Hootsuite
Checked 24 Oct 2026 · source · 9 networks · API yes · AI yes
Mid-size and larger teams that need publishing, inbox, listening and analytics in one platform and can pay per seat.
You are a solo creator or a small business. There is no free plan and plans start at $99 per user per month, billed annually.
Overview
Hootsuite is sold as a suite, and scheduling is one part of it. Every plan includes the inbox, core listening and benchmarking sit alongside publishing, and Enterprise adds employee advocacy and a Salesforce link. The vendor describes about 6,000 enterprise customers and 200,000+ users, which is a fair hint about who the pricing was designed for.
The pricing page is the part I would read twice. The plan cards show no amounts. The $99, $199 and $399 figures come from the FAQ and from structured data on the plans page, all per user per month and billed annually. The FAQ says month-to-month billing exists at a higher rate, but no number is published, so annual per-seat is the only price you can plan around. Standard stops at 10 social accounts. Professional and Advanced lift that cap, and Enterprise is quoted.
Several of the vendor's own pages disagree with each other. The plans page lists approvals under Advanced, while the approvals page names Advanced (multiple users), Business and Enterprise, and Business is not a plan on the plans page. The newer parallel approvals option has no plan stated at all. Instagram carousels are up to 20 photos on the publishing page and 10 in a blog post, and the two Reels blog posts give different length rules. The FAQ network list leaves out Bluesky even though the publishing page covers it. I would ask sales for the plan that includes approvals, and test a carousel, before committing a team.
Recent changes are mostly about AI and agents. There is a Lumen Agent giving 7-day Quick Search inside Wisdom, MCP servers for several products, and Instagram DM automation moved from one product (Perch) to another (Nest). The browser tools Hootlet and Hootfeed have been retired. Compared with schedulers priced by account or profile bundle, this is a seat-priced suite: the bill follows headcount, and the useful extras (Advanced Inbox, Advanced Analytics, Lumen listening) sit at the Enterprise end. On Standard, listening is a 7-day search.
What it does well
- The inbox is on every plan and covers Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok and Threads, plus WhatsApp, which is outside the directory's network list.
- Bulk Composer takes up to 350 posts from a CSV, which matters for agencies loading a month at once.
- Approvals can run in up to three ordered layers with backup approvers and guest approvers, and Super Admins can now switch tiers to parallel notification.
- Reports export to CSV, XLSX, PDF and PPT, and competitor benchmarking is included in all plans, with up to 20 competitors depending on plan.
- The vendor lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022 and a DPA, and publishes a documented API (OAuth 2.0, 20 requests per second, 100,000 calls per day).
What to watch out for
- There is no free plan, and the trial is limited to 10 to 20 posts per day per organization with no bulk scheduling, so you cannot test the 350-post workflow before paying.
- Advanced Inbox, Advanced Analytics and Lumen listening are Enterprise items, and Threads listening needs Enterprise too.
- Meta does not allow access to Threads mentions, audio or polls, so Threads support is narrower than the other networks.
- Trustpilot shows 1.3 from 556 reviews while the iOS app shows 4.7 from 34,000 ratings; they measure different things, but the gap is wide enough that I would read recent reviews before signing.
- I could not confirm first comment support for any network from the vendor's pages, and the Trust Center does not state 2FA or data location.
Plans and prices
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually, per month | Unit | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Not published | $99 | per user per month | 10 social accounts |
| Professional | Not published | $199 | per user per month | Unlimited social accounts |
| Advanced | Not published | $399 | per user per month | Unlimited social accounts, approvals/team workflows |
| Enterprise | Not published | Not published | custom | Custom; contact sales |
Free plan: No free plan; 14-day free trial (no card), trial limited to 10-20 posts/day per org, no bulk scheduling
Hootsuite's bill is seats times tier. Five people on Standard are 5 x $99 per month on annual billing, and the same five on Professional are 5 x $199, so moving a team up a tier costs far more than adding one more person. The 10 account cap on Standard is the other trigger, and a team covering several brands can pass it. Extra seats are a listed add-on, and prices exclude taxes. Month-to-month costs more, but the vendor does not say how much. The cheap-looking $99 stops being true when you need approvals, because the plans page puts them on Advanced at up to $399 per user. Enterprise is custom.
