Hootsuite alternative
The Hootsuite alternative for teams that don't want to pay per user
Hootsuite is the tool most people learned social media management on, and it's still the broadest suite in the category: listening, ads, customer care, and a scheduler in one place. It's also priced for the companies that use all of that. Every plan is per user, billed annually, and approvals only arrive on the Advanced plan at up to $399 per user per month.
If you're a small team or an agency that mainly needs to plan, approve, publish, and report, that's a lot of suite to pay for. This page lays out where Hootsuite earns its price, where it doesn't, and what the same team pays on Lemonpost.
Where Hootsuite is the right call
Mid-size and large marketing teams that need social listening, paid social management, and customer-care workflows in one login. Hootsuite bundles those and Lemonpost doesn't try to.
Companies with procurement requirements around SSO, audit logs, and a named account manager. Hootsuite's Enterprise tier exists for exactly that.
Anyone who has built years of reporting on Hootsuite's analytics. Rebuilding that history isn't free.
Where Hootsuite starts to cost you
Every user is a seat, and every seat is the full plan price
Three people on Professional is $597 a month billed annually, before you have approvals. Give a client access and the client is a seat too.
Approvals live on the most expensive plan
Review-and-approve workflows appear on Advanced, listed at up to $399 per user per month. For an agency that exists to get client sign-off, that's the feature you came for, priced last.
Annual billing is the price you see
The plan page quotes annual rates; month-to-month is higher. A small team that isn't sure about a tool ends up committing to a year to get the advertised number.
Weight you didn't ask for
Streams, listening, and ads are in the navigation whether you use them or not. New team members take longer to become useful, which matters more in a five-person shop than in a fifty-person one.
Hootsuite vs Lemonpost, side by side
| Hootsuite | Lemonpost | |
|---|---|---|
| How you're billed | Per user, per month, billed annually | Per plan by channel count; team members are free |
| Entry price | $99 per user per month (Standard, annual) | $29 for 5 channels (Creator) |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card | 7 days |
| Users | Each user is a paid seat | Unlimited on every plan |
| Social accounts | 10 on Standard, unlimited from Professional | 5, 15, or 40 by plan |
| Client approvals | Advanced plan, in Hootsuite | Growth and Pro, via a no-login review link |
| White-label reports | Not listed on the plans page | Your logo and colors, Growth and Pro |
| Social listening and ads | Included on higher plans | Not offered |
| Social inbox | Inbox on all plans | Comments and DMs on every plan, plus comment-to-DM automations |
| Post from an AI assistant | OwlyWriter inside Hootsuite | MCP server on every plan: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, any MCP client |
| Platforms | Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Pinterest, Threads | Same eight plus Bluesky |
| Based in | Canada | Norway, hosted in the EU |
What a small agency actually pays
Take a three-person agency with three clients on five platforms each, 15 channels in total. Two clients want to approve posts before they go live.
On Hootsuite, approvals mean the Advanced plan for all three seats. On Lemonpost it's the Growth plan, with as many seats as you like.
| Hootsuite | Lemonpost | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Advanced, 3 users | Growth |
| Monthly price | Up to $1,197 (3 × $399), billed annually | $99 |
| Yearly price | Up to $14,364 | $990 |
| Without approvals (Professional) | $597 per month (3 × $199) | $99 |
| Adding a fourth team member | +$199 to $399 per month | $0 |
| Client approval | Client needs a seat or an email workaround | Review link, no account |
Hootsuite lists Advanced as 'up to $399 per user per month'; the exact figure depends on your quote. Prices read from each vendor's pricing page on the date shown at the bottom of this page.
Switching from Hootsuite
- 1
Export your scheduled posts and the last quarter's analytics from Hootsuite before the subscription ends; the history doesn't come with you.
- 2
Connect the same accounts in Lemonpost, one login per platform.
- 3
Recreate your posting schedule as queue slots, then bulk-import anything already written via CSV.
- 4
Invite the whole team. Seats are free, so give access to everyone who touches a post.
- 5
Send clients their review links and approve one test post each before the first real one.
When to stay with Hootsuite
Stay if listening, paid social, or customer-care routing are part of your weekly work, if your company requires SSO and a signed enterprise agreement, or if you have more than a couple of years of reporting you can't afford to rebuild. Hootsuite is a suite; if you use the suite, the price is fair.
Other Hootsuite alternatives worth checking
The tools people shortlist after Hootsuite, with the pricing model in one line each. Vista Social and SocialPilot are the closest to a lighter Hootsuite; Buffer and Later are simpler again.
Vista Social
Priced by plan with profile and user caps.
- From
- $79 per month on Professional (15 profiles, 2 users)
- Approvals
- Every plan; multi-stage from Advanced
- Users
- 2, 4, or 8 by plan
SocialPilot
Priced by plan with account and user caps.
