[TheNarrator]

Even without sprites, technomancers still have Threading, which they can use to increase their Complex Forms to levels far beyond any normal program.

[Lethe]

And don't try to compare spirits and sprites too much. Its too different worlds even when they try to streamline it somehow working the same.

The fact that you don't have to spend huge amounts of money to register a sprite means that you always will have a couple around you, while the same is just not affordable for mages. That makes sprites a much bigger part and much more useful. To balance things out its fair that the other part isn't just that strong, but still very capable with threading.

[Mirikon]

Also, while sprites are very useful in the Matrix, they just don't have the meat world utility that Spirits do.

[raggedhalo]

With Threading, a starting technomancer can theoretically have a Complex Form rated 12 for any given task, so long as they spent just 1BP on it. It's not very likely, sure, but Threading is utterly brutal and worth bearing in mind.