Number of Reviews (G2) | 4561 |
Overall Star Rating (G2) | |
Ease of Use | |
Quality of Support | |
Ease of Setup | |
Minimum Pricing | $99/Month |
Number of Social Accounts | 10 |
Number of Team Members | 1 |
Scheduling & Publishing | |
Analytics | |
Social Inbox | |
Collaboration | |
Whitelabel | |
Best For | Professionals, Brands, Big Businesses, and Enterprises. |
Hootsuite is a versatile social media management tool that centralizes planning, scheduling, and managing posts across networks like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. It offers key features such as advanced scheduling with bulk options, real-time social listening, analytics for in-depth reporting, and a unified inbox for managing messages, comments, and reviews in one place.
Hootsuite’s Streams allow users to track mentions, keywords, conversations, and trends, making it ideal for brand tracking and engagement across platforms. With collaboration tools, customer support via chat and email, and an Enterprise option for dedicated account management, Hootsuite is an all-in-one option for teams managing multi-channel social strategies.
Pros
Kelby S.
Hootsuite provides a one stop shop to streamline the posting and customizing process for content across multiple platforms in a central hub where my collaborators and I can preview the content before it goes public. The analytics tab is also a terribly helpful amalgamator of data for grant reporting and strategizing.
Cons
Verified User in Marketing and Advertising
Not a fan of the price. It used to be more affordable, but now is more than double what it used to be.
Smart & Advanced Queueing | |
Repeat Posts | |
Social Media Calendar | |
Auto Publishing from RSS | |
Bulk Scheduling | |
Post Preview | |
AI Assistant | |
Support Facebook First Comment | |
Support Instagram First Comment | |
Support LinkedIn First Comment | |
Instagram Collaboration Posts | |
TikTok Carousel Posts | |
LinkedIn Carousel Posts | |
Shorts Scheduling |
Hootsuite’s publishing and scheduling suite includes smart queueing, content calendar, post preview, and auto-posting from RSS feeds. Advanced features like bulk scheduling up to 200 posts, Instagram and LinkedIn carousel support, and TikTok carousel scheduling make it versatile for cross-platform management.
However, it lacks the ability to add a first comment directly. These tools streamline content planning and allow users to manage posts across networks efficiently with minimal manual intervention, supporting consistent brand visibility and engagement.
Detailed Social Media Analytics | |
Multi-Account Combined Analytics | |
Engagement Metrics | |
Hashtag Performance Analysis | |
Custom Report Builder | |
Email PDF Report to Client | |
Auto-Schedule Report for Team and Client | |
Whitelabel Downloadable Report in PDF Format |
Hootsuite’s analytics capabilities offer detailed insights across all your social media profiles, covering essential metrics like follower growth, engagement, post-performance, traffic, and audience demographics. Because of the 360-degree view it offers of your social media performance, setting performance benchmarks and monitoring improvements becomes easy with Hootsuite.
Users can customize reports to include data on likes, shares, comments, and reach, helping them assess the effectiveness of their content and marketing campaigns. Additionally, Hootsuite Analytics allows users to schedule reports for automated delivery through email, making it easy to share performance summaries with clients or team members weekly or monthly. The platform also integrates with Google Analytics and Talkwalker for enhanced data analysis, making it a valuable solution for data-driven decision-making in social media strategy.
Reply to Posts and Comments | |
Can Reply to Messages | |
Reply to Questions and Reviews | |
Can Reply on Visitor Posts | |
Unified Social Inbox | |
Reply to Stories |
Hootsuite’s Social Inbox offers a unified platform to handle all social interactions. It consolidates messages, comments, visitor posts, and reviews from networks like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more, all in one place. Users can reply to posts, respond to direct messages, address questions, and engage with reviews directly through its social inbox.
Additionally, it supports replies to Stories, making it easy to stay connected with your audience in real time. This feature streamlines customer service and engagement, helping teams provide timely, consistent responses across channels.
Content Approval Workflow | |
Per Post Multi-User Collaboration | |
Comments on Post | |
Access Management | |
Free Unlimited Client Onboarding |
Hootsuite’s social media collaboration capabilities facilitate teamwork and streamline workflows. Teams can assign tasks, such as responding to messages or creating content, to specific members, ensuring clarity and accountability. The platform enables draft approvals and post reviews so content can be reviewed and refined before it goes live.
For larger organizations and enterprises, Hootsuite supports role permission levels, allowing admins to control who can access or edit specific content or accounts. These collaboration features make Hootsuite ideal for businesses managing multiple social media profiles or handling high volumes of customer conversations, ensuring that social media tasks are completed efficiently and with proper oversight.
UI/UX | User-friendly but can be overwhelming |
Ease of Setup | |
Setup Time Required | Medium |
Hootsuite is designed to be user-friendly. Its intuitive interface simplifies social media management tasks. The setup process is straightforward, with guided prompts to connect your social media accounts and configure settings.
While basic functionalities are accessible to beginners, the platform offers advanced features for experienced users. Hootsuite provides a range of tutorials and support resources to assist users in maximizing the platform’s capabilities.
Live Chat Support | |
Email Support | |
Training | |
Setup Support | |
Dedicated Account Manager |
Hootsuite’s customer support includes live chat, email, training, and setup assistance, covering essential bases for user support. A dedicated account manager is available with the Enterprise plan, offering an additional layer of personalized service for larger teams.
