Is Hootsuite or Pinterest better?

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

Which is cheaper, Hootsuite or Pinterest?

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

Does Hootsuite or Pinterest run on more platforms?

Hootsuite runs on Web. Pinterest runs on iOS, Android, Web.

Can I use Pinterest for free?

Yes. Pinterest 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 Pinterest is typically brought in for.

What can Hootsuite do that Pinterest cannot?

Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Social inbox, Content calendar, Analytics & reporting. Pinterest covers Boards, Visual search, Shopping pins, Idea pins.

Marketing · head to head

Hootsuite vs Pinterest

Hootsuite

Marketing

Save time and grow on social media

From: $99/year
Rated: -

Full review Website

Social Media

Visual discovery and bookmarking platform monetised through advertising and shopping links, run as an independent public company

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Pinterest 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; Pinterest engagement skews heavily toward planning and browsing rather than real-time interaction, so it is a poor fit for time-sensitive announcements or breaking content.
They diverge on capability: Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Pinterest covers Boards.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hootsuite and Pinterest actually diverge.

Attributes where Hootsuite and Pinterest differ
Attribute	Hootsuite	Pinterest
Starting price	$99/year	Free
Pricing model	Unknown	Free for users, advertising revenue from businesses
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	iOS, Android, Web
Category	Marketing	Social Media
Founded	2008	Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Pinterest

Boards
Visual search
Shopping pins
Idea pins
Promoted pins
Pinterest Trends

What people use each for

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

Hootsuite

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

Planning a home renovation, wedding or event by collecting ideas in one placenot Hootsuite
A retailer running shoppable pin campaigns to drive purchase-intent traffic rather than pure brand awarenessnot Hootsuite
A content creator or blogger driving referral traffic to a website through pinned contentnot Hootsuite
A brand researching seasonal trends through Pinterest Trends data before a product launchnot 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

Engagement skews heavily toward planning and browsing rather than real-time interaction, so it is a poor fit for time-sensitive announcements or breaking content.
Organic reach for businesses without a paid budget has declined as the feed increasingly favours advertising and algorithmic recommendation over follower-based distribution.
The user base skews demographically narrow, concentrated among women and higher-income users in several markets, which limits its usefulness for brands needing broad reach.
Ad pricing is auction based with no published flat rate, so campaign cost is unpredictable and can rise sharply during high-demand seasonal periods.
Content moderation and misinformation controls have lagged some competitors, and health and wellness misinformation pinned to boards has been a recurring problem the company has had to address after the fact.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hootsuite

$99/year

No published plan breakdown. See the Hootsuite review.

Free

PinterestFree
- Free account, unlimited pinning and boards for users
- Businesses pay for promoted pins and shopping ads through Pinterest Ads Manager, priced by auction, no flat published rate

Which should you pick?

Choose Hootsuite if

You need content scheduling.
You also want social inbox.

Hootsuite review

Choose Pinterest if

You need boards.
You want to start without paying.
You work on iOS, Android, Web.
You also want visual search.

Pinterest review

Questions people ask

Is Hootsuite or Pinterest better?: Neither clearly leads. Hootsuite starts at $99/year and Pinterest at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hootsuite or Pinterest?: Pinterest has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $99/year for Hootsuite and Free for Pinterest.
Does Hootsuite or Pinterest run on more platforms?: Hootsuite runs on Web. Pinterest runs on iOS, Android, Web.
Can I use Pinterest for free?: Yes. Pinterest 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 Pinterest is typically brought in for.
What can Hootsuite do that Pinterest cannot?: Hootsuite covers Content scheduling, Social inbox, Content calendar, Analytics & reporting. Pinterest covers Boards, Visual search, Shopping pins, Idea pins.

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

Pinterest: Is Pinterest free?

Yes for users. Pinterest makes money from advertisers and shopping commerce tools, not from user subscriptions.

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

Pinterest: Does Pinterest take a cut of sales through shopping pins?

Pinterest itself does not typically take a transaction cut; it charges advertisers for promoted placement, and the retailer handles the actual sale and payment.

Hootsuite: How many integrations does Hootsuite support?

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

Source

Pinterest: Has Pinterest changed ownership recently?

No. Unlike several platforms in this category, Pinterest remains an independently listed public company with no recent acquisition or rebrand.

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 Pinterest

Hootsuite

Pinterest

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Hootsuite

Only in Pinterest

What people use each for

Hootsuite

Pinterest

Where each one falls short

Hootsuite

Pinterest

Pricing, plan by plan

Hootsuite

Pinterest

Which should you pick?

Choose Hootsuite if

Choose Pinterest if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Hootsuite

More on Pinterest

Keep looking

Other head to heads