Is Hootsuite or Mode better?

Neither clearly leads. Hootsuite starts at $99/year and Mode at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Hootsuite or Mode?

Mode has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $99/year for Hootsuite and Free for Mode.

Does Hootsuite or Mode run on more platforms?

Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Mode for free?

Yes. Mode has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hootsuite starts at $99/year.

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 Mode is typically brought in for.

What can Hootsuite do that Mode cannot?

Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Social inbox, Content calendar, Analytics & reporting. Mode covers SQL Editor, Python/R Notebooks, Interactive Reports, Version Control.

Marketing · head to head

Hootsuite vs Mode

Hootsuite

Marketing

Save time and grow on social media

From: $99/year
Rated: -

Full review Website

Mode

Business Intelligence

Collaborative analytics for data teams

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Mode has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Hootsuite no free tier available; minimum cost is $99/user/year annually; Mode free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets
They diverge on capability: Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Mode covers SQL Editor.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hootsuite and Mode actually diverge.

Attributes where Hootsuite and Mode differ
Attribute	Hootsuite	Mode
Starting price	$99/year	Free
Pricing model	Unknown	subscription
Free tier	No	Yes
Category	Marketing	Business Intelligence
Founded	2008	2013

Identical on both: platforms (Web), 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
Social listening
Team collaboration
Approval workflows
Bulk scheduling

Only in Mode

SQL Editor
Python/R Notebooks
Interactive Reports
Version Control
Scheduling
Snowflake
Redshift
BigQuery

What people use each for

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

Hootsuite

Social media schedulingnot Mode
Community managementnot Mode
Social advertisingnot Mode
Analytics & reportingnot Mode
Team collaborationnot Mode

Mode

Self-service analyticsnot Hootsuite
Data explorationnot Hootsuite
Ad-hoc reportingnot Hootsuite
Collaborative analysisnot Hootsuite
Embedded analyticsnot 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

Mode

Free tier limited to 4GB RAM and 1 CPU for SQL notebooks, insufficient for large datasets
Requires SQL knowledge for most analysis tasks, creating dependency on technical resources
Paid plan pricing not publicly listed; requires sales consultation
Recently acquired by ThoughtSpot in 2026, creating product direction uncertainty
Limited customization options for visual aspects and embedded analytics

Pricing, plan by plan

Hootsuite

$99/year

No published plan breakdown. See the Hootsuite review.

Mode

Free

FreeFree
- SQL Editor
- Python/R Notebooks
- Basic Charts
Business$65/month
- Advanced Visualizations
- Collaboration
- Integrations

Which should you pick?

Choose Hootsuite if

You need content scheduling.
You also want social inbox.

Hootsuite review

Choose Mode if

You need sql editor.
You want to start without paying.
You also want python/r notebooks.

Mode review

Questions people ask

Is Hootsuite or Mode better?: Neither clearly leads. Hootsuite starts at $99/year and Mode at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hootsuite or Mode?: Mode has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $99/year for Hootsuite and Free for Mode.
Does Hootsuite or Mode run on more platforms?: Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Mode for free?: Yes. Mode has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hootsuite starts at $99/year.
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 Mode is typically brought in for.
What can Hootsuite do that Mode cannot?: Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Social inbox, Content calendar, Analytics & reporting. Mode covers SQL Editor, Python/R Notebooks, Interactive Reports, Version Control.

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

Mode: What languages does Mode support for analysis?

Mode notebooks support SQL, Python (3.11 with pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, matplotlib), and R (4.2.0 with ggplot2, dplyr, tidyr). Both Python and R allow additional library installation at runtime.

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

Mode: Can I integrate Mode notebook results into reports?

Yes. Mode allows adding notebook cell results directly to reports, with synchronized scheduling so reports re-run to keep data current.

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

Mode: Does Mode support collaborative analysis?

Yes. Mode notebooks provide moveable code blocks and markdown cells enabling exploratory analysis and team collaboration on data queries and visualizations.

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

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

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

Hootsuite vs Mode

Hootsuite

Mode

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Hootsuite

Only in Mode

What people use each for

Hootsuite

Mode

Where each one falls short

Hootsuite

Mode

Pricing, plan by plan

Hootsuite

Mode

Which should you pick?

Choose Hootsuite if

Choose Mode if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Hootsuite

More on Mode

Keep looking

Other head to heads