Softwr

Social Media · head to head

Khoros vs SocialPilot

Khoros logo

Khoros

Social Media

Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SocialPilot logo

SocialPilot

Social Media

Social media scheduling and management for agencies and small teams

From
$20/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Khoros igniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.; SocialPilot essentials plan is limited to 5 social accounts and a single user
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Khoros and SocialPilot actually diverge.

Attributes where Khoros and SocialPilot differ
AttributeKhorosSocialPilot
Starting priceOn request$20/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Social Media).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Khoros

  • Branded communities
  • Community gamification
  • Social publishing
  • Social customer care
  • Moderation tooling
  • Listening and analytics
  • Aurora and Iris AI
  • Knowledge deflection

Only in SocialPilot

Nothing recorded that Khoros does not also cover.

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Khoros

  • A telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volumenot SocialPilot
  • A consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissionsnot SocialPilot
  • A games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing featuresnot SocialPilot
  • A bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same SLA framework as its email and chat queuesnot SocialPilot

SocialPilot

  • Social media managementnot Khoros
  • Social media schedulingnot Khoros
  • Team collaboration on social contentnot Khoros

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Khoros

  • IgniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • Community migration is genuinely hard: moving years of threads, accepted solutions, member reputation and SEO-bearing URLs off Khoros later is a project measured in quarters, which makes the switching cost far higher than the annual licence suggests.
  • Pricing is not published and the platform is sold on annual enterprise contracts with substantial implementation and design services, so the first-year cost is materially higher than the recurring licence and hard to benchmark.
  • The publishing and listening side inherited from Spredfast has been outpaced by dedicated social suites, so social-first teams frequently find themselves keeping a second tool for scheduling and analytics and paying for overlapping capability.
  • The product is the result of merging two large codebases and has now changed private-equity owner twice, and reviewers consistently report that community administration and social management still feel like separate systems sharing a login rather than one product.
  • Khoros Community Classic is being sunset in favour of the new Aurora AI community platform, so existing customers face a forced migration of an already hard-to-move asset, on the acquirer timetable rather than their own.

SocialPilot

  • Essentials plan is limited to 5 social accounts and a single user
  • Standard plan caps at 10 accounts and 3 users; Premium caps at 20 accounts and 6 users
  • Additional social accounts beyond a plan's limit are billed as add-ons on every tier
  • Annual billing discount is 15%, applied only when prepaying a full year

Pricing, plan by plan

Khoros

On request
  • Khoros$undefined/year
    • Branded communities
    • Social publishing and governance
    • Social customer care queue

SocialPilot

$20/month
  • Essentials$20/month
    • 5 social accounts
    • 1 user
    • 500 AI credits
  • Standard$40/month
    • 10 social accounts
    • 3 users
    • 1000 AI credits
  • Premium$100/month
    • 20 social accounts
    • 6 users
    • 5000 AI credits
  • Ultimate$200/month
    • 40 social accounts
    • Unlimited users
    • Unlimited AI credits

Which should you pick?

Choose Khoros if

  • You need branded communities.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want community gamification.
Khoros review

Choose SocialPilot if

Nothing in the data separates SocialPilot from Khoros on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

SocialPilot review

Questions people ask

Is Khoros or SocialPilot better?
Neither clearly leads. Khoros starts at On request and SocialPilot at $20/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Khoros or SocialPilot?
Khoros starts at On request and SocialPilot at $20/month.
Does Khoros or SocialPilot run on more platforms?
Khoros runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. SocialPilot runs on Web.
What is Khoros best used for?
Khoros is most often used for a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume, a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions, a games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing features, a bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same sla framework as its email and chat queues. Of those, a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume and a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions are not what SocialPilot is typically brought in for.
What can Khoros do that SocialPilot cannot?
Khoros covers Branded communities, Community gamification, Social publishing, Social customer care.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Khoros: Who owns Khoros now?

IgniteTech, an ESW Capital company, acquired Khoros on 27 May 2025. Vista Equity Partners, which created Khoros by merging Lithium and Spredfast, is no longer the owner.

SocialPilot: How much does SocialPilot cost?

SocialPilot offers plans from $20/month for Essentials to $200/month for Ultimate. Enterprise plans are custom priced. Annual billing provides 15% discount. No credit card is required to start the 14-day free trial.

Source
Khoros: Why does the website say khoros.ai?

The company moved its corporate domain from khoros.com to khoros.ai as part of an AI-first relaunch under IgniteTech, centred on its Aurora and Iris AI capabilities.

SocialPilot: Does SocialPilot offer a free trial?

Yes, SocialPilot offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, giving access to all features during the trial period.

Source
Khoros: Is pricing published?

No. Khoros quotes privately on annual enterprise contracts, and implementation services are a significant separate cost.

SocialPilot: What is the difference between SocialPilot plans?

Plans scale from 5-40 social accounts, 1 to unlimited users, and 500 to unlimited AI credits. Premium tier ($100/month) is marked the most popular. Advanced features like client approval and white label reports appear starting at Premium tier.

Source
Khoros: Should the ownership change affect my decision?

It should affect your contract. Ask for written roadmap commitments, named support staffing and exit or data-export terms before signing a multi-year community deal.

Share

Related pages

More on Khoros

More on SocialPilot

Keep looking

Other head to heads