8 Hootsuite Alternatives 2026 (Free & Paid)

Hootsuite charges per user: Standard costs $99 per user a month billed yearly for 10 social accounts, Professional costs $199 for unlimited accounts, and each teammate adds a seat. Pubblica charges one flat $20 a month for unlimited accounts on all 9 networks, X included. For one person with 15 accounts, that's $20 a month instead of $199 on Hootsuite Professional billed yearly.

This list covers 8 Hootsuite alternatives, from free schedulers to customer care suites. We make Pubblica, so it comes first. Each entry names what the tool is built for and takes prices from the vendor's official pricing page. For a full breakdown of Hootsuite's own plans, seats and trial, see Hootsuite pricing.

What to look for in a Hootsuite alternative

• The unit you pay for. Hootsuite bills per user, so a team of three pays for three seats. The others bill per channel (Buffer), per user (Sprout Social), per social set (Later), by profile tier (Vista Social), per brand (Metricool), per workspace (Sendible), per account (Publer) or one flat price (Pubblica). Choose the unit that grows slowest as you add people and accounts.
• The account cap. Hootsuite Standard covers 10 social accounts across all networks, and the 11th means Professional at $199 per user. Check how many accounts each plan includes.
• A free plan or a trial. The free alternatives to Hootsuite are Pubblica, Buffer, Publer and Metricool; Hootsuite has no free plan, only a 14-day trial without a card.
• X (Twitter) and Telegram. Hootsuite includes X in every plan and doesn't publish to Telegram. Check whether X is part of the plan or an add-on, and whether the networks you use are covered.
• Seats for your team. On Hootsuite, each teammate is a full seat. Sendible includes unlimited users on every plan.
• Tools beyond publishing. Hootsuite adds an inbox, competitor benchmarks and, on Enterprise, listening and employee advocacy. If your team uses them every day, look at the suites in this list; if you mainly publish, a scheduler covers it.

Pubblica: best for posting to many accounts at a flat price

Pubblica is best for posting to many accounts at a flat price because Pro costs $20 a month for unlimited accounts on all 9 networks. It's a social media scheduler for creators, freelancers, social media managers and small teams. You write a post once and publish it to every selected account, right away or at the time you set, and a calendar shows what's planned.

• Price: Free costs $0 and includes 20 posts a month on every network except X, with no card. Pro adds unlimited posts and X.
• Accounts: unlimited on both plans, including several accounts on the same network. Workspaces group them by brand or project.
• Networks: X is part of Pro, not an add-on, and Telegram is supported on both plans.
• Trial and refunds: Pro has a 7-day free trial, which needs a card, and a 14-day money-back guarantee on payments.

Pubblica fits people who post the same content to many accounts and want the bill to stay the same as they add more.

Buffer: best for a few channels on a free plan

Buffer is best for a few channels because its free plan covers 3 channels, and paid plans bill per channel from $6 per channel/mo. It supports 12 networks, and you can try a paid plan free for 14 days.

When you upgrade, every connected channel is billed, including the ones from the free plan. See Buffer pricing and our Buffer vs Hootsuite comparison.

Sprout Social: best for social customer care and reporting

Sprout Social is best for social customer care and reporting because, from Standard up, its plans add a consolidated inbox and review management, and Professional adds competitor insights. Like Hootsuite, it bills per user, from $79 per user/mo, billed yearly with 5 profiles on Essentials, and the free trial lasts 30 days, no card.

Professional and Advanced have no profile cap, and listening is an add-on priced on request. See Sprout Social pricing and our Hootsuite vs Sprout Social comparison.

Later: best for visual planning on Instagram and TikTok

Later is best for visual planning on Instagram and TikTok because it's built around a visual calendar and Link in Bio. Plans start at $18.75/mo, billed yearly for one social set, which holds one profile on each of 8 networks, and the free trial lasts 14 days and needs a card.

Compared with Hootsuite, Later centers on the visual calendar, while Hootsuite adds an inbox and competitor benchmarks. Later lists no free plan on its pricing page. Starter includes 1 user and 30 posts per profile a month. See Later pricing.

Vista Social: best for an inbox, reviews and DM automations in one plan

Vista Social is best for teams that want an inbox, review replies and DM automations in one plan, because every plan bundles them with scheduling. Plans start at $99/mo for 15 profiles and 2 users, and the trial lasts 14 days, no card.

Vista Social bills by plan, with set profile and user caps, and X (Twitter) is a $29 a month add-on. See Vista Social pricing.

Metricool: best for analytics across brands

Metricool is best for analytics across brands because it combines scheduling with analytics for social profiles, websites and ad accounts in one report. Paid plans start at $25/mo for 5 brands, and the free plan covers 1 brand, 20 posts/mo in place of a trial.

Metricool bills per brand. A brand holds one profile per network, so a second account on the same network counts as another brand, and X (Twitter) is a paid add-on. See Metricool pricing.

Sendible: best for agencies with many users

Sendible is best for agencies with many users because every plan includes unlimited users, so several people can work on client accounts. Plans start at $35/mo for a workspace with 6 profiles, and Client Connect lets clients link their own accounts.

There's no free plan; the trial lasts 14 days, no card. White label is a paid extra. See Sendible pricing and our list of Sendible alternatives.

Publer: best for per-account pricing with Telegram

Publer is best for per-account pricing with Telegram: it bills per social account, with paid plans from $5 per account/mo and a free plan for 3 accounts, no X. It supports 13 networks, Telegram groups and channels among them, and bulk scheduling of up to 500 posts at once.

The paid trial lasts 7 days. Like Buffer, Publer bills each account separately, so the monthly price rises with every profile you connect. See Publer's plans and our list of Publer alternatives.

Is Hootsuite good? Ratings and who it suits

Hootsuite is best for larger teams that run publishing, customer messages and reporting in one place, because every plan pairs scheduling with a unified inbox, brand monitoring and competitor benchmarks. It holds a 4.3 out of 5 rating on G2 from 7,511 reviews and 4.3 on Gartner Peer Insights from 481. In reviews, users most often point to its scheduling, approvals and listening.

Hootsuite is still widely used: it has run since 2008, says it has had 25 million users and has customers in more than 200 countries. Advanced adds approvals and message routing, and Enterprise adds SSO, Talkwalker listening and employee advocacy. It publishes to 9 networks, including Bluesky, with X in every plan. See Hootsuite's plans.

How to switch from Hootsuite to Pubblica

Switching takes four steps, and the Free plan lets you run both tools until Hootsuite's last scheduled post goes out.

1. Create a free account. The Free plan needs no card.
2. Connect your accounts. Sign in to each network through its own login. Pubblica never sees your passwords, and you can connect as many accounts as you need.
3. Add your upcoming posts. Write each post once, pick the accounts and set the date and time.
4. Cancel Hootsuite after its last scheduled post goes out. A cancelled plan runs to the end of the paid term, and Hootsuite's Terms don't refund the rest of it, so time the switch before your renewal date.

Which Hootsuite alternative should you choose?

• You post the same content to many accounts: Pubblica, one flat price however many accounts you connect.
• You run one to three channels and want a free plan: Buffer.
• Your team handles customer care and reporting: Sprout Social.
• Your content is visual and lives on Instagram and TikTok: Later.
• You want an inbox, reviews and DM automations in one plan: Vista Social.
• You report on several brands: Metricool, with analytics in every plan.
• Your agency has many people on client accounts: Sendible, with unlimited users.
• You run a Telegram channel and a few other profiles: Publer, billed per account.

If you mainly publish posts, start with Pubblica, a free social media scheduler, and move to Pro at $20 a month when you need unlimited posts or X.