Head to head
Hootsuite vs SocialPilot
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
SocialPilot is the value pick for agencies and small businesses: ten networks, bulk scheduling, a social inbox, AI, and white-label client reports, at prices well under the big suites. Plans run from $17 a month on annual billing, with extra accounts and users sold cheaply on the side.
- From
- $17 /mo
- Free plan
Bottom line
SocialPilot is the pick for agencies and SMBs who want broad coverage and client reporting on a budget, and it's the cheaper start, from $17 a month. Hootsuite fits small teams that need listening and reporting in one place better, and it adds social listening and employee advocacy that SocialPilot leaves out.
SocialPilot starts cheaper, $17 a month against $99 per user / mo for Hootsuite. They bill on different units, so the real gap depends on how much you run. Hootsuite brings social listening that SocialPilot skips, while SocialPilot has posting queue Hootsuite doesn't.
Key differences
Where the two actually diverge, before the full tables.
- SocialPilot starts at $17 a month, Hootsuite at $99 per user / mo.
- Hootsuite posts to 9 networks, SocialPilot to 10.
- Only SocialPilot reaches Google Business.
- Hootsuite has social listening; SocialPilot doesn't.
- Hootsuite has employee advocacy; SocialPilot doesn't.
- Hootsuite has link in bio; SocialPilot doesn't.
- SocialPilot has posting queue; Hootsuite doesn't.
Features compared
| Feature | Hootsuite | SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
| AI captions | Yes | Yes |
| Basic analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced reports | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk upload | Yes | Yes |
| Evergreen recycling | No | Partial |
| Team roles | Yes | Yes |
| Approvals | Yes | Yes |
| Link in bio | Yes | No |
Platforms compared
| Network | Hootsuite | SocialPilot |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Auto | |
| Auto | Auto | |
| X (Twitter) | Auto | Auto |
| Auto | Auto | |
| TikTok | Auto | Auto |
| Auto | Auto | |
| YouTube | Auto | Auto |
| Threads | Auto | Auto |
| Bluesky | Auto | Auto |
| Google Business | No | Auto |
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.
No free plan; 14-day trial.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $17/mo
Whole-plan price; it doesn't scale per unit.
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.
SocialPilot
Essentials
$17/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 1
- Accounts
- 5
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $20/mo, $17 on annual ($204/yr)
- 5 social accounts, 1 user, 500 AI credits
- Scheduling, content library, analytics
Standard
$34/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 3
- Accounts
- 10
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $40/mo, $34 on annual ($408/yr)
- 10 social accounts, 3 users, 1,000 AI credits
- Adds bulk scheduling, the social inbox, and team collaboration
Premium
Popular$85/mo billed annually
- Seats
- 6
- Accounts
- 20
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $100/mo, $85 on annual ($1,020/yr)
- 20 social accounts, 6 users, 5,000 AI credits
- Adds advanced analytics, client approvals, custom and white-label reports
Ultimate
$170/mo billed annually
- Seats
- Unlimited
- Accounts
- 40
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- $200/mo, $170 on annual ($2,040/yr)
- 40 social accounts, unlimited users, unlimited AI credits
- Advanced security, dedicated account manager, migration support
Enterprise
- Seats
- Unlimited
- Scheduled posts
- Unlimited
- Custom pricing, custom accounts, unlimited users
- Unlimited AI credits, dedicated account manager
- SSO and API access
- Flat, quota-bundled plans: each tier bundles social accounts, users, and AI credits. Extra accounts are $4 a month each on every plan, and extra users are $5 a month on Standard and Premium, so the real cost depends on how many of each you add.
- There's no free plan, only a 14-day trial, no card required.
- Annual billing is a flat 15% off: Essentials works out to $17 a month, Standard $34, Premium $85, Ultimate $170.
- AI credits are metered per plan (500, 1,000, 5,000, then unlimited). White-label reports and client approvals start on Premium.
- Prices are USD. The live pricing page geo-located to Australia and showed AUD here, so the USD figures were taken from the page's USD view and cross-checked by converting the AUD (for example A$263.50 times about 0.66 lands near the $170 Ultimate annual rate).
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
SocialPilot
- Excellent value: ten networks and agency features well under the big suites
- Bulk scheduling, social inbox, and white-label client reports
- Cheap extra-account and extra-user add-ons
- Clear, flat plans with a flat 15% annual discount
- No real evergreen recycling and no visual feed planner
- No broad social listening or link-in-bio
- AI is metered by credits on the lower plans
- Client approvals and white-label start on Premium
Hootsuite vs SocialPilot: FAQ
- Is Hootsuite or SocialPilot cheaper?
- SocialPilot is cheaper to start, from $17 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 SocialPilot have a free plan?
- Neither has a free plan. You get a free trial to test things, then you pay.
- Which is better, Hootsuite or SocialPilot?
- Hootsuite is the stronger pick for small teams that need listening and reporting in one place, while SocialPilot is the better fit for agencies and SMBs who want broad coverage and client reporting on a budget. We don't score them; the right call comes down to how you post.