This comprehensive support structure ensures users, especially on premium plans, have resources for troubleshooting, onboarding, and maximizing the platform’s features.
Professional
$99.00
Per MonthFeatures
Team
$249.00
Per MonthProfessional Features +
Enterprise
Custom
Per MonthBusiness Features +
Hootsuite offers tiered pricing plans to cater to various needs, from small businesses to large enterprises. These plans typically scale based on features, the number of users, and account integrations, providing flexibility for various budgets and social media management needs.
The Professional and Team plans are often suited for smaller teams, while the Business and Enterprise plans include advanced features and additional support options. For the latest detailed plan structures, refer directly to Hootsuite’s official pricing page.
There is nothing called a one-solution-fits-all. Every business or team has a different set of requirements, and before making the final call, consider 3-4 options. To help you with this, we have briefly compared Hootsuite with four industry-leading social media management tools. Go through our comparison table to get a detailed view of the main capabilities and decide accordingly.
SocialPilot |
Hootsuite |
Buffer |
Agorapulse |
Sprout Social |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pricing | Starts at $25/Month | Starts at $99/Month | Starts at $36/Month | Starts at $69/Month | Starts at $199/Month |
Best for | Agencies & Small Businesses | Brands & Enterprises | Mid-size Businesses | Brands & Big Businesses | Brands & Enterprises |
Social Profiles | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 5 |
Ease of Use | |||||
Support | |||||
Publishing | |||||
Bulk Scheduling | 500 Posts | 350 Posts | 200 Posts | 350 Posts | |
Smart Queues | |||||
Repeat Post | Very easy | Complex | |||
First Comment | Only Facebook & Instagram | ||||
Audience Targeting | |||||
Content Planning & Creation | |||||
Calendar View | Easy to read | Complex | Hard-to-read | Confusing | Overwhelming |
AI Assistant | |||||
Custom Call-To-Actions | |||||
Content Library | |||||
Instagram Collab Posts | |||||
Location Tagging | Only Instagram | ||||
Holiday Calendar | |||||
Engagement | |||||
Social Inbox | Unified inbox | Multiple inboxes | Limited Features | Multiple inboxes | Complex |
Reply to Reviews & Queries | |||||
Reply to DMs & Comments | Only Facebook and Instagram | Seperated Inbox | |||
Analytics | |||||
Detailed Social Media Analytics | Easy to read | Complex | Complex | Complex | Complex |
Custom Report Builder | |||||
Auto-Schedule Report Sharing to Clients | |||||
Team and Client Collaboration | |||||
Client Management | |||||
Approval Workflows | Advanced | Confusing | Basic | Technical glitches | Tracking glitches |
Per Post Multi-User Collaboration | |||||
Approval-on-the-go | |||||
White Labeling | |||||
White Label Dashboard | |||||
White Label Downloadable Report | |||||
Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
If you are looking for a Hootsuite alternative that offers the same capabilities but neglects the high pricing and complexity, SocialPilot can be a powerful alternative. SocialPilot provides a comprehensive suite of social media management tools that balance ease of use with powerful capabilities.
With features like scheduling, analytics, and a unified inbox, SocialPilot makes it simple to manage content across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Its user-friendly interface and flexible pricing plans are well-suited for small to mid-sized teams, agencies, and businesses looking to streamline their social efforts.
Additionally, SocialPilot’s bulk scheduling, client management, and white-labeling options cater to agencies and SMBs who want to manage multiple accounts efficiently. SocialPilot provides a seamless experience without the premium price tag for those seeking a straightforward but robust platform.
Streamline your social media strategies without spending hours learning complicated tools and features—you can dive right in and start posting.
Hootsuite is a powerful tool for social media management. It offers advanced scheduling, real-time social listening, and multi-channel engagement, making it well-suited for teams and businesses with complex needs.
The intuitive UI, diverse integrations, and collaborative features stand out, while recent improvements like AI-powered tools and enhanced Inbox management make it competitive. However, setup can be time-intensive, and features like first-comment posting are limited. Overall, Hootsuite is a solid choice for comprehensive social media management, though smaller teams may find more straightforward, affordable options a better fit.
Hootsuite is a tool used for managing your social media posts and ads, all in one place. With Hootsuite, you can create, schedule, and publish your content and see how it's doing in real time. This way, you are able to spend more time on other important aspects of your business.
The most popular feature of Hootsuite is that it lets you plan and post content on many social media accounts at once, all from a single screen.
9 platforms are supported by Hootsuite, namely Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Linkedin, Google Business Profile, and WhatsApp.
A common question that many face today is – Is Hootsuite free or is there a free version of Hootsuite? What you need to know is that there is a free Hootsuite plan with very limited feature set. For paid plans, Hootsuite’s costs are too high.
To get a free Hootsuite account, sign up for a 30-day trial of Hootsuite Professional. After 30 days, you can choose to stick to the Professional plan or again switch to free.
Although paid Hootsuite plans offer effective publishing and monitoring of social media content, Hootsuite’s cost is very high. You can get similar or better functionalities at lower costs and a better user interface.
Top Hootsuite alternatives include: