The Sprout Social alternative built for higher ed
Reach is built only for colleges and universities. Standard is $199 a seat with approvals, unlimited accounts, benchmarks against every school and free Editor seats for students and approvers. To get approvals and competitor reports in Sprout Social you need Professional at $299 a seat, for every person on the team.
- Team of 2 managers and 4 contributors
- $398 a month
- $1,794 a month
- Seats for students and approvers
- Free
- Paid
- Approvals
- Standard
- Professional and up
- Benchmarks against peer schools
- Every school
- Ones you add
- Built for
- Higher ed only
- Every industry
Sprout Social prices from its public pricing page, October 2026
8,883
institutional socials analyzed
across platforms
354,743
higher education posts
tracked and indexed
237.7M
total engagements
monitored
What higher ed teams tell us about Sprout Social
We talk with social teams at colleges every week. These are the problems that come up again and again.
Seats are so expensive that only the central team gets a login, and every other office works around you
With Reach. Managers pay. Departments, athletics and student workers get free Editor seats, so everyone works in one place.
The price keeps climbing at renewal, and athletics ends up on a second contract
With Reach. Pricing built for higher ed budgets. One campus agreement on Enterprise covers every office.
The reports say engagement is up when you know it isn't, and you can't explain the numbers to your VP
With Reach. Every school is measured the same way, so you can show leadership exactly where you stand against peers.
It is built for every industry, so you can only watch the handful of schools you add yourself
With Reach. Reach already tracks thousands of college accounts. Pick any peer group on day one.
One team or the whole campus, you only pay for the people who publish
Sprout Social charges for every login. Reach charges your managers and gives everyone else a free Editor seat, so adding a department never needs a budget request.
One social team
Standard
$199
per manager seat a month, billed annually
- Two seats come to $4,776 a year, under many campus purchasing limits
- Student workers and interns get free Editor seats
- Approvals, benchmarks, inbox and link in bio all included
Central team plus departments
Standard with free editors
$0
for every department contributor and approver
- Admissions, athletics and colleges draft in the same workspace
- Everything routes through your approval stage before it posts
- You pay for the people who publish, nobody else
The whole institution
Enterprise
Custom
one campus agreement instead of a contract per office
- Single sign-on with SSO and SAML
- Volume pricing for department seats and a dedicated success manager
- Completed HECVAT for your IT security review
Run the numbers for your team
Social media managers
People who publish
Contributors and approvers
Student workers, department leads, reviewers
Sprout Standard ($199) caps you at 5 social profiles and leaves out competitor reports and multi step approvals, so a university team needs Professional.
2 paid seats at $199. Contributors are free
6 paid seats at $299 per seat, billed annually
$16,752 a year less with Reach
Sprout Social is one tool. Reach replaces the rest of your stack too
Most college social teams pay for a scheduler and then patch the gaps with spreadsheets, forms and shared drives. Reach puts it all in one place.
Spreadsheets of what peer schools posted
Research and benchmarks across every college account
See how
Google Forms and shared drives for student photos
Content sourcing forms that drop media into your library
See how
A separate scheduler, project board and approval chain
Ideas board, calendar, approvals and publishing in one place
See how
A link in bio tool and a takeover password handoff
Link in bio with click tracking and takeovers with approval
See howBuilt with higher-ed, for higher-ed.
MeetYourClass partners with universities across the country helping social teams engage their community. Reach is what came out of hundreds of conversations — built straight from the gaps social media managers kept naming.
