Head to head
Hootsuite vs LinkedIn post scheduling
Last updated 21 July 2026
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
LinkedIn now lets you schedule posts natively, free, from the post composer. It's the simplest way to queue a LinkedIn post in advance, and it does nothing beyond that, no calendar, no bulk scheduling, no editing a post once it's scheduled.
- From
- Custom
- Free plan
Bottom line
LinkedIn post scheduling is the pick for LinkedIn-only users who just want to queue the occasional post, and it's the only one of the two with a free plan. Hootsuite fits small teams that need listening and reporting in one place better, and it's the cheaper start, from $99 per user / mo.
Hootsuite publishes a price, from $99 per user / mo; LinkedIn post scheduling is quote-only. Hootsuite adds bulk upload and social listening that LinkedIn post scheduling leaves out.
Key differences
Where the two actually diverge, before the full tables.
- LinkedIn post scheduling has a free plan; Hootsuite doesn't, though it offers a 14-day trial.
- Hootsuite starts at $99 per user / mo; LinkedIn post scheduling is quote-only.
- Hootsuite posts to 9 networks, LinkedIn post scheduling to 1.
- Only Hootsuite reaches Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, and Bluesky.
- Hootsuite has bulk upload; LinkedIn post scheduling doesn't.
- Hootsuite has social listening; LinkedIn post scheduling doesn't.
- Hootsuite has advanced reports; LinkedIn post scheduling doesn't.
- Hootsuite has social inbox; LinkedIn post scheduling doesn't.
Features compared
| Feature | Hootsuite | LinkedIn post scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| AI captions | Yes | Partial |
| Basic analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced reports | Yes | No |
| Bulk upload | Yes | No |
| Evergreen recycling | No | No |
| Team roles | Yes | Not assessed |
| Approvals | Yes | Not assessed |
| Link in bio | Yes | Not assessed |
Platforms compared
| Network | Hootsuite | LinkedIn post scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | No | |
| Auto | No | |
| X (Twitter) | Auto | No |
| Auto | Auto | |
| TikTok | Auto | No |
| Auto | No | |
| YouTube | Auto | No |
| Threads | Auto | No |
| Bluesky | Auto | No |
Pricing
Headline prices are for a single unit. Here is the real monthly cost as each tool scales, costed on its own unit so the two stay honest.
No free plan; 14-day trial.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $99/mo
Plan set by your profile count.
Hootsuite
Standard
$99/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 10
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $99 per user/mo billed annually
- Up to 10 social accounts
- Unlimited scheduling, AI assistant, one inbox
Professional
Popular$199/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $199 per user/mo billed annually
- Unlimited social accounts
- Automations for repetitive work
- No approval workflows (Hootsuite points approval-heavy teams at Advanced)
Advanced
$399/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $399 per user/mo billed annually
- Approval workflows, team assignments, custom reports
- Customer care routing
Enterprise
- Accounts
- Unlimited
- Custom pricing, 5+ users, unlimited accounts
- SSO, employee advocacy (Amplify), premium listening
- Salesforce, review management, compliance integrations
- Hootsuite restructured its lineup between June and July 2026: a Professional tier at $199 now sits between Standard ($99) and Advanced (previously $249 on annual, now $399), and the trial dropped from 30 days to 14.
- Priced per user/seat: the headline $99 / $199 / $399 is for one seat and multiplies by how many people you add.
- The advertised prices are the billed-annually rates. Monthly billing exists for all three self-serve plans at a higher per-seat rate, but Hootsuite no longer prints the monthly figures on the plans page; they appear at checkout. Before the restructure, Standard was $149 monthly vs $99 annual.
- No free plan. The 14-day trial needs no credit card. Nonprofit discounts exist on some plans.
- Prices are USD list from the plans page structured data (offers marked 'Billed annually'), read 2026-07-21.
LinkedIn post scheduling
Free
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 1
- Built into LinkedIn for personal profiles and Company Pages, free
- Schedule text, image, and video posts up to 3 months ahead
- No bulk scheduling, and you can't edit a scheduled post
- LinkedIn's native scheduler is free and built into the post composer (click the clock icon instead of Post). There's nothing to buy.
- It only schedules to LinkedIn itself, and only standard posts, polls, events, and articles can't be scheduled natively.
- AI post rewriting is a LinkedIn Premium feature, which is a separate paid LinkedIn subscription rather than part of the scheduler.
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
LinkedIn post scheduling
- Free and built right into LinkedIn
- Works for both personal profiles and Company Pages
- Schedule up to three months ahead
- No third-party tool or login needed
- LinkedIn only
- No bulk scheduling, no calendar, no editing scheduled posts
- No best-time suggestions or recycling
- Analytics are basic and AI rewriting needs Premium
Hootsuite vs LinkedIn post scheduling: FAQ
- Is Hootsuite or LinkedIn post scheduling cheaper?
- Hootsuite starts at $99 per user / mo, while LinkedIn post scheduling is quoted custom, so Hootsuite is the one with a public entry price.
- Does Hootsuite or LinkedIn post scheduling have a free plan?
- LinkedIn post scheduling has a free plan; Hootsuite does not, though it offers a 14-day trial.
- Which is better, Hootsuite or LinkedIn post scheduling?
- Hootsuite is the stronger pick for small teams that need listening and reporting in one place, while LinkedIn post scheduling is the better fit for LinkedIn-only users who just want to queue the occasional post. We don't score them; the right call comes down to how you post.