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Marketing · head to head

Hootsuite vs Meltwater

Hootsuite logo

Hootsuite

Marketing

Save time and grow on social media

From
$99/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Meltwater logo

Meltwater

News

Media intelligence and social listening platform

From
$15000/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Hootsuite no free tier available; minimum cost is $99/user/year annually; Meltwater real-time accuracy issues reported, particularly for niche industries or non-English content
  • They diverge on capability: Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Meltwater covers Media monitoring.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hootsuite and Meltwater actually diverge.

Attributes where Hootsuite and Meltwater differ
AttributeHootsuiteMeltwater
Starting price$99/year$15000/year
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
CategoryMarketingNews
Founded20082001

Identical on both: pricing model (Unknown), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hootsuite

  • Content scheduling
  • Social inbox
  • Content calendar
  • Analytics & reporting
  • Team collaboration
  • Approval workflows
  • Bulk scheduling
  • Facebook

Only in Meltwater

  • Media monitoring
  • Influencer discovery
  • Sentiment analysis
  • Competitive intelligence
  • PR analytics
  • Report automation
  • Crisis monitoring
  • Salesforce

Both cover

  • Social listening
  • SOC2
  • ISO27001
  • GDPR

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hootsuite

  • Social media schedulingnot Meltwater
  • Community managementnot Meltwater
  • Social advertisingnot Meltwater
  • Analytics & reportingnot Meltwater
  • Team collaborationnot Meltwater

Meltwater

  • Media monitoringnot Hootsuite
  • Influencer researchnot Hootsuite
  • Brand trackingnot Hootsuite
  • Crisis managementnot Hootsuite

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hootsuite

  • No free tier available; minimum cost is $99/user/year annually
  • Monthly billing significantly more expensive than annual (20-30% premium)
  • Advanced data export via SFTP available only to Enterprise tier customers

Meltwater

  • Real-time accuracy issues reported, particularly for niche industries or non-English content
  • Limited media contact database at 380,000-400,000 contacts compared to competitors like Cision
  • Cumbersome dashboard navigation and reporting interface requiring multi-step menu access for data exports
  • Annual contracts with limited ability to scale down; risky for businesses with fluctuating needs

Pricing, plan by plan

Hootsuite

$99/year

No published plan breakdown. See the Hootsuite review.

Meltwater

$15000/year
  • Essentials$15000/year
    • Core media monitoring
    • Brand mention tracking
    • Industry trend monitoring
  • Suite$25000/year
    • Media monitoring
    • Social listening
    • Cross-department analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Hootsuite if

  • You need content scheduling.
  • You also want social inbox.
Hootsuite review

Choose Meltwater if

  • You need media monitoring.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want influencer discovery.
Meltwater review

Questions people ask

Is Hootsuite or Meltwater better?
Neither clearly leads. Hootsuite starts at $99/year and Meltwater at $15000/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hootsuite or Meltwater?
Hootsuite starts at $99/year and Meltwater at $15000/year.
Does Hootsuite or Meltwater run on more platforms?
Hootsuite runs on Web. Meltwater runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Hootsuite best used for?
Hootsuite is most often used for social media scheduling, community management, social advertising, analytics & reporting. Of those, social media scheduling and community management are not what Meltwater is typically brought in for.
What can Hootsuite do that Meltwater cannot?
Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Social inbox, Content calendar, Analytics & reporting. Meltwater covers Media monitoring, Influencer discovery, Sentiment analysis, Competitive intelligence. Both handle Social listening, SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hootsuite: What is Hootsuite's pricing structure?

Hootsuite offers four annual plans: Standard at $99/user/year, Professional at $199/user/year, Advanced at $399/user/year, and Enterprise with custom pricing. Monthly billing is available at 20-30% higher cost.

Source
Meltwater: How much does Meltwater cost?

Meltwater does not publish pricing; all quotes require a sales call and annual contract. Median annual cost is approximately $25,000, with mid-market PR teams typically paying $15,000-$40,000 depending on users, coverage volume, and features.

Source
Hootsuite: Does Hootsuite offer a free tier?

No. Hootsuite does not offer a free tier or freemium plan. A 30-day trial is available, and skipping the trial provides 25% off annual plans.

Source
Meltwater: What sources does Meltwater monitor?

Meltwater monitors 200M+ online publications, 400,000+ traditional media sources, 20,000+ podcasts, TV/radio across all 210 US DMAs, and social platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, WeChat, and Weibo.

Source
Hootsuite: How many integrations does Hootsuite support?

Hootsuite advertises support for over 100 integrations, claiming more than any other social media management platform.

Source
Meltwater: What languages does Meltwater support?

Meltwater provides global multilingual support with consistent accuracy across 100+ languages for sentiment analysis and content classification.

Source
Hootsuite: Can users export their data from Hootsuite?

Yes. Hootsuite offers Advanced Analytics data export as CSV files to SFTP folders for Enterprise users, with daily exports and 90-day retention. Standard and Professional plans have more limited export capabilities.

Source
Meltwater: Does Meltwater include journalist/media contact information?

Meltwater's media database includes approximately 380,000-400,000 contacts, smaller than competitors like Cision (1.1M). Media database and GenAI Lens are separate paid add-ons.

Source
Hootsuite: Does Hootsuite offer API access?

Yes. Hootsuite provides a REST API for building custom applications and integrations, though API capabilities vary by plan level.

Source
Meltwater: Can I export Meltwater reports?

Yes, Meltwater generates custom dashboards and reports tailored to stakeholders. Mira AI assistant can generate summaries and insights from monitoring data.

Source
Hootsuite: Does Hootsuite offer self-hosted or on-premise deployment?

No. Hootsuite is a cloud-based SaaS platform only. There is no self-hosted or on-premise deployment option available.

Source
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