Hootsuite is one of the best known social media management tools, and in 2026 it is bigger than ever. It now sells itself as Hootsuite Social OS, a suite of named modules: Perch for planning and publishing, Nest for the social inbox, Lumen for insights and listening, Wisdom for AI help and Parliament for employee advocacy. It is also one of the most expensive tools in its class. Self-serve plans start at $99 per user per month, billed annually, and there is no free plan.
That price is the main reason teams go looking for something else. This guide compares Hootsuite with six alternatives: Agorapulse, Buffer, Sprout Social, Later, Metricool and Sprinklr. Some cost a fraction of Hootsuite, some match it feature for feature for less per seat, and one sits above it for large enterprises.
The tools are priced in very different ways, and that matters more than any single feature:
- Per user: Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Agorapulse charge for every seat.
- Per channel: Buffer charges for every connected social account, with unlimited users on its Team plan.
- Per plan: Later sells plans that include a set number of users and "social sets".
- Per brand: Metricool charges by the number of brands (businesses or clients), with unlimited team members on its Advanced plan.
- By quote: Sprinklr no longer publishes prices.
A tool that looks cheap for one person can get expensive for ten, and the other way round. We work through a three-person example near the end.
How we compared these tools
We compared plans, limits and features using each vendor's own pricing pages, plan pages and help center articles, checked in October 2026. We did not run hands-on tests for this guide. Every price is the USD list price before tax shown on the vendor's site on the day we checked. Where a vendor does not publish a number (for example Hootsuite's monthly-billing prices or Sprinklr's prices), we say so instead of guessing.
We looked at:
- Price and pricing unit: per user, per channel, per brand or by quote, and what monthly billing costs compared with annual.
- Free plan and trial: whether you can start free, and how long a trial lasts.
- Account limits: how many social profiles each plan allows.
- Networks: in particular X (Twitter), which several tools now charge extra for or do not support.
- Inbox and engagement: comments, DMs and reviews in one place.
- Team features: approvals, roles and message assignment, and which plan unlocks them.
- Analytics and listening: reporting depth, competitor tracking and how much listening is included.
Why people leave Hootsuite
Hootsuite does a lot. The reasons teams switch are mostly about what it costs and which plan you need for the features you want.
1. The entry price is high and it is per seat. Standard costs $99 per user per month, billed annually. Professional is $199 and Advanced is $399, also per user per month on annual billing. A three-person team on Standard pays $297 a month, or $3,564 a year. Every new hire adds another $99 or more each month.
2. Monthly prices are not published. Hootsuite says monthly billing is available for Standard, Professional and Advanced, and that "annual billing provides a lower per-user monthly rate", but the pricing page only shows the annual rates. If you want to pay month to month, you have to sign up or ask to find out what it costs.
3. There is no free plan. You get a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and Hootsuite says you are not charged automatically at the end. During the trial there are daily posting limits (10 to 20 posts per organization, depending on the plan) and no bulk scheduling, so it is hard to test a full workload.
4. Standard caps you at 10 social accounts. Unlimited accounts start on Professional at $199 per user per month. A small team with a few brands can hit the cap quickly.
5. Team workflow features sit on the top self-serve plan. Approvals, message assignment and team reporting need Advanced, at $399 per user per month. For three people that is $1,197 a month.
6. Full listening and several add-ons are Enterprise only. Standard includes a 7-day Quick Search in Lumen and Professional a 30-day search, which is useful for spot checks. Full listening with 13 months of history, alerts and advanced data sources is Enterprise only. So are employee advocacy (Parliament), Salesforce integration, SSO, advanced social attribution and Lumen by Talkwalker, and their prices are only given in a demo.
If those limits do not bother you and the budget is there, Hootsuite remains a strong all-in-one tool. If they do, the alternatives below each fix one or more of them.
Comparison table
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Pricing unit | Best for | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hootsuite | $99/user/month (annual) | No free plan; 14-day trial | Per user | All-in-one suite for larger teams | Publishing, inbox, ads and basic listening in one tool |
| Agorapulse | $79/user/month (annual), $99 monthly | No free plan since July 6, 2026; 30-day trial | Per user | Inbox-first teams and agencies | Inbox with assignment and ROI reporting |
| Buffer | $5/channel/month (yearly), $6 monthly | Free plan (3 channels); 14-day trial | Per channel | Affordable, simple scheduling | Unlimited users on the Team plan |
| Sprout Social | $79/seat/month (annual), $99 monthly | No free plan; 30-day trial | Per user | Engagement and reporting | Smart Inbox and review management |
| Later | $18.75/month (yearly), $25 monthly | No free plan; 14-day trial | Per plan | Visual planning for Instagram and TikTok | Social sets and a visual planner |
| Metricool | $20/month (annual), $25 monthly | Free plan (1 brand) | Per brand | Analytics-minded agencies | Analytics, competitors and ads reporting |
| Sprinklr | By quote | No free plan; no trial | By quote | Enterprise-scale social with governance | 30+ channels with compliance controls |
Prices checked October 2026 on each vendor's pricing page. USD, excluding tax.
