In your search for the right social media management tool, you might have come across Sprout Social. However, SproutSocial may not be your first choice depending on your business’s varying needs and budget constraints.

You might be looking for Sprout Social alternatives to know your options or maybe it’s just not the right tool for you and your team. 

Some of the known disadvantages of Sprout Social are:  

• User-based pricing makes the tool expensive for most teams 
• Limited social listening features
• Features like trend analysis for Twitter keywords and hashtags are only available on the professional plan at $149 per user/month.
• Complicated to use

In this article, we’ll share a few of our favorite SproutSocial alternatives. We’ll have an option for every type of company or team, from small teams to enterprises.

1) Hopper HQ: Optimal for time efficiency

Hopper HQ has a straightforward user interface and setup process. It supports scheduling for Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube Shorts, and Pinterest at a more affordable price than Sprout Social and other alternatives. 

Hopper HQ also has a Mobile app where you’re able to use most of the features available on the desktop version, but straight from your pocket. This means that you can post, schedule, and upload images on the go, from wherever you are.

Features	Sprout Social	Hopper HQ
Pricing	€249 per month	$16 per social bundle/month
Supports images, videos, and carousel posts	Additional cost per added user	unlimited
Free trial
Free version
Customer support
Analytics and reporting	Advanced analytics not available for all plans	Advanced analytics available for all plans
@mentions
Alerts/Notifications
Automated publishing
Calendar Management
Drag and drop grid planner
Image Editing
Multi-Account management
For small businesses	too expensive for small businesses
Instagram Reels auto posting
Social networks	Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin & Pinterest, Youtube	Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest  Twitter, Facebook & YouTube
Supports images, videos and carousel posts
TikTok to Instagram content repurposing (no watermark)
first comment scheduling and auto-posting
Hashtag suggestions
Bulk upload
CSV Upload
Easy to use and intuitive interface	User friendly	User friendly
Best time to post
Mobile app
Capterra Review Score	4.4	4.7

Hopper HQ vs. Sprout Social

1) Budget Friendly rates:

Hopper HQ is a great alternative for teams that are limited in their budget. Social Sprout, on the contrary, is priced at a point that only enterprises and larger organizations can afford. It will only cost you $16 a month to use Hopper HQ and all its available features. While the starting price for Social Sprout is $249 a month, it does provide more complex features like a social media inbox

2) Shares all the essential features:

Yes, Sprout Social has more advanced capabilities but Hopper HQ is better suited for social media teams that are looking for an intuitive alternative to save time and keep a consistent social media presence. Creating, planning, and scheduling are easily done on Hopper HQ’s easy-to-use user interface. While Sprout Social, because of its complexity might be hard to navigate. 

3) Ideal altnernative for SMEs’

Hopper HQ provides more tailored support for SMEs, with resources and features specifically designed for smaller-scale operations. Its scheduling flexibility and advanced analytics are particularly beneficial for SMEs looking to maximize their social media impact efficiently. Overall, Hopper HQ’s targeted approach makes it a more suitable choice for SMEs seeking a focused and efficient social media management tool.

4) Prompt customer support

Hopper HQ stands out by offering equal and immediate support to all users at no extra cost. Whether it’s via email, in-app chat, or through their social media channels, assistance is readily available. Additionally, Hopper HQ boasts a comprehensive help center, providing extensive insights into its capabilities. The platform also hosts weekly webinars, open to all, for an in-depth exploration of the app’s features. In contrast, Hootsuite’s support options are less varied and might incur additional charges.

2) Social Champ: Best alternative for agencies

Social Champ is a great Sprout Social alternative if you manage several projects simultaneously or work within an agency. It provides all the basic features of scheduling, planning, and team management but also shares features about content ideation and recycling. Making it easier to build a content calendar and repurpose previously successful posts.

Key Features:

• Bulk Scheduling
• Content Suggestion
• Auto RSS
• Social Media Calendar

Supported Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google My Business and TikTok

Pricing: Provides a free plan with limited features and no access to Twitter, then the cheapest plan starts at $26 a month.

Social Champ vs Sprout Social

Social Champ, unlike Sprout Social, provides a free subscription, but again, this comes with limitations like needing to be able to schedule posts on your Twitter profile. Also, you can only have one user and schedule 15 posts at a time. If you have more active social media accounts or work as a team, you’d have to purchase their paid subscriptions. 

