Hootsuite
Mid-size and larger teams that want publishing, inbox, analytics and some listening in one platform and can pay per seat.
Quick overview
- Pricing
- From $99/user/month (billed annually); no free plan
- Plans
- No free plan; 14-day free trial, no credit card, no automatic charge (trial has daily posting limits and no bulk scheduling). Priced per user, billed annually: Standard $99/user/month (up to 10 social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts, 100 AI credits/month, 7-day listening search); Professional $199 (unlimited accounts, 30-day listening search, exports, trend forecasting); Advanced $399 (approvals, message assignment, team reporting). Enterprise: custom. Monthly billing exists but its price is not published. Enterprise-only add-ons include Parliament (employee advocacy), advanced inbox, Lumen by Talkwalker, Salesforce and SSO.
- G2 rating
- 4.3 / 5.0
- Comparisons
- Featured in 5 comparisons
Key features
- Unlimited post scheduling across networks with a social content calendar and recommended times to publish
- Unified inbox (Nest) for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Threads, TikTok, Google Business Profile and WhatsApp messages
- Built-in listening (Lumen): 7-day Quick Search on Standard, 30-day Quick Search, trend forecasting up to 90 days and results export from Professional
- Competitive benchmarking: 5 competitors on Standard, 20 on Professional and Advanced
- Wisdom AI assistant with 100 AI credits/month on every self-serve plan, plus AI captions, hashtags and ideas
- Post approval workflows, internal comments and skill-based message routing on Advanced
- Social ads publishing, reporting and post boosting on all plans; automatic boosting from Professional
Pros
- One tool covers publishing, inbox, analytics, ads and basic listening on every plan
- Unlimited social accounts from Professional
- Listening is built in (7-day search on Standard, 30-day on Professional), with an enterprise upgrade path to Lumen by Talkwalker
- No-credit-card 14-day trial
Cons
- Expensive per seat: $99/user/month is the entry price, billed annually
- Standard caps you at 10 social accounts
- Approval workflows and message assignment need Advanced at $399/user/month
- No free plan, and monthly prices are not published on the pricing page
- Full listening (13 months of history, alerts, advanced sources) is Enterprise only
Hootsuite in our comparisons
Best Social Media Management Tools
Sprout Social is the best social media management tool for teams that publish, engage and report together, thanks to its Smart Inbox, reporting on every plan and approvals on Professional. Pick Buffer or Metricool if per-seat pricing is out of budget.
Sarah ChenUpdated October 2026Best Social Media Tools for Small Business
Buffer is the best social media tool for most small businesses: a free plan for 3 channels, paid plans from $5 per channel per month billed yearly and support for every major network, including Google Business Profile. Pick Metricool if analytics and a free inbox matter more.
Sarah ChenUpdated October 2026Buffer alternatives
Publer is the best Buffer alternative for most Buffer users: same per-account pricing, but cheaper, with approvals, bulk scheduling and X on the $4-per-account Professional plan. Pick Metricool for analytics, or Later for Instagram and TikTok.
Sarah ChenUpdated October 2026Hootsuite alternatives
Agorapulse is the best Hootsuite alternative for most teams: the same publishing, inbox and reporting for less per seat, with published monthly prices and a 30-day trial. Choose Buffer if you mainly schedule posts on a small budget.
Sarah ChenUpdated October 2026Sprout Social alternatives
Agorapulse is the best Sprout Social alternative for most teams: a similar inbox, approvals and reporting for $79 to $149 per user per month billed annually. Agencies and large teams should look at Sendible, which includes unlimited users on every plan.
Sarah ChenUpdated October 2026