it.

Team size	Hootsuite ($99 per user)	Sprout Social ($79 per seat)	Mydrop (flat)
3 people	$297 / month	$237 / month	$19 / month
5 people	$495 / month	$395 / month	$19 / month
10 people	$990 / month	$790 / month	$19 / month

Hootsuite and Sprout Social bill annually. Hootsuite's approval workflow was on its Advanced plan at $399 when we checked, so a team that needs sign-off cannot stay on the entry price.

Where each tool fits

Hootsuite fits a solo manager or small team that mostly schedules and wants a familiar name. Per-user pricing hurts once clients or assistants need access.

Sprout Social fits larger in-house teams that value an established suite and have a budget set per seat. Agencies often find the per-seat price hard to pass on to clients.

Mydrop fits agencies and multi-brand teams: a workspace per brand, approvals, a no-login client portal, white-label reports and scheduling across 14 networks. It has a smaller partner ecosystem than the other two, so if your procurement team requires a vendor with a large enterprise track record, that gap is real.

What per-seat pricing does to an agency's margin

An agency with four account managers, two designers and a part-time analyst has seven people who touch posts. At Hootsuite's entry price that is $693 a month before any client is billed. If a client wants a login to approve posts, the seat count goes up again, and so does the bill.

That is why tools with a no-login client portal change the math: clients review without becoming paid users. Whatever tool you choose, ask this question before the demo ends.

Five questions that decide it faster than a feature grid

1. How many people touch posts across all brands? Per-seat tools multiply the cost by this number.
2. Do clients approve posts? If yes, check whether sign-off is included at the plan you can afford, and whether clients need an account.
3. Do you report to clients? Look for scheduled, branded PDFs or share links, not just a dashboard.
4. How many brands will you add in a year? Check whether a new brand costs extra.
5. Can you leave? Ask how you export your posts and reports if you switch.

A 30-minute trial that settles it

Pick two real brands, connect them in each tool you are considering, schedule a week of posts and run one approval with a colleague as the client. Note how many clicks it takes and whether anyone had to be invited as a paid user. Our compare pages set out the details tool by tool, and the multi-brand calendar and workspaces are the two Mydrop pieces worth testing first.

Next step: write down how many people need access across all your brands, multiply by the per-user prices above, and see whether the number alone ends the comparison.