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“The team loved it from the start. Planable helps us overview the entire marketing efforts.“
As a leading social media management platform, Hootsuite provides powerful features and integrations that help businesses handle their social media accounts. But it’s not the only tool worth considering.
Whether you’re an overcharged current Hootsuite customer or just looking to upgrade your approval process or collaboration features, we’ve got you covered.
I went over 11 alternatives to Hootsuite with a fine toothcomb and tested 3 key elements: social media calendar, collaboration, and approval. Here are Hootsuite’s top competitors in 2024:
Hootsuite is a social media management tool created by Ryan Holmes in 2008. Since its inception, it has become one of the biggest social media management platforms, having accrued more than 18 million users at the time of writing.
Among its more notable features are social media post scheduling, social media monitoring, performance reporting, and task management, making it a valuable tool for mixed content creation-performance social media teams.
Calendar
In Hootsuite’s dashboard UI, you can find the Calendar under “Planner”. From there, you can access Hootsuite’s Calendar and another section called “Content.”
The main things that I noticed about Hootsuite’s Calendar are:
3 ways to view the calendar: List, week, and month.
2 sub-views (or filters): view month by post status, view month by social network.
The calendar features drag & drop, but only in weekly view.
Post details like visuals & copy are visible only in week view as well.
The Content section is basically a team command center that contains:
Drafts
Scheduled
Past scheduled
Require approval
Expired approvals
Rejected
These filters are meant to help teams easily track the status of their content. I think they’re well-structured UI/UX wise and it was easy to find what I was looking for.
Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Overall, Hootsuite offers a solid, if a bit limited, content calendar. Upon testing it, its most significant downside is its tendency to hide useful features behind layers upon layers of menus, which makes it challenging to navigate.
Collaboration
Hootsuite’s main collaboration features are:
The ability to assign social media posts to team members. Task assignment is a huge pain point for social media teams with a multitude of roles and responsibilities, so a feature such as this one is always welcome.
Roles & permissions control. Again, an extremely important aspect of social media management. I can’t say I encountered any issues here, it’s very straightforward and easy to assign roles and permissions.
No centralized “Media Library”, which is a huge disadvantage. There is a workaround in that you can connect Google Drive and Dropbox to Hootsuite and access assets, but it’s far from ideal.
Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Hootsuite’s collaboration offerings are limited compared to other tools. The lack of a centralized, in-app media library to store assets stings the most.
Approval
Hootsuite offers approval workflows, but there’s a catch: the approval feature is only available on Business plans. You can’t test approval on the trial or team plans. The only way to see the approval processes in action is by booking a demo.
Hootsuite approval takeaway:
Users can set up custom approval workflows with multiple approvers.
Users can set posting permissions for individual team members within that approval workflow. The options are Limited, Editor, Advanced, and even Custom.
When a team member attempts to publish a post, approvers get a notification in a dedicated notification center and also by email if they opt for that.
Approvers can check content awaiting review in the “Publisher” tab. This tab offers an overview of all the content that requires approval.
Rejecting a post gives the option to send it back to the author with a message.
Final Hootsuite takeaway
Hootsuite is an excellent choice for large organizations, but its limited approval, team collaboration features, and high cost of entry make it a hard sell for agile, collaborative teams.
Additionally, collaboration & approvals, which should be a requirement in any social media team with more than 2 members, starts at quite a steep price of $739/month.
That said, let’s deep dive into 11 Hootsuite alternatives worth considering.
Planning, approvals, publishing, media library, feedback & collaboration in Planable
The first item on our list of Hootsuite alternatives is Planable. It’s the social media collaboration tool that helps teams create posts, plan content, review & approve it, and, more generally, streamline their social media efforts.
Before using Planable, I had tried Hootsuite, Sendible, Sprout Social, AgoraPulse, and a couple others to schedule our clients’ content. None of those schedulers have simplified our approvals and scheduling process the way the Planable has.
Here’s a breakdown of why Planable is amongst the best Hootsuite alternatives:
Clean UI that mixes excellent design with functionality. A big gripe users have with social media tools concerns the clunky design — not in Planable.
An easy-to-use interface that mimics the feel and flow of social media. It’s very handy for teams working with stakeholders who are less fluent in social media. Also, it’s comforting to know there’ll be zero surprises when posts go live.
Multi-level approval system for organizations with multiple social media team members and stakeholders.
In-app team collaboration functionalities that allow teams to share feedback in real-time via comments and replies next to the post. You can’t have collaboration without good communication, and texts, phone calls, and endless email chains kill it.
Multiple views for content: List,Grid, Feed, and Calendar. These views help you see content at a glance for easy planning or in detail for the nitty-gritty details. Oh, and being able to actually plan how the Instagram grid will look like in the end is a big bonus.
Syncing content across all the major platforms. If you post the same content across different platforms, you can group your posts in Planable — and, if needed, tweak each one individually.