Hootsuite: the tool you are replacing
Key features
- Perch (publishing): unlimited scheduled posts on every plan, a content calendar, recommended times to post, Canva and Adobe Express templates, bulk scheduling (not during the trial) and a link-in-bio page (Hootbio).
- Nest (inbox): one inbox for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Threads, TikTok, Google Business Profile and WhatsApp messages.
- Lumen (listening): a 7-day Quick Search, trending topics and sentiment on Standard; 30-day search, exports and trend forecasting up to 90 days on Professional.
- Competitive benchmarking: 5 competitors on Standard, 20 on Professional and Advanced.
- Wisdom (AI): 100 AI credits a month on every self-serve plan, plus AI captions, hashtags and ideas.
- Ads: social ads publishing, reporting and post boosting on all plans, with automatic boosting from Professional.
- Networks: Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky and Pinterest for publishing.
Pricing
| Plan | Price (per user/month, billed annually) | Main limits |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $99 | Up to 10 social accounts, 100 AI credits/month |
| Professional | $199 | Unlimited social accounts |
| Advanced | $399 | Adds approvals, message assignment and team reporting |
| Enterprise | Custom | Listening, advocacy, SSO and other add-ons |
Monthly billing is offered on the three self-serve plans, but its price is not shown. 14-day free trial, no credit card. Nonprofit discounts are available on some plans.
What Hootsuite still does well
It covers publishing, inbox, analytics, ads and some listening on every plan, and X is included without an add-on. Professional removes the account cap entirely. If you need listening, it is built in at a basic level and there is a clear upgrade path to Lumen by Talkwalker on Enterprise.
Where it falls short
The per-seat price, the 10-account cap on Standard, approvals gated behind the $399 Advanced plan and the lack of published monthly prices or a free plan. Those are the gaps the alternatives below fill.
Agorapulse: best Hootsuite alternative for most teams
Agorapulse is the closest like-for-like replacement for Hootsuite: a full social media management suite built around a strong inbox, with publishing, reporting and team features. It is cheaper per seat than Hootsuite at every published tier, and it publishes both monthly and annual prices.
Key features
- Unified inbox for comments, DMs and Google reviews on every plan. Assignment and reply collision detection start on Professional; saved replies, labels and bulk actions are on Advanced.
- Unlimited scheduling with a content calendar on every plan. First comments and Instagram grid preview start on Professional, and bulk scheduling by CSV (up to 200 posts) is on Advanced.
- Approval workflows: one-step approvals from Professional, multi-step approvals on Custom.
- Ad comment moderation for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn (Professional and up).
- ROI reporting: a basic report on clicks and traffic from Google Analytics on every plan; the advanced ROI report with conversions and revenue is on Advanced.
- Shared calendars for client review: 5 on Advanced, unlimited on Custom.
- Advanced Listening across social, news, blogs and forums, as a paid add-on.
- Networks: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn (pages and profiles), TikTok, YouTube, Threads, Pinterest, Bluesky and Google Business Profile. X needs a paid add-on.
Pricing
| Plan | Annual billing (per user/month) | Monthly billing (per user/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $79 | $99 |
| Professional | $119 | $149 |
| Advanced | $149 | $199 |
| Custom | Quote | Quote |
Each additional user costs the same as the first. Standard, Professional and Advanced include 10 social profiles shared across all users. Extra profiles cost $10 a month each on annual billing or $15 on monthly. Custom plans have unlimited profiles.
X costs extra. According to Agorapulse's help center, X profiles do not count toward the profile limit, but each one needs a paid add-on: X Lite at $29 per X profile per month (publishing only) or X Plus at $69 per X profile per month (publishing, inbox and reports).
The free plan has ended. Agorapulse's help center says its Free plan was discontinued on July 6, 2026. There is now a free "Archie" plan, but that is only for Agorapulse's AI content tool (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, 10 credits a month), not a free social media management plan.