Networks listed by Hootsuite
- Supports Facebook
- Supports Instagram
- Supports X
- Supports LinkedIn
- Supports TikTok
- Supports YouTube
- Supports Threads
- Supports Bluesky
- Supports Pinterest
- Does not support Google Business
- Does not support Mastodon
What Hootsuite does on each network
Only what the vendor's own pages state. A blank cell means the pages do not say.
| Network | Post types | Publishing | First comment | Analytics | Inbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| imagecarouselreelstory | Auto-publish | Yes | Yes | ||
| Auto-publish | Yes | Yes | |||
| X | textimage | Auto-publish | Yes | Yes | |
| textlinkimagesponsored post (Promote this post) | Auto-publish | Yes | Yes | ||
| TikTok | video | Auto-publish | Yes | Yes | |
| YouTube | video | Auto-publish | Yes | No | |
| Threads | text | Auto-publish | Yes | Yes | |
| Bluesky | textimagegifvideo | Auto-publish | |||
| pin | Auto-publish | Yes |
- Needs: Instagram Business account (publishing page, FAQ); blog says professional account, creator accounts can schedule Reels
- Limits: Carousel up to 20 photos (publishing page); blog elsewhere says 10 (conflict); Reels 3 seconds to 15 minutes at 9:16 (2025 blog); location and account tags in Composer
- hootsuite.com
- Needs: Posting to profiles, Pages and groups; Page posting needs Page Admin or Editor rights; groups need group Admin
- Limits: Facebook Insights metrics deprecation noted in What's New
- hootsuite.com
- X
- Limits: Composer previews the post and flags when it exceeds the character limit; inbox can filter by X search query
- hootsuite.com
- Needs: Both LinkedIn profiles and pages can be connected
- Limits: Bulk Composer up to 350 posts; character limit and video not covered by the 2025 blog; profile metrics in Post Performance since 2026-09-28
- blog.hootsuite.com
- TikTok
- Needs: TikTok Business account
- Limits: Comments, Duets and Stitches options set in Composer; page also lists recommended dimensions and length
- hootsuite.com
- YouTube
- Limits: Comments moderated through Streams, not the inbox; analytics cover subscriber growth, engagement, views, average view duration; OwlyWriter AI writes titles and descriptions; catalog coverage in Lumen 15K accounts
- hootsuite.com
- Threads
- Needs: Threads profile must be linked to a Meta Business account; included on every plan
- Limits: Meta does not allow access to Threads mentions, audio or polls; post metrics include engagement rate, impressions, likes, replies, quotes, reposts, shares; listening on Threads needs Enterprise
- hootsuite.com
- Bluesky
- Limits: Captions up to 300 characters, up to four images, one GIF or one video; FAQ network list omits Bluesky
- hootsuite.com
- Limits: Pins to public, private and shared boards; bulk limit of 350 posts applies
- hootsuite.com
Publishing and scheduling
- Calendar views
- calendar view; list view (organic, paid, published and scheduled content); Planner
- Bulk upload
- Bulk Composer: up to 350 posts at once from a CSV (date and time, text, optional link) to a chosen profile or page; not available during trial
- Best time suggestions
- Recommended times in calendar and Composer; heat maps by network and goal; LinkedIn goals Increase engagement, Drive traffic, Build awareness (pages only)
- Drafts and notes
- Drafts supported (MCP page: drafts, content library search); pause scheduled posts during a crisis; team task assignment
- Hashtag tools
- Hashtag generator suggests hashtags from copy, images and videos
- Link in bio
- Hootbio: paid plans only, unlimited links with custom buttons, hootbio.com custom URL (slug changeable once every six months); oneclick.bio free on Enterprise
- RSS and curation
- Hootsuite Syndicator (RSS feeds) listed among integrations
- Time zones
- Page claims posts can flow when you are in a different time zone from followers; no setting described
- Also listed
