Social media management tools are now necessary for businesses of any size to keep up with the endless flood of comments, mentions, tweets, and stitches.
Hootsuite has become one of the more recognizable social media management platforms but is by no means the best option for your business.
Nearly half (48%) of consumers expect a response to social media within 24 hours , according to Statista . Without the right social media monitoring tool, you could leave customers waiting — potentially being courted by your competitors.
Here, we’ll cover 15 of the top Hootsuite alternatives and the unique features each brings to the table.
Why Seek a Hootsuite Alternative?
Hootsuite’s most affordable plan starts at $99/month, which may be prohibitive for teams with tight budgets. Here are a few Hootsuite limitations that stand out in customer reviews:
Customer support responsiveness — “Takes weeks to hear from anyone, including their chatbot. No issue is taken seriously. It has been months of an unusable platform, ignored via email and chat, without any resolution in sight.” ( Aimee F. )
Technical issues causing extra work — “… it always glitches and messes up your live posts, doesn’t show companies or people to tag even when I am copying and pasting the exact names and can see they have a profile, and you are limited in how you can ‘schedule.’” ( Rachel R. )
Price plan increases (and ending its free plan) — Hootsuite ended its free plan on March 31, 2023. Along with that change , users have noted steep pricing increases for its social media software. “I am unhappy with doubling the price starting next month. I understand pricing can go up, but double? That’s ridiculous.” ( Melissa R. )
Nearly every social media management platform includes content scheduling, inbox management, and reporting, but what if you’re looking for additional features? Teams may seek out a better Hootsuite alternative.
Short on time? Here are the top five alternatives to Hootsuite at a glance. Pricing plans vary depending on the number of social media profiles, team users, and platform functionality.
Top 5 Hootsuite Competitors
Social Media Tool Best For Key Features Monthly Pricing 1. Nextiva Nextiva is best for small businesses with lean social media teams. • Unified social inbox • Message alerts • Intelligent topic routing • Integrated chatbot • Essentials: $59/user • Professional: $99/user 2. Agorapulse Agorapulse is great for businesses, especially those working with a lot of paid media and having to do content moderation. • Cross-channel publishing • Unified social inbox • Reporting & ROI tools • Social listening • Free with limited functionality • Standard: $49/user • Advanced: $119/user 3. Social Pilot Great for small and midsized businesses (SMBs), agencies, and multi-location brands. • Scheduling & publishing • Collaboration tools across departments • White-labeling • Professional: $30/month (1 user) • Agency: $100/month (6 users) 4. Sprout Social Best for larger organizations and agencies that conduct extensive brand monitoring. • Mature social media management • Schedule & publishing • Analytics dashboard • Employee advocacy support • Standard: $249/month (1 user) + $199/month for each additional user • Professional:$399/month (1 user) + $299/month for each additional user 5. Buffer Good all-around solution for small teams, particularly those with a strong focus on Twitter. • AI-assisted social publishing • Analytics dashboard • Draft management tools • Free with limited functionality (3 channels) • Essentials: $6/month (1 channel) + $6/month for each additional channel • Team: $12/month (1 channel + unlimited team members) + $12/month for each additional channel
1. Nextiva
At a fraction of Hootsuite’s cost, Nextiva provides a better social media management tool to oversee multiple social media networks from one place.
A huge benefit of Nextiva is its collaboration functionality. The platform can seamlessly operate alongside’s reputation management and customer support tools to keep your entire team aligned. Nextiva also integrates with popular CRMs like Salesforce and Dynamics 365.
Key Features
Social media scheduling tool to publish posts across social media channels
Social inbox for managing messages, comments, tags, and mentions from social networks
Reporting & social media analytics aid decision-making
Seamless connection to other marketing and customer success tools
Why It’s Better than Hootsuite
Bulk messaging to reply to multiple posts at once
Escalate notifications based on set parameters, making it easy to collaborate with customer success teams
SLA management keeps your customer support team on track
Collects customer feedback with social media surveys
Pricing
Nextiva’s pricing model is simple. Their Social Essentials plan is $59/month per user, and the full-featured Social Professional plan is $99/month. The professional plan has additional features like support SLAs, chatbot tools for inbox management, intelligent inbox routing, and robust social media analytics capabilities.