Intuitive Analytics that allow you effortlessly track content performance and generate reports.
Schedule one-time and recurring social posts.
Free trial. All features are unlocked with a 50-post cap.
See an interactive comparison of Planable vs Hootsuite’s calendar by sliding the divider across
Planable vs. Hootsuite
With a firm focus on providing a premier collaborative and approval experience to teams of different sizes, Planable is the best Hootsuite alternative on the market if you’re looking for a time-saving marketing tool that doesn’t break the bank.
I’ve used several social media tools from Tailwind and Hootsuite, to Buffer. I’ve found that Planable is the best solution because of the ability to have comment threads on each post, as well as the ability to keep comment threads and post proposals separate from clients when I’m developing the content in-house with my team.
Planable’ssocial media calendar provides immediate access to the Media Library, filtering options, post composer, team members, and the workspaces selection screen.
Custom calendar time slots, a feature that is missing from Hootsuite. This allows you to set date and time shortcuts for when you schedule posts.
Users can drag and drop posts in Planable’s calendar.
Sync content across social media platforms; useful when you want to post the same content but need to tweak hashtags, page tags, or other details for each channel.
Custom labels to color code and categorize posts by topic or team. If you’re a fan of content pillars, this is how they can finally be integrated in your day-to-day workflow.
Filters to sort posts by many criteria, from new, approved, and scheduled to “with feedback” and “with errors.”
Connected social media accounts are displayed above the calendar. Tapping on the icons of your social media pages will reveal/hide posts associated with them in the calendar.
Drag-and-dropping posts to be scheduled in Planable’s social media calendar
Planable vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Planable provides a visual and intuitive social media calendar that sports a practical mix of clean design and useful features. That, coupled with its “everything one click away” design philosophy, makes Planable’s calendar an excellent alternative to Hootsuite’s.
Collaboration
Team feedback is displayed via comments and replies right next to the post, ensuring discussions happen in one place and with context.
Teams and clients can tag one another and add attachments to comments, eliminating potential back and forth via email or texting.
Collaborating with external parties is possible by generating a link directly to the post in question. No need for one-time approvers to create accounts, unlike some social media tools.
Dedicated media library for storing and sharing team assets.
Templates that allow teams to easily create and reuse text formulas, favorite hashtags, post locations, first comments, or selected networks.
Teams can collaborate on posts via internal notes, right next to the posts that require feedback. Meaning you can first share thoughts and feedback with the core team, without stakeholders having access.
Users cancreate mock-up pages to preview what content will look like once live. It’s also helpful in presenting work to stakeholders if you’re not ready to connect the actual pages.
Team collaboration happening right next to social media post in Planable
Planable vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Planable is designed to bring everybody under one roof and provide all the tools teams need to collaborate efficiently and visually. Because Planable virtually eliminates all the back-and-forth communication involved in the collaborative process, it’s a worthy alternative to Hootsuite.
Approval
A layered approval system: None, optional, required, multi-level. The latter allows for a complex workflow where multiple parties are involved, from team members to clients to stakeholders.
One-click approvals.
Post activity history.
Toggleable option to auto-schedule posts upon approval. No need to go back and do it yourself.
Multiple layer approval process for a social media post in Planable
Planable vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: Planable’s approval features are available on all plans (including the free trial) and the point of entry is $33/month, whereas Hootsuite offers approval workflows only on their Business plan, which starts at $739/month.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
Planable
Hootsuite
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business), TikTok, Pinterest, Threads
✅ 30-day free trial for plans with limited features to test
For agencies
$49/month for:
10 social media pages
approval workflow on 3 different levels
50GB content library
no social inbox & monitoring
10 labels/ tags for posts
tagging team members in comments for each post
$249/month for:
20 social media pages
0 approval workflows
no content library
social inbox & monitoring
0 labels/tags for posts
assigning post to team members
For small businesses
$33/month for:
calendar & feed view
10GB content library
5 labels/tags for posts
$99/month for:
calendar view for posts
no content library
0 labels/tags for posts
Verdict
Flexible pricing based on the number of users and workspaces, which easily allows both agencies and brands to add/remove users and not overpay for something they don’t use.
Stiff pricing that doesn’t offer collaboration features – what we think is essential for small agencies that handle social media. Following this pricing plan, I did feel like I was overpaying for features I might not need.
Planable
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook. Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business), TikTok, Threads
✅ 30-day free trial for plans with limited features to test
Planable
For agencies
$49/month for:
10 social media pages
approval workflow on 3 different levels
50GB content library
no social inbox & monitoring
10 labels/ tags for posts
tagging team members in comments for each post
Hootsuite
For agencies
(3 users & 10 social media accounts)
$249/month for:
20 social media pages
0 approval workflows
no content library
social inbox & monitoring
0 labels/tags for posts
assigning post to team members
Planable
For small businesses
$33/month for:
calendar & feed view
10GB content library
5 labels/tags for posts
Hootsuite
For small businesses
(1 user & 3 social media accounts)
$99/month for:
calendar view for posts
no content library
0 labels/tags for posts
Planable
Verdict
Flexible pricing based on the number of users and workspaces, which easily allows both agencies and brands to add/remove users and not overpay for something they don’t use.