- Custom approval workflows; Bulk tagging up to 50 posts in Planner (2026-09-30); Unlimited post scheduling on Standard; Vanity URLs and Ow.ly link shortening with click tracking; Parallel approvals option (2026-09-21); Bluesky captions up to 300 characters, 4 images, 1 GIF or 1 video; Composer flags X posts over the character limit; TikTok comments, Duets and Stitches settings in Composer; Pinterest pins to public, private and shared boards; whole boards schedulable; Instagram DM automation by comment keyword (Instagram posts and Reels only)
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com
Teams, approvals and clients
- Seats
- Sold per user seat; Standard up to 10 social accounts, Professional/Advanced/Enterprise unlimited accounts
- Roles
- Admins and Super Admins assign creators (drafts need approval) and approvers (editors); permissions scoped by posts, messages or comments; any member with account access can be asked to approve one post
- Approvals
- Ordered layered approvals with up to three layers, backup approvers, Ask for approval in Composer, approval history; Parallel option notifies all tiers at once (2026-09-21); on Advanced (multiple users), Business and Enterprise per approval page; plans page lists approvals under Advanced
- Client access
- Guest approvers supported in approval chains
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com
Content creation and AI
- AI features
- Wisdom (formerly OwlyWriter AI): Drafts on-brand posts, suggests trends, builds campaign concepts and content calendars, publishes approved content; AI post and image generation: Standard plan; ideas, captions, hashtags, images; AI smart replies: Suggests context-aware replies by sentiment and intent; AI classifiers and automations: Tag, categorize, route or resolve incoming messages with plain-language prompts; 90-day trend forecasting: Professional and above; AI analytics insight cards: Insight cards, anomaly detection, trend prediction; up to 6 AI summaries per page (2026-09-23); Generative AI chatbot: Enterprise; answers customer questions from approved knowledge center; Yeti Agent / Blue Silk AI: Talkwalker-side listening agents and engine
- AI credits
- Not stated; AI page mentions no credits or usage caps
- Design tools
- Canva; Adobe Express; Lumen5; Vidyard
- Media library
- Digital asset management integrations: Bynder, Acquia, Dropbox
- Links and UTM
- Ow.ly link shortening with tracking; vanity URLs; Hootbio
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com
Analytics and reporting
- Metrics
- reach; engagement rate; impressions; likes; shares; saves; clicks; video views; follower counts; comments; new and total followers; profile visits; website clicks; paid: reach, click-through rate, cost per click (Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn); Data freshness: Facebook daily, Instagram about every 48 hours (up to 64 hours); Advanced Analytics add-on: ROI analysis, custom metrics, Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics integrations (Enterprise); Network coverage: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads
- Competitor tracking
- Competitive and industry benchmarking in all plans; up to 20 competitors depending on plan; Enterprise more
- Report exports
- csv; xlsx; pdf; ppt
- Data history
- Not stated; AI page cites 13 months of historical data for benchmarking
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com
Inbox and engagement
- Inbox
- Every plan includes the inbox: Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads; assign conversations, route by skill, agents set available or away; Advanced Inbox is an Enterprise add-on
- Listening
- Core listening and trend tracking on all plans (7-day search on Standard); Lumen by Talkwalker on Enterprise covers up to 150 million websites, 30 social channels, 187 languages (FAQ)
- Reviews
- Review integrations: Google My Business, ReviewTrackers
- Automation