Reach vs Sprout Social, side by side
Of the 25 things higher ed teams ask us about, Reach includes 15 that Sprout Social either leaves out or puts on a pricier plan.
| Feature | Reach | Sprout Social |
|---|---|---|
| Price and seats | ||
| Built for | IncludedOnly colleges and universities | Limited or higher planEvery industry |
| Plan with approvals and competitor reports | Included$199 per seat on Standard, billed annually | Limited or higher planProfessional, $299 per seat, billed annually |
| Seats for students and approvers | IncludedUnlimited free Editor seats for students, approvers and contributors | Not includedEvery user is a paid seat |
| Connected social accounts | IncludedUnlimited on Standard | Limited or higher plan5 on Standard, unlimited on Professional |
| Research only option | IncludedResearch Only plan at $99 a seat if you keep your scheduler | Not includedNot offered |
| Free trial | Included30 days, no credit card | Included30 days |
| Planning and publishing | ||
| Scheduling and publishing | IncludedInstagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn and X | IncludedMajor networks |
| Approval workflows | IncludedIncluded in Standard | Limited or higher planProfessional plan and up |
| Idea to post project board | IncludedIdeas board with tasks, assignees, comments and version history | Limited or higher planPublishing calendar, no idea to post board |
| AI writing help | IncludedCaptions, alt text and rewrites in your brand voice | IncludedAI Assist |
| Best time to post | IncludedAI smart scheduling | Limited or higher planOptimal send times on higher plans |
| Research and benchmarks | ||
| Peer benchmarks across higher ed | IncludedThousands of college accounts, filtered by school and account type | Not includedYou add each school yourself |
| Competitor tracking | IncludedUnlimited, starting on the $99 Research plan | Limited or higher planProfessional plan and up |
| Higher ed trends, sounds and hashtags | IncludedTrending posts, sounds and hashtags across higher ed | Not includedNot built for higher ed |
| Content gap analysis | IncludedContent gap analysis in 34 higher ed categories | Not includedNot built in |
| Reports | IncludedCross-network, head to head and scheduled reports | IncludedProfile and post reports |
| Student content | ||
| Student content sourcing forms | IncludedCustom forms collect student photos and video | Not includedNot built in |
| Asset library | IncludedMedia library with saved inspiration and templates | IncludedAsset library |
| Instagram takeovers | IncludedTemporary posting access with approve before post, no password sharing | Not includedNot built in |
| Link in bio | IncludedFour formats with click attribution | Limited or higher planSproutLink, basic |
| Engagement | ||
| Unified inbox and moderation | IncludedUnified inbox, labels, saved replies and comment moderation | IncludedSmart Inbox |
| Social listening | Limited or higher planHigher ed trends today, brand listening coming soon | Limited or higher planSold as a paid add on |
| Security and support | ||
| Roles and permissions | IncludedRole based permissions | IncludedIncluded |
| Single sign on | IncludedSSO and SAML on Enterprise, with a completed HECVAT | IncludedAvailable |
| Support | IncludedPriority support, plus a dedicated success manager on Enterprise | IncludedSupport on every plan |
Still under a Sprout Social contract?
Get up to 6 months of Reach free, matched to the time left on your contract. Migration help is included, so you never pay for two tools at once.
Frequently asked questions
For most university teams, yes. Reach Standard is $199 a seat and student workers, approvers and contributors get free Editor seats. Matching Reach's approvals, competitor reports and unlimited profiles in Sprout means Professional at $299 a seat for every person, so a team of 2 managers and 4 contributors pays $398 a month on Reach versus $1,794 on Sprout.
Yes. That is what the pricing is built for. Managers pay for a seat and every department contributor and approver is free, so offices can join without a budget request. Enterprise adds SSO and SAML, volume pricing for department seats, a dedicated success manager and a completed HECVAT for IT review.
Yes, on Standard. Content moves through an approval stage on the ideas board before it publishes, and takeovers and form submissions can require approval too. In Sprout Social, multi step approval workflows start on Professional.
Yes. Reach already tracks thousands of college and university accounts, so you can compare against peers by school type and account type on day one, with unlimited competitors from the $99 Research plan. In Sprout Social, competitor reports start on Professional and you add each school yourself.
Yes. The Research Only plan is $99 a seat and gives you benchmarks, trends and competitor tracking next to the scheduler you already use. Many teams start there and move publishing over at renewal.
Yes. Schools under an active contract can get up to 6 months of Reach free, matched to the time left on the contract, so you never pay for both. Migration help is included.
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