Comparison
Cheeky Merlin vs Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a dedicated social media management platform — publishing, engagement, listening, and analytics, priced per seat.

FeatureCheeky MerlinSprout Social
Pricing modelFlat plan, seats includedPer seat — scales with team size
Predictive campaign scoring✓—
Covers ad platforms & CRM beyond social✓—
Social scheduling & unified inbox✓✓
Social listening—Yes, paid add-on
AI fulfillment agents beyond social11 agents—

Pricing shown reflects each company's publicly listed rates as of our last review — always confirm current pricing directly on their site before deciding.

What Sprout Social is good at

Deep, purpose-built social media tooling — a genuinely strong Smart Inbox, listening, and cross-network analytics for teams whose main job is social media.

How Cheeky Merlin is different

Sprout Social is a dedicated social tool — that's its whole job. Cheeky Merlin's social scheduler (Google Business, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, WordPress) is one feature among 11 AI agents covering the full agency workload: predictive scoring, ad optimization, PR, sales prospecting, and client reporting, under one flat plan with seats included instead of per-seat social-only pricing.

Sprout Social pricing

Essentials $79/seat/mo, Standard $199/seat/mo, Professional $299/seat/mo, Advanced $399/seat/mo, Enterprise custom — priced per seat, so cost scales directly with team size. Social listening and Employee Advocacy are paid add-ons even on the Advanced plan.

Cheeky Merlin pricing

Starter $249/mo, Corporate $1,499/mo, White Label $799/mo + $79/mo per sub-account — every plan includes a 14-day free trial. See full pricing →

Per G2's aggregated reviews (6,872+ reviews), the top-cited complaints are cost — "Expensive" and "High Pricing" are the two most common negative tags — along with add-on features like Listening and Employee Advocacy costing extra on top of the base subscription.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Is Cheeky Merlin cheaper than Sprout Social?+
Sprout Social prices per seat ($79-$399/seat/mo), so cost multiplies with team size. Cheeky Merlin's Corporate plan is $1,499/mo flat with 10 seats included — for a team of 5-10 people, Cheeky Merlin is often the cheaper option once Sprout's per-seat math is applied.
Does Cheeky Merlin do everything Sprout Social does for social media?+
Cheeky Merlin covers real social scheduling and publishing across Google Business, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WordPress, but it isn't a dedicated social listening tool the way Sprout Social is. If deep social listening is your main need, Sprout's purpose-built for that; if you need social plus the rest of an agency's workload in one platform, that's where Cheeky Merlin is different.
Why does Cheeky Merlin charge a flat rate instead of per seat like Sprout Social?+
So cost doesn't multiply every time you add a team member. Corporate includes 10 seats at $1,499/mo flat; extra seats beyond that are $59/mo each, not a full per-seat multiplier.
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