- Saved replies, auto-responders, AI classifiers, auto-resolve rules, boomerang messages; Instagram DM automation by comment keyword moved from Perch to Nest (2026-09-29); inbox filter by X search query
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, apps.apple.com
Integrations, API and apps
- Integrations
- Google My Business; ReviewTrackers; Salesforce; HubSpot; Monday.com; Wrike; Asana; Slack; Proofpoint; Canva; Adobe Express; Lumen5; Vidyard; Bynder; Acquia; Dropbox; Google Analytics; Shopview for Shopify; Zendesk; Upfluence; TrueLoyal; Panoramiq Insights; Fedica; Hootsuite Syndicator (RSS); oneclick.bio; Reddit search; Perch MCP; Nest MCP; Lumen MCP; Parliament MCP; Kinetiq; Zendesk via OAuth 2.0; MCP servers: connectors for ChatGPT and Claude; Microsoft Copilot and Gemini need a remote MCP server URL
- MCP server
- Yes
- Public API
- Yes
- API docs
- https://apidocs.hootsuite.com/docs/api/index.html
- API authentication
- OAuth 2.0
- API rate limits
- 20 requests per second and 100,000 calls per day; HTTP 429 when exceeded; X-Account-Quota headers
- iOS app
- iOS app, requires iOS 18.0 or later, free with in-app purchases
- Android app
- Hootsuite Mobile Application listed on status page; Android details not read
- Browser extension
- Hootlet and Hootfeed support ended (What's New title)
Sources: hootsuite.com, developer.hootsuite.com, apps.apple.com, hootsuite.com
Pricing details
- Billing model
- Per user seat per month; Standard from $99, Professional from $199, Advanced up to $399 (FAQ), Enterprise custom
- Annual discount
- Annual billing gives a lower per-user monthly rate than month-to-month (amount not stated)
- Trial
- 14-day free trial on Standard, Professional and Advanced; no credit card; 10 to 20 posts per day per organization and no bulk scheduling during trial
- Add-ons
- Advanced Analytics (Enterprise add-on); Extra user seats; Advanced Inbox (Enterprise add-on); oneclick.bio free on Enterprise; Payment: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, JCB, PayPal; Enterprise annual invoices by card, check, wire or ACH; prices exclude taxes
- Discounts
- Discounted rate for nonprofits on some plans, apply to qualify
- Cancellation
- Plans page header says cancel anytime; trial does not charge automatically when it ends
- Currencies
- USD
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com
Security and compliance
- GDPR
- Listed on Trust Center; FAQ says it complies with GDPR, CCPA and PIPEDA; DPA available
- SOC 2
- SOC 2 Type II listed on Trust Center (FY25 report); SOC 3 also listed
- ISO 27001
- ISO 27001:2022 listed (certificate shared with Talkwalker); ISO 27017, 27018, 27701 also listed
- Single sign-on
- Included in Enterprise plan; SCIM enhancements for roles and lifecycle management in What's New
- Two-factor login
- Not stated on Trust Center
- Data location
- Not stated on Trust Center
- Status page
- https://status.hootsuite.com/ (Atlassian Statuspage; components Web App, Mobile App, Sparkcentral, Talkwalker)
- Platform partner status
- Other listed on Trust Center: CCPA, CSA STAR 1, Cyber Essentials, FedRAMP Li-SaaS, PCI, TX-RAMP, VPAT, DORA, ICO registration; FAQ also calls it HIPAA-friendly
Sources: hootsuite.com, trustcenter.hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, status.hootsuite.com
Support and onboarding
- Support channels
- Help Center; Expert onboarding and support (Enterprise); Hootsuite Academy; Security contact security@hootsuite.com
- Help centre
- https://help.hootsuite.com/hc/en-us
- Training
- Hootsuite Academy: free self-paced, 4 training programs and 9 short courses, needs account or trial; no certifications listed
- Onboarding
- Expert onboarding and support listed for Enterprise
Sources: hootsuite.com, hootsuite.com, trustcenter.hootsuite.com
About the company
- Founded
- 2008
Source: hootsuite.com
What review sites show
Scores and counts as the review site displays them on the date shown. They are other people's ratings, not ours.