Hootsuite
Verdict
Stiff pricing that doesn’t offer collaboration features – what we think is essential for small agencies that handle social media. Following this pricing plan, I did feel like I was overpaying for features I might not need.
Planable vs. Hootsuite final takeaway: the best Hootsuite Alternative
Planable addresses social media management’s most significant pain points — collaboration and approval — by design. For this reason, brands, small businesses, and social media managers shopping for Hootsuite alternatives will find a lot of value in this social media tool.
Like Hootsuite, Buffer was part of the first social media management tools wave in the early 2010s.
Since then, Buffer has gained a sizable client base, from big brands to small businesses, that uses this solution for its scheduling, approval, social media analytics, and task/project management features.
Buffer vs. Hootsuite
Unlike Hootsuite, Buffer sports many integrations with over 200+ tools, from Canva, Slack, and MailChimp to HubSpot and Discord.
This makes Buffer an ideal social media scheduling tool for one-man-shows. As tools and workflows become increasingly interconnected, the option to integrate tools with one another is extremely useful.
As for the three main criteria I took into consideration in my analysis, here’s what caught my eye:
Calendar
Drag & drop calendar, which Hootsuite also offers in a more limited capacity than Buffer.
Syncing posts across social media networks. Similar to Hootsuite.
Multiple views for content
By channel
Drafts, scheduled, sent posts, scheduled, pending approval
You can tweak grouped posts.
No labels/tags, just like in Hootsuite. So no content pillars or topics to organize your content by.
The two most significant downsides of Buffer’s calendar are the inability to tweak grouped posts and the absence of tags (labels).
Social media managers have to handle large volumes of content, and tweaking posts individually adds to the workload. That’s why I believe tweaking grouped posts is an essential feature that all social media tools should have.
The same logic applies to labels and tags. Large volumes of content require a solution to easily sort and filter by topic, content, workflow and team. Small teams could make do without this option — however, that’s not the case for teams with more than 3 pages to manage.
Buffer vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: After several rounds of testing, I noticed that Buffer and Hootsuite’s calendar offerings are similar in practice. However, Buffer’s calendar has two significant advantages over Hootsuite’s: the drag & drop option and the cleaner interface. However, if you’re fond of the ability to tweak content for each individual channel, Buffer’s not the right alternative.
Collaboration
A neat feature called “campaign”. You can create posts there directly, and it offers an overview of scheduled and sent drafts and approvals.
Robust user permissions that streamline collaboration processes.
Buffer vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Similar to Hootsuite, there is no way to collaborate on posts with stakeholders) beyond approving and editing posts. However, Buffer’s collaboration infrastructure sports higher visibility than Hootsuite thanks to its “Campaign” feature.
Approval
1-to-1 approval workflow — users request approval for a draft post.
Draft posts that require approval pop up in the approval tab, where account owners and users with full posting access can review and approve them.
A “Queue” functionality, which I found very useful during my tests as I could easily order, arrange and manage posts and approvals.
I was impressed by Buffer’s approval infrastructure in how straightforward and easy to grasp it was. While some tools opt to store all notifications in one place, Buffer has a dedicated approval tab that makes it easier to visualize the content’s approval status and act. Then there’s the “Queue” feature which greatly simplifies content management. The big downside is that approvals and rejections come without context so an actual feedback process can’t happen in Buffer.
Buffer vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: Buffer offers a simple and straightforward approval process.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
Buffer
Hootsuite
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business)
Overall, Buffer is a simpler-to-use and cheaper alternative to Hootsuite for small teams.
This, coupled with Buffer’s more accessible pricing and the possibility to actually test approval before whipping out your credit card, make it a good alternative to Hootsuite. If you’ve already tested Buffer and you’re left underwhelmed, check out these 9 Buffer alternatives.
Agorapulse has made a name for itself for covering a wide range of social media marketing tasks, from publishing, keyword monitoring, social media analytics, and social listening to community management. It’s one of the better tools out there by virtue of just how much ground it covers.
Agorapulse vs. Hootsuite
Upon testing, the biggest difference I noticed between Agorapulse and Hootsuite is that Agorapulse’s collaboration and approval features are more expansive and well-fleshed out.
Calendar
Drag & drop calendar. A lot more visual and easy to understand than Hootsuite’s thanks to Agorapulse’s simplified calendar design.
Multiple ways to view the calendar sorted by posts’ status: scheduled, queued, published, to approve, assigned to you, failed.
Shared calendar add-on to share calendar externally (awkward phrasing, I know). Externals can view the scheduled content you assign to them, and they can add comments and assign them back to you. This is a massive advantage over Hootsuite, which doesn’t have this feature.
