How to Check if Sprout Social Listening is Included in Your Plan and How to Gain Access

This article provides a comprehensive guide for you to determine if Sprout Social's Listening feature is available in your current plan, as well as how to acquire it. Additionally, it details the procedures for managing user access to Listening, catering to users both with and without administrative privileges.

How to check for Listening availability in your Sprout Social Plan?

Sprout’s Listening feature is not included in any standard plan and must be purchased separately as an add-on. If you don’t see access to Listening in your account, it likely hasn’t been added to your subscription.

Not sure if you have access to Sprout Social's powerful Listening tools? Here’s how you can quickly check the status of Listening for your account.

• Invoice check: The Account Owner or a Billing Contact can review your Sprout invoice. They should look for a line item labeled "Listening Add-On" (or similar). If this item isn’t listed, Listening has not been purchased for your account.  The Account Owner or a user with Manager Billing permissions can download invoices by following these steps on our How do I manage my billing contacts, invoices and receipts? article.
• Platform check: Navigate to the Listening tab in the right-hand menu of Sprout. If Listening is not active, you’ll see a purple “Learn more about Listening” banner in the top-right corner of the page.

Note: If you don’t see the Listening tab, this does not necessarily mean you do not have Listening; your user role may not have access. In that case, reach out to your Account Owner to confirm access and review the checks above.

Who can add the Sprout Social Listening add-on?

If you've confirmed that Listening is not part of your current plan, the next step is to get it added.

The ability to purchase add-ons is limited to specific user roles within your Sprout account to ensure security and control over your subscription. The following users can initiate the purchase of the Listening add-on:

• Account Owners: Have full administrative and billing privileges.
• Users with Manage Billing permissions: These users have been granted specific access to manage the account's billing and subscription details.

How can I add the Listening add-on?

• If you are the Account Owner: Reach out to your Sprout Account Manager or our Sales team to discuss the opportunity.
• If you are not the Account Owner or don't have billing permissions: You'll need to contact one of these individuals within your organization to request the addition of the Listening feature. They can then contact their dedicated Sprout  Account Manager or our Sales team to have it added to your plan.

How do I manage who has access to Listening reports?

Once Listening is enabled for your account, access to its features needs to be managed for individual users.

For Users with Permissions to Manage Users

1. Access User & Team Settings: Go to Account and settings > Roles & Team Members.
2. Select a User: Click on the team member whose permissions you wish to modify.
3. Adjust Listening Permissions: Under the Feature Permissions section, you ca n find options for Listening. Here, you can enable or disable their ability to:
   • View Listening Topics
   • Manage Listening Topics (Create, edit, and delete)
4. Save Your Changes: Be sure to save the updated permissions for the user.

For Users Without Permission to Manage Users

If you don't have the necessary permissions to Manage Users, you can't change your own or others' access to Listening. To gain access, you need to identify the right contact (Account Owner can be viewed via Personal Settings, right under permissions) and then contact them to request access.

How do I gain access to Listening reports?

If Listening is enabled on your account and you currently don’t have access to it (do not see Listening on you left-hand side menu), you can request that access be given to you by internally contacting either the Account Owner (via Personal Seeings, right under permissions) or any Sprout Social team member with Administrative Privileges.

Who should have access to Listening reports?

It is important to understand that once a user is granted access to view Listening reports, they can navigate to and view any Listening report created within any Group they have access to. This broad access ensures that team members can collaborate and draw insights from all relevant social conversations.

What do I do if the Listening is not enabled?

If you have confirmed that Listening is not part of your plan and you are interested in leveraging its powerful social intelligence capabilities, please have your Account Owner or a user with Billing Permissions contact your Sprout Social Account Manager or our sales team to explore adding it to your subscription.

Otherwise, our Support Team will be happy to expedite communication to get you in touch with your account representative to have your Listening Add-On enabled as soon as possible.

FAQs

Is Listening included in my standard Sprout plan?

No, Listening is a premium add-on and is not included by default in the Standard, Professional, or Advanced plans. It must be purchased separately.

Who in my company can buy the Listening add-on?

Only the Account Owner or users who have been granted Manage Billing permissions can purchase the Listening add-on.

I don't have permission to manage users. How can I get access to Listening?

You will need to contact your Account Owner or a team member with Manage Users permissions and request that they grant you access.

I am an administrator. How do I give my team member access to Listening?

Go to Account and settings > Roles & Team Members, select the user, and enable the desired Listening permissions under the Feature Permissions section.

If I have access to Listening, what reports can I see?

Once you have access to Listening, you can view any Listening report that has been created within any of the Groups you are a member of.

My plan doesn't include Listening. How do I add it?

Please ask your Account Owner or someone with billing permissions to contact your Sprout Account Manager or our sales team to add Listening to your subscription.

How many Listening topics can I create?

The number of Listening Topics you can create is subject to the add-on agreement you reached with your account representative. If unsure, you can reach out to them directly or reach out to our Support team so they can put you in touch with the right person.

What if I need more Listening Topics?

If you find that you've reached your plan's limit, you can purchase additional Listening Topics. To do this, your Account Owner or a user with Manage Billing permissions will need to contact your dedicated Account Manager or our Sales team to discuss adding more topics to your subscription.

I just built a Listening query and I can't save it, the button is greyed out. Why?

This might just mean that Listening is not currently included in your plan. While you can preview and test the query builder, you won't be able to save a Listening topic if the add-on has not been purchased for your account. Sprout’s Listening feature is not included in any standard plan and must be purchased separately as an add-on.