Social media management
Asked as “social media management platform”, and as “social media scheduling and monitoring tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 50 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
30%
Contested · Buffer 24%
30Sprout Social24Buffer24Oktopost22others
30% of first choices, contested.
Since September 2026▼−3Since September 2026: 37% → 34%, −3 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Sprout Social held the lead, −3 points on 37%, inside the 12-point floor.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01
Sprout Social30%16%61endorsed leader▼−3Since September 2026: 37% → 34%, −3 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.37% → 34%
Sprout Social30%16%61endorsed leader▼−3Since September 2026: 37% → 34%, −3 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.37% → 34%02
Buffer24%21%48accepted challenger▲+5Since September 2026: 20% → 25%, +5 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.20% → 25%
Buffer24%21%48accepted challenger▲+5Since September 2026: 20% → 25%, +5 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.20% → 25%03
Oktopost24%0%21accepted challenger▲+12Since September 2026: 9% → 20%, +12 points. Past the 12-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.9% → 20%
Oktopost24%0%21accepted challenger▲+12Since September 2026: 9% → 20%, +12 points. Past the 12-point floor: movement. Read over the models both editions asked.9% → 20%04
Metricool8%6%18accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 7% → 7%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.7% → 7%
Metricool8%6%18accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 7% → 7%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.7% → 7%05
Agorapulse6%5%39accepted challenger▼−11Since September 2026: 15% → 5%, −11 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.15% → 5%
Agorapulse6%5%39accepted challenger▼−11Since September 2026: 15% → 5%, −11 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.15% → 5%06
Hootsuite6%28%64criticized challenger▲+5Since September 2026: 2% → 7%, +5 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 7%
Hootsuite6%28%64criticized challenger▲+5Since September 2026: 2% → 7%, +5 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 7%07
Zoho Social2%5%20accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
Zoho Social2%5%20accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09
Later0%19%26accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Later0%19%26accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%11
Sprinklr Social0%18%17accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Sprinklr Social0%18%17accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%08
SocialPilot0%9%23accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%
SocialPilot0%9%23accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%10
Sendible0%0%10accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%
Sendible0%0%10accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
All ten head-to-head pages: the top five products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
0102030405060708091011Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01Sprout Social30%
Sprout Social30%02Buffer24%
Buffer24%03Oktopost24%
Oktopost24%04Metricool8%
Metricool8%05Agorapulse6%
Agorapulse6%06Hootsuite6%
Hootsuite6%07Zoho Social2%
Zoho Social2%08SocialPilot0%
SocialPilot0%09Later0%
Later0%10Sendible0%
Sendible0%11Sprinklr Social0%
Sprinklr Social0%What they warned about
A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Hootsuite28%
18 of 64 labels negative · 12 of 6 models · 7 hard negative
“The Overpriced "Legacy" Giants (Proceed with Extreme Caution)... Hootsuite has received immense backlash for aggressive pricing increases” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Sprout Social16%
10 of 61 labels negative · 8 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“**Avoid Hootsuite and Sprout Social** for now \u2014 they start at $99-$199/month” Kimi K2, budget prompt
Buffer21%
10 of 48 labels negative · 7 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“Reports of security concerns ... unauthorized charges post-cancellation, and frequent post failures” Grok 4.20, negative prompt
Later19%
5 of 26 labels negative · 4 of 6 models
“Later explicitly tells users not to reuse passwords and not to store highly sensitive data in the platform.” GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt
What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the six in this edition.
Sites the answers cite
80 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 975 links across 243 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.
vendor site · Buffer50 answers · 67 citations · 14 models
vendor site · Hootsuite34 answers · 50 citations · 12 models
vendor site · HubSpot33 answers · 48 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Agorapulse29 answers · 47 citations · 11 models
26 answers · 35 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Sprout Social25 answers · 35 citations · 13 models
vendor site · Make22 answers · 22 citations · 7 models
vendor site · SocialRails21 answers · 32 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Zapier21 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
vendor site · NapoleonCat19 answers · 21 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Hootsuite14 answers · 18 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Planable13 answers · 15 citations · 9 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
46 answers · 13 models
27 answers · 10 models
22 answers · 7 models
21 answers · 9 models
18 answers · 9 models
17 answers · 7 models
17 answers · 9 models
16 answers · 10 models
14 answers · 9 models
13 answers · 10 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best social media management platform”, “social media management platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprout Social sproutsocial.com | 30% | 276 | 49,500 | 719 | 932,473 | 120 | 8 | |
| Buffer buffer.com | 24% | 227 | 90,500 | 35,151 | 966,256 | 18 | ||
| Oktopost oktopost.com | 24% | 158 | 1,000 | 11 | 7,471 | 6 | ||
| Metricool metricool.com | 8% | 39 | 40,500 | 158 | 184,691 | 66 | ||
| Agorapulse agorapulse.com | 6% | 79 | 3,600 | 35 | 73,939 | 2 | ||
| Hootsuite hootsuite.com | 6% | 236 | 49,500 | 1,036 | 748,222 | 119 | ||
| Zoho parent site Zoho Social 2% | 2% | 52 | 3,600 | 24 | ||||
| SocialPilot socialpilot.co | 0% | 58 | 6,600 | 43 | 93,623 | $3,149 | 21 | |
| Later later.com | 0% | 70 | 74,000 | 108,083 | 549,193 | 35 | ||
| Sendible sendible.com | 0% | 31 | 2,400 | 29 | 74,061 | 21 |
Google's top ten for the two searches hold 15 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (learn.g2.com, planable.io, sproutsocial.com, zapier.com). The first result for “best social media management platform” is zapier.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best social media management platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which social media scheduling and monitoring tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top social media management platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best social media management platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a social media management platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which social media management platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Claude Opus 4.8no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-6 Astrano first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-5.6 Solno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.1 Prono first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Perplexity Sonar Prono first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Zero rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
HubSpot read as HubSpot Social
HubSpot (Marketing Hub Social Tools) read as HubSpot Social
Sprinklr read as Sprinklr Social
Zoho read as Zoho Social
Unresolved, counted raw
Agarapulse
Birdeye Social
LinkedIn Native Scheduling
SMMSEM
SmarterQueue
SmmRaja
SocialOomph
TrendyIgPanel
Workplace by Meta
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.