With countless social media platforms available, it can be overwhelming for agencies to stay on top of their clients’ accounts and publish engaging content consistently.
It’s no wonder agencies are on a never-ending quest to find the perfect social media management solution. Enter Hootsuite, a long-standing favorite among industry professionals.
And, while Hootsuite has undoubtedly earned its reputation as a dominant player in the field, it’s always wise to explore alternative options that could potentially better cater to your agency’s unique needs—as well as those of your clients.
Ready to find a substitute for Hootsuite?
In this article, we’ll delve into the top 7 Hootsuite alternatives available, discussing their features, pros and cons, as well as their pricing plans.
Why Consider an Alternative to Hootsuite?
While Hootsuite is a popular choice among social media marketers, there are several reasons why you might consider exploring alternatives.
1. Pricing
Firstly, Hootsuite’s pricing plans can be quite steep, especially for small businesses or agencies on a tight budget. This can pose a challenge for those who are looking for a cost-effective solution to manage multiple social media accounts. Exploring alternative tools can open up opportunities to find more affordable options that provide similar functionalities.
2. Interface
Hootsuite’s user interface might not come across as intuitive and user-friendly when compared to some other options out there. Although Hootsuite does provide a wide array of features and capabilities, getting the hang of using the platform can be a bit challenging for new users, whether they are part of your agency staff or clients.
So, if your agency is constantly expanding, and you keep onboarding new clients, training them to effectively use the tool can end up taking a considerable amount of time.
3. Features
Lastly, exploring alternative options can also lead to discovering unique features and functionalities that may better suit a business’s specific needs. Different social media management tools offer a variety of specialized features such as content curation, social media content approval workflows, tracking of social media KPIs, and audience segmentation.
Yes, Hootsuite is feature-heavy. But you might not be utilizing all of the features while continuing to pay for them. Therefore, it’s healthy to explore alternatives that are more in line with your agency’s and clients’ needs.
So, what are those alternative social media management tools? Let’s get to the meat of our guide!
Hootsuite Alternatives
Alternative #1: Gain
Our solution, Gain, is a robust social media management platform that offers numerous features to streamline your social media activities. With a user-friendly interface (ranks 4.7/5 on Capterra for ease of use) and a wide range of integrations, Gain allows you to schedule and publish content across multiple social media platforms effortlessly.
One thing that really stands out about Gain is its awesome content approval workflows. You know how much of a pain they can be, especially when gathering feedback and approvals from multiple clients. For some industries such as banking or healthcare, approvals are paramount in order to stay compliant with social media regulations.
This Gain’s nifty feature allows you to create a structured system to review and give the green light to your content before it goes live. Clients can provide feedback, make comments, and approve or reject the content, reducing the need for lengthy email chains or external approval tools.
Pros:
- Powerful approval workflows that can be customized for your unique requirements
- User-friendly interface and easy navigation compared to Hootsuite
- Dynamic social media content preview enabling you to see how exactly it’ll look once published
- Advanced content scheduling capabilities
- Visual content library
- Drag and drop content calendar
- Easy content categorization and filtering
- Engagement metrics for social media posts
- Role-specific permissions to control what every team member and approver can see or do
- Top-rated human customer support.
Best for:
Medium to large marketing agencies that deal with a high volume of content approvals for each of their clients.
Pricing:
Try it free with the trial, no credit card required. If you like it, you can sign up for the monthly plan, starting at just $99. The best part is, the first 10 users are completely free!
If you need to add more users, it’s only $10 each, which is a pretty good deal compared to Hootsuite. To add, if you pay upfront for a year, you can get a 16% discount while nonprofits enjoy a 50% discount.
G2 Score: 4.7/5.
Alternative #2: AgoraPulse
AgoraPulse is another solid alternative to HootSuite. This platform provides a comprehensive set of tools to manage social media profiles, schedule content, and engage with your audience effectively.
One of the flagship features of AgoraPulse is its ability to monitor and respond to comments and messages from different social media platforms. This feature is especially valuable for businesses looking to build meaningful connections with their followers.
With AgoraPulse, you can easily keep track of all the comments and messages across your social media profiles, ensuring that no interaction goes unnoticed.
Pros:
- Robust social listening capabilities
- Integrates Google Analytics and GA4
- Easy-to-access social media analytics compared to overly complicated Hootsuite’s reporting.
Cons:
- Newer, advanced features are only available under the more expensive subscription plans.
Best for:
Mid-sized businesses and e-commerce companies.
Pricing:
AgoraPulse offers a free 30-day trial and a limited free plan for one user. If you want to upgrade, plans start at $49 per user per month for a Standard package while the Advanced plan will cost you $119 per month.
G2 Score: 4.5/5
Alternative #3: eClincher
eClincher is another Hootsuite alternative that combines all essential features into one platform. With eClincher, you can schedule and publish posts, analyze your social media performance, and engage with your followers effortlessly.
Pros:
- All-in-one social inbox
- Supports all main social media channels
- Visual content calendar and scheduler
- Auto posting queues & RSS
- Social media monitoring and listening
- Integration with Canva
- Image Editor
- Chrome extension.
Cons:
- Lack of intuitiveness with some workflows and weaker reporting features compared to Hootsuite.