| Site | Score | Reviews | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot | 1.3 | 556 | 2026-10 |
| App store | 4.7 | 34000 | 2026-10 |
Recent product changes
2026-10-19
Quarterly roundup including Social OS and updates to Perch, Nest, Wisdom, Parliament, Lumen
2026-10-07
Social listening with 7-day Quick Search inside Wisdom, no separate Lumen account
2026-09-30
Apply tags to up to 50 posts at once
2026-09-30
Threads Public Profile Monitoring
Track any public Threads profile as a dedicated channel
2026-09-30
Parliament MCP for Content Admins
Admins manage advocacy content via conversational AI tools
2026-09-29
DM Automation for Instagram moves to Nest
Setup moves from Perch to Nest; Planner shows status, keyword and DMs-sent count
2026-09-28
Threads and LinkedIn profile metrics in Post Performance
Post-level data for Threads and LinkedIn alongside other networks
2026-09-21
Super Admins can switch tier progression from Sequential to Parallel so all tiers are notified at once
Limits the vendor documents
- Trial accounts: 10 to 20 posts per day per organization and no bulk scheduling(hootsuite.com)
- Standard plan covers up to 10 social accounts(hootsuite.com)
- Advanced listening with Lumen is Enterprise only; Threads listening needs Enterprise(hootsuite.com)
- Meta does not allow access to Threads mentions, audio or polls(hootsuite.com)
- Instagram and TikTok scheduling require a Business account; Facebook Page posting needs Page Admin or Editor(hootsuite.com)
- YouTube comments are moderated through Streams, not the inbox(hootsuite.com)
Pages read for this profile (30)
- https://www.hootsuite.com/plans
- https://www.hootsuite.com/plans/standard
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/integrations
- https://www.hootsuite.com/about
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/publishing
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/security
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/analytics
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/hootsuite.com
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hootsuite-social-media-manager/id341249709
- https://developer.hootsuite.com/
- https://www.hootsuite.com/whats-new
- https://www.hootsuite.com/docs
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/link-in-bio
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/social-media-approval-tool
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/ai
- https://www.hootsuite.com/platform/social-media-inbox
- https://www.hootsuite.com/integrations/mcp
- https://www.hootsuite.com/whats-new/parallel-approvals
- https://www.hootsuite.com/whats-new/dm-automation-for-instagram
- https://www.hootsuite.com/threads
- https://www.hootsuite.com/youtube
- https://www.hootsuite.com/faq
- https://www.hootsuite.com/academy
- https://trustcenter.hootsuite.com/
- https://status.hootsuite.com/
- https://developer.hootsuite.com/docs/api-rate-limits
- https://apidocs.hootsuite.com/docs/api/index.html
- https://blog.hootsuite.com/schedule-reels/
- https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-schedule-instagram-posts/
- https://blog.hootsuite.com/schedule-linkedin-posts/
Pick Hootsuite if
Pick Hootsuite if you run a team that wants publishing, a shared inbox and reporting under one login, and your budget is built per seat. It also suits organizations that need layered approvals with outside approvers. Skip it if you are a solo creator or a small business: with no free plan and $99 per user as the floor, the price is the main reason to look elsewhere. Also skip it if you need to test bulk scheduling during the trial, because the trial blocks it.
Questions people ask
Does Hootsuite have a free plan?
No. There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card, limited to 10 to 20 posts per day per organization and with no bulk scheduling.
How much does Hootsuite cost?
Standard is $99, Professional $199 and Advanced $399 per user per month on annual billing. Enterprise is custom. Month-to-month billing exists at a higher rate that the vendor does not publish.
How many social accounts does Hootsuite allow?
Standard covers up to 10 social accounts. Professional, Advanced and Enterprise are listed as unlimited.
Does Hootsuite have an API?
Yes. The vendor documents a public API with OAuth 2.0 and limits of 20 requests per second and 100,000 calls per day. The pages I read do not say which plans include API access.
Alternatives
Tools for a similar audience that share the most networks with Hootsuite.
How we checked
$99/$199/$399 confirmed as 'billed annually' per user/month (schema.org data on plans page). FAQ says month-to-month billing exists at a higher rate, but no monthly price is published, so monthlyPriceUSD is null. Google Business Profile posting is via a separate Google My Business app integration, not built in, so it's excluded. Mastodon not supported. AI = 'Wisdom' assistant (post/image generation). The developer REST API (developer.hootsuite.com) is confirmed only by third-party sources; production keys reportedly need approval.