Sprout Social contracts in 2026: seat changes, auto-renewal and cancellation terms

A Sprout Social subscription is sold per seat, and its contract terms decide what happens when you add a person, remove one, or want to leave. The rules sit in two places: the Terms of Service (effective 9 May 2025) and the help center. This page sets them out by plan type, works one renewal calendar through with hypothetical dates, and ends with a checklist. Every clause was read on 29 September 2026.

A Service Order overrides a clause of the online terms where it says so (section 2.1.2), so check yours first.

Which Sprout Social plan type are you on?

The terms treat four plan types differently. Find yours on the Billing & Plan page in the app, or in your Service Order.

Source: Sprout Social Terms of Service, sections 5.1.1 to 5.2 and 6.1, effective 9 May 2025, read 2026-09-29. Section 5.2 does not deal with refunds; the invoiced row's refund cell comes from section 6.1, which allows none outside a termination for uncured breach.

The row that catches people is the third. An annual plan paid in monthly instalments is still an annual contract: the monthly charge does not make it cancellable month to month, and the cancellation has to arrive by email at least 30 days before the year ends.

How do you cancel a Sprout Social plan?

In the app: Account and Settings > Billing > Deactivate. Sprout's help center says the app walks you through cancellation "regardless of the type of plan you have", and that if you pay outside the app, a customer success manager reviews and confirms the cancellation against your service period (How do I cancel my account?). For an annual plan paid monthly or an invoiced plan, send the email the terms require as well, so the notice date is on record. On every plan type, the terms say the cancellation must be made by the current Account Owner.

What the cancellation does, from the same article:

• It takes effect at the end of your current contract term, and you keep access until then.
• After that, posts, reports, files and profiles are deactivated. No posts are published, all workflows stop and data is no longer collected.
• Scheduled posts are not published once the account is cancelled.
• All profiles are disconnected automatically at the end of the contract term.

What happens to your data after the contract ends?

Section 6.3 of the terms lets Sprout Social remove your account information, settings and content "within thirty (30) days" of expiration, cancellation or termination, without notice to you. Once deleted they cannot be recovered, except content that remains on the social networks themselves.

So export reports and anything else you need before the term ends, not after. Posts already published stay on the networks. Sprout's own records of them, its reports and its inbox history do not.

The same applies at the start of the relationship. Section 3.9 says content entered during a free trial "may be permanently lost" unless you buy a subscription for the same services before the trial ends.

What happens when you add or remove a seat mid-term?

Adding and removing are not symmetrical.

• Adding a seat, a plan upgrade or an add-on is charged at the then-current price, prorated by the days left in the term, and becomes coterminous with your plan and renews with it, unless your Service Order says otherwise (section 5.3; section 2.2 counts additional users as Add-Ons).
• Removing a person does not reduce the seats you pay for. The help center says the seat "becomes vacant until the next billing cycle", and you can invite someone into it at no extra cost (Troubleshooting team member removal and replacement). Remove the leaver before you invite the replacement, as that article advises.
• Downgrading a plan or removing an add-on brings no refund or credit for the prepaid fees (section 5.3). A plan downgrade takes effect at the start of your next contract cycle, is arranged through your customer success manager or successteam@sproutsocial.com, and may require you to remove users or profiles first to fit the lower plan (How do I downgrade my account?).

Some accounts are on true-up billing, a pilot Sprout offers to invited customers who pay by invoice. Members invited above the contract limit get access as soon as they accept the invite, and a true-up runs at 8 a.m. Central Time on the last day of each month. Seats still there are invoiced from that date to the end of the term, cannot be removed afterwards, and renew with the plan. Users with Manage Billing permissions get in-app and email notices 10 days and 2 days before the true-up (True-up billing FAQ). On a true-up account, a user added in error is billed to the end of the term unless removed before the true-up; Sprout says to manage users ahead of the true-up date.