Best for:
- SMBs and agencies.
Pricing:
The vendor offers a free 14-day trial. After that, you can choose between 3 plans—Basic ($65 per month per 1 user), Premier ($175 per month per 3 users), and Agency ($425 per month per 6 users). Eclincher also provides a 10% discount on annual plans.
G2 Score: 4.6/5
Alternative #4: Sendible
Sendible is another popular choice for social media management with its intuitive interface and extensive range of features. This platform enables businesses to schedule and publish content across various social media channels, as well as monitor and respond to brand mentions and engagements.
Sendible also provides analytics and reporting tools to track the success of your social media campaigns. You can track key metrics such as engagement, reach, and conversions, allowing you to make data-driven decisions and optimize your strategies for better results.
Pros:
- White-label social media management tool
- Robust dashboard to manage direct messages and comments in individual feeds and assign specific conversations to others
- Human customer support.
Cons:
- On the pricier side similar to Hootsuite.
Best for:
- Freelancers, SMBs, start-up agencies.
Pricing:
Free 14-day trial. After that, a one-person plan starts at $29 a month, going all the way up to $750 a month for the White Label+ plan.
G2 Score: 4.5/5
Alternative #5: Coschedule
Coschedule is a versatile platform that combines social media management with content marketing. With Coschedule, you can create and schedule social media posts while seamlessly integrating them with your content marketing efforts.
The platform offers a collaborative editorial calendar, allowing you to plan and execute your social media and content strategies in tandem. Although Coschedule’s pricing can be on the higher side for some businesses, its unique combination of social media management and content marketing capabilities provides great value for comprehensive digital marketing campaigns.
Pros:
- Ability to visually see all your marketing assets via the calendar view
- Task scheduler
- Solid analytics capabilities
- Timely customer service.
Cons:
- Users report the interface to be less user-friendly compared to other tools.
Best for:
- Editorial teams and SMBs.
Pricing:
Coschedule offers a free-forever marketing calendar while the advanced marketing calendar starts at $39 per user per month. There is a small discount if you switch to annual billing. Coschedule, however, doesn’t disclose the price of its Marketing Suite plan.
G2 Score: 4.4/5
Alternative #6: Radaar.io
Radaar.io is a cloud-based social media management tool that stands out for its simplicity and ease of use. It allows users to schedule posts, engage with their audience, and monitor analytics all through a straightforward user interface.
Radaar.io also includes a social inbox, where you can manage messages and interactions across various platforms. With its affordable pricing plans, Radaar.io is an excellent choice for businesses seeking a hassle-free and cost-effective social media management solution.
Pros:
- Social inbox
- Monitoring of brand-related keywords
- Social media performance metrics
- Trend and sentiment analysis
- Password manager.
Cons:
- Occasional minor glitches.
Best for:
- SMBs, large enterprises, and freelancers.
Pricing:
All plans include a free 14-day trial. Then, you can upgrade to Basic ($9.99 per month per 1 user), Premium ($19.99 per month for 5 users), and Professional Package ($59.99 per month for 10 users). If you subscribe to a yearly plan, you can enjoy a 20% discount on all packages.
G2 Score: 4.6/5
Alternative #7: Publer
Finally, we’ve got Publer—a social media management tool that offers a range of features, including post scheduling, content recycling, and analytics tracking. What sets Publer apart is its ability to store and organize different media formats, making it convenient to manage and publish a variety of content types.
Publer offers competitive pricing options, making it an attractive Hootsuite alternative for agencies on a budget.
Pros:
- Competitive pricing compared to other tools
- Easy management of the entire social media presence from a single dashboard
- Hashtag suggestions
- Publer AI-assist for content ideation or social media copy generation.
Cons:
- Lack of advanced analytics
- Occasional software glitches as reported by users on G2.
Best for:
- SMBs and marketing freelancers.
Pricing:
Unlike Hootsuite, Publer won’t break the bank thanks to its customizable pricing plans based on the number of users and social accounts. Publer’s free plan includes 3 social accounts and 1 user. The Professional plan starts at $12 per month while the Business package is priced at $21 a month.
G2 Score: 4.8/5
Parting Thoughts
HootSuite remains a popular choice for social media management, but there are several alternatives available worth exploring. Each of the 7 alternatives mentioned in this article offers unique features and pricing plans, allowing marketing agencies to find a social media management tool that aligns perfectly with their requirements.
It’s perfectly fine if you want to stick with the familiar. But, for others, making the switch to a new alternative that offers features better suited to their needs and goals can help them ramp up their clients’ social presence in no time.
Has our tool, Gain, caught your eye? If so, why don’t you give it a go for free?
Try Gain today
FAQs About Hootsuite Alternatives
Why should I consider using a Hootsuite alternative?
While Hootsuite is an established player in the market, you may want to consider a more affordable and user-friendly alternative. Hootsuite alternatives offer similar social media management features at competitive prices. They might better suit your budget, and specific needs, or provide additional functionalities that cater to your social media strategy.
What are affordable Hootsuite alternatives?
The most affordable Hootsuite alternatives are Gain, Publer, and Radaar.io. These platforms offer social media management features, scheduling tools, and analytics at reasonable prices. It’s important to review their specific features and pricing plans to find the best fit for your needs.