Users can add notes in the Calendar, a feature missing from Hootsuite.
Agorapulse offers draft posts, but under a different name, “Assigned for approval.”
I found the icons in the calendar too small, which required me to zoom in.
By far, the biggest downside of Agorapulse’s calendar that I could identify was design-specific. Namely, the icons, which I found too small. This hitch almost counteracts my earlier praises because the calendar can end up feeling cluttered, affecting the user’s ability to make fast decisions.
Agorapulse vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Hitches notwithstanding, Agorapulse’s calendar is a worthy alternative to Hootsuite’s thanks to its shared calendar add-on and visual design.
Collaboration
The “Collaborate” feature makes it easier to delegate tasks and share information within the team.
Agorapulse sports a unified social inbox feature for managing incoming messages.
Agorapulse vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: The lack of a dedicated approval notifications tab could cause vital information to get lost on the way. However, Agorapulse’s unified social inbox is a great feature that cuts down on a lot of back and forth.
Approval
Straightforward 1-to-1 approval workflow.
No multi-level approval, which I felt Agorapulse needs considering the already steep learning curve of this social media tool.
Agorapulse approval takeaway: This is an aspect where I believe Hootsuite surpasses Agorapulse.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
Agorapulse
Hootsuite
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business) * Google Business Profile isn’t available on Free Plan
team productivity reporting is included in this price
$739/month for:
35 social media accounts
pay extra for social listening as an add-on
team productivity report isn’t available on this plan, just for Enterprise
Approval available on
Professional Plan – $170/month
Business Plan – $739/month
Agorapulse
Platforms
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business) * Google Business Profile isn’t available on Free Plan
team productivity reporting is included in this price
Hootsuite
For bigger teams with 4 users
$739/month for:
35 social media accounts
pay extra for social listening as an add-on
team productivity report isn’t available on this plan, just for Enterprise
Agorapulse
Approval available on
Professional Plan – $170/month
Hootsuite
Approval available on
Business Plan – $739/month
Agorapulse vs. Hootsuite final takeaway
Considering the lower price of entry, the highly useful social inbox, and the existence of a Free Plan, I think it’s safe to say that Agorapulse is a worthy alternative to Hootsuite.
Sendible is a primarily agency-focused tool built for social media publishing, monitoring, social listening, and campaign management.
Sendible’s main strength lies in its ability to streamline the entire process, from content research, creation, and asset management down to reporting.
It’s a great alternative to Hootsuite for collaborative agencies looking for an all-in-one platform at a reasonable price.
Sendible vs. Hootsuite
Since this scheduling tool is a primarily agency-focused solution, its features are built from the ground up to support extensive monitoring and collaborative efforts.
While Sendible has a bit of a learning curve, the customizable approval workflows and solid calendar functionalities make it an ideal alternative to Hootsuite.
Calendar
Sendible’s composer supports syncing/tweaking content across platforms. Writing/editing content for individual platforms is a huge pain point for social media workers, even without accounting for the differences in format. This feature addresses this issue head one as you can sync content across platforms while ironing out inconsistencies before publishing.
Posts can be dragged and dropped in the calendar. However, the first time you drag a post from a slot dedicated to a future date to a slot for the current date, it forces you to edit it in the composer.
This Hootsuite alternative offers multiple views for the calendar:
Scheduled (next month, this month, next week, this week)
My queue
Sent (next month, this month, next week, this week)
Overview
Month, week, day
The built-in image editor is handy and bug-free.
I can’t say I had any major issues using Sendible’s calendar — it’s pretty straightforward.
However, forcing users to edit a post the first time it’s moved to a slot in the calendar is an odd design decision and can lead to some confusion. I know I was confused while testing.
Sendible vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Sendible sports a solid content calendar. I found the built-in image editor bug free and tremendously useful for last-minute edits.
Collaboration
Shared content libraries to store assets, hashtags, and evergreen content.
DM monitoring.
The client dashboard is, in my opinion, the crowning jewel of Sendible’s collaboration functionalities. Clients can use Client connect to connect the socials you want them to manage to the platform without giving their login credentials.
Sendible vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Sendible’s shared content library and the client dashboard provide a lot of value for collaborative social media teams. It’s definitely up there in terms of Hootsuite alternatives.
Approval
Sendible supports custom approval workflows. I found them very easy to set up and straightforward functionality-wise.
A dedicated task section where posts needing approval are sent. However, approval requests/confirmations are stored in the same general notifications tab. Things can get easily lost in translation. If you run an agency with multiple clients, this will become a problem later down the line and making scaling tricky.
