Hootsuite vs. Buffer: Which One Fits Best For Your Business?

Overview

What is Hootsuite?

Since the dawn of social media management, Hootsuite has been a household name. Being one of the first of its kind in the market, it has built itself to be a dynamic tool with an assortment of features any social media marketer, agency, or business would ever need.

Hootsuite is a complete social media marketing tool that integrates scheduling & publishing, content curation, audience insights as well as post-performance data, and so much more.

When using Hootsuite, the hassle of managing multiple social media accounts, groups, and pages on different platforms is eliminated. Since you can handle it all from one integrated dashboard of Hootsuite, switching to native platforms is hardly required.

Hootsuite also helps manage and monitor social media messages, reviews, and comments in real-time so you can proactively engage with your audience. Streams are a part of Hootsuite’s dashboard, where you can keep track of all your social pages.

What is Buffer?

Among other powerful competitors, Buffer has earned its name as a multi-purpose social media management tool, empowering solopreneurs and marketing agencies. It helps automate their content scheduling, providing audience insights and content-performance analytics and streamlining the collaborative workflow of social media teams to function smoothly together.

Buffer supports multitudes of social media platforms, meaning you can schedule and publish posts for Facebook, Google Business, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Shopify, all from the tool’s dashboard without going to the native platforms. Buffer is one of the first tools to integrate with the brand-new social platform Mastodon.

The tool has four types of subscriptions, one of which is a free plan with limited capabilities. The advanced features are available under paid subscriptions only.

One of the unique capabilities of Buffer is the Start Page builder. It enables you to build a landing page from the tool and share the link on your social media. This page helps you showcase your brand and its offerings to your target audience, which is easier than creating a whole website.

Best Suitable for

At a Glance

According to user reviews for both tools, Buffer turns out to be the more liked, with a higher overall rating than Hootsuite.

It is a well-known fact that Hootsuite is a more complicated tool to learn than its alternatives. So Buffer scores much higher when it comes to ease of use. The same goes for the set-up process. For the quality of customer support, Hootsuite is closer to Buffer but still scores lower.

However, if we take the Hootsuite vs. Buffer comparison and put SocialPilot into the mix, SocialPilot comes out with the best scores. That may be the reason why it is such a well-liked tool by the social media marketing community.

Quick Comparison – Hootsuite Vs. Buffer

After seeing what the users think of Buffer vs. Hootsuite, let us do a quick study of all the critical facts you must know before making your choice.

If we take one look at the prices, Hootsuite is a much more costly tool than Buffer. However, the latter charges users for each social account they connect, which might take a toll on expenses in the long run. Keeping a cap on the costs is possible if you go with an excellent Buffer alternative like SocialPilot. It proves to be a much more economical option.

Hootsuite allows a team of 5, but with Buffer, you can have unlimited team members, which makes it stronger than other Buffer alternatives. Also, they support all the major platforms except Youtube and Whatsapp, which are integrated into Hootsuite but not Buffer.

Have a look at the features, Hootsuite vs. Buffer, along with SocialPilot, to get a clearer view.

Reviews

Pricing – Hootsuite Vs. Buffer

In this section, we will take a better look at the pricing plans, be it Hootsuite or Buffer, to determine which of them offers more cost-effective social media marketing solutions.

Both tools have four different functional subscription models, but only Buffer has a free plan. For its business plan, Hootsuite costs $739 per month and lets you connect 35 social accounts and schedule unlimited posts. Buffer, on the other hand, with its agency plan coming at only $120 per month, lets you connect only 10 social accounts and publish up to 2000. However, you can add extra accounts at the cost of $6 each.

If we weigh in SocialPilot, which is considered to be a strong Hootsuite alternative, it allows users to connect up to 30 social accounts at just $100, which is just a tiny fraction of what Hootsuite costs for 35 accounts!

Now let’s compare each pricing plan, Hootsuite vs. Buffer, along with SocialPilot to get a clearer picture of what is most suitable for you.

In-depth Scheduling and Publishing Capabilities Comparison

Scheduling and publishing are the primary features on which we determine the efficiency of any

social media management tool. Hence, comparing each aspect of these features, Hootsuite vs. Buffer, can’t be skipped.

Now, both the tools have strong scheduling and publishing capabilities to match each other, but there are some disparities we’ll point out.

However, both tools do not let users schedule Facebook reels and Youtube shorts. Also, neither of them has the feature of first comment scheduling for Facebook and LinkedIn, which users have started to use actively with other tools.

Take a look at all the scheduling and publishing features, Buffer vs. Hootsuite, along with SocialPilot, for a clearer picture.

In-depth Analytics Capability Comparison

Analytical capabilities are the backbone of any social media management tool. It is essential that we verify this aspect to make a thorough comparison of Buffer vs. Hootsuite.

It seems like the pair is evenly matched for possessing all the preliminary analytics features. But Buffer is somewhat lagging regarding the reporting aspect of analytics. The ability to email PDF reports or schedule them to be later shared with team members and clients is missing from Buffer’s repertoire.

Following is a comparative chart of the analytics capabilities of Hootsuite vs. Buffer, along with SocialPilot.

In-depth Inbox/Listening Capability Comparison

Social listening is vital for gauging the opinions of your target audience. Doing so would help you take steps in the right direction to build your brand image.

When you go through specifics, you will see that compared to Hootsuite, Buffer has little to boast about regarding social listening.

Here is all you need to know about the listening capabilities of Buffer vs. Hootsuite and SocialPilot for a better perspective.

In-depth Social Media Collaboration Capability Comparison

When marketing agencies or businesses use social media management tools, multiple people work on it. Hence the tool needs to enable multiple team members to work together collaboratively. Also, clients should be able to get involved in the flow of social media activities.

Hootsuite and Buffer both have efficient team workflows, so all the members can be onboarded and work in sync together. Account admins can give selective access and assign roles to each member. Content approval makes the back-and-forth communication between the team and clients quick and easy, making publishing content more efficient.

In the table below, you can go through each capability regarding team collaboration, Hootsuite vs. Buffer, along with SocialPilot.