On the first paid plan at $26 a month, you can gain access to unlimited scheduled posts, and 12 social media accounts instead of 3, and you may have one extra user. However, on the Sprout Socials Standard plan, you’d benefit from an all-in-one social inbox, review management, and other CRM features. 

Social Champ also utilizes a social media calendar to keep track of published, scheduled, and draft posts. However, it is not as visually aiding as the Hopper HQs’ calendar which seamlessly shows the posts on each day.

3) Buffer: Best for tracking detailed analytics

Buffer stands out as an excellent alternative to Sprout Social, especially for those who prioritize analytics in their social media strategy. It offers robust tracking capabilities, including the ability to monitor Shopify performance, assess the impact of specific hashtags, evaluate overall profile performance, and more. Buffer is a compelling choice for users who want detailed insights into their social media activities.

Key features:

• Content creation features
• Calendar and Scheduling tools
• Shop grid
• Scheduling recommendations
• URL shortener

Supported Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Mastodon, YouTube, Google Business Profile and Pinterest.

Pricing: Buffer offers a freemium subscription, then, pricing starts at $6 per social channel a month. 

Buffer vs. Sprout Social

Buffer offers a freemium subscription, a feature not currently available on Sprout Social. Like in Social Champ, this plan has limitations in terms of accessible features. For instance, it lacks channel analytics, you can only connect up to 3 social channels, and limits users to 10 scheduled posts per channel.

The first paid subscription tier of Buffer includes access to analytics and publishing tools like first comments and a hashtag manager. Interestingly, Sprout Social’s initial subscription plan also offers these same features, however, for a much higher price due to all the other complex features it provides.

It’s important to note that if you opt for all available channels on Buffer, it can result in a monthly expense of around $54, potentially making it costly for many agencies and small businesses.

Additionally, to access team management features, one would need to opt for the Team subscription, priced at $12 per month for each social channel. The same goes for Sprout Social, to access their team and workflow features, you’d need to invest in their second plaid plan at $399 a month

4) Meet Edgar: Great for content recycling

MeetEdgar, often simply called Edgar, is well-known for its unique content recycling capabilities that help maintain a constantly fresh presence on your social media profiles. This tool allows you to categorize your content, ensuring you always have something interesting to post. It has proven particularly effective for entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Key Features:

• Automatically repurposes content
• Ability to Categorize your content 
• Unlimited scheduled content 
• Tracks history and performance data
• Monday to Friday customer support 

Supported Platforms:  Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile 

Pricing:  The cheapest subscription, the Eddie annual plan, starts at $24.91 on the yearly plan and all plans have a 7-day free trial.

MeetEdgar vs Sprout Social

With the Eddie plan from MeetEdgar, you gain access to unlimited scheduled posts and the option to include up to 20 team members. While Sprout Social only offers unlimited scheduled posts on their second plan at $399 a month. If you wish to add team members to Sprout Social, you’d have to add a starting price of +$199 a month to your subscription. 

However, there is a limitation with MeetEdgar’s basic plan – you can connect to just 5 social accounts, which is similar to Sprout Social’s standard plan.

For those prioritizing automatic content publishing, you’d have to consider one of Edgars’ more costly plans. Under MeetEdgar’s Eddie plan, automatic posting is capped at 10 times per week. To increase this to 1,000 automation per week, you would need to upgrade to their second-tier plan, priced at $41.58 a month.

5) PromoRepublic: Best for tailored solutions

PromoRepublic Is an all-in-one local market platform with which you can choose a solution perfectly tailored to your business. It provides solutions for social media management, review management, and local SEO. If you’d like to find a tool that centralizes these tasks for you, it would be a top social sprout alternative to consider. 

Key Features:

• Graphics editor
• All-in-one social inbox 
• iOS and Android mobile apps
• Link shortener
• Comprehensive reporting

Supported Platforms:  Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google My Business 
Pricing: PromoRepublic offers a 14-day free trial and subscriptions start at $45 a month.

PromoRepublic vs. Sprout Social

PromoRepublics pricing is categorized by type of business to help users find the right plan for them. The first plan, labeled “Small Businesses” provides 10 social accounts but only one user. This is assuming that there will be only one or very few marketing members. The next plan is for agencies and provide 30 social media accounts, with 10 users for $79 a month. The third plan is a custom plan which you’ll have to contact their team to inquire about. 

Like Sprout Social, PromoRepublic offers a social media inbox, review management as well as features to boost posts on your Facebook accounts. PromoRepublic however, provides local SEO features that are currently not supported by Sprout Social. 