Sendible vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: I found Sendible’s approval functionalities on par with Hootsuite’s. However, Sendible’s Client dashboard gives it an edge over Hootsuite as it makes managing client approvals and collaborative efforts very simple
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
Sendible
Hootsuite
Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business), YouTube
includes customer support & group training sessions
Canva integration
Hootsuite
For creators
$99/month for:
1 user
10 social media accounts
custom reports & templates
in-app image editing
Sendible
For bigger teams
$76/month for:
24 social media accounts
4 users
dedicated space for content suggestions
social media holiday calendar
can assign posts for approval, but no approval workflow
Hootsuite
For bigger teams
$739/month for:
35 social media accounts
5 users
content library
boost posts
control over users’ permissions
no approval of any kind
Both include
social inbox
reporting
campaign management
Sendible vs. Hootsuite final takeaway
Agencies and highly collaborative teams can find a lot of value in Sendible’s offerings, chiefly because of its visual calendar and the custom approval workflows. If you’ve been using Sendible before, check out these Sendible alternatives.
Statusbrew is known for its engagement and social moderation capabilities, making it a smart choice for SMBs and agencies. Similar to Hootsuite, the platform enables users to publish, engage, and report on all major social media networks enabling you to manage all your daily social activities with your team from a single hub.
Statusbrew vs Hootsuite
Calendar
Find it under the name “Planner”.
Tracking post-performance is available in the same dashboard.
You can tag/label posts to create content buckets.
You can toggle between weekly or monthly view for posts.
Drag-and-dropping a scheduled post in the week view is possible to reschedule its date and time.
Statusbrew vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: This platform offers drag-and-drop functionality, in-line content editing, and multiple filters that could rival Hootsuite’s features.
Collaboration
In content creation, you can easily drop notes for your team, which enables quick communication.
Built-in centralized inbox makes the job easy for community managers to interact with the multi-channel audience.
Statusbrew vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Upon comparing the features of both collaborations, Statusbrew features are similar to Hootsuite. What’s different is its ability to sync real-time conversations from multiple networks, which makes the platform more reliable for customer support.
Approval
A hierarchical approval system can be developed to maintain the workflow
The approver will get a real-time notification on their emails, Slack or mobile device.
Statusbrew approval takeaways: You get prompt notifications and collaborative options which I think is a plus point for social teams with multiple members.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
Statusbrew
Hootsuite
Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Google Business Profile
Statusbrew’s approval system and prompt notifications make it reliable for social teams, and both platforms provide various pricing options based on annual subscriptions, along with features like team collaborations, multi-channel reporting, social inbox, and smart automations.
Sprout Social is a popular social media automation tool for organizations of all sizes, from large multinational companies to social media agencies. Its aim is to help teams automate their workflows, simplify processes and provide a collaborative hub for companies and clients.
Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite
The main surface-level difference between Sprout Social and Hootsuite is that Sprout Social is designed for reporting and audience engagement, while Hootsuite is focused on “pure” social media management.
However, Sprout has many areas that go toe to toe with Hootsuite and even slightly surpass it.
Calendar
There is no way to group posts in the calendar, making it feel cluttered and confusing to navigate.
Sprout Social’s calendar doesn’t support drag & dropping.
The composer has a togglable draft/schedule button, making things run faster. This was very useful and handy, it’s always good when an app doesn’t force me to switch windows for a simple task.
You can sync and tweak posts across social media accounts. As I said earlier, this is an essential feature that any tool should have — and it worked well during tests.
There are multiple ways to arrange the calendar:
Post type (queued, sent, scheduled, approved, and others)
Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: While the absence of a drag & drop feature definitely stings and has the potential to slow things down, Sprout’s calendar offering makes it a viable alternative to Hootsuite.
Collaboration
Teams can share feedback in a conversation window located in the approval tab.
There is an asset manager; great for collaborative teams.
Teams that want to keep work under wraps until it’s 100% finished can share feedback via internal comments.
Edits and previous versions of posts are visible in the activity tab.
Teams can view the Asset Library in two modes, Grid and List. It also comes with tons of permission options. However, it’s price-gated absent from the trial.
Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Considering internal comments and the ability to share posts with guests, Sprout Social brings solid collaboration features to the table.
Approval
Multi-step approval workflow — users with full publishing rights can skip steps of the workflow. Sometimes complex workflows are not needed, and it’s nice that Sprout Social offers this option.
Users can opt for specific approval workflows directly from the composer.
Approval transparency is further enhanced by a separate approval notifications tab.
Sprout Social vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: I’d argue it’s a solid offering comparable to Hootsuite’s.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
People looking for Hootsuite Alternatives could find a lot of value in Sprout Social thanks to its solid approval, asset manager, and the possibility to easily collaborate with external parties.
Another good Hootsuite alternative to consider is ContentStudio, an easy to manage social media tool used by agencies and brands. ContentStudio offers robust content discover and a set of automations, making it a strong choice for those looking to curate and share content effectively.
Hootsuite, on the other hand, is a well-established platform known for its broad range of features, including social media scheduling, analytics, and team collaboration, making it suitable for larger organizations with larger social media needs. But we’ll dive deeper into the specifics of each platform.
