Hootsuite alternatives in 2026: what your team pays on each

Hootsuite alternatives differ mostly in one thing: how they charge as your team grows. Hootsuite charges per user: Standard from $99 USD a month, Professional $199 and Advanced $399, with a license for each person. There’s no free plan. If you’re shopping for another tool, chances are that price is part of the reason. We compare four options using data checked on September 25, 2026: what a team pays on each, what the AI does with comments, and when it makes sense to stay on Hootsuite.

Hootsuite pricing: what a team of 3 pays

A dental clinic with 3 people on its social media team and a single brand:

Tool	What you pay each month	Why
Hootsuite Standard	Three $99 USD licenses	Charges per user
Sprout Social Essentials	Three $79 USD licenses billed yearly ($99 month to month)	Also charges per user
Metricool Advanced	$53 USD billed yearly ($67 month to month), up to 15 brands	Starter doesn’t allow team members
HeyMark Company	$30 USD month to month ($25 billed yearly), 3 brands	Includes 5 people

If you’re after something cheaper than Hootsuite, the difference is in what you’re billed for, and it grows with the team. On Hootsuite, every new person is another $99 USD Standard license. HeyMark Company fits 5 people, and from the sixth on, each one adds $10 a month. We couldn’t find verified public data on how Buffer bills for teams, so it’s not in the table.

They don’t buy you the same things, and that’s worth saying. Hootsuite and Sprout Social bring social listening and enterprise-suite features. Metricool brings deep analytics, reports and ads. HeyMark brings AI replies and comment and DM automations. Compare on what your team actually uses each week, not on the longest feature list.

The Hootsuite alternatives, compared

Fact	HeyMark	Hootsuite	Metricool	Buffer	Sprout Social
Starting price	$12 USD a month (Creator: 1 brand, 1 person). Company: $30 USD with 3 brands and 5 people	From $99 USD a month per user (Standard). Professional $199 and Advanced $399	Free plan. Starter from $20 USD a month billed yearly ($25 monthly) for 5 brands	Free plan. Paid plans charge per channel, from about $6 USD a month per channel	Essentials from $79 USD per seat a month billed yearly ($99 monthly). Standard $199, Professional $299 and Advanced $399 per seat
Team and approvals	Company includes 5 people. Client approval link on every plan	Priced per user: every person adds a license	Team members and approvals only from Advanced ($53 USD a month billed yearly, 15 brands)	No verified public data	Priced per seat: every person adds a license
AI on comments and DMs	Replies to comments and DMs with AI in your brand's voice, with approval and handoff to a person. On every plan	AI-assisted replies in its inbox (Nest); automates replies from Professional	No documented AI replies in the inbox. Its assistant drafts copy with 5 to 35 credits per brand a month	Suggests AI replies that learn your voice (Community). 5 a week on the free plan	No verified public data
MCP server	Yes, free on every plan. Publishes, replies to comments and DMs, moderates, automates and shares reports and calendars	Yes, since June 2026: 4 servers (publishing and analytics, inbox, listening and advocacy)	Yes, on every plan: 27 documented tools, 2 that write (schedule and edit scheduled posts)	Yes, on every plan (since May 2026): posts, ideas and metrics. No comment or DM tools	No verified public data

Where the table says “No verified public data,” we couldn’t find that fact documented in public sources as of September 2026. It doesn’t mean the feature doesn’t exist.

One by one

HeyMark: for small teams that want AI that replies

• Priced by plan, not by person. Company costs $30 USD a month with 3 brands and 5 people; each extra brand or person adds $10 a month. Platform, for agencies and large teams, is quoted: unlimited brands and team, with advanced roles.
• Teamwork. Every post has a status, a date and an owner, and the team comments and uploads new versions right there, with a history of who did what. The approval link comes with every plan, and on Company you set access by area: content, inbox or analytics.
• AI that replies. Mark replies to comments and DMs in your brand’s voice and hands off to a person whatever needs one. Keyword automations are on every plan and use no credits.
• MCP, free on every plan. From Claude or ChatGPT it publishes, replies, moderates and creates automations, and asks for your confirmation before publishing or replying. That’s how the AI agent for social media works.

What it doesn’t have: a free plan (there’s a 14-day trial), social listening, ads, or posting to X, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky or Google Business Profile. If you handle client accounts, see how it works for agencies.

Metricool: if you schedule and report across many brands

It has a free plan (1 brand, 20 posts a month, 30 days of analytics, no LinkedIn or X) and charges by brand: Starter from $20 USD a month billed yearly for 5 brands. Team members and approvals start on Advanced, from $53 a month billed yearly for 15 brands. It’s strong on analytics, reports, competitor tracking and ads, and covers 11 networks; X costs extra, $10 a month per account. It doesn’t document AI replies in its inbox: its Flows feature answers keywords with up to 3 fixed texts on Instagram and TikTok. Its MCP is free and documents 27 tools, 2 of which write. The head-to-head is in Metricool vs Hootsuite.

Buffer: if what you want is simple scheduling

It has a free plan and charges per channel, from about $6 USD a month per channel. It suggests AI replies that learn your voice, 5 a week on the free plan. Its MCP and API have been on every plan since May 2026, with no comment or DM tools. It covers 12 networks, including X, Threads and Bluesky. We look at it more closely in Buffer alternatives.

Sprout Social: another suite, with the same per-user model

Essentials starts at $79 USD per seat a month billed yearly ($99 month to month); Standard is $199, Professional $299 and Advanced $399 per seat. There’s a 30-day trial. It’s a suite for large teams, with publishing, inbox, listening and reports. If you’re leaving Hootsuite over per-user pricing, Sprout doesn’t fix that: it’s a sideways move. If you’re leaving for other reasons and want to stay on a big suite, it’s the most direct comparison.

When to stay on Hootsuite

• Social listening is part of your team’s daily work.
• You need an enterprise suite, with 4 MCP servers covering publishing and analytics, inbox, listening, and advocacy.
• You’re already on Professional or higher and you use the AI-assisted replies and inbox automation.
• You post to X, which HeyMark doesn’t.

Before you switch, check four things

1. Your networks. HeyMark publishes to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. If you also post to X, Pinterest, Threads, Bluesky or Google Business Profile, Metricool covers all of them (X as an add-on) and Buffer covers X, Threads and Bluesky.
2. How many people actually log in. Count the people who post or reply each week. With per-user pricing, that number multiplies the license. HeyMark Company fits 5 people before any extras.
3. Whether you use social listening. If your team uses it every week, compare only against tools that have it, like Sprout Social. HeyMark doesn’t do social listening.
4. Whether you depend on the API. Hootsuite’s REST API has restricted access (approval and a paid plan). Metricool offers its API only on Advanced and Custom, and Buffer on every plan. HeyMark has no public REST API yet: programmatic access is through MCP, which covers both reading and writing.

How to get started with HeyMark

1. Create your account

   Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.

2. Connect your networks

   One account per network on each brand. HeyMark pulls in what you’ve already posted and lays it out on the calendar.

   

3. Invite your team

   Company fits 5 people. Choose which areas each person can open, and share the approval link with whoever signs off on posts.

4. Turn on replies

   Set up AI for the brand’s DMs, or create your first keyword rule.