Head to head
Hootsuite vs Later
Last updated 4 June 2026
vs
Hootsuite does more than schedule: listening, a shared inbox, and deep reporting sit in one dashboard, and you pay for the breadth. It starts at $99 a user each month and there's no longer a free plan.
- From
- $99 per user / mo
- Free plan
Later is the visual-first scheduler, built around an Instagram feed planner and a strong Link in Bio, and it sells access in social sets (one profile of each network) rather than per channel. The cheapest paid plan is $25 a month, or $18.75 on annual billing, for one social set and one user.
- From
- $18.75 per social set / mo
- Free plan
Bottom line
Hootsuite and Later both cover the basics; the right one comes down to how you post. Hootsuite is the stronger pick for Small teams that need listening and reporting in one place; choose Later for Instagram-first creators and brands.
Features compared
| Feature | Hootsuite | Later |
|---|---|---|
| AI captions | Yes | Yes |
| Basic analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced reports | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk upload | Yes | No |
| Evergreen recycling | No | No |
| Team roles | Yes | Yes |
| Approvals | Yes | Yes |
| Link in bio | Yes | Yes |
Platforms compared
| Network | Hootsuite | Later |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Auto | |
| Auto | Auto | |
| X (Twitter) | Auto | No |
| Auto | Auto | |
| TikTok | Auto | Auto |
| Auto | Auto | |
| YouTube | Auto | Auto |
| Threads | Auto | Auto |
| Bluesky | Auto | No |
| Snapchat | No | Auto |
Pricing
Hootsuite
Standard
$149 per user / mo
$99/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 10
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $99 per user/mo on annual, $149 monthly
- Up to 10 social accounts
- Unlimited scheduling, AI assistant, one inbox
- 7-day mention search, benchmark vs 5 competitors
Advanced
Popular$399 per user / mo
$249/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $249 per user/mo on annual, $399 monthly
- Unlimited social accounts
- Bulk schedule up to 350 posts at once
- Custom reports, approval workflows, 30-day listening
Enterprise
Custom
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Custom pricing, 5+ users, unlimited accounts
- SSO, employee advocacy (Amplify), premium listening
- Salesforce, review management, compliance integrations
- Priced per user/seat: the headline $99 / $249 is for one seat and multiplies by how many people you add.
- No free plan. There's a 30-day trial, and the 25% trial-skip discount only applies on annual billing.
- Annual billing is much cheaper than monthly: Standard is $99 vs $149 a seat, Advanced $249 vs $399.
- Prices are USD list. Hootsuite renders prices client-side in local currency by region, so the annual figures were read off the live plans page and the monthly figures corroborated against current third-party listings.
Later
Starter
$25 per social set / mo
$18.75/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 8
- Scheduled posts
- 30
- $25/mo, $18.75 on annual
- 1 social set (8 profiles, one per network)
- 1 user, 30 posts per profile / month
- Link in Bio, best-time-to-post, AI captions
- Capped at one social set; no extra sets, users, or AI credits
Growth
Popular$50 per social set / mo
$37.5/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 2
- Accounts
- 16
- Scheduled posts
- 180
- $50/mo, $37.50 on annual
- 2 social sets (16 profiles), 2 users
- 180 posts per profile / month
- Social inbox, approvals, and collaboration
- Extra social sets $15/mo each ($11.25 on annual)
Scale
$110 per social set / mo
$82.5/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 4
- Accounts
- 48
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $110/mo, $82.50 on annual
- 6 social sets (48 profiles), 4 users
- Unlimited posts
- Custom analytics, competitive benchmarking, brand listening
- Extra social sets $15/mo each ($11.25 on annual)
- Priced per social set. A social set is one profile on each of the eight networks Later supports, so the headline price covers a whole brand across networks rather than a single channel.
- Starter is capped at one social set and one user with no add-ons, so its column in the cost table stays flat. Only Growth and Scale let you add social sets, at $15 each per month ($11.25 on annual).
- Extra users are $5 a month each on Growth and Scale ($3.75 on annual). Growth's two included sets and Scale's six converge in price once you pass six sets, since both add extra sets at the same $15 rate; above that you pay Scale only for its deeper features.
- Annual billing gives three months free (about 25% off): Starter $18.75 vs $25, Growth $37.50 vs $50, Scale $82.50 vs $110 per month.
- Later still has a limited free plan (Link in Bio plus a small posting allowance, aimed at creators joining brand campaigns), but it's off the main pricing page, which now leads with a 14-day trial.
- Prices are USD list, read off the live pricing page, which bills in USD worldwide. The monthly and annual figures were confirmed by toggling the page's billing switch and cross-checked against current third-party listings.
Pros and cons
Hootsuite
- Broad by design: scheduling, listening, inbox, and reporting together
- Deep analytics and competitor benchmarking
- Publishes to nine networks, including Bluesky and Threads
- Strong approval workflows on Advanced and up
- Expensive, and per-seat pricing climbs quickly
- No free plan, and the entry price is $99 a month
- Monthly billing costs far more than annual
- The depth is overkill if you only schedule a few accounts
Later
- Strong visual planner and Link in Bio, the features it's known for
- Clean, Instagram-first workflow
- Auto-publishing across all eight supported networks
- Social-set pricing is fair if you run a single brand
- No X support since 2025
- No reorderable evergreen queue and no CSV bulk upload
- Listening and competitor benchmarking are locked to the top Scale plan
- Starter caps at one social set, so growing past it pushes you up a plan fast
Hootsuite vs Later: FAQ
- Is Hootsuite or Later cheaper?
- Later is cheaper to start, from $18.75 against $99 for Hootsuite. The unit each one charges by differs, so the real bill depends on how many channels or seats you run.
- Does Hootsuite or Later have a free plan?
- Later has a free plan; Hootsuite does not, though it offers a 30-day trial.
- Which is better, Hootsuite or Later?
- Hootsuite is the stronger pick for small teams that need listening and reporting in one place, while Later is the better fit for Instagram-first creators and brands. We don't score them; the right call comes down to how you post.