If reporting is essential for you, then you’d have to opt for their Agency plan as their initial paid plan only provides basic social media tracking. The same goes for utilizing their approval workflows, which seems to be the case for most tools except Hopper HQ.

6) Friendsplus.me: The cheapest alternative to consider

Friendsplus.me is a social media management tool and one of many Sprout Social alternatives that offer basic features for a fair price. It provides essential features like post-scheduling, analytics, and multi-platform integration, providing a practical solution for those seeking effective social media management without a hefty investment.

Key Features:

• Provides a browser extension 
• Has a mobile app available 
• Zapier integration
• Link shortening 
• Bulk Scheduling 

Supported Platforms: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest

Pricing: Provides a free plan and then pricing starts at $7.50 a month 

Friendsplus.me vs. Social Sprout

Friendsplus.me provides a free plan where you’ll have access to 2 queues, 5 social media posts per queue, and one additional team member. In this plan, you won’t be able to connect your Pinterest accounts or benefit from their bulk scheduling features. 

In friendsplus.me, the main difference in subscription plans is the number of queues and social media posts per queue that you’re given. On their first paid plan, for $7.50 a month, you have an increase of 5 queues, 500 posts per queue, and 10 team members. You’ll then be given access to Pinterest and bulk scheduling. 

Like Postify and other tools mentioned in this blog post, friendsplus.me is a simpler alternative to Sprout Social, which is reflected in the price difference. This platform is a great choice for larger teams who are still limited in their budgets.

7) Postify: Best for the basics

Postify serves as a practical and budget-friendly substitute for Sprout Social, especially for those only present on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It’s particularly appealing to individuals and small businesses due to its affordability and an array of fundamental features such as a social media calendar, scheduling for Instagram stories, bulk import capabilities, post previews, and a social inbox.

With its blend of essential tools and an easy-to-use interface, Postfity emerges as a convenient and approachable choice for managing social media effectively.

Key Features:

• Content Scheduling and automatic posting 
• Invite team members and assignment tags
•  All social inboxes in one 
• Live support every day of the week 
•  AI content for Description, hashtags, and images 

Supported Platforms: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter 

Pricing: Postify has only one type of subscription plan that starts at $41 a month, you can also use their 14-day free trial.

Postify vs. Sprout Social

Postify only provides one subscription plan which can be purchased either monthly or Yearly with a slight discount. In this plan you’ll have unlimited social profiles, collaboration, and scheduled posts, making it a great alternative for small businesses with many social accounts or agencies juggling many clients. 

Like Spout Social you’ll also have access to a social media inbox and well as AI assistance in content creation. Postify provides AI aid for captions, hashtags, and images. However, if you’re in search of a tool that provides a more robust analytics solution, then Postify may not be the right option for you. 

Postify, compared to Sprout Social is a more straightforward solution that provides all the essentials for social media scheduling but may lack other social media aspects like CRM features, social listening, and so forth.

8) Loomly: Great for branding and content creation

Loomly is a social media scheduling tool focusing on branding and content creation within a team. It provides team management features on all its subscriptions making it a good fit for collaboration. 

For those in search of a tool with AI capabilities, Loomly may not meet expectations. Despite its array of beneficial features, it lacks support for artificial intelligence and does not include in-app image editing functionalities.

Key Features:

•  Scheduled analytics report 
•  Slack & Teams integration
•  Automate team workflow
•  Custom Branding 
•  FAQ, chat, and email support 

Supported Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok
Pricing: The basic plan starts at $32 a month while the premium subscription starts at $277 a month.

Loomly vs. Sprout Social

Loomly apart from the variety of social platforms you can connect to, on their base plan, you’ll be able to connect 10 social media accounts. Which is double what you are offered on the basic Sprout Social account. 

Loomlys’ biggest downfall when compared to Sprout Social is the fact that it doesn’t yet support AI assistance, while it’s provided on all Sprout Social subscription plans. Regardless, Loomly still has a lot to offer. For example, you can benefit from its media studio where you can edit, crop, add filters, and more to your visual content. 

For team collaboration features, Loomly allows you to use approval workflows on their initial plan, this is considered part of their core features. However, to build custom workflows you’d have to opt for their Advanced plan at $131 a month. Sprout Social on the other hand, only provides access to workflows on their Professional plan for $399 a month.

