Marketing · alternatives
Alternatives to Hootsuite
22 marketing tools sit alongside Hootsuite in this directory. Below is what separates each from Hootsuite on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 4
- Cheaper to start
- 9
- Hootsuite starts at
- $99/year
Why people look past Hootsuite
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Hootsuite entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
Hootsuite starts at $99/year. Across the 7 marketing tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $49/month.
There is no free tier
The record for Hootsuite carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 4 of the 22 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Build your audience organically on social media
- Can be used without paying; Hootsuite cannot.
- Starts $94 a month cheaper, at $5/month.
Social media insights and content monitoring platform
Priced and rated the same as Hootsuite on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
The main open source marketing automation platform, self-hosted and GPL licensed
- Can be used without paying; Hootsuite cannot.
Open source, cookie-free web analytics you can self-host for the cost of a database
- Can be used without paying; Hootsuite cannot.
- Starts $99 a month cheaper, at Free.
A/B testing for Google Analytics
- Can be used without paying; Hootsuite cannot.
- Starts $99 a month cheaper, at Free.
Automated client reporting for marketing agencies, priced per data source rather than per client
- Starts $30 a month cheaper, at €69/month.
Every Hootsuite alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hootsuite (this page) | $99/year | - | - | |
| BufferAffordable social media scheduling tool with content curation and analytics | Free, then $5/month | - | 3 | vs Hootsuite |
| CrowdTangleSocial media monitoring and insights tool for tracking engagement and content performance across platforms | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Mautic | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Hootsuite |
| Umami | Free | Per month by event count | 4 | vs Hootsuite |
| Google Optimize | Free | Freemium | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Swydo | €69/month | Per month by data source count | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Onclusive | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Roxhill | On request | Quote | 4 | vs Hootsuite |
| Wunderkind | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Hootsuite |
| Invoca | On request | Quote | 5 | vs Hootsuite |
| WebEngage | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Postscript | $49/month | Per month plus per message sent | 4 | vs Hootsuite |
| Bloomreach | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Hootsuite |
| Netcore Cloud | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Hootsuite |
| Zoho Marketing Automation | $19/month | Per month by contact count | 3 | vs Hootsuite |
| CallRail | $50/month | Per month by plan, plus per-number and per-minute overages | 4 | vs Hootsuite |
| CleverTap | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Hootsuite |
| Insider | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Optimove | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Octoboard | €25/month | Per month by connected client count | 1 | vs Hootsuite |
| Freshpaint | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Hootsuite |
| Madgicx | $49/month | Usage-based | 2 | vs Hootsuite |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Hootsuite badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (4)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Buffer , Free, then $5/month
- Mautic , Free
- Umami , Free
- Google Optimize , Free
Cheaper than Hootsuite (9)
Entry price under Hootsuite's $99/year. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Buffer , Free, then $5/month
- Umami , Free
- Google Optimize , Free
- Swydo , €69/month
- Postscript , $49/month
- Zoho Marketing Automation , $19/month
- CallRail , $50/month
- Octoboard , €25/month
What you would be giving up
Hootsuite is most often brought in for social media scheduling, community management, social advertising, analytics & reporting, team collaboration. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Hootsuite is broadly right and the question is cost, the Hootsuite pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Marketing category lists everything the directory holds, and best marketing tools ranks them.
Hootsuite runs on web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Hootsuite alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Hootsuite?
- 22 other marketing tools are listed in this directory, led by Buffer, CrowdTangle, Mautic, Umami. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Hootsuite?
- 4 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Buffer, Mautic, Umami, Google Optimize.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Hootsuite?
- Yes. 9 of the alternatives below start under Hootsuite's $99/year: Buffer at Free, then $5/month, Umami at Free, Google Optimize at Free, Swydo at €69/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Hootsuite?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Hootsuite?
- Hootsuite is most often brought in for social media scheduling, community management, social advertising, analytics & reporting, team collaboration. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Hootsuite?
- None of the marketing tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Hootsuite alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Marketing, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Hootsuite against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Hootsuite covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every marketing tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Marketing category, 22 tools beside Hootsuite. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.