ContentStudio vs. Hootsuite
Calendar
ContentStudio presents a calendar with an user-friendly drag-and-drop feature, ensuring a great experience for planning and scheduling content.
You can choose between multiple calendar views, enabling users to categorize content based on channels, dates, or content types.
With a more intuitive interface you can keep a structured and organized posting schedule.
The platform supports bulk scheduling which comes in handy when you’re planning bigger social media campaigns.
ContentStudio vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Comparing to Hootsuite, ContentStudio has a better visual customization and overall user-friendliness. The drag-and-drop calendar, coupled with diverse views and efficient scheduling, provides a more organized content management experience. On the other hand, Hootsuite’s standout feature is its auto-scheduling capability that optimizes posting times for engagement.
Collaboration
ContentStudio is great at collaboration with content drafts, scheduling, and approval workflows.
Users can easily review, comment, and suggest post changes before publishing.
ContentStudio vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: ContentStudio’s collaboration features are more comprehensive, particularly for content creation and approval workflows, as noted by some users.
Approval
ContentStudio offers a systematic approval process for draft posts before scheduling.
Approvers can give feedback, keeping consistent and high-quality content.
ContentStudio vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: ContentStudio’s structured process with designated feedback comes in handy when there are more layers of approval, while Hootsuite offers a simpler approval process favored by some users.
Pricing
ContentStudio
Hootsuite
Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business), YouTube, TikTok
ContentStudio is great in terms of user-friendliness, and structured planning and publishing. Hootsuite’s strength lies in auto-scheduling and a more streamlined approval process. The choice between them depends on prioritizing these features based on your needs and preferences.
The final entry on our list of Hootsuite alternatives is eClincher, a social media management platform businesses use to centralize their social media marketing efforts in one place.
It’s a solid social media management tool that offers a bit of everything, from team management, collaboration, and generating social media reports to task assignments.
eClincher vs. Hootsuite
The main difference I noticed during tests is that eClincher’s UI verges on the “pretty hard to parse” side, at least compared to the other tools featured in this article. As for positives, I was pleasantly surprised by eClincher’s collaboration and approval features.
Calendar
The calendar supports drag & dropping.
Multiple views, including image layout, by post type, profile, and campaign.
Auto-post with queues, a feature which alone can significantly cut down on busy work.
The calendar also comes with suggested holidays, which is a nice touch.
eClincher vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: eClincher’s calendar is very visual and easy to use compared to other tools.
Collaboration
Free shared calendars, approval workflows & collaboration with internal, external, and clients. Perfect for agencies & teams.
Comments/internal notes. You can mention all team members, and they will get notified in Dashboard notifications.
You can tag & assign messages as tasks, add notes and view log history.
Supports content management & collaboration with Drafts, Comments & notifications.
eClincher allows users to hierarchize team members into two layers:
Internal team members who enjoy regular access to the platform’s functionalities.
External team members. For example, clients who don’t necessarily need access to eClincher’s features but need access to approve posts.
eClincher vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Excellent collaboration features that streamline team-client relationships. Definitely worth considering if you’re on the lookout for Hootsuite alternatives.
Approval
This Hootsuite alternative sports 3 types of approval workflows:
Single workflow. Essentially, you can assign the post to a certain number of users, and the post will pop up in the calendar after it’s been approved by any single user on the approval list. It’s a simple approval workflow for teams where multi-layer workflows are unnecessary.
Hierarchy workflow. You can use this to assign multiple approvers in a hierarchy to a post. Once the last approver gives the green light, the post is automatically moved to the calendar for publishing.
Third workflow (external). Once a post is assigned to an external Team Member, the platform generates a unique URL which the user then sends to the external approver.
Approvers can leave comments when approving/rejecting content.
You can bulk assign posts for approval, which saves a lot of time.
eClincher vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: Together with the collaboration functionalities,eClincher’s approval offering is solid and a viable alternative to Hootsuite. It’s worth mentioning that eClicncher’s approval workflows are available on the Premium plan, whereas at Hootsuite, it’s an enterprise option.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
eClincher
Hootsuite
Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business), YouTube, TikTok
Launched in 2016, Planoly was one of the first dedicated Instagram planning tools, then quickly expanded to cover multiple social networks.
Although Planoly still mainly focuses on Instagram, the platform is also useful for scheduling content across TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Planoly vs. Hootsuite
Planoly’s target audience is individual creators — and not enterprise-level agencies. As such, the platform has a significantly lower learning curve compared to Hootsuite. However, that also comes with a compromise to Planoly’s feature set.
For example, Planoly lacks ideal posting time suggestions and competitive benchmarking.
Calendar
Aside from a multi-channel calendar, Planonly also includes separate calendar views dedicated to Instagram and Pinterest. These platform-specific dashboards offer quick access to your media library by placing all of your photos on the left side of the calendar. Adding visuals to your posts is just a matter of dragging and dropping them from the media library onto the calendar.