9) SocialOomph: Ideal for blog scheduling

SocialOomph is a social media management tool that also allows you to schedule blog posts, both on WordPress as well as Tumblr. It connects to social media channels that not many other tools connect to—for example, Discord, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

SocialOomph is also an interesting Sprout Social alternative to consider because of its unique self-destructive post feature. With this, you can have outdated posts automatically deleted after a specific period of time.

Key Features:

• Self-destructing posts
• Webhooks for post-creation
• Blog post scheduling
• AI-Generated Social Posts
• Team Collaboration

Supported Platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Mastodon, BlueSky, Discord, WordPress, Tumblr

Pricing: Provides a free plan with limited features or paid plans starting at $25 a month.

SocialOomph vs. Sprout Social

On the SocialOomphs free plan, you’ll only be able to connect one social media account but you’ll have unlimited posting for it. Other conditions are that you can only post 3 posts per hour and you’ll not have access to their AI Assistance. 

When you move towards their paid plans, their basic one for $15 a month, gives you access to everything available on the freemium plan plus one blog, access to personal and team areas, and free support. Although you have access to collaboration features, you’re not allowed to add extra team members in this plan. 

If having access to a social inbox is important for your team, then SocialOomph may not be the ideal Sprout Social alternative to look at as it doesn’t support this feature on any of its plans. This tool also doesn’t provide other features found on the basic Sprout Social plan like review management and other CRM tools.

10) Agorapulse: Best for CRM features

Agorapulse is a comprehensive platform that not only schedules social media content but also provides social CRM features. It allows businesses to handle incoming messages from various social media channels directly within Agorapulse, enhancing time management and efficiency. The user interface is straightforward and user-friendly, making it easy to navigate. Additionally, Agorapulse offers tools for analyzing competitors, giving users an edge in their social media strategy.

Key Features:

• Spam Management 
• Comment monitoring 
• Automated Inbox Assistant 
• Social Media ROI reports
• Social Listening Instagram & Youtube 

Supported Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Google My Bussiness, X (a.k.a Twitter) 
Pricing: Provides a minimal free account then, pricing starts at $49 a month billed annually.

Agorapulse vs. Sprout Social

On the Agorapulse free plan, you can only schedule 10 posts a month, and you are provided access to basic analytics. If you decide to opt for their standard plan, you’ll be able to schedule unlimited posts, use their social inbox, draft posts, and track more in-depth reporting, although still limited compared to the next paid plans. 

On all Agorapulse plans you’re limited to having 10 social media profiles and to add additional ones you’d need to pay a fee of $11 per account. For Sprout Social, however, if you purchase their professional plan, you’ll have unlimited social profiles. 

If you’re looking for a tool with team collaboration, then you’d have to consider Agorapulses’ second paid subscription at $87 a month. Then, you’ll be able to assign and prove posts as well as leave comments on them. These features are only available from the Sprout social professional plan and higher. 

11) Brandwatch: Best alternative for enterprises

Brandwatch is a popular Spout Social alternative for enterprises that are seeking a tool that includes more features than just social media scheduling. This is a good option if you and your company are looking for a more complete tool that also provides solutions for consumer intelligence and influencer marketing. 

Key features:

• Digital asset library to store content
• Audience profile cards
• All-in-one social media inbox
• Social listening features
• Created automated ad campaigns 

Supported Platforms:  Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, X (a.k.a Twitter), Whatsapp
Pricing: Brandwatch pricing is not made available to the public, but pricing is said to start at $800 a month.

Brandwatch vs. Sprout Social

From all the Sprout Social alternatives mentioned in this article, Brandwatch probably supports the most solutions compared to the rest. Apart from its social media management suite, you can also benefit from its consumer intelligence suite, to gather insights on your target audience or their influencer marketing platform to find ideal individuals to create successful partnerships with. 

With Sprout Social, you can also gather intelligence about your consumers, however, even though not having influencer marketing, you can benefit from its personalized customer care features to provide the necessary support to help boost your sales cycle. 

As Brandwatch is not as transparent as the other tools mentioned in regards to pricing and a full list of supported features, it’s not an easy feat to compare it to Sprout Social. What we can say is, that both tools are more enterprise-oriented and the pricing surely shows it. From what reviews mention, Brandwatch is likely to be more expensive than Sprout Social.