The free trial is 30 days in total with no credit card: 15 days of the Advanced plan, which you can extend once by another 15 days, limited to 10 profiles.
Pros
- Cheaper per seat than Hootsuite at every published tier: $79 vs $99 at entry, $149 vs $399 at the top self-serve plan
- Strong inbox and community management tools
- Monthly and annual prices both published
- 24/7 support on all plans
- 30-day free trial without a credit card
Cons
- 10 social profiles shared across the whole account on self-serve plans; extra profiles cost $10 to $15 each per month
- X costs $29 or $69 per X profile per month on top
- No free plan since July 2026
- Approvals start on Professional ($119 per user per month billed annually), and bulk scheduling and saved replies need Advanced
- Advanced Listening and Advocacy are add-ons with no public price
Who it's for
In-house teams and agencies that spend a lot of time in the inbox and want Hootsuite's breadth at a lower per-seat price. If you manage many X accounts, add the X add-on to your sums before you decide.
Buffer: best for low cost and simple scheduling
Buffer is the opposite of Hootsuite in pricing. It charges per connected channel, not per person, and its Team plan includes unlimited users. For small teams that mainly need to schedule posts, it is usually the cheapest paid option here.
Key features
- Queue-based scheduling with a visual calendar, drafts, templates and reminders.
- Community inbox to reply to comments, with AI replies and saved replies.
- Ideas board to capture and organize content ideas.
- AI Assistant to write, refine and repurpose posts, unlimited on all plans.
- Start Page, a link-in-bio builder.
- Public API on all plans, plus integrations with Canva, Zapier, Make, n8n, ChatGPT and Claude.
- Networks: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube (Shorts), Threads, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Bluesky, Mastodon and Substack.
Pricing
- Free: $0 for up to 3 channels, 10 scheduled posts per channel at a time, 1 user, 30 days of insights history.
- Essentials: $6 per channel per month on monthly billing for channels 1 to 10, or about $5 billed yearly. 1 user, unlimited scheduled posts (fair use cap of 5,000 per channel), advanced analytics and reports.
- Team: $12 per channel per month on monthly billing for channels 1 to 10, or $10 billed yearly ($120 a year per channel). Unlimited team members, approval workflows, access levels and branded reports.
Channels above 10 get cheaper: on Team, channels 11 to 25 cost $4 each per month. Buffer's own examples: 10 channels on Team cost $120 a month (monthly) or $100 a month (yearly); 25 channels cost $180 or $150. There is a 14-day free trial of paid plans and a 50% nonprofit discount.
Pros
- A real free plan for 3 channels and a low entry price
- Team plan includes unlimited users, so the bill does not grow with headcount
- Volume discounts make many channels cheaper per channel
- Full pricing published, including a machine-readable page
- X, Mastodon and Bluesky included
Cons
- Essentials is for one user; approvals and access levels need Team
- Free plan limits you to 10 queued posts per channel and 30 days of insights
- The inbox handles comments; Buffer does not list DMs or social listening
- Some channels have limited support (for example, Instagram personal profiles and Facebook groups are notification publishing only)
Who it's for
Solo creators, small businesses and small agencies that mainly need reliable scheduling across many channels, and teams that are paying for Hootsuite seats but only use its publishing. It is not a replacement if you rely on Hootsuite's DM inbox or listening.
Sprout Social: best for customer care and reporting
Sprout Social is Hootsuite's closest rival at the premium end. It is also priced per seat at similar levels, and its inbox starts on the $199 Standard plan, so it is rarely a way to save money. Teams choose it for its inbox, customer care tools and reporting.
Key features
- Smart Inbox for comments, DMs and reviews, with collision detection and case management (Standard and up).
- Publishing calendar, ViralPost optimal send times and Sprout Queue on every plan.
- Reporting at group, profile and post level on all plans; competitor and paid reports from Professional.
- Review management for Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot and Glassdoor (Standard and up).
- Trellis AI with 100 credits per seat per month.
- Approval workflows and bulk scheduling from Professional; external approvals on Advanced.
- Networks: Instagram, X, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Threads, YouTube and Reddit on all plans.
