Top 5 Hootsuite alternatives to consider in 2025

As social media becomes more influential and fast-paced, having robust tools with advanced features is increasingly important.

Consider the rise of new AI tools. According to The Sprout Social Index™, 93% of social media practitioners agree that social content has to keep up with online trends and culture. The takeaway? Teams without modern AI-powered features are already falling behind.

Between new platforms and constant innovations, there’s a lot keeping marketers on their toes—and their schedules full. You need the best tool for the job. Hootsuite is a major player in the social media marketing platform space. And whether you want an option with different pricing, more specialized or just want to try something new, we’re here to help you do your research.

Use this list to brush up on Hootsuite alternatives in a few categories to kickstart your search.

What to consider in a Hootsuite alternative

Social teams should regularly evaluate whether their current tools are hitting the mark or if it’s time to try something new. A social team can only be as agile as their tech stack enables them to be.

Whether you’re curious about Hootsuite alternatives or you just want to see what’s out there before you make a decision, it’s always beneficial to see what other platforms have to offer.

Here are some key areas to look for when researching new tools for your team.

User interface and ease of use

Choosing a solution with a straightforward, clean interface can make a significant difference in your team’s day-to-day work. A well-designed user experience can minimize the learning curve for new team members and reduce the time spent on routine tasks. Look for a platform that simplifies workflows, from publishing content to responding to customer messages.

Consider if the platform’s layout is intuitive and if it helps you quickly find what you need. Is the social media calendar easy to navigate? Can you quickly find your analytics reports? A platform that is easy to use and visually organized will help your team work more efficiently and keep them focused on what matters—your social strategy.

Advanced analytics and actionable intelligence

Measuring your social media performance is no longer just about tracking likes and comments. A modern social media solution should provide advanced analytics that go beyond vanity metrics, offering deep insights into audience behavior, campaign performance and content effectiveness. Look for a platform that can transform your data into actionable intelligence.

The best platforms offer a holistic view of your efforts, helping you understand how social media contributes to your business goals. Look for robust social media reporting capabilities that can be easily customized and shared with stakeholders. You should be able to benchmark against competitors, identify key trends and prove the value of your social media strategy with clear, easy-to-understand data visualizations and reports.

Team collaboration and scalability

As your team and brand grow, your social media tools need to grow with you. A great platform should not only support your current needs but also provide the features necessary to scale your efforts without adding complexity. Team collaboration features are especially important for ensuring a smooth workflow, preventing mistakes and maintaining a consistent brand voice.

Look for a solution that offers features like approval workflows, custom user permissions and real-time activity tracking within the platform. These features help streamline communication and ensure that content is reviewed and approved efficiently. The platform should be flexible enough to accommodate different team sizes and roles, so you can easily add new members and grant them the appropriate level of access. A scalable tool will help you manage an increasing volume of content, a larger number of social profiles and more complex campaigns without a hitch.

Let’s dive into the full list.

1. Sprout Social

2. Agorapulse

While many platforms offer scheduling and analytics, Agorapulse stands out with its emphasis on community management. Its core differentiator is the “Social Inbox,” a unified stream that pulls in all comments, mentions, messages and reviews from connected profiles into one place. This is valuable for brands and agencies that need to be highly responsive to their audiences.

Agorapulse also provides collaboration tools to streamline workflows for teams of any size. Marketers can easily assign conversations to specific team members, add internal notes and bookmark important messages for follow-up. This is particularly useful for agencies or larger teams with defined roles, as it ensures that the right person handles the right conversation, promoting accountability and a consistent brand voice.

Beyond engagement, Agorapulse offers comprehensive features for social listening and reporting. Its social listening tools allow marketers to monitor keywords and hashtags, helping them discover what people are saying about their brand, industry and competitors. The reporting capabilities provide the ability to generate customized, white-label reports that can be easily shared with stakeholders.

Agorapulse is a suitable alternative for marketers who want to move beyond basic scheduling and need to expand to more community management and engagement. Its social inbox, combined with collaboration tools and detailed reporting, makes it a good option for teams that are focused on building and nurturing a responsive and engaged community around their brand.

3. Buffer

For teams or solopreneurs who prioritize a clean, intuitive interface and a straightforward approach to social media publishing and analytics, Buffer is a fitting alternative. Its user-friendly dashboard is a significant departure from more complex, feature-heavy platforms, making it a good choice for those who are new to social media management or simply want a tool with a low learning curve.