Planoly’s content composer allows you to draft a post for multiple channels. You can then see how your content would look on all the selected channels directly within the composer.
The “Auto Post” feature will automatically publish content on your selected due date — no additional clicks required.
Planoly vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Although Planoly makes scheduling content straightforward, it lacks Hoosuite’s ideal posting time and hashtag suggestions, which could’ve further streamlined the process.
Collaboration
Planoly allows you to invite multiple team members to your workspace and collaborate on content through comments in context. However, the platform lacks annotations for more precise feedback.
Planoly vs. Hootsuite collaboration takeaway: Both platforms are rather lackluster in this department, but Hootsuite still offers more collaboration tools. Planoly doesn’t include anything else outside shared workspaces, comments, and mentions.
Approval
Planoly doesn’t include any approval functionalities.
Planoly vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: Planoly’s lack of approval functionalities is a big drawback.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
social inbox with the latest 15 comments (Instagram only)
Hootsuite
For individual creators
$99/month for:
1 user
10 social media accounts
ideal posting time suggestions
social inbox & monitoring
all-in-one social inbox
bulk scheduling
Planoly
For small teams
$24/month for:
3 users
1 social set
unlimited uploads
everything else included in the entry-level plan
Hootsuite
For small teams
$249/month for:
3 users
20 social accounts
calendar sharing
assign social messages to team members
custom user permissions
Planoly
For medium-sized teams
$36.50/month for:
6 users
2 social sets
priority support
Hootsuite
For medium-sized teams
Custom pricing package:
5+ users
50+ social accounts
campaign reports
asset library
Both include
similar supported networks
Planoly vs. Hootsuite final takeaway
Given its much more affordable pricing structure, Planoly is a solid alternative for solo creators looking to streamline their content publishing efforts.
Later is an all-in-one social media management platform that’s suitable for businesses of all sizes.
The platform excels in its Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok analytics capabilities, with its primary focus being Instagram. The platform allows you to generate separate reports for your Instagram Reels, Stories, posts, profiles, and hashtags.
Lates also handles audience analytics for Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to help you uncover your follower base’s demographics.
Later vs. Hootsuite
Later broadly covers similar social media management features to Hootsuite, while its pricing structure makes it a better option in terms of scalability. However, Later lacks Hootsuite’s competitive benchmarking and advertising campaign functionalities.
Calendar
Later allows you to schedule content through a drag-and-drop interface, while its ideal posting time and hashtag suggestion ensure your posts roll out at the right time for maximum engagement.
Later’s calendar includes a dedicated Instagram planner that facilitates direct scheduling for Instagram Reels and Stories. You can easily rearrange your Instagram through a drag-and-drop interface.
If you schedule curated Instagram content in Later, the platform will automatically add creator attribution. The platform can also generate new Instagram hashtags based on your scheduled content, along with insights regarding their relevance.
Later vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: I definitely found Later’s Instagram-specific calendar features impressive, especially its hashtag suggestion tool. But Hootsuite is still a solid option if you’re looking to schedule content across multiple channels simultaneously.
Collaboration
Later allows you to organize teams through “Access Groups” — shared workspaces including groups social sets where members can edit, schedule, and create content based on their roles and permissions. This is similar to Hootsuite’s “Organizations” feature, where you can share multiple accounts with team members.
Later includes calendar notes, while other collaboration tools are currently in beta.
Later vs. Hootstuie collaboration takeaway: As of right now, Later is still rather limited in terms of collaboration tools, but the features that are in the beta phase seem promising.
Approval
Approval functionalities are also in the beta phase. The option to assign reviewer roles to team members, and request approvals or edits are currently in testing. It looks like Later won’t include multi-level approvals though.
Later vs Hootsuite approval takeaway: Hootsuite remains the better option if you’re looking for approval and collaboration tools.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook profile/post performance analytics
Facebook and TikTok audience analyitcs
Hootsuite
For individual creators
$99/month for:
1 user
10 social accounts
bulk scheduling
basic social inbox management
profile/post performance analytics
competitor benchmarking (2 competitors)
Later
For small teams
$30/month for:
3 users
3 social sets
150 posts/profile
hashtag suggestions
Instagram product tagging
Instagram Stories, Reels, hashtags, and audience reports
Instagram and TikTok inbox management
calendar notes and sharing
Instagram mentions
Hootsuite
For small teams
$249/month for:
3 users
20 social accounts
Link in Bio tools
team assignments with customer user roles/permissions
Later
For large teams
$133.33/month for:
10 users
15 social sets
unlimited posts
Hootsuite
For large teams
Custom pricing package:
5+ users
50+ social accounts
campaign reports
asset library
approval workflows
auto-responders and skill-based routing
Both include
similar supported networks
Link in Bio tools
inbox management
Later vs. Hootsuite final takeaway
Given Later’s competitive price tag and its emphasis on Instagram and TikTok analytics and inbox management, Later is an excellent option for small teams primarily focusing their social media on these two networks.