Pricing
| Plan | Annual billing (per seat/month) | Monthly billing (per seat/month) | Main limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials (new) | $79 | $99 | 5 social profiles, publishing and reporting, no inbox |
| Standard | $199 | $249 | 5 social profiles, inbox, 10 brand keywords |
| Professional | $299 | $399 | Unlimited profiles, bulk scheduling, approvals |
| Advanced | $399 | $499 | API, external approvals, sentiment, CRM integrations |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Annual billing is one upfront payment. There is a 30-day free trial with no credit card. Listening, Premium Analytics and Employee Advocacy are add-ons with no public price.
Pros
- The most complete inbox and customer care tooling in this list
- Strong reporting on every plan, including Essentials
- Monthly and annual prices published for every self-serve plan
- 30-day free trial without a credit card
- 24/5 live phone and chat support on every plan
Cons
- Among the most expensive per seat: Standard is $199 per seat per month billed annually
- Essentials and Standard include only 5 social profiles per account; extra profiles cost extra at a price Sprout does not publish
- Approvals start at Professional ($299 per seat per month billed annually)
- Essentials has no inbox
- Listening is a paid add-on with no public price
Who it's for
Brands where social is a customer service channel, and teams that need detailed reporting for stakeholders. Compared with Hootsuite, Sprout's approvals come one tier lower (Professional at $299 vs Advanced at $399 per seat), but its Standard plan includes only 5 profiles against Hootsuite's 10.
Later: best for Instagram and TikTok first brands
Later started as a visual Instagram planner and is still strongest on visual platforms. It is priced per plan, with users and "social sets" included. A social set is one profile on each supported network, which works well for grouping a brand or a client.
Key features
- Visual planner with a drag-and-drop calendar across all networks.
- Scheduling to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads and Snapchat, with auto publishing listed for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
- Best time to post for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
- Link in Bio page with analytics on all plans.
- Social inbox for Instagram, Facebook and TikTok conversations (Growth and up).
- Approvals and external comments (Growth and up).
- Scale plan extras: competitive benchmarking, brand mentions, brand health and future insights.
Pricing
| Plan | Yearly billing (per month) | Monthly billing | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $18.75 | $25 | 1 social set (8 profiles), 1 user, 30 posts per profile per month |
| Growth | $37.50 | $50 | 2 social sets (16 profiles), 2 users, 180 posts per profile per month, inbox, approvals |
| Scale | $82.50 | $110 | 6 social sets (48 profiles), 4 users, unlimited posts, benchmarking, brand mentions |
Add-ons on Growth and Scale: an extra social set is $15 a month ($11.25 yearly), an extra user $5 a month ($3.75 yearly). Yearly billing saves 25%. There is a 14-day free trial and 50% off the annual Growth plan for nonprofits.
Pros
- Low flat price with several users included on Growth and Scale
- Visual planning built for Instagram and TikTok
- Social sets make it easy to group profiles by brand or client
- Brand mentions and competitor benchmarking on Scale at $82.50 a month billed yearly
Cons
- X (Twitter) is not in Later's list of supported profiles
- Starter caps you at 30 posts per profile per month and 1 user
- The inbox only covers Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
- No free plan
Who it's for
Creators, small brands and small agencies whose work is mostly on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest. If X is an important channel for you, Later is not a full Hootsuite replacement.
Metricool: best for agencies on a budget that want analytics
Metricool prices by brand, where a brand is one business or client with one profile per social network or ad platform. The Advanced plan includes unlimited team members (Free and Starter have none). That makes it very cheap for small teams and agencies, and its analytics and ads reporting go further than most tools at this price.
Key features
- Planner with best-time suggestions, autolists and RSS on every plan, poll and PDF scheduling from Starter, and recurring posts on Advanced.
- Analytics with unlimited history on paid plans, plus competitor analysis for up to 100 profiles.
- Ads reporting for Facebook Ads, Google Ads and TikTok Ads.
- Automated PDF and PPT reports; custom templates and a Looker Studio connector on Advanced.
- Unified inbox for Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn (X with the add-on).
- Flows for comment-to-DM and keyword DM automation.
- SmartLinks link-in-bio and web or blog analytics.
Pricing
| Plan | Annual billing (per month) | Monthly billing | Brands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 brand, 20 scheduled posts/month, no LinkedIn or X |
| Starter | $20 or $36 | $25 or $45 | Up to 5 or up to 10 brands |
| Advanced | $53, $85 or $159 | $67, $107 or $210 | 15, 25 or 50 brands |
| Custom | Quote | Quote | 50+ brands, white label |
Advanced adds team members (unlimited), team and client management, roles, post approval, custom report templates and API access. Free and Starter are single-user. X is a paid add-on at $10 a month per connected account, on paid plans only. The Advanced Analytics add-on starts at $12 a month on Starter and $36 on Advanced. Prices exclude VAT. The free plan is free forever, and if you cancel a paid plan the account goes back to Free. The pricing page does not mention a free trial of paid plans.
Pros
- Generous free plan (1 brand, 20 posts a month, analytics)
- Unlimited team members on Advanced
- Analytics, competitor tracking and ads reporting stronger than most tools at this price
- Low cost per brand at scale: 50 brands for $159 a month billed annually
Cons
- X costs $10 a month per account extra, and X analytics keep only 30 days
- LinkedIn is not available on the free plan
- Team members, approvals, roles and API access need Advanced ($53 a month and up, billed annually)
- Some advanced analytics need a paid add-on
Who it's for
Freelancers and agencies that manage several brands and care about reporting to clients. It covers much of Hootsuite's scheduling, inbox and reporting for far less money, though it does not list a full listening tool: you get competitor tracking and a Hashtag Tracker add-on at $25 a day.
Sprinklr: best for large global enterprises
Sprinklr sits above Hootsuite, not below it. It is an enterprise customer experience platform, and its social media management product is sold as Sprinklr Social.
Key features
- 30+ social and messaging channels supported out of the box.
- AI in 100+ languages for content, sentiment and insights, plus the Sprinklr Copilot assistant.
- Governance: granular access controls, audit trails and automated approval workflows.
- Compliance checks that flag violations and brand risks before posts go live.
- Employee advocacy and tools for distributed teams.
- Listening, visual insights and competitive benchmarking through Sprinklr Insights.
- 100+ integrations with CRM, DAM and BI tools.
Pricing
By quote only. Sprinklr has discontinued its self-serve plans: its old pricing page now returns an error and the free trial page redirects to a demo request. There is no free plan or trial. Note that Sprinklr Social's own page marks social listening, social ads and social customer service as parts of other suites (Sprinklr Insights, Sprinklr Marketing and Sprinklr Service), so a full setup can mean buying more than one product.
Pros
- Built for global enterprises with many brands, regions and teams
- Widest channel coverage claimed in this list (30+ channels)
- Deep governance and compliance controls
- Connects social with listening, marketing and customer service on one platform
Cons
- No public pricing, no self-serve plan and no free trial
- Listening, ads and customer care are separate suites
- Far more than a small or mid-size team needs
Who it's for
Large organizations that have outgrown Hootsuite Enterprise, or that need strict compliance and want social tied into customer service and listening. If you are leaving Hootsuite to save money, Sprinklr is not the answer.
How to choose
Start with how you want to pay, then check the limits that matter to you.
- You want Hootsuite's breadth for less: Agorapulse. Same per-seat model, lower prices, published monthly rates and a strong inbox.
- You mostly schedule posts: Buffer. Start free with 3 channels, and use Team for unlimited users when you need approvals.
- Social is a customer service channel: Sprout Social. Expect to pay about what you pay for Hootsuite, but get a stronger inbox and review management.
- You are an agency or freelancer with many brands: Metricool. Brand-based pricing with unlimited team members on Advanced, and client-friendly reports.
- You live on Instagram and TikTok: Later. Cheap, visual and users are included, but no X.
- You are a large enterprise with compliance needs: Sprinklr, by quote.
Check these before you commit:
- X support. Hootsuite, Buffer and Sprout include X. Agorapulse ($29 or $69 per X profile per month) and Metricool ($10 per account per month) charge extra. Later does not list X at all.
- Profile limits. Hootsuite Standard allows 10 accounts, Sprout Essentials and Standard include 5 (extra profiles at an unpublished price), Agorapulse's self-serve plans 10 shared across the account. Buffer and Metricool scale by channel or brand instead.
- Where approvals start. Hootsuite: Advanced. Agorapulse: Professional. Sprout Social: Professional. Buffer: Team. Later: Growth. Metricool: Advanced.
- Listening. Hootsuite includes basic listening (a 7-day Lumen Quick Search) on every plan. Sprout and Agorapulse sell listening as add-ons with no public price, Later's Scale plan has brand mentions, and Sprinklr sells it as a separate suite.
