Jetpack Social Sharing vs Sassy Social Share

Choosing between Jetpack Social Sharing and Sassy Social Share comes down to what you want the plugin to do. Sassy Social Share is the better pick for on-page share buttons: it is free, supports 100+ networks, and gives you far more control over icon design. Jetpack Social is the better pick if you want your posts automatically published to your social accounts the moment they go live. Below we compare both plugins point by point so you can pick the right one for your site.

Introduction: Jetpack Social Sharing vs Sassy Social Share

These two plugins get compared constantly, yet they solve slightly different problems. Sassy Social Share puts share buttons on your content so visitors can spread it. Jetpack covers both sides: its sharing-buttons module adds visitor-facing buttons, while the separate Jetpack Social plugin auto-shares your new posts to your own social profiles. Knowing which half you actually need is most of the decision.

Sassy Social Share

Sassy Social Share is a free social share plugin by Heateor with over 100,000 active installs. As of August 2026 it sits at version 3.3.79, tested up to recent WordPress releases, with its last update in September 2025. Visitors can share your content to more than 100 social and bookmarking services, including Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, and Mastodon, and the icon styling options are unusually generous for a free plugin.

Jetpack Social Sharing

Jetpack’s sharing tools come from Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. The sharing-buttons module ships inside the main Jetpack plugin (3+ million installs, version 16.x in 2026) and adds share buttons for the major networks. The dedicated Jetpack Social plugin handles auto-publishing: its free plan posts to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Nextdoor, and Tumblr, with scheduling and content recycling included. A paid plan adds custom images or video with shared posts, auto-generated social images, and priority support. Both require connecting your site to a WordPress.com account.

Comparison: Jetpack Social Sharing vs Sassy Social Share

Both plugins are popular, both are actively maintained, and both will put working share options on a WordPress site within minutes. The differences show up in network coverage, customization depth, auto-sharing, and how each vendor makes money. Here is how they stack up point by point.

1. Social Sharing Services:

• Sassy Social Share: Supports over 100 social sharing and bookmarking services, from the big networks down to niche and regional platforms. If your audience shares to Telegram, Reddit, or Mastodon, the buttons are there.
• Jetpack: Sharing buttons cover the major networks visitors actually use, and Jetpack Social auto-publishes to eight networks including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Nextdoor, and Tumblr.

2. User Interface and Customization:

• Sassy Social Share: Free icon customization is where it shines. You choose the icon shape (square, round, or rectangular), size from 16 pixels up with no upper limit, background color, and logo color, all without paying anything.
• Jetpack: The settings live inside the familiar Jetpack interface and the block editor, which keeps things tidy but shallow. You pick button styles and networks; deep visual customization is not the point.

Also Reads: Best WordPress Plugins For LinkedIn

3. Performance and Loading:

• Sassy Social Share: Loads asynchronously and stays light, so it will not drag down your page speed scores.
• Jetpack: The sharing buttons themselves are light, but they arrive inside the full Jetpack plugin, which bundles dozens of modules. If you only want share buttons, you are carrying more code than you need. The standalone Jetpack Social plugin is slimmer.

4. Auto-Sharing and Follow Buttons:

• Sassy Social Share: Focuses on visitor sharing. It does not auto-publish your posts to your social accounts; Heateor offers separate plugins for follow icons and social login.
• Jetpack Social: Auto-publishing is the headline feature. Publish a post and it goes out to your connected accounts automatically, with scheduling and the option to re-share older content. For solo bloggers who forget to post on social media, this is the feature that matters.

5. Share Counts:

• Sassy Social Share: Supports share counts for the platforms that still expose them, such as Pinterest, Reddit, Buffer, Odnoklassniki, Fintel, and Vkontakte. Most major networks stopped providing public count APIs years ago, so treat counts as a bonus, not a buying reason.
• Jetpack: Displays basic share counts where networks make them available, with related site statistics living in Jetpack Stats rather than the sharing module.

6. Additional Features:

• Sassy Social Share: Floating and vertical share bars with mobile on/off switches, URL shortening integration, icon reordering, placement control before or after content, and shortcodes and widgets for manual placement.
• Jetpack Social: Post scheduling, content recycling for older posts, and on the paid plan custom images or video attached to shared posts plus an automatic social image generator.

7. Pricing:

• Sassy Social Share: The core plugin is free with no share limits. Heateor sells premium add-ons and related plugins (recover-share-counts, social login, follow icons) from its own site; for most sites the free plugin is genuinely enough.
• Jetpack Social: The free plan covers auto-sharing to all eight supported networks with scheduling. The paid Social plan is billed yearly with a first-year discount and regional pricing, and mainly adds media uploads with shared posts, generated images, and priority support. Jetpack’s sharing buttons inside the main plugin are free.

Side-by-Side Summary

Feature	Sassy Social Share	Jetpack Social Sharing
Main job	Visitor share buttons	Auto-publish your posts + share buttons
Networks	100+ share targets	Major networks; 8 auto-share targets
Cost	Free (paid add-ons optional)	Free plan; paid plan billed yearly
Icon customization	Extensive, free	Basic styles
Auto-sharing	No	Yes, with scheduling and recycling
Account required	None	WordPress.com connection
Active installs (Aug 2026)	100,000+	Jetpack 3M+; Jetpack Social 30,000+

Also Reads: Top WordPress Plugins for Social Media Marketing

To decide which plugin fits your use case, weigh the factors below. If your site runs on BuddyPress, also look at BuddyPress Activity Social Share, which adds social sharing directly inside BuddyPress activity feeds, something neither general-purpose plugin does.

1. Breadth of networks: Need share targets beyond the big platforms? Sassy Social Share’s 100+ services win easily.

2. Hands-off promotion: Want every new post pushed to your own social accounts automatically? That is Jetpack Social’s job, and Sassy does not attempt it.

3. Design control: Sassy gives you shape, size, and color control for free. Jetpack keeps you close to its stock button styles.

4. Plugin weight: Sassy is a single-purpose plugin. Jetpack’s buttons come inside a large multi-module plugin, which is fine if you already use Jetpack for backups or stats, and wasteful if you do not.

5. Privacy and accounts: Sassy works without any external account. Jetpack requires a WordPress.com connection, which some site owners prefer to avoid.

Sassy Social Share strengths:

• Over 100 social sharing and bookmarking services, the widest coverage in its class.
• Free icon customization for shape, size, background color, and logo color.
• Floating and vertical share bars with mobile controls, URL shortening, and icon reordering.
• Share counts for the platforms that still expose them, such as Pinterest, Reddit, and Vkontakte.

Jetpack Social Sharing strengths:

• Auto-publishes new posts to Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Nextdoor, and Tumblr.
• Scheduling and content recycling keep older posts circulating without manual work.
• Clean block editor integration and settings that live where WordPress users expect them.
• Paid plan adds custom media with shared posts and an automatic social image generator.

Which should you pick?

Our recommendation: if you want visitors to share your content, install Sassy Social Share and keep the free version. It covers more networks, looks the way you want it to, and costs nothing. If your problem is remembering to promote your own posts, use Jetpack Social and let auto-publishing do the work. The two are not mutually exclusive either; plenty of sites run Sassy for visitor buttons alongside Jetpack Social for auto-sharing, since they touch different parts of the page.

Frequently asked questions

Is Sassy Social Share still maintained?

Yes. As of August 2026 it is at version 3.3.79 with 100,000+ active installs, last updated in September 2025 and tested against current WordPress releases.

Is Jetpack Social free?

The free plan auto-shares posts to all eight supported networks with scheduling included. The paid plan, billed yearly, adds custom images or video on shared posts, auto-generated social images, and priority support.

Can I use both plugins together?

Yes. Use Sassy Social Share for visitor-facing share buttons and Jetpack Social for auto-publishing. Just disable Jetpack’s own sharing-buttons module so you do not show two sets of buttons.

What about Social Snap?

Social Snap is a premium alternative with polished design and follow buttons, priced from $39/year for one site up to $299/year for agencies. It is worth a look if you want a paid all-in-one, but most sites get what they need from the two free options compared here.

Do share buttons slow a site down?

Both plugins load their buttons asynchronously, so the impact is minimal. The bigger consideration is Jetpack’s overall plugin size if you only need the sharing module.

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