Wrap up

As we wrap up our exploration of Sprout Social alternatives, we’ve seen a diverse array of tools like Buffer, MeetEdgar, Friendsplus.me, Postfity, Loomly, and SocialOomph. Each of these platforms offers unique features and capabilities, ensuring that there’s a social media management tool to fit the specific needs of any company, whether it’s for detailed analytics, content automation, or efficient scheduling.

In your quest for the ideal social media management solution, consider giving Hopper HQ a try. It stands out as one of the best alternatives to Sprout Social, offering a blend of user-friendly design and powerful features.

Sign up today to experience Hopper HQ for free and discover how it can transform your social media strategy.

Related Articles:

• Top Hootsuite Alternatives
• Top Later Alternatives
• Top Buffer Alternatives

The post Top 11 Sprout Social Alternatives (2024) appeared first on Hopper HQ.

If you have been researching tools to schedule your Instagram posts (or other platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.), you may have inevitably come across Hootsuite and Buffer.

As two of the most popular social media scheduling tools, both Hootsuite and Buffer come packed with features to help you with your tasks. But which is the right tool for your business? 

In this article, we are going to do a Hootsuite vs Buffer comparison across a handful of different parameters.

As a direct competitor to both Buffer and Hootsuite, we are also going to tell you how Hopper HQ, known for it’s ease of use and simplicity, compares against these two tools on the same parameters.

Hootsuite vs. Buffer Summary

When examining Hootsuite vs Buffer, it’s essential to delve into key facts to help in making an informed decision between the two.

When it comes to pricing, Hootsuite generally comes across as the more expensive option compared to Buffer. However, it’s important to note that Buffer’s pricing model is based on each connected social account, which could potentially escalate costs over time, especially for users managing multiple channels.

In terms of team collaboration, Buffer offers the advantage of allowing unlimited team members, distinguishing it from other alternatives, including Hootsuite, which limits the team size to five. However, if you’re looking for bulk scheduling features, then Buffer might not be the right platform o use.

Take a look at how each tool compares to each other below:

Features	Hootsuite	Buffer	Hopper HQ
Pricing starts at	$99/month	$5/channel	$16/month
Social Platforms	Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube shorts	Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube shorts, Google, Mastodon	Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube shorts
Users	1	1	Unlimited
Accounts	10	Unlimited	1 Social set
Scheduled Posts	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Scheduling & Publishing
Bulk Scheduling
CSV upload
Analytics
Collaboration
Inbox
Visual-grid Planner
Approval Workflows		$12/month
Support	Email, Chat, Tweet for Support	Video Tutorials, Social Media Support & Email Support	Chat,Email, Social Media, Help-center & demos

What is Hootsuite best for?

Hootsuite is considered to be an all-encompassing social media marketing suite, offering a comprehensive range of features including content scheduling, content curation, insights into audience behavior, post-performance analysis, and much more.

Top Benefits of using Hootsuite:

• Offers, social listening, campaign management, and customer service tools
• Provides advanced security features for safeguarding your online presence
• Has extensive integration with over 200 tools
• Ideal for enterprises and large companies to centralize all social media efforts

It has evolved into a dynamic, multifaceted tool that meets a wide array of needs for social media marketers, and agencies, but primarily enterprises.

Hootsuite simplifies the management of numerous social media accounts, groups, and pages across various platforms. Its integrated dashboard allows for handling all these elements in one place, significantly reducing the need to switch between native platforms.

Additionally, Hootsuite excels in managing and monitoring social media interactions, including messages, reviews, and comments, in real time. This enables users to engage with their audience promptly and effectively. The platform’s ‘Streams’ feature is particularly noteworthy, as it allows users to oversee all their social media pages simultaneously, ensuring no update or interaction is missed.

What is Buffer used for?

Buffer stands is a social media scheduling tool, tailored for both individual entrepreneurs and marketing teams. Its core strength lies in automating content scheduling, delivering insights into audience engagement, and providing analytics on content performance.

Top Benefits of Using Buffer:

• A better fit for small businesses and startups
• Offers a flexible pricing model and a free plan
• Unlimited number of scheduled posts on paid plans
• Allows users to create a simple landing page directly within Buffer.

This tool supports a wide array of social media platforms where users can effortlessly schedule and post content on Facebook, Google Business, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and Shopify. Notably, Buffer is among the pioneering tools to incorporate integration with Mastodon, a newly launched social platform.

Buffer offers a range of subscription options, including a basic free plan with limited features. While more sophisticated functionalities are accessible exclusively through its paid plans.