- From
- $20 per month on Essentials (5 accounts, 1 user)
- Approvals
- Standard and up; client approval from Premium ($100 per month)
- Users
- 1, 3, or 6 by plan; unlimited on Ultimate
Buffer
Priced per connected channel, per month.
- From
- $5 per channel per month on Essentials
- Approvals
- Team plan only ($10 per channel per month)
- Users
- 1 on Free and Essentials, unlimited on Team
Later
Priced per social set (one brand across platforms) and per user, billed yearly.
- From
- $18.75 per month on Starter, billed yearly
- Approvals
- Growth and Scale (submit and approve posts)
- Users
- 1, 2, or 4 included by plan; extra users $3.75 per month
Metricool
Priced per brand (one business across platforms), in tiers of brands.
- From
- $20 per month on Starter for 1 brand ($36 for 10 brands)
- Approvals
- Advanced plan (from $53 per month)
- Users
- Team management on Advanced; the pricing page does not cap users
Planable
Priced per workspace (one brand or client), with monthly post caps; unlimited users per workspace.
- From
- $33 per workspace per month on Basic (60 posts per month)
- Approvals
- Every plan; mandatory approvals from Pro, multi-level on Enterprise
- Users
- Unlimited per workspace
What every Lemonpost plan includes
- Unlimited team members
- Nine platforms from one composer
- Drag-and-drop calendar and posting queue
- Unified inbox for comments and DMs
- Analytics with a best-time-to-post heatmap
- Bulk scheduling from CSV
- Link-in-bio page on lemonl.ink
- MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, and any MCP client
Client approvals and white-label reports are on the Growth ($99) and Pro ($249) plans.
Elsket av kundene
Hør hva kundene våre sier
“Jeg lette etter dette i tre andre verktøy før Lemonpost. Det bare funker, og erik på support er også helt fantastisk.”
Elliot Solberg
Sandra Clothing AS
“Vi bruker Lemonpost sammen med claude ai og elsker det. Det er rimelig, superenkelt å bruke, og jeg og medgründeren min bruker det daglig.”
Henriette L. Solstad
Lett Rekruttering AS
“I selskapet vårt driver vi aktiv rekruttering gjennom sosiale medier, og det å kunne publisere på tvers av kanaler ett sted og engasjere har vært helt fantastisk.”
Serpios Dento
HomeProject Technologies Ltd
“Vi brukte TIMEVIS på å henge med på sosiale medier. Lemonpost gjorde det gøy igjen!! Anbefales på det sterkeste :-)”
Vera Bergh
SoMe-ansvarlig
“Vi drifter en travel konto og trengte noe som tålte belastningen uten å knekke. Lemonpost håndterer det, og teamet retter feil raskt.”
Theo Skyner
CoCreate Ltd
“Koblet til alle de sosiale kontoene våre på én økt. Verdien for pengene er ærlig talt den beste jeg har funnet, og supporten svarer faktisk som et menneske.”
Ana Costa
“Best forhold mellom kvalitet og pris av alle plattformene jeg har prøvd.”
Fanny Mäkelä
SoMe-ansvarlig
“Vi lanserte et produkt og fikk bokstavelig talt null trafikk. Nå har det gått 5 måneder, og vi publiserer innhold jevnt og trutt. Og jeg elsker DM-funksjonen, så vi kan gi publikummet vårt litt gratis verdi.”
Fredrik Kreim
FAQ
Hootsuite alternative questions
Buffer (3 channels), Metricool (1 brand, 20 posts a month), and Pallyy (15 posts a month) have free plans. Lemonpost has a 7-day trial. None of the free plans include approvals.
Among the tools on this page: Pallyy Pro ($25, one social set), SocialPilot Standard ($40, 10 accounts, 3 users), Later Growth ($37.50 a month yearly, 2 users), and Lemonpost Growth ($99, 15 channels, unlimited users, no-login client links). Which is cheapest depends on how many people and channels you have.
No. Lemonpost covers planning, approvals, publishing, a unified inbox, analytics, and reports. If listening or ads management is a must, Hootsuite or Sprout Social is the better fit.
Yes. In Lemonpost a client gets a review link with an approve toggle and a notes field. No account, no seat, and the approval is logged on the post.
Connecting accounts and rebuilding a posting schedule is an afternoon. The slow part is exporting and archiving Hootsuite reports you want to keep, so start there.
Try Lemonpost next to your current tool
Seven days free, every feature, unlimited seats. Keep Hootsuite running until your first Lemonpost post has published.
Hootsuite prices and plan details were read from Hootsuite's pricing page on 2026-09-03 and may have changed since. Lemonpost prices are in USD; other currencies are quoted at checkout.