Buffer’s content scheduling and minimalist workflow are particularly beneficial for brands that operate with a consistent content cadence and need a simple, reliable way to get posts out on time.

The platform also offers a bulk upload feature, which allows users to schedule hundreds of posts at once by importing a CSV file, saving time for marketers who plan their content in spreadsheets.

Buffer also allows for unlimited collaborators and offers intuitive review and approval workflows, which can be a needed advantage for agencies or teams where multiple people are involved in content creation and approval. The platform also provides essential analytics, including insights into post performance, audience demographics and the best times to post for each channel, helping with data-driven decisions.

Another unique feature of Buffer is its “Start Page” builder, which allows users to create a simple, customizable landing page directly within the platform. This tool is useful for small businesses and creators who need a simple, centralized link-in-bio to showcase their offerings or website.

In essence, Buffer is an alternative for those who value simplicity, ease of use and efficient content publishing. It’s built for small businesses, creators and teams that need a tool to handle the core tasks of social media management without the added complexity of features they may not use.

4. SocialPilot

When the core need is to manage a high volume of social media accounts or multiple brands with a single, comprehensive tool, SocialPilot stands out as an option. This platform is especially well-suited for social media marketing agencies, freelancers and businesses that need a robust solution for a diverse portfolio of clients or brands.

A key differentiator for SocialPilot is its extensive support for a wide range of social networks. It connects with all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google Business Profile, making it a versatile tool for managing a broad online presence. The platform’s ability to handle multi-account management is a significant advantage, offering sophisticated content scheduling and a centralized dashboard to manage all accounts in one place, which helps to streamline workflows and reduce the chaos of juggling multiple native applications.

SocialPilot also excels in team collaboration and approval workflows. It offers custom user roles and permissions, ensuring that team members and clients have appropriate level of access. The platform allows for collaborators to leave comments on drafts for feedback and approval, fostering a seamless co-creation process. For agencies, this feature is crucial for maintaining transparency and accountability with clients.

SocialPilot also provides a suite of features for content creation and engagement. The platform includes an AI assistant that can generate unique content ideas, captions and hashtags and even allows users to select a specific tone for the content. The “Social Inbox” is another notable feature that consolidates comments and messages from all connected platforms into a single dashboard, which is a major time-saver for teams that need to manage customer interactions and build a strong community.

In short, SocialPilot is a good alternative for marketers who manage multiple brands or need a solution that streamlines content creation, scheduling and team collaboration. Its comprehensive feature set is designed to help agencies and businesses maintain a consistent presence and manage a high volume of work.

Additionally, SocialPilot has recently integrated AI assistance for content creation and expanded into review management, allowing users to monitor and respond to reviews on platforms like Google Business and Facebook.

5. Later

For brands where visual content is at the heart of their social media strategy—especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok—Later is a compelling alternative. This platform was built with a visual-first approach and its features are uniquely tailored to help marketers plan and execute visual campaigns.

Later’s standout feature is its Visual Planner, designed with a visual-first approach. This tool allows marketers to preview and rearrange upcoming posts on a visual grid, which is helpful for curating a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed. For brands in fashion, food, travel or any industry that relies on a strong visual identity, this feature provides a level of control and foresight that is essential for maintaining brand consistency.

Later also focuses on helping brands connect with and leverage the creator economy. The platform offers tools for managing creator and brand collaborations and its integration with a vast database of creators can help marketers discover new partners and run influencer campaigns directly within the app. It also includes features for searching and sharing user-generated content (UGC), which is a way for brands to build community and showcase authentic content from their audience.

In terms of publishing, Later provides the ability to auto-publish single-image posts, carousels and Reels on Instagram, as well as videos on TikTok. The platform also offers a best times to post feature that provides recommendations for Instagram and TikTok based on a brand’s specific audience engagement patterns.

Later is an alternative for brands that have a visual-first strategy and want a tool that not only simplifies scheduling but also helps them with the unique challenges of visual content planning. It’s a tool that helps marketers transform their social media feeds into a cohesive visual story.

When it comes to your tech stack, it pays to do your research

Your tech stack is your lifeline. In social media marketing, it can make or break your workflows, strategy and ability to scale your business. That’s why choosing the right solution for your social media needs—from publishing and engagement to influencer marketing and analytics—is critical.

When it comes to new tools, it always pays to understand what you’re getting into before you buy. Want to see it for yourself? Schedule a demo today to experience how Sprout Social can transform your social strategy and drive real results for your business.