A distinctive feature of Buffer is the Start Page builder, a tool that allows users to create a landing page directly within Buffer and share its link on social media. This feature provides a straightforward way for brands to present themselves and their offerings to their audience, offering a simpler alternative to developing an entire website.

What’s the best option regarding costs?

Hootsuite: more expensive but provides 10 social accounts

When considering both options, Hootsuite would be considered more costly than Buffer. With Hootsuite, the minimum you can pay is $99 a month on the yearly plan but obviously, on their basic plan, you’ll be limited on which features you can use. However, Hootsuite does provide a 30-day free trial on any of their plans so that you can try them out. 

Also, if you choose to opt for their subscription without going through a free trial, then you get the chance to save 20% of the total price. This can be considered risky for some, especially small to medium-sized businesses that don’t have so much leeway with their budgets. 

Buffer: Accessible pricing but charges by social media account

Buffer on the other hand is better suited for medium to small businesses as their pricing can be considered more accessible. In Buffers’ case, you’ll be charged by the number of social accounts you wish to connect. On their cheapest plan, each account connected will cost you $6 a month and can go up to $12 a month depending on what features you need. So, if you wish to connect up to 10 accounts as provided by Hootsuite, it would cost you around $60 a month. 

Unlike Hootsuite, where you can try it out with a 30-day free trial, Buffer actually offers a free subscription plan where you can connect up to 3 social channels and schedule 10 posts per channel. 

What features are available in both?

Hootsuite: Best for more complex features

Hootsuite is known to be better suited for larger companies who seek a social media management solution. Apart from the expected publishing and scheduling features, it also provides properties related to campaign management, customer service, team collaboration, and ads. 

Hootsuite is also known for its complex analytic capabilities. Depending on your subscription plan, you can access post-performance, goal performance, and even team productivity metrics. You’ll also be able to track how your social media performance is doing compared to at least 2 competitors. 

Key features of Hootsuite:

• Monitors brand mentions and industry conversations
• Provide an employee advocacy platform
• Manage both paid and organic content in one place

Buffer: Ideal for straightforward scheduling and publishing features

Buffer provides all the necessary features to plan, create, and schedule your social media posts. You’ll be able to create custom schedules, add mentions, schedule Twitter threads as well as create a simple landing page.

The biggest downfall when it comes to Buffer and the features it supports is probably the inability to bulk schedule your social media content. This is present on Hootsuite and most other social media scheduling tools.  

Buffer also provides a significantly complete set of analytics, however probably not as in-depth as that of Hootsuite. From basic post analytics to machine learning insights, Buffer provides all the essential data to make strategic decisions regarding your content calendar. 

Key features for Buffer:

• Build a content library to save your post ideas
• With Buffer’s permissions levels and approval flows, your team can work freely
• Build a customized landing page to guide your leads  

Who are their target audience?

Hootsuite is targeted at large companies and Enterprises

Hootsuite has firmly established itself as a go-to platform, particularly for large companies and enterprises. This segment of its target audience finds in Hootsuite a suite of features uniquely suited to their complex and diverse needs.

Several properties make Hootsuite an attractive tool for enterprises and larger companies, a few of them are:  

• Scalability and Multi-Account Management: Large companies often manage multiple brands across various social media platforms. Hootsuite’s platform enables them to oversee all these accounts from a single, centralized dashboard.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Enterprises require sophisticated tools for tracking the performance of their social media campaigns. Hootsuite provides comprehensive analytics and custom reporting capabilities.
• Security and Compliance: For enterprises, safeguarding their online presence is crucial. Hootsuite offers advanced security features, including secure logins, permission levels, and approval workflows, to protect the brand’s online integrity. 

Buffer is targeted at startups and small businesses

Buffer stands out as a preferred social media management tool for startups and small businesses, thanks to its user-friendly interface, cost-effectiveness, and features tailored to the needs of smaller-scale operations.

Some of these features include: 

• Focused Feature Set: Unlike larger enterprises that might require a broad range of complex functionalities, startups, and small businesses benefit from Buffer’s more focused feature set. 
• Cost-Effectiveness: Budget constraints are a common concern for smaller businesses and startups. Buffer provides an affordable solution with flexible pricing plans.
• User-Friendly Interface: Buffer offers an intuitive and straightforward user interface, making it easy for anyone to schedule posts, track performance, and manage their social media accounts without a steep learning curve.

What Integrations are available?