Before you remove someone, check two things the help center names: content they scheduled, queued or drafted stays active and is still attributed to them in Publishing Activity, and on Professional and Advanced plans, if they were an approver in an approval workflow, that step goes blank until you assign someone else. If the person is the account owner, ownership has to be transferred first.

Can Sprout Social raise the price at renewal?

Yes, within a cap. For annual plans, annual plans paid monthly and invoiced plans, a renewal increase "shall not exceed 7%" over the previous term's fees, unless Sprout gives notice of different pricing at least 60 days before the renewal (sections 5.1.2, 5.1.3 and 5.2).

A worked calendar, with hypothetical dates and fees. An annual plan paid monthly runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027 and costs $10,000 for the year.

Put both dates in the calendar on the day you sign. If a price notice arrives by 31 December, you still have until 29 January to decide. On an annual plan paid up front, you cancel on the billing page any time before the Annual Pay Date, and the 60-day price notice counts back from that date.

A checklist for a Sprout Social contract

1. Identify your plan type on the Billing & Plan page or in the Service Order.
2. Write down the renewal date, the 60-day price-notice date and, for annual-paid-monthly or invoiced plans, the 30-day cancellation date.
3. Remove leavers promptly, and fill their seats rather than buying new ones before the next billing cycle.
4. On true-up billing, review the Upcoming Invoice before the last day of each month.
5. Plan downgrades for the next contract cycle, and remove users or profiles beforehand if the lower plan needs it.
6. Export reports and records before the term ends. Sprout may delete them within 30 days after.
7. Cancel through the billing page, and by email where the terms require it, from the Account Owner, and keep the email.
8. Remove Sprout's access on each network once you no longer need it, and clean up partner access too: see agency offboarding: how to take back your accounts and remove access.

For renewal, refund and VAT terms across several vendors side by side, see paying for a social media tool: billing, VAT and renewal terms. Two other vendors' exit steps are in what to check before you cancel Buffer and what to export before you cancel Hootsuite.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sprout Social's cancellation policy?

Plans renew automatically. Monthly and annual plans are cancelled on the billing page in the app before the next renewal; annual plans paid monthly and invoiced plans need notice by email at least 30 days before the term ends. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the term, and prepaid fees are not refunded.

Does Sprout Social refund unused months?

Not under sections 5.1.1 to 5.1.3 of its terms, which say no refunds or credits are issued for prepaid, unused fees for the rest of the term. Downgrades and removed add-ons are not refunded either. Two clauses do return prepaid, unused fees pro rata: section 6.1(b), when you terminate because Sprout failed to cure a material breach within 30 days of your written notice (a refund), and section 9.2, when Sprout ends a plan over an infringement claim it cannot otherwise resolve (a refund or credit).

Does removing a user reduce my Sprout Social bill?

Not straight away. Sprout's help center says removing a team member does not automatically reduce the paid seats; the seat stays vacant until the next billing cycle, and you can fill it with a new person at no extra cost.

How much can Sprout Social raise the price at renewal?

Up to 7% over the previous term's fees on annual, annual-paid-monthly and invoiced plans, unless Sprout gives notice of different pricing at least 60 days before the renewal.

What happens to my Sprout Social data after I cancel?

At the end of the term, posts, reports, files and profiles are deactivated and scheduled posts are not published. Under section 6.3 of the terms, Sprout may then delete your account information, settings and content within 30 days, and deleted data cannot be recovered.

Sources

All read on 29 September 2026.

• Sprout Social Terms of Service, effective 9 May 2025: sproutsocial.com/legal/terms. Sections 2.1.2 (Service Order precedence), 2.2 (Add-Ons), 3.9 (free trial content), 5.1.1 to 5.1.3 (monthly, annual and annual-paid-monthly plans), 5.2 (invoiced plans), 5.3 (upgrades, add-ons and downgrades), 6.1 (termination and refunds), 6.3 (data after termination), 9.2 (infringement remedy).
• Sprout Social help center: How do I cancel my account?, How do I downgrade my account?, Troubleshooting team member removal and replacement, True-up billing FAQ.