CoSchedule is a content planning tool that includes social media management tools and various AI-powered functionalities to aid in the content creation process. The platform also includes basic task management functionalities, like the ability to set up Kanban boards and recurring tasks, to boost team productivity.
As such, CoSchedule streamlines creative processes by providing the tools necessary to maintain steady workflows and ensure that each post rolls out at the right time for maximum engagement.
CoSchedule vs. Hootsuite
CoSchedule and Hootsuite differ in their purpose. Hootsuite lets you build and maintain your social presence through its advanced reports, inbox management, and social advertising tools.
Meanwhile, CoSchedule helps increase your online presence across the board. Aside from social media, the platform’s calendars also handle other content types (like blogs or emails). CoSchedule also includes built-in email subject line and headline testing.
Calendar
The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to schedule and reschedule content.
You can use the “ReQueue” feature to automatically re-share high-performing social content across channels.
Streamline content scheduling through the platform’s idea posting time suggestions.
Easily access the content composer and refine your social messages with the platform’s social message optimizer and AI-powered assistant.
CoSchedule vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Despite its straightforward UI, I found CoSchedule’s calendar surprisingly advanced. You can also schedule complete marketing campaigns and use a large selection of ready-made social templates to kickstart the creative process.
Collaboration
Set up projects and tasks, then delegate them to specific team members. Use Kanban boards to keep work organized. Create recurring tasks directly within the calendar to maintain a steady workflow.
Collaborate with team members on each project through built-in discussion threads. Leave feedback via comments and attachments, and see whether it was implemented correctly through the platform’s version control.
Gauge team member productivity through dedicated team performance reports.
CoSchdeule vs. Hootsuite calendar takeaway: Later’s task management capabilities are especially handy and they help take team collaboration to a whole new level.
Approval
Leverage the platform’s task management capabilities to set up automated approval workflows, but you can only assign one approver.
CoSchdeule vs. Hootsuite approval takeaway: HootSuite lets you add multiple reviewers to the same projects, which makes it the better option in this regard. In any case, both platforms lock their approval functionalities in top-tier pricing plans.
Pricing
All pricing options are calculated based on the pricing of the annual subscription.
CoSchedule
Hootsuite
Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, Bluesky, Mastodon
Coschedule is an excellent alternative to Hootsuite for those seeking to handle content marketing campaigns across multiple channels outside social media.
Hootsuite alternatives FAQs
What’s better than Hootsuite?
Planable is the top Hootsuite alternative in 2024. With an easy-to-use calendar, powerful approval, and collaboration features, Planable is the best Hootsuite competitor that ticks all the boxes at a more affordable price tag.
What is a cheaper alternative to Hootsuite?
Planable is a more affordable alternative to Hootsuite, starting at $33/month. Planable’s flexible pricing is based on the number of users and workspaces, which easily allows agencies and brands to add or remove users and not overpay for unused features.
Is there a free alternative to Hootsuite?
Planable’s free plan allows you to try out all the features for the first 50 posts. The basic plan starts at $33/month.
Did Hootsuite increase prices?
Yes, Hootsuite users experienced price increases in 2023.
I’ve been closely following the discussions on Hootsuite’s price increase, and it’s evident that Hootsuite’s cost adjustment caught clients by surprise, leaving many users searching for a cheaper, more affordable alternative to Hootsuite.
Is there a free version of Hootsuite?
No, Hootsuite no longer offers a free version as of March 31st, 2023.
While Hootsuite is a robust social media management tool, its starting price of $99/month (for 1 user & 3 social media accounts) is prompting many creators and small businesses to explore a better alternative to Hootsuite.
Hootsuite alternatives wrap up
I think it all boils down to what your specific needs are and which features you value most in a social media management tool.
If you’re seeking clean design and powerful collaboration and approval features, Planable is the best alternative to Hootsuite. Sign up today and try it out for yourself.
If you need a solution custom-built for team approval and collaboration, Planable is the best choice for you.
If you need lots of integrations like Canva, Discord and Slack, Buffer is the ideal solution.
If you’re looking for a tool that covers a lot of ground, like publishing, keyword monitoring, social media analytics, and social listening, look no further than Agorapulse.
If you require an agency-focused solution, try out Sendible.
If social listening and reporting are a priority, look up eClincher.
If you’re one-man-army looking to post across multiple networks, try Planoly.
If you mostly focus on Instagram and TikTok, go for Later.
If you want to handle everything content marketing, check CoSchedule.
Content marketer and aspiring YouTuber, in no particular order. Expertise in content writing, social media copywriting, and neo-noir graphic novels. Used to run a music webzine in the 2 seconds in the early 2010s when blogs were hot. I tweet very badly on Twitter.
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