Hootsuite has over 200 integrations available

Apart from the social media integrations we expect (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, and Google My Business), Hootsuite provides a wide array of other connections. From editing tools like Canva and Adobe Creative Cloud, you can also connect Hootsuite to project management tools, other social media management tools, and much more. 

It also provides a variety of free apps that you can connect your account with. These include a form builder, project management tools like Airtable, and bot apps like Chatkit.

Hootsuite categorizes their integrations by type of tool as well as by industry. Some of the industries mentioned are financial services, non-profits, healthcare, and government. This helps users quickly find out what they can connect to Hootsuite depending on industry needs.   

Buffer integrates with popular tools

Buffer may not have as many integration possibilities as Hootsuite but it does offer all the essential ones a social media marketing team would need. This includes apps that are popular as well as its own built integrations. 

Like Hootsutie you can integrate your Buffer account with known apps like Canva, Bitly, dropbox, and so forth. You’ll also be able to use their Buffer-made apps that enable you to generate UTM tags, edit images, create a start page, and benefit from a Chrome extension. 

Buffer organizes their integration by categories, like for example, integrations for creating, for publishing, and for organizing. 

Are there team collaboration features?

Hootsuite provides team assignments on their team plan

For Team collaboration properties, Hootsuite only provides access on their second subscription plan at $270 a month. However, there’s a restriction to just three approved users in the Teams plan. This can be constraining for businesses that are on the cusp of scaling up or teams that require more hands on deck due to the volume of social media activity. As a result, teams might find themselves needing to upgrade to more expensive plans prematurely or pay an additional user fee.

Another aspect that could be seen as a drawback is the learning curve associated with the platform. Team members new to Hootsuite may find it challenging to navigate the interface and utilize all its features effectively. This could lead to a temporary decrease in productivity as team members acclimatize to the new system.

Additionally, while the task assignment feature is useful, Hootsuite could improve in terms of more advanced collaborative features. For example, real-time editing or more in-depth communication tools within the platform could enhance teamwork and efficiency. The absence of such features may necessitate the use of external communication tools, thereby fragmenting the workflow.

Buffer provides unlimited users on their team plan

For Buffer’s team collaboration capabilities, you’d have to opt for their team plan priced at $12 per month per social media channel.

A significant advantage of Buffer’s team plan is the allowance for unlimited team members. This feature is particularly beneficial as it provides the flexibility to scale without the need to upgrade to more expensive plans. The inclusion of custom access permissions and approval workflows adds to this advantage by enabling precise control over who manages what, ensuring that tasks are appropriately assigned and overseen. The addition of notes is another useful feature, facilitating clear communication among team members directly within the platform.

However, there are some drawbacks to consider. The pricing model of $12 per month per social media channel can quickly become expensive for teams managing multiple channels. This cost could be a significant factor for small businesses or startups with limited budgets, making Buffer less accessible than other tools with a flat-rate pricing model.

Other Alternatives to consider: Hopper HQ

When looking at Hootsuite vs Buffer, it might be useful to consider other tools that may get the job done. One of them is Hopper HQ, an easy-to-use, visual-first social media scheduling tool.

Known for its user-friendly interface and exceptional value, Hopper HQ stands out as an excellent choice for those seeking a different approach to social media scheduling. It’s especially appealing for its visual-first design and array of features that cater to the needs of social media and marketing teams.

Hopper HQ simplifies the management process with a single subscription plan encompassing various useful tools. For just $16 a month, you can gain access to everything it has to offer. This includes AI-powered assistance for tasks such as image resizing and automatic caption generation, which can significantly enhance the efficiency of content creation.

Additionally, features like bulk scheduling and team collaboration tools are integrated into the platform, making it an ideal solution for agencies and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking for an effective and straightforward social media management tool.

Hootsuite vs Buffer, which is right for you?

The answer to this is that it depends. Hootsuite is the more expensive of the two. It also comes with a solid list of features that an enterprise business would need, and can afford. 

Buffer is relatively cheaper. However, if you are an agency, you are going to feel limited by their cost per social channel. If you manage several social media profiles either for your brand or for many clients, the cost can quickly rise.

We hope that our Hootsuite vs Buffer article brought more insights when making your decision on which tool is right for you and your team.

Ultimately, it’s a question of your needs and choices. But before you make a decision, feel free to give Hopper HQ a try. You are going to be absolutely delighted.

The post Hootsuite vs Buffer: A 2024 side-by-side Comparison appeared first on Hopper HQ.