Cost comparison: a three-person team
Pricing units differ so much that the only fair way to compare is with a real setup. Our example: 3 people managing 2 brands, each with 5 profiles, one of which is X (10 profiles in total, 2 of them X), billed annually. All figures are list prices from the vendors' pages in October 2026.
| Tool | Plan | Math | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hootsuite | Standard | 3 users × $99 | $297 | $3,564 |
| Hootsuite | Advanced (approvals) | 3 users × $399 | $1,197 | $14,364 |
| Agorapulse | Standard + X Lite | 3 × $79 = $237, plus 2 X profiles × $29 = $58 | $295 | $3,540 |
| Agorapulse | Standard + X Plus | $237, plus 2 X profiles × $69 = $138 | $375 | $4,500 |
| Agorapulse | Professional (approvals) + X Lite | 3 × $119 = $357, plus 2 X profiles × $29 = $58 | $415 | $4,980 |
| Buffer | Team | 10 channels × $10 (unlimited users) | $100 | $1,200 |
| Sprout Social | Professional | 3 seats × $299 (Standard includes only 5 profiles) | $897 | $10,764 |
| Metricool | Advanced (15 brands) + X | $53, plus 2 X accounts × $10 = $20 | $73 | $876 |
| Later | Growth + 1 extra user | $37.50 + $3.75 (no X support) | $41.25 | $495 |
| Sprinklr | Quote | Not published | n/a | n/a |
A few notes on the math:
- Hootsuite's monthly-billing price is not published, so we can only show annual figures. Standard covers this setup because it allows 10 accounts, but approvals need Advanced.
- Agorapulse's X profiles do not count toward its 10-profile limit (per its help center), so the 8 other profiles fit in the included 10. Choose X Lite if you only publish to X, X Plus if you also want X in the inbox and reports. Standard has no approvals; for approvals, Professional with X Lite is $415 a month.
- Buffer's Team plan includes approvals and unlimited users, so adding a fourth or tenth person costs nothing extra. On monthly billing this setup is $120 a month.
- Sprout Social is priced against Professional because Standard includes only 5 profiles and Sprout does not publish the price of extra profiles. Professional has unlimited profiles and also includes approvals.
- Metricool would cost $20 + $20 = $40 a month on Starter, but approvals and roles need Advanced. On monthly billing the Advanced setup is $67 + $20 = $87 a month.
- Later is the cheapest here, but it cannot post to X, so it only covers the 8 non-X profiles. On monthly billing it is $50 + $5 = $55 a month.
The takeaway: per-seat tools (Hootsuite, Sprout, Agorapulse) get more expensive with every person you add, while Buffer, Metricool and Later cost the same or nearly the same whether three or ten people log in.
How to switch from Hootsuite
Moving social tools is mostly about reconnecting accounts and moving scheduled content. A simple plan:
- Check your contract. Hootsuite's lower rates are on annual billing, so find your renewal date before you plan the move. Time the switch for the end of your term.
- List what you actually use. Write down your connected accounts, users, scheduled posts, saved replies, approval steps and the reports you send each month. This tells you which plan you need on the new tool.
- Export your reports. Download the analytics and reports you want to keep for year-on-year comparisons. Do this before you cancel, because your history stays in Hootsuite.
- Start a trial while Hootsuite is still live. Agorapulse (30 days) and Sprout Social (30 days) have the longest trials, Buffer and Later offer 14 days, and Buffer and Metricool have free plans you can keep. Connect a few accounts and run both tools side by side for a week or two.
- Move scheduled posts. Export or copy your queued posts and re-create them in the new tool. Agorapulse supports bulk scheduling by CSV (up to 200 posts) on its Advanced plan, which can make this faster.
- Rebuild workflows. Set up roles, approval steps, saved replies and inbox rules, and invite your team.
- Reconnect and disconnect. Once the new tool is publishing reliably, remove the social accounts from Hootsuite so posts do not go out twice, then cancel.
Final verdict
Agorapulse is the best Hootsuite alternative for most teams. It covers the same ground (publishing, a strong inbox, reporting and team workflows) at a lower per-seat price at every published tier: $79 vs $99 at entry and $149 vs $399 at the top self-serve plan, billed annually. It publishes monthly prices, and its 30-day trial is twice as long as Hootsuite's. Watch two costs: X needs a paid add-on, and self-serve plans include 10 profiles shared across the account.
If price matters most and you mainly schedule posts, Buffer costs a fraction of any per-seat tool and includes unlimited users on Team. Agencies that report to clients should look at Metricool. Teams that run customer care on social will get the most from Sprout Social, even though it is not cheaper. Later suits Instagram and TikTok brands that do not need X. And for global enterprises with strict compliance needs, Sprinklr is the step up from Hootsuite rather than a step down.
Sarah Chen