Meltwater vs Sprout Social: Which One Is Better? [2025]

Picking the right social media management or media monitoring tool can feel like speed dating – lots of promises, few real matches. When you actually compare Meltwater vs Sprout Social, the differences surface fast.

PR and social teams agree: the best software feels intuitive, adapts to your workflow, and delivers real business value.

Whether you're scaling your team, growing coverage, or strengthening your vendor client relationship, the right platform can make a significant impact on your professional success.

TL;DR: Meltwater tracks headlines. Sprout Social schedules posts and tracks what's going on on social media.

And this is where we sneak in a bonus alternative: Prezly, a PR platform that combines monitoring, pitching, reporting, and contact management so you can handle all your comms work in one place.

Understanding how these tools compare based on multiple aspects like service, emotional response, and reporting will save you time, money, and a lot of "what did I just sign up for" headaches. It is about finding a solution that matches not only your immediate needs but also your next strategy.

Choosing between Meltwater and Sprout Social depends on what your team needs most – media monitoring, social media management, or a complete PR workflow.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the biggest differences:

• Media monitoring: Meltwater offers global media coverage across editorial, broadcast, and online news, while Sprout Social focuses on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (X)
• Social media management: Sprout Social specializes in social media scheduling, engagement tracking, and customer care, while Meltwater has limited scheduling tools
• Reporting and analytics: Meltwater provides detailed PR analytics and sentiment analysis for earned media, while Sprout Social emphasizes social media metrics like post performance and follower growth
• Ease of use: Users view Sprout Social as beginner-friendly and built for fast social media workflows, while Meltwater can feel complex and may require dedicated onboarding and support
• Pricing: Meltwater requires custom quotes and long-term contracts, while Sprout Social uses transparent per-seat pricing – but both can become expensive for growing teams

If you are looking for a platform that offers full media monitoring, PR campaign management, contact management, and newsroom publishing in one place, Prezly could be a better fit. Start your free 2-week trial today and see how Prezly simplifies PR workflows without enterprise pricing or complicated setups.

Money talk: Meltwater likes to keep pricing mysterious. You will need a quote, a call, and probably a contract that lasts longer than your next car lease.

Sprout Social offers clear per-seat pricing, but social listening features cost extra. If your team grows, costs can quickly balloon – a common pain point mentioned by Sprout Social enterprise customers.

Prezly keeps it simple. Media monitoring is a 150€ monthly add-on, with optional extras clearly listed. You also get a free 2-week trial to test everything first. No surprise fees. No confusing bundles.

For teams looking for reasonable pricing, predictable costs, and full transparency, Prezly ticks all the right boxes.

A full PR toolkit at a fraction of the cost

Prezly’s PR CRM, Outreach, Newsroom Creator, Media Monitoring and Analytics earn you authentic media coverage by putting journalist relationships first. Starting at $90/month.

Start free trial

Meltwater offers broad global coverage across editorial, broadcast, and social media channels, but setting it up can feel like solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded. Their social media monitoring aggregates emotional response ratings and multiple data points, but unless you have a clear strategy, it can overwhelm rather than help.

Meltwater works well for large teams managing the platform daily, but small teams may struggle to unlock its full value.

Sprout Social covers the usual platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X), but historical data access is inconsistent, creating major gaps. If deep archives or data beyond major networks are essential, you may feel limited.

Prezly tracks over 235,000 sources across 150 languages and 220 countries, powered by Opoint. Social media tracking for LinkedIn and Twitter/X is available as an add-on, with more platforms in development. Plus, you can integrate your own media feed if needed.

The best part? Your mentions appear next to your pitches and stories, creating a seamless connection between monitoring and pitching – perfect for PR teams who thrive on storytelling.

Sprout Social stands out for its clean, intuitive dashboard. For social media teams that need fast onboarding and minimal training, it’s a strong pick.

Meltwater is powerful, but you might need a handbook, a mentor, and a few cups of coffee to unlock its full potential. Its interface isn’t as beginner-friendly, and less tech-savvy users are likely to need additional support in extracting detailed end-user information or customizing dashboards.

Prezly focuses on simplicity. Built specifically for PR teams juggling social media, media relations, and campaign management without a team of IT experts on call, its interface is designed around continuous improvement, helping users quickly surface key elements of their media and campaign performance.

Why spend your day negotiating costs with Meltwater?

In 1/10th the time of a Meltwater demo call, you can sign up for a free trial with Prezly and try out our full set of features for yourself. If you decide to sign up, your pricing will match exactly what’s on our pricing page.

No sales calls, credit cards, or commitments required.

Try Prezly for free

Meltwater offers customizable reports for days. If you love spreadsheets and graphs, you will have fun. Their platform aggregates emotional response ratings, detailed metrics, and user sentiment to help businesses understand prior media performance, though setting up custom dashboards can take extra effort.

Sprout Social provides valuable social engagement reports. Their insights are great for day-to-day social media management and tracking post performance and user satisfaction across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and X. However, if you need PR-specific insights like pitching success rates, you’ll need additional tools.

Prezly connects the dots between your stories, pitches, coverage, and relationships. Instead of focusing only on surface-level metrics, it helps PR teams track real engagement outcomes, like newsroom interactions and campaign performance – offering a more holistic view of success.

Meltwater’s 24/7 support is crucial for global brands, offering help whenever media crises strike outside business hours.

Sprout Social provides weekday support during business hours. While generally responsive and delivering a good customer experience, their limited availability can be an issue for teams across multiple time zones.

Prezly offers real, responsive help. With live chat, guided onboarding, and a support team that understands "PR panic", you get quick solutions with no judgment. No call centers, no endless tickets, just fast, human support when you need it most.

One of the key benefits is Prezly's support team. You can just use the live chat option and somebody will always be there to respond to your question and help.

Victoria C., Account Director

When choosing a social media monitoring or PR management tool, real user data matters just as much as feature lists. The way a platform feels day-to-day, how it handles pressure, and how much support you actually get can make or break your experience. 

When evaluating Meltwater vs Sprout Social, it helps to look at real user experiences.

Here’s a quick look at what users say about Meltwater, Sprout Social, and Prezly: the good, the bad, and the somewhere-in-the-middle.

• Pros
  • Excellent global media coverage
  • Advanced reporting with multiple data points
  • 24/7 multilingual support
• Cons
  • Complex interface
  • High pricing with long contract commitments
  • Steep learning curve that can delay full adoption
  • Interface sometimes feels dated and less intuitive compared to newer platforms

• Pros
  • Easy-to-use dashboard
  • Great for social media management and scheduling
  • Easy-to-understand reports that help track social growth
  • Quick to onboard new users
• Cons
  • Social listening features come at an additional cost
  • Limited historical data
  • Support is only available during weekdays, which may frustrate global teams
  • Better suited for pure social media management, not full PR workflows

• Pros
  • Seamlessly integrates media monitoring, pitching, newsroom creation, and reporting
  • Transparent, simple pricing without hidden fees
  • Extremely fast and intuitive platform built for busy comms teams
  • (Human) live chat support, guided onboarding, and real-world PR templates

With Prezly, it’s easy to keep track of a lot of journalists at once and create specialized campaigns just for specific contacts.

Isabell Cordes, gamigo group

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• Cons
  • Social media tracking is expanding but still maturing
  • Doesn't track social media post engagement
  • Works best for teams looking to combine PR tasks in one place rather than those who want standalone social media management

• Meltwater is best for large enterprise teams needing global media coverage – and who have the resources to manage a complex setup
• Sprout Social is ideal for brands focused on daily social media management and engagement growth across major platforms
• Prezly is the right choice for PR and communications teams who want to monitor media, pitch journalists, manage relationships, and track campaigns in one place – without juggling multiple vendors or complicated pricing

Want to see if Prezly fits your workflow? Start your free 2-week trial today. Test everything. Track your media mentions. Pitch your latest story. Manage your PR campaigns. No contracts, no confusion, no regrets.

Get full media monitoring and PR software capabilities without paying enterprise prices or battling complicated setups. With Prezly, you're not just picking software. You're choosing a better way to manage your stories, your relationships, and your success.

Sometimes, the best tools are the ones that just work. Try Prezly today and see the difference for yourself.